bchrisdesigns

“It’s a hot tranny mess up in here!”

There has been much talk recently about Red Bubble Groups and how things need to change. Some common gripes include:

1. There is little group involvement (so why even join in the first place, people?)
2. People complain about bubble mails (I am not one of them because by joining a group, I pretty much expect it)
3. Hosts complain about investments of time and resources
4. RB admins claim that groups are just a dumping ground for images
5. Many members simply use these groups for shameless self-promotion without even reading the rules and/or following them correctly (you know who you are!!!!)
6. New groups that could possibly be beneficial have been put on hiatus because there are supposedly “too many groups”...gasp!
7. Some groups, which are hosting off-site blogs and websites to promote their groups and give their groups additional functionality (which could actually help members with free promotion), have come under fire for violating member’s rights
8. Group challenges are either lacking in entries, votes, or overall support (even when money is involved, which is beyond me, quite frankly)
9. Many hosts feel taken advantage of and under-appreciated by the Red Bubble community, and subsequently abandon their posts or lose interest and the groups suffer for it
10. Hosts are sometimes at a loss with going about how to feature work and artists in their groups, and what constitutes “fairness”
11. Many members cannot understand why their work was not accepted and many hosts have either very unreasonable expectations or their expectations are way too low
12. Adding your work to groups involves skimming through a long list of un-alphabetized and un-sort-able group names, which makes posting to groups a chore. I can understand why some people just click everything and submit and leave it to the hosts to decide. I have NEVER done this, but I can understand why some would.
13. Groups get inundated with art/clothing/writing/journals and then visitors have to skim through 20 or more pages of work, which can make it daunting for viewers (I personally think this is just one more thing to complain about and not really that big of a deal)
14. Many groups limit the amount of work a member can post (or can post at one time) and sometimes this seems unfair (I agree with this 100%); but hosts say that the purpose of this is to keep the galleries so fresh and so clean (which seems a bit nit-picky yet needed, to me).

This represents just a few rants that I have seen expressed throughout the RB community, and some of them I share my opinion with because I have experienced it firsthand. Being a member of quite a few groups and also a group host, I have been able to see perspectives from both sides. And, having been involved in many internet groups in the past, I can attest that Red Bubble still needs to work it out for better functionality. However, what Red Bubble has is a diamond in the rough that has so much potential.

Now, I know this is getting word-y and I have been criticized in the past for not exemplifying brevity. But, when I am passionate about a subject matter I cannot help but ramble on. All I can hope for is that people (especially RB Admins and Group Hosts) continue reading because I think I have some good ideas to toss into the mix.

Currently, Red Bubble is talking about a sort of division that would make groups for the people and would establish galleries for the art. This is just an idea that Red Bubble has been toying with and their is nothing official about it. And, while this idea has many supporters, I am not a huge fan of it. I think it will initially cause a lot of chaos and confusion and require volunteers to offer more time, which many of us are already at our wits end with.

I question why Red Bubble is trying to establish new features as a way to “help the group situation” rather than actually focusing on the group’s part and trying to revamp that. We do not need something new. What we need is for a better operating group system. Maybe, if we started there, then we would fix some of these problems in the first place.

Here are some ideas I have, that would probably help to end (or at least aid with) the current group conundrum:

Bubble Mails

Bubble mail woes could be a thing of the past if Red Bubble were to find a way for Group Hosts to send notifications to the group that, instead of being sent to member bubble mail accounts, would automatically be posted in a group tab called “Updates” (they could put it right before the “Activity” on the group’s menu). An option to post a message to the group could be placed under the “Moderation” section (group hosts know what I am talking about). Also, so that members would not have to visit every group, every day, for news and updates… Red Bubble could make a “feed” for it under our main “Activity Feeds” menu (much like they did with the “Challenges Feed”).

Shameless Self-Promotions

To avoid this nasty little habit, group hosts could enter key words (tags, if you will) that describe their group and what they expect. The number of tags could be limited to twenty fours (to avoid over tagging and confusion; plus, usually if you go over 24 tags, they become unusable in a search anyway). Then, when members are uploading a new work or editing a pre-existing work, only groups which the member belongs to and which share the tags the member has used for their work would appear in the “Add this work to your groups” section.

This section should also be made alphabetical, search-able, and sort-able AND there should be a pop-up link to the group’s guidelines so that, at the time of posting, members can skim through group guidelines to determine if a piece is suitable for said group. This way, the member has no reason to have spammed groups with their unrelated images.

Also, maybe there should be a notification section of the moderation tabs for group hosts to be able to see who has submitted more than five rejected pieces within a three month time period. They could then send a warning to the member and put them on a sort of probation, and the member could face possible removable. This type of system would SHOW members just how often they do this and would hold them accountable for their actions and would eliminate a lot of the debates as to why a host kicked someone out of the group.

