Phil

Couple of other things

I agree once posting on a thread you should be returned to the end not the begining


Picture Hosting

Whilst I am a Plus Member I WOULD pay DOUBLE to have a decent easy uploader. I'm sure many people would


Contentious one but I must agree that perhaps finish the CD thingy before starting any new projects. This is always wheeled out every time you are getting a slagging. all IMHO of course

Bubba po

Replying to the post of V5man, with no hint of animosity, the irritating Canadians aren't interfering with the general running of scooby-related topics, which are - quite rightly - discussed on the general and technical forums. They're our problem so don't concern yourself unduly. In some ways,The Muppet forum celebrates the diversity of Human Beings that have chosen Subaru cars as their meeting point in life- Why knock it? I've had some terrific laughs there, and the only detrimental side is the number of hours of meaningful work lost to it.

ex-webby

(This is Shaun)

Thank you again for more ideas and constructive comment.

I echo Simon's comments on what has already been said. Your input/ideas really are excellent and are giving some sound ideas on the way forward.

Thank you for the time you are all putting in, in this constructive way!

Regards,
Shaun.

sulli

User rating is a good idea. I have recently suffereed from 2 blantant timewasters who were fairly regular users here - they were also very rude. I would like the opportunity to rate them. By the same token, those who are helpful and knowledgeable to some users should have the benefit of a positive rating, so people know they can trust them.
Breakdown of the For Sale forum is also a good idea - it's too busy.
And I don't like the google ads - don't seem to serve any purpose in the thread either - put them elsewhere if possible.
As for subscriptions, I for one wouldn't pay. I think you'd lose a lot of good users, whilst not solving the problem - lots of trouble-makers would pay 'cause they can. This is the internet, it's supposd to be a free exchange of information IMO.

[Edited by sulli - 1/24/2004 3:34:00 AM]

ex-webby

Hi Guys

Thank so much to all for one of the most positive threads I've seen for so long.

Shaun, the moderator team and I will now go away and work like mad coming up with a formulated approach, and put it to you shortly for vote very soon.

I have to say, shaun and I (and I think we'll speak for the moderator team also) feel as though we have a new lease of life, and that scoobynet is still filled (in the main) by the truly positive, helpful and supportive members it has always been. We will be intolerant of the people that spoil it for us and for you, and promise this is a turning point.

In the mean time, I would urge everyone to commit that they will not engage the idiots and give them fuel for the chips they carry on their narrow shoulders. We urge you to take a deep breath and remember who you really are and what you stand for, and make each post an example of what you want scoobynet to be.

All the very very best

Simon, Shaun and the moderator team

ScoobyDoo555

How about a picture hosting FAQ? Everybody on ScoobyNet has an email address, supplied by an ISP. Please correct me if I'm misinformed, but dont all ISPs provide freespace for their customers to build websites?

I'm with Virgin and I use my space to upload any pictures I want to host.....

How about then, an FAQ or Link section to all the ISPs' uploading FAQ sections (presumably there's money is linking to other sites too). It's MUCH more reliable than most otehr 3rd party sites, and there's usually no viewing limit....

Just another idea for the melting pot.....

Dan
(If my bosses saw the amount of thought I've been putting into this thread, they'd be evniously questioning my future employment!!)

ex-webby

Hi

I think we'll investigate the setting up an image hoster with a small charge for using it. Plus members will get it FOC as usual.

This charge would then pay for the bandwidth used, etc.

All the best

Simon

Crapaud62

Interesting thread.

I thought I'd give this subject some serious thought before posting (an unusual position perhaps?).

I applaud Simon for this "refurbishment" of the BBS. I am reminded of the Honda adverts where everything is stamped "OK" until they challenge it with "What if?". I have never believed in the "If it isn't broke, don't fix it" mentality. If you apply that theory then things get beyond repair and its too late.

Sorry, enough waffling. Some serious thoughts.

The concept of Community Spirit is a very difficult one to define, do you not agree Simon?

The Community Spirit must be a constantly changing thing. In the "good old days" the community was mainly hard core Subaru enthusiasts but due to the sites popularity, it has a much greater spread of users. The problem is always going to be keeping the "old guard" happy without alienating potential new members.

For example, if hundreds of "Max Power" types join the board, do they not then form a valid part of the community? I hope you can understand the point I am trying to make. Is the "Community Spirit" simply the majority view at any point in time?

I tensd to think that Current World events needs a guidelines thread must like several other forums have. It is too easy for that forum to become a simple slagging match. However, there have been some excellent intelligent discussions in there as well so the forum needs to be kept.

With regards to ScoobyNet Plus membership, I had always thought of this as relating only to current Scooby owners and therefore I never pursued this. However, as a regular user of this BBS I would definately consider Plus membership if it helps the continuation of this fantastic facility.

As I've posted before, there are not many things in life that are genuinely free and useful but Scoobynet is one of them.

I'm pleased you've spoken in defence of the Muppet forum as I personally think it good to have one forum for non-serious posts.

