Ideas of simple tasks that anybody can do at anytime to help Permies.com

Thanks Cassie! Can you explain some of these things a bit more? what is appropedia, where do you go to write a summary of a podcast that's not yet been summaraized, and how do you do an alexa rank? if you can post links even that would streamline further.

my two cents is that writing an article is only helpful if you're having fun doing it, if it's engaging and entertaining to you then other people will be infected and want to join in the fun.

Thanks for all you do.


Also, maybe somewhere there could be a summary of the tasks that have been enumerated on this thread, like an editable document thingy?? can you do that with permies.com? or maybe it would have to be hosted somehwere else but have there be a link that's always easily accessible from this thread that takes you to that summary? and some kind of prioritization so you can know which tasks are most useful vs. which are less so, which have already been done or overdone...

Cassie Langstraat wrote:I know this post is a little bit old but I am going to try to revive it. I really love some of the ideas to come out of this thread and want to hear more! I am going to be working on implementing some of these and actually giving these tasks to volunteers! So if people could keep flushing out more task ideas it would be FABULOUS!

Here are some other ideas to help permies.com and help the movement of permaculture:

- write articles on appropedia
- edit articles on appropedia
- write podcast summaries
- make a list of 100 websites that we could build a relationship with
- install alexa rank and go to permies.com and richsoil.com every single day (this radically improves alexa rank)


So please everyone keep coming up with ideas! I know there are people out there that want to help, we just have to give them specific tasks.

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote: Can you explain some of these things a bit more? what is appropedia, where do you go to write a summary of a podcast that's not yet been summaraized, and how do you do an alexa rank? if you can post links even that would streamline further.

Appropedia is like wikipedia for sustainability. Appropedia You can write and edit articles on it just like wikipedia. Here is a thread about ways to help on appropedia.

Writing podcast summaries is something you would need to talk to me separately about if you are interested. We are currently re-releasing all of the old podcasts back into the wild one at a time, (paul was charging money for them for a while). So every few days we need someone to revamp those old summaries that were really weak. Also when Paul starts doing new podcasts again I will need someone to do summaries as well.

Alexa rank is something you download off the internet. It is a different for each browser I believe. So just google "alexa rank name of your browser" and you can download it. If someone goes to a website once a day it will improve the alexa rank by a lot. With alexa rank, the lower number, the better. The site with the highest combination of unique visitors and pageviews is ranked #1.

I hope this answers your questions. PM me if you have more specific questions so we can keep this thread clean and focused on simple ideas for volunteer tasks!

anyone else want to contribute to permies.com or to the bigger movement?

Cassie Langstraat wrote:I know this post is a little bit old but I am going to try to revive it. I really love some of the ideas to come out of this thread and want to hear more! I am going to be working on implementing some of these and actually giving these tasks to volunteers! So if people could keep flushing out more task ideas it would be FABULOUS!

Here are some other ideas to help permies.com and help the movement of permaculture:


- make a list of 100 websites that we could build a relationship with

I don't have a list of 100. but Tomatoville is a possibility.

Contribute how?

Scott Strough wrote:

I don't have a list of 100. but Tomatoville is a possibility.

That's a pretty good site! I will try to make that happen.

Cj Verde wrote: Contribute how?

That, we can figure out amongst ourselves.

Look for "Pig Bucket Solutions" -- is there a way that you can label something so that it's more user-friendly or clear how to operate it or interact with it? when titling a thread, can you make the title clearer for the newcomer?

This is along the same lines as the jargon translator, but extends beyond just vocabulary, includes labeling anything that can help people understand what to do with it. I am not thinking of an example at the moment, but I could mention the actual pig bucket, which was in Paul's latest rereleased podcast ( https://permies.com/t/39397/permaculture-podcast/Podcast-Laboratory-Update-Part) . There was a pig bucket and people were supposed to take the food scraps up from the kitchen but NOT feed them to the pigs, and people kept getting the instructions wrong. Finally they realized they just needed to put labels on the bucket to clarify things. It went from being a surprisingly big problem to being a surprisingly simple and easy solution.

Now Paul likes to say, "This is a 'pig bucket problem,'" when something could be solved just by labeling.

I think this must apply in some ways to this forum too, that there are pig bucket solutions or things that can make it nicer and help the flow of information to the perosn who needs it when they need it even more. Something to ponder anyway.

One thing I do, since I liked a bunch of preparedness pages that post links to various articles, is to help explain permaculture techniques when they link to them. A while back they linked to an article about Wofati's that contained very little info. So, I linked people to various articles of Paul's and a thread on permie's about it, as well as answered questions about Wofatis.

Today. someone posted a failed link to a keyhole garden, so I posted out better links and a quick summary of how to make one. Now there's a few people interested in building one.

I may not be able to do much right now with a three-year old and a newborn, but I figure every little bit helps!

I think perhaps a little tutorial on using keywords in posts might be helpful for volunteers. Keywords and phrases can help with SEO, and if we are all on the same page, and try to use specific keywords when starting threads or posting, it might make a difference. Perhaps a thread of keywords that Paul would like to see used.

Also, using keywords when titling images is helpful. Lots of people do searches for images rather than websites, so labelling our images with keywords that would bring people to the site would be great. I'm going to start doing that with my images. Might even go back and retitle some.

