If the community offered more incentives, I'm sure there would be more action.
There's been many insightful posts in this topic, but let's see something done. Why doesn't every member who reads my post start a meaningful topic in a section other than General Discussion, or give some truly meaningful criticism to someone in the Gallery Showcase... or share some of your good knowledge with the rest of us.
I'll be the first to admit to my inactivity, I do however lurk around, reading the posts. I've read every post in this topic, and I have to say its brought back some memories. TalkFreelance has had some great times, Robson's Christmas competitions had everyone participating, everyone wanting to win a prize. Back then this was a real community, everyone was happy. Something I specifically remember, a member was lacking enough funds to purchase gifts for his family, and Robson organized a small fund for him, and those who donated received linkbacks from the homepage (or whatever it was). My point is not about how truthful that member was, we'll never know, but it was sure a good community gesture.
Community gesture. When was the last time we had that? When was the last time everyone had something positive to say? Lately TalkFreelance has been based around arguments and a full sin-bin.
I haven't used any big words, or made this post sound credible, or whatever. This is coming directly from my view on the situation. I believe your action will fight the troubles. Just remember this before stirring up conflict:
Think before you bicker, and be polite as much as you can. Someone hijacks a marketplace thread of yours? Report it. Someone makes an illogical post in your sale thread? Report it, or simply PM a moderator who's online, we'll check it out and deem it appropriate or not. Someone's actions are way out of line? Again, report it or PM a moderator. These are just three simple examples of taking 'silently loud' action and not turning the thread into a mess.
Take a look at this:
http://www.talkfreelance.com/showthr...295#post400295
I spent around 15 minutes coming up with all of this, and to my best knowledge my words will help change the design for the better. Even if they don't, and true critique happens more often, members like Jakob will have more incentive to post in the gallery with their work. Again, just a small example, but 20 of these small examples and we're already progressing.
I also call upon Big Zee to be here for this community more often. I have to say the staff members are creative people and have ideas too, ideas which could definitely benefit the community. With Big Zee being offline every weekend and minimally online working on TalkFreelance over the weekdays, it doesn't give us much leniency to do things. Things that TF would benefit from. There's the initial "OK I like this idea" process, which goes on for anywhere from a week to a year. Once that's done, there's the permissions and information phase, which is a simple exchange of information or temporary upgrade of permissions to implement the OK'd change. This usually takes up to even a week or two, and that's only if the idea has been OK'd. My point is, we haven't easy access to the man who calls the shots, which gives me no incentive to even bring up an idea I may have.
Anyway, I feel like I need to end this somehow. So here's what I'll say: My comments on this matter call for action, action from the members and the staff, and the owner. We need to produce more incentives, and we're all capable of doing this. No one is expected to pump out articles, but I hope a small effort to keeping things peaceful by the members will only do us good. I also think the staff should come together with a bundle of ideas, and hopefully present them to Big Zee on day and have the best ones done. And, that's it.
