Contribution to Utopian Open Source Project
What Will I Learn?
In this tutorial, you are going to learn 5 different concepts of how you can contribute to Utopian with High Quality Post to gain dynamic reputation.
To gain dynamic reputation in Utopian, you must acquire the following skills:
You will learn that reputation is highly connected to the kind of quality post you create in Utopian. 'Quality' is the key and not 'quantity' so spend days to work on EACH post. Less is More.
You will learn that to build reputation, you need to interact with the Utopian Community as Utopian is now community based when it comes to scoring a contribution.
You will learn that reputation depends on how active you are in other users work. Learn to write meaningful 'comments' to their contributions and this is how they get to know you.
You will learn that you can build your reputation by spending time to build up Utopian followers who are engaged with your posts.
You will learn that your reputation is connected to your participation in the Utopian community, therefore you need to spend time to stay closely in tune with the community in the Discord channel. Always stay in tune with the latest updates and announcement so that you can contribute effectively in your posts. Poor posts lead to poor reputation.
Requirements
Sign in to start contributing to Utopoian:
https://join.utopian.io/Sign up to create an account on Github:
https://github.com/
Resources About Utopian
- Utopian Github Repository: https://github.com/utopian-io/utopian.io
- Utopian for Project Owners: https://join.utopian.io/owners/
- Investing in Open Source: https://join.utopian.io/investors/
Difficulty
Basic to Intermediate
Tutorial Contents
In this tutorial, I will show you how you can work together with Utopian to contribute high quality posts to Utopian in their new guidelines. Please read the Utopian post that was released recently here on April 23, 2018.
When you create a post, always create high quality posts because from now on your posts are connected to the "reptutation" that you earn at Utopian. The higher quality your post, the higher you will be rewarded as this will certainly boost up your reputation in Utopian. With low quality, your post might even be rejected or not upvoted by Utopian. This will certainly hurt your reputation. Reputation is the most important thing for you to succeed in Utopian.
I have many Utopian users asking me how they can contribute better with the new guidelines and they DM me in Discord. I find myself repeating the same thing over and over again to help these users, therefore today, I decided to do a thorough post to list out the concepts for Utopian users so that they can see everything in one flash.
Step 1: Learn to write QUALITY POST as this is the Key to gain Reputation
"Less is More"
Don't think that creating a lot of posts in Utopian will give you a high reputation. Don't ever run the risk of getting low scores or even getting your posts rejected in Utopian. We are not in a race of competing who contributes the most in Utopian. We are concerned with 'high quality' professional posts that will invite the world to join in this vision of Open Source Economy.
Recently I contributed a Video Tutorial Post to Utopian.
Last week, I created a new tutorial on the Calibre software detailing the steps of turning PDFs to ePUB formats.
The previous time I contributed a video tutorial was 5 months ago. I showed people how to use Calibre software to create a Clickable Table of Contents for their books.
There is already a 5 month gap that I had not contributed to this Open Source Project.
Take a look at the following Screen Shot of my recent post contribution:
- This contribution post was made 4 days ago: April 20, 2018.
- I literally took 2 weeks to plan out this video tutorial post. Since I don't have evidence of my thinking process of the planning in my brain, I can show you a little blurb where I asked the Community Manager who is in charge of Video tutorial a question about posting a video tutorial. You can see it in the following screen shot dated: April 14, 2018.
- Super quality comes as a result of a well thought out process. I was ready to create my video on April 14th, but I did not submit my contribution until April 20th. It took literally 6 days for me to work on this one Video Tutorial contribution post.
Excellent coffee is a result of 'brewing', therefore the same goes with contributing a high quality Utopian post.
Guidelines To Create Quality Post:
- Spend 1 day to prepare a well thought out post for your contribution.
- Spend 1 day to write out your text post with clarity and care to get users engagement.
- Spend 1 day preparing your Video Script so that you know exactly what you want to say.
- Spend 1 day to record your Video. When I finished recording this video, it actually came to 37 minutes long.
