Link List Posting

[nkafkafi]

--- In HPFGU-Feedback at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <b_boymn at y...> wrote:
> I have a few link lists from the 'Grownup' groups that I have 
compiled
> on various subjects as well as a couple of non-specific 'Grownup' 
link
> lists.
> 
> Have we determine if we are going to compile these? And have we
> determine where and how they are going to be compiled? Were can I 
post
> them, or who can I send them too?
>

Neri:
Well, I'm not a list elf or anything. I'm just a guy with an idea. I 
don't know how official ADMIN want to make this effort, if at all. 
What I wanted to demonstrate is that this thing can easily be done in 
an unofficial way. No tools or knowledge are required beyond what any 
HPfGU member has.

> Steve:  
> Here is the format that I typically use-
> 
> From:  "iana_abadi" <leiaflute at h...>
> Date:  Sat Jul 19, 2003  5:01 pm
> Subject:  The next Peter Pettigrew
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/71699
> Long Thread. Changes into a discussion of Ron becoming Prefect.

Neri:
I'm OK with this format, except that I would add a line of several 
key words, since the whole point is to enable members to find posts 
in a subject that interests them by running a computerized search 
over the list. To choose the key words, just think about the person 
who is interested in this specific subject, and what words is he/she 
are likely to search for. In your example above you already have the 
words "Pettigrew", "Ron" and "Prefect", so I would add a line of key 
words like:
(Neville, trio, traitor, jealousy, friendship).

Also, in this specific case I'd maybe separate the two threads, since 
they obviously deal with different subjects. Have one link for 
the "next Pettigrew" thread and another for the "Ron as Prefect" 
thread. 

I would also suggest adding to each link a recommendation to which 
section it should belong, in order to make the organizers' job even 
easier. In this case an obvious section to recommend would be "Ron 
Weasly"   

Do you think the date is helpful here? If members want to search a 
post by a known date I'd say it is easier to find the post in the 
site. 

I think, however, that all these issues are minor. Even if the list 
includes links in 10 slightly different formats, it would still be 
very helpful.

 
> Steve:  
> Addmitedly, many of my link lists point to my own posts, but those
> links will take you into threads that have many intersting posts. 

Neri:
I personally don't have any problem with that. Many of the posts in 
my own list are mine or threads that I participated in. As long as 
this project is collective, anybody who complains about not being 
represented can simply send the list of his own posts. Actually it 
might be a good incentive for members to contribute well-indexed 
posts.  

> Steve:  
> Suggestion-
> 
> If people are serious about this, we (or you) could try to asemble a
> team of volunteers to search through specific blocks of posts in a
> systematic way and catagories post by subject.
> 

Neri:
Well, my idea was more like this: post a request in the main forum 
and ask the members to send their favorite posts according to the 
format above. If 200 members respond and they send on average 3 posts 
each, and you have (predictably) some overlap, this still amounts to 
several hundreds links. All the organizers have to do is join them 
into one list and perhaps do a bit of editing. This is also easy to 
maintain as an ongoing project. Just ask members to keep sending new 
posts they liked. 

Personally I'm a sucker for collective projects that organize 
themselves without much centralistic control. Not that I have 
anything against a systematic effort by a team of dedicated 
volunteers, but the chances that this will happen (and keep happening 
for a long time) are smaller. You'll need several very determined 
people with a lot of free time for that. I certainly don't qualify as 
such.

But of course, if you and/or any other member volunteers to make such 
an effort on his/her own, this can be a great contribution to a 
collective effort. Such members can report in the feedback list what 
dates and/or subjects they are working on, so other such members will 
work on other sections.
 
> Steve:
> Typical Catagories-
> Primary - Characters
> <snip>

Neri:
I'm OK with these categories. If this will indeed be a collective 
effort then the categories will probably emerge by themselves 
according to the subjects members send and the sections they 
recommend. And of course in any case there will be a lot of overlap, 
which is why the key words are important.

> Keep in mind that we are talking about searching over 100,000 posts;
> that's no small task. <snip>

Neri:
Even an initial list of "only" 300 posts will be of great help, 
especially if these are posts that members thought are good, and many 
of them are whole threads. Such a list would be much more efficient 
and easy for most tasks than the current Yahoo search engine. Of 
course it would not ensure you that if you are looking for a 
*particular* post you'll find it there, and it won't ensure you that 
you'll find *everything* that was ever posted in a certain subject. 
But it will supply most members with several *good* posts in most 
subjects that might interest them. If in time this list becomes 
longer (thousands of links) it will actually be more problematic for 
quick search, and we might have to look for new solutions, but we can 
deal with that when we get there. 

Dicentra wrote in:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-Feedback/message/524

> Just FYI, there are two databases on the main list 
called "Recommended
> Posts" and "Recommended Posts (pre-OoP)."  We Elvses have been
> populating them with posts we think are fairly well-written.  
However,
> y'all are more than welcome to add your own recommendations.

Neri:
Thanks Dicentra. Some very good posts in there that I didn't see 
before. But I still think that URLs and key words are needed in order 
to make this more than just a list of recommended links, and turn it 
into a convenient tool for finding interesting stuff in any specific 
subject. I'll be probably adding these links to my list in the format 
above.

Neri