Melançon Enterprises • a multidivision multinational since 1980

> * What is your primary objective with this site?

Primary objective is to develop a "tribe" of followers who will become loyal readers and customers of money making business ventures including but not limited to NYC tourism and sales of various merchandise.

> * What are your secondary objectives?

To promote the occupation of New York City tour guide and provide a better working environment for guides in the City of New York and around the world. To unite the Tour Guides and raise their class consciousness. To raise the political awareness and class consciousness of the tribe.

I would also like NYFive to develop into the kind of place that could have its own separate and distinct sub-communities branch off from it. Perhaps some of those sub-communities would be total member only by invitation type places, perhaps just for groups of friends to socially network between themselves.

I would like the ability to easily branch off a completely different site off the NYFIVE main site. A completely separate site handed off to another tour guide, for example. Or to a local organization of some type such as the tour guide union. Or a group of tour guides trying to unionize their company. Or to some girl I'm trying to make time with. Whatever.

> * What content will you put on the site?

A daily blog and/or series of articles pertaining to New York City. A forum for tour guides. Photos of things in New York City.

> * What do you want people to do with your web site?

Read it. Follow links we wish to send them to. Buy things from us. Network with us to increase our business. Network with other tour guides to increase their business.

> What content, if any, do you want other people to put on your site?

I would like other guides to write blogs, post articles, links and photos. I would like ordinary visitors and potential tribe members to post comments. I would like everybody to participate in discussion forums.

> * What do you want your website to look like?

I want it to look like New York City in its various eras. I want it to look like it would fit in perfectly with the images people hold of New York City. I want it to look like it would fit in standing near the Chrysler Building. Or like it would fit in somehow posted up on a subway train.

I want different parts of the site to have different looks. Different but related looks.

> Can you provide examples of other sites and elements that you like? [Is
> this a dangerous/bad question?]

Combination of Facebook, Amazon and Counterpunch.

Seriously, I kind of like the Narco News (not the graphics) but the general layout, functionality of it.

> * What sections would you like to divide the site into?

Front page for my blog entries slash articles to be listed Newspaper style with the headline and then after the break. The after the break full story area. There should be a store section where I sell whatever I think might sell. There should be an area with user and or tour guide forums. I always liked UBB boards.

> * What content do you already have?

Not much. But I did bring all my New York City books with me so I can whip some up pretty easily.

> What content do you need to create?

I need to create X weeks worth of daily blog/article posts before the site goes live. This to insure we wont have any days where the site goes dark without an update. I also need to create a ton of pics. In the beginning, lacking a camera and not being in NYC, I can "fair use" other people's pics. But I'd really like to get my own pics online.

> * What is your timeline?

I'd like to get this thing live asap.

> * What is your budget?

Part of the book advance will go to cover costs of my URLS. Meanwhile there are plenty of five cent returnable cans I could take back to the store.

(Andrew was helping on Definitive Guide to Drupal 7 at the time.)

***

Andrew on a user story for his web site idea, Hell5.com, for New York's five boroughs:

User Stories:

Patrick Podunk: Grew up in Podunk, Midwest USA. Got a taste for NYC from Woody Allen and mobster movies. Visits NYFive dot com several times a week to read the articles and dream about another life. Has promised his wife (who used to be his Junior High School sweetheart and whose teen pregnancy and shotgun wedding promoting father are largely responsible for Patrick's miserable existence in the tiny town of Podunk) a vacation to New York City which will include some shopping, god awful musical theatre and much exploration of the city by foot. Patrick explores the site dreaming about his vacation. After a month of surfing he buys some kind of trinket the site is selling. Three weeks before his trip he engages the services of a NYFive promoted tour guide to insure that he takes a Mob Hit History walking tour of Little Italy while he is in town. He also purchases tickets to MommaFuckingMiaWhyIsThisAtrocityStillPlayingOnBroadway through an affiliated ticket broker site which somehow pays NYFive.com money.

So this is a user story??

(Note: That e-mail was from February 2010, and from the subway ads, Momma Mia is still playing.)