Question

SUGGESTION - OPENSTUDY WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Answer 1

Suggestion - OpenStudy Weekly Newsletter

Aim : To motivate others to help.
To keep everyone updated about OS and it's new features/mods/ambassadors [if any]
To motivate others to help and get help on OS

Features : Report on :
Total questions Answered
Total questions Asked
Total medals given
Top answerer of the week
Top asker of the week

Those, top answerer and asker may be group wise to promote all groups.

Notification on New mods/admins/ambies
New features , downtimes reports (if possible)
Future plans (if any)

Then finally , comment by @Preetha for the progress of OS .

Answer 2

ok

Answer 3

a newsletter via email?

lets get real -- nobody likes weekly emails.

Answer 4

This step will make all :

i) notified about the progress of OS and the help given here.
ii) motivated to help on OS and become the top answerer of the week / asker.

What improvement will this Newsletter have on OS ?

i) Each site has its' own newsletter, though OS is unique but still, we need to have a newsletter.
ii) There will be less trolls in chats and more answers for questions , even in ALL groups.
iii) World wide promotion of this site .
iv) If the top answerer of the week and asker of the week is given subject wise then , it will promote ALL the groups and i am sure, the groups will be active again .


What if users try to spam again to gain the "Top answerer of the week/asker of the week" ?

As per my thinking, we have TOP CLASS spammers, but its' nothing to be proud of :) . But still, rather than trolls in the chats, if we have some of the direct answers in questions' posts then mods will take the action easily. And soon, they will start helping nicely.

It is difficult for mods to stop the trolls in chats but its' not when it comes about "Direct answers" problem. There are 60-70% askers who don't like direct answers and I think there are 80-90% users on OS who don't give medals to users who don't deserve.

And I think this is the best way to STOP THE TROLLS IN CHATS. Nothing can be better then this, in my opinion.

Answer 5

This is not a newsletter like the others' site have. We will have, such a newsletter in which Top users are mentioned, in which new features are mentioned, in which new mods/admins are mentioned, in which the goals are mentioned. This is even exciting and I am sure at least 90% of the users will love to subscribe for OS newsletter.

Answer 6

@Ashleyisakitty , as I said, OS is unique, and so the newsletter is going to be unique too. Even everything on OS is unique.

Answer 7

Worth a shot.

Answer 8

:) May be, that was ignored @Hero ! btw, all your suggestions are usually awesome! :)

Answer 9

We can just give this idea a try. And I am sure, no harm in that? :)

Answer 10

Thanks Hero. Friends, please put in a comment here if you support this idea. or just (+1) :)

@AccessDenied @dumbsearch2

Answer 11

I like it quite a bit.

Answer 12

It should be biweekly or monthly.

Answer 13

Okay samuel, that can be biweekly or monthly too.

Answer 14

Should be weekly.
Unobtrusive emails: people always prefer!

Answer 15

Okay. ^ :)

Answer 16

we used to have that before

Answer 17

I just made a newsletter for OS , just like a preview


How is it? @dumbsearch2 @modphysnoob @AccessDenied @Hero @Ashleyisakitty

@Preetha

Answer 18

It can be better designed in Publisher, that I don't have currently.

Answer 19

Oh yeah!

Answer 20

Well, of course, it doesn't look ideal and the text is phrased all wrong, but it still gives an idea of what it could be like.

Answer 21

lol , yeah I just wanted to give an idea. Sorry for bad text
:

Answer 22

+1 this idea and think its worth a try :)

Answer 23

Thank you KC :)

Answer 24

"Top answers of the week/questions of the week" section wud be interesting to look at in the newsletter
nice :) +++1

Answer 25

+ 1

This idea sounds very promising, for all of us users, and OS.

Answer 26

Actually, you should never start a newsletter as weekly unless there is a dedicated writing staff for doing so. The goal can be to move to weekly, but if you are not truly ready, weekly is a huge step. A lot of weekly things have done OK for the first few weeks... then they start grasping at straws.

By starting as monthly, you have time to work out kinks, make sure unsubscribing works, come up with something to talk about, and so on. It gives more time to develop it and realize how much or little work it really is. Then, stepping to biweekly after a few months lets you see if the increased information flow is sustainable. Finally, if it all works and is not too resource consuming, weekly.

