Preserved Topic: How To Request a Review (Page 1 of 1)

Okay, I've just plum run out of filler for why people do what and for how many cookies to what child of a third-world country. I've decided to complile this, a brief checklist, to use when deciding if your site requires a review.

First and foremost, of utmost importance, is that YOU SHOULD NOT USE THIS FORUM AS A WAY TO DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR SITE. If that doesn't make sense to you, then you shouldn't post it anyway, you're too much of an idiot.

Second, and of equal importance, almost, is that IF YOU'RE ASKING FOR A REVIEW, TELL US WHAT PART TO REVIEW. Too often we get sites that are nothing more than a splash page. We don't want to review that. That's nothing more than a PS image. It belongs in the PS forum, not here. Also, we comment on whatever we run across unless you've specified specific things to look for...and we end up wasting time because you don't care enough to give us a little more than just "here's the site, tell me what you think."

Third, please remember that many of us here are professionals in the web development community. I cannot speak for everyone here, but I simply cannot give you all the advice that you may need. I can direct you to places, and I can answer small questions here and there. However, I do not have the time to take your site apart piece by piece and tell you everything that is, functionally, broken or superfluous.

Fourth, please refer to Number One. That's important.

Fifth, please keep in mind that everything we say is based on opinion. If you don't want our opinions (or decide at the last minute that you don't want to hear anything but glittering reviews) then stop there. Don't post. Please. For the love of god, please don't. It's simply a waste of time.

Finally, remember where you are. Respect what you do and what we say, and we'll all be much happier.


stephen

I would like to say a few things.

First off, driving traffic to a site is actually the point of having the site reviews forum right? I mean, if people do not see your site, then how can they possibly review them. When I post a site for people to take a look at it, I want as many people as possible to take a look at it so I can get the most varried opinion possible. 40 replies is better than 2.

Second off, people can demand, whine, and carry on all they want to, but that doesn't mean that any of us have to actually review a site. ( It would be nice to do it every once in a while though. )

Finally, I completely agree with Stephen about getting upset if someone doesn't like a review. If someone asks you to be a critic, than they should expect no less than exactly that.

VHS

Someone is missing Steves point...you or me...we'll that's up to the man himself.
(or I'm missing your point. In that case, just ignore this. Just finished a 16hour workday so I'm kinda beat. )

Site Reviews is *not* for driving traffic. Its for reviewing sites (hence the name).

Increased traffic can't possibly be the goal of posting in this forum.
Be so that it may, that more reviews is a result of more traffic from the asylumnites, but if I have to choose, I'd take a few well thought through reviews over a myriad of dribble anyday of the week and twice on fridays.

Not that I would not like people to see my site and comment upon it, but the reviews must be the essece of this forum.

I know it is for me anyway.

Now I just wish to get enough time to finish my own work so I can have it reviewed (or dribbled upon for that matter )

NAP ATTACK!!


-nimraw
If you can't convince, confuse!

[This message has been edited by Nimraw (edited 04-24-2001).]

I'm with twitch on this one, although I'll admit i've been guilty of at least one of those offenses in the past...

I actually agree with everything that Stephen was saying, however I didn't FULLY agree with the traffic part. That is actually a personal opinion. The way that I look at it is not simply a straight foward aproach. I look at it through the masses rather than through the few. Every single computer that I am on all day is completely different. I see a different outcome on every page with every different computer. ( I am on a network of about 200 different computers during the day. ) so the way that I look at it is the more compatability I can get, the better off I will be. That's the point that I am making. The forum isn't an advertisement of course, but it's good to try your hardest to get a large responce off of a review. You're right, well thought out comments are always appretiated, but in a world of multi-platform, multi-dimensions of computers ( My attempt at sounding intelligent. ) it's hard to have what one person see's the same as what someone else see's.

That's cool to want to get a varied audience to test it, as long as your motivation is the testing and not the traffic.

