Q. How long have you been playing B$?
April 2006. I was a very casual player; stopped playing than started again.
Q. What got you interested in playing B$?
I was looking at my stats on a blog and saw blogshares showing up and was curious. I followed the link and was intrigued.
Q. Ideas or Shares?
Ideas, duh. No offense to shares mavens, I just think ideas are vastly more interesting than shares.
Q. Why did you volunteer to be an IM?
I'm a librarian in real life. I'm interested in how things are cataloged/organized so the index was intriguing to me. I had been asked to be an IM awhile before but real life kept me from accepting. I was spending more and more time voting, modding, and killing deads, so I volunteered.
Q. What's the hardest part of being an IM?
Sometimes it's knowing where to start. The index is large and there is just so much to do. Fortunately, we have a team of really smart, dedicated Index Managers and we're carving out a plan of attack.
Q. You've recently been promoted to Lead IM? How have your duties changed?
I've got more of a leadership role obviously. I've been called on to be the final word on something a couple of times. I expect that will continue. I consider myself incredibly lucky to have this great team of people who are doing so much to make the Index as good as we can.
Q. Are the IMs working on any projects you'd like (or can share) with your fellow players?
We have a couple of things in the works. Some of us are busy cleaning various industries that desperately need cleaning. Some of these were solo efforts (I am proud that I cleaned every single South American nation!) others are more team efforts.
What I'm really excited about is that we're taking a holistic look at the main areas of the Index. The blogosphere has changed so much since it was first organized and we have crossover in more than one area. The hope is that we can figure out how to minimize the crossover and get a cleaner index. And then of course, to do that.
Q. Occasionally the IMs will have a contest (like "A is for Artefact"). How do you decide when to do this? Can we expect any new contests soon?
I am hoping we do have some new contests. They may be repeats of old ideas, for instance, we still have a ton of really cheap industries with no artefact.
Q. What are the traits of a good artefact suggestion? How do the IMs decide what artefact to release and when? Does Immunis just enjoy releasing artefacts in blogless industries or is he just evil?
A good artefact suggestion is well written, original, and should be really representative of that industry. Merely copying text from Wikipedia or some other site is not what we're looking for.
How do we decide? Well, the good entries usually stick out right away. The IM looks at the suggestion thread and does some research. Sometimes the IM has a particular interest in creating an artefact by themselves. If the IM thinks it's worth releasing, he or she checks to see how many people can build it. Why? Well, in some cases the IM who's looking at that industry may be the only person or one of the only people who can. Unless it's an arte that we know is going to be easily built, that IM does not release it.
My personal belief is that Immunis enjoys releasing artefacts in blogless industries and that, yes, he is evil. I say that with love.
Q. What about sub-industry suggestions? How do you decide which to add? How can a player improve the chance their suggestion will be released?
If it's a location industry, it has to meet the population criteria - less than 15000 people and it does not get into the Index.
If it's a content industry, it has to be something with enough blogs to merit inclusion. We're trying to not add micro specific things. For instance, while you could say that the Beatles were an iconic group and worthy of being in the Index, we don't need every band that every cut a record there. No Geronimo Jacksons.
A player who really wants a subindustry approved should make sure they do the research on a population industry. Find a good representative blog and write a clear, well- written description.
Q. What can players do to improve the Index?
Report deads. Suggest title changes. Vote against no longer valid industries. Let us know when you spot problems. We welcome your input!