This sad fact gave me the inspiration to update the forum. Kudos go to Rex and Bill for their guidance and encouragement, their myriad of good ideas. Our goals were many, our accomplishments few as far as appearance and features were concerned, so here we are as far as the updates are concerned.
First is security. After our spambot invasion of a couple years ago, we now have CAPTCHA, a security question at registration, the "three post rule" for new members and, now, our SSL certificate. Add to that the two-step authorization, optional, but recommended.
Next is features. We now have "Downloads" with "Literature" and "Gallery" in the works. There is "Console Tales" and "Consolettes" as new boards. We may divide "Record Players" and "Changers" further after I review the Moderators' recommendations. We have "Donations" for members who would like to contribute to the expenses of hosting and other expenses pertaining to the forum. We have a "Second" in the event something should happen to me, and, now the "Second" has a "Second". Mark is essentially the Global Administrator, and will provide backup and support to the "second" should he require such support. We don't want to end up like Vintage with no backup or support in the event of an unforeseen event that would shut down the forum. "Forum Rules" will soon be in the navbar, along with being posted at registration. "Forum Rules" will abandon its current position on the index page. "Announcements" will be moved to "Chat" as soon as everybody has a chance to read it. I have moved "Suppliers" up farther on the index page, and have moved "Our Other Toys" down to near the bottom of the index page. The forum features console stereos, so we want to feature those more prominently, along with support and suppliers. I didn't get to use the style I selected for the default style, for very solid reasons, by the way, something I hadn't considered, so now I don't have enough color to suit me on the home page. Avatars help, but I'd like to use some red forum headers to divide the index page if I can get Mark on that task. I fear we went from "blue and blah" to "Gray and blah". I want something eye-catching, but not hard on older eyes. We have added some administrative features, "Board Messages" and things like that to make the moderator's job easier. We have updated the forum software to the latest version and Mark has added some quality of life features to make the forum more legal (California) and more mobile-friendly. So, TECHNICALLY speaking, we are as good as we can get, right up there with the "big" forum with a later version of the forum software than they have. We are still working on the features, getting permissions and that sorted and me figuring out how everything works. I believe we have addressed all the suggestions offered by members except changing the name of the forum. That is not a consideration. I will post an image in the header on the index page as soon as we get the navbar more established and get all the writing out of the header. I want to spit the header between the name and shortened logo and an image. I haven't decided on a final version yet. We have added "Right Random Image" that will let us post a series of six images that will change periodically. We can alternate between this feature and a more permanent image if we want to "change it up" a bit. I hope we have built enough flexibility into our "infrastructure" so we can more quickly accomodate the suggestions offered by our members. We want also to attract more traffic to the forum and acquire some new members. If we had 100 members with 20 active, we'd have a better participation average than the "big" forum with 16,000 members. I have already discovered features I'd like to add, so perhaps in 90 days or so, after we get all the new stuff sorted, we'll ask Mark to incorporate some of those features as well. The new "navbar" features will be readable by everybody, but only members can download, or upload to those features. As Art used to say, "This ain't Mooch Motors". I don't see the need for us to contribute and maintain archival material only to share it with those who won't make a contribution of their time to the forum. New members won't be able to access these features until they have three posts, have introduced themselves on "Introductions" and have posted an avatar. We want to know who is on our forum, how we can help them, what they can contribute to the forum.
I want to give a public thank you to Mark for all he has done for the forum. I must have called 50 website designers in the Valley. When I mentioned working with open-source software, many of them would hang up on me. Ditto the forum host. Finally, I contacted a firm who knew a guy, who knew a guy, who was Mark. He had commitments that prevented his starting immediately, but when we got started, he has been kind, helpful, and above all, patient, answering my questions and tolerating my incompetence working with computers. Mark knows "his stuff" and has saved the forum from a fate of mediocrity.
Next are our crackerjack Moderators. Rex and Bill (or Bill and Rex) have been a godsend to me and to the forum. Asking them to serve as Moderators is the ONE thing I've done right. Rex is an experienced moderator, and taught me anything I know about it. Bill is a rookie at moderating and has got his "baptism in fire". Both are level-headed and moderate with kid gloves in contrast to my more heavy-handed tendencies. Rex is a master at starting interesting topics. Also a master at searches and research. He can come up with stuff I didn't know exists. Bill is the master at encouraging people to communicate with each other. He never met a stranger. They both know what is right and follow their instincts. These guys have the ability to keep me on the straight and narrow and return me when I get derailed. Rex has the plan, Bill provides motivation. These valued friends don't get the recognition they so richly deserve.
I can provide a platform for a forum, the infrastructure if you will. You members ARE the forum. Without you and your participation, there is no forum. You guys, and you alone, decide whether the forum grows or if it folds. The only mandatory cost is your time and talents. Posting your projects, sharing your pictures, stories are what will make the forum successful. Telling your friends of like interest and promoting the forum wherever you can will help us grow. There is expense to operating and hosting the forum. The moderators and my wife have suggested that my insistance of paying the costs myself might be short-sighted. Members who wish to contribute may feel more "at home" feeling they have some "skin in the game" if you will. So we have provided this feature, or will as soon as I get it set up. When you see the "Donations" font in the navbar, that will be an indication it's up and ready. Contributions are totally optional, at your discretion. They will be appreciated and may allow us to incorporate features that I'm too tight to do otherwise.....
I thank you all for your participation and support to the forum. We celebrate our second anniversary on July 9. We have 15,277 posts from 48 members as of this writing. We have about ten active members, so that is pretty good "shooting" from only 48 members. I hope we can grow and attract some new blood, and encourage members we don't hear from as often as we'd like to participate more, so we can continue until we are all old(er) and gray(er). My best to you all and thanks........Greg
