Please notice the 4 pictures in the center top of the page.
The idea is to give the home page some real spice, when a user views the page 4 user icons are loaded on the fly. The image is also clickable to go directly to that persons journal. It's basically a snazzy version of "Random User". The user can then re-load the page to get 4 new users. I think this would be a really nice way to bring the heart of LJ to the home page and create some dynamic content.
I am aware this may pound the servers so I am looking for some solutions and feedback ..
I am also looking for feedback and solutions on how to control these so called "random users" - they won't be as genuinely random as maybe some people would like, but because we are going to be showing their user icons and this adds to the complexity.
It would be best if it was a set of approved users.. basically the user would have to meet a certain criteria. An appropriate user icon! This could be said to be biased but mainly I am concerned with 2 things. That it not be pr0n, and that it be the correct width and height, and to make things easier I assume it would need to be there default icon.
How to manage this? It would probably involve volunteers, but I am trying to avoid that as much as possible, though I imagine it would require some sort of management. I myself can do this in the beginning and find someone to take over, and then I can just over see it and make sure it is taken care of. That is, if this is the best way to solve the issue.
Maybe it could be associated with the people who make user icons for people. Is there maybe a way to create a community, and the DB calls the users from that community, and that community could be really large eventually. The idea isn't for people to ever view that community, but use it as a way to query approved users? Maybe people who hear about it would join the community after making sure they meet the criteria, people on LJ are fairly pro-active!
Thoughts?
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please only comment on this topic in regards to the design - it is not complete. Thank you!