bitchinmona's dashboard

With the "New User" link missing from the bottom of Gawker posts, potential commenters can easily become confused when attempting to audition due to a lack of clear instructions.

I am a frequent visitor to the Gawker Media websites and I certainly do not consider myself to be a web novice whatsoever, but this registration process foiled, frustrated, and flummoxed me. I'm confident that I am not the only one who has experienced difficulties registering.

On several occasions, I have been compelled to comment on a post I've seen at one of the Gawker sites. To date, I have been unable to do so as I was seemingly unable to submit the required audition. While I applaud the measures Gawker appears to be taking to maintain a high-quality commenter community, I can't help but be discouraged by the audition process.

Reviewing the Commenting FAQ, I found that to audition for a new account, one should "click on the New User link at the bottom of any post." Therein lies the first obstacle; no New User link exists at the bottom of Gawker posts. Instead, the only options available to unregistered visitors are to comment instantly as a guest, to login using a Facebook account, or to register for a new account. Registration *appears* to be a black hole that likely stumps many potential users.

What I discovered today, and what prospective commenters may fail to realize is that upon submitting the registration, the user account has been successfully created. Instead of continuing to attempt to register for a new account, one should simply login and begin commenting to provide audition samples for reviewers. This fact is unclear in the Commenting FAQ and submission of a new account request exacerbates the confusion, as there are no suggested next steps or confirmation of account creation. In fact, there's no indication at all that the registration information was even submitted.

My suggestion is to include a new commenter walk-through guide wherein the user is informed of the path from registration to account approval. I propose the following:

1. User registers for a new account. Upon successful submission of account information, user is presented with a confirmation message indicating that the account has been created and a login interface is displayed on the confirmation page.

2. On the confirmation page, further information can be displayed to direct the users. For example, in addition to a login dialog, tips for account approval could be provided explaining that once the user has logged in, he or she should submit high-quality comments prolifically to increase likelihood of approval. This is also a great place to reiterate that comments will not be displayed on the website until they have been approved and the account has been authorized to comment freely.

Thank you for your consideration of this suggestion. I value the Gawker websites and look forward to becoming an active participant in the thriving commenter community.

I really enjoy the Twhirl interface, most notably the easy access of Twitter features. I also appreciate the multiple color schemes for the program, and was thinking last night that it would be great to have the ability to tweak the colors further. From there, my mind extrapolated the possibilities of user-created skins or themes. Not only would this allow users to more thoroughly customize the interface, but could build a community of theme designers who live-and-breathe Twhirl tweaking. (:

I’ve noticed that Twhirl doesn’t display all of the same characters as Twitter supports. With the recent surge in popularity of “TwitterKeys” [ http://is.gd/2Kjy ], for example, users have been making more prolific use of non-standard characters that display properly within the Twitter interface. However, when these characters are displayed in Twhirl, they appear as an empty box.

I propose two things: First, it would be great for Twhirl to have the ability to display these characters as intended. Secondly (and more ‘want/would be nice’ than ‘need/really should have’), I think it would kick an enormous amount of ass if there was an integrated tool within the Twhirl GUI to facilitate use of these symbols, alà an icon similar to that for the URL shortening tool. A user clicks on the special characters icon and voilà! A menu appears offering selection of characters.

This could extend well-beyond the mere inclusion of ♥, ♒, ◊, ☢, ☠, ♫, and so on. This function would also be really useful for those discussing world currencies, foreign characters (e.g. à, é, è, ç, ê, ñ, ¿) from English-language keyboards, and other common symbols for which there’s no direct keyboard key (e.g. 1⁄2, o, ©, ®, ¢) but that Twitter still supports.

I appreciate the ability to set placemarks, but have found that browsing through multiple pages of saved placemarks can be a hassle and adversely affects the likelihood that I follow-through and check-in at my destination. My suggestion is to take the convenience of stored placemarks one step further.

I typically post to BrightKite using my iPhone, and to facilitate that, I have set up a Bookmarks folder with subdirectories containing links to BrightKite pages for my most frequently-visited places. Following is an example of how I have this set up on my phone:

BrightKite
• Restaurants
☉ Al Fresco
☉ Abe & Louie's
☉ Rio Brazilian BBQ
☉ KickAss Cupcakes
☉ Wild Willy's Burgers
☉ Not Your Average Joe's
o Arlington
o Burlington
o Everett
o Lexington
o Watertown
☉ Zaftig's Delicatessen
• Shopping
☉ Apple
o Boston
o Burlington
o Cambridge
o Chestnut Hill
o Hingham
o Holyoke
o Natick
o Peabody
o Providence
o Rockingham
☉ Stop & Shop
o Arlington
o Brighton
o Lexington
o Winchester
☉ Target
o Everett
o Natick
o Somerville
o Watertown
o Woburn
☉ Burlington Mall
☉ Cambridgeside Galleria
☉ Cambridgeside Galleria
☉ Chestnut Hill Mall
☉ Natick Collection
☉ Watertown Mall
• Entertainment
☉ Showcase Cinemas
o Burlington
o Woburn
☉ Agganis Arena
☉ The Orpheum
☉ Fenway Park
☉ Gillette Stadium
☉ TD Banknorth Garden
• General Locations
☉ Boston Garden
☉ Davis Square
☉ Harvard Square
☉ Porter Square
• Quick Check-in
☉ Home
☉ Work

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Now I realize that the above may seem excessive - and you're probably right. I do tend to compartmentalize more than some people do. That's just how I have my BrightKite bookmarks set up on my iPhone. This feature suggestion isn't meant to replace the search functionality; rather it's a customizable directory of frequently-used addresses that is merely an extrapolation of the existing placemarks feature providing organization capabilities.