As for the personal progress report part, I like the idea. I also think there are more important things to work on. Reliability and scalability are far more important than sending out a newsletter with a weekly progress report on your user account... especially since that progress can be seen any time by clicking your name.

The best Q&A part will be easy. Have each of the Ambassadors find a candidate. Then the staff can pick one.

Also, all of this does partially depend on the costs involved. Mailing list companies exist for a reason. These things don't always go as planned.

Answer 27

I am sure there are some dedicated writers on OS :)

Answer 28

On OS or that work for OS. If it is to be an official newsletter of OS, then they need to be working for the company, OR, it can't be the official newsletter. Instead, it could be the user's newsletter with the occasional comment added in by the OS team. But that lands the newsletter into all sorts of tricky situations due to the Use of Information clause in the privacy policy:

http://openstudy.com/privacy-policy

That is why it would need to be officially made by staff.

Answer 29

@e.mccormick , I agree that some things don't always go as planned. But I think OpenStudy has the courage and the ability to start and ensure this plan's progress. As KC said, we have many dedicated writers on OS . OS can appoint any mod for this work , we have awesome mods, we have top class language experts . This can be monthly if admins are not sure for the weekly newsletter plan.

Answer 30

@e.mccormick , agreed! But as I said, admins and mods are capable to do this work.

Answer 31

And this is just a step to increase the fame of OpenStudy, and to promote all the groups on OS , admins, according to me should not hesitate to try this idea.

Answer 32

And, thanks @ganeshie8 and @some_someone .

Answer 33

OpenStudy has interns too. There is nothing impossible for OpenStudy and I also think that this idea is not much difficult to be implemented.

Answer 34

Mods, as far as I know, do not work for OS. That means it lands on admins and staff. So then the question becomes, do they have the resources. I am certain they could get help from the mods and the ambassadors. When it comes to finding the best question and answer over a time period, they are probably the best choice. However, when it comes to everything else, it is an OS staff issue.

A good measure of how frequent the staff can do these things is the blog. If you look at the blog dates, they are, well.... not regular.

In fact, a good solution might be to allow the blog to be subscribed to via email. Then the best Q&A could be handled by mod/ambi and turned over to the OS staff as a blog post. Not saying this is the best or only solution, but it does show a possible path to getting a newsletter going and seeing how many would be interested in subscribing.

And you added interns into the mix...

An intern, by law, may not be used to do additional work. It must be a redundant duty or something that would not cause gain, and is of educational value to the intern. This part of the law has caused a recent wave of lawsuits, starting with what is discussed here:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-27/unpaid-intern-lawsuits-explained

So having the interns be responsible for a completely new feature would be, well, pushing it.

Answer 35

1. The blog is very regular. It's just written 100% by Preetha.

Answer 36

@dumbsearch2

http://blog.openstudy.com/
July 12, 2013
July 6, 2013
June 19, 2013
June 1, 2013
May 15, 2013
May 4, 2013
April 18, 2013
April 15, 2013
April 1, 2013

What about that is regular?

Answer 37

It's not weekly, sure, but it's not supposed to be weekly.

Answer 38

Its about twice a month

Answer 39

It's not dubbed a weekly blog.

Answer 40

It is frequent. It is not regular.

Answer 41

I mean regular as it is written over twice a month.
Not regular as exactly this time or exactly this date, though I'm surprised that you find it so hard to believe that OpenStudy could actually do something "regular" in a newsletter?

Answer 42

i would like to see top questions, responses and discussions in the newsletter,

Answer 43

Yes.
Perfect inspiration: the StackOverflow newsletter.

Answer 44

For looking at how the staff is presently doing information distribution, which reflects on the potential distribution of a weekly mailing list, it is exceptionally relevant. It points out why I say doing something weekly to start might not be a great choice. They don't even have enough new things happening to have a blog post every week. They get one or two a month, so a monthly or biweekly newsletter would be more reflective of the volume of information coming out of OS.

Answer 45

I'm not even proposing that the newsletter be hand-written!

I love the idea that it would be automatically generated, like how StackOverflow does it. Just an automatically generated list programmatically of all the "hottest" questions, answers, newest ones, ect.

