[jdev] Jabber Community Site : Call for Help

[Julian Missig]

On 4 Oct 2004, at 3:53, Richard Dobson wrote:

> Yea thats fine, for first time users present the say top 5 rated 
> clients, also maybe making features of new clients that are getting 
> high ratings but maybe havent come high enough in the list yet. But 
> restricting the list to a certain total value IMO is a bad idea 
> because it creates the possibility of bias when a community site 
> should be striving to avoid bias wherever possible, also if the list 
> were fixed at a certain level it restricts the ability for new cool 
> clients that maybe better than all who have come before them from 
> getting a foothold, and also may make the developers of the clients 
> high up the list more lazy about improving their clients, having a 
> large listing sorted by ratings is the best way to keep things upto 
> date IMO, so if a developer got lazy and didnt keep it upto date it 
> would start getting negative reviews compared to other clients and it 
> would drop further down the list, allowing the clients that keep 
> things competitive high up there, it also gives developers who are 
> further down the list something to strive for.


Any decent community site is going to have some kind of bias. I don't 
think "eliminating bias" should be your top priority. I think "making 
it easier for people to get started" should be your top priority. You 
don't need to fear "hiding" other or new clients. If it truly is a 
"community" site, then people who really care will find out about them 
one way or another. Clients don't change that much that rapidly.

I'd go so far as to say that having 4 clients in a list may be a bit 
much for someone just starting out. I'd much rather have the user go 
through a quick form where we find out which IM clients (if any) they 
have experience with and recommending a client from there.

For example, I'd only recommend Psi to someone who has heavily used ICQ 
(in fact, I think most people who still use ICQ nowadays wouldn't like 
any clients /other than/ Psi). For someone with zero experience with 
IM, I'd never even show them the possibility of Psi. Just look at 
hardware web sites--most of them have a selection process where you 
tell them what you're looking for or what experience you have and they 
recommend based on that.

Tailor the data presented to the user.


On the other side, however, if the user doesn't give that data, we 
should still only present a quick 4 or so clients.

I guess my point is, really, don't worry about the bias. There's always 
going to be bias. The number 1 concern should be in making this 
experience easier. That means there has to be some bias.

As long as the list of clients can be changed, I see no reason to avoid 
bias at all costs.

Julian

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