While I mostly agree, that partly depends on the setup of the linked service. I would hope if we offered this we would not just harvest excess info. How much control we have over that I don't know.
Cheers
Your wish list for ES in 2024
- Thread starter neptronix
- Start date
Cheers
The problem:
Users don't have normal accounts on our system. If the third party provider goes out of business or changes their terms, we have to devote significant resources to find a way to get those users back.
We and our users don't get anything out of the deal except for dependency on these platforms and a very small reduction in signup friction ( it still exists ).
Fair point Nep. I guess the barrier to entry being a little effort might also be a good thing...don't want too many crazies in here. 
DaLanMan
10 kW
No idea what ya'all are using for back end hardware (leased, rented, own your own whatev) in any case if it comes up useful...
I have a pallet of Supermicro server chassis that I am never going to use. These are open chassis (no mandatory power supply etc) which support 48 internal mount external access hard drive bays. So 48 available hot swap bays. These mirror up to a few cards very well and basically any hot swap compatible raid cards will work, just a matter of making sure you can make cabling work. It supports port to port, port to bay or port to bay grouping cabling and I think I have all of the above that works with Areca cards (I may even have a spare Areca I can toss in if it is useful)
I have one of these humming away and swapped out the mb to a low poer Supermicro server board that dropped the concurrent draw to about 150w but that is because I have it mounted in a rack at my house, wanted to keep from over-loading the service here.
If you have use for such I will donate it shipped to the lower 48 my cost. Consider it sheer gratefulness for being accepted into an awesome group.
I have a pallet of Supermicro server chassis that I am never going to use. These are open chassis (no mandatory power supply etc) which support 48 internal mount external access hard drive bays. So 48 available hot swap bays. These mirror up to a few cards very well and basically any hot swap compatible raid cards will work, just a matter of making sure you can make cabling work. It supports port to port, port to bay or port to bay grouping cabling and I think I have all of the above that works with Areca cards (I may even have a spare Areca I can toss in if it is useful)
I have one of these humming away and swapped out the mb to a low poer Supermicro server board that dropped the concurrent draw to about 150w but that is because I have it mounted in a rack at my house, wanted to keep from over-loading the service here.
If you have use for such I will donate it shipped to the lower 48 my cost. Consider it sheer gratefulness for being accepted into an awesome group.
marty
1 MW
WOW
Way back in the beginning of the internet, My web friend had all his own servers and a $$$$$$ phone line as big as your arm. He was always updating, fixing, and complaining what it cost to run his own servers. It all reminded me of buying a cow or letting someone else deal with the cows and farming and just buying a gallon of milk. He finally took my advise and he now uses other companies BIG server farms.
Might be fun to own a cow?
There's enough of me here already.don't want too many crazies in here.
eee291
100 kW
Could a banner be added to the account name that shows who the original tread poster is? Sometimes when I'm deep into a thread I lose track of who started the conversation.
We had a plugin that did that but it broke our statistics and froze them in time..
It would def be worthwhile to find another plugin that does that.
And also, find some way to permanently fixate the thread title in the top bar... hopefully a reminder to stay on topic, lol..
Do you have any idea, even a tiny one, of what could break the statistics like that?
If you do, you could point me at the plugin's source and I could skim thru it to see where it might have stuff that messes with that. I don't know how to write this code (or really anything modern) but sometimes I can recognize things, if I know what I'm looking for. If I found that "stuff" perhaps you'd have a *slightly* easier time of finding and fixing the broken stuff?
If you do, you could point me at the plugin's source and I could skim thru it to see where it might have stuff that messes with that. I don't know how to write this code (or really anything modern) but sometimes I can recognize things, if I know what I'm looking for. If I found that "stuff" perhaps you'd have a *slightly* easier time of finding and fixing the broken stuff?
I appreciate the offer but Xenforo's code is extremely complex and it would take a number of years of working with PHP to read/understand it, as well as a dozen IDE tabs open and mentally stitching together what's going on.
