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Thread: An Opinion on the State of Free-DC

  1. #1
    Administrator Dyyryath's Avatar
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    An Opinion on the State of Free-DC

    I've been in the forums a bit the last few days and something kind of sad has occured to me. It just doesn't seem quite the same as it did in the beginning.

    Now, keep in mind that everything I'm about to say is just my opinion and doesn't mean squat around here. It's says Administrator under my name and some of you might know that I was one of the founders, but Free-DC was meant to belong to the community from the very beginning so whatever I might think about 'the state' of Free-DC carries exactly as much weight as what any other single member thinks. I'm just going to put a few thoughts out there to see if anyone else feels the same way.

    When we founded it, Free-DC was a group of guys who (more or less) were all interested in the same couple of projects. One of our goals, however, was to make Free-DC a place where anyone could work on whatever they wanted to without any stipulations by the rest of the team about what project was 'most' important, or who was being useful to the team or not. I'd say we've succeeded admirably in that respect. I doubt any other team has more projects available for it's members to participate in under their flag.

    Unfortunately, I think we've paid a price for that freedom, or rather, our implementation of it. I've been out of touch for awhile, so coming back into the forums gives me kind of a newbie, outside perspective that I didn't have before and you know what? I think we've lost our way a bit. As an outsider coming in, these forums are bewildering and seem painfully stagnant. Allow me to explain...

    I pop in one afternoon after deciding that I want to get some machines running DC again. For me, being part of a team and enjoying the company and competition with my fellow members was always the most important part of the equation. The goal of the project I was crunching on was important, but secondary to my desire to have fun with my teammates.

    With that in mind, I started looking through the forums to try to find something to crunch. Unfortunately, we now have a bewildering array of forums and subforums. Some have a post or two, some have more, but it's very difficult to get an 'overall sense' of what Free-DC members are doing just by coming to the forums. The projects are so segmented away from each other, that even if I did choose one to jump in, I'd probably never get the time to go through each of the other forums every day to see if I was missing something good brewing elsewhere on the site.

    This place has begun to feel like a village without a center for people to congregate in. Everyone has split into little groups and gone off to meet in a different house to do their own thing leaving new arrivals to stand in an empty village and wonder where everyone is. I think we've lost something that was important to our community.

    Now, to people who spend a lot of time here, things may not look like this at all. Still, keep in mind that one of the great things about DC is getting new people involved. That makes the 'newbie perspective' somewhat important.

    I would never suggest that we limit the number of projects that we compete in, nor would I suggest that Free-DC have an 'official' project. I would, however, suggest that we make some structural changes to our fourms. I think we've got way too many.

    Back when I was at Ars Technica with the other Free-DC founders, we started using a technique to allow multiple projects to exist in a single forum (which was all Ars Technica had alloted for Distributed Computing): posts that were specific to a project were given a prefix. For example, 'Team Egg Roll' was the name of Ars Technica's Folding@Home team, so any post specific to Folding@Home had [TER] in front of the title. This made it easy to find posts about the project you were interested in, but still allowed you to see what else was going on without having to dig through lots of other forums and subforums. It also let people see at glance which projects were the most popular for those who were just looking for a project with lots of participation to get engaged in.

    I think we have too many projects to just have one big forum with prefixes for each one. Instead, maybe we could combine the existing layers of subforums into just a couple of forums based on the 'type' of project (i.e. biology, math, other) with a sticky post at the top explaining a little about each project, it's prefix and how the prefixes work. I think we should also whittle down the non-project forums into just the Lounge forum. I think a couple of forums with lots of activity are far better than a bunch with just the occasional post.

    It sure would be nice to just hop in, glance through one or two project forums and then go hang out in the Lounge for a bit. But then, like everything else in this post, that's just my opinion.
    "So utterly at variance is destiny with all the little plans of men." - H.G. Wells

  2. #2
    Christmas Lighterer!
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    Very good post. One thing in specific I'll agree with is the forums are too spread out. Having sub-forums that haven't had a post in the past year or two is a sign that things should be consolidated a bit. (imho at least)
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    Administrator Bok's Avatar
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    I would tend to agree. It's difficult to see this when you are going through it in real time (over the past 3 years) but yes, taking a step back I would agree, it's time for a freshener.

    One thing to mention which you may not know though, personally I rarely enter any forum, I just use the 'quick links' dropdown for todays posts.

