Forum Suggestions/Forum Tricks

[Doc B.]

My take on this is that along with a some very unique posts the old forum also has ten bazillion posts asking the same questions again and again over the years. That indicates to me that the search function isn't being used as thoroughly as it might either because it doesn't work too well or because folks don't bother. My breaking the forum down into the subcategories I chose is intended to reduce the redundancy in posting by making a given subject like (Gott im Himmel)  "what's your favorite Foreplay output capacitor?" (AUUGGH, OK I'm alright now) more easily sorted through.

As for sifting through the new posts that come in, there is a link near the top of the page  - "Show unread posts since last visit". I'm finding that very useful, and I hope others are too. One can also be notified by email of new posts to particular topics of interest by clicking "notify" at the top of the thread.

[Brian]

Hi Doc, good points.  Responses:
1) We should use the star feature of forums to indicate users to commonly asked questions.  Headwize (headwize.com/ubb/forums.php) is currently pretty idle, but it used to be a good example of this.
2) I've also found "Show unread posts" useful, but that flattens the folder structure and kind of defeats the purpose of any hierarchy!
Best, Brian

[Grainger49]

I just thought of this because Java did an install.  How about a child board under General for PC related subjects?  

Most likely there are other subjects that could be put into child boards.  Do any of you have suggestions for other child boards?

[Grainger49]

Doc,

I have discovered a lot of features that I have not known before.  This software is far more sophisticated than the AA.  But I guess as an official old fart it has taken me a while to find most of it.

How about a "How to use this forum" thread, sticky?

[ducati guy]

I tried to wait for a while before sending this so as not to jump to conclusions, but I think the old forum was much more "experimenter friendly". I have gotten back into electronics recently after a hiatus of many years. I used to read the forum as a part of my daily routine: personal email, business email, Bottlehead forum, etc. Even though I did not think I was not interested at the moment by the content of many posts, their content got me thinking about aspects of audio construction or theory that I never would have considered looking up specifically. My wife calls it tangential thinking; I call it relaxation. It is very hard to do the same thing on the current forum; too many divisions that cannot be viewed (easily) as a whole on a daily basis. I would suggest that you have a section for all daily posts irrespective of content. They could be deleted after a given period of time, one day, two days or whatever.

[Len]

I would suggest that you have a section for all daily posts irrespective of content. They could be deleted after a given period of time, one day, two days or whatever.

I click on "Show unread post since last visit", which is kinda like what you are saying. But I agree with you, that would be a good thing, to have them to look at for a couple of days instead of them disappearing once you look at it.

There are pros and cons to the new format. I think this forum makes it easier to dig deeper into a subject, since the discussion doesn't scroll off the page and out of everybody's awareness before it's resolved. You just keep the thread going until everyone's happy.

[xcortes]

I used to read the forum as a part of my daily routine: personal email, business email, Bottlehead forum, etc. Even though I did not think I was not interested at the moment by the content of many posts, their content got me thinking about aspects of audio construction or theory that I never would have considered looking up specifically.

I couldn't have said it better but the same happens to me and it's definitely not the same with the new forum.

[Grainger49]

Several of these posts seem to indicate a how to use this new, to old Bottleheads, software might be in order.

[Doc B.]

Several of these posts seem to indicate a how to use this new, to old Bottleheads, software might be in order.

The forum uses Simple Machines software, probably the most common free bulletin board software. I am surprised that folks are having issues with it because from what I see it's pretty much vBulletin or SMF that is used for most forums on the web these days. There is a user guide for members here:

http://docs.simplemachines.org/index.php?P=5e441ea8e7a6e4c7c62ffd45814d7995&board=5.0;sort=subject

We have been using this same software for the Tape Project forum for three years without the kinds of complaints I am seeing here. It's curious that some of the folks registering issues here also participate on the other forum without problems. I would suggest that perhaps someone who is unfamiliar to this format and learning some new tricks might turn this thread from the complaint desk into a list of interesting features that they have discovered. I'll start it:

At the top of the page is a bottlehead logo. Clicking the logo will, as found on most websites, take you to the home page, where you can navigate to our shopping cart and other locations.

A link next to the logo says "show unread posts since your last visit".  That will do what I think a lot of members are asking for - show you what's been posted since your last visit.

