Links Site Opinions

[williams22]

Recently I took the link site idea to 5 other forums to get more good links. All 5 of these forums had the same immediate response, "Isn't that what Google and a Favorites folder are for?" Which got me thinking that yes those two things already exist for this purpose. However, after thinking about it I realized a links site could have its place. It could be very useful if only the links getting top ratings stayed, while the lower rated sites were removed. This would make this new site a good resource. Now as I see it there are a few options right now, please let me know which you think is best.

1. Go ahead with the site as planned, with users able to login and rate the sites. The lower rated sites would be removed while higher rated ones stayed. Users could also submit new sites that would have to recieve enough good ratings to stay.

2. Make a links site but keep it simple. This means there would be no login. Links would be categorized with a brief description but there would be no way to rate them or remove them. This, however, seems somewhat pointless as it would essentially be a favorites list, which if you look at the Links thread you could compile yourself.

3. Do not make a site at all, but make a zip file containing all the links submitted to be distributed to those who ask to add to their favorites folder.

4. Do not make a site or file and drop the whole project

[Siliconjunkie]

What you are talking about is basically a portal.

I would start with #2 and plan to evolve to #1 and offer #3 in catagories. I would assume that the site wouldnt be just one type of links. It will be critical to find people to rate the links that understand the subject matter, finding these people could be difficult, so at first stick with what you know. Also, stay objective. It should be there to provide information not opinion.

I think there are a couple of options like php nuke that could be pretty easily ported to work for this. I will look into that later in the week when I have some time off.

Also, a bit more content would be good. Stories/news or something. Perhaps a link of the day type thing. With good logging or the right app it would be possible to see what links people are following the most and they could be rated based on that as well.

Overall it should be able to move fairly quickly from #2 to #1. Once a system is in place to process logins, store ratings and such it will be easy.

edit: and a search will be required

edit 2 (its 6 am and I have been at work for 12 hours): What makes this different than google is that it doesnt just spider looking for pages, it has real people, kinda like proofread google.

I agree on what silicon has said...I know when you first took this on you didn't really think it was going to be as big as it ended-up. You need some basic foundation to start get the people that are goiing to be most usefull and help you the most then all of you look at the sites submitted and vote on them and only list the ones you like to begin...then work from there. Doing something like some news or basic site of the day type stuff is a good idea.

a google search box is a definate must. i'm not sure on setting it up as a voted site tho. maybe a most visited or something could be better or some kinda combo of both. because voting tends to lead to bias in some ways.

[williams22]

Ok, so it sounds like you guys still think we should go ahead with the site, cool. I dont think I can start at 2 and move to 1. Drizzle Is going to start to set up the database in the next day or two. once that is done i will set up the rest of the layout, then start entering the links and descriptions. When it comes time to write descriptions I will need help from people, I will probably select a few for each section (software, hardware, dev). Ok sounds good thanks for the feedback, i hope this turns into something good.

I was think today about whether having a lot of links is good or bad. It is good because it gives variety to some extent, but many sites will be repeatitive. A smaller amount that are handpicked and rated gives a better group, but less sites. I think I may have a solution for this. for each category there will be say a top 10 (that number could change) Those top ten are the ones with the highest ratings, they are on the top of the list standing out in some way, the others (not top 10) will be listed below without a description to start, as the site evolves we will take time to write descriptions for those as well. sound ok?

[crouse]

I have my usalug.org links section working now.

http://www.usalug.org/phplinks/

The links here are hand picked. You can rate them and this allows the more popular links to go to the top. I think it's still a good idea. With google, you are subject to what the search engine sends you....... and good links might be several pages down. With a bookmark setup... every browser is different and it would be much to time consuming to try to accomodate everyone that way. By creating a list of sites WE KNOW ARE GOOD you save people the time of searching google and sorting through all the mess and allow them access to EVERYONE elses bookmarks.

Hth's

[williams22]

Ok cool. Also, I believe drizzle can code a feature allowing people to select their favorite links and display them on the index page when the load the site. Maybe there will be some way to view other people's favorite links list to see who likes what. just an idea. but it sounds like everyone thinks we should still go through with this, sounds good to me! Keep posting the links here