Viewing all threads tagged #absolutelynotanijahater.
IJA eJuggle - #
eJuggle (http://ezine.juggle.org) is the official publication of the International Jugglers' Association. The site is updated regularly with high quality juggling articles, videos, and other exciting content. There are currently over 700 original posts available on every aspect of juggling.
While most eJuggle content is freely available to everyone, some exclusive articles and videos are for IJA members only. See http://ezine.juggle.org/video-library/ for a list of exclusive videos such as full IJA Festival coverage, IRC videos, plus premium works by artists such as Wes Peden, Tony Pezzo, Jay Gilligan, Anthony Gatto, and others. Go to http://ezine.juggle.org/membership-options-page/ for more information about why and how to become a member of the IJA.
In April, 2016, we are looking forward to publishing the following content on eJuggle:
Below are the recent posts to eJuggle (from the archive at http://ezine.juggle.org/archive/):
If you have feedback or want to contribute to eJuggle, contact us at http://ezine.juggle.org/feedback/.
Thanks,
The eJuggle Team
http://ezine.juggle.org
###################################################
Is it too spammy if I make a post like this every month (with coming soon/recently published)? Obviously we're not for profit and doing this to provide a service to jugglers.
lukeburrage - - Parent #
This post is already way too spammy, in my opinion. If you as a human being think something is worth sharing here, share it. That already happens with lots of articles on eJuggle by the authors. I don't see this forum as a publishing platform or promotional pipeline, nor do I want to.
Little Paul - - Parent #
I'm with Luke.
The ezine already gets quite a lot of exposure here (either from the authors, or when a reader spots something interesting)
If some exclusive content turns up that you're especially excited about, or if you've got something important about the IJA fest like pre-reg ending or whatever - post about that.
A regular spammy post like this one doesn't add anything, and I prefer single issue threads (to be honest, I also prefer those threads to be from individuals rather than generic accounts)
Please don't turn the IJA into another "lucasgabd, hit and run, only here for the self promotion" thing.
IJA eJuggle - - Parent #
I'm not that guy. I've read nearly every post on this site since its inception, and even contribute occasionally.
How do you suggest we promote eJuggle better? Should we leave it up to the few authors who sometimes post here? Is that sufficient for new jugglers to find out all the good free content provided by the IJA? Can we do better for our fine contributors?
Are you against it because it's the IJA? Is the problem that my post was too wordy? If it were just a simple link (like is done for Spectacle), would that be ok to post each month? Is the problem that the post was made by a cold new organization account instead of by my personal account? How can I make it more appropriate? What is the maximum that would be acceptable? What do you suggest?
lukeburrage - - Parent #
You are not a guy. You are not a human. You don't have a name, nor a personality. You are an account created by an unnamed human purely for promotion. This is what spam is. This is what spammers do.
If you are a human being, use a name. Be a person recommending something you have created. Be a human pointing at something you find interesting. Be more and contribute more to the forum than just a feed of promotional material.
IJA eJuggle - - Parent #
Are you equally offended by fest promotions done by official accounts rather than individuals? Are you just ragging on me because I was trying to be sensitive by asking? Would I have been better off without my footnote which basically brought it on myself*?
You do understand that we're just providing a useful service, right? We're not trying to make money off of anyone. Sure, the IJA does want more members, but I think you know that I'm not even an IJA member and that very little on eJuggle requires membership. My goal is to support a hobby I love and to share juggling content with as many jugglers as possible (render assistance blah blah blah). I also want to get more publicity for the contributors who work so hard and get paid so little.
-Scott (yeah, surprise, it's me, a real person)
* Probably not, because I did learn something about how to approach things differently next month.
lukeburrage - - Parent #
I think you misunderstand! I'm not offended by this. You asked if it was too spammy, and I replied in the positive.
As for other non-human accounts, I've not noticed them posting a wall of text so blatantly. I didn't even consider reading it, there was so much overload of uninformative information. It didn't look like it was contributing anything to the forum, only directing me elsewhere.
If you had posted it with your own account, I wouldn't have minded at all. But you did ask!
IJA eJuggle - - Parent #
Yes, I over-reacted. Sorry about that. I asked and I was answered. I'll hopefully do better next month (from that other account).
Have fun at BJC!
