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[COLAB] Community Project

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 3:34 pm
by Bitte
I'm not really sure if this goes here! But, since it's basically an unpaid project, it seems like volunteer work.

I have a small community project in mind for myself and a knowledgeable PHP developer. Of course, this would be a collaboration between two different aspects of the internet - design and development.

I'm looking for someone that would be willing to opt into a partnership that could reap many successes if we play our cards correctly.

I'm not going to release any more information on the project at this time [place], so if you would like to see [hear] some more information, please drop me a PM, or add me on my MSN: bitte@live.ca

Thank you for your time,
Bitte

Re: [COLAB] Community Project

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 4:05 pm
by John Cartwright
It might help public interest if you actually explained what the project is. :)

Re: [COLAB] Community Project

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 4:27 pm
by Bitte
John Cartwright wrote:It might help public interest if you actually explained what the project is. :)
To be honest, I'm only looking for a one on one collaboration. It lessens the amount of stress.

The project is basically an attempt to change the way forums work together. Bringing the community back into community.

As I am limited, and my idea was almost stolen once before, I'm limiting the amount I release. If you are seriously interested, please add me on MSN or PM me to arrange another form of contact.

Re: [COLAB] Community Project

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 6:09 pm
by onion2k
my idea was almost stolen once before
So what if someone steals your idea? If it's a good idea someone will steal it as soon as you release your first version. I can guarantee that. The only benefit you're getting by refusing to share it is a tiny headstart on the competition. What you're losing is the potential to get some of the very talented people who read this forum interested.

The value to any idea is not the idea itself. The value is you. You thought of it first. You can think of all the cool things to build on it and add to it. Someone else who couldn't think up the idea won't be able to think of what comes next. What matters is the execution of the idea. Make your version the best one. Then it won't matter if someone else makes a copy. Your's will be the best one. To make it the best one you're going to need the best people. To get that you'll need to share some detail. You don't need to give up everything, just enough to get people understanding what problem you're trying to solve and how you're approaching a solution.

Also, something that amused me, your idea is "Bringing the community back into community", but you don't want to work with more than one person? Ironic. :?

Re: [COLAB] Community Project

Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 8:35 pm
by Bitte
onion2k wrote:
my idea was almost stolen once before
So what if someone steals your idea? If it's a good idea someone will steal it as soon as you release your first version. I can guarantee that. The only benefit you're getting by refusing to share it is a tiny headstart on the competition. What you're losing is the potential to get some of the very talented people who read this forum interested.

The value to any idea is not the idea itself. The value is you. You thought of it first. You can think of all the cool things to build on it and add to it. Someone else who couldn't think up the idea won't be able to think of what comes next. What matters is the execution of the idea. Make your version the best one. Then it won't matter if someone else makes a copy. Your's will be the best one. To make it the best one you're going to need the best people. To get that you'll need to share some detail. You don't need to give up everything, just enough to get people understanding what problem you're trying to solve and how you're approaching a solution.

Also, something that amused me, your idea is "Bringing the community back into community", but you don't want to work with more than one person? Ironic. :?
You make a valid point.

I'll do my best to explain in the utmost detail.

My idea, we'll call it Konversation for the time being is based around a communal aspect. Most communities nowadays are running off some of the most advanced forum software that there is available (i.e. PHPbb, vBulletin, IPB, etc.) With these large and advanced models, the social engineering to the entire community is completed for you, with little customization. My idea is basically "bring it all together" hence bringing the community aspect back to the community.

When you are on a forum, you are looking through pages, and pages of discussions for a specific topic. Being a human, at times I don't know what I want, when I want it. So, I may be in a section deemed fit to discuss "hardware," but in reality, my subconscious is in a "mode" per say for a software discussion. With this, brings in my idea of a "one page for it all." With all discussions, whether they be about hardware, software, entertainment, etc. to one page. I know that it can seem like an overwhelming thing to look at, but in reality the shown topics can and are filtered down to what you the user wants.

Imaging the forum as a cup of water, and in this water you place just a smidge of oil. At first, the oil sinks to the bottom - the oil representing what you want to talk about. But, with time, the oil rises to the top. With this said, the discussions listed would be tagged with a buoyancy depending on your interests. Threads with hardware would rise to the top, but still leaving room for other discussions when you don't really know what you want.

With buoyant topics [tags], a weekly core value can be established in a simple manner bringing the community a little closer. From there, filters can be established on the discussions rather than having to search for something (which we all know is a hassle).

Other customization features of the forum I am still thinking through, but I'm sure you get the jist.

It may be a little scattered since I didn't get any sleep last night, but please ask as many questions as you'd like, and I will try my best to explain when I get the chance.

Thanks,
Bitte

Re: [COLAB] Community Project

Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 4:25 am
by onion2k
I can't tell if you're trying to do "Digg for forums", or something like what Vanilla does. http://vanillaforums.org/ Vanilla forums use a system of tags to group discussions together rather than the traditional categories system of phpBB etc.

Re: [COLAB] Community Project

Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 4:30 am
by Eran
You might want to have a look at stackoverflow - http://stackoverflow.com/questions

Re: [COLAB] Community Project

Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 6:12 am
by Bitte
onion2k wrote:I can't tell if you're trying to do "Digg for forums", or something like what Vanilla does. http://vanillaforums.org/ Vanilla forums use a system of tags to group discussions together rather than the traditional categories system of phpBB etc.
I don't personally enjoy Vanilla. I have used it in the past, but it was a very bad experience. As far as I know, Vanilla doesn't group them, though; as well as the fact that there are sections for discussions.

@above:
I don't understand what you're getting at.

Re: [COLAB] Community Project

Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 6:17 am
by Eran
If I'm "@above", I meant that you should have a look at it since it uses tags, search and rating as the main tool to find questions (/threads) so it's somewhat similar to your idea

Re: [COLAB] Community Project

Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 3:15 pm
by Bitte
pytrin wrote:If I'm "@above", I meant that you should have at it since it uses tags, search and rating as the main tool to find questions (/threads) so it's somewhat similar to your idea
Sorry, I pounded out that response in a rush.

Well, yes. I thought my idea was a little more original, but I must be mistaken.

No one is really interested in my idea though... Sad.

Re: [COLAB] Community Project

Posted: Fri May 21, 2010 3:53 am
by onion2k
Bitte wrote:No one is really interested in my idea though... Sad.
Everyone has a limited amount of time they can spend on things, and if your idea hasn't sparked their imagination enough to make them want to lend a hand that's a shame - but that doesn't mean the idea is bad or unoriginal or anything. Don't be put off. Get a working prototype up and running. It won't matter how good or bad the code is. Just make something so people can see the benefit of what you're talking about. If you can do that people are much more likely to get on board.

As it is, I actually think the idea of aggregating all the threads about a particular topic together in one page is a good one, especially if it could do that across different forums. For example, if I could go to a page that listed all the threads about, say, "the singleton design pattern" from DevNetwork, PHPBuilder, Sitepoint, etc that would be brilliant. It'd need to be cleverer than a straightforward Google search - displaying threads properly, working out if users are the same people across different forums, etc. That'd rock.