- Spend 1 day to 'edit' your video to make it succinct. The editing process took about 6 hours for me to complete. It finally came down to 10 minutes of pure gold. We ramble too much a lot of time in video presentation. People do not have time to listen to our rambling. ;) Take out all the pauses and the ahs and umhs... and okays.
You don't know what I do behind the scene when I create these Utopian posts. You only see the result in the final upvote. Behind a big upvote reward is filled with days of work.
Always aim for the highest standard. You may think it is not worth it to spend 5 or 6 days to work on a post. We are still amateurs at the moment and that is why we need to 'brew' on our contribution post. When you become more skillful with practice, you can then shorten the preparation time. There is still a process we need to go through to become more professional.
In the 1st screenshot, you can see that I have a reputation of "hero". Even though I am a moderator, I didn't earn this title by being a moderator. I contributed to Utopian in the last 5 months and slowly learned the ropes of being a good contributor. In the beginning, many of my posts were rejected because I didn't spend the time to do thorough preparation for each post.
Always create the best contribution post to move your reputation higher up in Utopian.
Step 2: Learn to Use the Scoring Feature
Scoring is Now Community Based
In the past, only moderators can score our contributions. Utopian has now made it possible for users to score each other posts.
Click on the "Blue Score Tab" at the right upper hand corner of the contribution post.
- When you click on the Blue Score tab, you will be taken to a page of questionnaire where Utopian users can start scoring the contribution.
- There are about 7 to 10 questions depending on the category.
- You need to answer ALL the questions to give the post a score.
- Each answer gives a point to the contribution.
- You are required to pick the most accurate answer to the question being asked.
- After you have answered all the questions on that page, a final score will appear in the Blue Score Tab. In this instance, I receive Score 100.
In the red box there, you see that 2 Utopian users actually scored my post. These 2 users have watched my Video Tutorial and gave a score of what they believe the post deserves. I only came to know these 2 users recently recently in the Utopian community. They are not my personal friends at all.
Your reputation depends on your integrity. Don't ever try to game the system by getting your personal friends to score your post to 100. It doesn't work. Scoring needs to be unbiased and truthful as this is an open and honest community based system.
In this contribution post, I didn't even have a moderator scoring my contribution post. It is scored by the community of Utopian users. That is how powerful the community is.
Guidelines to Get Involved in the Scoring System:
- Score in the category that you contribute the most. For eg. If you are in the suggestions category, go into the suggestion category and read how other people create posts for suggestions. Go to the Blue Scoring Tab and start scoring other people contribution.
- Get to know other Utopian contributors by reading their posts and play a part in scoring their contributions.
- When you are interested in other people's contribution, they will also return the favor to you.
- Always learn to give to others before you expect others to give to you. Score other people contribution and they in turn will take an interest in your contributions and score yours also.
You are welcome to come in here to 'Score' this contribution post. I look forward to hear from you and see what feedback you might have.
Step 3: Use the "Comment" feature to build up a dynamic reputation
No man is an island in Utopian
We are in Utopian to create a community whereby users get to know each other not in a superficial level but to join forces to build up this vision of Open Source Economy. You are not a 'loner'.
Now that the 'Scoring' is put in the hands of all users, you need to learn also to write 'Comments' to users to give them feedback. This is how they get to know you. If you just score and don't ever comment to the users and give them feedback, you are just a name to them. We want to build 'relationship'. When the relationship is enhanced in contributing to Open Source Projects, your reputation in turn will climb up also.
Make Good use of the Comment Feature
Here are some examples of what is happening between me and other users in the Community. I will show you how the comments are used so that you can really make use of this 'Comment' Feature:
I came to know this user recently and after reading my post, he came in with a comment:
When people make a comment, 'always' reply them with a comment. Since they have taken the trouble to write to you, interact with them.
The following screenshot is another user who came in to "score" my contribution and "commented".
