Today I'm going to talk about who's involved, what we've got done so far in terms of content and discuss with you another one of many great ideas.
Who's Involved Firstly, there's me, John (AKA Synchronium). I run the .org project and anything related, like trying to actually code it all. Then, we have Random, our quality control guy from Australia. His job is to take content written by everyone else, see what's missing, standardise it, proof read it (along with my girlfriend, Mrs_Synch) and then we publish it. Next are the casual team of writers we've come across from various corners of the Internet. There are quite a lot to list, so what I'll ask is that all you writers leave a comment under here and tell everyone a little bit about what part of the project you're up to. Our team is in no way complete!That means we need YOU to help us - We always need more writers, and even if you can't write but want to help us, we have a number of things you could do, all of it very interesting. If you feel you could add something to the project, comment here, send me an Email, or post on the Forums. Now for idea #2...
Idea #2: Wordclouds & Tagging - What's a massively important feature in a community? To see what everyone else was up to! You wouldn't join MySpace or Facebook or StumbleUpon if there were no evidence of anyone else using it, so here's what we plan to do: allow people (public, or signed up members, we're not sure yet) to add their own tags to drugs. This could be based on effect, slang names, or whatever - The idea is that the most popular tags for the drug appear bolder and bigger in a word cloud, kind of like the homepage of Torrentz.com. (We don't advocate torrenting, it was merely an example of a wordcloud). We were also thinking of a wordcloud on the front page for the most commonly searched drugs too. It should not only look nice, but also give everyone an idea of what everyone else thinks. Combined with a number of other community related features which I'll be discussing at a later date, Coffeesh0p.org should end up being one massive, drugs related community!
That's all for this week, but stay tuned, because we have a lot to talk about! :)
Byhamster dood on 24/10/2007 - 3:43 Rating: Unrated
Well it's good to know that at least something is happening in the background, right? Even people might not comment, they still read. Just decided to make a comment since you requested one, and it doesn't take much from me to spend five minutes on this. I already don't do much around here anymore...
Anyways, I'm always glad to help, if I can. Happy to be part of this project.
Yesh, I'm a writer, too, though I wouldn't say my articles are 'above-average' quality.
For those of you who are new to the Coffeesh0p.org idea...welcome.
As you can probably tell, I'm Random. My job, as Synch pointed out, is mainly about proofreading, standardisation and collation; but I also do my bit to look after the writers and researchers, offering suggestions where needed and keeping in touch to make sure all is okay.
I have been busy of late with other commitments, but as they clear up I have more time to offer to the Coffeesh0p.org project.
You already know that there are already a number of drug "databases" available for review on the Internet - a quick Google search brings up half a dozen of them, no problem. That said, what we are trying to do here is slightly different.
Those "databases" that are easily found are often based on specific groups of substances; or they lack the information that people are needing; or worse, they have false, misleading and potentially dangerous information that they are broadcasting.
What .org (as you'll see me refer to it; that, or sh0p.org) is growing to become, is an up-to-date resource with accurate information about a wide variety of drugs, chemicals and miscellaneous substances. We WILL be the first any only stop for people needing information on drugs - to do this, however, we do need a few things.
CAN YOU WRITE WELL? We need you.
ARE YOU GOOD AT RESEARCHING VARIOUS TOPICS? We need you.
DO YOU KNOW YOUR DRUGS? REALLY? We need you.
There are many, many skills that the .org project could use: writing, researching, proofreading, double-checking. If you are at all interested in helping out, contact John using the links in his blog post, and we'll see how you can help.
The work is not only a learning experience for most, but it is also rewarding, to be contributing to what .org is becoming. If you can help, don't hesitate to get in touch.
ByAllez on 01/11/2007 - 19:48 Rating: Unrated
I'm still here too. Still unsure about pouring time into a dead project (the drug information bit, not the shop bit - the shop bit is fantastic) but I'll keep checking in.