    Bok

  4. #4
    Dungeon Master alpha's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dyyryath
    Unfortunately, I think we've paid a price for that freedom, or rather, our implementation of it. I've been out of touch for awhile, so coming back into the forums gives me kind of a newbie, outside perspective that I didn't have before and you know what? I think we've lost our way a bit. As an outsider coming in, these forums are bewildering and seem painfully stagnant. Allow me to explain...
    I think this is to be expected somewhat. There are so many DC projects that there are bound to be some which aren't very popular or aren't getting much attention. This is to do with forum layout though, as you've discussed.

    For me, being part of a team and enjoying the company and competition with my fellow members was always the most important part of the equation.
    This is still going strong, you just have to be looking in the right place. As you know, people jump about around projects virtually on a daily basis so it can be difficult to follow popularity. However, I usually find that by reading new posts here each day you can see what is hot. Conversely, some popular projects don't get that much discussion.

    The projects are so segmented away from each other, that even if I did choose one to jump in, I'd probably never get the time to go through each of the other forums every day to see if I was missing something good brewing elsewhere on the site.
    This is why I read *all* new posts. You can see where all the discussion is taking place, plus you see discussion involving taunts and gauntlet proposals.

    This place has begun to feel like a village without a center for people to congregate in. Everyone has split into little groups and gone off to meet in a different house to do their own thing leaving new arrivals to stand in an empty village and wonder where everyone is.
    I think this is almost by-design, isn't it? People are supposed to feel free to go off to whatever project they want, though I don't want new users to feel alienated. I like the idea of a central discussion area, but how can you have such a thing unless it involves discussion of any/all projects? I'm not sure that it would work unless the forum layout is redesigned.

    Now, to people who spend a lot of time here, things may not look like this at all. Still, keep in mind that one of the great things about DC is getting new people involved.
    I've been here a fair few years now and I must admit that I hadn't noticed a particular great change. However, thinking back a little bit I can reminisce about times past when Distributed Folding was massive and this place was certainly a little different back then.

    I would, however, suggest that we make some structural changes to our fourms. I think we've got way too many.
    As I said before, I like the idea of some kind of central discussion area, and I'm all for change if it works. I'm not sure that there really is a solution to this problem that everyone will like, though.

    Back when I was at Ars Technica with the other Free-DC founders, we started using a technique to allow multiple projects to exist in a single forum (which was all Ars Technica had alloted for Distributed Computing): posts that were specific to a project were given a prefix. For example, 'Team Egg Roll' was the name of Ars Technica's Folding@Home team, so any post specific to Folding@Home had [TER] in front of the title.
    No offense, but I read over at Ars on a daily basis and I hate the way their DC sub-forum is set out. I don't think it works very well and in some cases you have to know which project is which team acronym, so it can be confusing.

    I think we have too many projects to just have one big forum with prefixes for each one.
    I completely agree.

    Instead, maybe we could combine the existing layers of subforums into just a couple of forums based on the 'type' of project (i.e. biology, math, other) with a sticky post at the top explaining a little about each project, it's prefix and how the prefixes work. I think we should also whittle down the non-project forums into just the Lounge forum. I think a couple of forums with lots of activity are far better than a bunch with just the occasional post.
    Seems like a pretty good idea. However, for example, there are lots of math projects and if quite a few of them become popular at once, it may get confusing. A lot of them involve prime numbers and so an unspecific thread title could lead to someone replying in relation to the wrong project. Conversely, it would be good for math-nuts to peruse an entire math sub-forum instead of one for each of the (countless) math projects.

    I like your ideas Dyyryath and it is nice to get a fresh opinion on things. Most new users would probably just not visit again if they didn't like the way it worked here, so it is definitely advantageous that you took some time out and returned later with a fresh view of things.

  5. #5
    Downsized Chinasaur's Avatar
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    Dyy,

    I've also seen this happening and felt the same way... But there's nothing for it. When you, JT, Colin, IB and Marc started FDC, your goal was to create a "home" for those of us who didn't like/fit in at the AT fora. You succeeded.

    However, on that day, you threw open the barn door. The "horse" began to move toward the door, it's just taken years for the "horse" to actually wander out. This process has been slow, but detectable.

    I've also seen the sub-forum creation, and the sub-teams, and the internal splintering of FDC, but this was the inevitable outcome of the decisions that were made when FDC was founded. I believed they were right then..and I believe they are still correct now.