Hopefully this post is helpful and on topic enough to not be deleted.

care3

i wont even mention the sports forum

*Sonic*

Quick question, if the muppets forum uses virtually no bandwidth, what actually does use up all the bandwidth, ie which forum does

Ive seen previously re new forums, that the traffic has to justify it, what is that traffic meant to be, as some of the forums get no posts for at least many days

If revenue is desperatly needed to continue funding SN, then why not charge for items for sale, this surely would create a very large amount of revenue, especially if the amount of items for sale is anything to go by

Looking forward to the changes, in my opinion (that I hope im still entitled to on here ) benefits for me personally would be

Better for sale section
Better search facilities (by forum & more than 50 results)
Ratings system would be good
Better moderation (by this I mean being consistent, as that is one thing that is severly lacking atm - just to add I know the reasons why, so dont need an explanation)
FAQ's on a number of forums (mainly the tech ones, to stop the constant asking of the same questions
Picture Uploader (although not that important to me, as I use my own)

There are probably other things that can be done, that have already been mentioned that will make SN better

I have no care for avatars or sigs etc, or some of the other things that people want, or google ads (as I will never click on any of them, and that isnt to stop you getting revenue, I just hate the whole ad business, but I do understand the reasons for adverts)

If SN is left as it is, and went to subscribtion only (I know it isnt ) I would not subscribe (probably why I havent already), because of its current shortcomings

However if the above changes are made, then I will more than likely subscribe to the plus membership without any hesitation

Just thought I would add my 2pence

Steve

Claudius

Good idea

care3

just a quick one
instead of having a thread moderated by a moderator we could moderate them ourseves.i.e. little buttons next to the edit button,maybe a tick and a X. enough X's and its gone!! enough ticks and its gospel.

tiggers

Please look seriously at UNIX based software, maybe then we won't get the dreaded 'internal server error' or the 'BBS is closed for routine maintenance' messages quite as often.

ianmiller999

I haven't got time to read all of the thread at the moment (I am planning to do so) so applogiesd if this comments has been made.

I am aware that many people would like to see the muppet area gone, however I do feel that it should stay but just have the tone of it changed. There is very little point in the post extravaganser etc.

Or else a second possiblilty to remove the post count feature, and replace it with a rate user feature therefore removing the mindless posts just to boost post count. IMHO the biggest degrading feature to the community is the effort to make as many posts as possible and thread such as 1000 posts reached etc.

I would be interested in other people opinions on post count.

SimonH

Agree partly but how about just making the post count increase through posts in "Subaru" type forums? Someone with 2000 posts on technical matters might be worth listening to (note, "might be"!).
Some 2000 posts in the Muppet Forum is obviously only a newbie

dba

I am sorry but I don't understand that point Ian,if members don't like muppets they are free to stay out.

ianmiller999

OK point taken but I really do not see then need for a post count.

Trying to bring this back on topic. I like fast blokes idea about having a user rating started at 100 points maybe this could be set so that everytime one of your posts is deleted a point is removed.

Keep up the good work

Huxley

Simon and Shaun what about a Joint Scoobynet Plus membership?

For MR and Mrs Scenario like us Huxley and Huxley chick and all the other couples that are on here.

As for what you sugest Simon I say go for it

ianmiller999

Just a quick thought as we are ScoobyNET and the net is genuinely thought to be world wide how about becoming www.scoobynet.com therefore encouraging more overseas members so we everybody can see what is happening on the subaru scene world wide, thus would make for a wider range of opinions in current world events and non scooby related and threads such as the photography competition.

TREV

The one thing that puzzles me is why people want the moderators,
moderated.
For the time they spend trawling through ridiculous threads and posts alone they should be allowed to do the job unhindered.
They are not likely to lock or delete a thread for the fun of it.
An idea may be, to have a community Ombudsman, so if someones thread or post is deleted or locked he can appeal against this if he feels justified to the Ombudsman.
The Obudsman can then base his decision on who is right with an unbiased view and his decision would be final.
At least that way the poster has somewhere else to go if he feels he has been dealt with unfairly by a moderator.

Evolution Stu

iTrader: (2)

Excellent debate indeed, congratulations to all!!

Ive just read this whole thread, and due to not being as regular a visitor as many of you are, i dont understand some of the issues raised about forums etc, but i will leave those as being due to my own ignorance.. opps:

But id like if i may, to comment on some of the things that i do understand, so appologies in advance if ive missed something on another post or simply missunderstood something on this one...

I run a forum, similar in concept to this one but it is quite large and always sees a regular hit rate of 25million per month, but with a smaller regular online membership than this one... So not as big as this place, but certainly no small task to finance and run effectively.

Some few months into its life we hit the obvious problem of cashflow. We had managed to gain around 3000members in only 5months and the bandwidth used was staggering to say the least, as was the projected cost for it to survive even another month!!

Why am i telling you this?
Ok,Simply because ive had to think long and hard about revenue generation, in much the same way as Shaun and Simon have done succesfully in the past, and indeed are doing again now. The difference being, i went with the membership option first.

