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 Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 3:39 pm
The Quick & Dirty Guide to Making a Useful Guide Guides, tutorials, resource lists, question-answer threads - these are all useful collections of information that provide guild members with facts, figures, and suggestions that improve their day-to-day guild experiences. You could be the user that offers up the tips another user needed to improve their password’s security, preventing an easy hacking. You could be the artist that lays out the steps of a complicated drawing technique for fellow artists, forever improving their style. You could be the dedicated user listing Gaia’s free item and gold grants to help friends make some quick cash. So what the ******** is stopping you?
Maybe there’s a block between the wealth of information you can provide, and the empty thread you’re squinting at. Maybe you have some tips, or an important catalog listing, or some knowledge you want to share, but for some reason it’s not jumping out of your head and onto your keyboard through your fingers. Where do you start? How do you set things up? Is it even useful, worthy of sharing?
Let’s see if I can help you out here.
- Naz
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Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 3:48 pm
STEP ONE
DOES ANYONE GIVE A s**t?
(DO I GIVE A s**t?)
Before making any kind of thread - be it a tutorial, guide, resource list, or Q&A - take a moment to consider its possible usefulness. Is it something others need to know? Is it something not easily understood on its own? Is it something relevant to the guild?
Now consider yourself. Do you have a full understanding of the subject and all its aspects, or are you pulling knowledge out of your a**? Will you have the necessary time and interest to maintain the thread over time, and answer relevant questions users may have?
When you have determined your planned topic’s usefulness and your ability to competently and consistently represent it, you’re ready for step two.
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Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:00 pm
STEP TWO
WHAT THE ******** AM I DOING?
Confident your intended thread will provide an important service, you go to type up an introduction and find yourself lost all over again. What should you say? How do you present your information? How much should you write, and where should you put it? These decisions aren’t always easy.
First, consider collaborating with another member in The Shrieking Shack for some additional input. If you’re a lone wolf (you emo, you), or a bitchy control freak like me, this isn’t necessary, though it does bring in some useful outside input while you’re in planning phases.
Now just hit the ground running; start typing and don’t stop until you think you’ve covered all your bases. There will be extra, unnecessary crap mixed in, and you’ll have missed several critical points - this is normal, as you’re just at the rough draft, vomit-up-the-info stage. Sleep on it, then return to the draft the next day; now you can begin to trim your avalanche of information, and slip in some of the things you missed. Try sending it to someone else to see if it needs additional editing.
The end result should be a continuous strain of consciousness on a particular topic. Now you have to break it into easily readable pieces.
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Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:28 pm
STEP THREE
HOW DO I ORGANIZE THIS CRAP?
Organizing a thread is never an easy task - it takes time, some HTML coding, and a shitload of forethought. You need to present your information in a neat, well-illustrated manner to reach all audiences, and the layout needs to present the most important information first to avoid confusion; it also needs to provide room for future expansion, like that ten pounds you pack on during the holidays. Multiple posts, diagrams/charts, post headers, and a navigation list might be in order.
A great way to get ideas is to wander around in Gaia Guides & Resources forum and lurk in the threads posted there. In each thread, take note of what you like - and don’t like - about how their data is shown, and how they chose to organize the thread. Consider this while you map out your own thread.
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Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:32 pm
STEP FOUR
SHARING THIS s**t WITH OTHERS
You would think if someone needed to know something, they would come looking for the s**t themselves. But most people are dumb ******** and need it spoon-fed to them. In this case, they might need your thread shoved down their throats before they bother taking a look.
So make your thread a banner or two for signatures, link it in other, relevant threads, bring it up in related discussions - make sure people know it exists.
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