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Description
Category: Visual Suggestions (VS)

If they won't come for the suggestions, the best suggestions will come to them.

There is a project I would like to do alongside with other deviants. Briefly, the project is about putting the best (or at least worthwhile) suggestions on improving DA, made by ALL PARTICIPANTS, into one collage and then linking the piece to a person from the staff I contacted about suggstions earlier with good results.

The forum thread where you can get critique on your ideas and eventually get your idea visualised is here:

The suggestions forum thread.

The thought behind this project is that the staff doesn't have the time to read the whole suggestions forum threads only to find that an idea is flawed or search for amazing ideas burried between posts. So I thought I could put the best ideas into one visualisation of suggestions on improving DA, credit the authors of these suggestions and link the person responsible for development to the collage. That would save the staff a lot of time. Really! Not only they wouldn't have to dig for good ideas for hours (reading all the posts) in the forums every day, but they would get the best in one place, visualised and presented clearly, refined after the critique process. It would also speed up the process of improving DA (as said, they wouldn't have to read the posts only to find the idea is unpopular among users or flawed. That doesn't render the suggestions forum useless, because in what other way could the ideas be refined?). What I ask of you is to either give critique on the ideas posted in the forums (or journal entries, news articles) and presented on the visualisation; to post your own ideas that could be turned into a visualisation (no worries, I'll do the work for you if others will consider the idea worthwhile), also the best ideas you had earlier (preferably the ones that got some positive response IF you posted them on the suggestions forum or shared them with other users in your journal). You can also help in countless other ways: by encouraging people to participate in the project in your journals, create a stamp and share it, put a link into your journal or even create your own visualisations and link them to me, so I can share it, refine it and even merge it with my own, crediting you of course for your visualisation and showing clearly where your visualisation starts (of course, if you agree to merge it). Basically any way to spread the word and participate is a good way to help the project. Even commenting or faving on the ideas of others that have been visualised is a sign of support. This person, seeing the favs and comemnts, will be more eager to spend his own time on reading it if so many people found it worthy of spending their time on.

I'm about to turn a journal entry about this into a news article, so if you wish, you can link people to the news article later. I hope it will spark the interest of the users, so I will have the chance to update the collage often. I can always update the collage with my own ideas, but that's not the same.

This person I mentioned is very busy (I got a reply after months I sent the note with the link, but I understand and I don't mind at all) and I wouldn't want that his note center gets filled with possibly bad suggestions that haven't even been consulted with anyone, for example on the suggestions forums.

After Chrisbucks' suggestion, I also allow everyone to put the collage in your gallery (it can be the current one, but also the updated versions with ideas from other users including you)OR create your own visuallisations and get feedback on them. It would be up to you if you want your visualisation merged with the main one or if you want me to keep it separate and just link it. Of course, even if the visualisation was merged, it would be still credited and separated with something, so people could see where it starts. The links to visualisations would be put into the deviation comment and journals.

A link to the collage will be sent to the person mentioned above. In the best case your idea will be implemented and you'll do something good for the whole community; in the worst - it gets rejected. But since it's about gathering the best suggestions, the greatest chance is that they'll serve as an inspiration or get riffed/refined. There is also a great chance that your idea will serve as an inspiration for a Gresemonkey extention like the one that adds a "suggest DD" button to the deviation page.

What requirements does the suggestion need to meet to get featured this way?
A suggestion is most likely to appear on the visualisation if at least a part of the responses to this suggestion was positive, or people see it's potential or a way to make the improvement better. If you suggested the improvement in a previous forum thread and can find it, I would be happy if you linked people to it, so they could see that the idea really got a positive response. But since few people bookmark such threads and it's hard to rely on the search forums option, it isn't required. BUT if you post your idea, be prepared for getting it critiscized for the same reasons it got critiscized before. I might like some ideas myself and be eager to put them on the visualisation, but I'll wait for other people to point out it's flaws to make up my mind and suggest improvements to the author. However I think that if an idea is good, it will defend itself.