    Back in 2001, when most of us participated on the same projects (and weren't there a lot fewer?), it was easy to keep focus and enjoy the communal sense. Now, with a myriad of projects AND more people, that's not so easy. But, like any human gathering, it got more complex over time and grew. We're simply a mirror of human nature and history.

    I miss as do you, that "small town" feeling we had at the start. But that's gone, never to return. And you couldn't start another forum (not that you would) to try to recreate it...Thomas Wolfe was right...

    FDC is like a child who has grown up. I would tell you, as would any parent, to not grieve or regret that your child isn't the same cute toddler you remember. I would tell you to look with pride on what your "child" has become and let it go to achieve it's own future.


    Agent Smith was right!: "I hate this place. This zoo. This prison. This reality, whatever you want to call it, I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell! If there is such a thing. I feel saturated by it. I can taste your stink and every time I do, I fear that I've somehow been infected by it."

  6. #6
    Ancient Programmer Paratima's Avatar
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    Hiya, Dyy! Good to see you back from wherever you've been. I saw your post over in STATS, but I figured I'd wait to say hi till you jumped back in. Like alpha, I read most new posts and that's how I keep up.

    I agree with Dyy's observations, although he's not exactly a "newbie", nor, I would point out, did he come in like one. We probably need to do somewhat more to welcome newcomers and make them feel at home. Several times lately, I've read a post and said, "Who was that?", to find it was someone who had been quietly crunching for a long while.

    I also think that a lot of the "community feel" drifted away with the demise of Distributed Folding. It was as close as Free-DC ever came to an "owned" project. I note that even then, LOTS of us were still pounding away on different projects, but it seems that DF gave us focus. I can't speak for the ones who didn't run DF. For them, it may have looked different.

    I don't think we'll see another project that will bind us the way DF did, but then, you really can't predict that sort of thing. I believe that for the "community feel" we probably need to put more emphasis on meeting in the Lounge, but without making it burdensome. Most of the topics there don't really interest me, so I just read and move on. Certainly, we could "point" newbies to the Lounge and invite them in to make introductions. This already happens to some extent, but it could be better.

    IMHO, Free-DC is doing pretty much what the founders intended, providing a meeting place, people to chat with, and information about a plethora of projects to choose from without pressure.

    The forum could likely do with a bit of streamlining, but I don't see too much being broke. I was here, back then, and I remember. Join date: 12-28-2001 - Same day as Pointwood and just 3 days after ColinT, Dyyryath, Marc-1, JTrinkle and IronBits. Refugees from ARS. Wow! That's no time at all. Why does it seem like so long ago?!
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    Ancient Programmer Paratima's Avatar
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    OOPS! And Chinasaur. How could I forget Chinasaur? Well, I've certainly tried.
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  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Bok
    One thing to mention which you may not know though, personally I rarely enter any forum, I just use the 'quick links' dropdown for todays posts.
    Same here. I don't visit any "forums" per say, just use the "New Posts" link to show me what has been posted since the last time I was here and read the ones I am interested in.

  9. #9
    almost retired the-mk's Avatar
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    I'm also using the new posts link when I revisit this forum after a time. I often look at distributed.net-posts, then at OS or network discussion, then at lobby or lounge... so I'm picking out the things that interest me...

    Nice to see you back Dyy!
    the-mk

  10. #10
    Free-DC Semi-retire gopher_yarrowzoo's Avatar
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    Yeah after DF I did kinda notice a slight drift, so yeah Dyyryth your right.
    I don't know if this is possible with the forum layout but maybe a "selectablity" with 2 layouts, 1 where it's forum etc. and all the maths type projects are under it and so forth, the admin forums set up to stay as is, a tweak on some of the other forums to shrink list a little and obviously hosted to stay where they are. The other layout is as it stands just now with a few tweaks to some forums (them being moved to sub-forums or merged).
    Default for the new guys / guests being the new layout, those who've been here long enough just see the tweaks but all the forums still link in to the same place just get there a different way. We need another "DF" and fozzie to do the weekly take on it, the battles, the road kills and of course the "and you thought you had me, eat my dust......" sneaker net dumpers ...
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    Senior Member birdman2584's Avatar
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    I figure I would like to make my opinion on the state of Free-DC as well.