We have to use special debugging tools to step through execution because there is little hope of following what the code is doing by reading the code.
It's nowhere near PHPBB where a novice could look at one file top to bottom and understand what's going on at least.
But there exist gazillions of plugins for Xenforo as it's became the most popular message board software in the last couple years. If you'd be interested in browsing their plugin catalog and throwing me a list of things to check out, that would be really helpful!
We have to use special debugging tools to step through execution because there is little hope of following what the code is doing by reading the code.
It's nowhere near PHPBB where a novice could look at one file top to bottom and understand what's going on at least.
But there exist gazillions of plugins for Xenforo as it's became the most popular message board software in the last couple years. If you'd be interested in browsing their plugin catalog and throwing me a list of things to check out, that would be really helpful!
DaLanMan
10 kW
If it comes to a break point do let me know. My buddy who is in Chemo currently is about 20 feet from me. He is a premiere level PHP coder. Premiere level essentially means that in a consulting service you have your list of "best in the industry" people, you always hope that you can entice them into working with you because then you get the fat loots contracts. In any case, Chemo Boy was premiere level for 3 dif agencies, so even feeling cruddy and dealing with Chemo, odds on if you get stuck, he can unstick ya.
Thanks but we don't have skill issues, we have a system that just takes a long time to work with as a consequence of it's mid-high complexity and huge dataset.. therefore we have to prioritize what we are doing under the hood for maximum bang/buck.
That being said!
I'm still interested in hearing requests so i can figure out which ones can be stuffed into the next work round!
That being said!
I'm still interested in hearing requests so i can figure out which ones can be stuffed into the next work round!
DaLanMan
10 kW
I have 3 deliverables by Wed. Hence up late, gonna final out one of those today, Wed Night I should have the code I promised off to you, and will toss in the list of things I have found useful/desireable on sites. I am just not a web guy so my skillset ends with things I found cool, and offering the loan of some coder time. And for the record, that was not an unsolicited loan, We have both benefitted from this site and always strongly believe in giving back.
DaLanMan
10 kW
Search system that we built using the google local archive system. It does a fairly good job and per Cancer man, it actually will work as a bulk plugin for any search system that allows and I drifted off.. actually had to do work stuff, but yeah, I know we put a lot of effort into it for a client.. who then decided to just keep running the software that was so old the hardware it was last validated has been out of service for 15 years.....
Here's the list so far. I'm going to add a few items i think will be non-controversial.
User requests:
Anything else in our user list? speak now or keep your peace!
User requests:
- Way better search, make google the default
- Dark mode : light mode feature parity and improvements
- AW's moderation feature list ( needs discussing internally )
- Knowledgebase system ( users wanted this more than a store )
- Find a way to return the first poster indication on threads
- @mention actually notifies someone ( helpful to call an expert - E-HP's idea )
My adds:
- Hire a professional to help us make a new color scheme that riffs off the existing one
- Finally launch the categorization improvement software & project ( custom software is basically finished )
- Necroposting warning and confirmation near reply box
- Low seller reputation warning near reply box in online market
- Low user reputation warning in PMs ( help prevent sale scams )
- More prominent display of topic in threads
- Prevent link from being posted in first post
- Automatic removal of display of profile fields when user banned
- User viewable site health / KPI indicators for transparency
Justin's adds from the past that would fit in this design:
- Search for posts by a user in given thread
- Customized forum icons ( neptronix makes the vector set )
- Category images ( neptronix makes the vector set )
- Require setting a country flag at signup / when logged in and display flag in posts for context, autodetected via geoip initially
- Force first post in sales category to require confirmation of selling rules
- Force new users to read rules on signup
Anything else in our user list? speak now or keep your peace!
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Kottbullar
10 mW
So …. I can come up with a long list of ideas …
(Pretty dames, and lots of ‘em!!!)