When and how often will you update it?
The ideas for the suggestions came to my mind when I was browsing DA. It took me about 5 - 7 hours with lots of breaks a day and I finished it in three days. I'll update it when I have enough ideas. The updates will be announced in my journal.

What are the benefits?
1. As the purpose of this visualisation is to collect the best ideas, it is more likely to gain attention from the staff.
2. "A picture says more than a thousand words" says the old proverb. The staff will less likely tire of reading suggestions accompanied by pictures that make up for 80% of text that would otherwise be needed to describe the new feature.
3. When you post to the suggestions forum, I assume you want to see your idea implemented/used? This can increase the chances.
4. The best of your ideas will remain saved on a visualisation instead of drowning in the depths of the forums or a lake of journal entries.
5. The staff usually doesn't have much time to read all of the posts in the suggestions forum, because the suggested idea could turn out to be not worthy implementing at all at the end of the thread and time would be wasted reading about it. They would be probably very happy seeing the essence of the best suggestions in one place.
6. If your ideas would be used, you would do a great service to the community.
7. A person writing scripts for Greasemonkey could write an extension for DA that features your idea.

Do I have to make my own visuallisation, so it could be added to the collage?
No, you don't, but I would ask you to get some feedback on the idea first, if you haven't already. I wouldn't like to spend hours of putting a visualisation together that is based on an idea that isn't so good. If you're idea seems worthwhile, I'll be happy to craft a visualisation for you.

Can I make my own visualisation, so you could add it to the collage? Yes, you can. However, get feedback on your idea first, because a visualisation doesn't make a bad idea better and you could just waste time on visualising it. I also would prefer if the visualisations would be crafted in a way that doesn't look sloppy or unclear. I also prefer when the visualised suggestion contains only the neccessary part of DA - I wouldn't want to see a whole screenshot if the only thing that is different on this screenshot is the search bar. I certainly hope that you have some talent or at least a feel for what looks esthetic. Otherwise linking me to a sketch in your scraps section would be a better idea. I would also advise you to keep the style of your visualisation at least a bit consistant with the current visualisation.

How do you work on it? I just made a bitmap and expanded it when neccessary, by changing the attributes in the options. I browsed DA and took screenshots pressing ctrl + F11 with the freeware program Irfanview opened in the background (you have to set it to capturing pictures mode first). I saved the screenshots giving it names that described the suggestion or the element of DA I wanted to re-use. I copy/pasted the fragments into the bitmap, moved them around, changed the order of letters etc. and then added the comment. At the end I did a copy of the image and saved it with Irfanview in .jpg format, because it takes less diskspace and it's easier to upload and view. However, the colours are affected.

I have a suggestion. Where should I post it? If it's a written suggestion, you can reply to the proper forum thread in the suggestions forum or in the proper journal entry or the proper news article if/when I decide to write one. The links will be posted in the comment - here, under this deviation. If it's a visualisation, just post it to your scraps. I'll tell you when I saved it, so you can remove it from your scraps section if you wish.

How do I know I can trust you? You could just credit yourself for my ideas. I love the suggestions forum and if I did a thing like that, I wouldn't have the guts to post there anymore. Also a forum post that anyone can see is more than a proof to get the ripped off idea taken down. Besides, that would be silly to write that I'm the author and show it to the real authors - or write that I'm the author and link to the forum thread where a post shows clearly that I'm not.

If you have any further questions, just ask. I'll update this comment if neccessary.

Edit: I replaced a little fragment of the upper parts of another deviants gallery with my own. I was just thinking about another deviant having the language bar above the gallery and thought I had to use another deviants gallery, because it's stupoid to have this bar in your own. I'm sorry. I meant no harm. All is okay now. I must add that it was a deviant I cooperated on the Global Tutorials Project and she was generous enough to allow to post her tutorials translated to the galleries of translators.