    I would like to say that it has been a great time for the little over 2 years that I have been here. I joined when Find-a-drug was still the project to crunch on. From there I have branched out dramatically to a plethora of other projects, not really having a favorite, but trying to get some action in everything. That being said, I think we can create a way to have a like a monthly focus on specific projects, like a cow stampede or Boinc synergy's project of the month. We should open a poll say a month before on which project we would like to make the project of the month. Then those who want to get in on it can and those who dont wont. But in this way we can make a concerted effort to feel like we are making progress in.

    My other comment about a specific portion of the Free-DC layout is this: The news section needs to be updated regularly or deleted. I think it would be very discouraging to any possible new member to see that we havent updated our front page news since march of 2006...that is almost a year. I am not sure who has the rights to make afront page post like that, but possibly we could expand that duty to a few other people to post news about projects or things in the DC world. This person, whoever it is, should take pms or emails from people who think that a certain story or bit of information is news worthy. I would be willing to do this and think a few other members would also. This would at least create the sense that the team is not dead (which I dont think it is) but could possibly bring new blood to the team and make it a more lively place to visit.

    I think all the people here are great and appreciate all the work that was done for the team before and while I have been here. Thanks!

  12. #12
    Administrator Dyyryath's Avatar
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    It's good to see so many of the old guys are still around!

    It's also extremely gratifying to see how Free-DC has grown and taken on a life of its own, complete with new faces and new projects.

    It sounds like I share some common feelings with many of you and a couple of your posts have been very helpful. The "Today's Posts" hint is very nice. In that spirit, let me offer another tip: the RSS feed is also very handy for keeping up with new posts. It's been on my Google home page for some time now. I've kept it there as a kind of reminder that I need to get back to DC eventually.

    After reading your posts, here's what I think would be cool:

    1) We should drop the existing page at http://www.free-dc.org. It doesn't get any real use and just looks stagnant. The forums have always been the lifeblood of Free-DC. Maybe the right answer is to build the first page at http://www.free-dc.org right into the forums system.

    2) I think we should pair down all of the non-project forums into one 'General' area. I don't think the others get enough posts by themselves to justify the confusion of so many sub-forums.

    3) As for the project forums...I'm not sure on this one now. After looking at the "Today's Posts" page, I'm beginning to wonder if we couldn't integrate that into a kind of custom home page built on the forums itself.

    I find the idea of a 'custom' front page using vBulletin kind of intriguing. vBulletin is extremely customizable. What does everyone think about a page that has an index to the sub-forums (like the existing main forum page), the data from the "Today's Posts" page, maybe some integration with the Free-DC stats (which Bok and I are tinkering with anyway) and maybe even some tie in to a re-vamped Free-DC Super Computer system?

    I guess what I'm saying is, we drop the home page, clean up the existing non-project categories and create kind of a mashup of all of the various things that Free-DC offers. It would be kind of a 'control panel' for Free-DC where you could see new posts, the current stats and access the forums all in one place. It would let us keep the forums as is for people who like them, but maybe offer something a lot more newbie friendly as an initial public face for Free-DC.
    "So utterly at variance is destiny with all the little plans of men." - H.G. Wells

  13. #13
    DinkaTronic Shish's Avatar
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    What I found when I first arrived was a disconcerting missing link sort of thing between what I thought was Free-DC but turned out just to be a very stagnant front page. Anybody looking for us would maybe think we were half dead by finding that. I did know there were forums and I also knew about the stats but the 3 things never seem to have been linked up in any meaningful way. It's certainly been very quiet around here despite the many members and maybe getting a little dusty despite Bok's dedication to running things smoothly. I also, now, mainly just use the new posts link even though I still check the forums most days and sometimes more but as with many people, real life has interfered with my DC addiction and it's getting expensive to run a big farm now so interests are necessarily more limited. I even have one of my video servers down which has been sitting there idle for several months. Never would have been idle more than overnight last year! Could certainly do with some slimming down and cleaning up with maybe auto archiving of unused forums after some specific time. And there's just too many DC projects nowadays which spreads everybody thinly if a site doesn`t focus, which some have. Not that that is a good thing tho'.
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  14. #14
    Dungeon Master alpha's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dyyryath
    I guess what I'm saying is, we drop the home page, clean up the existing non-project categories and create kind of a mashup of all of the various things that Free-DC offers. It would be kind of a 'control panel' for Free-DC where you could see new posts, the current stats and access the forums all in one place. It would let us keep the forums as is for people who like them, but maybe offer something a lot more newbie friendly as an initial public face for Free-DC.
    I like the sound of this. The front page definitely needs to be trashed if it isn't going to be updated regularly. Alternatively, if there are some people willing to keep it updated, perhaps it just needs sprucing up. Having said that, I kinda agree that here is where all the action is, so perhaps www.free-dc.org should just come straight here.

