Dark Bit Factory & Gravity
GENERAL => General chat => Topic started by: Shockwave on February 07, 2011
-
I think that we have almost reached a point of stagnation now.
There is slightly more life in this site these days than there has been in the past but maybe it's time that it was rejuvinated or relaunched or something.
I wanted to put this idea to you because although the site is registered to me, I see myself only as the custodian of it. Really it's owned by the people who visit here so it has to be up to you.
This site is registered until April 2016 so I think that it should be kept online at least until then.
So here's the idea I have..
We keep the site as it is, I disable registration and logging in and allow all attachments to be freely downloaded by everyone.
The home page at DBFINTERACTIVE.COM will be heavily optimised for the search engines and point in two possible directions, one way will be to the archive (ie. this site), the other direction lies a blank canvas. I reckon we could start off from scratch with an empty message board, and I'd suggest using something other than SMF.. It's overrun by fake registrations anyway.
I'll leave this topic open for your thoughts and ideas.
-
Its sounds all nice... but personally i dont think disabling registration would be a good idea... I think without need of registration this forum probaly may end up in a spamming forum - maybe even spam of xxx stuff...
However i really welcome that this site is online up to 2016 or maybe even later :)
Many thanks for creating, supporting and having this great site!!!! K++
-
Sorry Va!n, I mean disable the registration for this part, turn it into an archive and open a fresh message board. People could register on the fresh board, and this would be preserved as a read only archive so that none of the knowledge is lost.
You wouldn't believe the amount of fake users that have to be deleted from here just because of spam.. Despite me heavily modifying the code. SMF's security is a bit shakey.
-
About spamming things ...
There is a french demoscene forum (demoscene.fr) which let everyone to post on it. But, if you are not registered, you have to type de captcha thing (usual stuff).
Actually, I didn't see any problems on it.
For the basic idea from Shockwave ... I didn't get the point.
This part of the forum will goes as archive ... and then new stuff (forum) will come ?
-
as long as DBF Forum spirit will be preserved and all of the collected knowledge would remain accessible I don't see any big disavantages in freezing the actual board to get a brand-new/improved/better backoffice/frontend.
Just one consideration: personally, having all of the content freely available, wouldn't give me any motivation in register to the actual DBF Forum .. so this is what I mean: would it be too much of a hassle to redirect ppl to the new repository to download old contents requiring them to register to the new forum?
Regular memnbers would seemingly migrate as soon as the new forum would be (if it'll ever see the light) available... so there's no point for us...
I'll support this forum as far as it will be available, there is a lot of cool ppl here who deserves all my respect for the time being.
Shockye: do whaterver you want, I'm in!
cheers mate, keep up the good vibes!
-
That's indeed a controversial topic and I cannot decide right now to be honest.
Starting with a fresh forum/system always has its charme. I guess every coder
knows that feeling.
Maybe we could just brainstorm a bit more how things could look like ...
- What kind of system should we use instead of SMF?
- How would the look & feel of this place change?
- Would we change the focus concerning topics ?
-
I reckon we could start off from scratch with an empty message board
At the moment the problem is not the design or content of the board but the number of active users.
There're many helpful guys hanging around here but we're lacking people asking questions.
I really miss threads like this (http://www.dbfinteractive.com/forum/index.php?topic=3445.0)...
-
I've been wondering for quite some time what might cause this stagnation. Are we getting too old and there's only a few youngsters interested in demo coding? The same thing somehow happend with Retro Remakes. But there I think it's partly caused by the darn facebook group which makes people rather thumb up screenshots instead of having a look at the real productions...
Anyway, a renewal of a place is always cool, just like when buying new furniture. But I somehow doubt that it really will attract many new users who actually post something. I think there's enough "active" users on here if you for example take a look at how often attachments are downloaded in some threads and how few comments are left. People just cannot be arsed to write something. Dunno why. Probably just laziness. And by these people I don't mean the regulars who are trying to keep track of what's happening here even if other things in life need more attention. Maybe we should add a thumb up sign just like in facebook. You'll see how many people all of a sudden like all the stuff! :D
Jokes aside, I like this place the way it was, the way it is and whatever way it will be in the future. If there's a new concept it's fine with me (as long as I can take my sigs with me ;)) And I want it online until 2016, no question!