Description
Category: Visual Suggestions (VS)

If they won't come for the suggestions, the best suggestions will come to them.

There is a project I would like to do alongside with other deviants. Briefly, the project is about putting the best (or at least worthwhile) suggestions on improving DA, made by ALL PARTICIPANTS, into one collage and then linking the piece to a person from the staff I contacted about suggstions earlier with good results.

The forum thread where you can get critique on your ideas and eventually get your idea visualised is here:

The suggestions forum thread.

The thought behind this project is that the staff doesn't have the time to read the whole suggestions forum threads only to find that an idea is flawed or search for amazing ideas burried between posts. So I thought I could put the best ideas into one visualisation of suggestions on improving DA, credit the authors of these suggestions and link the person responsible for development to the collage. That would save the staff a lot of time. Really! Not only they wouldn't have to dig for good ideas for hours (reading all the posts) in the forums every day, but they would get the best in one place, visualised and presented clearly, refined after the critique process. It would also speed up the process of improving DA (as said, they wouldn't have to read the posts only to find the idea is unpopular among users or flawed. That doesn't render the suggestions forum useless, because in what other way could the ideas be refined?). What I ask of you is to either give critique on the ideas posted in the forums (or journal entries, news articles) and presented on the visualisation; to post your own ideas that could be turned into a visualisation (no worries, I'll do the work for you if others will consider the idea worthwhile), also the best ideas you had earlier (preferably the ones that got some positive response IF you posted them on the suggestions forum or shared them with other users in your journal). You can also help in countless other ways: by encouraging people to participate in the project in your journals, create a stamp and share it, put a link into your journal or even create your own visualisations and link them to me, so I can share it, refine it and even merge it with my own, crediting you of course for your visualisation and showing clearly where your visualisation starts (of course, if you agree to merge it). Basically any way to spread the word and participate is a good way to help the project. Even commenting or faving on the ideas of others that have been visualised is a sign of support. This person, seeing the favs and comemnts, will be more eager to spend his own time on reading it if so many people found it worthy of spending their time on.

I'm about to turn a journal entry about this into a news article, so if you wish, you can link people to the news article later. I hope it will spark the interest of the users, so I will have the chance to update the collage often. I can always update the collage with my own ideas, but that's not the same.

This person I mentioned is very busy (I got a reply after months I sent the note with the link, but I understand and I don't mind at all) and I wouldn't want that his note center gets filled with possibly bad suggestions that haven't even been consulted with anyone, for example on the suggestions forums.

After Chrisbucks' suggestion, I also allow everyone to put the collage in your gallery (it can be the current one, but also the updated versions with ideas from other users including you)OR create your own visuallisations and get feedback on them. It would be up to you if you want your visualisation merged with the main one or if you want me to keep it separate and just link it. Of course, even if the visualisation was merged, it would be still credited and separated with something, so people could see where it starts. The links to visualisations would be put into the deviation comment and journals.

A link to the collage will be sent to the person mentioned above. In the best case your idea will be implemented and you'll do something good for the whole community; in the worst - it gets rejected. But since it's about gathering the best suggestions, the greatest chance is that they'll serve as an inspiration or get riffed/refined. There is also a great chance that your idea will serve as an inspiration for a Gresemonkey extention like the one that adds a "suggest DD" button to the deviation page.

What requirements does the suggestion need to meet to get featured this way?
A suggestion is most likely to appear on the visualisation if at least a part of the responses to this suggestion was positive, or people see it's potential or a way to make the improvement better. If you suggested the improvement in a previous forum thread and can find it, I would be happy if you linked people to it, so they could see that the idea really got a positive response. But since few people bookmark such threads and it's hard to rely on the search forums option, it isn't required. BUT if you post your idea, be prepared for getting it critiscized for the same reasons it got critiscized before. I might like some ideas myself and be eager to put them on the visualisation, but I'll wait for other people to point out it's flaws to make up my mind and suggest improvements to the author. However I think that if an idea is good, it will defend itself.

