Open House 2009?

majinuub · Post by **majinuub** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 9:45 am

Link to last years Open House 2008.

I loved the participating in it last year and I'm wondering if there are any plans for an open house this year. I'm asking since it may interlace with the possible ABA sketch/cel awards that may happen later this year.

toonybabe · Post by **toonybabe** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 10:17 am

I would love to do an open house this year. I didn't participate in the last one because I was so busy with school.

Keropi · Post by **Keropi** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 10:53 am

Just be sure to place limits in comparison to last year's Open House.

It would be bad to have Beta members greatly slow their posting (or stop altogether) for a few months like last year just because they don't want to give the impression that they have enough time to post here, but not enough time to ever finish answering Open House questions.

Belldandy16 · Post by **Belldandy16** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 11:00 am

what exactly is open house?
(sorry it wont let me on that website thats posted in the link... im at work ... dumb filter

)

Post by **sensei** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 11:55 am

I did this last year, and, while it was time-consuming, it was extremely valuable, and I feel that I improved my gallery in many important ways as a result.

This said, I won't participate this year, at least not in the sense of putting my name on a list of galleries that have to be visited and critiqued by others. However, if there is some way that I could participate in a modest way, by being a resource or "answer man" for gallery design issues, or critiquing a small group of galleries, I'd be happy to be part of the effort

A reminder of my suggestions from last year:

Perhaps those of us who did finish could be awarded one of those mysterious "medals" that the sidebar leaves room for.

And perhaps the next time the Open House could be limited to the first 20 galleries responding (with maybe a provision favoring those who didn't have a chance to participate this time or ever.

The questions were very helpful in focusing the visits, and I'd like to see that continue. Though maybe the organizer could insist that the number be limited to 3-5, no more.

majinuub · Post by **majinuub** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:27 pm

I think the reason why so many people never finished was due to the sheer number of people who participated. I like Sensei's idea for limiting the amount of people who can participate and think that the people who didn't participate last year should take priority to those who did.

Belldandy16 wrote:what exactly is open house?
(sorry it wont let me on that website thats posted in the link... im at work ... dumb filter )

It's a beta event during the year where you visit people's galleries and write suggestions to help make them more appealing to visitors(layout, colors, text etc.). It's a great way to visit galleries, get new idea's for your own gallery, and seeing artwork from series you may have never considered watching.

I won't be participating this year either. I wish more people would've told me how hideous my last layout was

.

RalphVboy · Post by **RalphVboy** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:41 pm

Thanks for bringing up this topic, Majinuub

I'd be more than happy to host it again this year if there's interest ^__^ Open Houses are always fun and I'd like the chance to try and improve upon how it went last year. It wasn't a disaster or anything but it certainly could've gone smoother and for that I owe y'all an apology

I definently agree with Keropi & Sensei though that there have to be a few changes from what I did before. Here is what I propose if I ran it again:

- Have a maximum of 30 galleries participate
- Limit the amount of individual questions to 5
- Have a firm deadline for completing feedback (45 days).
- Have participants post/periodically edit list of whom they sent feedback to in an Open House Thread
- Use direct-email addresses as oppossed to "gallery feedback", since I believe a lot of feedback tends to get lost through the "gallery feedback" links. This also allows participants to save their responses in case they didn't make it to the addressee.

If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear 'em

- RalphVBoy

Post by **sensei** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 3:12 pm

RalphVboy wrote: - Use direct-email addresses as oppossed to "gallery feedback", since I believe a lot of feedback tends to get lost through the "gallery feedback" links. This also allows participants to save their responses in case they didn't make it to the addressee.

Agreed. All my RS gallery feedback now goes to a spam trap that I empty once every 2 weeks or so, due to the ugly pornbot that has infected this feature. If people don't want their emails published on Beta, perhaps the reactions could come as PMs. This too would allow participants to save responses in case the initial PM goes astray.

majinuub · Post by **majinuub** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:06 pm

RalphVboy wrote:- Have a firm deadline for completing feedback (45 days).

Out of curiousity, what will happen if the person can't meet the deadline?

