We've been racking our brains over the past few days, thinking of even more to add to TalkPHP. A few things we've come up with are as follows:
Note: Is thanksgiving the same as independence day? I didn't think it was, but Karl seems to think otherwise. We're Brits, you see
Regular competitions with prizes (possibly Amazon vouchers, or just programming related books and things);
Competitions for special occasions, such as:
Christmas
New Year's
Halloween
Easter
Independence Day
Earth Day
Thanksgiving
Beta testing section to get beta testers for your web applications (paid or otherwise);
Websites reviews: we take a website and break it down into all its good and bad points and discuss each other, allowing others to discuss it as well;
Weekly comic strip (possibly, I've not thought this one through);
Weekly poll which has the potentiality to open up further discussions;
Tokens handed out by administrators for articles and scripts etc. based on many factors such as uniqueness which can be redeemed for various things from Amazon vouchers to TalkPHP advertising;
PHP function library where everybody can contribute their own functions for various things - break it down into really strict categories as well as vB's search functionality;
In extension to the cash for articles, etc. perhaps have writer columns for those interested and have various incentives. This will allow you a place to write about your opinions, views, etc.
These are just a few of the ideas we've had. I don't know how you feel about them, so I'd like some input from you all I think we've got a very good niche here and a lovely blossoming community so I think the more things we have that people love, the better !
Any opinions/suggestions from yourselves? It would be much appreciated!
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The man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out.
That's some pretty awesome ideas you have there, but, my concern is, why would you hire BETA testers? :s alot of people these days are willing to try new technology and new sites for free
Well, yes, free beta testing, but bigger systems are obviously going to need to cough up some pennies if they want thorough testing. Just don't want to completely rule it out! It's important we consider every aspect beforehand.
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The man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out.
Team of 2 really. Bluesaga pops his head around the door from time-to-time, but he doesn't actually have any part in TalkPHP at the moment - from a financial point. And all Salathe does is pick on me and Karl and rip our code to shreds (I know that's not strictly true).
We seem to be doing well though! But thanks anyway, I'll be sure to ask if I need help.
One question I do have is do we have any cartoonists around here? More than willing to pay a generous amount of moolah for some good, quality work once a week That is, one cartoon of 3 to 4 frames every week. I have emailed some cartoonists I found off of Google, but someone who's part of the TalkPHP community would be even better!
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The man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out.
Note: Is thanksgiving the same as independence day? I didn't think it was, but Karl seems to think otherwise. We're Brits, you see
No. Far from. On Independence day we celebrate our independence. On Thanksgiving we give thanks. There's a story about the first thanksgiving with the pilgrims and Native Americans. Look it up on wikipedia for more information. Pretty much we get together with our families and eat a big dinner on Thanksgiving.
Weekly comic strip???? I think I've misunderstood that line *winks* ;)
Haha, anyways! I think you're doing many new great stuff for this community, and I think all of those will help the community become bigger than it already is.
The PHP function library is a good idea. I am creating a program in C++ / C# that basically helps create PHP type websites and others like javascript/ajax and so on. You select from the menu bar PHP tab and then select "add function" and i was going to add all these different functions i had done. So if this library was to happen i could implement it into the program im writting for an assignment. It would be proppa software and can be named talkPHP Coder or somekind. Ill take some screenshots of what i have done so far. Once you add a function the code is automattically added to the code below
I personally don't quite care about the cartton strip. Seems like a waste of time and money to me. One thing we didn't cover is member of the month. I think member of the month would be a really nice addition, we just need to think how to do it, maybe we could use the thanks system, couple that with the number of posts and maybe some other variables such as user's activity - I think we could come up with a decent algorithm between everyone here. Any mathematicians about?
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Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.
How about an improved "directory" of developers. Yea yea - I've seen the other ones out there but they are either chock-full of indian-bred programming groups or terribly maintained.
I'd like to have a database of developers (both local and global) that I can call upon when I get too busy to handle my own client load. I'm sure there are a lot of very talented programmers around here that find it difficult to get work for one reason or another.
Maybe (if it's not too much work) have this directory tie into the users forum account so we can look back to their forum activity to decide whether or not to use them.
Another simple idea would be to provide some promotional material or even a "badge" including talkphp.com logo and link that I can paste in my MySpace, Facebook and other accounts.
Good idea! We have a couple of graphics currently. Tell me what you think I'll be more than happy to get some more done for us all.
Incidentally, Salathe, I love the background you have on the left of the banner one. Looks really effective. Let me upload the PSDs for you all to have a play around with.
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The man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out.