Forum Status and Future Direction

[erlrich]

I would prefer to keep this site separate from others. It has its own identity, and even though it doesn't see the traffic some other sites do, the discussions here tend to be more relevant, and in most cases, more helpful than those on other boards. More civil too...most of the time.

I think Andy's question is a great one; if we could set it up so new registrations would require an admin's approval, that would be ideal. If not, I would be willing to chip in for the upgrade. How much $$$ would we need to raise?

[gran racing]

Not on the Sandbox. That purpose is to be more of a closed environment and not on search engines whereas I'd hope this to be open to the public.

VB isn't that expensive. A new license is $249, an upgrade is $209.

VB does offer different ways to reduce spam such as the registration process. I started to incorporate a VB forum on my site, but never moved forward it for whatever reason. Can't even recall why any more.

[Chip42]

stay here, do upgrade. get some paypal address and I'll send money. if 20 of us do that, we're golden. I think we can all list 20 people active here who could and should help.

[dhardison]

stay here, do upgrade. get some paypal address and I'll send money. if 20 of us do that, we're golden. I think we can all list 20 people active here who could and should help.

X2

[lawtonglenn]

X2

X3

[Ed Funk]

PayPal where?

[Greg Amy]

PayPal where?

Not yet. Let's discuss this out first. I'd like to discuss this thoroughly before any money starts changing hands. - GA

[dickita15]

X3

X 4, keep it separate, put together a budget and i am in.

[Matt93SE]

What Chip said.
Sooooo many forums have anti-spammer stuff built into the registration process that I think it's silly to NOT do that as a first step.


Did a little bit of searching for a potential EasyButton online and came up with this:
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=248470

Has this been considered?

[Greg Amy]

Has this been considered?

Nothing has been considered. None of us have full administrative access to this system.

- GA

[gran racing]

Maybe that's the direction Bill needs to take. He's had several of us as moderators on here for many years now. It's not like we're talking about this massive forum where he's earning a significant amount of income.

[Greg Amy]

Note part of the current idea from my post #1 is for us to fund the upgrades and I get full administrative control. Have no clue what I'm doing, but I'll have access to eff it all up.

[ajmr2]

I would prefer to keep this site separate from others. It has its own identity, and even though it doesn't see the traffic some other sites do, the discussions here tend to be more relevant, and in most cases, more helpful than those on other boards. More civil too...most of the time.

I think Andy's question is a great one; if we could set it up so new registrations would require an admin's approval, that would be ideal. If not, I would be willing to chip in for the upgrade. How much $$$ would we need to raise?

Ditto, amigo. I'd be happy to chip in to keep this forum alive. MR2OC has free access as well as voluntary paid annual and lifetime memberships, which might be something to consider. Don't know how that gets set up but I can put someone with authority in contact with the former forum owner for his input.
ANYTHING BUT FACEPLANT, please!

[Matt Rowe]

Count me in for keeping this board active and separate from the "other" site. Plus I can't wait to criticize Greg for any change, or lack of change, that he makes as the new HMFIC.

[chuck baader]

As long as it is :Improvedtouring.com" who cares where it is hosted?

[Ron Earp]

I've installed number VB versions and have fully administered GT40s.com since 2001. I'll be happy to help in any way you need and willing to donate money to get new VB software and help configure it if needed.

That said, I would highly recommend using a VB installer. It is possible for you to install it, but developers who make a living with VB know the patches, problems, doors, etc. that need to be shut. Plus, they're cheap. Usually for under $150 they'll do a upgrade and patch work on such a basic forum as this one. I have a good developer I use for heavy lifting on GT40s.com I could refer you to, and many can be found on the forum for VB folks.

Ron

[gran racing]

Chuck, it's not about hosting. It's about whether or not it's open to search engines. A sub forum in the SB would not be open to search engines.

[Greg Amy]

I'm beginning to see a glimmer of the participants' desired direction for this forum...

Ron, I'll keep that in mind, but I get the impression Mr Webmaster is familiar with the system. I'll certainly suggest that to him, though.

A few more details to work out then we'll get the ball rolling.

- GA

[pfcs]

I am on two forums who did recently and both are in terrible declines while they try to walk it back (hopefully to vB4 or less) with NO cooperation from vBulletin.
One is a members only forum (NJAGC-an aquarium forum. The other is a moderately large 17 year old spinal injury forum at Rutgers http://sci.rutgers.edu/vb5/forumwith millions of posts.

Traffic is down 80% after "up-grade"
http://sci.rutgers.edu/vb5/forum/sci...iting-carecure

[Matt93SE]

Ron, I'll keep that in mind, but I get the impression Mr Webmaster is familiar with the system. I'll certainly suggest that to him, though.

I'm with Ron on that extent.. I know guys that play with this stuff every day. it makes sense to enlist a pro that knows all of the little details and can upgrade the software and close some loopholes in a few minutes or hours where it may take the current folks a day or two and multiple tries to get it right.

As much as I like doing things myself, sometimes I find it more prudent to call in an expert. It it means I drop in $40 to the pot vs $20, then I'm OK with that..