-
Preserving this forum is something I'd personally appreciate, I picked up a lotta cool stuff here. Of course I'd rather see it survive as it is. But if you guys decide that a change is needed I'll be there for sure.
-
Some great points for and against..
Truthfully, the allure of a more secure message board that doesn't have loads of fakes registering every day and new technology has an appeal for me.
Whatever we decide to do though, as has been raised above, we need more interesting threads like Hezad's 3D engine one to get more people posting.
I realise that I haven't addressed all the good points above yet, I'll leave this run for a bit to see what else gets posted :)
-
Well, of course Hellfire is right that we need more quality discussion about scene and
coding related stuff like Hezads 3d engine implementation.
Nevertheless, I can understand Shockies point of switching the system because
fighting against spam bots is a frustrating work. So, if there is a better solution
system-wise I would say go for it.
So, in other words. If a new forum software makes life easier to maintain it we should
seriously think about it. Of course it is not for granted that the activity will rise -
but you'll never know...
-
I can't say I see a clear answer to "why" this should be done. Bots will exists on whatever platform you change to even though most can probably be beating by asking them what a "demo" is during registration :). Not sure if any more good discussion would automatically show up by starting from scratch since the main problem, i think, is not the site as such but that people don't know it exists. Unless people do get here but leave before posting because they dont like the style of the site.
Of course the answer to "why" can be as simple as you want something new and fresh to play around with and I'm all for it. New is always fun. That's why I got vbulletin on my own site (that I later removed when switching to Asp.Net MVC).
But if a relaunch where to be made a clearer picture of it needs to be brought to light. I assume that is why this thread is here so should it be only a forum based one or more like the relaunched www.gamedev.net (http://www.gamedev.net).
-
I have an idea. I'll PM you, Nick.
-
combatking, please share your ideas; it's a discussion board.
-
combatking, please share your ideas; it's a discussion board.
Yep!
-
combatking, please share your ideas; it's a discussion board.
Yep!
Yes again.
-
I have an idea. I'll PM you, Nick.
please let all of us know... share your ideas...
-
It's a forum security idea. I've got an SMF installation on my domain too, so I'll trial my idea there, and if Shockwave likes it, he may trial it here. I don't know yet though, as he hasn't replied.
I'm trying to keep it top secret until it goes live, so as to scupper any hackers who may be reading the forum against our wishes...
One thing I've noticed about the spam users is that a quick Google of their user names often reveals their nature - if you see results on dozens of unrelated boards and the time/date of registration are close together, it's a bot, or an active spammer.
If they're on many boards, but the time/date of registration differs greatly, chances are it's a person who uses the same username everywhere.
If there are no results, it could be a new user, or a new spammer which has not yet been crawled on other boards by Google.
-
Personnally I like the idea ... but I don't know if it can work. I mean, I would not be treat as a bot because I had bad luck on google results... (check LittleWhite in Google and see what you get).
But I like the idea :)
-
That's not my active idea - it's a stop-gap measure which I'm using to check new members.
My new idea involves coding something new for the registration form, but I don't want to divulge too much about it yet. So far it looks promising.
-
For me it's not a problem with implementation - it's pretty obvious that the forum technologies are interchangeable and we could either re-work this smf forum into something that works or go for the latest and greatest of something else.
But of course that is useless and unproductive if there isn't anyone reading and posting. I know Shockwave has previously put a hell of a lot of effort into attracting people to this forum and its previous incarnations. Some of these people have been around for what seems like forever. That is something that needs to happen again, but who is going to do it and who has the cult of popularity surrounding them to do it I do not know. For one thing I know that both Shockwave and I have not been as active over the last few years, he because he has started a family and a new job, I because my new job has very little time for goofing around with demos during work time. So it's also a case of someone or a group of someones having the time to put in what it takes.
