So You Want to Create A New Category?

[+jhuoni]

In the past few weeks there have been several Categories that have gone to Peer Review which received very negative group response. I hate to see this happen, because sometimes the idea is a good one that just has not been thought through or written to where the Waymaking community will view it positively.

 

 

At the risk of being redundant - I am posting this information (with my editorial comments) which can be found HERE.

 

1. Form a Group From any page, click the My Groups link in the right column and then click "Create New Group". Choose a name for your Group, state your Group's goals and click Submit.

• Invite at least two other Premium Members to join your Group. If you are new to Waymarking and don't know any other Premium Members you can find some tips for recruiting here.
• Promote your new Group members to the rank of Officer. Check out this link for more information on promoting Group members.

This is actually the SECOND STEP! You need to start in FORUMS - before you even create your group.

When choosing your group officers, take a look at their profile. How many waymarks have they posted and in what categories? If they are as new to Waymarking as you are, then you probably want find some more seasoned individuals. This is not to say that a low count makes for a bad choice, but those who have been around here for a while are more likely to know what it takes to get a category through Peer Review.

2. Create a Category

• Once you have the required number of Officers in your Group, a checklist will automatically appear on your Group page with a link to the category creation form. Take your time writing the category details and research your idea fully before you complete the edits. The Discussion Forum is a great place for tips on category creation.
• After you have finished editing your category details you can call for an Officer vote. All officers are required to be in 100% agreement of the category name, description, and variables so be sure everything is in order before calling the vote. When the vote is completed and everyone has voted to accept the category, you may then click the "Send Category to Peer Review" link to initiate the final step.

The Discussion Forum is a great place for tips on category creation.

Let me say that again:

The Discussion Forum is a great place for tips on category creation.

This is not a suggestion, this is a MUST.

Your first step in category creation should start in Forums. There are almost 1,100 categories, your idea might all ready be covered in one of those. If not, great! Now start a discussion about your proposed category. Get the feed back from your fellow waymarkers and then decide if your proposed category will be accepted by the community.

Post a draft copy of your description - put it out there and let everyone review it BEFORE it goes to Peer Review. This will allow you to get the comments so you can make the changes.

Don't think this can happen overnight. Not everyone reads Forum messages daily. Give it at least a WEEK maybe even TWO WEEKS. (Yes, this is quite a wait. But better to get as much feedback as you can here than to get negative comments in Peer Review.)

Once you have submitted a draft, revised that draft a few times, posted a final draft, received comments on that draft, THEN you take it to your group officers for a vote.

3. Peer Review

• Peer Review consists of a queue available to all Premium Members allowing them to review, vote, and comment on category hopefuls for a period of 3 days. During this time you will not be able to make changes to your category description, however you may cancel the vote at any time if you left out something important. To cancel a vote, click the red X next to step 4 in the checklist on your Group page.
• Small mistakes such as grammar and typos can be fixed after Peer Review if necessary. Once the voting period has passed, and assuming the community liked your category, you will receive a congratulatory email and may begin accepting new waymarks immediately!

This is the LONGEST THREE DAYS of your Waymarking Life. Once you send a category to Peer Review, there is no turning back. (Ok, you can cancel your submission if you really want to.) This is where everyone around the world is going to decide whether or not your category gets to become the next Greatest Category in Waymarking. Be prepared - these guys (and gals) are tough!

Once again, I'm preaching to the choir, because this message will probably not reach those it was intended to.

 

Why do I care? Three simple words: ICE VENDING MACHINES...

 

Please feel free to add your comments to this. Maybe TPTB could post a PINNED message on this topic about this subject, that way it would be the first thing people see when they go to this message base.

 

That's just my two cents worth, well, maybe five cents.

[+jhuoni]

Wow! Forty Nine reads, and NO COMMENTS?

Edited September 21, 2014 by jhuoni

[+Max and 99]

 

1. Form a Group From any page, click the My Groups link in the right column and then click "Create New Group". Choose a name for your Group, state your Group's goals and click Submit.

• Invite at least two other Premium Members to join your Group. If you are new to Waymarking and don't know any other Premium Members you can find some tips for recruiting here.
• Promote your new Group members to the rank of Officer. Check out this link for more information on promoting Group members.

