Well, I admit that it's been a long time since I've posted.
Disciples Connect runs fine by itself, but things do get quiet here if there isn't a steady presence. Part of my absence, other than the occasional checkups, has been because we are using Facebook more in my region to connect young adults and youth. This means Disciples Connect may need another and better focus.
The blog and community aspect of Disciples Connect have been the strongest features. Though I did have a working user profile page and a variety of other features here and there, I wonder if focusing more on the community conversation would not be the key to go forward. Maybe we are to use this forum as a way to talk about our lives, our calls, and our dreams for the church. This means it is not a one for all approach - it could be a steady, small site of consistent and interesting conversation.
So, what do you think should be the next step? What are the absolute bare minimum of features that we would need? Would you like to see a new look? Should there be more discussion guidelines so that our conversations are organized better or focused on specific topics? What do you think?
You the man!
That's an interesting new photo, Nathan. It looks like you're smelling something rotten. Hmmm....
Great new look! It's really disorienting for me. I'll have to get used to it. But I wouldn't be young if I didn't enjoy keeping on my toes. Keep it up!
Nick
p.s. What's a digg?
Digg is a cool website that basically collects interesting, funny, important news stories and lets people subscribe to them. You can find out about news events or cool stuff on the internet. It's a little nerdy, but it's a way to get the site out to more people. If an article is good, enough people can digg it and get it out there.
I like the new look, but I have at least one other possible look waiting in the backwings. Go to Edit My Account and then try the Siberia theme. See which one you like the best. This one looks just a tad more modern and pleasing to the eye, so I am leaning toward it.
I am still working on some of these features. I just cannot get Private Messages to work right again - lots of little errors.
Nathan,
These are all great ideas and I feel you're on the right track with all your statements. I would like to see more topical discussion as well as "consistent and interesting conversation".
Perhaps in addition to talking about "our lives, our calls, and our dreams for the church", which is excellent, we could also encourage more artsy fartsy stuff like poetry, essays, sermons, and fiction. One thing I've noticed about this site over most internet sites is the comparative excellence in presentation, both in style and clarity. I'd like to push these standards into a wide range of works. Maybe we could classify our blog before posting. That way you can organize by date, by author, or by classification. If things pick up, we could have a "Classic Disciples Connect" section where new users can skip to the best stuff and see what the site's all about.
Just thoughts. Keep it all up though. I'd like to see some new life come back here. New life... I've read about that somewhere.
Nick