molanic said:It's probably impossible to have a swap or system that could meet everyone's needs or wants. We all have different preferences. ...
I agree strongly. It's great that in Dave's system, many things are chosen by the host. One system, many kinds of swaps.
As we accumulate experience with different kinds of swaps using the current tools, and find what new features would fit many people's needs, Dave will probably add and tweak the tools over time.
That's been Dave's approach to adding new forums. First, he makes sure that the new forum is more likely to become busy than to become a ghost town.
I think a social website is like a bar. If you wander in and hardly see anyone, you leave and don't come back.
Or a strip mall where half of the stores are empty and boarded up. Creepy!
If adding a new feature to the swap system makes it harder to use for new members, Dave will probably think twice and make sure there's a need before adding the complexity.
Brainstorming like Molanic's and discussions like these, and running many swaps with the current tool, are all necessary precursors to designing new features. First Dave has to intuit which new features will be heavily used, and which might interfere with other uses.
(Edited to add: plus, it sounds as if he and Trish are currently working on some big secret.)
