If you are an active participant of this site, you’re probably not just using The Word once the day it appears, post your sentence, and forget about it. If you’re anything like me, you’re actively trying to insert it into your ever-expanding vocabulary. One thing I noticed about this site after I first built it is that it wasn’t necessarily friendly to words once they had had their day in the sun. Vocabulary is augmented through rote and re-use. Additionally, new users are less likely to go back and use learn the words because they have no way to record their usage.
Enter Necro-Sentences. For those who don’t know, “necro” is a prefix meaning “dead” or “death,” and for those familiar with internet forums or sites with user-generated content, to “necro-post” is to post on an old, or “dead” thread or topic. My thought was, why should I restrict users from continuing to use the word after the word is “dead?” I have since lifted that restriction, and you can even earn points from posting your necro-sentences!
The way it works is very simple: use a word that is not today’s word, find that word (try the Archives or check your user profile under “Word Usage” if you recorded your usage) and post a sentence. Voting is disabled on necro-sentences, but you may post as many as you like. At the time of this writing, for every 10 necro-sentences you post, you earn a point. While the lion’s share of your points will be derived from sentences and votes on the current QWOD, at least there is still some pointeriffic motivation (should the motivation to expand your vocabulary not drive you enough!) to continue using the words on the site.
On the discussion of features, what features would you like to see on this site? I’m in the process of working on a very nifty and useful one that should be done soon…
Tags: necro-sentences, vocab