changed the title of this thread to be more descriptive. I'm certain no one got the reference to the original Star Wars novel. Han Solo describes how he likes to tinker on the Falcon. I'm so very glad that was not a line in the film. -s
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sabacc |
Tinkering with the Message Boards |
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In hopes of getting some new members leading up to Celebration V next August I'm trying to tweek the boards for easier use. Today I changed the order of a
few Forums, re-classed the Orlando System, Tampa SW Club, and Treasure Coast SW Club Discussions as subforums under the Alliance Discussion heading, and
combined the Music and TV section with the Music section to make the Entertainment Section. Please let me know what you think of these changes and feel free to
make suggestions for further improvements.
changed the title of this thread to be more descriptive. I'm certain no one got the reference to the original Star Wars novel. Han Solo describes how he likes to tinker on the Falcon. I'm so very glad that was not a line in the film. -s -Campbell Help the SWGFA by buying through Amazon.
Last Edited By: sabacc Mon, Dec 21, 2009 9:23 AM.
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sledmaster |
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Hey Campbell, The site looks great the only thing that I see at the moment is I think the were you changed the club discussions maybe we should leave
Tampa,Orlando and Treasure Coast forums listed instead of having them under subforums. I think with the possibility of new members they might not see or
understand that the club forums are listed there and I don't want anyone to miss anything. I just like seeing it at a glance instead of searching for it.
But that is my opinion it seems like I am on the forums from the time I get up till around midnight. I guess I have allot of time on my hands and I am always
thinking of new things. But the sight looks great and I will keep on throwing ideas out there. I know we have some big things coming up next year and I want to
make sure I help as much as I can and be there for are group.
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sabacc |
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Please do keep throwing out ideas, I appreciate them. I'm heading to work in a moment, but this evening I'll switch each of our group discussions back
to the front. I had initially put them in subforums because there was so little activity in each.
-Campbell Help the SWGFA by buying through Amazon. |
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sledmaster |
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Hey was also thinking that on the forums for the clubs we should post some activity on a regular basis maybe once a day or every other day just so people see
activity instead of a post 3 months ago. I am going to try to post something everyday on the Treasure Coast forum and bounce to the Tampa and Orlando ones
just to show we are there so new people will join in. Like I said I'm on all the time I just like to keep Star Wars in every ones mind and make this the
home for everyone who loves Star Wars.
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sabacc |
Organa-ization | #4 | ||
sledmaster wrote:I've just changed it with a note announcing that there are subforums for each individual club. That's not what you asked for, but does that solve the issue for you at all? My goal is to make the board quicker to view. If there is anything in the subforums that is new, the main forum will have the "A New Post" icon. I suggest that while the forums are slow that this makes a lot of sense. As you say, it is common for these not to be touched for weeks if not months. Anyone else have an opinion on the matter? I also think "Fandomonium" needs to significantly shrink as it is virtually unused by our current posters. Any suggestions? sledmaster wrote:I think that's good as long as it's something worth reading. I've seen people lose interest when nothing significantly new is being said as it can seem like a waste to check those threads. It's your forum so you can post anything anytime you want, I'm just looking at it from different angles. -Campbell Help the SWGFA by buying through Amazon. |
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kyzman |
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I think the forum flows well now. I like the group section and subforums and that the individual groups are called out in the note section below the main link.
My overall feedback? Here's hoping I don't ruffle many feathers here. I think the board itself looks a little dated or low rent since we moved from Mike's old page. The "free" boards are good for a starter type of look, but the overall feel reminds me a bit of webboards from the early - mid 90's. The graphics on the top of some of the sections look a little misplaced and it just looks kind of low tech. Compare this board to other sites that you like to visit and objectively judge the differences. I'd love to see something a little "cleaner" and less clunky. I also think it would be great if we could get back to having a real web page that would include news stories (CV coming, group happenings/meeting highlights, SW news, etc.). The forums could be a sub-site of the main site and we would probably attract (and retain) much more traffic. Of course, both of these ideas would require money and programming expertise, both of which may be a little difficult to come by these days. Just my 2 cents worth, but I think if you are looking to attract new people to the groups during CV, you wouldn't want to use a primered up Volkswagen bug when you could prep and use a shiny, new Cadillac. |
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sabacc |
#6 | |||
kyzman wrote: You certainly don't ruffle my feathers with those comments. I see what you mean and a big part of that is because we don't have anyone as a webmaster. Is anyone interested? I've stumbled through since Mike left us and am aware that I don't have the design skills for the site I'd like to see and visit. On the other hand, I've been to many, many message boards that are far worse looking than this including some of those on the collecting sites. As for a proper website, another great idea that has been vaguely discussed with no development due to lack of expertise, interest, and funds. At the next meeting and beyond, fund-raising needs to be brainstormed so that's a topic on here as well. -Campbell Help the SWGFA by buying through Amazon. |
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sledmaster |
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Yes Campbell that works great I just want people to be able to find the club forums at a glance. I think your right I have seen far worse boards out there on
nice sites. The perfect world we would have are very own web site that would wow everyone but unless we find somebody that can do it for a very low low low
cost or someone that will donate there time we can only work with what we have and it is not that bad. I am going to see if I can find someone to help I know a
few people. I'm not a design whizz so when it comes to that I'm not the best but if we all pull are resources we might be able to find that one
person.We Just need to get the word out. Top topic at are meetings.