RalphVboy wrote:- Use direct-email addresses as oppossed to "gallery feedback", since I believe a lot of feedback tends to get lost through the "gallery feedback" links. This also allows participants to save their responses in case they didn't make it to the addressee.

This is a much better solution.

sensei wrote:Agreed. All my RS gallery feedback now goes to a spam trap that I empty once every 2 weeks or so, due to the ugly pornbot that has infected this feature. If people don't want their emails published on Beta, perhaps the reactions could come as PMs. This too would allow participants to save responses in case the initial PM goes astray.

The only problem with using PM's is that I think theirs a limit to how many you can get.

RalphVboy · Post by **RalphVboy** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:48 pm

majinuub wrote:
RalphVboy wrote:- Have a firm deadline for completing feedback (45 days).
Out of curiousity, what will happen if the person can't meet the deadline?

Well there's really not a way to outright force everyone to comply, or to penalize anyone for not doing so. The only thing I could do is to take the site down with the links, e-mail addresses and questions on the 46th day so the information is not immediately available after the 45th. If anyone thinks of a different solution to that I am all ears

While PM's could be used I think it would be best for everyone to use e-mail addresses. Nowadays its simple to start up a free e-mail address so those who don't want their everyday e-mail addys on the web could easily make a yahoo, gmail, or hotmail one for use with the Open House.

Keep the questions and suggestions coming, y'all ^_^

- RalphVboy

klet · Post by **klet** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 5:09 pm

majinuub wrote:
RalphVboy wrote:- Have a firm deadline for completing feedback (45 days).
Out of curiousity, what will happen if the person can't meet the deadline?

I think it's more that people know there is a deadline. I mean, personally, if there's no set date by which I have to get something done, I keep putting that something off until I completely forget.

iwakuralain16 · Post by **iwakuralain16** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:43 pm

Keropi wrote:Just be sure to place limits in comparison to last year's Open House.

It would be bad to have Beta members greatly slow their posting (or stop altogether) for a few months like last year just because they don't want to give the impression that they have enough time to post here, but not enough time to ever finish answering Open House questions.

haha i am sure i gave this impression to many people. I will not be participating in it this year... maybe next year. I had a bad experience last year with people being rude because I answered the questions they wanted me to answer. I tend to be blunt with my answers and ramble on about why i gave that answer... <---- is already starting to ramble again LOL

I still think about it though.. alot... I was going to go back and finish.. but then so much time passed I felt it was better just to walk away then have to explain to every person I had left on the list. ~_~ Also, the list was very big and I am not even sure if I made it half way through... I am at work so posting on beta is a breeze but I do not have access to e-mail here so that causes conflict because I generally just check my e-mail from my phone.... haha yeah. I will still look at the open house webpage though and check it out. ^_^

ReiTheJelly · Post by **ReiTheJelly** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:50 pm

In the distant past, the Open House has been limited to the first 15-20 people who responded. I think I'd like to participate again this year -- every year it forces me to visit galleries that I normally wouldn't go to, and I've found some amazing treasures and awesome galleries!

Post by **Kaona** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:27 pm

Sensei is right, it was very time consuming (I'll add torturous, too). However, I also received a lot of good ideas and helpful feedback by those who took the time to get through that massive list. I also visited galleries I'd never would have on a normal day, and saw some great art and beautiful cels.

I think priority should be given to those who haven't participated before (or for awhile), followed by those who participated last year and gave feedback. Last priority should be given to those who signed up last year and disappeared. And, maybe make it a condition if you sign up and don't fulfill your feedback obligations, you won't be able participate the following year.

Of course things happen that can affect our ability to participate. Jobs and schedules change, things happen (I would never have imagined I'd be dealing with my father in a coma and dying during Open House, but I still finished the list by the deadline...whined about it a lot, though).

It was definitely a commitment.

Other than tweaking the gallery around per the suggestions last year, mine hasn't changed enough to go through it again, really.

So, I am definitely out this year (runs away as fast as she can).

Belldandy16 · Post by **Belldandy16** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 9:09 pm

id like to sign up for it!
id really like feedback on my site... im at an impasse where to go from here with it.