[Pre-move] Discussion re AusChristmasLighting new forum software

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David_AVD

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ryanschristmaslights said:
David_AVD said:
Will there be a purge of members that joined a long time ago but have never posted or been back since? There's probably still some dodgy members too (ones with obvious spam in their sigs) that need to be culled at some stage.
There has been a bigger clean up over the last couple of months targeting zero-post accounts with dodgy signatures and locations. Some 500 odd accounts were purged.

Excellent news. Thanks very much for that. :)
 

ChristmasInKaralee

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David_AVD said:
ryanschristmaslights said:
David_AVD said:
Will there be a purge of members that joined a long time ago but have never posted or been back since? There's probably still some dodgy members too (ones with obvious spam in their sigs) that need to be culled at some stage.
There has been a bigger clean up over the last couple of months targeting zero-post accounts with dodgy signatures and locations. Some 500 odd accounts were purged.

Excellent news. Thanks very much for that. :)




I was just looking at the QLD member list last week and there still seems to at least 100 that have zero posts and been around for a few years. I understand that some may just monitor but this is perfect timing for a good clean out.
 

Bill Ellick

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I guess I better "POST" so that I don't get eliminated from ACL!
I am one of those who has not posted in quite a while probably even though ACL is the first forum I read in the morning when I start my day with things! I haven't had really anything to say much in the last year due to health preventing me from doing my display for the last couple years along with no income making it rather difficult to allow me to do much either.
I do check in though and read new threads and posts to see what is happening in this hobby. If I do find something to make a comment about, I will but I really just like to keep myself informed on things.


I also can be one of the "lurkers" in chat from time to time although not that often. I have picked up lots of information on there from just "listening" to what is going on and many times I would hate to break the chain of conversation if I was to speak up for no reason which I think that others who are new or just interested would agree on.


ACL has/is/ and will be a very valuable source of information and learning for new people and others who love this hobby and want to keep informed.


I do see that this new version seems much faster to me here in the US! It was getting so that ACL took quite a bit of time to load with the old version but now is almost instant when it loads up so great as far as I am concerned!


Lets face it, everything changes and must evolve and now it is time for ACL to step up a bit with a better platform which can only improve things for all of us!
Thanks to Ryan for doing the work to keep it running for everyone to learn and enjoy from!
 

scamper

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I am all for updates as long as they don't make things worse. (I know this won't be the case here)
The one thing that, IMO, makes this the best xmas lighting forum, is the "new posts" section.
Other forums have a new post and it is just that, so every post inside the same topic fills the page up, this one has a new topic, so if 20 people comment on 1 post, it still shows as only 1 new topic and so you can either dive in, or skip it.
This makes it a big hit. So please don't change that :)
 

the grinch

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aha yes I understand change like our xmas lights have changed enormously over the years we need to keep to with new technology and change is inevitable I believe! Sometimes change can be scary but needs to be done . My only query is when as am sure many others would like to know ! Approximate date and how long will this take please . And yeah what happened to aussiephil ?
 

fasteddy

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gnarmstr said:
David_AVD said:
ryanschristmaslights said:
David_AVD said:
Will there be a purge of members that joined a long time ago but have never posted or been back since? There's probably still some dodgy members too (ones with obvious spam in their sigs) that need to be culled at some stage.
There has been a bigger clean up over the last couple of months targeting zero-post accounts with dodgy signatures and locations. Some 500 odd accounts were purged.

Excellent news. Thanks very much for that. :)




I was just looking at the QLD member list last week and there still seems to at least 100 that have zero posts and been around for a few years. I understand that some may just monitor but this is perfect timing for a good clean out.

What needs to be looked at is not the number of posts but when they were last here as many may not actually post but visit frequently, because you need to be a member to download any files from the forum.
But there are still many old accounts that still exist that may not be active anymore which should be purged over time
 

fasteddy

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Ryan has been working very hard behind the scenes to allow the forum to continue into the future and should be thanked for giving up his time and services to ensure the longevity of ACL. The software was out-dated and was seeing very few security updates by the developers, which can become a risk so something had to be done.

Unfortunately Tapatalk is not supported by the new software but if support was eventually offered then that may be something that the ACL team will consider to add but there are many options for receiving messages using the new forum
The chat room will be less resource hungry and manage lurking much better which has always been an issue with the chat room

With any big changes like this there will be things that people will miss from the old forum and other things that people will like. All that can be done is to work within the software's features/addons and keep an eye out for any new add-ons or features that will help improve the usability of the forum for the future
 

djgra79

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Thanks Ryan & all behind the scenes for making ACL tick along for us :)
I for one welcome our new ACL overlords... :p
 

diyer

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Is it really that much of an issue if members don't want to sign in, or want to "lurk"?
I have to admit that I don't sign in every time I visit the site, I make a daily visit to see what's happening and read new threads and posts that might interest me. I'll log in and contribute if I think that I can assist someone. I also log in fairly regularly to check out the members trading area.


Not sure if "a good clean out" is a good idea, I'm all for purging any dodgy participants or trolls, but as this forum is targeted at mainly Christmas (and to a lesser extent Haloween), I'm sure that not ALL members think about Christmas lighting 24/7, maybe attendance and participation increases towards Christmas? It would be interesting to see some statistics.
 

diyer

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On another note, this might upset a few people but I would like to see the member 'status' overhauled, I think that member status should be earned more by positive input and knowledge shared rather than by the number of posts they have contributed. I'm not sure how this could be implemented?
 

fasteddy

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diyer said:
On another note, this might upset a few people but I would like to see the member 'status' overhauled, I think that member status should be earned more by positive input and knowledge shared rather than by the number of posts they have contributed. I'm not sure how this could be implemented?
Im led to believe that one of the new features is that you will be able to like a post, maybe Ryan may be able to explain this in more detail if he has any time
 

ԆцряєсϮ

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Ive seen other forums have like a "Reputation" score based on likes and dislikes on members posts.
It works well as it gets rid of all the "Well I've never done it but heres my opinion on how you should do it" posts that some like to do to boost up their post counts. It also helps separate the givers from the takers. ;)
 

ryanschristmaslights

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Rest assured, I don't have plans on pruning 'genuine' memberships (i.e. not suspected spammers) at this stage. If this were to happen at a later time then it would likely target only the accounts who haven't logged in for X years and have never posted.

diyer said:
I would like to see the member 'status' overhauled, I think that member status should be earned more by positive input and knowledge shared rather than by the number of posts they have contributed. I'm not sure how this could be implemented?

The new forum can take into account activity that isn't just posts, however in our case the elf statuses will remain post-based to avoid having everyone's elf level jumping around all over the place while moving to the new forum.

There will however be an area in member profiles that will display points based on a member's participation around the site. Points can be earned by things such as (but not limited to) liking posts, receiving likes, editing the wiki, and adding a display video. So there will still be an incentive to do more than just post on the new site :)
 
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