What would you rather have here? A Community Newsletter or something like that or all the glitches repaired instead? Then maybe a Newsletter of Community engagement. I think the repairs should come first.

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9 Answers

Walt O'Reagun Profile
Walt O'Reagun answered

Fix the glitches first.

That's my main gripe with software developers of any sort ... Not fixing the glitches on one product, before they rush to put the next (glitchy) product out.

Ancient Hippy Profile
Ancient Hippy answered

Glitches first please.

Ray Dart Profile
Ray Dart answered

Yep, fix the bugs I guess. And fix the concept too, that would be a bonus.

A proper blurtit community would not/should not need a newsletter.

Anyway, How about these suggestions for starters?

There used to be a photo gallery. It was good, simple and interesting.

How about a few more characters for questions. If you want to explain a concept that you want to ask questions about, frequently you run out of space, so usually I do not bother to try.

Marks for helpfulness. I get lots of thanks (and thank you all for that), even for the flippant and silly answers. John McCann is mainly helpful but his thanks are worth no more than mine.

There is nothing wrong with students asking for help with their homework, Blurtit should be a useful resource as well as a (rather plodding) Q&A conversation. Responses like "I'm not doing your homework for you" are a bit silly really.

Likewise, "Go and google it" should be a banned response. The whole point of Blurtit (in the early days at least) was that answers were provided with "value added" with extra information, interesting asides, and perhaps a little humour. Wiki and Google do not usually do that. Blurtit grew HUGE a few years ago mainly because of that.

Apply the rules (with a degree of circumspection) with regard to correct English and grammar. I am not suggesting "teacher level" marking of questions and answers, but something better than we have now would be nice.

Get rid of "anonymous" questions. Most of us here (despite the rules) use nicknames, so anonymity can be maintained in real terms, but you still recognise real people and interact with them.

Insist upon people giving at least some information about themselves in the profile. You'll get a few ego trips (like me) but usually people are honest.

I've got a load more suggestions, but these few would be a decent start.



9 People thanked the writer.
Rooster Cogburn
Rooster Cogburn commented
Thanks Ray ! Good idea.
Ray Dart
Ray Dart commented
I've had to edit my comment in here into my original answer, because the brain dead interface limits me to 1500 characters and I cannot answer twice. There you go!
Rooster Cogburn
Rooster Cogburn commented
I will try and apply these things Ray. Hard to keep up on the spelling on my own but the Google it annoys me also.
Didge Doo Profile
Didge Doo answered

Bring out the  bug spray.

We were going to have a weekly newsletter a few months ago. It was a good idea but Week 2 never appeared. Those things are a lot of trouble to maintain.

Arthur Wright Profile
Arthur Wright , Florida Paralegal with a BS degree in Social-Psychology, answered

Being an elder on here along with Ray Dart, Ive seen a lot of things on Blurtit and as I've explained to Kass, Blurtit needs to get back to basics and forget all the whistles and bells till the basic Q&A website works flawless.  How to videos would be a waste here as most should know how a Q&A website works and the rest will come with time.  A community Newsletter would serve what purpose here?  A good Chat room would serve the same thing and draw more people, but again if the system isn't working  and I can contest to the fact it really isn't, as I have to sign out and back in after every question and the old Blurtit when I joined worked better than this new one and why Kass needs to take this back to the basic as it wasn't broke and forget all the rest.

PJ Stein Profile
PJ Stein answered

I am with everyone else. Fix the glitches.

Bikergirl Anonymous Profile

I would suggest (as many have before me) the logical choice .. Glitches first.  Fundamental function should always be prioritized over 'fluff'.

Personally, I am not sure what a 'newsletter' would provide to a 'discussion' community, that may prove to be somewhat of a challenge to monitor.

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