    One thing I wanted to disagree with is integrating the Super Computer. I understand that probably quite a bit of work went into it, but ultimately it is useless. Look through at some of the dates and see out of date it is. Also, with people jumping ship so much these days, do you really think people are going to be bothered to make daily changes to their Super Computer entries (or remember which computer is crunching which project)? Basically, I think it is too much work for everyone to keep it completely up to date, and if it isn't up to date it may as well be trashed.

  15. #15
    =>Team Joker<= LAURENU2's Avatar
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    Just a heads up on the NEW POSTS link
    I have seen it does not always list all the new post you have not read
    It only list the posts posted from your last login

  16. #16
    Minister of Propaganda Fozzie's Avatar
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    Great to see this

    happening, as the forums have been a little quiet these days. It would be good to clean up the frontend and if possible instigate a Most recently Used approach to how things pop up for each member. can this be done using the cookies?

    Also so as not to discourage new members we should help them towards the fora as this is the hub of the community here.

    Also it would be good that each project had someone who welcomed new crunchers, I've seen it on Rosetta that there have been new crunchers that haven't even been mentioned in the forum. We are still very small compared to many teams and the more we welcome new crunchers the more we are likely to be able to hold our own in the plethora of projects that are now around.

    Maybe also a sticky in the lounge for each member to tout their project of choice.
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  17. #17
    Dungeon Master alpha's Avatar
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    I think if we are going to welcome each and every new user to each and every project, then we need less threads for it. Definitely not one thread per user because it junks up the forum.

    Also, I'm not sure if it is even necessary to welcome people all of the time, it seems a little cheesy to me. Perhaps it is just me being grumpy. Seriously though, I would prefer to see greater acknowledgement of milestone achievements. So if a new user joined, congratulate them on 100 work units with a welcome at the same time, or something. Otherwise, they could join, be welcomed, then leave after a couple of work units. Just because someone turns in a couple of work units doesn't mean they are going to stick around on that project and so probably don't need a whole thread to welcome them.

  18. #18
    almost retired the-mk's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LAURENU2
    Just a heads up on the NEW POSTS link
    I have seen it does not always list all the new post you have not read
    It only list the posts posted from your last login
    If this function would list all unread posts since ever, it would be getting a very long long long long list and I really don't (want) to read all posts. And yes, I know the function "mark all threads as read"...

    It is OK for me only to see the new posts since my last login.

    The only reason I enter the forum through the "front page" is, maybe there will be news someday which I don't want to miss

    the-mk

  19. #19
    Administrator Bok's Avatar
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    Lots of good suggestions here. Good to see a lot of people expressing opinions.

    My fault for not updating the homepage, I just rarely if ever go to it. So I agree, the forums main page shoould be the default home page. We'll get some more opinions but then this can easily be done early in the week, with a redirect at the current /forums page most likely.

    The individual forums should definitely be paired down. As an example, I quite like how BoincSynergy have done their Boinc projects, broken down into Permanent, Beta, Alpha, Rumoured. We could quite easily do that.

    Someone mentioned milestones. As they are tracked in the stats, I did always intend to do some kind of automated posting when certain monumental milestones were passed..

    Dyyryath is currently teaching me how to use Zope for the stats rewrite, we've made some progress and in fact he did a mockup template of what the pages could look like, just yesterday which was like WOW. I think everyone will like it....

    It's a bit of a steep learning curve for me, zope + python etc, but I'm getting there. Once we get some fundamental issues sorted out and one page doen, with all the different pieces working together, it should be a snap to get the rest done..

    Bok

  20. #20
    Nibbler of Short Ribs
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    I am one of the lesser members of this community as everybody (well almost) knows I am an exile from another group.

    I find the freedom to select projects without any hassles from the top brass of the community so liberating and refreshing I have to TY all of you for that.
    As to the idea of "official projects" : eckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk and argh. If I am an exile it is because the obsession of many in that group to back A project to the denigration of the other projects and the ostracizing of those who did not crunch the "offical Project".