The screen shot shows you how you can create a rapport in the Community. We are not a cold community where users just post and want an upvote. No reputation is ever built this way. We are not robots. We are a community of people who are genuinely interested in each other to promote the vision of the Open Source Community.
Guidelines in using the Comment Section
- Spend time writing good feedback and comments
- Always come with the attitude to help users and not to put them down
- Write useful feedback so that the user will reply to you
- Start a cycle of interactive communication
interaction in comments can go a long way to help each other to build up our reputation in a dynamic way. Reputation takes time to build up. It won't happen all in one day. It takes time for people to come and visit your contribution post. It takes time for you to comment and for them to reply. We need to make full use of the 'comment' feature to succeed in Utopian.
Step 4: Build up your reputation with engaged followers
Learn to build loyal followers with engagement
Your reputation is built up by the number of loyal followers you have. Spend time to write fantastic posts so that your followers would notice you on Utopian and Steemit. People who see high quality post will be attracted to them and upvote them.
When you look at posts that are upvoted with a great reward, it is guaranteed that the post has a lot of loyal followers to upvote them.
Take a look the following screenshot of the number of followers who upvoted for me in this post:
There is a total of 149 followers who upvoted this post. This accounts for the other rewards that were given to me for this post. When Utopian upvoted my post, I already had about $14 rewards waiting for the Utopian bot.
Helpful Hint & Guidelines To Follow Up after Posting:
- It takes 2 days before the Utopian bot will upvote your post. Time is given for the community to act and also for your followers to respond to your post.
- During these 2 days, go and advertise your post to your followers.
- Get some visibility for your post. Invite people to see and even better if they upvote and resteem for you.
Writing a post and then leaving it will not lead you to success in Utopian. Make good use of the 2 days to get your post into higher popularity. That is how you build up your reputation dynamically. Nothing happens when you just sit back and wait for the Utopian bot to come. It will visit you. You need to take some initiative to gain some traction first. You need to take some initiative to gain some traction first.
If your post has only about 10 followers upvoting you, that in itself says a lot about how unpopular your post is. There is no engagement. People are not interested in reading it.
Learn to work behind the scene to create followers who are engaged with you. You want loyal followers to upvote and comment as soon as they see your new post. This is the kind of dynamic reputation you want to gain. We all start with 1 loyal follower. But as time goes on, you must always bear in mind to build the horizontal level of relationship with other users. Build bond and friendship with one another.
Step 5: Sign up To Participate in the Utopian Discord Channel
The Discord channel is to build up the Utopian Community so that all Utopian users can interact, build friendship and to stay in tune with all the announcements and updates regarding Open Source Projects.
This is the Discord Channel invitation link for all Utopian Users: https://discord.gg/H3txfv
So you can click on the link to be a part of the community.
I always come in and check what goes on with Utopian every day to make sure that I am updated with the most recent announcements.
- Utopian holds a Bi-weekly meeting every Monday night.
- Utopian holds a Managers-weekly meeting every Friday night.
Everyone is welcome to join these meetings to keep abreast of what goes on at Utopian. There are also different channels in the Discord to help users in the different categories. Find your categories of interest and get in touch with the users in that channel. Learn to be helpful to newbies so that we can carry everyone along the way to fulfill our vision to the Open Source Economy.
Curriculum
Conclusion
In this tutorial, I have covered important skills for you to gain reputation by posting quality posts. I have taken you behind the scene to show you how I prepare the posts. Your reputation hangs on the quality of your posts. I have also shown you how to create a dynamic reputation by participating in the scoring, commenting, replying. Also make good use of the 2 days before Utopian upvote you to gain some visibility and get your loyal followers to upvote, comment and resteem. Participate in the entire Utopian community on the Utopian platform and the Discord channel. Bond and build relationship to build up a dynamic reputation for yourself.
Thank you for your time,
Hope you like reading this post!
谢谢你的阅读！希望你喜欢。
You can contact me at Utopian here: https://utopian.io/@rosatravels
Posted on Utopian.io - Rewarding Open Source Contributors