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Historically, new Windows OS releases result in a huge traffic increase for sites that have lots of Windows content. We saw it for Super User when Windows 7 was released, and Lowell at How-to-Geek said it doubled and tripled his site traffic. Which brings me to...

Windows 8

So -- how is Super User planning to promote itself along with the lead-up to Windows 8, to "ride the wave" of interest in this $40 (!) upgrade, arguably one of the biggest and deepest changes to Windows since Windows 95?

Windows 8 will be released on October 26th, 2012, and it will be available to download via MSDN in the first week of August. That gives us about 3 months to

  1. Install the final version via MSDN and ask & answer lots of great questions here on Super User about it

  2. Plan for a burst of publicity at the time of launch.

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  • 4
    we have about 400 questions asked on windows-8-preview asked during the RP & CP
    – Sathyajith Bhat Mod
    Commented Jul 25, 2012 at 5:49
  • 4
    Jeff, do you know what the availability of the MSDN release will be? Some Super Users surely do have MSDN/TechNet access, but a lot of us don't. I'm not sure if it's likely to be released early through MSDNAA for us students or not, either.
    – nhinkle Mod
    Commented Jul 25, 2012 at 6:26
  • 3
    @Sathya one of the important things for us to do leading up to the launch is clean up the Windows-8-Preview tag - questions that are relevant to the final release should be polished to reflect that, and questions that are not should probably be cleaned up as well.
    – nhinkle Mod
    Commented Jul 25, 2012 at 6:27
  • @nhinkle Don't forget about dreamspark (though doubtful to be there too)
    – soandos
    Commented Jul 25, 2012 at 15:23
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    @soandos I'll definitely check, but in the past, DreamSpark hasn't had consumer OSes, only server versions.
    – nhinkle Mod
    Commented Jul 25, 2012 at 16:01
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    I am willing to be hired to create a Windows 8 Metro app :)
    – Nathan Osman
    Commented Jul 31, 2012 at 2:21
  • 2
    @GeorgeEdison they... should do that.
    – nhinkle Mod
    Commented Aug 2, 2012 at 18:19
  • See also: let's get started with Windows 8
    – nhinkle Mod
    Commented Aug 16, 2012 at 22:04
  • And now with Demonoid gone. I guess MSDN is really going to be the only place to get it. :(
    – Sponge Bob
    Commented Aug 18, 2012 at 20:04

3 Answers 3

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I'd been hoping to make this announcement once more details were set in stone, but now is as good a time as any.

The Community, Growth, and core site development teams are going to be working together to launch a multi-stage, extended promo for Windows 8 here on Super User. We're hoping to combine it with the Super User anniversary event and make it one large-scale blowout. Our goals are:

  • To clean up the existing Windows-tagged content on the site
  • To ask as many Windows 8 relevant questions as quickly as possible
  • Be the place for users searching for Windows 8 help to land when running searches.

To this end, the moderator staff and some of your top users are working with myself and our VP of Engineering to put together an event that will basically knock your socks off. We're really excited for this, and you'll all be receiving more concrete details about it soon, once we have more concrete details to give. Right now, the event is still in planning and approval stages, with all of us hammering out answers to the main questions.

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    With that said, feel free to post your own ideas as answers here. We're always looking for creative ideas to help grow a site!
    – David Fullerton Mod
    Commented Jul 26, 2012 at 0:44
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    @david HATS.. BUT FOR YOUR FEET!
    – Jeff Atwood
    Commented Jul 30, 2012 at 7:00
  • "To clean up the existing Windows-tagged content on the site". We're gonna need a bigger boat
    – Gnoupi
    Commented Aug 8, 2012 at 13:26
  • @gnoupi are you back? Welcome back!
    – Jeff Atwood
    Commented Aug 10, 2012 at 8:13
  • @Jeff - because sneaky spammers won't burninate themselves! Well, I burninate with flags now, but the point still stands
    – Gnoupi
    Commented Aug 10, 2012 at 8:16
  • @Gnoupi I think if you wanted your diamond back, the powers that be could probably arrange for that.
    – nhinkle Mod
    Commented Aug 16, 2012 at 19:09
  • @nhinkle - It would certainly make the spam hunt more efficient (as well as other stuff). As for "the powers that be", they did change since my active time, though. As well as the nomination process, on the multiple sites. So I'm not sure it would be arranged that easily.
    – Gnoupi
    Commented Aug 16, 2012 at 21:34
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Here are my ideas for preparation:

  • Update and iron out the FAQ so that it's clear what's on-topic and not (Software Rec?).
  • Cleanup the tags, and add/define any that we anticipate will be used.
  • Mentally be ready for new users, and make sure we're still nice.
  • Blog, Blog, Blog! With that I mean, make sure we have a few blog posts that are ready to be referenced on how to use Super User in the right manner.

All in all, we need to be ready to do a lot of dirty work.

As far as promotion goes, I would like to see a contest of some sort to encourage the right sort of traffic here. I came here originally due to How To Geek's reference of the First Year contest, and I'd like to say that I've made some contributions to the site. I know there have been other great users that have come from these promotions as well.

Things that we could maybe give away are:

  • Office 2013
  • Windows 8
  • Windows Tablet !!!!

I would also like to see some collaboration with Microsoft themselves. If there was any way they could maybe sponsor a contest or even just link to our site somehow.

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    +1 for bullet #3 ("•Mentally be ready for new users, and make sure we're still nice.") I remember the first time I used Stack Overflow, I was just coming over from Yahoo! Answers which is much less strict and wasn't sure on what I could and couldn't ask, and people were quite rude at first. (The question I asked wasn't one that would be considered acceptable, but being understanding is a great way of keeping new users)
    – Oztaco
    Commented Aug 3, 2012 at 15:41
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I think a great way to attract new users would be to get a ad on Google, so that whenever someone searches for something Windows 8 related, superuser comes up as a sponsor.

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