Open House 2009?

moonrabitt · Post by **moonrabitt** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 10:53 pm

It was very time consuming, but It's better to just do like 2 sites a day, and then it's easier...

If there aren't more than 30 many newbies doing it, I'd like to do it again...Last year I sent Feedback to everyone ^_^

Which makes me thinking, how do we know who completed the feedback last year? And did not just send some feedback here and there?

miz ducky · Post by **miz ducky** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 11:12 pm

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.

I think the idea of it being an obligation is what makes it something I don't want to participate in. Besides, if I think your layout is just ugly, do you Really want to know? Do you want me to be Obligated to tell you what I think?

I also don't want to participate because I don't need 30-50 people telling me that you hate my no image layout, or think that each individual piece needs a "personal comment/description".

lcatino · Post by **lcatino** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 11:22 pm

I participated last year, and it was time consuming, but I fulfilled my commitment to answer the questions provided for each curator. Sadly, I only received maybe half of the feedback from participants. And most was not very constructive.

I do thank the folks who did take the time to give me more than "cool layout" and am still working on implementing some of the recommended changes.

~~~

I think it's unfair to restrict entries to a set number of people, but I understand the reasoning for that. The list of participants was quite large, and I think a lot of people had trouble finishing.

Perhaps the organizer could assign people into groups to give and receive feedback for? Like maybe groups of 10? Then folks only have a small number of galleries to visit, and could hopefully spend more time giving constructive feedback? That way everyone who wants to participate can, but no one is overwhelmed.

Just my two cents.

Having said that, I'm out this year as well.

*runs away with Kaona*

cutiebunny · Post by **cutiebunny** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:44 am

I really enjoyed participating in the event last year, however, it does concern me that, of those that signed up to participate, I only received responses from about 60%.

I would like to participate in one again, should we have it this year. I would love to help organize it with others as well.

I do like the suggestion of dividing it all into small groups, but I worry that, if you happen to be in a group where no one decides to participate, you may not receive any feedback. For example, if I were lumped into the same group as the 40% of participants who chose not to evaluate my gallery, I would not receive any feedback.

Perhaps, in order to prevent the simple 'yes/no' responses that some participants sent, we should create some more open ended responses. I'm not saying that yes/no questions should be eliminated, but for those that want a more constructive review, open ended questions might be a better choice.

EternityOfPain · Post by **EternityOfPain** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:33 am

Heres my suggestion, This can work for any number of Participants. Instead of everyone giving everyone feedback. I suggest the creation of groups. Which would be randomly created (creating the program would be easy) for example if there was 20 entries, 4 groups of 5. That way, more will participate (knowing they just have to send feedback for 5 people) and the feedback would then (i would hope) be more concrete due to the few # the individual has to send. Thus, we arent getting 10+ feedback saying basically the same thing. Then if the person after filling there quota by sending feedback for the individuals within there group, they could offer feedback randomly on any other galleries they wish.

This is just a suggestion.

moonrabitt · Post by **moonrabitt** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:12 am

I think that those are all nice ideas ^_^
And that limiting the number of entrants is just...

But with smaller groups that should levitate some of the pressure off ^_^
And the Deadline should also be posted so that everyone has an idea of when to be done....

toonybabe · Post by **toonybabe** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:16 am

I like EOP's idea of having small groups but then if you leave feedback for everyone in your group, you can start leaving feedback for others in the other groups. That way everyone would have at least a minimum amount of feedback they would get. And if participants were responsible to a smaller group of people, it would be more embarrassing to them if they don't leave feedback - everyone in their group would know who they are.

majinuub · Post by **majinuub** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 10:15 am

iwakuralain16 wrote: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

That make's no sense. Why would anyone get mad at you for something they volunteered for

? I remember the FB I got from you being just fine. Honestly, if you can't take critisism, both good and bad, then I highly suggest you don't participate. No one's judging your collection, but how your website helps illustrates your passion for what you collect. Like I said, the FB I received from almost everyone was nice and a huge help for me.

miz ducky wrote:Besides, if I think your layout is just ugly, do you Really want to know? Do you want me to be Obligated to tell you what I think?

Actually, I would. I never get FB concerning my gallery's errors or problems with my gallery(ex. links, thumbnails, images don't come up) and I think that's why this idea came up in the first place. I want my gallery to be appealing and enjoyable to people who stumble upon it and if its colors are so off/bright that it's giving visitors siezures or something by all means let me know

