I've been really wanting to step up our game here at BeardedDragon.org, in terms of the content that we provide. Over the years, we've had great little articles added to our collection. Most of those were from members of the site, just like you.
Well, I spent a bunch of time making it possible for any of us to work on an article and even collaborate together. I've had a number of small articles topics that I think many people coming to the site would find informative and helpful. In some cases, we have some sticky topics that I think would be better served as an article. But, I haven't had as much time as I hoped to sit and write it all myself.
So, my hope is that we will be able to work together to provide good bits of information for visitors to the site. We already do most of this when we write replies in posts. Why not pull our knowledge together into a nice flowing and easy to read article?!
Eventually (not yet ready), I'm hoping to make it so people can provide feedback on the helpfulness of an article for themselves (a simple 3-5 level scale). Then we can high light the articles people are finding to be the most helpful too.
I have all these ideas, but its hard to put in the time to make it technically possible AND write content too...
So, who wants to help?
I am hoping to put together a small team (maybe 10 or so) of "Article Writers/Editors". We would collaborate in a special forum to make great content).
If you have experience writing at all, please highlight that. You don't need to be a great writer, but should be structured. My hope is that through collaboration, people can contribute writing, while others may be good reviewers/editors/spell-checkers.... and that the end result would be a consistent quality of articles. As for knowledge... if you know a topic well, great! If not, researching is an option. Some articles might also be better written by the typical "newbie", even.
Great. So far, I have responses from about 5 people. I will wait for a while longer to see who else we can pull into the group. It wouldn't be closed at that point by any means. And I am ALWAYS open to anyone wanting to try writing a one-off article .
That's a good one. I hadn't thought about it. We can discuss more when I get the group going. I'm waiting for more before I add people to the group and setup the discussion area for us. I do want to hear more about what sort of things would be helpful to know. New people are great for know what questions they may have. Hopefully, we can also find a good match with someone who has knowledge on the topic. I might even be able to write some basics, and then maybe work with others to add/refine.
As for pictures, the group could even help with that for those who want... by taking pictures of the bulb they use (as an example). I think I already know the witty title. "Shedding Light on Basking Bulbs" hehehe.
I'd be interesting in helping in anyway I can. I have written for a few blogs before (not for anything to do with Bearded Dragons). I'm not the most experienced owner as I still ask questions from time to time but I'd like to contribute and help out. :]
Gina, I'd be willing to help you with this if you want. I have always been an avid speller and been told many times that I have a great way to word things.
i am in no way what i call a written savy person...however...i am very savy when it comes to building something from nothing and finding ways to do what needs to be done...i am disabled without benifits or a job...i could write articles or a blog for those who find themselves financialy challanged and wanting to provide for their beardies
That's amazing! I always go to thebeardeddragon.org and learned so many new things when I had my first beardie, but it never occured to me that this was part of it. This was actually what helped a TON with the lighting issues I was having: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=148006.
^_^ You guys did an awesome job with the site by the way! The only thing I had major issues on was trying to help my sister determine what kind of beardie she had. The usual grey ones aren't listed as common. Though... I'm still curious about hers since she is bigger than mine and has this cute leopard-like print on her stomach. Other than that the vet is what I'm struggling with. There aren't many vets here to begin with... much less herp vets, which it makes it more complicated to just run and get a stool done at times. Also, there aren't any thing about the worms they can get such as what causes them or what they look like or how to prevent them on the site.
[Admin note: I accidentally edited a post when I meant to click "quote". Sorry about that. I hope I restored the content back to its original form.]