The newsletter would be catered to your interests, or your most participated subjects.

And if there would be any new blog post since the last newsletter, it would also be shown.

Answer 46

dumbsearch2 "I mean regular as it is written over twice a month."

And I am pointing out that word is frequent. Regular implies a set period of time as the primary meaning in these cases.

I think they could do something regular, and I feel it would be nice if they did. I am simply pointing out that weekly is not necessarily the best choice and that the onus of doing so will fill directly on the staff. I agree completely that there are people on the site that could contribute in some ways, but there are aspects of this that would fall directly on the staff and that means the question must be answered by staff as to resources.

Answer 47

I agree.

Answer 48

But I understood that you were trying to imply that OpenStudy couldn't do this in any regular circumstance.

Answer 49

How? I recommended, from the start, monthly or biweekly, and listed the volume of irregular blog posts as support for the idea that weekly might be more than the level of information the generate is able to fill.

Answer 50

Alright, then I clearly wasn't understanding your point :)

Answer 51

That is not unusual... many people don't get my point. They get lost after paragraph three and when I make my point on page 14 they are already lost.

Answer 52

lul?

Answer 53

Haha I like people who are long-winded.

Answer 54

Detail orientated. Ahem. =P

Answer 55

You just gave a new definition to long-winded xD

Answer 56

Or argued a different point of view that is related. You can be long winded without being detail orientated. Hmmm... but can you be detail orientated without being long winded?

Answer 57

Well actually, @e.mccormick , I didn't know the rules for interns or mods , so sorry for that.

But I still think , one must understand the difference in a blog and in a newsletter. Currently, the blog is not having any information that a newsletter should have. I don't know why you are thinking that OpenStudy can not make it on regular basis. We had farm, shadow, matt, cshalvey, all the admins did the work on the regular basis, they presented downtimes reports, they made new features and I didn't see any irregularity in that. The new admins that we have are also awesome, and I am sure that if 1-2 more join them, then this will not be hard for them. yes , there can also be auto-generated newsletter, like stackoverflow has. But still, I think handwritten will be better. Top Answerers, Top questions, Discussions , especially subject wise will influence OpenStudy's fame .

There are also many sites having the newsletter declared monthly, biweekly or weekly. We can have thie feature , biweekly too. But in that case, the work may become hard for them. Ambassadors can be appointed to suggest top users of the week, but the higher authority should land in the hands of mods and admins only. Mods and admins only should be given power to decide the top users. Ambassadors can suggest their names though.

It is now up to the admins, how they try to implement this idea, how much effort they make and how much we follow the ideas ...

Instead of just discussing about, how the admins will make the newsletter, we shall focus on the positive points of this idea. We're having many groups which are inactive. Top users of the week/month , group-wise will even encourage all to help others. The groups will be active again .

Answer 58

@mathslover

I only knew the intern stuff from having had a few and the recent news. When I had them, they told me I needed to be there and direct them in doing what would of been my job. I still got paid. they learned.

When, in ANY of my posts, have I said they CAN'T do a regular thing? Please find this. Look around where I said a regular monthly schedule that can then progress to biweekly, and hopefully make it to weekly. Every part of that says regular to me, but for some reason people keep telling me I am saying that is not regular.

My point is this: More work means more resources. Period. That is not able to be escaped. It is a fact of life. So, do you know for certain that they have extra resources to use to produce a newsletter? I don't. I have never seen their schedules, if they do overtime, and so on. That is why I don't know, or feel that anyone who is not on staff would know. It is also why I feel only someone who is on staff can answer that part of the issue at hand.

Answer 59

Let me tag those, @BostonBlue @Charuvig @polesapart And preetha.

For making a newsletter, I think Office publisher is sufficient. And I am 90% confident that the admins have the questions asked, questions answered reports or if not, then they can take it from the site data.


Well but I still think, this idea will be beneficial for all, and I request admins to think for this.

Answer 60

ok thats great

Answer 61

Great idea!
Could be partly auto generated and partly hand written.

Answer 62

thanks @thomaster and @asmagul .

Answer 63

+1

Answer 64

Thank you @uri

Answer 65

i suggest that we should make Os forums too

Answer 66

there are manys thing that can be done for the progress of OS like google groups blogs forums etc.