…but:
Isn’t the best solution to adopt the best existing off the shelf solution and configure it as well as we can, and avoid customization as much as possible…
I’m reading about PHP coding and other items and worry about sustainability and costs.
In the end, user preferences rarely equate to needs. We will adapt …
(Pretty dames, and lots of ‘em!!!)
…but:
Isn’t the best solution to adopt the best existing off the shelf solution and configure it as well as we can, and avoid customization as much as possible…
I’m reading about PHP coding and other items and worry about sustainability and costs.
In the end, user preferences rarely equate to needs. We will adapt …
That's what we're currently doing however we want to tick off the most effective customizations we can make and stop there.
Xenforo has a lot of problems stock, esp the search..
PHP is the least expensive programming language to hire programmers for actually, and also it's fast enough you don't have to spend much if any time optimizing. Anything else takes more hours at a higher labor rate.
That's because it's the only programming language designed specifically to build web backends. Everything else is adapted after the fact and the fit to the domain is nowhere near as smooth.
Source: i manage 3 dev shops and we've experimented with everything.
The problem is how modern software is structured ( insane ).
But it's still *a lot* cheaper to buy and customize than building a platform from scratch even considering this bloat.
Anyway what are your suggestions?
nicobie
100 MW
k.i.s.s.
afzal
100 W
A suggestion: Disallow hyperlink in the first post & allow a cooling period of say a day before allowing hyperlink for new user
Late to the party, but maybe something easy to do. I like data, and the last upgrade provided a lot more forum statistics than I recall the old system having. I think there may be patterns in the registered user data, for instance, that may shed light on where to spend more effort, etc.
My thought is, after casually reviewing random pages of the registered members pages, that there may be less bang for the buck in creating tools for new users, but more for creating tools for existing members that support the forum. Using amberwolf as an example, although he provided vast knowledge, one of his greatest strengths is how he could utilize the search tool (which isn't the greatest), to provide relevant information to requesters. I've found, to use the search effectively, you have to have enough forum history to search on certain key words and even usernames that we may recall were part of a particular discussion. A greater ability for members to provide support would be a good place to focus. My observation is that at any given time, there may be a dozen or two members that actively support inquiries, besides the admins and mods. There are other active members that are here for the intellectual discussions around different EV issues, but not necessarily providing new user support.
Looking at the member statistics (difficult, since there's not an easy way to access the raw data), I was surprised by how many registered members there are, relative to contributing members. I randomly went through about 50 pages of the stats, and on each page, there were maybe 2 or 3 that have posted a handful of messages. Looking further, those members may have only been active in one or two threads, coming for a quick answer, then never to be seen again. The highest posting number I saw after 50 pages was one member that had 78 messages, but the average per page was more like 2 or 3.
This lines up with what I see day to day, new "members" join so they can post a question and get a quick answer. Maybe one in a dozen actually uses the search tool first, and none read the stickies. I don't think you'll be able to change that behavior. I think the best investment as far as tools go would be toward supporting contributing members rather than trying to create something for folks that join just to solve a singe issue. I'm not an expert in anything, but I know which members on the forum are; experts on the bbshd, or KT controllers, or phase wiring, or throttles, etc., which helps me find the relevant info to support a question and help out in a pinch. If I didn't know their names, it would be hard to search and find the necessary information. I've noticed that I use my draft newbie FAQ all the time to help field questions, so now it's just a tool for me to record and access information I've been able to collect and log from the ES experts.
Anyway, my wish list is to have more data to parse through, since 50 pages out of 2600 pages isn't a good sample size. But only if it's easy to do.
