Group Actions
Engagement
  • Author Author: dougw
  • Date Created: Date Created
  • Views 4073 views
  • Likes 15 likes
  • Comments 49 comments
Related
Recommended

2020 - a good year for hindsight

dougw

Somewhere in the last 2 years I lost the plot. I thought I would share my experience in case it benefits other members. One of my goals in the past 2 years has been to get nominated for member of the year, but I have not been able to figure out what it takes.

image

The first metric I thought was important was participation. I addressed this by reading virtually everything that was published on the forum and commenting whenever I could contribute something useful. It definitely takes a lot of time to wade through all the material generated on the site. I also participated in the badges program and so far I have 115 badges. All this participation resulted in well over 100,000 points per year. 8 of my blogs in the last 2 years have exceeded 10,000 views.

Another metric I thought would count is participation in design challenges, which take a huge amount of time and require lots of blogs. I successfully completed 5 design challenges in the last 2 years, winning 2 of them.

A third metric I figured would count is Project14 participation. In the past couple of years I have participated in about 14 Project14 contests, winning about 3 of them. I don't really try to win all these contests, because I don't think that would look good, but I like to boost the activity in this corner of the forum.

A fourth metric I thought would count is road tests. In the past couple of years I have won about 9 road tests. (which is every one that I applied for) I have been refraining from applying for more, especially high-end instrumentation because I don't want to hog all the great free equipment.

Another metric which I like a lot, although I don't think it carries any weight, is circuit design. In the past 2 years my blogs have featured at least 27 custom PCBs that I designed.

image

It is clear that this level of participation is not adequate to get nominated, so either:

  • I am not doing the right things
  • I am not doing enough of the right things
  • I am not doing the right things with sufficient quality
  • What I do is not popular enough
  • I am doing something that is frowned upon

image

I have not received any feedback that I am doing something wrong and I cannot spend more time and effort on element14 - there just aren't any more hours available. Basically my current approach is not working, and I cannot do more, so I need to stop expecting better results. Which means I can stop doing what I was doing and how I was doing it.

It has already been quite liberating. I no longer feel obligated to read all content on the forum and I will be spending a lot less time generating videos and blogs, which will leave a lot more time to work on projects, even if they go unpublished. Imagine how much time it took to edit and publish 165 videos in the last 2 years.

I don't want to give the impression I have a complaint with element14 - it is the greatest forum, with a superb staff who do all the right things and I have enjoyed lots of success on the forum in the last 2 years. Really enjoyed it. It is just this one little goal where I screwed up, so if you have any insight into what it takes to get nominated for MotY, articulate them in the comments below.

Parents

  • Hi Doug,

     

    I' afraid I don't have any insight to offer on what it takes to be nominated as MofY, but I can definitely tell you that I don't think you have done anything wrong. Your contributions are always outstanding, be them comments or blogs, and I always enjoy reading them.

     

    Nominated or not, in my eyes you still are one of the most respected members of this community, and I'm grateful you decided to share your projects with all of us. I have been truly amazed by your level of participation in the community, and I can appreciate how much effort, discipline and sacrifice it must require (for one, every new year I keep promising myself to increase my participation, and fail...but such is life),

     

    The only bit of advice I can offer you when it comes to element14 community is to enjoy participation the way it best suits you: work and life already put us under a lot of pressure, and this community is the one place where we can actually do what we like, the way we like, and take the time we feel it is needed to do it.

     

    So, I suppose all I want to say to you is thank you, and keep up the excellent work. There might be less blogs from you, but I will still thoroughly enjoy reading them.

     

    Fabio

Comment

  • Hi Doug,

     

    I' afraid I don't have any insight to offer on what it takes to be nominated as MofY, but I can definitely tell you that I don't think you have done anything wrong. Your contributions are always outstanding, be them comments or blogs, and I always enjoy reading them.

     

    Nominated or not, in my eyes you still are one of the most respected members of this community, and I'm grateful you decided to share your projects with all of us. I have been truly amazed by your level of participation in the community, and I can appreciate how much effort, discipline and sacrifice it must require (for one, every new year I keep promising myself to increase my participation, and fail...but such is life),

     

    The only bit of advice I can offer you when it comes to element14 community is to enjoy participation the way it best suits you: work and life already put us under a lot of pressure, and this community is the one place where we can actually do what we like, the way we like, and take the time we feel it is needed to do it.

     

    So, I suppose all I want to say to you is thank you, and keep up the excellent work. There might be less blogs from you, but I will still thoroughly enjoy reading them.

     

    Fabio

Children