Site tour for new users

[denise]

So, I figured this would be a good place to start brainstorming :)

I'm in the process of putting together a site tour for new users: a simple overview of what DW is, how it works, what you can do, how you can find interesting things to read, etc.

I have a very vague idea of what it should include, but I haven't yet decided anything about how it should be structured. I thought that before I come up with anything, though, I'd toss it out to y'all and see what you thought, so as to avoid prejudicing the conversation and brainstorming with my ideas.

So:

* Putting yourself into a new user's shoes -- both someone coming from LJ and someone coming to DW from other backgrounds -- what would you expect to see in a "getting started" type site tour?

* How would you expect it to be structured?

* What would be the most effective things to include that would make you say "oh, wow!"

* For those of you who are relatively new, what were the first pieces of information you sought out? What were the most helpful things to know? What were the things that drew you to DW in the first place?

Comments

[too_rational]

Hi! I've had a DW account for a while now, but I just started crossposting maybe a couple of months ago? So, as a relatively new user who came over here from LJ, here's my insight:

The things that drew me to DW:
* bigger character limits for posts and comments
* more icons for free users
* easy crossposting to LJ
* the circle/subscriber distinction
* multilevel tag displays! ♥

The things that make me stay, and love you guys more and more each day:
* fixing bugs and problems as quickly and promptly as humanly possible (ex. the 'security issue' that LJ apparently had for ages, the one with comments that are e-mailed and then someone can reply as you?, and you guys fixed it immediately!);
* the overall community feel-- I have no doubt I could drop a note to any of you guys, anytime, and you'd get back at me and find a way to help me fix my hypothetical problem;
* the fact that you protect your users, and don't let anyone *coughtPaypal&Googlecough* bully you or us around. That alone got you my undying devotion. *draws hearts all around DW*
* your diversity statement! ♥ ♥ ♥
* a million awesome little things I can't even remember right now, and that I discover each and every day I hang around here *flappy hands of happy*.

And finally, the things I think would be useful to have in a Beginner's Tour (based on the stuff I first did/looked for when I started):
* Somehow including all those points from above in the tour, since a lot of people are pretty sick of LJ's issues and attitude, and you improved/changed/don't do a lot of stuff they do, so that's a HUGE plus in your column;
* All the 'meshing & playing well with all other platforms' details and possibilities, including crossposting, importing entries and comments, Open ID tutorials (a friend of mine made that awesome one, so I'm a bit biased, but it's a fair point), and I'm sure there's more but I don't even know what are all the options we have;
* Coding differences: 'user' instead of 'lj user', and 'user-site' for usernames from LJ. Though, I have to tell you, most of the stuff I need/needed are in your 'Guide to LJ users'; in fact, I still have it bookmarked, just in case. ^_^ You could just link to that (and all the other ones you have tutorials/guides for).

Um.. that's all I can think of. It's all pretty standard stuff, really. =)

Thanks for all your hard work! *gives a ton of virtual cookies*

[too_rational]

PS. Oh, and definitely link to that 'my favorite thing about DW is' post. I learned A LOT about DW from it, stuff I didn't even know were possible/available, big and small. =)

Edited to add: (Because I'm a spazz and forget things and should've done the edit for the original comment, but oh, well. >.>)

And definitely that 'latest things' option. I have no idea if LJ has it, but it's a brilliant idea! *runs off to lose a couple of hours browsing*

<333

[sophie]

LJ has it in the form of the Latest Posts page (warning: Can sometimes contain porn spam), but it doesn't have DW's awesome, awesome tag cloud or specialised feeds, and it shows the posts immediately, unlike DW which waits 5 minutes until showing it, in case it was accidentally posted with the wrong security level.

[too_rational]

Oh, thanks for the info! *clicks curiously*

...yeah, DW's is totally better. *pets dw*

[gigglingkat]

What "my favorite thing about DW is" post?

[too_rational]

Oh, it was a huge-ass post, somewhere on DW, but I can't for the life of me find it now. =/ I'll ask around.

In the meantime, here's a similar post, only smaller. And do check out the diversity statement. =)

[too_rational]

A-HAH! A friend found it for me: here you go.

^_^