Welcome To The Quirky World Of Dooyoo! (Yes, MALU got me too) (Helpful Advice for New Members)

Member Name: I Like Blue

Product:	Helpful Advice for New Members
Date:	20/11/03 (111 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's a good place to be, Share experiences, Community feel

Disadvantages: Bugs, Searching, Broken Links

This Q&A challenge can help newbies find out what dooyoo is about and, if many established members participate, what the community is like and will hopefully convince them to stay and become active. Sure, everything has been said before, but has it had any impact? Only for a limited time until the opinion disappeared from the front page. By presenting the tips on helping new members in the form of a questionnaire which can be done by several members the impact can perhaps be prolonged, several members, better: many members, to show that many roads lead to dooyoo.

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Q: When did you join dooyoo?

I joined twice. First time was in August 2000 but after a few months I found I was taking it way too seriously and I let a lot of things get to me which, added to a lot that was happening in my personal life, led me to leave dooyoo in about March/April 2001. I threw out quite a few toys from my cot in the process which is something I am none too proud of now I look back.

I rejoined dooyoo in September 2001 after I calmed down and realised the pull of dooyoo was too great to avoid.

Q: How did you discover dooyoo?

You know I don't remember how I discovered dooyoo but I am glad I did! I think I might have stumbled on dooyoo by accident when doing a search for something else.

Q: Why did you join?

To be completely honest the lure of being paid for my opinions was one of the main reasons but also here was a site where I was impressed that someone out there in cyberspace wanted ordinary people to share their personal experiences with anyone and everyone about all manner of things.

Q: What was your very first opinion on?

I really can't remember my very first opinion but when I rejoined my first opinion was (prophetically) entitled 'Where Will This End' in the Speaker's Corner category of Attacks On America.

There were a
lot of opinions being submitted in this category as it was just after '9/11', and, as is one of the attractions of dooyoo, here was a chance to express what I felt about this tragedy along with many others.

Q: Did you find it easy to get the hang of dooyoo?

Yes, quite easily, but then it was pre-Aurora and dooyoo was pretty easy to navigate around and search for many different things with almost no trouble at all.

However, if I joined now I would find it rather frustrating especially with the rather pants search option which Aurora was to supposedly revolutionise and be the 'way ahead' leaving other Opinion sites in its wake.

Q: Did you read other opinions before you posted your first one?

Yes. As I didn't really know what the kind of standard of opinion was or what was the 'norm' for submitting an opinion and its content I read a number of varied opinions by other dooyoo members in a few different subjects/categories. I found this helped me structure my opinions especially as I soon discovered who were the more established members and what opinions they submitted as well as reading a few of the crowned opinions.

Q: Do you write no/some/many comments?

I quite often write comments. Sometimes I will leave a comment expressing my appreciation of a person's opinion/review. I know some people don't like this but I feel there is no harm by saying, for example, 'Good Review' or the like. To me it isn't much different from applauding at a theatre/show or at a sporting event when your team has played well. It is a way of showing you liked what you read and giving encouragement.

The comments section is also a good place to welcome new members to dooyoo.

Q: When you click on the list of Newest Reviews, do you read your friends' opinions no matter what they're on/according to subject no matter who has written on it/preferably the opi
nions of new writers?

I often read the opinions/reviews of members I know first, but in the main only if the subject interests me. I also try my best to read as many new member's offerings as I can and sometimes that can be no matter what they have written about as I feel by doing that it is a way of helping, supporting and welcoming them into the dooyoo community.

Another thing I tend to do is, especially if it is a member I don't recognise or am unfamiliar with, is click on their name and go to their profile page then read select one of their opinions/reviews to read.

However, quite often what I will do is not read from the Newest Reviews list at all but go to the 'Who has rated this review' section of an opinion, whether it be my own or anyone else's, click on the member names in the list and go to their profile page and see what they have written about and choose something from their list of reviews/opinions to read/rate, if I haven't already done so before of course.

Q: Do you write your opinions in one sitting?

No. I find it quite hard to concentrate for a length of time to write an opinion/review straight off and part of that reason is because I often lose the thread of what I am trying to say and need a break to collect my thoughts before writing again. I think I have managed only once to write a review in one sitting and that sort of drained me as well as making my fingers hurt like hell.

Q: How often do you post a new opinion?

Uh-oh. Not as often as I like or probably should. I think my opinion/review contribution reflects a bit about me in that I am not really an easy or big talker but when I do it is hard to shut me up. Sarcasm in the comments section about that please. Generally though it works out at about 1 a month.

Q: Do you use a spell check?

Yes, all the time, although somehow spelling mistakes still seem to get through! I like to r
ead a review/opinion with no/nearly no spelling mistakes as in most cases it shows that the
writer has taken the time to ensure their review/opinion is presented in the best form possible.

Q: Do you think you can improve your chances to get a crown if you suck up to a guide?

I doubt it. I don't think it has worked yet nor is it likely to. I have never sucked up to a guide to get a crown. If one of my reviews/opinions gets a crown I'm chuffed to bits (aren't we all) as it means it was rewarded on its own merits not because I sucked up to a guide to try and improve my chances.

To be honest I think the guides, being established members themselves, are wise to those kind of antics and anyway the final decision is still down to dooyoo, isn't it?

Q: Are you a member of a forum or a chat room?

At the moment I am a member of tooyoo, it is pretty laid back and a good place to chill and pass messages with other dooyoo and/or Ciao members. Most of the time though the messages are nothing to do with opinionating at all.

I used to be a member of OpCom which, apart from having a message board that covered just about any subject going, also had a chat room. Sadly though OpCom is no longer active.

Q: Does it get to you when members praise or condemn you?

Yes, sometimes. The praise is good and inflates the ego somewhat and personally I get some good satisfaction when someone tells me a review/opinion has helped them, and anyway isn't that what dooyoo is about?

Of course the negative feedback is a little hard to take no matter how honest it is or truthful I know it might be, but if there is one thing I have learnt with this opinionating lark it is that everyone is entitled to their point of view and not everyone will agree with you.

Q: What did you do in your spare time before you joined dooyoo?

Wonder if there was anywhere on the internet where I could
express my own opinion about a product/service/experience (*grin*).

Actually I used to spend quite a bit of time playing online games at MSN Zone.com or playing Championship Manager.

Q: What do you wish for the future?

Well, to echo what has probably been said by a lot of other members the return of the capital letters would be a good start followed by all the punctuation marks NOT being replaced by question marks, and the ability to have a review/opinion appear on dooyoo exactly as it was written on any given word processor program.

Also sorting out the search facility would be a great help as well as having all the links work too!

Above all I would like to see new members continue to join, stay and enjoy dooyoo despite its quirkiness.


If you want to participate, please add:

Please don't take this challenge to ciao without asking MALU, she'd rather decide herself what to do with a text she's written, when to take it there or if at all. Thank you.

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