Rethinking the Freemedia problem
Just free thinking here. Stop me if I'm an idiot. :)
We've clearly got LOTS of demand. What we need is more participants.
BUT... we don't want to burden participants like we've burdened poor
Thomas. :)
Maybe we need more structure and tools to scale participation -- and a way
to "guarantee" response times. So let me bounce this structure off you:
1. THE RECRUITER PAGE.
Maybe we make a real easy webpage that says something like this:
Join Up! Lots of messaging here about how you're sharing the fun!
Tell us:
* Name and email;
* Where you live;
* Whether you prefer to send CDs, DVDs, or both;
* Where you're willing to send CDs/DVDs;
* How many per week you're willing to send.
2. THE INPUT QUEUE.
Same as what we have now, except the request goes into a simple database
that tracks address, date of request, and who's handling it, if anyone.
3. THE REQUEST ENGINE.
Basically, it goes through and matches volunteers to requests -- at a rate
that precisely matches the volunteer's desire to help. If someone can
send one DVD / set of CDs a week, that's exactly what we ask them to send.
4. THE BACKLOG.
We show the backlog on a webpage, and given the number of requests we
have, we estimate a delivery time for every single CD/DVD request we have
in the queue.
5. THE RATING. :)
Once someone promises to send CDs/DVDs to someone, we need a way to find
out if it happened. Actually, what we *really* need is a way to find out
if it *didn't* happen. Maybe an "Oops!" counter. If someone accumulates
a few Oopses, they'll get a gentle reminder that they made a promise. If
they accumulate a bunch of Oopses, they're dropped from the rotation.
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So. Thoughts?
There's some work here, but for a reasonably competent web programmer...
it's really not tough. Just requires someone with hands and time. :)
Might also be nice to donate such an application to the community at
large...
--g
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Greg DeKoenigsberg || Fedora Project || fedoraproject.org
Be an Ambassador || http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Ambassadors
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