Bravo Twitch! Glad you spoke up on this matter... I havent recently bothered visiting this forum too much cos of all the 'crap' that has been posted here over the last couple of months....

and I use the term crap liberally this time cos in all honesty thats what a lot of the stuff that has been posted has been. One shot wonders... single pages, not even web pages, but just single images of possible web pages???

weird.. for me.. part of reviewing a website (notice the word SITE) is to be abe to give opinions on layout and effeciency/effectiveness with coding, manipulation and presentation of content & NOT only the graphics!!...

*takes a deep breath** ok... I feel better

read Twitchs words.... please


~Vp~

Yep I agree. Using this forum for getting people to one's site just to get them there, and not really for review, is wrong. People shouldn't try to hide behind an image of a page and pretend they have a site. I personally will not again ask for a review until my site is finished. I liked the input as I went along, and I asked for visits to "steer" my thinking before it became a total mess, but I don't want to be lumped in with those who are unscrupulous.

shoot me. i'm guilty.

---------------------------------
Maruman I am the princess of the universe
-----'--,--@
---------------------------------

bam.

VHS - IMO, its all about motivation.
if someone comes along and says "hey here's my new site, check it out!", and then tells people that (s)he really doesn't care for any of the submitted opinions, then one could assume that they are using this forum for the sole purpose of creating traffic.

heh - personally, im not involved in any sites that would fit this demographic (insurance for retired australians? anybody?), so i dont think that area is much of an issue for me!

*falls down dead*

It's also important to use bold words in your post. Since all the important people are doing it, surely you see the significance of it.

Heh, never mind =)

It just seems to me as if everyone's trying to ban the reviewing of one's site simply to stop spam.

Right now I have about 5 different demo sites that I am trying to choose between. None of them are finished, however all of them have been sliced. They are basically mock pages of what they will be. And yes, I do have a screenshot for one of the pages rather than re-slicing and changing everything around. It saves time ( which I am very press for right now ) and it makes things easier.

I have asked people to review a splash page before as well. When I first started making web sites, I was excited just to be able to link an image to a page. I would show everyone that I knew what I have done and ask them about it. When I spend hours on end creating a splash page, sure, I would like to ask to find out what people think should be changed.

Specifically using this forum for driving traffic to your site is not the way to go, but it's not good to take it to an extreme.

Does this mean that I should have my web site completely finished before I post it for review? When someone actually does suggest a change, it would take forever to fix.

My point is this. Spamming is bad, reviewing is good. However, putting a filter on what can be reviewed is rediculous. Correct me if I'm wrong.

( BTW wasn't there a very long lag time between the time JKMarby shot Maruman, and the time Maruman actually fell? )

- VHS -

Oh... I am so sorry to have sparked this discussion. Sometimes I don't even know what comes over me. I should've added something at the very end...

THESE ARE NOT SUGGESTIONS.

I'll back that up for a moment. This is a message board. The title of this forum is called "Site reviews!" and the title of this thread is "How To Request a Review." See how that works? When you decide to read this thread, you know that it's going to be information pertaining to the formula to follow when asking for a site review. Simple as that.

Along the same token, if you just want to drive traffic to your site (as it has become quite evident that you are unable to do so otherwise) then I suggest you put your message not in *here* but in the general purpose threads. That's where they might get traffic. Here, they get reviewed. See how that works?


stephen

I find, as I was a professional e-marketer (but that business went belly up, umm...yeah) that just having a sig with your link when posting in a forum, you find that your traffic will come from there. There is no need to really post to drive traffic. I can understand if it is a 'hey, new design' announcement. Maybe there should be a moderated (i.e. one post annoucing the site/update and thats it) forum for just that. Or not.

I suggest you all refrain from messing with Twitch^....now go! Go take some more black pills and return to your cells! Where's VP and his mop when we need him?

Well put.
hehe I am dun quarelin. ( I kant spell. )

- VHS -

I follow that. That supppose to be a checklist for requesting reviews, right.