vBulletin advanced features

[Stuart Fedak]

Text removed as information is no longer current

[Bob Carriere]

Would having a photo album eliminate the practice of some MLU memebrs to post pictures hosted by various separate sights. When they abandon the posting sites the pictures are lost form the archives of MLU posting. I alwasy ger frustrated when doing a search on MLU only to find the text but all the images missing.

On the other hand I belong to stovebolt forum who has NO means of posting pictures unless you suscribe to a separate picture posting site... so there are all kinds out there.

I am concerned that more feratures may cost more to run MLU...... not usre how we stand financially. Also must keep in mind that the site is maintained by hard working volunteers and more features may be creating more work.

Any chance of getting an update of our financial situation and increase membership's awareness that maybe a little more grea$e is needed.

But anything that might increase our membership.... active membership might be helpful.

Cheers

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Stuart

OK I've registered an signed into Metal Meet Forums, first very interesting site. I've ended up in some of the forum headings before when doing research on body work.

Observations:
1. I noticed right off the bat is if you are not a registered user you can not see the photos. This to me is a real draw back (which may be a simple settings issue) because it encourages the casual viewer to sign up to just see what they are missing. Having the photos available to anyone is accomplishing one of MLU objectives, education. Until they're serious and want to ask question or add information let them be guests with no work to register them.

2. Not a fan of Metal Meet Forums basic lay out, commerce first but that also is a set up issue.

3. Bob mentions the impotence of getting photos into the actual MLU server instead of out on a remote server where they will be lost. This a very important point we already have lost original photos of great interest and value because the people who posted them are gone.

4. Photo size and numbers of photos per post are a server size and cost issue.

5. Photos and video file size relating to cost, I am currently being forced by my web hosting company to move all my videos over to Youtube. They advertise unlimited band width but if you use to much (undefined amount) they shut down the site. Issue of course they want more money.

6. Another of Bobs point is a very good one, about MLU being an all volunteer web master situation, so any thoughts about what to change and how to change things need to have very strong input from Hanno.

7. What ever we do we must be aware of the change in platforms that people are using to view MLU or any web site. Smart phones and tablets are simply different and I'm now sure how newest generation of vBulletin works with other platforms.

As sort of an aside recently I got a tablet great for quick looking for stuff on the web and reading forums like MLU. I hate the bloody thing for responding though. Had to go to my regular computer to do this response just could not touch it in on the smudge screen of the tablet.

I'm not really impressed with forums which are primarily being posted to and responded to by people using smart phones. They are often not speaking in full thoughts.

Cheers Phil

[Hanno Spoelstra]

All good points, but as I pointed out earlier on:

• First we need to move MLU to a new hosting provider
• Then we need to buy a new SW licence (current one was bought by Geoff)
• & upgrade to a new SW version or even migrate to a new SW application (to keep spammers at bay).

I barely have enough time to keep the forum running as is, it is a matter of finding the spare time to do the above. Sorry to keep you waiting.....

Hanno

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Stuart Fedak

I am sure that this is not a high priority, but when the time comes, it would be nice to use some of the other features that the VBulletin system offers. As time goes on, I think more members are using high speed internet connections, and the requirements to have restrictions on the image sizes and the lack of photo albums should be reviewed.

Even though more members use high speed internet connections, even more so are using mobile devices to view MLU. So I kept image thumbnail size at a size where it does not use too much bandwith or screen space. We can reset the picture and thumbnail size if needed.

Just had a quick look at metalmeet.com, and noted as a non-member I cannot even thumbnails which at MLU, can be viewed by non-members.

The vBulletin system also supports the use of individual photo albums that can contain image collections of various topics. This is a great resource to add to the individual threads.

Try http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/album.php and see if this is what you are looking for.

Hanno