Just re-read the Hezad 3D Engine thread - that was fun wasn't it!?
Jim
-
It seems like the concensus so far is that we keep the place on SMF. That actually suits me because it means that I can put my time into other things on here.
The time considerations are a good point too. Since my eyesight deteriorated and I've been busy in work and with my son I haven't put much time in here.
I used to organise a lot of competitions.. They were difficult to get right, if any of the rules were ambiguous then it caused confusion and occasionally I was put into awkward positions with entries submitted past deadline and ripped code, but on the whole they were good.. I'd say over 95% good.
The comps are one thing that have generated interest but it's hard to get people to draw signatures and it's nice to offer a prize too but lets just say that things have been a bit tight around here for the last couple of years and I really haven't been able to spare much cash, things are a little bit better now (I can afford the hosting etc) but it wouldn't be easy to justify to Mel if I took money out of the household budget when my son needs things... As long as people were understanding that there would not always be a cash prize I'd be happy to organise comps again.
Also we took a knock when hospapa fucked us over. It was a cruel time to happen too because we were hitting new peaks with new members and posts.
And as for Hezad's terrific thread.. Well, this has happened every year or two. Someone comes along who wants to write a software 3D engine, in the past I can remember Grim123 with his raycaster, stonemonkey, tetra, ferris, blitz ammateur, hezaz and there are probably a few more... The problem is though that when the main problems are overcome then the posts dry up and in the history of the forum the posts seem to gravitate towards one particular language, be it C++, Yabasic, Freebasic, Blitz or whatever.
Lastly a word about moderators. We've been lucky enough here to have had some really good moderators. Moderators are not necessary here to keep the members in line because DBF is mostly friendly and always has been. I see the role of moderator as someone who starts topics and encourages posting.
It's really difficult to find someone like that who has enough time to commit to this and it's an easy trap to get into to have inactive moderators which is unfair on the active ones.
I would love DBF to be busy with some good posts again and if we are going to stay on SMF we need to;
1: Have a moderation team of about 8-10 members who post. I will do my best to post new topics but there will need to be an active and committed team that is doing the same (and it goes without saying that if any of that team become inactive that they must be prepared to step aside and let someone else take thier place).
2: Get a few more comps going.
3: Try and explore a few new languages. I quite fancy having a pop at Java myself because it's free and if I master it it will mean that I can demand more pay at work ;)
4: Take a look at the direction of the forum and decide whether we need to diversify a little, and even if we don't then we should decide what forums are relevant. After all, out of the core members here I would not really call everyone here a demoscener (and that's ok) but maybe we need to cater for a wider audience.
5: Reduce the number of boards in this forum as much as possible (too many boards discourages posting).
6: Look at ways of promoting the site to our target audience to gain new members.
7: Develop proper anti-spam measures. (Thank you Combatking for your PM, I think your solution is unique and would partly cure the problem)... Although it's something I think I'd need your help to impliment.
8: Re-Skin the site, give it a lick of paint and make it look more like a coding site.
^^ All the above are just ideas to be kicked around and discussed.
-
About comps ... I never participate for money prizes (karma is enough for me in fact :p (and having nice signatures logo :D because I really like them)
After ... I didn't put enough time in your compos ... bad (I have the problem with all tasks I am doing).
For moderating stuff ... I would be happy to do it (even if sometimes I am lazy to read english :p) After ... I am also already lacking of time ... so be precautious with this one. But since I like to see new stuff (like the showcase) and I am nearly directly saying words ... maybe I can do the job.
Recently, I have started to learn a new langage (the D) ... maybe it can interest.
Way to promote DBF -> Do prod and put it on Pouet.net ... it will do the job in the demoscene domain.
