BUSY.ORG User Review

in #busy8 years ago (edited)

No, that's not me. I put a photo of a youngish girl so more people would click on this post. Even though that's not me, that's how I feel after being on Busy.org all day. I'm mostly happy, but a tiny bit frustrated, too. Only a tiny bit though.

I love BUSY.ORG.

Here's why:

EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

I experienced a very strong emotional connection to Busy that I have never experienced on Steemit. I think this is because I value design, aesthetics and human connection more than anything else. All my social needs were satisfied in Busy because of my ability to private message others plus other features. It was like all the different fragmented aspects of myself had become whole again.

CUTE ICONS AND AVATARS

When you click on your followed list, avatars pop up instead of plain text. Also, the HOT, TRENDING, ACTIVE, NEW posts are represented by small icons:

These icons and avatars create emotional bonds in humans that plain text is incapable of producing.

DISLIKE BUTTON REPLACES THE FLAG

I did a test in Busy to understand how the flagging works. There is no flagging, but there are two buttons: Like and Dislike. The Dislike button removes curation rewards and the Like button adds it. As far as I could tell, the Dislike button is anonymous. This means that if someone dislikes your post, thereby reducing your rewards, you cannot tell who did it. I would imagine you could go to the Steem blockchain to find out, but it is not visible on Busy. I have to say, I prefer the way that Busy has decided to deal with the flagging issue. It’s quite good. I love the idea of anonymously reducing someone’s reward. Even if someone can find out, it still feels less aggressive because it doesn’t display prominently on the website.

Update: Disliking a post is not anonymous. You can see it by clicking on Dislike button. Thanks @someonewhoisme.

PRIVATE AND PUBLIC MESSAGING

This is what I've been missing on Steemit that currently exists in Busy:

busychatss.jpg

​I cannot cope on a social network without private messaging. Busy has it. RIP Steemit Chat. I loathed opening up a new chat messaging system. Busy also has a public messaging chat board, too. This will help newbies get their questions answered when they first join. These private and public messaging chat functions are like the oxygen we've been missing. It allows us to get our issues resolved instantly without having to go anywhere else online.

WRITING EDITOR

busywriting.jpg

The writing editor is giving me headaches at the moment. This was my third attempt at publishing on it. As you can see the formatting is completely bizarre. I'm fixing this manually in Steemit right now.

The writing editor reminds me of Medium except Medium's editor works very well, and Busy has a ways to go. It seems to get stuck, which forced me to re-write my post several times. There are a few glitches.... For example, after I make my text into Title text, I cannot edit it. I have to revert it back to normal text, then make changes, like adding spaces, etc.

The biggest thing that I think needs fixing is the ability to edit a post after it is published. I edit my posts a lot after I hit the publish button, so not being able to fix an error is quite worrisome. If I was a developer, this would be the first thing I’d fix. Most writers edit frequently, and are embarrassed if they catch an error but cannot fix it in their post.

So, for now, I think I'll be writing my posts in Steemit and then heading over to Busy to interact with others and do my commenting, etc. Until the writing editor gets some upgrades, I'll stick to writing in Steemit.

Here's my profile in Busy:

busyavatar.jpg

Sort:  

Dislikes are not anonymous, they are at the bottom of the list so you have to scroll all the way down to see them.

oh, i didn't know that. You find it by clicking on the dislike button?

When you click on 'likes' you can see the list of all users who liked the post, you can even see the weight of their votes. If you scroll all the way down to this list you will see the users who disliked. I'm not sure if that exactly answers your question..

This is an early beta, so we have to expect it to be incomplete. I think it's a good start anyway. The design is great and it looks friendly. I look forward to seeing it develop.

i can't wait to flag someone's post....JUST KIDDING... I already did test it out, then i liked it...

Thank you very much for showing your love to the platform. We hear you and are trying our best to resolve the issues ASAP :smile:

ah, I'm fairly sure I can bring in the masses on facebook once the editor and mobile scrolling issues are resolved. Jessy and myself have had already good conversion numbers and people liking the busy look and feel. These are the same people who wouldn't get onto steemit........

Awesome, and YES that's the plan. One of our next steps is proper signup and boarding process for non-steemit users so we can have better chances in acquiring users from other platforms.