This is actually the SECOND STEP! You need to start in FORUMS - before you even create your group.

 

 

I agree. A forum discussion should be the FIRST step, before starting a group.

[+fi67]

Wow! Forty Nine reads, and NO COMMENTS?

Yes, sure! What do you expect?

 

We all know it, and we all know that we all know it. It has been said a million times before, and it will be said again; that's not a bad thing, this raises the chance for a newbie to find it at all, but there is absolutely no need for a comment.

[+MountainWoods]

Yep. I just saw category in peer review that had not been mentioned at all in these forums. I don't think it went through - at least I don't see it in the newest categories.

 

These are all good points.

 

I have never started a new category, though I came close to it. But as someone who has posted a slew of Waymarks and visited even more, I do have some insights to offer beyond the mechanisms of starting a new group.

 

Seek to make the wording of the category sections as clear and concise as possible. Including:

The Description -- Give the reader a clear intent of what you want and don't want.

Posting Requirements -- Be exact, not vague. Do not assume that the reader can read your mind.

Visiting Requirements -- Same.

 

Hopefully the discussions in the forums will help with the above, but you can eliminate a lot of back and forth if you start out with precision.

 

Have someone read the category parts (all of them) who is not yet a Waymarker. Does it make sense to them? Do they understand what you want and how to "get there" as either a poster or a visitor?

 

Like I say, I don't speak from experience in starting a category; but these are things I've observed as a player.

[+Max and 99]

I know it will never happen, but I wish the peer review could include a link to the forum discussion. It's not uncommon for a category to get voted "No" by waymarkers who didn't see the forum discussion. Yes, some categories skip this helpful feature, but it's not uncommon for people who didn't see the discussion to vote NO because they didn't know about it. A link might help BOTH the person submitting the category and those voting on it.

[+MountainWoods]

I know it will never happen, but I wish the peer review could include a link to the forum discussion. It's not uncommon for a category to get voted "No" by waymarkers who didn't see the forum discussion. Yes, some categories skip this helpful feature, but it's not uncommon for people who didn't see the discussion to vote NO because they didn't know about it. A link might help BOTH the person submitting the category and those voting on it.

Excellent idea.

 

In the meanwhile there is a bit of a kludge work-around. One could put in the category description something like:

 

For the forum discussion on this category please see this thread. These sentences will be removed from the description after the category has passed peer review.

 

Of course the this thread would be the link to the forum topic/thread.

 

Not ideal at all. But one must work around the limitations that we have.

[+Rikitan]

Wow! Forty Nine reads, and NO COMMENTS?

You formulated it very very well. I hope it will reach most of newbies with ideas for new category. I think these words should be pinned somewhere at the top.

 

Only one thing to add from me (as I don't see it mentioned somewhere):

- do not underestimate design of your category description, it can help you a lot.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Many people who vote in peer reviews tend to be shallow, impatient - they dont read long texts.

Some category proposals are quite complex - and - psychologically - if I don't understand it within minute or two - I deny it.

Pictures, illustrations help a lot sometimes to get positive reaction "yep, this looks really interesting!".

Pictures also clarifies examples - what is accepted in category and what does not belong to category.

They not only promote the category proposal, but help officers after successful peer review - to sort out many missunderstandings and decrease number of rejections.

 

My recommendation:

If YOU FEEL that your category proposal CAN BE missunderstood - most probably IT WILL BE.

Illustrate it.

Format it with HTML, so it will be easy to read.

Sell it.

Edited October 4, 2014 by Rikitan

[+honymand]

I agree that pictures are very helpful, but you can't upload a picture to the category gallery until after the category has been approved! Or I have missed something?

 

I understand that you can do it via HTML, but the category description does not have a nice feature for inserting pictures as the editor in these forums. Rather you'd have to place the picture

elsewhere and link to it via HTML, so knowledge of HTML syntax seems to be required.

 

Seems there are two things which should be implemented

- Category links to discussions during peer review

- Pictures in non-approved categories

 

And both can be remedied via HTML!

[+Rikitan]

I agree that pictures are very helpful, but you can't upload a picture to the category gallery until after the category has been approved! Or I have missed something?

 

Yes, correct. (I use to host such pictures in drafted un-approved waymark listing.)