Hi,
follows some suggestions to improve book promotion.
I did put the suggestions in the wrong forum some days ago(
Java Ranch Servlet), and I was asked to put them in the appropriate one. Please, don't get irritated if you don't like the suggestions, they are just suggestions for improvement, not only the promotion, but mainly the "dialog" between book authors and ranchers.
I have just noticed that the promo work is been done by the collaboration of only one person, and that involves a lot of work, so maybe the suggestions are not applicable in this case. Also I know Sheriff Thomas, and others ranchers, are completely against these ideas. Anyway, thanks JavaRanch for the book promotion and thanks Thomas for your effort. Here are the suggestions:
My impression is that book promotions rules should change. Why? I think the intent is to promote the book, have the opportunity to "speak" with authors, promote high level discussions in JavaRanch about the subject, promote JavaRanch, and also have a chance to win a fresh book. The idea is pretty good, good for everybody. I confess, the possibility to discuss with authors and have with everybody a highly technological discussion is the thing that attracts me more. Things would be all right if ranchers make use of this promotion, but ... not abuse.
What I saw happening in the last 2 promotions was that some(few) ranchers are hanging on all the time at JavaRanch, answering as soon as he/she can, each and every question that suddenly appear, even if they didn't have a valuable info to add to the discussion, with the main intention to have one more chance to win a book. Some ranchers answered with only a link to some articles in the web. Note that we usually don't go to the ranch looking for a paper in the web, what we want is to participate in a high level interesting discussion with authors and other ranchers.
I confess I got irritated with some situations. No personal offense, seriously, I really believe in the good intention of ALL ranchers. Nothing wrong in wanting to win a book. Sure. I would like to win a book either.
So, I would like you to analyze the possibility to change rules, so that this promotions would not become a dispute to see how many messages I send to win a book. Some examples:
1) limit the book chance to a maximum of 2(n) per rancher:
i.e., if someone wrote more than 2 (or n) messages, he/she will only participate with a maximum of 2(n) entries in the promotion. With this you discourage ranchers that write every answers with the only purpose to win a book, without adding any valuable contribution to the topic, i.e., you avoid abuse. And you also stimulate others to participate.
2) don't consider answers; only questions:
with this you stimulate ranchers that want to have a high level technical discussion in a topic, avoiding the abuse problem mentioned in the previous item, i.e., answers without any value. Of course a person whose only intention is to win a book, can also abuse and ask a bulk of unvalued questions, but this doesn't bother other topic ranchers that have other intentions, and also item number 1 can limit this abuse.
3) some rancher that win a book may not participate in the next 3(n) promotions;
this doesn't limit the number of books that a person can win, and of course, doesn't limit her/his participation in the discussion, only in the promotion. This only avoids abuse and tries to give better opportunities and stimulate people that never win a book. Will a rancher be stimulated to participate in a promotion that she/he knows in advance that the winners will come from few people that frequently write a bulk of messages?
4) a combination of all above, or whatever, any idea that can improve the dialog with authors.
Dani Mazzuca