Mar 31st 2006 06:09:18 pm

Swap-bot has a MySpace account. Be our friend.

3 Comments » Categories: General

Mar 20th 2006 07:44:41 pm

Swap-bot needs a rating system. I am thinking of trying something based on Yahoo’s Rating an Object design pattern.

I envision a system that somehow shows you the name of of your swap partner after you receive your item and allows you to rate the swapper. The rating would take the following into account:

• quality of swapped item
• the swappers ability to swap on-time
• what else?

This rating could then be used to allow people into or deny people from entering a swap. The swap creator could specify a rating of at least 3.5 (or any value) to enter the swap. I would think that the rating limit would apply to anyone with at least three swaps under their belt (eg: less than three swaps and the rating does not apply to them, they automatically get into the swap). All ratings would have to be public and some sort of appeals process would need to be in place.

The only question I really have is: at what point can the ratings begin? Since we have to reveal the name of the person you are rating, at which point in the swap process do you want to see the name. We’ve discussed before that you should see this name after 30 days, but is this too long after the swap to start rating?

Ideas and feedback please.

8 Comments » Categories: Feature Discussion

Mar 19th 2006 11:24:06 pm

Swap photo galleries have now been added in their first phase. For an example of the galleries, see the leftover craft item swap.

I’ll take suggestions on how I can improve the galleries. I have a few more ideas myself, but know with your help they will be even better.

No Comments » Categories: Announcements

Mar 14th 2006 10:17:26 pm

We had four new swaps created today. So far, that is a swap-bot record.

No Comments » Categories: General

Mar 12th 2006 01:20:50 pm

If you log into Swap-bot you won’t really notice anything different (I hope), but I reworked some of the CSS that is responsible for the positioning of the site. Please check it out and if you notice anything not quite working right, please let me know. I tried to make the site more accessible for swappers with an 800×600 screen resolution (about 12% of pageviews).

For anyone interested in CSS, I followed the 3 column example at Mollio.

1 Comment » Categories: Announcements

Mar 11th 2006 09:15:19 pm

International addresses no longer need to fill out the special textarea for their address. I added a country field and removed restrictions on a few other fields. If you have a non-US address or are skilled at sending things overseas, please take a look at the new address requirements and send me any feedback.

No Comments » Categories: General

Mar 11th 2006 08:56:02 pm

I am halfway done with the member profile pages. If you log into Swap-bot, click ‘Manage Account’ and scroll to the bottom of your account information, you will see a revamped info section. Fill out whatever information suits you. Soon (tonight or tomorrow sometime) the first pass at the member pages will be up. Hopefully the member pages will be used by swap partners to learn more about the other participants to know exactly what to send.

You will be able to get to others’ member pages by clicking on their names in the ‘View Participants’ section under a swap. These pages will be publicly accessible (meaning that you don’t have to be logged in to view them), so you can post the URL to your profile on your blog or anywhere else you want.

Take a look at what is already available. What else would you like to enter/know about your swap partners?

No Comments » Categories: Announcements

Mar 9th 2006 06:56:56 pm

Two more ideas via email:

• Show the parters that sent (or should have sent) to you after one month (at the same time the “nag” emails stop)
• Once you click “I sent my items”, the swap gets moved to the “Previous Swaps” section

Both great ideas and unless someone tells me otherwise, I am going to get to them sometime soon. Thanks Robyn.

No Comments » Categories: Feature Discussion

Mar 9th 2006 12:30:22 am

Now that I have gotten some of the little things that Swap-bot needed out of the way, I am ready to focus on a bigger Swap-bot project. I have already started working on a swap photo gallery and member pages.

The member pages are going to be a place where swappers can share info about themselves, like their favorite color or favorite type of music, for swap parters to get possible swap ideas. The member pages will have a place for comments from other swappers and all uploaded images by that user. I have heard from some users that they would like to be able to rank fellow swappers. This would probably be the place for that, I am still working out what exactly could be ranked and how other parts of Swap-bot could use that information.

I am most excited about the photo gallery. Each swap will have its own photo gallery that anyone can view. Swappers would, most likely, upload photos of the swaps they receive (technically they could upload pics of the swaps they send, but that detail will be left up to the swap coordinator). This might be a good place to have some voting. Swappers could vote on the best swap package or something.

Any ideas or feedback regarding member pages and photo galleries would be most appreciated. Thanks.

1 Comment » Categories: Feature Discussion

Mar 8th 2006 10:52:06 pm

Changes made tonight:

• SB now sends a reminder email one week in advance to the close of the swap signup
• Added a “Drop from swap” link at the top of the swap details page if you are signed up for the swap
• Fixed a “Forgot my password” error where the text of the email was being displayed before the email was sent (ooops…)

Update: I got the “nag” email reminders setup. For the first month following the end of the swap, anyone who hasn’t clicked the “I sent my items” link will receive a daily email from Swap-bot letting them know they need to send their items.

1 Comment » Categories: Announcements, Bug Fixes