.

Post by **sensei** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:07 pm

I disagreed with some of the suggestions or criticisms people made.

So? I don't want my gallery to fit someone else's idea of what a cel gallery must be like. I just want it to be a functional place for me to keep my collection semi-organized and an entertaining site for people to wander in, look around, and learn a little about animation, or about a series that I find very much worth knowing.

It's the same issue as when someone told me on the sly that some unidentified icky people Out There were saying behind my back what crappy cels I had. So?

People will always feel that their cels and their friends' cels are better than mine (or yours). Maybe they are. Golly, who's to know that years from now our collections won't be being left out at the curbside for the trash by our heirs, who will be shaking their heads over the waste of good time and money Pops or Maw-Maw spent on a bunch of cartoons nobody ever heard of anyhow.

What's it all about? I like the idea that, like animation, it's all about seeing things in the here and now.

What is love? 'tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter.

And so I enjoyed really rethinking my gallery in terms of a place that people could page through in present tense, not a Smaug wallow of gloat cels from my collecting past. Yes, some of the ideas didn't work for me. But a bunch of them did, and so I thought the gallery makeover was the event of 2008, not the acquisition of any particular wishlist cel.

Now I want to let it settle, and just fine-tune it a little, so I don't need to put it up for an Open House this year. (I'd be happy to visit other galleries again, though.) Curators who are confident in their presentation and are getting a decent number of visits don't need to do so either. It's not Freshman Comp. (thank goodness) and so nobody needs to participate. But I'd hope that people who do put their galleries up would do so with the idea of finding ways in which their presentations could be improved, which of course means being told (perhaps more bluntly that we'd like) that such-and-such a feature isn't working for some visitors.

OK, maybe that kind of a visitor should go to another gallery. Or maybe it might be a good idea to add a little info about the cel ... or make the banner a little shorter so it doesn't bump the cel off the bottom of the screen ... or make the background simpler so it doesn't take so darn long to load ... or ...

The Beta Prizes are all about who's got the best cels. Hurrah for these people! Let's keep the Open House all about those of us who think gallery presentation is more important than perceived quality of individual cels.

majinuub · Post by **majinuub** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 1:46 pm

sensei wrote:It's the same issue as when someone told me on the sly that some unidentified icky people Out There were saying behind my back what crappy cels I had.

Why do I get the feeling the same people who make statements about "crappy" cels are the 1st ones to jump all over em as soon as you even think about selling them

.

You didn't agree with some of the suggestions made Sensei, but you at least read them without feeling the need to get offended and possibly saw your gallery from a different perspective(the visitors). I'm glad you tried out some of the suggestions made though, such as the spacing of series, it really made navigating through your collection easier. No one's obligated to change up their gallery just because someone disagrees with it.

moonrabitt · Post by **moonrabitt** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 12:29 am

I think it's nice that people critique my gallery....
Of course I'll listen to the tips that are given here and there....I don't think that I have received any negative critique so far...but you know, some people can take tips as good or negative....

Some tell me to write the whole name of the anime, but sometimes that throws off my whole layout ^^;
Some tell me to not split up some sections (since some have like 2 sketches each) Of course I have more sketches, so I;ll eventually go around and add those too....

There's one site I like to see, but the curator has some colors that are just BLINDING to the eye....And I like to see their items, but there is no way to read the text >_< I'm sure that if the keep looks at the gallery they will see that people can't enjoy it as much since the colors are so bright...I won't say who to not put them on a spot, but it's a very lovely gallery that is just hard to read @_@

I don't think that people are trying to be mean or rude, but when you ask and they answer, one should not take the tips in a negative fashion....

I've gotten feedback in the past, people correcting my horrid spelling ;P
But I thank them for helping my gallery ^_^

Belldandy16 · Post by **Belldandy16** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 7:38 pm

what if instead of any restrictions or anything, just make it a free-for-all?
and if someone hasnt recieved hardly any feedback, just post here asking for some people to show him/her some love?

i mean its just something fun to do and not really of the utmost importance.
give plenty of time, say a month (so people can do however many they'd like to in that time)... cmon havent you ever been online and youve seen all the post responses and been to all the websites you favorite and youre still boared and nothing to do?
why not just go visit some galleries youve never had the pleasure of going to before and give them some feedback?

what do you all think of that idea?