By kriskd on

I made an attempt at Drupal almost exactly a year ago, but gave up quickly. Then I gave it another shot when I downloaded it on October 20 of this year. I took it slow and got my hands on every video podcast I could and also spent a lot of time reading these forums and so forth.

Well, it paid off and on Thanksgiving, I launched my site:

http://www.sprechereast.com/

This is a website for my neighborhood association. Prior to Drupal, the site was just a static HTML site with an SMF forum. The goal is to move away from the SMF forum (don't need all the bell and whistles SMF provides) and use other content types as well as the Drupal forum.

I thought I'd give myself a Christmas present and throw it out there for comments. The site will probably never be done as I'm constantly working on it.

There isn't much content there because I still haven't created content types that people can contribute to other than the SMF forum that it is synced to. Frankly, I'm not in a huge rush to do that because I've learned you can't force people to do anything and it's just a tiny percentage of neighbors out of 600 household that participate in the site/forum or even have a great interest in what's going on in the neighborhood. Given that, I'm sort of considering this site as more of a learning experience for me rather than a tool for the neighborhood. Still, I want to make more available and get the word out to the neighbors.

Thanks for looking.

⋅ Categories: Drupal 5.x

Comments

mrbert’s picture

mrbert commented

kriskd

Its a great start for a community site. you could toss in a mailing list to keep the community coming back(online)

Live Rock | Voacanga Africana Seeds | http://www.voacanga-africana.com.gh/sheabutter/">Shea Butter

kriskd’s picture

kriskd commented

I have mass mail installed, but haven't used it a whole lot as I still need the SMF users to convert their accounts to Drupal. I also need to import users I have on an e-mail blast that is set up through my webhost.

I'm using the event and sign-up mods for our events. The sign-up mod was used by a few users for our holiday event, but the announcement went out prior to me getting the site up, so most people RSVP'ed the old fashioned way (phone call).

Also, I have an image gallery of pictures from our holiday event that is only available to members of the site. For that I'm just using the image gallery component of the image mod.

Ideally, I'd like to conduct all neighborhood business on the site from signing up to events to paying for membership and organizing our events. Already we use the SMF message board to organize events and we've done events without a single phone call or meeting in person. However, as I said in my original post, it is just a small core group of people taking advantage of this and I no longer have the energy to "sell" this to other people. People will just need to discover the value of it on their own.

Also, it's worth noting that this is a newer subdivision which generally attracts younger singles, couples and families. I would also say most people in this neighborhood can afford high speed Internet in their house/condo/apartment, so my challenges really don't stem from lack of access, but just rather lack of interest.

michelle’s picture

michelle
she/her
Primary language English
Location Wisconsin, USA
commented

It's always disheartening to me when I see other community sites suffering from a lack of interest. I keep telling myself that once I get my site done and really start advertising it that it will be overflowing with people. Still, I worry that I will get to that point and find people are no more interested than they are now.

I wish you luck and lots of interested neighbors. May your forums be overflowing this holiday season and beyond.

Michelle

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See my Drupal articles and tutorials or come check out life in the Coulee Region.

kriskd’s picture

kriskd commented

Michelle --

From the looks of your Coulee Region website, you are a fellow Wisconsinsite! It may not be clear on my site, but I'm in Madison.

Loved your site... I need to look at other community sites to get more ideas for mine.

michelle’s picture

michelle
she/her
Primary language English
Location Wisconsin, USA
commented

I meant to mention that but in the hours that passed between looking at your site and commenting I forgot. Hehe.

BTW, there is a Madison Drupal user group. See the Wisconsin group on g.d.o.

Thanks for the compliment. If you look at other sites, try not to let the lack of activity get you down. Sigh.

Michelle

--------------------------------------
See my Drupal articles and tutorials or come check out life in the Coulee Region.

SueCarlson’s picture

SueCarlson commented

I love the lay out, the color, the design. Very nicely done.

mooffie’s picture

mooffie commented

Nice.
(What module did you use for the 'Documents' section?)

I've learned you can't force people to do anything and it's just a tiny percentage of neighbors
[...]
disheartening to me when I see other community sites suffering from a lack of interest.

Aha.

I made an attempt at Drupal almost exactly a year ago [...] gave it another [...]
Well, it paid off and on Thanksgiving, I launched my site:

Congratulations!

kriskd’s picture

kriskd commented

(What module did you use for the 'Documents' section?)

Docs

And thanks again for looking at it!