My thought is, after casually reviewing random pages of the registered members pages, that there may be less bang for the buck in creating tools for new users, but more for creating tools for existing members that support the forum. Using amberwolf as an example, although he provided vast knowledge, one of his greatest strengths is how he could utilize the search tool (which isn't the greatest), to provide relevant information to requesters. I've found, to use the search effectively, you have to have enough forum history to search on certain key words and even usernames that we may recall were part of a particular discussion. A greater ability for members to provide support would be a good place to focus. My observation is that at any given time, there may be a dozen or two members that actively support inquiries, besides the admins and mods. There are other active members that are here for the intellectual discussions around different EV issues, but not necessarily providing new user support.
Looking at the member statistics (difficult, since there's not an easy way to access the raw data), I was surprised by how many registered members there are, relative to contributing members. I randomly went through about 50 pages of the stats, and on each page, there were maybe 2 or 3 that have posted a handful of messages. Looking further, those members may have only been active in one or two threads, coming for a quick answer, then never to be seen again. The highest posting number I saw after 50 pages was one member that had 78 messages, but the average per page was more like 2 or 3.
This lines up with what I see day to day, new "members" join so they can post a question and get a quick answer. Maybe one in a dozen actually uses the search tool first, and none read the stickies. I don't think you'll be able to change that behavior. I think the best investment as far as tools go would be toward supporting contributing members rather than trying to create something for folks that join just to solve a singe issue. I'm not an expert in anything, but I know which members on the forum are; experts on the bbshd, or KT controllers, or phase wiring, or throttles, etc., which helps me find the relevant info to support a question and help out in a pinch. If I didn't know their names, it would be hard to search and find the necessary information. I've noticed that I use my draft newbie FAQ all the time to help field questions, so now it's just a tool for me to record and access information I've been able to collect and log from the ES experts.
Anyway, my wish list is to have more data to parse through, since 50 pages out of 2600 pages isn't a good sample size. But only if it's easy to do.
Thanks for weighing in guys.
E-HP, thanks for that research! We do have statistics on the backend but we would need to write data crunching code to produce useful info from 'em; i think we also have to set some 'key performance indicators' that are all focused on not quantity, but quality of information on the forum - which is pretty hard to assess with software but worth trying.
Re: new users, we have a newbie flood partially because Google chose us as one of the top sites for ebikes. I think that's dragging down the helpfulness of people who come here. I think our best hope is to rapidly educate them, and help members do the same, as you mentioned.
Anyway, you are right. The work done to revert from a slow gradual decline and back into growth worked too well. let's call that approach done for, it's time to pivot to boosting the utility of ES.
E-HP, thanks for that research! We do have statistics on the backend but we would need to write data crunching code to produce useful info from 'em; i think we also have to set some 'key performance indicators' that are all focused on not quantity, but quality of information on the forum - which is pretty hard to assess with software but worth trying.
Re: new users, we have a newbie flood partially because Google chose us as one of the top sites for ebikes. I think that's dragging down the helpfulness of people who come here. I think our best hope is to rapidly educate them, and help members do the same, as you mentioned.
Anyway, you are right. The work done to revert from a slow gradual decline and back into growth worked too well. let's call that approach done for, it's time to pivot to boosting the utility of ES.
I know we're primarily a DIY community, but the big increase in ebikes are from the factory bikes, and I think the questions related to them will continue to grow. I don't think we need expertise on every factory bike, and that type of support should be provided by the manufacturer, but the reality is the manufacturer support seems to generally suck, so we'll get the questions. I think those inquiries should be posted in the current troubleshooting and general forums (no special subforum), but maybe we can support factory ebike modding or (re)builds more, which would be in the spirit of DIY. With a separate subforum, over time we'd acquire more knowledge on things like which bikes are easier to upgrade or mod and which are too locked down to be good candidates. (I was looking at the motorcycle/scooter forum and noticed that generally the motorcycles are conversions, while scooters are more about troubleshooting or unlocking speed, with a few mods, etc., so a mix of DIY and troubleshooting, since there are very few e-motorcycles while almost all of the scooters are factory.) A factory ebike modding subforum could be more in the DIY spirit, and create a good repository for that information.
