Sunday, November 25

Thoughts on Instructables -- Administration

Instructables is an interesting community, and although I've only been a member for 15 months or so, I've seen some very intersesting things that really stick out. So, I'm going to deticate a few posts on thier society.


For one, thier admins actually care about the site and its members. Its probably because Instructables is a company, but either way they care. When I, and a few other members approached them on updating their FAQ, we were very nervous. However, they responded whole-hartedly, saying that they would actually develop anything that we needed. This contrasts other places I've been, where they've not only ignored offerings to help their problems, but then punish me for trying to fix them (usually by greasemonkey)


Greasemonkey scripts are actually handled very intrestingly at Instructables, not only do they not try to fix their webpages to "break" the scripts, they embrace Greasemonkey scripts by 3rd parties... its a beautiful thing.


What's really great is seeing the admins actually participate on the site casually, like normal members. For instance, the CEO posted about how he broke his glasses, and wanted opinions on what pair he should get. Not to mention the 100's of projects they've all posted over the years.


I have a lot more rambling to do on them... thier problems will come next.