Group Involvement

Continuing on with the idea of a notification system, Red Bubble could implement a point system that would record group activity for individual members (and hosts too)...kind of like sporting statistics. Members (and hosts) could be able to see how many forum posts they have made, how many challenges they have entered, how many they have won/lost, how many works they have had accepted/rejected, how many groups they belong to/host, how many groups they have left and/or being ejected from, how many pieces they have had featured, how many times they have had been a featured member, etc. Each time they do something positive, they could earn points accordingly. And, each time they do something negative, like have a piece rejected from a group or not be an active member for an entire week, they could get a ding and their point value would decrease.

With this type of system, members could then see their overall Red Bubble stats and know where they stand. This would make people more accountable, have more of an incentive to participate, and not be so offended when hosts make evasive decisions.

Red Bubble (and group hosts) could also offer incentives for constantly active members (like a “Most Active Members” feature page) and hosts!

The Main Group Page

Currently, when we click on “Groups”, we are taken to a very simplistic (and quite boring) group page, which lists our groups, featured groups, recent groups, and random groups. Well, this is nice and all, but I feel it is a waste of that page. That page should be a portal for us into the world of Red Bubble groups. As it is now, it seems like an afterthought. This should be our group hub. We should be able to find our group activity feeds, group stats, favorite groups, groups we host, groups that are most active and featured, and newest groups. We should have the option of sorting through this information and deciding what it is that is important for us to view (each of us, individually). This way, we have no excuse to not know the current happenings or to not be involved. It would automatically put us in the center of it all and we would then automatically be involved. Information would go right to the source.

We should also have the option of adding works to multiple groups (which we are members of and which match our tags criteria, of course) from this section as well as being able to delete them from groups. In the same respect, we should have the ability to quickly enter pieces of artwork and writing into group challenges. All of this should be made accessible right from this first page, without the hassle of surfing through the mountains of groups out there.

There should also be a section on this page, where Red Bubble admins and Group Hosts could post group-wide announcements that all members would receive because it may be beneficial for them to know (regardless if they belong to a particular group or not). There could be an option when hosts post group updates, for it to be posted in this section as well.

Group Challenges/Contests

Right now, it seems that Red Bubble is on the right track when it comes to the way groups host challenges and contests. But, I would personally expand on that idea. There should be a section of the main group page just for challenges and contests. And ALL group challenges should be posted here. Members could then see ALL group challenges (even those from groups which they may not currently belong to).

Also, it would be nice for Challenge winners to receive a little note on their art work description notifying people out there of their placement in the challenge. This is valuable marketing for us artists and might help us with sales (some people might like to buy an award winning piece). Currently, Zazzle does this and automatically posts various community wins on the actual art work page for all browsers to see. This would really encourage people to enter and participate in challenges and contests.

And, hey, what about vendor challenges? A lot of art websites team up with outside vendors to hosts challenges for artwork photography, writing etc. Red Bubble should do stuff like that and place information on those in this area as well!

Also, maybe Red Bubble could give each group so much in funds for challenge prizes. This way, if the challenge is approved to use the funds, the hosts could give out better prizes which might also improve upon challenge participation.

As well, members could receive points that would up their statistics rating for each entry and each placement in a competition.

Featured Work and Artists

Instead of leaving it solely up to hosts to decide who gets featured in each group. Why not reserve some spots, which would automatically generate featured members from criteria such as: most involved group members, challenge winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd, place), most favorited pieces, most viewed, etc. Then the hosts could have their picks as well. This way, the pool is always more fair and even leveled.

Also, featured works should also receive award markers on the actual work’s page (much like my above idea for challenges to receive them) because, then buyers could know that this piece not only won challenges, but it was also featured! Cha-ching!

Group Restrictions & Archives

Many group hosts cap the number of pieces a member can add to a group. Some even narrow it down to one or two, which is honestly ridiculous! I understand the hosts concerns that the groups will overflow with work and people will have full pages of work shown in the galleries. I understand how this issue is a Pandora’s Box and I am not saying to get rid of group restrictions. But how about making them more feasible, streamlined, and automated? Red Bubble should only allow members to post no more than 2-3 pieces in a single 24 hour time period (excluding challenge entries, journals, and special circumstances such as Drawing Day, etc.). Members should then be cut off from submitting any more than that until the next day. This simple act could alleviate all concerns of spamming.

The logical next step would be establishing certain criteria for pieces to automatically be “archived” into the group’s history. Yes, ALL groups should have an archive. Why do we not have an archive? Can someone explain this to me? Even blogs have archives! This way, hosts and members do not have to worry about over-flooding of the group and having to delete and re-add images. The hosts could then archive the group by month and those archives could then be search-able by the masses. The hosts could set it to archive itself every month or every three months or they could do it manually. In addition, archived pieces could also appear in the feature section or in the group’s feeds for challenge winners, most viewed, most commented on, most featured, etc. that way they do not just get lost in archive hell.

If these things were implemented, then hosts would not have to be all military style and making up outrageous quotas and restrictions (that, quite frankly, sometimes turn away potential members). It would make it the same and fair for every group and no one would have to try to remember what the limit rules were for each and every group they belong to.

