blahel

i like the look of the new board ,initially i felt a bit lost but now it feels like home again! I find this board very easy to use compared to others..so thanks admin..you do a great job.
As to the new virtual thing i suppose it wouldnt hurt to try as it might be good but we wont know unless we try it, right?

k3n

I like the idea (I think I was one of the ppl shouting for new sections :mrgreen: ) but like others before me, I don't fully understand how it will work. Will the virtual sections appear as a list somewhere, away from all the other 'real' topics or will it be like the search function?

A 'libarary' or 'catalogue' is only as good as the person who creates it - in this case it will be lots of ppl so how efficient it will be is open to debate. In the same way that topic titles often don't reflect the content.

And if you search, for example for PPing, you get hundreds of threads to scroll through to find the answer to your specific question - so you give up and start a new thread asking a question that has been answered 500 times already, you just can't find where. This isn't a criticism, it's just the way it is. The trouble is, the more you apply restrictions to 'cataloguing' information, the less user-friendly it becomes and adding more indexing/cross-referencing features can make the system unwieldy and intimidating to the user. Rock and hard place!

Maybe as Terri says, try it and see. If you want the extra work! :shock: :D

patricej

it sounds to me as though it would be each member's choice to either use/browse for something in a virtual section or to continue using the board according to their own personal process. so in that respect i don't see why this would make anything more complicated from the user's perspective. (unless of course, you insist on seeing it that way.)

so far, i think it's a faaaaaaaaaabulous idea. i don't envy Admin the the chore of trying to identify all possible glitches so he can program to avoid them.

we need to send him vats of coffee and cases of chocolate bars. ;-)

k3n

Me too! I hope my previous post didn't sound too negative.

BTW I love the changes to the board so far - the ability to customise Recent Topics and the Topic Log and My Watched Topics sections are brilliant. This would add a further dimension and enable users to almost 'tailor' the board to suit their own needs. :D

I'm only glad it ain't me who has to design, implement and sort out the inevitable glitches. :shock: :-D

patricej

i deleted your Blushy because you don't need to feel badly about your comment. ;-)

this is a discussion seeking member thoughts, questions and input.

so far, nobody has been rude. it's all good. :thumbup:

k3n

Thanks Patrice. :-D

Admin

I'm going to try implementing it, and we'll see if it takes off.

It would really depend on how people use it.

Since the beginning of the new year, we had 472 new user users registered on the board. 230 of those users made at least one post.

That's in 13 days.

It breaks down to around 17 new people (who made at least one post) per day on average. In addition to 19 people per day who haven't yet posted, but can "finally get the courage" to do so at any moment.

82 of those new users made at least 5 posts. Which makes it around 6 new (non-accidental) posters per day on average.

Pretty soon, it will get to a point where so many new threads are started that it would be close to impossible to keep track of things using just the recent topics listing.

So I'm simply exploring the alternatives.

I'm thinking about how things would work 6 months from now, or a year from now.

k3n

WOW!!! Do you feel a bit like Dr Frankenstein sometimes, Admin? The monster LIVES, it LIVES!!! :mrgreen: :lol:

Seriously, this is a great forum - no wonder it's doing so well. :-D

ghostrider

The use of any or all of those options is just that, optional. Will this new feature follow suit and allow us to 'opt out' of using it? Please? :?

Oklahoma Suzie

Sounds like a good idea to me. Thanks for doing all you do.