I can add a link in the profile that I own on Nectarine (I am moderator there :p)
And if all is doing that, it can grow up quickly (not specially about Nectarine)
Finally ... with better search bots (google and others) referencing, we can grab people :)
-
Let us kick spam! :boxer: :whack:
I'll also get my arse in gear and produce some Flash / Actionscript 2 tutorials.
(edit) That didn't sound right, but I hope you know what I mean. I'm very enthusiastic about this.
-
Woah, that was a lot read. :D So where do I start, I almost forgot everything already. Guess I'm getting old. haha Okay, *scratching head*, here you go:
I always enjoyed the compos, because it makes you focus on one thing instead of coding random stuff which will never be published anyway. For the prizes. Of course I liked getting some $, but that was actually never the reason to participate in them. Actually I had never thought I could win anything anyway except for the BITS compo. ;D I do it for fun and I like the competition and to see how other members approach the given task. As long as it's for Karma and the winning entries end up in a showcase or you get a sig, everything's fine with me. (Speaking of, the Liquid Challenge entries never made in the showcase... Tut, tut. :P)
Readability of the forums. I also think there's too many boards actually. Not sure how to strip them down and to decide what's relevant or not. But for example General Chat and Hangar 18 could be easily combined imho.
Another thing, the lazy guy I am (and of course I can only speak for myself), I usually use the portal to view which threads are new (I get confoozled (especially on my mobile) when trying to browse the forums and all its child boards directly for new stuff - but maybe I'm just doing it wrong ;D), but since there's only the last 10 posts available and when there's a highly frequented thread like this one the list gets "spammed" with only one new topic and other threads get easily lost. So my idea would be to have an expandable list (by pushing a button) on the portal to at least be able to view the latest 25 threads or so.
-
If it would make it easier and less time consuming to change to another forum tech then I would say go for it. We all have various things in our lives that takes up precious time already, so if the time being used on maintaining the forum could be cut down, then it sounds like a very good idea.
As far as competitions goes, then I doubt that people would not participate if there were no cash prices. Personally I do not like the cash thing, I find it unneccessary and one should participate because they want to challenge themselves rather than because they want to win some money. But I also think that the challenges sometimes might have been too specific, which might have turned some people away. It might be possible to rethink how they are put together to make it easier for people to partake. I definately feel that they are part of this forum and a valuable feature which gets people coding and sometimes great threads might occur when people are asked how they did a specific effect.
I will gladly help Shockwave on the financial side of things to keep this or any rewamped version of this forum alive and have also done so in the past. I still think there is a place for this forum on the internet and there is also a need for it. But as others have mentioned, it would be nice to get some new blood on the forum as well, and get the community it has generated a bit more alive and kicking that it has been the past year or more. I do not really have any golden tips on how to get more people interested unfortunately, so I am not sure who I would be able to assist in that aspect.
I feel that the moderation so far has been very good, and even though there have been changes in the team during its lifetime I feel that everyone have done a good job of keeping people in check, which is also in part a result of most forum members being well behaved and decent people. At the moment I would not be able to take part as such, but I hope that a handful of people would take Shockwaves invitation and assist with keeping this place running and help getting it back to its glory days.
Well I do not want to hit you all with a wall of text, so I will cut it short here, but I really hope that this place continues, and it would be great if old threads would remain searchable, and yes I also think that there are way too many boards.
-
Oh! and about forums category ... I have to say that I am used to browse huge forum (at least one) which has so many categories that this forum looks small.
But in fact, I am not going in all categories because I am using the email notification on new post in the parts that I like.
So please, if you are changing something in forum engine, keep the notification system for new post / new reply working ... otherwise I will strangely disappear (I am not often taking time to go through the long fav list that I have to check that's new ... so an email is so much easier to me :))
-
Its now over one year ago, when i contacted nick and told him about a very special idea for a competition here and how the forum could get probaly some more attention. (i will post parts of my original message here, because i am to lazy to write it again ^^ Hope its ok for you nick ;)
...
