Community post

Rules Pop-up Screens for Utopian.io

It is known that a lot of Utopian contributors get rejection over and over again because of not reading or not taking notice to both general and category specific rules. I believe that showing rules only before posting is sometimes feels like "Terms of Conditions" in game installation process for most users. Many just press "Next, next, next, write and submit" and this situation leads to mistakes which can not be reverted like using wrong and inactive repositories, providing information not as high quality as stated in the rules, or even forgetting the main goal of the category. Therefore, I would like to introduce my suggestion for guaranteeing users are aware of both general and category specific rules while they are posting.

Components

The suggestion covers changes in new contribution page and and addition of a pop up screen to submitting phase.

Proposal

There should be a button which is easily accessible while posting in case of forgetting, or any need of re-reading rules concerning the post. This button should pop a screen listing both general rules, and rules of the category. It is possible to add 2 buttons, one for general rules, one for category rules for simplicity.
Submit button in new contribution page should pop a screen which contains preview of the post on the left, and rules concerning the post both general and category specific. This may even be extended with repository specific rules and warnings with some help of a panel for managing rules. One of the following options can be implemented:
1. Contributors should tick only one checkbox as agreement of the rules.
2. Contributors should tick checkboxes belong to rules, one by one.
Current rule page may be removed since there will be no need if these suggestions are implemented.

Mockups / Examples

All examples are provided with some on-screen changes on the website. So I didn't spend too much time on styling since they are just examples.

An example rules button. There could be 2 buttons seperately for general and category rules.
Rules pop-up screen
Pop-up screen for submitting

Benefits

Easily accessible rules on contribution page allows contributors to read them more frequently and avoid simple but irreversible mistakes.
Warning users before submitting might significantly increase attention to rules and decrease rejection rates in contributions. This would be beneficial for all since contributors would get less rejections, moderators would spend more time to moderate higher quality posts and there would be proper contributions for any open source project.
New rules can be easily presented for users who still didn't read the rule changes.Rules buttons could be improved with badges, so users simply realize there are rule changes or announcements whenever they open new contribution page.
If an additional panel is built for managing these screens, users can be easily warned for anything right after the changes. These warnings may be about rules, certain repositories, common mistakes etc.

Posted on Utopian.io - Rewarding Open Source Contributors

Replies (13)

I disagree with this approach.

Rules are Rules

Well, actually, I think the rules system in Utopian should be reformed altogether. It seems there's confusion between rules and requisites.

I think what you are describing are more requisites. You call them

Hard/Soft Rules

but I would refer to them as

Mandatory/Discretionary Requisites

Then, there are the actual rules. I think the requisites are something an author should always be aware of (opposing out of site, out of mind); however, rules are things I think should be more concrete and have some authority behind them (legal authority). These seem to fall under the designation of General Rules. As I said though, I would just call these The Rules.

Avoid being distracting

I think Requisites related to posting should be separated entirely from The Rules. The Rules can be read on their own and do not relate directly to posting. These are for reference to protect posters, moderators, and supervisors.

Like you, I think displaying Requisites before a post is only distracting the user rather than getting their attention. Having a button a user clicks on isn't going to help though. The user has to click the button and probably won't think to do so. I like the template approach. When a user begins editing, there are already notes embedded in the editor. These can already be considered Requisites because they are suggesting the author on how to write the post. I like this approach because rather than focusing on what not to do, it guides the author in the correct way to formulate a post. Requisites can be added here with things like

Include in your description how your post is promoting an open source project.

Be concise

The rules as they are now are ... well, I wouldn't say confusing. They're subjective. Much of the rules contain adjectives and adverbs that are open to interpretation. Such rules do not need to be as lengthy either. They can probably just be 4 or 5 word sentences that are clear and to the point. Compare:

Using multiple accounts to clearly abuse the system

vs.

Abusing Utopian system via multiple accounts

clearly abuse the system is subjective and up for interpretation. This gives the user grounds to debate this issue.

There are more. One of my favorites is using consistent and unique in the same sentence. An example of a paradox/contradiction within the rules. It's also a case of using adjectives to describe something that should be concrete.

Looping back

I think

Rules should be separated so Requisites are limited
Rules and Requisites should be revised to be more concise
Requisites should be displayed in the editor forcing the author to read them while editing and therefore guiding the author

Just my $0.02

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Components

Proposal

Mockups / Examples

Benefits

Rules are Rules

Avoid being distracting

Be concise

Looping back

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