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It might be a bit early for things like this, but (since there are so many interesting and surprising things being done with Arduino) how about some kind of rolling community interaction and showcasing a bit like photography.SE's photo of the week, where people post interesting Arduino projects they've made or heard about, and the most upvoted every month / fortnight / week gets showcased in, say, a short blog post where the project's author or a volunteer explains why it's interesting?

Something like this done right could build traffic and activity that turns into better questions and answers, and more loyal enthusiastic users.

There might be loads of blogs and showcase sites out there that do this sort of showcasing really well already which we might not want to compete with - in which case, this question might be a good place to drop some links.

If there are a few but they're inconsistent or infrequently updated, doing something like a "project of the month" based on a continuously open place to post submissions could be a nice way to focus attention on this site as a hub, while also promoting other sites with (hopefully popular) links through.

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While I wholly support the idea, it may be too early to direct attention on a blog before we even establish a core community of users for the site itself. The site is about Q&A first and foremost, and that needs a fair bit of focus for now. Even the Photography contest you link to was started almost 2 years after the site went into its public beta.

A once a week or month event in chat would be a good starting point to move towards a full-fledged vote and blog event. In fact, I posted this idea on another discussion.

  • I like the idea of a one-off event with plenty of build-up time, which could evolve into something regular if it goes well. I might suggest Meta rather than chat to start with as it's easier to link to, easier to browse/compare entries, and better shows off the SE format for any experienced Arduino people who aren't used to SE (i.e. ideal new users). – user56reinstatemonica8 Mar 5 '14 at 14:18
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What's the point of linking users out of the site? Why can't we hold a contest?

I love the idea. However, I don't really know how valuable it would be to link users out of the site unless we just wanted recurring visitors. Not to mention, it'll be link-only answers galore. A better solution would be to have a user to interact with the site, giving the user interest in the site and the content.

One thing that we would have to think about is the logistical standpoint. To do such a project, it might be a little non-SE style to make many posts that are too localised. We'll have to draw a definite line on how far is too far. For example:

  • How do I make a robot that is 5x2x3, follows only green light, and plays a song when it can't find any green light? Way too pushy.
  • How do I mobilize by robot? Much better.

A "series" might be better. (See Q&A Series Ideas.) That way, it won't be too localised, it won't be able to be a link-only answer, and it would generate valuable traffic, not just someone who visits the site once a month. However, it is up to the poster to decide on it it's too localised or not.

One note: we should open another thread on the logistics if we want to start this.

Maybe we could start this on Arduino Day 2014?

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