What I just realized about chat is, each category has a chat room, that is pretty cool, as the general chat will get too "busy".

ha ha yes that is cool

Even my main category that isn't listed on the sidebar can be a chat room: https://busy.org/messages/cigars
This can be an interesting and exciting way to bring people in "Join me in chat at: "any category"...

I think currently it needs more functionality. I guess it's a better experience for readers with the bookmarks function and all the nice pictures floating around.
The fact that you can't search posts or use fully Markdown codes or embed Youtube, Soundcloud and Vimeo is a big minus for content creators. Also can't mute users, so I have to scroll through posts from authors I don't want to read, because I don't understand Chinese or watch sports.
It looks like a pimped up version of Steemit, can't really say that it will replace Steemit anytime soon, but over all I like it.

I agree. A mute button like steemit has would be useful.

i thought you could embed video? hmm...i haven't tried it yet.

Hi, @stellabelle,

Thanks for posting this... As one of the "unconscious until smacked upside the head by a 2x4," I was both shocked and surprised to go to http://busy.org and find my latest post there under the "story" tag... Hahahaha! Busy is Steemit in new clothes! Looks like fun!

Thanks for the whack with a 2x4 today! ;) 😄😇😄

@creatr

anytime you need a whack, i am here.

I clicked because of you and not the chicky on the photo. I didn't have time to check it out but your review gave me a good insight so far. Thanks Darling!

you are going to love it, for sure!

will check soonest !

Yeah, I was hoping that busy would bring something new to the blockchain. As it stands now it just looks like steemit lite.

With the new UI changes in the works, I don't know how busy is going to stay relevant.

nah, it's more than that actually.....it has emotional connection which is what I've been missing here...

I've been emotionally void for so long it hasn't rubbed off on my yet. I'm glad people are enjoying it.

i relate, truly i do

I'm feeling a bit behind the times.
Busy is ... guessing here, an alternate Steemit page, that improves the steemit experience? Or a competitor platform?
Guessing the former.
If so, !!!!, excited about it!!!

it's not a competitor, it's a complementary site. It uses the Steem blockchain and the same algorithms, but it displays information differently. It has has private messaging, which I love. You use your Steemit keys to log into Busy and they cross post to each other.

I don't really see them as competitors either. That said I think if busy keeps evolving in a positive direction it could conceivably render steemit obsolete. If the devs of busy continue to solicit user feedback and can incorporate it into releases in a timely fashion faster and better than steemit.com can, why would users stick with steemit.com? Sure some might out of nothing more than loyalty I guess, but I don't believe I would. For me it's not about loyalty, it's more about functionality (so long as the underlying philosophy remains inline with my libertarian / free market perspective - to that I will remain steadfastly loyal).

Steemit and busy are not competitors in principle, they both share much the same philosophical foundations. In practice, they carry out that philosophy differently. I've said it many times before, I have a huge respect for @dan's engineering skills for backend infrastructure and his character and the principles he espouses. Regarding managing a user interface project, not so much. He has had some fantastically skilled UI / UX devs under his care like @cass and @svk, but for whatever reason the end result hasn't been that great, and I believe it's due to the way those efforts are managed, which I attribute to @dan.

I'm not on the inside, I don't know the inner workings and dynamics of cryptonomics or steemit.inc. I have watched them for several years now so my opinion is not without its reasons. Some may think I'm being overly critical and perhaps so. But when I see how well the busy UI and UX is engineered it only serves to strengthen that opinion.

My last role as a software engineer was the lead developer for a small startup company that created a web based mapping application. That was 10 years ago and many things have changed. However, the process I used to gather user feedback, evaluate usability and plan changes to produce the best result for my management, customers and their user base has not changed very much. It's less about technology than it is about process and people.

This is a very good analysis and it also echoes my critiques. Steemit is made for engineers, and Busy has the feel of being made for regular people. I can navigate in both, but I can sell Busy to people who wouldn't stay on Steemit.

:) happy happy joy joy !!!

Yeah the private messaging is a game changer for sure.
Not tried to create a post as yet, only had a quick fiddle with the text.
But I did import a pic from my hard drive instead of having to link it a facebook album. This is also a huge step forward in my opinion.
So exciting to be the part of the first to experience it. Epic!
"Veldig fint jobb du har hjort der" - Norwegian .
translates to - Great job you have done there!

I'm soooooo excited about it. I can hardly stand it!