Kage/CELS - regarding non-registered users and figuring out what ASP is...

[Studio Colrouphobia]

I got this from a post I made with artwork that could be seen more of here on the ASP:

No-One  Re: ARTWORK: Colrouphobics more finnished stuff
alright i might sound like a complete idiot but what exactly is anargo sector project? i'd love to join it, but i couldn't tell what it was when i went to the site...

other than that, great artwork, it is superb

I'm not sure exactly what he meant by this, but maybe looking over the format of how we describe the ASP on the mainpage (that people come to when they go here the first time, wether explore-site or another page)?
Just trying to be helpful

[CELS]

This is going to be me coming off as a pretentious, condescending S.O.B., but here we go...

Over the past years, we've had many different kinds of members. We've had some members who don't really understand what we're doing or know how to get started. We've also had some members who do a lot of reading before posting, familiarizing themselves with our sticky-posts, reading the FAQ, and even learning some about the background before making their first post. In my experience, the last kind of newcomer is the kind that tends to function in the ASP.

It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with intelligence or understanding of the English language. Just as often, I think it's a matter of showing interest and taking the time to find things out instead of asking people for help all the time. What are you guys doing? How do I get started? What do I do now?

All the information is there. If someone's interested in the ASP but either doesn't bother to check the Introduction and Getting Started forum, or doesn't understand that this is a good place to look for information, well, then I guess it was not meant to be. On a positive note, if we ever get the ASP Explore website up and running, I think people will understand what the ASP is about a lot quicker.

Thanks for the heads up though. Appreciated.

Maybe Kage will have a different opinion. This is just my take on it.

[Kage2020]

I must admit that my own thoughts are echoing with those of CELS.  With that said, however, I would also like to offer a link from the Explore WiP website for your--for their--consideration:

Anargo Sector Project Mission Statement

Kage

[Studio Colrouphobia]

Actually, I think in this case, the person didn't join, but was looking at the heaps of posts going "wtf!"
Something that would be quite understandable, concidering that we have quite extensive writings on here.

Thanks for the link though Kage, will see if it helps...

[CELS]

Yes, I understood what happened, actually. But what would you suggest should be done differently? I don't know about you, but I'm just assuming that visitors would want to check out the Sticky posts in the Introduction forum. The name "introduction" should imply that it's a good place to start. If they have any further questions, I think most of them have been answered in the aptly named forum "How do I get started?"

Perhaps I am underestimating the complexity of our forum though, since I've grown so used to it. How would you suggest that it be improved?

[Studio Colrouphobia]

I think that it might indeed be so that we (and I say WE with a reason, because I have the same) are indeed used to the complexity of this place.


My suggestion would be to make the explore site more readily available- I have no idea how available it is (I have a direct-bookmark to the forums) but on the first page of the exploresite it sais all that is needed to explain how it works.
Maybe make it obviously available with a link from the forums?

As a non-native englishspeaker, I must say that "explore website" always rang weird in my ears- it doesn't really tell me what it is, so maybe a line in the forumheader stating

"you want to know what this is all about? Check our [link]explore website[/link]" or somesuch?

Or is the explore site still in too much  of a "pre" face to be linked like that?

I wasn't proposing we did something wrong, just that I had gotten a message that someone looked at ASP website and just didn't get what it was...
You guys obviously have plans for how to display things that I dont know about, and probably you have allready thought about this- I just thought that if someone comes to the ASP, interested, and then goes "what?/huh?/is this?", then maybe it is a bit counterproductive in some fascion.

But like I said, I could be wrong, you could allready be n top of this, there might be a plan that lead up to any of this being sorted, the guy might just have followed a link somewhere where everything is weird (in which case the exlore website link I got will help).

[Kage2020]

So, you're just saying that we should "release" the Anargo "Explore" website ("explore" because you're exploring the Anargo sector and the 40k universe, gedd'it...)

All that requires is that we change the automatic redirect from "anargo-sector.net" to "anargo-sector.net/community" and place the "frontpage2.php" as the index file.  This means that you would be presented with the frontpage and be given the option of going either to the forums or the Explore website, woefully inadequate as it is.

Kage

[CELS]

Meh. I wouldn't mind. The Explorer website is far from presentable, but at this rate, it seems unlikely that it will even reach Stage 1 before 2010. Might as well make it public, I guess. <shrug>

[Studio Colrouphobia]

So, you're just saying that we should "release" the Anargo "Explore" website ("explore" because you're exploring the Anargo sector and the 40k universe, gedd'it...)

All that requires is that we change the automatic redirect from "anargo-sector.net" to "anargo-sector.net/community" and place the "frontpage2.php" as the index file.  This means that you would be presented with the frontpage and be given the option of going either to the forums or the Explore website, woefully inadequate as it is.

Kage

If you think it is doable, yeah sure. I think the Explorewebsite looks quite allright, and if it is noted on it that it is "a work in progress" then I don't think people mind, but you guys know better.

[Kage2020]

Ye gadz.  I shall stop being distracted and get back to putting material back on the web when and if it becomes available.

Kage

[CELS]

I don't think there's any formatted material available that hasn't been uploaded to the website, actually. Which is the reason behind my previous statement

[Kage2020]

I know, but perhaps I should just get around to writing what I can and being constantly corrected with the material that I've forgotten.  That way, at least, there is some place filler text in everything. 

I'll continue with GRT: Psykers at the same time, so I shall remain inspired, and then once that is done be able to dedicate my entire time to the Venturer RPG stats so that can continue and then... Well, we shall see.

I refuse to let the project die until the entire sector is up on the Explore site.

Kage