The solution for us was as follows:
A contributors benefits scheme was put in place at a cost of £20PA

-----------------------------------------------------------

Benefits are:
1) "Gold Member" logo under your username to show you have contributed to "DELETEDS" future. (If you want one)

2) 100% access to all areas of the forums.

3) The ability to POST items for sale in the sales forums:

4) Some of the Group buys, and some of the raffles etc, will be contributors only.

5) Adult rooms are for contributors only.

6) Games room is for Contributors only.

7) Major changes to "DELETED" may be discussed in the contributors room so you can have YOUR input on things.

8) Future features may be for contributors only.

A list of current contributors that have given their £20 is always publically available here in usergroups: (link deleted)

-----------------------------------------------------------


Appologies for cutting and pasteing that list from my forum, but it saves my fingers..LOL

The for sale issue caused great discomfort and many arguments, but it was eventually accepted as a simple benefit of helping to keep the site alive. IMO, if you want to make money off the back of our bandwidth (features, members etc) then it shouldnt be too much to ask that you contribute towards this. The for sale benefit is only for starting a new for sale TOPIC. Anyone can read and anyone can reply.

We have a "mens room" and a "Ladies room" and these are quite popular rooms, full ofadult content, as the name suggests but they have nothing to do with the forum's "spirit", so non contributors lost nothing as they didnt expect to have it anyway.

We now have an insurance discount scheme, and this company offer larger discounts to Contributors, yet still manage to offer a good discount to std members.

All in all, its been a great help and for the near future, our forums are secure and indeed, are being upgraded this very evening as we speak to an even more stable and faster 20Mbps line!

Other issues i feel worthy of mention whilst im here:

Muppet room:
I have installed one of these and the amount of crap that was instantly removed from the forums was STAGGERING!! Its very popular and i think its a valuable little room for those that want to just be part of a like minded community, without upsetting others with their posting style.

Ignore user:
The problem with this feature, is that when a user is persistant in upsetting a topic, you always end up having to turn it back off, simply because the replies your reading make no damn sense at allwithout seeing the offending post they are replying too.


Uploader:
This was a serious bandwidth drain. But worse still, we found some very illegal stuff on the server and iot was being PM'd to users with no post count [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] Those who think about it will understand what im saying!! [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

I have since found and recommended http://www.photobucket.com if you havent seen it, give it a try, its fantastic and its FREE!
But please periodically make a post reminding folk to donate a few quid to Alex the owner of the site, as im sure the bandwidth used is collosal!

Well,
I think thats more than 2p's worth, sorry its so long and maybe boring, but i thought maybe offering a rundown of a structure that actually HAS worked for me, may be of some use.

Best Regards and best of luck,
stu

[Edited by Stu @ M-Developments - 1/24/2004 11:16:51 PM]

[Edited by Stu @ M-Developments - 1/24/2004 11:26:07 PM]

ex-webby

ianmiller999,
That is something we are certainly looking at achieving!

Stu,
Many thanks for taking the time to type (or even copy and paste ) that response. Certainly some good stuff and feedback!!

Regards,
Shaun.

bigJoe

Simon/Shaun

Why not do some market research?

You could have a questionnaire with a few targeted questions, this way you could find out the views of many more members and not have to trawl though pages of posts to get a few people’s views on a subject. I’m not saying using a thread is bad, just that you could supplement it.

With the right questions (you may need to enlist someone who has experience to help write the questions any friends/family?) you can really find out what people want.

Although I’m aware this will take time and effort, it’s well worth doing.

Scoobynet rocks, BTW

ianmiller999

Just a quick question will all the previous threads be lost when the software is changed to vBulletin and roughly when is it likely to be implemented.

mart360

mods

what happens if some of the "antisocial " element join as plus members???

i still am struggling to see the logic behind the core statements

no matter where you go you will always get the people who want something for nothing and moan and whinge when things happen..

as webmasters and moderators you have the power to implemwnt scoobynet policy..

surley the best way to deal with the "antisocal" element would be a private mail,, should this fail, then use the option you have, to bar them from the board..

I feel that the "cash" option is fair, but may be a little bit pushed upon us!!

you may find it harder to deal with "payed up" members so to speak, as effectivly they have purchased the ability to speak freely (no pun intended)

Mart

ex-webby

Hi Chaps

All threads are being imported in to the new software as we speak . Unforunately this is the reason for the slow down in performance from time to time. Apologies.

Paid up members will have the same community spirit requirement that any other member has. The difference, is that they will be losing the money they have spent if they abuse the system, and are therefore asked to leave.

All the best

Simon

RichS

Hi Simon,

Great thread, great ideas - both yours and members suggestions

I haven't got much to add, except:

If different forums are likely to have different levels of moderation, then perhaps a (short) bit of text at the top of the forum spelling out what's good and what's not for that forum.
(This would be in addition to the T&C's for the site.)

One thing I would hate to see is an unmoderated forum (although I'm sure you're not suggesting this.)

Anyway, that's all from me, apart from "thank you".

Rich