However i noticed that the forum activation is very still, isnt it? So i thought about the situation and how it could be possible to push the forum and its activation (maybe even with getting new members).
So my idea is a very special DBF contest but the announcment should not be only here in the forum! Now, this time the announcement for the contest must reach the guys we are looking for (newbies!).
The question is just, how to reach this guys and the answer is still easy when you think about my idea and start announcing this very special contest in the next issues of scene magazines and at the same time here on the forum as generall!
You may ask, whats so special about the contest - because its not a contest as all the other contest here at DBF in the past i think!
My idea is a "CodeIt Tutorial Contest #1" or however you will name it and a nice (maybe small cash) price? Here is a text how the contest could look like:
;// Start -------
Welcome to the official DBF CodeIt Tutorial Contest #1! If you are not a member at www.dbfinteractive.com, take this chance to join now. If you are not registered, you will not be able to win!
Our sponsors we will be giving out a total of $50 worth in Cash and the sponsors are: Name, Name
Everyone is automatically entered from this point forward. If you notice, a "Total Points" has appeared at the left hand side of everyone's name in posted messages. You earn points by posting Tutorials only! Your tutorial must adhere to the rules specified at the bottom of this post in order to receive your points. Here are how the points work:
Scoring Karma Points:
* 15-35 points per tutorial. Complex tutorials will receive more points than beginner tutorials.
Examples:
* Simple "Hello World" tutorial with 1-2 pictures will receive 15 points.
* Complex tutorial on creating images pragmatically with no images will receive 20-30 points.
* Complex tutorial on creating images pragmatically with several images will receive 35 points.
Prizes
Now for the good part, the prizes! The winners will be determined by how many points they have when the contest has ended. There will be a total of 3 winners:
Prizes:
Deadlines:
The deadlines for the above contests are march 30th, 2010. The winners will be notified via PM and Email.
Rules
What is a tutorial? - A tutorial is any step-by-step guide related to programming with images. Examples can be found [here = link to DBF tutorial section]
**NOTE** Your tutorial must be at least 800 words or more! Your tutorial should contain screenshots where possible!
Copy/pasting of tutorials is not allowed! Your tutorial must be original and must not exist on any other website!
We wish you the best of luck!
; --------------------------
The text is not for the final... just only a small inspiration and showing stuff behind the idea! Maybe its a nice chance and nice contest, when ppl dont have just to code something to win... no, they just have to write a nice coding tutorial ;)
It was just an idea i wanted to share with you ;)
-
I do think we've got more boards here than at my place, but far fewer than on the forum on Weebl's Stuff, which is so bloated with boards and topics that I've given up there.
I was a member of another forum a few years ago now, and while the owner was nice enough, the place was dominated by idiots who typed in "733t" or whatever it is, and they weren't very friendly to newcomers, so I left.
Certainly this place could do with a trim, but not much. O0
The atmosphere is welcoming enough - we've got that right.
I think some of the smilies have been duplicated just above the new post entry - they could do with being tidied up a little.
I could even make a new animated gif smily just for here - any suggestions?
-
I could even make a new animated gif smily just for here - any suggestions?
Yeah new reason to make a compo \o/ The three first will get used in the forum \o/
@Va!n ... the tuto compo is an idea ;... but ... huge to do ... and not really welcoming beginners (since I don't like registering on website ... your message is nearly forcing me to do so :p)
-
Does anyone really come here for tutorials? I know we have some good ones.
I'm not a fan of tutorials because they are unlikely to hit the spot of a potential forum member's problems, and if they were useful they may even stop them signing up!
Much better to direct efforts towards people who are having real problems on the ground (again, the Hezad thread) than to guess what might be needed.
The one good thing about writing a tutorial is (for those of us who really are not teachers) to get the problem's description and solution clear in one's own head so it can be explained to another person. In that way it probably helps the tutorial writer far more than any putative audience.
I'm looking forward to Shockwave's new comp!
