Alan: "What do you think of the Polo neck? Balls out of the bath on this one"
Lynn: "I think it’s rather snazzy"
Alan: "I think your hair’s rather snazzy. Is that your Mother’s money coming through?"
Lynn: "Yes"
Alan: "All part of the bereavement dividend"
... and so on and so forth. But what, in the name of Beelzebub and all his hellish mini-onions of doom, does a quote from Alan Partridge have to do with mandatory URL fields?
Well that’s an interesting question …
Nothing.
Anyway. I think that all URL fields on web design awards / review sites should be made mandatory. Too many people are making anonymous negative comments that are nonconstructive.
It’s like running into a room full of strangers wearing a balaclava and shouting: "You’ve all got rubbish faces!" and then running out.
Sort of.
Anyway, sign (make a comment on) my partition (comments-area) below. Who’s with me! ... Anyone? ... Hello? ... I get so lonely …
COMMENTS
I fully agree Kev. Not leaving your URL after leaving any sort of claim on the sites you’re talking about is immature as well as highly annoying.I guess the only issue is that those who don’t leave a url will, if forced to, leave a bogus one anyways.
It all started here:
stylegala.com/archive/iconbuffet...
Cheers for the comment Terry.
Just realised, may get a few ‘anonymous’ comments here un’all – oh the joys of blogger! If you do comment and are not a blogger member, doing as terry has done and typing your url would be grand.- Update: No longer need to coz all txp'd up!This proposed solution would really do no good, as noted above you could easily just type in that your url is http://google.com and still be allowed to comment. Keep thinking.
Hey, my idea would be to pick up a book of php and learn up on how to make my own blogging type piece like I have on http://www.climaxdesigns.com that way you could track ip address’s and if someone wanted to pull an anonymous stunt you could call them on it. only problem is matching the ip address with the actual person. Bah! keep thinking :)
@ malan: Ah yeah, your right. Had really thought of that. Doh! Maybe the answer is to have registered users only, so your url is checked to begin with, and then appears on all comments automatically after you have logged in. As long as the sign-up / sign-in process was simple, it shouldn’t ‘hinder’ discussion.
Count me in on this ranting and raving petition! While I don’t mind visitors posting strong or disagreeable comments, it frustrates me to no end when people don’t even have the courtesy to leave a real email address. Most of the time, I want to continue the conversation, but they are cowards who don’t leave any contact info, nor do they ever return to the post in question to continue the discussion. May all trolls be vanquished! :)
I can understand the problem with spammers, trolls, etc, but why put a user through yet another site registration and possibly a url validation just to leave a comment? Can’t an anonymous comment be just as valid with one chock full of contact info?
To counter your metaphor:requiring you to put a url is something like requiring someone’s business card at a party before you’ll allow them to say any opinion.
Can’t an anonymous comment be just as valid with one chock full of contact info?No. I no longer believe it can.
It is no coincidence that unconstructive criticism comes from commentors who choose purposefully to ‘hide’ themselves.
The site that they are commenting on is right there in full view of everyone – a screen shot, a review, a link to the site, the source code, the css – all available at just a few clicks.
I think that it is only decent and respectful that if you do decide to comment, you do it openly and not ‘heckle from the shadows’.
Are these people ashamed of what they are saying? Are they scared of what people may think? Can these people not back up their comments with their own practice?
I’m sorry, but these are all questions that come to mind when I see these ‘comments’, and therefore cause myself to question the weight of their comments.
Now I’m all up for crits, don’t get me wrong, it’s all part and parcel of what a designer needs in order to progress.
A good hearty “That doesn’t work very well” followed by a “because …”, with perhaps a “to improve this, the designer could …” is a beautiful thing, and then if you can visit the commentors site and say: “Well yeah, this guy / gal knows what they are talking about. Their site shows good examples to back up there comments”, it all helps with a designers progress.Also, the comment doesn’t have to be one ‘chocked full of info’. A simple link to a designers ‘web presence’ of sorts is all that is required. Hopefully more info will be at that destination anyhow.
You find that people who comment on review sites come back again to comment on other sites, so it would only be a one time process to register and be ‘passed fit’ to ‘pass comment’.
As I have already said: “As long as the sign-up / sign-in process was simple, it shouldn’t ‘hinder’ discussion”requiring you to put a url is something like requiring someone’s business card at a party before you’ll allow them to say any opinionNo, it’s like knowing who the person is before allowing them to come into your house and eat cheese on sticks and mini sausages. I don’t want strangers in my house wearing fake beards telling me my quiche is shit, ignoring my questions of “why?” and “who are you?”, before leaving through the cat-flap to gatecrash next door’s candle light supper. Counter counter.
I’m a web developer. And a student. And I work extra. I don’t have time to maintain a web site, and not needed too either.So you might see why I for instance would not like to link to a portfolio (if I had one to begin with) that contains my work turned into crap into the hands of others.What’s really impressed my clients are documentation of projects. Same goes for teachers, employers, etc, etc.Should I provide an URL to my project documentation instead, perhaps? Knowledge comes from the mind, not an URL.Saying that a developer doesn’t know what’s he’s doing because he doesn’t supply a fancy webpage is like saying a chef can’t cook because he doesn’t constantly carry around pastries to prove it.My personal feelings in the matter. If all these CSS Showcase sites wanted to keep out the "anonymous" posters (who do in fact type in name and e-mail), they should really have registration and moderation. That way they can filter out all opinions that are unwanted.Fredrik
Why is a comment on your design only valid if they have a webpage that looks good to you? It doesn’t make any sense that you would need to see someone’s site to know whether you agreed with their comments. You’re just opening it up for more garbage: “Well you think my site is bad, look at yours!”Requiring registration and a url just smells like fear of criticism to me. If you’re that afraid of comments and can’t just ignore ones you think are pointless, you shouldn’t allow comments at all.
@ Fredrik : I do understand that their are designers and developers out there that do not have a web presence. I don’t understand why though – if you are a web developer, a web site is kinda important.I know time and money are a factor, but a simple ‘funky valid 1-pager’ with some info on wouldn’t break the bank and take too much time. Indeed, if you are a web developer then I would definately recommend getting some kind of presence on the web, no?Anyhow, this is by the by. I agree that their are folk out there that can offer very valuable comments that don’t have a site – perhaps they are in another creative field for instance, or someone starting out in the industry or studying design, or whatever. I guess it would be a shame to ‘lock’ these poeple out of out of a discussion. But then again, what is the solution to those who ‘abuse the system’? ...Requiring registration and a url just smells like fear of criticism to meWell no. Designers want criticism. It’s a gift in helping a designer to improve their practice. Requiring registration would help ensure of the ‘right’ sort of critism from someone with a genuine interest in the work on the site – you wouldn’t register otherwise.It’s always nice to have praise to know that a project, or area of a project, has been successful, but even then I would want suggestions on what areas could be improved upon, or how someone would do something differently. The type of criticism I speak off is the likes of: “This site does nothing for me and shouldn’t be on the site” or something. How is this useful? It is this type of criticism that comes from the ‘hidden ones’ ...
this one may be useful for you
http://www.lizsmarka.com