Comments on: What we learned from your feedback on the contest, and how we will do better next time

By: Pace

Pace — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:43:29 +0000

@Green: Cool, that makes sense. The people we hang out with aren’t the same crowd as our readers. I’m running out of fingers on which to count the occurrences of the usual error in this contest. (:

By: Green

Green — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:29:16 +0000

I’ve already given lots of feedback. But here’s one more point:

I’m not an entrepreneur. I can’t even spell entrepreneur without using spell check. A lot of the prizes were very businessy. As someone who doesn’t have or want a business, that was kind of a reason not to enter. “Let one of the people who actually need tech coaching or idea blueprinting or To-Do list taming win those prizes. Sure, I’d love an avatar from Marty that I can’t afford, but I already have two copies of the Usual Error book, and one already is signed! :)”

I think this is a little different than “not being motivated by the prizes” because I was experiencing a feeling of “thinking someone else would like the prizes more” and I’d be taking their prizes away if I won over them.

Weird mentality, maybe. :)
.-= Green´s last blog ..Daniel Quinn and The Teaching of History =-.

By: Tiara

Tiara — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 23:58:03 +0000

Perhaps instead of tying the next contest to a format, set a theme and let people respond however they’re comfortable? Video, text, podcast, whatever?
.-= Tiara´s last blog ..Recent Migrants and Inclusion in the Australian Arts Scene: Part 1 – Education =-.

By: Marianne

Marianne — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:06:57 +0000

I think you guys rock for taking the feedback seriously and looking at what you could do differently. BIG props for that.

I think the use of “telling” rather than “showing” or “demonstrating” was probably key to my interpretation of the instructions, as was the use of a range of examples all of which are some form of face-to-face. But you see that now, and I think it is awesome that you are taking your communication with your readers so seriously. Again, you rock!
.-= Marianne´s last blog ..Missing the train =-.

By: Sea

Sea — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:48:06 +0000

I got the impression that the videos were supposed to be us talking to the camera because of a couple of reasons.

1. All the examples sounded like something you’d do in a face-to-face way like that — singing, telling a story, and even using puppets sounded like that to me.

2. I must have had your videos in mind already and assumed you wanted something similar to those, which was a silly assumption, but there you go.

It’s odd, because when I make videos I usually put text or hand-drawn animation to a song; I never use my own face or voice for them. When I think of making a video that’s usually what I think. This time my first thought was different. Hmmm.

By: Lydia, Clueless Crafter

Lydia, Clueless Crafter — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:44:26 +0000

Thanks for understanding my reaction. I look forward to a whole new contest, perhaps one that won’t take me hours to prepare;-)!
.-= Lydia, Clueless Crafter´s last blog ..Love, Loss and What You wore? =-.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:18:28 +0000

I was intimidated. I was busy. I didn’t think I’d win. I don’t know how to edit video–in fact, I haven’t even *watched* the video I submitted to this day! I’m not into video, either–it was just the easiest/fastest medium I could find. I don’t need the prizes–that’s not what got me to submit an entry.

No one said, “I just didn’t want to”, but that’s all I could read in the comments. If you wanted to do it, you would have found a way.

Suck it up, people. Seriously. This is your world that you’ve got to change.

By: Pace

Pace — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:48:04 +0000

@Melissa: Also, I got so caught up in explaining things that I forgot to say thanks for your feedback! So… thanks! (:

By: Pace

Pace — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:47:19 +0000

@Bob: LOL!

@Anna: Awesome. Thanks for your valuable feedback!

@Beth: Thank you. *curtsies*

@Tanya: Sounds good!

@Sheila: Hmm, neat idea! I’ll talk to Kyeli about it.

@Julia: Makes sense!

@Melissa: The “last blog” thing is from a WordPress plugin called “CommentLuv” which appends the last blog post the person has written. It uses the URL you enter in the comment field, peeks at that website, and if it looks like a blog, appends a link to the latest post. There isn’t any technical way that I know of for Website 1 to know that you had recently visited Website 2. That would be a pretty gross internet privacy violation. But if you want to tell me the last blog you read, feel free! (:

By: Melissa

Melissa — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:10:50 +0000

Just wondering why other people have “their last blog” beneath their posts and i don’t? what does that mean and why can’t i tell you the last blog i read? Just being curious…. =)