Engagement via a creative user profile
This is a topic that deserves its own thread. I'll launch the first salvo.
@Massimo_Curatella said over at Ideas We're Grappling With March 23, 2023::
I am thinking about designing a tutorial on how to create your user profile to get the best out of participating to online communities.
Not sure that even a sparkling user profile like mine 
is good enough to bolt us into participating or be a tornado hurling others to interact with us. But I could be wrong.
I need to set specific boundaries to my exploration and that was the smallest unit of value I could think of.
Concentrating on the user profile is a small gesture but who knows where it could lead? I'm willing to follow along and help where I can.
I started to talk about that idea to friends and, surprisingly, they found it useful.
So, following a Design Thinking approach, I want to refine the idea and testing with real people to come up with something I can package and share.
I have a mildly snarky question, are you talking to us "about the idea as friends" or are we the "real people" you want to experiment on?
This is a superb idea, and I'll participate. I think this forum would benefit from anything that would enhance engagement.
To start this off, here is a screenshot of my profile.
1. How can it be improved?
2. What else should be shared that others what to know?
3. I just discovered this "Activity" form and wonder what it does.
4. My profile is hidden in the forum, and a user must look for it. Is that less than ideal?
5. Few users take the time to set up a photo avatar. The best practice would be to have one premade and used everywhere.
6. My signature that gets connected to each post isn't shown and I must edit my profile even to see it.
Will Simpson
My zettelkasten is for my ideas, not the ideas of others. I don’t want to waste my time tinkering with my ZK; I’d rather dive into the work itself. My peak cognition is behind me. One day soon, I will read my last book, write my last note, eat my last meal, and kiss my sweetie for the last time.
kestrelcreek.com
Howdy, Stranger!
Comments
OH! That's nice! I'll get back to you in the weekend. Thank you, Will.
https://curatella.com
That's exactly what I like about my experiment, everybody online, in one way or the other, needs to create a User Profile. You are a perfect candidate!
The effort you put into something make a difference. I can say it, in this case, having spent several hours exploring all ramifications and implications of what could be something so taken for granted by the most.
Why not both?
Thank you, Will! It's really refreshing experiencing your enthusiasm.
Before we start I must make a necessary premise: I am nobody to judge anybody. If you want to play this game we can only refer to the goal you have by having a specific user profile in this specific community.
Not knowing what you want to achieve I can't say anything specific.
And this is the first thing that I learned and that is part of the tutorial: before even starting with the process: What do you want to achieve with your user profile in this community?
Just for you to know, the following answers are valid and acceptable:
1. Nothing
2. I don't know
I found the second particularly stimulating because it opens a lot of possibilities like: "what if we try to discover together what you could do?"
See my preconditions.
I, as Max, I found your profile happy, funny, relatable. It inspire thinking about having conversations comfortably seated while enjoying nature.
Now, why don't we play the opposite. You tell me what you wanted to evoke and provoke and tell me if I came close!
For instance:
- I don't see a direct link to your website. I have to deduce it from your email
- You don't say if you are looking for someone or somebody to do something. What type of connections are you looking for (if any?) What interests are characterizing your thoughts that we could find in common?
- Are you open to be contacted? How? Who would you like to contact? Why? (this is the most difficult and the most powerful, opening to strangers not knowing exactly why)
- You say you augment reading. What do you read? What do you annotate? What can I learn from the things you have learned?
- Woodshop and metal shop: I want to see your works!
And then, I personally know you write, why don't you say that or you share the best things you wrote and you feel proud of?
Be curious and brave: USE IT! And tell us, what was it for?
I don't understand. When I am logged in, I see your posts and I can click on your avatar and reach your profile page. Can you please explain?
Growing to appreciate how we look and how we manifest ourselves to other can be difficult for someone. Surely, having the best picture to represent yourself (according to how you would like to be perceived) is a valuable effort.
Consistency in using the same photo everywhere can be an advantage if you want to be recognized easily. But, again, it depends on your goals: do you want that?
This is unpractical, I concur. And it is an important complement of your photo and profile.
OH! And Finally, there, in the signature I can find your website URL.
Yes, the settings are disconnected in this case. Suggestion for the platform developers.
And in the signature, for the first time I read your full name "Will Simpson". See? it come last.
And I read the quote:
And, not only I think it's true, but I experienced on my skin that If I also don't go as far as carefully annotate, paraphrase and connect, unfortunately, reading is almost useless.
See? We have things in common and things to discuss.
Are you preparing a nice and warm tea?
https://curatella.com
Please don't be wishy-washy in your critiques. I am here to learn, and if you hold back thinking, "I am nobody to judge anybody," I may miss the opportunity to "Change My Mind™"
I want to achieve engagement with the people who want to learn, grow and share their experiences with the ZK Method. That's why I hang out here. You're right to point out that this is not stated. But these seems a generic response.
I don't think many visitors view a commentator's profile. I don't. Sometimes I'll look to see when the commenter "Joined," which doesn't include time spent lurking.
I'm providing a snapshot into who I am and what my interests are.
If we were sitting in the meadow that surrounds Jewett Lake, I'd ask what you where reading recently that excited you.
This sounds like questions from a "dating site profile." I do see that there is metaphoric connection between them. This isn't my site and am constrained by what I feel is ethically and the best use of these resources.
Well it turns out that the "Activity" form creates a thread of activity that appears under the user's profile. I'd be curious to know when a member updates their "Activity." Badge modification would be helpful in steering the eye toward a new "Activity" share. But sadly this feature of the forum is lost to me.
I found a setting where I can be notified when someone responds to my "wall" which I take to be my "Activity" share. But there is no way to tell if someone has added "Activity" unless you go looking and this is not something on the mind of a newbie as they try and get help.
Yes, all you have to do is select an avatar and you'll be presented with a profile. I was thinking of other forums I've been on where more of the profile information was exposed next to or under the avatar.
I still think this is best practice. It shows a modicum of commitment.
Some of us maintain both a profile and a signature.
I've changed my profile adding a link to my website.
Will Simpson
My zettelkasten is for my ideas, not the ideas of others. I don’t want to waste my time tinkering with my ZK; I’d rather dive into the work itself. My peak cognition is behind me. One day soon, I will read my last book, write my last note, eat my last meal, and kiss my sweetie for the last time.
kestrelcreek.com
Thank you, Will, for having played with me.
I understood better what happens when I review a user profile with the owner, and I learned some useful things.
Context is crucial
I need to consider the platform, the online environment, where the user profile exist. That is obviously driving the goal. "Why are you here?" is implied by the title and the nature of this forum.
Goals are not necessarily to be stated
Yes, I was a bit too pushy when looking for your goal in this forum. Of course we are all here to know more or to tell more about the Zettelkasten method and the related topics.
All humans want to connect but in different ways
I was fixated with expressing your interests to "find matching" and it ended up in a "dating site" scenario. Apologies... That was not my intention. I need to calibrate better by enthusiastic encouragements. Rather I should talk first to the person to understand their personality, their goals and their communication style. And only after that co-design a possible "tone of voice" in how they present themselves through their user profile.
Still, I got some connections that I was personally interested in.
Like this:
And we both discovered we didn't know what the "Activity" section in the user profile page was for. So another hint is about exploring the technical details in depth to assess all the possibilities.
We made comparisons between different ways of using the avatar. Surely, having a sort of User Badge summarizing the profile within the post context would be more informative than having to click on the avatar to read the detail in the user profile page.
So, I started a bit too quick, but I ended up collecting useful reflections.
Thank you!
https://curatella.com