₦airaland Forum

snowsdream, isn't that what I said in my first post up there?

Here's my proposal:

1) First, we set up a 'Nairaland Congress' consisting of Nairaland members who spend a lot of time on the forum and generally respect the rules. These members will be known as 'representatives'. Their duty: to maintain the rules and regulations of the Nairaland Forum.

2) Then, we set up a 'Nairaland Court' consisting of Nairaland representatives who have demnstrated their maturity, level-headedness and good jugdement. They will be known as 'judges'. Their duty: to settle all disputes by applying the rules to specific situations.

3) Finally, we set up the 'Nairaland Police', consisting of Nairaland judges I can trust with moderator privileges. They will be known as 'moderators'. They will have the power to execute the forum rules and regulations and decisions of the judges.

I want to believe that as members start participating in the congress and the court, those that are capable of functioning effectively as moderators will become obvious.

And then of course there's Naijarita News!

See also: Nigerian Blogs What Motivated You To Start Your Blog?

Yes, the owner and administrator of this site has never left the shores of this country, so it's right to say it was started in Nigeria.

Welcome, welcome, welcome, girl!

What's your best TV show? Mine is Dharma and Greg, which is shown on STV at 8:30pm every Friday. Which is yours?

I was trying to send out emails to remind Nairaland members that the forum is back online, not knowing that the script I was using the send the emails had caused the server to stop responding. Funny, huh?

How did this one go?

Nairaland addiction is good. Please don't cure it!

b_e_b_e: Amen!

Hehe. Hot-angel is definitely a Nigerian forum celebrity!

The problem was that the server mysteriously dissapeared and my host does not know why. Others have experienced the problem in the past - their virtual servers just dissappear. But our host is investigating and while they are investigating, well, I am already configuring a new server elsewhere as a backup or possibly the default server.

b_e_b_e we are sorry about the way the outage disrupted your birthday plans. How can we make it up?

I agree with you, Icon. I would love nothing better than not to have to spend time moving posts around. But I have not really found these people yet. I haven't really find people who satisfy all the qualities I want in a moderator.

They shouldn't be charging 6k for registration. What they should do is screen the applicants on the sport and deny the applications of those who are just not going to win.

Since my last post:
- I have optimized the forum much more in order to delay the need for a faster server.
- I have purchased a more reliable server on a new, more expensive host with a better reputation.
- I am formulating a backup plan so the site can continue running even if something similar happens later.

Hello,

I would like to apologize to all those who have suffered, suffered, suffered during the time that the nairaland forum was down, down down. That was Friday, Saturday, Sunday but now at 15 minutes after 3am on Monday morning we are back, back, back in full force!

Thanks.
Seun, seun, seun.

Cliques on Nairaland? Where? *checks under table*

Try Contacting TV Stations by larger_20: Sorry, but I am quite shy and I cannot handle rejection. However, I have other ideas about how to get traditional media outlets interested in the "Nairaland phenomenom". I also want to appeal to Nairaland members who have connections in the media to work with me to get the mass media attention that our community needs. Having said that, I think we need to first learn how to manage the traffic we already have.

Writing Articles by Bola Oni: I am not a particularly good writer though I am making an effort in news satire.

Recommendation by Bola Oni: What about the SEND TOPIC button present in every thread?

Organizing Seminars, Workshops and Training: I am quite shy so ...

Will our server setup be able to handle extra traffic? Yes, for about a month or two after which we can simply upgrade.

Creating sections based on age groups (teens, 20-somethings, 30-somethings). I don't think it's possible.

---

Anyway, I would like to know what is wrong with the design of the site. It works fine for me.

Here is my opinion about some of the suggestions given so far on the forum:

Reducing the subsections by Olu Abuja: Hell, no! We are actually increasing sections based on demand - if dozens of threads are being created around a particular topic, then we would simply create a section for it. Why do you think it would be beneficial to reduce the number of sections?

Usability Enhancements by Nferyn: What usability enhancements do you think we need?

Chat and Dating Engine: We already have a chat room and dating zone.

News: I'm preparing a list of Nigerian news websites from which people can get their news.

Brand New Design by Deji Olowe: What is wrong with our current design? It loads fast, does the job and is green, what more can we ask for?

Moderators For Different Sections: Great idea, but I am resistant to it. If the moderator for a particular section decides not to show up throughout a particular week, then it will fall into disrepair while other sections will be doing ok. I like the idea of giving moderator privileges to particularly responsible people so they can edit any threads they stumble upon.

Avoid Popups and Popunders: I am committed to having user-friendly context-sensitive advertising. I regularly reject prospective advertisers and direct them to use Google so the ads can be matched to the page content.

... to be continued.

Wow. Ideas are flowing!

I am currently looking into the idea of separation of powers as we have in stable democracy, so people will feel like they can do things to move the forum forward without Seun necessarily being involved.

I want to have a 'legislative' arm that makes and updates the laws and a 'judicial' arm that settles disputes and makes decisions to be carried out by the 'executive' arm which of course I will run as the 'site owner' with the admin and moderators.

I am angry. With you. Yes, I mean you, the one starring at the monitor with a puzzled look.

So, nferyn, Terry's Schiavo's case was not euthanasia?

Welcome to Nairaland, Femi. Long time no see!

jclord: thanks for your suggestions. I think that by browsing the forum you will agree with me that there is much more going on in Nigeria than the bad things reported by the foreign press.

My quick comments:
[list]
[li]Thanks a million for your suggestions. I really appreciate your willingness to help. [/li]
[li] This is a surprising request, but I can set up the server so username@nairaland.com redirects to your registered email address. http://username.nairaland.com can also redirect to your web page.[/li]
[li]No, I do not think Nairaland should become a "portal". Portals are so 1997, Google.com is in.[/li]
[li]Yes, this site needs multiple moderators but this can only happen if the rules are unambigous[/li]
[li]If the moderators are the armed forces, can we have legislators and judges too?[/li]
[li]Articles: Are www.naijarita.com articles publishable in Nigerian papers?[/li]
[/list]

Dear Nairaland User, I am concerned about Nairaland.

Of recent we have been growing very strongly with 100 or more new members and almost 2000 posts daily, and on our way to recognition as a web phenomenom. We have more traffic than perhaps every other Nigerian forum, but not as much traffic as Nigerian news and newspaper websites like NigeriaWorld and SunNewsOnline.

I am convinced that he system that has been used to manage this site to this level of growth seems to have reached its limit. It cannot take us to the next level. Moderation of the forum is very annoying, as we have new members and even the oldies making the same mistakes and violating the same rules over and over again. We can't handle the current inflow of members properly, and yet we want more traffic.

I would like us to discuss how we can take Nairaland to the next level: 50,000 members, and maybe 1000 logged in users per day. I would like us to raise various issues involved in this quest such as the forum interface and features, moderation policies, marketing, public relations, et cetera. This is not a thread for personal attacks or the airing of grievances, but a place to give constructive and progrssive suggestions.

In particular let us first of all explore the concepts of democracy and separation of powers and see if we can apply it to this forum, because I know that if we can create a democratic forum then we would be unstoppable. What do you think? Dictatorship is lonely.