ellieoop: Thanks. But the quality of the interview is mostly due to the help of the over 20 "inquisitors" and the quality of the subject. I have almost no hand on it anymore
It's up to you all to keep the interviews up to these same standards...
In the mean time, don't forget to post your questions in Foxy Lady's interview... a special note to remind those that had previously asked their questions to be recurrent, that they should now manually post them again (I may pick one or two of those from previous interviews when the time is almost up, but I would prefer them to be credited to their original authors and the only way to do it right now, is for them to post themselves).
And remember you can still send me a message sugesting who the next subject should be.
Puckish: It was not my idea, someone else suggested it on BrainKing.com DB when I started doing this... since there were so many people saying it was a good idea, I implemented it, that's all...
coan.net: I'm not sure... if this was a threaded board, it might work, but on an open board such as we have here on BK, I think there's a risk of cluttering, expecially if some of those answers provide some good conversation, like you said... which, by the way, could also make this turn into a debate club (which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it's not something I'm prepared to moderate, that's all) Also, I'd run out of questions preety fast if I were to have to come up with 5 different questions every week
Yet, I had already thought in the past of the concept of a quick interview, I just didn't come up with a right way to put it in practice... Somebody else care to comment on coan's idea?
Dolittle: No offense taken. But to clarify: I only send them 3 or 4 names - the ones that collected more votes. So, whoever gets to be choosen is still someone requested by severall other people. I send them to be picked by the current interviewee because it was suggested that (s)he should pick the next one and the idea seemed to collect lots of support. I just changed it slightly preciselly to avoid the friends-picks-friend scenario and to still give other people a role in selecting who the next one should be... Like you say, whatever the system, it will always have its pro's and con's, so I'm sticking to this one for now (can't keep changing system every month, unless there's a very solid reason)
Puckish: I feel the same way you do... which is why I started making interviews about 1 month apart and then spreaded them out a little more. Of course, now that I don't have to do so much work on them, it's easier, but I also think that if the subject isn't well known, there simply won't be so many people asking questions... or at least those funny and witty questions that make the interview more enjoyable.
However, I think a very large interval between interviews will also have a negative effect - people will start forgeting to come to this board to be informed about new interviews and won't post any questions... which is not good either.
So I'm trying to find some compromise somewhere in between...
Andersp: Regarding voting for a new vict... I mean, person to be interviewed (), the system is the same that has been so far - if there's someone you'd like to see an interview with, just send me his/her/their name(s) and I'll add them to my list. The top most voted ones I'll send to Foxy Lady when her interview is almost over, for her to choose from.
Bubbles Pbarb2: I remeber suggesting somewhere that when there's a new interview or an interview is about to be closed (for receiving questions) then some sort of mark could appear in the main page by theInterviews link. This would eventually attract more people. Many people don't even know interviews exist yet, because they were only linked at the BrainKing.com db up until recently... adding something catchy to the left menu bar every now and then, at key moments in an iterview's lifetime, could help get the word out.
Puckish: Also, when I picked Vikings to be interviewed after me, it was because I ... just wanted to know more. - Then why didn't you ask anything?
Anyway, I said that the buddy-nominates-buddy situation could happen, not that it already did. I still think it's a bit fairer the way it is now but, of course, I'm open to suggestions...
As to the time span between interviews, I already started spreading them out a little and was planning on doing so. I started with them spread out 1 month apart because there had been so little interviews latelly, but the number of questions also lowered... so I started spreading them further apart (though for MadMonkey I figured the questions would just flow easily, and I really wanted an interview for christmas). Of course, I can decide to make two interviews close together again every now and then, but not tooften... Anyway, I think 4 months apart is way to much... especially for people that really like to read them...
rednaz23: I'm planning on opening new interviews roughly every 1-3 months. It depends on the person being interviewed at the moment, the time of year, etc.
The first interview I conducted (Vikings') was by direct nomination from the previous interviewee - a suggestion made by someone in the BrainKing.com discussion board where someone that was interview should pick his/her successor. Then I got a feeling that was somewhat a mistake - if people kept nominating someone they knew already, it could en up in a series of similar interviews with people close to each other and (my fear) less unknown from most of the players. I probably got fearfull because I was receiving so little questions (which was probably due to the fact that this was also the first time someoneset a deadline for an interview). Anyway, when Vikings suggested PBarb's name, I first checked if she had any votes already, to make sure there were some people interested in asking anything. After that I settled on sending the top 4-5 names with more votes at the time so she could choose from them... and was planning on sticking to this method.
So, for now, anybody can send me messages suggesting names of people to be interviewed. I'll collect them and organize them and leave the ultimate choice to the current interviewee.
I'm also planning on starting new interviews on special events(like when someone reaches 100 votes, for instance)
I'm posting here the basic rules to the whole interview process. I'll update this as needed:
RULES FOR INTERVIEWS
1. DETERMINING THE NEXT INTERVIEWEE 1a. Members send a message to the interview moderator sugesting people they would like to see an interview about. 1b. When the moderator has enough votes, he can start a new interview. This may or may not be the person with more votes. Often, the current interviewee may have a word to say on selecting his/her successor (usually from the most voted ones). 1c. The new interviewee will then be notified about this choice. If (s)he aggrees to be interviewed, his/her name will be publicly announced here.
2. CREATING THE INTERVIEW 2a. When the next person to be interviewed has been selected, the moderator will open up a new Interview. A deadline to receive questions is also defined at this point. 2b. Members can use the Interviews link to access the new interview and post their questions. 2c. When the deadline is reached the question period will be over and the interview closed, preparing to be answered. 2d. The person being interviewed will then start answering the questions. 2e. When all the questions are answered, the moderator will release the interview to the public. 2f. Everybody can then access the interview from the Interviews link on the left column.
There can be more than one interview taking place at the same time. Often, while one is being answered another one will probably be open to questions.