In our Community Call today we agreed that we should start testing Makerfox to organise collaboration around LOTE4. So I wanted to start with a simple task- asking for help with producing a name and visual design (logo, graphic profile, header etc): https://edgeryders.eu/task-3350.
I created a profile for “Lote4” and arrived on this page. It’s not clear where I should go from here to let the world know what I am looking for and what I have to offer. So I click on “+ Add Services”
I arrive at a page that looks like this. I still don’t understand what is expected of me. So then click on add services again to see what happens. It doesn’t take me anywhere…So I am a bit stuck. I would need a helpful guide/onoarding process: Do you have something to offer? Here is how you post it (ideally a text entry box with upload button). Are you looking for something? Here is how you access it via the site.
Sorry for the confusion, here are some hints for the start
There is currently no way to add wishes, instead you order what is offered. (However, after several people expressed the wish to add wishes even where nothing is on offer yet, we’re adding this; expect a “Connect” menu item for that in the next 2-3 days.) We have also reworked the second level menu items a bit based on your feedback to be less confusing.
What you wanted to do in the version as it is now is: browsing / searching through the list of catalogue services in the second screenshot to see if there is such a service in the catalogue. Probably not, since we’re just building up the catalogue data. So I’d add the service and service description when you tell me, other users can then register to “offer” that service, and you can then “order” their service with the “Order now …” button.
Note this difference between services and products: services are grouped in catalogue offers standardized by us, products are not (because it’s such a mess that we do not even want to start standardizing). Standardizing is useful because it allows you to order multiple alternatives of the same service, from different sellers: you’ll get only one if you need only one, but the Makerfox needs the flexibility to choose in order to find a network barter trade that makes everyone happy …
As for an initial intro, the Makerfox has two YouTube videos online. They are about an outdated UI version already, but might still help you get the ideas:
I come to makerfox because either I have something I can offer or am looking for something I need/want, or browsing to see is currently in the system (Im curious and not really looking for anything in particular, like windowshopping) . So on arrival, the available options to do one of the above needs to be clearly presented in those terms for me to understand what to do next. If I have to learn what is meant by different terms it is confusing. (We have the same problem on the Edgeryders site, and its one of the things I was trying to address with the content I put in the home page).
In the case where I am visiting because with an aim, I either try to find out how I can make my offer visible to others, or how to check whether what I am looking for is available. If what I am looking for is not available, I want to know is there someway I can tell the world/other users that I am looking for it?
So moving on to the next steps as related to LOTE4, this is what I am doing today:
I am setting up all the crucial tasks in the LOTE4-The Stewardship group. And then I will ask you to put them into Makerfox manually. If there is a unique Makerfox offer URL for each task/request for help can link each task on Edgeryders.eu to the right page on Makerfox.com.
To make it easier for us to work as a distributed team (so people can start taking on different tasks in parallel) and for you to have a visual overview of what goes into Makerfox, I want to as for your help in setting up a minisite page that serves as a tasks dashboard. I already tried but couldn’t make it work for some reason. It looks like Matthias started working on it here but it’s not finished.
If you can help with this I wanted to ask to use the same CSS as Ben used for the other LOTE4 minisite page. Works?
Good points @Matthias, thanks for the explanation. I was also looking to post Services and didn’t understand why the list is closed, meaning there was no way to add custom ones and didn’t know how one can get in touch with you to have a service uploaded…
When a deal is made, who provides the current list of services if they aren’t submitted by users?
If you need help uploading the tasks on Makerfox let me know… not clear yet as to where they would go, unless you are working on Wishes right now, where they’d best fit.
Can you please give me a non-GMail e-mail address of yours? GMail is constantly returning my mail to you re. your Makerfox bug report due to being “probably spam”, and I refuse to invest any time into resolving crappy e-mail filtering of some supposedly omnipotent e-mail provider. If they don’t behave, I will simply not send e-mails to GMail addresses again :->
So, do you have a non-GMail address that is also not just a forwarder to your GMail address? If not, I’ll be glad to give you a non-forwarder real mailbox right on the edgeryders.eu server, resp. to extend the capabilities of your Edgeryders address accordingly.
About the rest: “When a deal is made, who provides the current list of services if they aren’t submitted by users?”
The service catalogue is defined by the platform operators and will be about 1000 items large in the end, covering every potential service that can reasonably be offered in a standardized way. I just did not get around to write all these offer descriptions due to workload these days For everything else (including services that are not meaningful to standardize), people can use products to offer these. If you have a better name to make that usage more apparent, welcome to tell us.
Sorry you could not make it to the Makerfox hangout today. You’re and whoever else are welcome to get another Makerfox intro though, just tell me when you have time. Can also do it as part of the community call tomorrow.
Ah that’s unfortunate email filtering: so try noemi at edgeryders dot eu.
The way my brain worked is that while browsing through MakerFox with nothing concrete to offer, I saw translations in various languages available to buy in Services and I immediately thought I could also offer Romanian-English translation hours… but then this is a service rather than a product, I couldn’t upload it, so I ended up no uploading it anywhere else either
Community call tomorrow sounds just about right for the demo, thanks!!
For everything else (including services that are not meaningful to standardize), people can use products to offer these. If you have a better name to make that usage more apparent, welcome to tell us.