The best part of my job is getting to shape our Games section into a pleasant, educational corner of the internet that people want to return to again and again. The community forums are where our solvers go to share their scores, learn and chat about the Crossword, Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections. Back in the fall, a colleague told me he was experimenting with a new way to show comments in the body of an article itself. The goal was to integrate the comments more seamlessly within the experience of reading an article. While that works well for a news story, the Games forums are unique because the content of each forum doesn’t change much from one day to the next. Solvers might scroll down on the page to see the difficulty rating for the puzzle or to check out our hints, but many skip straight to the comments to share their score and chat with other solvers without reading the article itself. Still, I found a way to bring the comments into each forum with an experiment that turned into a lasting feature. Every day, my team and I choose a single comment to highlight within each forum. What characteristics make a comment a strong contender to be chosen as a “Community Spotlight”? I choose helpful hints, meaningful stories and creative contributions. I’m also a sucker for comments that come from first-time commenters, and hope that the recognition from The New York Times encourages them to return. In aggregate, I try to ensure the comments I choose capture the global diversity of our community. The Community Spotlight is not meant to confer a sense of value or merit — there’s no such thing as a “best way” to comment. Instead, I aim for it to represent the breadth of the conversation. I’ve been monitoring the conversation in the forums around the Community Spotlight itself. Many solvers are pleasantly surprised when their comment is chosen. It’s a meaningful way to bring a small moment of joy to someone’s day. More opportunities to have your comments highlighted are on the horizon. Soon, we’ll get to know another part of the Games community in a new forum: the Strands Sidekick, making its debut next Monday, June 30. I worked with my colleague Pat Malave and a team of game experts to design a special place for Strands solvers to congregate, replete with art that changes every day and a really cool new way for us to give hints. I don’t want to give too much away, but be sure to save the date and check it out for yourself. Do you have suggestions for the Strands Sidekick? Or do you simply want to express excitement? Now is your time. Send your thoughts my way at crosswordeditors@nytimes.com — and I’ll see you in the comments.
Cryptogram |