You don't like the color scheme? Use the menu bar - click PROFILE, then under Modify Profile on the left side of the page click Look and Layout Preferences. Near the top of the box titled PROFILE you will see

Current Theme: Forum or Board Default (change)

click (change) and pick a theme you like better.

[JIPPER]

Following DocB's lead....another cool feature.....statistics!!!

*the new forum already has:
Total page views:     122975
   
*the quickie is the most popular thing at Bottlehead!  almost as busy as the general discussion board.
Top 10 boards
General Discussion  283
Quickie             218
S.E.X. Kit                97
Speakers             78
Technical topics       77
Paramount       53
Gallery             47
Legacy Products        36
Foreplay III        31
Seduction                31

*and Grainger should be getting paid for the hours he puts in reading and writing for us!
Top 10 Posters
Grainger49              154
Doc B.                    86
Paul Joppa               84
Len                          65
Wardsweb                43
Caucasian Blackplate 43
Dr. Toobz                    34
jrebman                     33
booangler                   32
dmannnnn                 21

You can find this at the bottom of the forum home, you can click on [more stats] takes you to this link:  http://www.bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?action=stats

(text from the bottom of the home page)
Forum Stats
Forum Stats    1022 Posts in 175 Topics by 298 Members. Latest Member: greexulfuse
Latest Post: "Re: Space Chair slightly..." ( Today at 18:51:06 )
View the most recent posts on the forum.
[More Stats]

JP

[xcortes]

some of the folks registering issues here also participate on the other forum without problems. I would suggest that perhaps someone who is unfamiliar to this format and learning some new tricks might turn this thread from the complaint desk into a list of interesting features that they have discovered

I guess that one was addressed to me.

My point that "it is not the same at the new forum" was not meant to be neither a complaint nor a suggestion. Just my experience. Please apologize if you thought it was either inappropriate or otherwise negative.

I guess that to some of us the BH forum has become a part of our daily routine (I was about to write "a part of our lives") and thus we have to adjust to its changes and we feel we can comment about it. Maybe we're wrong.

The new format has definitive advantages, particularly when one is looking for specific info related to a specific product or subject. But ducatiguy's view that it was nice to go in every morning and be able to skim through all the previous day's posts was nice in the old forum. I also do that at the TP forum, unfortunately there's much less activity there so usually going to the "Recent Posts" frame will do.

[JIPPER]

Creepy but lots of fun at the same time!

try this link:
http://www.bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?action=who

it is the link from the icon beside the list of users who are online, found on the left side of the bottom of the home page. 

can you imagine, some "guest" just viewed my profile! 

not much there, but the just the thought...

enjoy, JP

[JIPPER]

You don't like the color scheme? Use the menu bar - click PROFILE, then under Modify Profile on the left side of the page click Look and Layout Preferences. Near the top of the box titled PROFILE you will see

Current Theme: Forum or Board Default (change)

click (change) and pick a theme you like better.

Actually, Doc, I don't find the "current theme" tab any where on my profile pages. Is it possible that this shows up in your profile because you are an administrator?  This is not a big deal, just thought I would ask after trying unsuccessfully. 

I don't mind the colour scheme.  And everything else seems to be working well on the new board.  I have signed up for notification in some cases and I find I am spending more time on the new board than on the old one. 

One can get the impression that the new board is not as active as the old one because we do not "see" every post, but I would bet this is a false assumption.  Based on the 100,000+ page views to date, I think there are more people reading and posting than ever before.  Any comparisons being made of activity levels between the new and old boards at botthead headquarters?

JP

[Doc B.]

We had the ability for a member to choose a different theme turned off. I have switched it on. We won't be supporting the other themes in terms of modifications to their look, those are just canned themes from SMF.

As for comparative stats between old and new, that's another reason I decided to move away from AA. I had not been able to see stats on the AA forum for several years. Every time an upgrade was made at AA features like that would tend to fall off. It certainly seems to me that we have as much, if not more, traffic here.

[JC]

I think if you were able to analyze statistics from your old forum over the years, you might very well find that there has generally been an uptick in traffic following each release of a new product into the stream.  For instance, the newest product at the moment is the Quickie, and I think that the stats would bear out that that is where the traffic is highest.  So, if you want to spur traffic on your forum, just keep releasing new products!

I do have a curiosity question:  There seems to be a discrepancy between the number of registered members reported at the bottom of the home page as opposed to the number reported on the "Members" page.  Does this indicate that there are members who are not listed on the "Members" page?