Jim
-
It looks like I have a lot to do :)
Please keep posting in here, I have updated the showcase with the liquid challenge winners and a new challenge has been launched today.
-
hey guys, been a long time :cheers:
whatever you decide to do (change/leave as is/modify/etc.), i'm here if i can help somewhere :)
just a thought that might attract people, as we all know demos and coding have 3 major parts.
- the code
- the music
- the graphics
in this forum we have sections for code and music but not graphics and many people out there are into graphics and have no idea what a demo is and it's history.
if some graphicians come here and read all about it, see the friendly atmosphere :buddies:, who knows maybe they'll dive into coding as well.
i know we have the sections together music-gfx, what i meant is separate.
just my 2 cents :)
-
If you want to add an MP3 player for showcasing Demo music, I have a selection of Flash MP3 players on my website at http://barcodebattler.co.uk/jukebox
Andy at the RCM has opted for an older version of it, but hopefully I can persuade him to upgrade.
-
I'm not a fan of SMF - interface seems quite "cludgy" compared to others. One I really like is the forums at phpfreaks.com although they have heavily modified that.
I'm got Blitz Max installed on my machine. Not used it much except to play around with maths functions for calculating stuff. I'm almost 40 and I know I'm not going to produce some amazing new demo with slick effects as my codingdays are pretty much over. The Amiga was where it happened for me and those days are gone. I've tried DevPac in WinUAE and it isn't quite the same.
What would I like to see? BlitzMax tutorials teaching the reallt basic stuff.
I've got more of a life now than I did when I was sat in my bedroom coding as a kid then as a teen and I don't have the time to be sat researching stuff plus I have Dyspraxia which makes some learning definitely anything but enjoyable.
I'd like to learn BlitzMax better than I do now and some tutorials on how to do stuff would be awesome. I've not yet tried looking for any books in PDF format yet but will tomorrow.
-
-
What software do I prefer, you mean what programming language?
On the Amiga it was assembler and E but those were very much machine specific and I don't like the idea of running them on an emulator.
For the PC I'd love to learn BlitzMax. Overall it would have been C++ but I don't have the time to learn that what with dyspraxia. I've had a play with BlitzMax and I like what I see. Quick and easy coding.
With the Amiga I was very much into coding utilities and although I'd like to do the same on the PC it's not essential. I'd love to cover some maths stuff.
I noticed the more complex the machine the less detailed the manuals get. Now we've got todays PCs and the manuals seem non-existant.
-
No, sorry. When you said you didn't like SMF and you posted the link to PHPfreaks I thought that they had some different software, but looking at that site it runs on SMF too.
What I meant was what forum software do you find preferable to SMF because one of the ideas that I was kicking around was to migrate the board onto a different stype of software.
-
In an ideal world I'd get vbulletin but it's ££££ !
It is a bit of money but the good part with it is, unless they changed it again, that once you payed you now get unlimited updates forever on that major version ie 4.x. Not as before where you had to pay each year.
-
I do like phpBB but I know it's not one of the best security wise.
Not really thought of forum software like that. Didn't realise phpfreaks was SMF - that's a surprise - must be a mix of the theme and custom mods.
-
As most people I have an ever decreasing amount of spare time.
Over the last few days I've been trying to think of ways I could try to help generate more traffic for the forum without committing too much of my "spare" time, which means finding something that I can do which I have some prior knowledge / tools for.
The best I've come up with so far is putting together a nice cross platform project that will build for win / mac / linux / iOS that people here can use to develop whatever they like and we could release in the App Store.
I'm not sure if anyone would be interested in doing that or if we could get enough exposure there to make a difference but people do love free apps and maybe some 3D art would be interesting, especially demos that might be able to sync to the users own music on their iPod like a fancy visualizer?
As soon as my Android phone has been replaced I intend to get the NDK all setup so I could support that too in the near future.