    That said: I like this community a lot but my dear friends..one of the biggest problems you seem to be having is that you are so formal, so cool and collected inside this Forum that, sometimes you border in boring-close to death type of formality. You sound as if all of you are zombies.

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  21. #21
    Free-DC Overclockaholic n7vxj's Avatar
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    I Object!!

    Bok, I have to speak my peace here!! There have been many forums that I have been a part of.But, out of all of those, I can't think of any that have had anyone as dedicated as you are, to making these Forums the best that they can possibly be!! That includes forums, stats, etc..... you all know what I'm referring to!! Phil. IMHO, you make Free-DC, the Main reason I come back here day after day,and keep crunchin with the best bunch of Guys, and Gals around!!!Every since I have been around here,we have kicked some serious DC butt, and that makes me proud to be a small part of such an awesome Team!!Phil, THANK-YOU for all the energy , and time, that you put into making Free-Dc the best Forum around!!As far as the rest,you Guys,have made this an awesomw Forum that i look forward to coming to each day,so do what you feel needs to be done, to keep it the best around!

    Lauren, I remember all to well, when Things got really nasty on that other board!! I'm glad I found you, and You invited me to check out Free-DC.Alright,I admit I can never match you fire power crunchin,but it feels awesome to be a part of a such a great Team!!I'm glad I ended out up here, with the Best DC Crew around!!
    Last edited by n7vxj; 02-19-2007 at 01:29 AM.
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  22. #22
    =>Team Joker<= LAURENU2's Avatar
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    tiosuper
    I truly doubt that would even happen if Free -DC did target a project We already do that as we do in a Free-DC Gauntlet Only those that want to push PUSH Those that don't do there own , it all helps Free=DC in the end

    Ya I to would like to see more life in the Forums Now where did we put those hula girls
    As I have said in the past a busy forum is a happy forum

    We need to hold a election
    I nominate Fozzie as our Minster of Propaganda
    And
    I nominate IB as our Minster of Information
    These 2 have demonstrated in the past there ability to hold the office

  23. #23
    Minister of Propaganda Fozzie's Avatar
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    Some suggestions

    1. Merge Lobby and Lounge

    2. Merge Free DC Gauntleteers into a sticky in The Lounge.

    3. Merge Hardware, OS, Audio Visual and Networking into one forum

    4. Sort the projects as per the DCR sorting. medical, mathematical etc, alternatively rank them by posts/replies.

    Anyways just a thought.
    Alas poor Borg, I knew it Horatio



    http://www.butlersurvey.com/

  24. #24
    Administrator Dyyryath's Avatar
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    Fozzie, sounds like we're more or less on the same page. I suppose the next step, then, would be to put up a poll or something to see how everyone feels.

    I'm also working with Bok on some new stats stuff. In the midst of that, I'll probably spend some time working on a new frontpage for the site that integrates some of the things we've talked about in this thread.

    I'll keep you guys posted...
    "So utterly at variance is destiny with all the little plans of men." - H.G. Wells

  25. #25
    Target Butt IronBits's Avatar
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    I prefer to keep the hardware, OS and networking sections separate.
    I don't think there are too many sections...
    I like the idea of a 'new' frontpage which will make the forums appear to be newly organized, leaving the current in tact...

  26. #26
    Senior Member birdman2584's Avatar
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    I am happy with the forums as they are for the most part, maybe just a minor restructuring, and definately a new front page

  27. #27
    almost retired the-mk's Avatar
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    Some kind of "portal" in front of the forums would be cool (like on our Austrian internet provider forums http://xdsl.at/). I'm sure that vBulletin would provide something like that, maybe as add-on?

    Merging those OS/net/hardware/audio-video forum is not soooo good I think, but everybody has another opinion

    Since we are Free-DC, we should be able to do what we want... but do not touch the "new posts" button

    the-mk

  28. #28
    Administrator Bok's Avatar
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    I do think you'll all like the new stats pages anyway....

    we are motoring on with it, already added some new features, lots more to come

    Bok

  29. #29
    Free-DC's Prime Search
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    Here's my humble opinion.

    I usually read everything here at the forum so I don't care if someone decides to merge the X forum with the Y one. I like the forum as it is right now.

    I'm only here because of the Free-DC atmosphere, I enjoy it very much. Lot's of friends...

    I only regret one thing....so few womens in here!

    Carlos

  30. #30
    =>Team Joker<= LAURENU2's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by em99010pepe
    Here's my humble opinion.

