Ayzine #6 – Nodus Awards is changing (again!)

David Conway Category

Ayzine, Professional Tags

aylis, ayzine issue

Originally published via Ayzine on the 20th Dec 2009

Dear *name*

It has been a long time since our previous newsletter. June was the last time we emailed, announcing the re-launch of Nodus Awards. Since that time, we have had chance to thoroughly evaluate the radically different format.

We’ve received quite a wide range of comments from people, such as… “I love being able to read messages from my visitors inside the members area. Very cool!” to… “What have you done to this site? It was great before but now you have high scoring sites that are amateur.”

Without going into detail, we have concluded that the revised format hasn’t worked. The system is smarter and the member login is a real bonus but the fundamental principles of the site are currently lost. Nodus Awards has a proud tradition, dating back to 2003 where it built a reputation for quality, with very few sites obtaining our coveted “Gold Award”. The current format disregards this history and that was a mistake.

So… guess what? Yep, we have a new (and hopefully final) format for Nodus Awards in development which we believe combines the best of both the Jan 09 format and the Jun 09 (current) format. Scheduled release is Jan 2010.

Below is the key info for Nodus Awards (v3)

1. A return of Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards.
2. Official Site Evaluations (by Nodus) and Public Evaluations will be available.
3. Sites will be ranked/displayed by Official Scores, not Public.
4. Both Jan 09 and Jun 09 winners/members will be incorporated into the new site (110 people at present) with a login to manage their listing and view stats/comments (Jun 09 members will keep the same login. Jan 09 people will be sent out a user/pass in due course).
5. Every site will have its own profile with screenshot.
6. The rating system is changing to a simple 1-5 score on Appearance, Usability and Content for Public Evaluations.
7. Official Evaluations will be based on 16 key questions that determine if the site qualifies for Gold, Silver or Bronze.
8. Jan 09 people can expect their Award Level (G, S, B) to remain the same but due to the slightly different criteria, some people may move up or down a level. Gold will still be extremely hard to win!
9. Jun 09 people will be subject to an Official Evaluation to determine their (G, S, B) level.

We weren’t sure what to expect from the current Jun 09 format as it was a step into the unknown. With this next and final release, we have a good feeling and are confident that when it goes live in January next year, it will be well received by all.

Whilst not interactive, we’ve uploaded a mock-up of how the new site will look once live. If you have any questions/comments we’d really like to hear them so please don’t hesitate in replying to this email with your feedback (good and bad).

All New Nodus Awards (preview): *removed*

In other news, you may or may not be aware that a new design for Aylis.com went live a month or so ago. You can take a look at http://www.aylis.com

And finally, as you may have noticed, our newsletter has been rebranded as “Ayzine” and rather than mailing once a month, we will send out periodically when we have important news. This may be twice in as many weeks or a single time in three months. We feel this will be a better format for all.

We hope you enjoyed this email, if you have any comments/suggestions please let us know!

Warmest Regards
The Aylis Team