Triond: Suggestions for Improving The Site

After three years of writing on the Triond site, I’ve seen a lot of changes. I’ve seen people come and go. I’ve made decent money, relatively speaking, and I’ve made garbage.

I make no claims to being a Triond expert. In fact, a number of writers on the site have been around longer than myself and some have done much better than myself concerning money made and the number of views of their articles; in part that’s because I don’t focus on Triond as a main part of my writing career, but utilize the site for a little bonus money on the side.

With my years of experience on the site comes my own preferences as to what I would like to see changed or improved. I don’t make these points with blistering anger, as some might prefer, but in an effort to hopefully make Triond a better site. Maybe, just maybe, some of the folks behind Triond will pay attention, because frankly for some time it has seemed as if the site has been running on auto pilot (not that I fully blame the Triond folks … I understand how this site, and/or its users, have been a nightmare at times).

So, what are some things I would like to see changed or improved upon?

Hot Content

The Hot Content list on the Dashboard has become a bad joke. At one time it offered up the top ten or so stories of the day, the stories that were receiving the most views, the most comments, the most likes. For the last couple of years, especially the last year, the list has had the same four or five stories at its top with the occasional inclusion of a few stories toward the bottom. If these same four or five stories are always performing well, I understand (though I kind of doubt it), but that still doesn’t help with the usability of the Hot Content list. Perhaps the list should only show the daily top stories? Or weekly? Or for the month? Just an idea, and one I believe would make the Hot Content readily accessible once more. As is, the Hot Content list is practically useless and meaningless.

Bring back the forums

Yes, for those who weren’t around a year ago, Triond used to have forums where the site’s users could post public messages on … well, on just about anything. Personally I feel the forums were the biggest headache the folks behind Triond had, and it’s probably one of the reasons the site has sort of floated on its own the last year or so. There were so many complaints, so much griping and bitching, eventually someone at Triond probably got tired of it all and pulled the plug on the forums. That being said, the forum did provide multiple services, an important one being it allowed beginners to learn the ropes, at least if they were patient. The forum also helped a little to increase the number of views on articles because it allowed the site’s users to get to know one another better and to check out each other’s works. Yes, I readily remember the chaotic cesspool the forum had become. I still think there would be ways to keep this from happening again. Forum mods were utilized for a short while, but this proved unpopular with many who used the site. There are other options available. Many sites with forums or similar structures make available tools for the users to police the forums themselves. Something as simple as a “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” button could be made us of, with perhaps posts with a certain number of “thumbs down” disappearing from view. This is just an idea, and I’m sure there are others that could be just as useful. Another possibility would be to allow Triond users access to the forum only after they have published a certain number of articles, perhaps 10, or have received a certain number of views, maybe 1,000. I feel the return of the forum should be worth discussing by those behind the scenes at Triond.

Make the Share feature automatic

The Share feature, which allows users to send links of their articles to their favorite social networking or linking sites, is a fine tool. I like it. But I think it could be streamlined. Give users an automatic option so that when one of their articles goes live, a link is automatically sent out to Twitter, Facebook, Digg, etc. This might seem to be a minor improvement upon the Triond experience, but it is one I believe would help the site’s users immensely.

Less advertising

Okay, I realize this one will probably be unpopular with the Triond folks, but the truth is the Triond content sites are … well, frankly, they’re garish. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen readers, not writers, complain and turn away from a Triond content site because the page is so full of advertising it makes reading difficult. I understand the ads are there to make all of us money, but pulling back the number of ads a notch would improve the potential visual (and reading) quality of the pages and would keep readers on those pages longer. I’m not suggesting a massive overhaul here, just the removal of one or two ads, especially the larger ones that float in the middle of the content or push the content down on the page. Again, I realize this will likely be an unpopular notion, but I believe what would be lost in immediate revenue would be returned in a short time as readers remained on the site’s content pages longer or for any period of time at all, instead of immediately turning away when they see all the ads.

Incentive

Now that I’ve suggested cutting back on advertising, I’m going to top that off by suggestion Triond pay its writers more. Yeah, yeah, whiny writers, always wanting more money. I get it. But I’m not suggesting more money for all writers. Nope, I’m suggesting writers should have to earn the ability to make more money. This would be an incentive for more writing. One idea would be to offer an extra 10 percent, or some such percentage, when a writer reaches certain goals on the site. Perhaps a writer who wrote 100 articles of a certain length would then earn an extra percentage on his or her earnings? Or maybe a writer who has received a certain number of Likes or Comments, maybe 10 or 20, would receive a little extra on that particular article? Again, these are simply ideas, notions to knock around in the Triond offices. I’m sure there are plenty of other possibilities.

Are my ideas perfect? No, of course not. I don’t know the ins and outs of what goes on behind the scenes at Triond, but I do feel I’m experienced enough with the site that I can see brighter days ahead for it if such brighter days are allowed to happen. Am I whistling in the wind? Perhaps, but so what? At least I’ve gotten another Triond article out of it.

Let your voice be heard

If you have some suggestions of your own for improvements for Triond, please include them below. Perhaps we will get lucky and someone will pay attention.

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