-
Zeb, I think it's just the latest version.. The one here is an older release candidate and it's difficult to upgrade this now because of all the tweaks I've given it. For all the work, it might just be easier to migrate to a different forum.
Xetic, a friend has given me access to his Vbulletin board so that I can take a look under the hood :) It looks cool! Probably too much cash for me though.
-
->SG - I've sworn to do some Android dev this year, and the first thing I might attempt is to port my LOMEDUX liquid demo. I'm not sure I will produce anything sharable or usable but I will happily share anything I learn.
->Shockwave - perhaps we just update to the latest, losing all the mods and hope that most of those bugs have been fixed?
Unfortunately the SMF sourcecode is an ill thought out jumble of horror PHP code so it is never going to be any good or even vaguely secure. vBulletin is a lot expensive though, and getting stuck on a legacy version of that would be just as bad as being stuck on a beta version of SMF.
Jim
-
I do not really know much about forum software, but would either of these two be worth considering:
http://drupal.org/ (http://drupal.org/)
http://www.joomla.org/ (http://www.joomla.org/)
-
Drupal and Joomla are both CMS - Content Management System.
Either way you'd still need to add a forum and some CMS apps have their own forums built in. In this case it's either put up with whatever forumsoftware they've adapted (phpNuke uses phpBB) or add some other forum and modify the code so logins work across both.
-
Shockwave and the rest, I'm not sure if I'm going to make your day or destroy your now carefully laid plans for the forum but here is a thought.
As I have mentioned before I had a vbulletin forum on my site. However I removed it when I moved over to a windows server and rebuilt the whole site in C# .Net MVC 3.
Since vbulletin is php and my strength is c++ & c# it seemed like the way to go.
I though about if I where going to use vbulletin on my new site in the future but figured that I most likely wont use it for anything. Since if I need a forum on my own site I rather just build a simple forum from scratch in C#.
This of course means that I now still have a active vbulletin 4.x suite (includes the CMS also) license sitting around doing nothing.
So here is the idea. I'm willing to transfer this vbulletin license over to you if you want to convert DBF over to it. I checked vbulletin site and from my understanding so should it be possible to transfer the license. It just needs to be approved by them first.
Since they changed the licensing it should be safe if dbf ran vbulletin because we should at least get new security patches for the 4.x branch as long as they release them. That is, there is no yearly support fee to pay to get these updates.
-
Honestly Xetick, you haven't ruined any carefully laid plans at all.
I'm still trying to make up my mind what to do, and all I have decided so far is;
1: Ask some of the core people here if they would be moderators.
2: Archive a lot of the inactive boards and simplify them.
3: Install a new anti-spam registration process (CK is working on this).
3: Make a new front-end.
4: Possibly convert to new software.
Vbulletin is really nice and that's a very generous offer you've made there we would be foolish not to consider it at least (even though the thought of moving the database over makes me scared!).
I've been promising myself to get stuck into this for the last two weeks and every time I've meant to do it I have been distracted.
This weekend!
And I may take you up on your kind offer for the Vbulletin license, especially if I can duplicate the forum with vbulletin on my box at home.
Cheers :)
K+
-
And no prizes for pointing out that I can't count to 5..
-
I'll see if my anti-spam registration system also works for Vbulletin if we go for the switch-over.
It shouldn't be too difficult if it uses PHP.
-
I have begun to move the boards around and impliment some changes.
It may take a little bit of getting used to but please bear with me, I think we'll end up with something better at the end of it.
-
It's starting to look tidier already.
I'm suprised by the movement of the Flash/Javascript boards into the archive, but this forum has to focus on demo coding languages, so I guess those types of things could be discussed in General Coding from now on?
I'm not asking to reverse that particular descision - I can understand that they're interpreted languages rather than compiled languages, and as such they're not suited to fast demos.
-
There is some really cool browser based demo stuff out there but the board was not busy enough and too generalized to stay on It's own sorry I would restore it if there was a surge in interest, but ideally I want to avoid having lots of child boards.. simple is. Better..