Just as an example, if you do an image search for 'herb spiral' some of my herb spiral photos show up in the search. So labelling images with good keywords works!

Tracy Wandling wrote:I think perhaps a little tutorial on using keywords in posts might be helpful for volunteers. Keywords and phrases can help with SEO, and if we are all on the same page, and try to use specific keywords when starting threads or posting, it might make a difference. Perhaps a thread of keywords that Paul would like to see used.

Also, using keywords when titling images is helpful. Lots of people do searches for images rather than websites, so labelling our images with keywords that would bring people to the site would be great. I'm going to start doing that with my images. Might even go back and retitle some.

I like this idea!  I understand the use of keywords but not how to use them so that search engines will pick them up.  And I hadn't thought about images bringing people to permies.

A list of words that would help search engines find permies would be great.

To help others: SEO = "Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a web search engine's unpaid results—often referred to as "natural", "organic", or "earned" results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users, and these visitors can be converted into customers.[1] SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, academic search,[2] news search and industry-specific vertical search engines."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization

This is related to the key words and also the search function.  Like this thread, there are many posts and other threads with many posts, which interest me, but I don’t have time to read in one gulp. Is there a way to mark them within my account? I would be willing to pay for this, because it would ultimately save me a bunch of time trying to remember if I read post 10 in this thread or not.

Also, when I’m trying to post something which might or might not be new, it doesn’t seem like I can find related posts, but they show up after I post. Some of those posts potentially duplicate or say better what I want to say. Is there a keyword cloud available? Does anyone assign key words to threads or individual posts if they aren’t given by the writer? Could that be something that some, not jerks, could do?

One of the pie perks is to be able to tell where you've read in a post. It puts a blue line below the last post you've read. There's also an option to have permies take you straight to the last post you've read in a thread. So, if there's a bunch of new posts since you've looked at a thread, it'll take you to the last post from when you last looked at the thread. I'll give you a piece of pie so you can see what I'm talking about .

At the top of each page, you can also click "bookmark topic" and it'll give you email notifications any time someone posts to it, even if you've never posted in that thread. I think this is a normal feature, not a pie feature.

We're actually working on a way for pollinators and staff to add keywords to images in a thread. Maybe we can find a way to also add keywords to the thread, itself. That's a good idea!

I'd made this list over in another thread, and thought it might be good to put it here, too!

Help answer people's questions!

Go through Zero Replies and answer the people there, or help bump their threads

Welcome new members!

Give out thumbs-up! This really helps people feel good, and want to be a part of the community. Apples and pie are great, too, if you have them!

Make quality posts and threads! Share your knowledge with those around you. if you just did a bunch of research about, say, the best grape variety for your area, or how to build a roundwood house, or where to find natural clothing--make a thread about it! This bring people to permies via search engines when they have the same question.

Tell your friends! You don't have to be spammy, but if you see someone asking about how to make soap--post a link to a permies thread about it!

Share awesome permies threads on facebook, reddit, instagram, pinterest, etc.

Make links to permies on your website/blog/etc. The more links out there, the more google likes us, and the more people find out about us!

If you buy stuff through Amazon, you can use permies affiliate link so permies gets a little bit of cash. More on that here: how to link to amazon so 'the empire' gets part of the money

Describe your images when you attach them. This seems like a silly little thing, but it is HUGE for helping permies. Google and other search engines LOVE when images have captions or Alt text. This makes the images show up more in Google Images, and also ranks us higher. You can add captions/alt text one of two ways:

• By simply putting a descruiption when you add an attachment.
• By putting in   caption="description of your picture" &/or alt="description of your picture" when you're embedding an image. More on this (and other formatting tags) here: Using formatting tags at permies.com to make your posts more awesome

wayne stephen wrote:Take the time to explore old threads buried in the background . When you find one that is excellent and pertinent post a reply so that it becomes current and moves to the forefront .

This is a great idea!

Many of our readers do not know that we have a great search option:

https://permies.com/forums/search/filters/50

Try looking for something and find some great threads!

Here's an idea ...

someone make something on the forum that answers my question up in the "Search threads and posts"when I write ...
How do I just give permies money?

'cause ...
Yesterday I offered to give 40$ for a listing for Studio Tainan in the
Tour of Wheaton Labs, Movie!

and I said - send me a link and I'll pay.
Then I felt ... I should be able to self-serve here rather than burden anyone else.
I'd like to just send my monies and then put a reply on that forum saying - I just sent, thanks. and the whole cycle would be cared for
lickety-split.

"I Just wanna give permies (or is it Wheaton Labs??) my monies?"

uh, oh, I ... ALMOST ... realize
I have a glimmer of a knowing that I might have the power to do this myself. Gulp ... (jumping into the unknown)

Maybe we should make a subtle link at the bottom of all pages?

Which of these two would be better?

https://permies.com/wiki/154707/Donating-permies-fun-stuff-process

https://permies.com/t/131224/donating-empire

paul wheaton wrote:Maybe we should make a subtle link at the bottom of all pages?

Which of these two would be better?

https://permies.com/wiki/154707/Donating-permies-fun-stuff-process

https://permies.com/t/131224/donating-empire

I'd find the simple bottom of page link (both) handy and helpful. 1 is simply donate (straight gift), 1 is pie (a whole game thing).