Forum Upgrade??

[madmike]

I didnt see any sort of "suggestion box" so forgive me if this is out of place.

 

This forum seems to have the largest number of members, but has the oldest format of message board software. compared to other sites such as www.scoutingforum.org & www.scoutingboard.com (both have almost zero activity)

 

Are there any plans to upgrade the forum software (to something like Invision Power Board or VBulletin)? Is there a need for a small donation from members?

 

I enjoy reading this forum (yes I am fairly new) but its almost painful to post because this format is incredibly S L O W ....

[OldGreyEagle]

And here I thought the best way of upgrading the forum would be to eliminate all the generally whiny know-nothing scouters that obviously dont have a clue about the BSA and its programs and are identified by the fact they hold views different from mine

[VentureRobb]

I kind of like this set up why must everything be instant in this world let's slow down and hear the scout storys

[evmori]

I like this set-up, too. Everything doesn't need to be the same.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[Gonzo1]

I use cable high speed internet, it took only 2.3 seconds to switch screens, not too bad for me. I like it.

 

 

[SR540Beaver]

I use cable high speed as well and here at work it is T1 or better. That being said, it is S L O W W W W W!!! It has been weeks since I have been able to get "Today's Active Topics" to open up without timing out. I have to go to the forums page and open each individual forum to find current threads. But that has been a recurring problem in all the time considerable time I have been here.

 

While I would like to see things upgraded, I don't look a gift horse in the mouth. I appreciate Scouter-Terry providing this free venue that seems to be the largest collection of active posting Scouters on the web.

 

But yeah......I'd like to see an upgrade of software too.

[GernBlansten]

I keep coming back to this forum in-spite of this software. It is the most outdated, inefficient forum software still in use today.

 

The timeouts everyone experiences when clicking "today's active topics" is caused by either a grossly under configured server, or inefficiently written SQL queries. I suspect the latter.

Your ISP connect speed has nothing to do with how long it takes to post or read threads. It is directly related to the number of posts in each thread. A thread with only a few posts, comes up rather quickly. One with several pages of posts, takes a cyber lifetime. Inefficient queries. Trust me. I spend my days optimizing such queries.

 

IMHO, Invision board software is excellent. It is quick, easy to use, you don't have to log in every time you post, allows you to quote other users, allows you to ignore obnoxious ones, PMs work. I think if this site migrated to Invision or something comparable, the traffic would increase.

[Oak Tree]

I don't mind the format so much. While all the things Gern mentions would be nice, I'm ok with the simple straightforward experience. (And you can ignore obnoxious users.)

 

But it is slow. I would much appreciate a faster response.

 

Oak Tree

[FScouter]

Im happy with the user interface. It seems intuitive enough. I visit several other boards including scoutingforums, discussit, meritbadge.com, and a yahoogroups forum. One of them has gone icon crazy which I find to be very annoying. I find the layout and ease of use with this board to be far better than any of the others. The big, big, big downside is the response time. Several of the software features have been turned off, apparently to avoid bogging down the system further.

[SR540Beaver]

Gern,

 

If you'll scroll to the bottom of this screen you will notice that scouter.com is hosted by fastroot.com and Terry Howerton is their CEO. He is the Scouter-Terry who runs this site. I believe he is not only the CEO, but the owner of Fastroot. He appears to be a busy man and I believe that this has been something of a labor of love for him. I think he has set it up and kind of lets it run and has enlisted a few volunteers to moderate. I also imagine that what revenue the ads make on here probably help keep things up and running, but don't turn tremendous profits for upgrading software. I don't know, I just assume those things.

[GernBlansten]

My critique of this forum software is in no way a slam towards Scouter-Terry or his efforts. But it is clear to me that the success of this forum has overrun the capabilities of the hardware and/or software.

 

I think this forum provides a great service to scouters. I've learned much more here than any roundtable or training. I'd love to see this virtual campfire grow.

 

If its a cost issue to upgrade the software, I'll gladly donate to the cause. If its a pride issue to the developer, well, that's a whole different issue that I can also understand.

[LongHaul]

I'LL DONATE !!!! Where do I send the money? This is the first time I've been able to get past the home page in about a month. I can't seem to be able to open any of the threads. Talk about cold turkey!!

LongHaul

[packsaddle]

I have cable modem broadband at home and ultra-highspeed, extremely broadband at work (you know, so the students can pirate all that music and those movies).

So I have no personal problem with this the way it is. However, if an upgrade will speed things up for others, that would be good. I like the way it works now. I believe that if it is a little slow, that characteristic may in fact encourage us to think a little more before we write (or maybe during it). If we had a very quick site in which we could get instant gratification with glib put-downs, etc. and other thoughtless comments (don't say it!), that increased speed might degrade the quality of discourse that we have now.

Of course, I am always up for a good experiment. Let's try it and see....

[stevejb]

I agree that this is the slowest responding of the groups that I belong to, but I will also agree that this is one of the best groups to belong to.

 

Steve B

Scoutmaster, Troop 68, CMC

http://melrosetroop68.org

[Gags]

GB - So THAT's why I sometimes get the error message when I try to load the "Active Topics" page.

 

And since we're on the topic, (sort of), here's a few upgrades I'd love to see:

 

1. Print Function

Especially useful for those longer topics - I'd like to be able to print out the entire thread w/o having to print it page by page (or copy and paste, page by page, into Word. Many magazine/newspaper sites have this option as a "format for printing" button.

 

2. Display more messages per page

I've seen some sites that give you the option of how many messages you want displayed on each page (similar to some webmail inboxes or search sites - display 25 messages/results per page, 50 msgs/results, etc.). I'm willing to give up the immediate gratification of reading about scouting in exchange for a longer load time, if I don't have to keep clicking through multiple pages of posts.

 

That being said - I know next to nothing about websites. This may be set up to limit to the number of messages per page b/c the server can only process so many requests at once (or something to that effect). Still, it would be a nice option. :-)

 

3. Thread spin-offs

Nice feature - but is it possible to add the title of the thread the message was spun off from? That would help give the reader a basic understanding of where the topic came from (yes, I realize that if the title of the old thread was that helpful, the new message probably wouldn't need to be spun-off in the first place!) Or possibly give the title of the NEW thread in the old message? Just something other than "Spun off to new thread, click here for your surprise topic".

 

That's about it for now. This is a great site, and as other posters have said - I've learned more here than any roundtable or University of Scouting event I've attended [blasphemy alert!] - including Woodbadge. So a big thanks to Terry and all the forum moderators.

 

YIS,

 

Gags