When and how often will you update it?
The ideas for the suggestions came to my mind when I was browsing DA. It took me about 5 - 7 hours with lots of breaks a day and I finished it in three days. I'll update it when I have enough ideas. The updates will be announced in my journal.

What are the benefits?
1. As the purpose of this visualisation is to collect the best ideas, it is more likely to gain attention from the staff.
2. "A picture says more than a thousand words" says the old proverb. The staff will less likely tire of reading suggestions accompanied by pictures that make up for 80% of text that would otherwise be needed to describe the new feature.
3. When you post to the suggestions forum, I assume you want to see your idea implemented/used? This can increase the chances.
4. The best of your ideas will remain saved on a visualisation instead of drowning in the depths of the forums or a lake of journal entries.
5. The staff usually doesn't have much time to read all of the posts in the suggestions forum, because the suggested idea could turn out to be not worthy implementing at all at the end of the thread and time would be wasted reading about it. They would be probably very happy seeing the essence of the best suggestions in one place.
6. If your ideas would be used, you would do a great service to the community.
7. A person writing scripts for Greasemonkey could write an extension for DA that features your idea.

Do I have to make my own visuallisation, so it could be added to the collage?
No, you don't, but I would ask you to get some feedback on the idea first, if you haven't already. I wouldn't like to spend hours of putting a visualisation together that is based on an idea that isn't so good. If you're idea seems worthwhile, I'll be happy to craft a visualisation for you.

Can I make my own visualisation, so you could add it to the collage? Yes, you can. However, get feedback on your idea first, because a visualisation doesn't make a bad idea better and you could just waste time on visualising it. I also would prefer if the visualisations would be crafted in a way that doesn't look sloppy or unclear. I also prefer when the visualised suggestion contains only the neccessary part of DA - I wouldn't want to see a whole screenshot if the only thing that is different on this screenshot is the search bar. I certainly hope that you have some talent or at least a feel for what looks esthetic. Otherwise linking me to a sketch in your scraps section would be a better idea. I would also advise you to keep the style of your visualisation at least a bit consistant with the current visualisation.

How do you work on it? I just made a bitmap and expanded it when neccessary, by changing the attributes in the options. I browsed DA and took screenshots pressing ctrl + F11 with the freeware program Irfanview opened in the background (you have to set it to capturing pictures mode first). I saved the screenshots giving it names that described the suggestion or the element of DA I wanted to re-use. I copy/pasted the fragments into the bitmap, moved them around, changed the order of letters etc. and then added the comment. At the end I did a copy of the image and saved it with Irfanview in .jpg format, because it takes less diskspace and it's easier to upload and view. However, the colours are affected.

I have a suggestion. Where should I post it? If it's a written suggestion, you can reply to the proper forum thread in the suggestions forum or in the proper journal entry or the proper news article if/when I decide to write one. The links will be posted in the comment - here, under this deviation. If it's a visualisation, just post it to your scraps. I'll tell you when I saved it, so you can remove it from your scraps section if you wish.

How do I know I can trust you? You could just credit yourself for my ideas. I love the suggestions forum and if I did a thing like that, I wouldn't have the guts to post there anymore. Also a forum post that anyone can see is more than a proof to get the ripped off idea taken down. Besides, that would be silly to write that I'm the author and show it to the real authors - or write that I'm the author and link to the forum thread where a post shows clearly that I'm not.

If you have any further questions, just ask. I'll update this comment if neccessary.

Edit: I replaced a little fragment of the upper parts of another deviants gallery with my own. I was just thinking about another deviant having the language bar above the gallery and thought I had to use another deviants gallery, because it's stupoid to have this bar in your own. I'm sorry. I meant no harm. All is okay now. I must add that it was a deviant I cooperated on the Global Tutorials Project and she was generous enough to allow to post her tutorials translated to the galleries of translators.