Little Paul - - Parent #
I'm not that guy. I've read nearly every post on this site since its inception, and even contribute occasionally.
How can we tell? We have no information about you other than that you're posting from an anonymous sock puppet account.
I mean I could have a good guess at who is behind the account based on a huge amount of prior knowledge (and if I wasn't right in one try, I'd probably be right within three), but I can't really be *sure* who I'm talking to.
This account has no currency here (yet) - there is no trust established (yet)How do you suggest we promote eJuggle better? Should we leave it up to the few authors who sometimes post here? Is that sufficient for new jugglers to find out all the good free content provided by the IJA? Can we do better for our fine contributors?
If only the IJA had some kind of social media expert on hand, someone who does community engagement and marketing campaigns on a professional basis who could help answer those questions... Someone who perhaps was recently interviewed for the podcast which forms part of the ezines regular content...
My personal preference is for people organically spreading posts which they think are interesting or noteworthy. Whether that's done by the authors, the board, the ezine team or by readers I don't care.
Make it personal, make it "rare and appropriate" - make the ezine a human interaction, not a faceless monolith.Are you against it because it's the IJA?
Not in the slightest. I read most of the articles posted on the ezine, I listen to all the podcasts. (and
if you are who I think you are, you probably already know that, and we've probably had conversations about the ezine and you'll know I've always supported it as being the best move the IJA made in a long time)
Besides... IJA hating is sooooo last century darlink!Is the problem that my post was too wordy? If it were just a simple link (like is done for Spectacle), would that be ok to post each month?
It's not the size of the worm it's the way that you wiggle it.
Orin posts when a new issue of spectacle is available because the RSS feed for that site is broken/non existent. It's not posted from an anonymous account, it's clearly posted by an individual who is actively/visibly involved in the community and contributes to discussion on a wide number of topics.
He's a fan of spectacle, and not otherwise involved in its publication.
It's not "promotion" or "advertising" - it's a juggler highlighting something of possible interest to other jugglers, quietly, unobtrusively, as an impartial announcement and not a partial plea for views.Is the problem that the post was made by a cold new organization account instead of by my personal account?
I think that is my main problem with your suggestion. cold, new organization account reeks of "we" and not "I" - and that has unfortunate connotations of shadowy committies discussing strategy behind closed doors... something the IJA has made huge strides in getting away from over the last 5 years!
If I think about how other organization accounts are used (eg for BJC, Turbofest, various clubs) they're for announcements about important dates, or answering questions in threads started by other people. Giving the "official" answer rather than a personal answer - and that's useful when responding to questions about carparking at an event or whatever.
I'm not saying "burn the ezine account!!!" - just think carefully about how it could best be used, and whether a regular reminder that the website exists is the best use of it.
If after you've done that navel gazing you decide a regular post is the way to go (a post which even made you think "is this too spammy?" and if you ever have to ask yourself that question the answer is usually "yes") then fine! Go for it!
If it gets too annoying, I'll click the ignore link.How can I make it more appropriate? What is the maximum that would be acceptable? What do you suggest?
I was reading something recently (on The Jerx) which quoted Austin Kelon - "You want hearts, not eyeballs"
I haven't read the whole of Austin's book, but if I agree with it half as much as I agree with the paragraph discussed in that post then I think it's probably worth a read.
All that said, don't make any decisions based on my and Lukes opinions alone.
We're two very noisy Brits, and I don't think either of us would claim to be representative of the entire juggling community (ok, well... I wouldn't. Luke probably would... but... well...)
This post was wordy, but I think it makes my opinion quite clear so I'll duck out of this thread now and let others say what they think.
Besides, I'm starting my mammoth journey to #BJC2016 tomorrow and I've still got packing to do!
#AbsolutelyNotAnIJAhater
I'm very pleased to see the IJA trying to engage more, however I also think the OP misses the mark. It feels very 'corporate'.
I've never been a fan of vague posts from 'we', 'us' or 'the organisation'. For the Edge I try to make it very clear that the buck stops with me, a real live person. For every invitation request I reply to & the welcome page seen by every new member I tell them that this site is my responsibility. If something goes wrong I am the one you should report to, I am the one who will fix it.