    I usually read everything here at the forum so I don't care if someone decides to merge the X forum with the Y one. I like the forum as it is right now.

    I'm only here because of the Free-DC atmosphere, I enjoy it very much. Lot's of friends...

    I only regret one thing....so few womens in here!

    Carlos
    I am with em99010pepe I to like the forums as they stand . And I think even from a newbies point of view the forums are easy to find what your are looking for if it is here.
    Ya that's what this place needs are more females
    Well it's true Look at AOL they put a few flirt'y Gals in chat and look at how much they have grown

  31. #31
    Downsized Chinasaur's Avatar
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    I agree 100% with IronBits. Please don't combine forums..it's only going to be messy and there will be a request later to "unjug" them back to where they are now.

    As much as I like the front page, even I think it needs a spring cleaning


    Agent Smith was right!: "I hate this place. This zoo. This prison. This reality, whatever you want to call it, I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell! If there is such a thing. I feel saturated by it. I can taste your stink and every time I do, I fear that I've somehow been infected by it."

  32. #32
    Administrator Dyyryath's Avatar
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    Well, since everyone seems to like the nine bazillion forums we have, I'll happily let this discussion end here.

    Personally, I still think the current layout makes the place seem kind of stale and disorganized, but hey, I don't get by the forums that often anyway, so it's kind of a non-issue for me.
    "So utterly at variance is destiny with all the little plans of men." - H.G. Wells

  33. #33
    Administrator Bok's Avatar
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    Personally, I'm still heavily in favor of trimming down the forums..

    IMO Fozzie was precisely on the right track. .Isn't the bear always right

    Anyways, at least, initially, in the project forums. It's really not that difficult to have the project name in the title of a post..

    Note, that I am going to be doing some maintenance today, retiring a couple of projects, removing the Xmas party forum etc

    Time for a poll I think..

    Bok

  34. #34
    Target Butt IronBits's Avatar
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    If you must trim, getting rid of the retired projects is a good start
    Next, trim the following 2 areas
    News & Discussion
    Free-DC Gauntleteers!

    If a project is BOINC related, get it under BOINC Projects

    I say leave the rest alone...

    I do NOT want to go with the 'Ars method of posting' where you have to put the Project Name in the subject.
    No way.

  35. #35
    Free-DC Overclockaholic n7vxj's Avatar
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    Just a quick personal opinion.Keep Audio/Video together,possibly put OS, and Networking together, and then keep Hardware separate.My reasoning, Audio, and Video, usually go together.Usually, OS and networking, tie in together, at some point.But hardware is always a nightmare that causes problems in the other areas.I'm not good at explaining my Logic, but hopefully you Guys understand where I'm coming from!
    THE MORE I WORK ON MY COMPUTERS,THE MORE HAIR I LOSE!!



  36. #36
    =>Team Joker<= LAURENU2's Avatar
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    It is like that old saying
    You can't please all the people all the time
    But you can please some of the people some of the time

    That is the conundrum you face when you plan to make changes.
    I my self have faith that what ever you decide to do will work well or better.
    And If Not we will know where to find you

    So go ahead and impress us I know I trust you 2
    And even if we or I don't like the change we will learn to like it
    After all it is our team that is the important thing here

  37. #37
    Quote Originally Posted by IronBits
    If you must trim, getting rid of the retired projects is a good start
    Next, trim the following 2 areas
    News & Discussion
    Free-DC Gauntleteers!
    I agree. I would also say that Lounge and Lobby could be combined. And maybe OS+Networking could be combined as well.

    But I really like the idea of creating "Math, Biomedical, etc..." topics. That could also help people looking for specific projects to find a project more easily in the category they want.

  38. #38
    almost retired the-mk's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by IronBits
    ...
    I do NOT want to go with the 'Ars method of posting' where you have to put the Project Name in the subject.
    No way.
    I'm with IronBits! So how can I change my vote at the other thread?
    the-mk

  39. #39
    Free-DC's Prime Search
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    I am with eOn project....oops...wrong thread

    I'm re-reading the thread and now, to me, this all seems to be :bs:.
    We should be discussion the lack of females and not this.

    Carlos

  40. #40
    almost retired the-mk's Avatar
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    Where is Moogie when we need her?

    BTW: does vBulletin provide ability to enter gender information in "User CP"?
    the-mk

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