SwingDJs

kbuxton wrote: but I'd prefer to have some way to know what I've actually seen (ie, read/unread) as opposed to just what's absolutely the newest. (if that makes any sense)

This software has kind of a halfassed version of that, it'll take you to what's new since your last visit - which assumes that you come on and read everything and get off.. so it's somewhere in between yehoodi and delphi..

I find that if I'm interested in a thread on JJ, I can follow it using that feature and it works pretty well - but if I decide to become interested in a thread I haven't been following all along, or I stopped following, then I have to manually find the first unread message..

since I haven't said so yet - I love the new format, and I'm pretty much ready to unsubscribe from the email list whether this gets created or not.

(actually, my opinion is that we should just go with this and leave the email list there.. if it were a question of deleting the old one, I could see voting, but in terms of making something new and offering it as an option to people that like it, I don't think there's any need for that to be a democratic decision - since everyone can indavidually decide where they wanna read and write)

My vote is for the web-based forum. As I get more and more busy with work, I find myself with less and less time to waste, and I'd rather just be able to scroll past meaningless messages, and not even click on meaningless threads, than be forced to click on each and every message to be able to determine whether or not it's worth reading, and then have to click on them all again to delete them.

With the sluggish dial-up connection I have, it takes forever to filter through my messages in my e-mail. Even if it takes a bit longer to load the graphics for a web-based board, I'll take it over e-mail.

Plus, you can edit your posts. (I think)

I like the forum a lot better. One of the advantages which really hasn't been mentioned so far is the partitioning of topics--now I can just ignore totally the somewhat regular discussions about which soundcard to get for the laptop I don't have, etc.; --d

I strongly prefer the email interface. I find it much easier and faster to use. I don't find
the "multimedia" of the web interface (avatars and emoticons) valuable. I feel that scrolling
down through messages I don't want to read is much slower than simply hitting "d" to delete
the message and immediately getting the next one. In particular, I did a little test by starting
a thread I was interested in (the In A Mellow Tone), and I noted how long it actually took me
to get the information I wanted, relative to what it would have with email (obviously, this
is not a "scientific" experiment). Anyways, I definitely appreciate what Jesse has done, and
I'm not saying I'd never use the web interface, but I vote for the email.

Jesse (or other people who run the site), how tough would it be to pipe every message posted (sans avatars and emoticons) to an email list, and set it up so that replies with the same
subject get *posted* back into the thread? It seems that could perhaps make everyone happy.

I think Jesse has done a FABULOUS job with this, converting even me, who has a dialup modem and has time for a full cup of coffee while things are downloading. As long as it doesn't become like Yehoodi, where there is just too much timewasting fluff.

rif wrote: Jesse (or other people who run the site), how tough would it be to pipe every message posted (sans avatars and emoticons) to an email list, and set it up so that replies with the same
subject get *posted* back into the thread? It seems that could perhaps make everyone happy.

Hi Rif

Actually it is possible. Development of a mod to phpbb to make this is progress. Hopefully it will be working and available soon. The links below are the main page (with almost nothing on it yet) and a discussion list on the development (12 pages long, not much of interest in the beginning)

http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/m2f
http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.ph ... od&start=0

Being a novice at the techie side of things, this seems easy enough to use and I really like the logo. Plus, I was able to upload my own Avatar, so it can't be too hard!

Is there a function that will remind me to log on and look at this instead of waiting for the messages to arrive in my inbox?

Nice job Jesse.

Terry

rif wrote:I strongly prefer the email interface. I find it much easier and faster to use. I don't find the "multimedia" of the web interface (avatars and emoticons) valuable.

I agree with your assessment of avatars and emoticons--I would personally like to see such fluff removed for the waste of bandwidth that it is. However, I don't think the individual email really compares to this format--I long ago transitioned over to the daily digest form because I found myself deleting so many individual emails. Now I can simply not click on a discussion I'm not interested in.

If speed is a real issue, we can start doing some testing to see how lynx friendly the site is; --d

dallas wrote:


If speed is a real issue, we can start doing some testing to see how lynx friendly the site is; --d

I've managed to log on, read the site, and now post a reply, all within lynx. Text-friendly, and avatar/emoticon free. Even the preview button works; --d

I love the new interface. I only occasionally read discussions from the email group since there were usually many topics that didn't interest me, but now everything is partitioned.... Also I opted for the digest emails so scrolling thru and finding actual content within all the >>quoted text was always a chore. Thank you Jesse!

At first I didn't want to move away from the mail list, but now I like this much better.

It is more welcoming to see tacit invitations to discuss things other than swing music. We can talk about non-swing music here freely without getting beaten up by purists. We can talk about tech issues and gig shop talk without feeling like people are going to get upset because they don't want to read about the shop talk issues of mobile DJs who travel with their own sound systems.

I suspect that a forum like this will encourage more participation from the people who are presently lurkers. Sure, there'll be more fluff. But, geez, we could all stand to loosen up a little and visit with each other a little more. It will help us to develop a better sense of the real people who are behind the messages.

With those people who I know well here, I can hear the sound of their voices and sense their personality when I read their messages. But there are so many others here who I have not met in person yet, and the opportunity to see them loosen up some in discussion would help me to develop a better sense of them as people. The mail list does not lend itself to that.

I also like that so many here are posting photos of themselves. We are people, not electrons, and we should appear that way to each other.

One thing that would make it better would be for the board to notice which messages I have read and not read and flag the index that way instead of the index only being flagged based on new posts since the last time I logged on.

- John

So there's 50 people registered on here.... what's the schedule for the official move? I mean, people aren't really repeating messages on both forums, so its probably better to make it official relatively soon. I think many people have had time to check this out. Might as well put the poll up on the Yahoo site.

The 8% of the people who prefer the email method are going to be disappointed, I know. And its probably higher than that, since the people that most don't want to switch won't even bother to check out the new forum. But I'm sure some of them will participate here in any event, except for those that absolutely can't access a forum.

Polls will probably be taken care of some time after the US Open weekend.

Before we go forward with any further steps in this process beyond the current testing period, I am going to put together my thoughts based on my interest in the web-based discussion board and comment on what has been posted on the board and the email list recently regarding this issue.

I have been swamped between the Austin Lindy Exchange and the upcoming US Open, but when I return next week, I will sit down and take the necessary time to my put thoughts onto paper (or whatever email actually is).

After that, I will put together an official poll on yahoogroups to determine the interest level in permanently keeping the web-based discussion board.

Jesse

Fair enough.

I like the ability to have the little photos. I hope most people load theirs. I had to edit it a while to get a size that wouldn't get rejected. Dang, Jeremy, how did you get such a big head?