For me the name itself is not as important as the pedigree behind it. When I started using the internet it was standard practice to use a handle in place of your real name, because we were all so l33t. I decided to go by Orinoco when I started the Edge because more people know me in the juggling community (especially online) by that name than didn't. I thought a familiar sounding name would be more trustworthy than my relatively unknown real name.
That said I think Norbi's use of the Turbo418 account & Mïark's use of the York Jugglers account are excellent examples of how to use an official account appropriately & effectively. Replies from these accounts are usually anonymous, terse & official, but they feel like a service & not an advert.
Promotion is extremely difficult to get right, & what works for one audience will not work for another. If the OP was posted as is on Facebook I doubt more than 5% would read past the first paragraph & even fewer would have clicked the link therein because there was no specific reason to do so. Saying, "there are 10,000 books in the library" is just a statement of fact that doesn't give me any incentive to check out which books are there. I don't think many people would have read on because there is too much information.
Here, I would guess that 40-50% of the active users who will have seen the OP are already subscribed to the ezine RSS feed. In which case this post is simply old redundant news (I'm not bothered to know about upcoming articles because they'll be delivered to me regardless).
It's a tough trick to let the non-aware know about new content without stepping on the toes of the aware. The only suggestion I can come up with is to find a way to encourage people to talk about the articles on the platform they are already using. People are more likely to follow a link their friends are talking about than one (or over a dozen) posted by an organisation. People don't want to miss out on & feel left out of what their friends are doing. That is the whole precept of social media.
If it were up to me I'd close comments on the articles themselves, specify a hashtag for each article & ask people to comment using that tag with some sort of incentive for the best/most insightful/funniest comment. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google plus & some other juggling website all support hashtags which should account for a pretty sizeable chunk of your target audience. Then use something like https://tagboard.com/ (which sadly does not check the Edge) to monitor what is being said where. You could embed a tagboard at the bottom of each post which will highlight conversations automatically or if you are feeling masochistic manually add links to interesting conversations to each article. However, I wouldn't bother as most people use social networks as their 'base' & follow links out to destinations. They don't generally go from a destination to a conversation.
Be wary of going down the clickbait route, it will probably turn more people off than on!
I do very little promotion for the Edge, because what have I really got to offer? I can offer a place to chat that is cleaner, simpler & less noisy than Facebook, I offer an archived searchable database of clubs & events that is actively kept up to date. I offer a place where you can record your practice sessions & your personal records. Which in the grand scheme of things is not a lot. Certainly not enough to warrant a big marketing campaign.
I didn't mind the post, and wouldn't mind a monthly one like that here. That said, it still did feel a bit spammy, possibly because of the anonymity of the poster. I recommend using a personal account. It's not as though X's association with ezine would come as a big surprise.
The Void
Have I ever mentioned JTV?
Daniel Simu - - Parent #
There seems to be no perfect solution :(... I dislike the spammyness of posting my own articles, but I do like the feedback I get through these promo-posts which I don't get through the comment sections of eZine. Also, I always wonder if anyone reads eZine at all, which again I only get feedback on if I post something online..
And then I have to post here & object episodes & facebook groups.. ugh, talk about spammy!!!
Online article platforms remain complicated things to run.. Now only if everyone would understand and use rss feeds & readers... I do, but I don't know anyone personally who does!
Mike Moore - - Parent #
I always go by the copy/paste test: does it look like this message has been, or could reasonably be copypasted across jugglingedge, Juggling Rock, Object Episodes, etc.? If so, it's probably spammy.
Also, this kind of post doesn't really start a discussion, it's more of a list of things that exist. Something I'd find less spammy would be like:
"We've published 12 articles in the last month, including [a few particularly diverse ones]" rather than a list of links.
In the list of articles slated to be published, there could be some cutting there. While I enjoy reading messages from the IJA chairman, I don't think anyone will be excited/interested that it's an upcoming article. Periodic articles/videos I will assume are coming (Tricks of the Month, interviews etc.) and I don't think need mentioning unless they include new information (e.g. Dan Holtzman's special guests).
Cutting these bullets would draw more attention to the drama, the excitement, the CONTROVERSY that I'm anticipating in David's upcoming Willy article.
Finally, if using a group account, I think it's important to sign your name at the end of the post.
Mike Moore - - Parent #
Oops! Thanks for the correction.
Subscribe to this forum via RSS
1 article per branch
1 article per post