[Pre-move] Discussion re AusChristmasLighting new forum software

[keithsw1111]

Mod comment: As this topic is closed please navigate to the Post-move topic if you'd like to comment thanks

I just read (and would have responded there but Ryan locked the post) that you no longer plan on supporting tapatalk with the new software. Can I respectfully ask that you reconsider this choice. While I do use my computer occasionally I much prefer accessing the forum on tapatalk along with all the other lighting forums. The fact it doesn't support chat etc has never been a concern. Chat is not useful on the phone because I tend to duck in and out of the app and apps don't stay connected well when switched away from. Having the simple new posts view across forum topics and everything in one app is much more important.

 

[livetoride]

Re: Tapatalk

Ive also been an avid tapatalk supporter and have wanted it to stick around. Alot of the updated forums are so good on mobile devices now its not really necessary. Ive also been informed that the tapatalk setup side is pretty resource hungry and quite a few forums are no longer supporting it.

But its also awesome to have everything handy in one spot, I'm looking forward to seeing how the forum update goes before i get too upset

 

[keithsw1111]

Re: Tapatalk

The one thing none of the forums seem to do well is the new posts. They either drop then too fast like Aus Christmas. Or the list only goes back 1 page like XLights. Tapatalk in that respect is more like face books feed but still with access to categorised posts. Let's hope the new forum does new posts better than all the others.

 

[Jay.S]

Re: Tapatalk

A good RSS feed would solve all these problems and in a much better way than Tapatalk IMHO.

 

[ryanschristmaslights]

Re: Tapatalk

Hi Keith,

While the new home page does show just a small handful of posts as a bit of a teaser, it also links to a recent posts area that in some circumstances displays up to 200 topic threads. You'll also be able to watch individual threads (up to 20 unread watched topic threads will be shown) or whole forum sections with or without notifications.

Both Recent Posts and Watched Threads lists will be in easy reach on mobile phones.

And yes there will be an RSS feed, swb

 

[ryanschristmaslights]

Re: Tapatalk

Oh, and there will also be a "your news feed" that will display up to 7 days of threads posts, etc from any members you choose to stal.... I mean follow . So this is yet another way to selectively view new things.

 

[darylc]

Generous Elves changes

Since ACL seems to be encouraging donations more so than in the past, can I suggest that a statement be made about what the funds will be used for?

Eg if hosting costs, software licenses + some donations to Ryan for all his time spent looking after the forums then that would be an acceptable answer to me and I would be willing to donate.

 

[ryanschristmaslights]

Hey darylc,

It wasn't my intention to make it look as though we're encouraging more donations, I just I thought it was important to clarify to anyone who has previously donated what would happen to the their Generous Elf status moving forward and explain differences in how the new area works. I'd like to make it clear that there won't be things like big banners asking for donations on the new site. Contributing funds will remain as something that is entirely voluntary and not expected of anyone. The generous elf area will be hidden away in the forum account area.

We're moving over to a licenced proprietary forum platform which will need to be renewed to receive updates. The new wiki platform and chat room are also proprietary with similar licence conditions. However, neither the chat, wiki nor forums are true subscriptions since they will continue to function regardless of their licence status (but without new updates). What that means is AusChristmasLighting won't suddenly vanish if any of the licences expire.

So yes, software licences would be one use of funds. If it is warranted, (re)starting a pro Zoom subscription could be another possibility so that the 40 minute session limits won't apply. Last year a zoom subscription was bought for one month when the xLights webinars were occurring weekly. Giving a kickback to Harrison Kohn for his continued hosting of AusChristmasLighting is something else I'd like to see happen. Without going into too much detail, the destination PayPal account has now changed over to one that is attached to the AusChristmasLighting domain.


I hope that makes things a little clearer!

 

[multicast]

attached to the AusChristmasLighting domain.
I hope that makes things a little clearer!

S'Attached to the domain'.. A domain doe'snt have any legal status. its just a name. Maybe you can tell us who 'owns' the domain.

 

[QLDKing(Brad)]

FWIW, I also like having all the different forums in one place so I can see what's going on. As a newbie it's a great way to learn and keep everything in one place, without having to log into the different forum, especially when the thread contains attachments to view. It also helps to pass the time on the train.
Will the new chat be able to store the previous conversation so it can be seen at any time? Be nice to scan through the history and see what's topics have been discussed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[David_AVD]

Phil still owns the ACL domain. My guess is that Ryan meant that the donations PayPal account is associated with the ACL domain name.

Many thanks to Ryan for the admin work he does and to Harrison for the hosting. They ensure that ACL is available and working for us to use and enjoy on a day to day basis.

I'm interested in how the new chat will work. The amount of silent lurkers has concerned me for some time. Why go into chat unless you want to actually chat? (admin and moderators excepted of course) I get that some people like to learn by watching from the sidelines, but they need to get actively involved and ask questions too.

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.

As for Tapatalk support, I don't care either way. To be honest I've always found it to be a pain to use.

 

[livetoride]

May I ask what software/version the web page is moving over too? Would love to see a few models of whats available.

 

[ryanschristmaslights]

S'Attached to the domain'.. A domain doe'snt have any legal status. its just a name.

I never said it did.

My guess is that Ryan meant that the donations PayPal account is associated with the ACL domain name.

The linked (new) PayPal account now ends in @auschristmaslighting.com, while in the past this wasn't the case.

 

[ryanschristmaslights]

I also like having all the different forums in one place so I can see what's going on. As a newbie it's a great way to learn and keep everything in one place, without having to log into the different forum, especially when the thread contains attachments to view.

You'll be able to subscribe to/watch threads, whole forum sections and wiki pages, and receive email notifications.

The current wiki seems to be forgotten sometimes, since it is under the hood a separate system. With a more integrated wiki without the roadblocks a separate system has - like different formatting syntax and search tools - given some time I think people might feel more comfortable with accessing it, and also adding useful info to the wiki especially if it is something that can be built on by multiple members. You won't see this wiki content on Tapatalk.

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.

The new forum country flags are no longer user-configurable and instead assigned automatically based on their IP. Moderators will also be able to mark new accounts as spam which performs additional tasks such as verifying/submitting details with a central spam database and display potentially linked accounts.

 

[multicast]

S'Attached to the domain'.. A domain doe'snt have any legal status. its just a name.

I never said it did.

I did'tn say you did. Not sure where the implication was either.

So Ryan for clairy, Is it correct that


- Phil still owns the domain, and the papal account is associated with the domain that Phil owns?

Its seems strange that we would dontate to somebody who has nothing to do with this any longer..