Answer 67

@mathslover wat do u think

Answer 68

We have a fb page, we have blog of openstudy...

Answer 69

wat about forums and a google goup

Answer 70

Yep, there can be such forums. But OS Feeedback is enough to discuss things about OpenStudy.

Answer 71

there is much more we can do except these because people sometimes delete their emails without even looking at it so we should plan something

Answer 72

there should be a section of Os newsfeed

Answer 73

where people can see all the lastest news about os

Answer 74

somebody should become a reporter

Answer 75

We have already the news posted here by Preetha, but the demand is of Newsletter.

There are many many users who have an account on OpenStudy but don't come here due to any reason. In this case,t o stay connected with them, OpenStudy can mail the openstudy newsletter containing the above mentioned informations and this can get them back on OS! :)

Answer 76

hmmm but we can still use forums because thats wat they are about

Answer 77

Collecting all the news of the week in a mail and then letting all the openstudiers know is better , I suppose.

Answer 78

Well, your opinion counts. Will discuss about forums too.

Answer 79

hm okay

Answer 80

Email News-letters are an important part of cyber-marketing.I guess they should work on it.

Answer 81

Yes Hba.

Answer 82

I am tired guys, TL;DR version please?

Answer 83

You're not tired enough to chat 1000s of messages, yet you can't read this?
tut-tut-tut

Answer 84

Yes but chat is little by little so it's like a small poke, this is like a slap to the face with a rock :3

Answer 85

lol JA1, short version : We're demanding for OpenStudy newsletter which will have the following features :

Aim : To motivate others to help.
To keep everyone updated about OS and it's new features/mods/ambassadors [if any]
To motivate others to help and get help on OS

Features : Report on :
Total questions Answered
Total questions Asked
Total medals given
Top answerer of the week
Top asker of the week

Those, top answerer and asker may be group wise to promote all groups.

Notification on New mods/admins/ambies
New features , downtimes reports (if possible)
Future plans (if any)

It will surely, promote all the study groups if the toppers are declared group-wise.

@e.mccormick has presented some thoughts, that it will be hard for the admins to arrange a writer for OpenStudy newsletter.

Our solution for the above problem is that, instead of weekly newsletter, it can be biweekly or monthly.

MissMob, thinks that a forum can also be equivalent to the newsletter .

Yet all support for this idea and think that its Worth a try. There is no de-merit for this while there are several merits.

Answer 86

Who is going to we writing it?

Answer 87

@waheguru That was part of my point.

Answer 88

Seems like a good idea, do it, and if it stands on its own two feet, then it will become a needed feature.

Answer 89

Right radar. Thanks !

Answer 90

It will be a wonderful idea actually because it brings us together more than w already are, and it keeps us informed of OS and all it's problems, we could deliver a short "BETA" version for a week or two and see how it goes, then we could implement more things and maybe even have users who are in charge of writing the articles, the stats, etc... kind of like a school newspaper, how bout it @Preetha ?

Answer 91

Thanks Math! Brilliant suggestion. A few questions so I can understand. Lets focus on the "what".
Do you see this as an email that goes out - as opposed to a blog?
I can see that there is specific content you seek - that is not on the blog. IF we had this specific content on the blog and regularly - would it be what you seek?
SO you have to come to the blog - while the email comes to you. Which one were you thinking of?

Answer 92

I was going to mention that too, an email is annoying, but a link tot he blog would be better :/

Answer 93

Generating Email Newsletters is an integral part of Web Innovation.So i guess math is most probably referring to that.

Answer 94

Actually, very honestly email newsletters are already becoming "old". I havn't seen many Web 2.0 sites with this functionality.

Answer 95

Thanks @Preetha . I am not so aware about the new technologies or options for this idea. I have always heard about email newsletters. But after thinking about this ,

I think it can be like this :

An email comes to the subscribers of OS Newsletter including the link to the blog post (which contains the above given suggestions) and the summary like a table of : questions asked and answered and medals given , so having both options : email as well as blog.

most users generally are not aware about blog, as well as some of the users are not coming on OS daily or frequently. If we mail providing the link as well as the summary - report of month/week , then MOST users will come back on OS after knowing about the OS's success.