Also, hosts should be given the option for mass acceptance, rejection, and deletion of material. And, hosts should be able to create pre-written messages or templates to send to members when a piece is rejected or deleted. As a host, it would be beneficial for me to be able to choose, from a drop down menu, the appropriate response to send so that members are not constantly BM’ing you with questions.

And, much like hosts can invite members to join the group, why not enable them to invite people to submit a certain piece to the group. As a hosts, I have often been surfing through RB and noticed some art and writing (and journals) that would be welcomed additions to the groups I host, but having to BM the artist/writer (especially if they are not a current member) is daunting and time consuming. I wish I could just click an invitation to submit their piece to my group. Who knows, maybe they do not even know that our groups even exists! Hello new membership!

Creating New Groups

There has recently been debate over the creation of new groups being placed on hiatus. I, myself, sent Red Bubble admins an email proposing three new groups, to which I have received NO REPLY. I know they are busy people, so I am not holding anything against them…yet. Hehehehehe… But, one thing that would help them in creating new groups would be to create and online form that members could fill out (and edit, and check the status of) which would be in pending mode until approved. This way, the potential host could enter the potential group’s guidelines, mission statement, etc. That way, this information is already set to go if the group is approved.

Also, they should create a section of the main group page which would show all proposed groups and their descriptions, guidelines, and mission statements. This section should give members the option of adding themselves to the “waiting list” for that group (so that they are automatically added to the group upon the group’s inception – they would receive notice of this in their activity feed, of course). Then, RB Admins could see how many people are on the group’s waiting list and this could show just how much of a demand there is for that particular group.

If a group is denied creation, the potential host can then re-examine that and make “significant” changes and re-submit it for inclusion.

Group Blogs

This has also been a hot topic of debate recently. Some hosts have created websites and blogs outside of Red Bubble to give their groups more functionality and marketability. Some hosts want to include all members in this. Some members do not want to be included (as to why, I will NEVER understand because free marketing is free marketing people…but that is a different post all together). So, how do we solve this? Some have suggested that we include an option upon membership to opt out of said promotions/inclusions. I sort of like this idea, but think it needs more functionality. Members should be able to do this on a per piece basis. What if I am cool with my writing being featured on the group’s blog, but not my art? Or I do not want my pieces placed on blogs, except this one t-shirt? It’s all about functionality. When we upload our pieces to a group, it should give us the option for inclusion for that particular piece only. Then, hosts could use an implemented search tool to weed through the group for pieces that are open to inclusion.

There. Problem solved.

Another way to combat this would also be to set up group blogs, where hosts could blog about the same stuff they blog about on their off-site blogs, but it would be here on Red Bubble and, thusly, members would not be all up in arms.

Also, it would be beneficial for groups to be able to set up Group Zines that could be annual, bi-annual, quarterly, bi-quarterly, monthly, bi-monthly, weekly, or bi-weekly. This would be beneficial for writing groups and art groups alike. They could supply articles, features, etc. Many groups are already doing this off-site. Why not promote that here? It would definitely encourage people to up the quality of art and writing.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that right now Red Bubble’s group system is a Hot Tranny Mess (my apologies to the Trannies of the world, of whom I have nothing but love for) and what it needs to be is FIERCE!

I know this is A LOT of information to take in and I will be proud of those of you who read through all of this. I hope, at least, that all Red Bubble Admins and Group Hosts have read though this as I feel I am offering valuable ideas. I am not one to rabble rouse and cause an uproar. And, I am not hating on Red Bubble or anyone. I want Red Bubble to succeed in everything it does. I love this website and want it to be the best it can be. This is why I offer my thoughts and ideas. I know that there will be many who disagree with some of my ideas. But, you cannot make everyone happy. But, at least I took the time to share my ideas and offer constructive help for a better Red Bubble experience for us all. All of these ideas combined would make our group experiences as members and hosts a whole lot better. I implore you Admins, to re-consider and re-evaluate your plans for RB because we do not need new features to go along side with our already confusing and chaotic ones. Shouldn’t we improve upon one thing first BEFORE we add something new to the mix? There is so much YOU (Red Bubble) can do rather than the whole Galleries idea to improve upon our experience with groups. So, why not take care of that first?

Thank you to all who took the time to read this word-y mess! Much love to you all! And, Red Bubble, if you happen to like my ideas…hook me up with one of them Red Bubbles by my name…hehehehe…wink-wink!

El Fin. [Phew!]

~ b.chris @>}-—-

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NOTES:

See this forum topic, as well, for more information.

For those curious about the SNL/Project Runway quote which precedes this offering, check this out (courtesy of Hulu.com): http://www.hulu.com/watch/11932/saturday-night-live-new-bravo-show#s-p2-st-i0

© Copyright Brian Jaime and bchrsidesigns, 2008. All Rights Reserved.