Last Edited By: sledmaster Mon, Dec 7, 2009 10:11 AM.
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sledmaster |
#8 | |||
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I have someone checking into building a site told them funds are low and I think to host it is not very much but I will keep you informed.
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sabacc |
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sledmaster wrote:Thank you very much for the legwork! Ideally we'd find someone that wants to be an active member of the group so they'd be most apt to help and participate regularly. -Campbell Help the SWGFA by buying through Amazon. |
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sabacc |
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Due to very little activity in the Fandomonium category I've now added this to the Star Wars Discussion section. Three of the four forums are now subforums
and the threads from "Other Fan Creations" are now in the body of the Fandomonium section. Years ago, these sections got more traffic than the
collecting section. If our members participate in them more in the future we can always change the way they are displayed again. My goal is to make it easier
to see what's new on the whole board.
-Campbell Help the SWGFA by buying through Amazon. |
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sledmaster |
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I was on Star Wars .com forums and there was a club www.austinfanforce.com I went to check out there site and
couldn't get into it you have to be a member to just read to forums but I can tell you are site is not that bad it is easy to navigate and looks great
compared to other sites now we just need to move this to are new web site!!!!!!!!!! ( I am not bad mouthing anyones site I just don't think are site is
that outdated.)
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sabacc |
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Well, I'm in full support of having the message boards take second banana to a proper webpage. A one-stop shop of information explaining what we're
about, what we're up to, and a few news items and revenue-generating ads is what we need. Sorry to take this off-topic, but I'm really looking forward
to something like this. Here's the actual planning.
-Campbell Help the SWGFA by buying through Amazon. |
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sabacc |
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I just deleted the Fan Fiction subforum from the Fandomonium forum and added the six threads within to the Fan Films subforum. They're now called the Fan
Films and Fiction subforum.
-Campbell Help the SWGFA by buying through Amazon. |
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sabacc |
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Put up a little Christmas header. No fear, we'll be back to normal tomorrow!
-Campbell Help the SWGFA by buying through Amazon. |
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JGordon24 |
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sabacc wrote:Love it! Administrator - RebelScum.com, Wedge Collection Engine & The Registry
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sledmaster |
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Looks great it keeps us in the Christmas spirit.
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sabacc |
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Thanks, guys. Wanted to spruce things up a bit. Within two weeks we'll have a new header that features logos for the GFA as well as all three of our
current branches.
-Campbell Help the SWGFA by buying through Amazon. |
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sabacc |
Art & Design | #18 | ||
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Anyone have an idea for headers on the different sections? Obviously, the different clubs have their logos on their particular sections, but I've also added ones for Indiana Jones and the saga Movies. -Campbell Help the SWGFA by buying through Amazon. |
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sabacc |
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I've added some links in a ticker about the SWGFA banner. Currently the links are to our Blog, our Facebook page, our Amazon affiliate link, and for noobies, the Introduction Thread.
Are there any other links you'd like us to consider including? -Campbell Help the SWGFA by buying through Amazon. |
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sabacc |
#20 | |||
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I've eliminated the auto titles where users are given a title like Jar Jar Binks or Bounty Hunter depending on their post count. I don't think it encourages people to post and they're not organized enough to be interesting. Individual club titles will remain including locations (if I've seen a user post their town).
-Campbell Help the SWGFA by buying through Amazon. |
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