Something I forgot to mention at the meeting, one of the sites I moderate on (Clubintegra.com) has a nice little feature we started awhile back called the "VIP Lounge." To gain access you have to be a paying member. Its like a normal lounge, but you can get away with a little more. Also somewhere for the regulars to just post up whatever, works well.
Another thing is within that lounge there is a thread called the "Anything Goes" thread. Post counts dont count in that thread and it is just whatever is on your mind. General post whoring is allowed. Its stuck so its always on top. So if you find a link you want to share, talk about something odd you just heard, you dont have to make a big deal out of it and give it its own thread, just put it in the anything goes. That thread on that site is always active, we go though about 30 pages a day in that thread, lol. People get on just to chat, almost turns into a chat room sometimes.
Just a idea to help people get on more and post more on the forum, maybe even convince more to be paying members
Yep we've been discussing something along these lines for awhile, we just need to get it in motion. We have a "Members Only" section of the website now but it needs to reworked cause a lot of non-paying members have access. I think your idea of having an Anything Goes section would be good. All the good sites I'm a member of have something along those lines. Keeps the rest of the forum moderately civil and on topic if people have a place to screw around
Rymans2k Wrote:Yep we've been discussing something along these lines for awhile, we just need to get it in motion. We have a "Members Only" section of the website now but it needs to reworked cause a lot of non-paying members have access. I think your idea of having an Anything Goes section would be good. All the good sites I'm a member of have something along those lines. Keeps the rest of the forum moderately civil and on topic if people have a place to screw around
If you want any help getting it going id be willing to lend a hand....
We need a general overhaul of the system the site runs on =\ Robbie and I are trying to get some things sorted out for that.
The main thing is that clubintegra uses vbulliten for its message board system, which is much more flexible. However it costs something like $75/year whereas phpbb (what we use) is free. There is a new version out that is MUCH improved over this, and still free, so that is probably what we will end up using.
The member section is definitely doable, as is the stuck topic, but I dont think phpbb lets you choose what topics add to your post count.
humjaba Wrote:We need a general overhaul of the system the site runs on =\ Robbie and I are trying to get some things sorted out for that.
The main thing is that clubintegra uses vbulliten for its message board system, which is much more flexible. However it costs something like $75/year whereas phpbb (what we use) is free. There is a new version out that is MUCH improved over this, and still free, so that is probably what we will end up using.
The member section is definitely doable, as is the stuck topic, but I dont think phpbb lets you choose what topics add to your post count.
Yea, lol the other site im on CCSC (Central Carolina Subaru Club) uses phpBB so I know what you mean about the differences. I believe were running the latest on CCSC right now. Its a nice step up! VB has some great features but for phpBB being free it isnt "that" great.
As for post count, yea its not that big a deal. But for a site the size of CI it starts to be to enough people that care. The bigger sites get some serious post whore issues just for a post count.
As Ryan said, we do have a member's only section that only paying members are given access to.
One thing that's different about this site though is that most of our activities are in person; we are all in one physical location and see each other regularly. This hurts board activity (not that this is a bad thing), and I'm not sure there's enough going on here to really support a lot of paying member only features, but if enough of you new guys sign up that could change. Would be a good experiment either way.
the only thing is alumni that have valid inputs (kbrew/ted) might not have access if you say well they aint paying. They have very valid experience in helping the club run. hell for a few years, the only traffic on this site was Kbrews post whoring...
straight four Wrote:the only thing is alumni that have valid inputs (kbrew/ted) might not have access if you say well they aint paying. They have very valid experience in helping the club run. hell for a few years, the only traffic on this site was Kbrews post whoring...
This is true, but its only one section of the site that is closed off. They still have plenty of other sections to post their thoughts or concerns in.
What about lifetime members?
If I have anything to say about it, Marc, people such as yourself, Ken, Ted, Luke, ect will be considered in any sort of "paying member" feature on the site. Not sure how we'd do that just yet, though.
Maybe alumi that were members could be included.
^^ Yea I think thats fair
thanks for the include.
For Ken and Shewey its easy, they are past officers.
Ryman, i just worry that like our officers only section. things get discussed ad nauseum there, but no one else is even aware of the discussion. Remember the anger that caused when members had NFC what was going on??
Of course the other way can be argued. Those that pay should be the only ones that HAFC what is going on...
Yea I can understand what the frustration is, but in all actuality its not up to people who just show up on the website to determine club issues. Actual paying members should get a say in what happens in the club. Otherwise, what is the point in joining? But we are taking into account all the hard work that alum and past members have put into the club and those people will be included in the section.
straight four Wrote:Ryman, i just worry that like our officers only section. things get discussed ad nauseum there, but no one else is even aware of the discussion. Remember the anger that caused when members had NFC what was going on??
This won't be a problem anymore. If the clubs should know they will know.
For what it's worth, nothing worthwhile has gone in there for quite some time
