Liverpolitan
12-01-2008, 10:36 PM
I ask because the structure of this site seems to be extremely tidy! Everything has a place, a place for everything. I know people who would love it even if they knew nothing about Liverpool, simply because it is so structured.
At work, before we had a real clear desk policy, some people were always tidy without being told to be. They had neat orderly files, and I know one person who prided himself on actually maintaining a clear desk during the day. It helped that he wasn't very busy. Others had that "I know where everything is" form of messiness, with huge piles of papers and files but somehow, only they knew how, they would be able to retrieve something as quickly as someone who had neat files.
Peoples pc desktops are also revealing. Some people have the minimum possible clutter, whereas other people seem to just throw things randomly onto the desk top where they can find it easily, and sweep things into huge messy files once the desk top is full.
Personally I'm untidy. My work desk was one of the ones with big piles of paper, sometimes mini-avalanches, and sadly unlike some I didn't have the gift for still knowing where everything was - it was sometimes a bit random. And my desktop just fills up until it won't accept any more icons, then I have a clear-up. I use a large screen, partly because it accepts so many icons.
I am just one of those people who has to be able to see things in order to know where they are. It's no use to me knowing its in a file, or a folder within a file within a drawer. I need it on my desk, or on my desktop. My files are clear plastic, so I can see what is in them. I have furniture with glass draws and cupboards as otherwise I'll never open them and whatever is in them might as well be buried.
With public filing systems, it's tricky - order is required if everyone is to use them, and without some order you get endless duplication and frustration trying to find things. That is a real strenght of yo! and its rather robust filing structure.
I'm one of this sites biggest fans even though I've not been a member that long or posted a lot - I've read it and enjoyed it and appreciated it from its fairly early days. I know it's had its ups and downs, and I've never appreciated the ins and outs of those things but have just been pleased to see it bounce back stronger from the challenges that have been faced. So I only write as a semi-lurking fan, not as a critic or as a regular user or contributor.
My feeling though, and it is a though, is that the structure of the site currently means I am missing a lot. It's like Russian Dolls, you have to really want to open one up to find the next, and the next. If you are in a rush, or don't know what is inside, you don't open it. I dash between the sites I monitor regularly, sometimes I try to check on half a dozen sites in just ten minutes or so, and I have to say that if you treat yo! in that way, you miss nearly all of it.
Maybe it's the web equivalent of "slow" cities, slow food, that whole movement to try to stop the madness of doing everything so fast. It enslaves us all, so it's nice to see a website that demands you give it a bit of time. And to know what is being posted on yo! you have to spend quite a bit of time. Over time, I suspect the site will attract a really skewed sample of the general population, who have bare desk tops and really tidy living rooms. People who file their bank statements in date order in a file and archive them once a year. People who have a little card index next to their computer with their passwords instead of scrabbling around looking for bits of paper and envelopes scattered on the floor under the kitchen table.
Being messy is not of itself a bad thing, if it was nature would have eradicated us by now. So I don't feel the need to be apologetic. I don't think it's morally bad or inefficient particularly. After all, randomness, accident and exploration drive evolution as much as steady learning and trialling of what what works. Perhaps one reason humans are so successful is that some of us are doggedly methodical and patient, and others are incapable of method or patience and just make things up afresh if we can't find something we've made before.
Anyway, I am posting because I couldn't find a way of contacting Kev (sorry if it's obvious but I couldnt work it out) and also I wondered how others feel. Would you be more likely to visit and read and post if there were less categories and themes and sub-categories and sub-topics etc? Less boxes to open? Or are you someone who likes being able to find things logically and can easily remember where things are kept?
As I say, I am a fan of yo! and whilst I am not technically a lurker my time on here is in no way reflected by my palty post count. So I hope this posting, which is from a rather selfish lurker perspective, is okay.
At work, before we had a real clear desk policy, some people were always tidy without being told to be. They had neat orderly files, and I know one person who prided himself on actually maintaining a clear desk during the day. It helped that he wasn't very busy. Others had that "I know where everything is" form of messiness, with huge piles of papers and files but somehow, only they knew how, they would be able to retrieve something as quickly as someone who had neat files.
Peoples pc desktops are also revealing. Some people have the minimum possible clutter, whereas other people seem to just throw things randomly onto the desk top where they can find it easily, and sweep things into huge messy files once the desk top is full.
Personally I'm untidy. My work desk was one of the ones with big piles of paper, sometimes mini-avalanches, and sadly unlike some I didn't have the gift for still knowing where everything was - it was sometimes a bit random. And my desktop just fills up until it won't accept any more icons, then I have a clear-up. I use a large screen, partly because it accepts so many icons.
I am just one of those people who has to be able to see things in order to know where they are. It's no use to me knowing its in a file, or a folder within a file within a drawer. I need it on my desk, or on my desktop. My files are clear plastic, so I can see what is in them. I have furniture with glass draws and cupboards as otherwise I'll never open them and whatever is in them might as well be buried.
With public filing systems, it's tricky - order is required if everyone is to use them, and without some order you get endless duplication and frustration trying to find things. That is a real strenght of yo! and its rather robust filing structure.
I'm one of this sites biggest fans even though I've not been a member that long or posted a lot - I've read it and enjoyed it and appreciated it from its fairly early days. I know it's had its ups and downs, and I've never appreciated the ins and outs of those things but have just been pleased to see it bounce back stronger from the challenges that have been faced. So I only write as a semi-lurking fan, not as a critic or as a regular user or contributor.
My feeling though, and it is a though, is that the structure of the site currently means I am missing a lot. It's like Russian Dolls, you have to really want to open one up to find the next, and the next. If you are in a rush, or don't know what is inside, you don't open it. I dash between the sites I monitor regularly, sometimes I try to check on half a dozen sites in just ten minutes or so, and I have to say that if you treat yo! in that way, you miss nearly all of it.
Maybe it's the web equivalent of "slow" cities, slow food, that whole movement to try to stop the madness of doing everything so fast. It enslaves us all, so it's nice to see a website that demands you give it a bit of time. And to know what is being posted on yo! you have to spend quite a bit of time. Over time, I suspect the site will attract a really skewed sample of the general population, who have bare desk tops and really tidy living rooms. People who file their bank statements in date order in a file and archive them once a year. People who have a little card index next to their computer with their passwords instead of scrabbling around looking for bits of paper and envelopes scattered on the floor under the kitchen table.
Being messy is not of itself a bad thing, if it was nature would have eradicated us by now. So I don't feel the need to be apologetic. I don't think it's morally bad or inefficient particularly. After all, randomness, accident and exploration drive evolution as much as steady learning and trialling of what what works. Perhaps one reason humans are so successful is that some of us are doggedly methodical and patient, and others are incapable of method or patience and just make things up afresh if we can't find something we've made before.
Anyway, I am posting because I couldn't find a way of contacting Kev (sorry if it's obvious but I couldnt work it out) and also I wondered how others feel. Would you be more likely to visit and read and post if there were less categories and themes and sub-categories and sub-topics etc? Less boxes to open? Or are you someone who likes being able to find things logically and can easily remember where things are kept?
As I say, I am a fan of yo! and whilst I am not technically a lurker my time on here is in no way reflected by my palty post count. So I hope this posting, which is from a rather selfish lurker perspective, is okay.