Wow, lots of members left or what?

[MaxiMog]

Only 237 members? (2000+ earlier)? Has the hacker been here again?

[Bruce]

Hi Maxi,
No, We are making a lot of changes. I want to get the forum back to normal asap, and trying to form a legal connection between the Bozo who attacked the fourm and the name and address I am sure goes with it. Anyway, among other things, last night I ran a script that deleted any registrations that hadn\'t posted in the last month. That is what is left. There are a number of upgrades I want to install in the forum program today. The registration function is shut off for now and it will probably be limited to customers from now on.

More news as it arrives. I will start a thread dedicated to ideas about upgrading the forum.

Thanks for all the support behind the scenes and otherwise.

Bruce

[Xehupatl]

whoa! thank god I posted in the last month /ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif I really should get more involved ... anyone for donating some mones?
send them to ... nah!

[Track0714]

I better post so i dont get deleted

[Bruce]

Anybody who is in the system now has clearly posted at some time or another period and there are no new members since the flush, so need to panic.
Bruce

[Phantom]

Bruce, why don\'t you make the signup form longer and to be more informative (name, address..ect.) so it discourages Bozo\'s from making 1000 usernames.

[Watcher]

Thats a very good idea, and i think the requirement to post at least once every 2 months is a good idea.
Unfornatley there are out there who will attack websites like this, well i guess if you get emails from members who havent posted in the last 2 months then sure reinstate them otherwise keep it to regular customers etc.
If this bozo is in colombia however i think u would have very little chance of taking him out.

[upsidedown]

I noticed that Jambat got purged though. You may need to give him a special reinstatement pass. /ubbthreads/images/icons/laugh.gif

[Tantalus747]

Bruce, you may have gotten rid of alot of irregular people who were good members.

If I hadn\'t happened to post yesterday for the first time in quite a while I\'d be gone. I\'m sure there must be other people like me... people that don\'t have alot of time to spend on internet boards.

Every once in a while I come here to see what\'s changed & read new experiences. I\'ve contributed & helped newbies when I\'m around.

[DrSmellThis]

Thanks for the hard work. Sounds good.

My only concern with limiting forum participation to customers is it elimenates the newbie asking basic questions about whether the stuff is worth buying, etc. But perhaps the trade off would be worth it.

[bundyburger]

Another suggestion Bruce,
Can\'t pictures be disabled too?? They are SO rarely used by regular members that they wouldn\'t be missed anyway. If someone really wanted to reference something I\'m sure they\'d find a way to link to pictures somewhere else and so on.

I don\'t think limiting to customers would be in your best interests either. Unless there is a way of limiting non-customers to moderated status?

[Watcher]

Ok i have an idea, is it possible to make it a condition that with pictures that the user sends it to bruce and only administration can put in the pictures onto user profiles, that way bruce can check the legit nature of those pictures and control the bozo attacks that go on.
And i would say that anyone who has posted in the last 3 months should be allowed to retain thier username. That would at least leave some show that the forum is popular, visitors probably eqaute 2000 forum members to being more interesting than 233 registered members (just a marketing standpoint) but u have taken some smart steps so far. Yes i would have some trustworthy moderators on the forum with set guidelines on actions etc. Ie oscar whitehall FTR watcher (me) xxxpantero and others that are \"active\" on the board.

[Bruce]

I just altered the upload guidelines, which I think makes it impossible to upload photos, but I\'m not sure. If someone wants to try it, let me know. Good idea.

RE who can register: Even if someone can\'t register, they can still browse around and learn a heck of a lot. Just think of all the newbies who drop in, register, and *immediatley* post something like \"I\'m a newbie, what\'s the best product around?\" Maybe it is better for everybody to slow that process down a little.

Bruce

[bundyburger]

<<Just think of all the newbies who drop in, register, and *immediatley* post something like \"I\'m a newbie, what\'s the best product around?\">>

Some people seem to do that out of sheer laziness. /ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif Some of the same questions are repeated a few times a week at times, I know.
On the other hand, for newbies it can be very daunting reading through the varied thoughts on products mentioned on the forum.

Also, I am generally pretty good at using search engines/facilities on the web, but I find the search here annoyingly inadequate.
It would be good if you could search using \"AND\" with a user name too. Maybe one of the UBB upgrades improve this.

For an existing user who \"vaguely remembers\" what was said by a particular user or two, they can usually find most information.
For a newbie though, who has no idea of the lingo or products etc, it can be too hard and I sometimes don\'t blame people for just getting on and asking \"What\'s the best product for me??\"

Bruce, it took me a few days (maybe even a week or two!! I can\'t recall.) to notice the \"Pheromone Reference Material\" link up the top of the forum. It looks like a title at first glance, not a link.
Maybe you need a noticable link on the forum page. A BBBIG sign up top called \"What\'s the best product for me?? ...And commonly asked questions!\" ...Or something, sending newbies to the FAQ.( which needs to be updated a bit too /ubbthreads/images/icons/crazy.gif ) Or even send them to a shorter \"I wanna know NOW!!! >:( \" section.

There\'s some grunt work to do with some of these. /ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif

[CptKipling]

Yeah while we are having a reshuffle we could include some inprovements like that, the addition of the Cookbook and the link at the top has helped loads, but as bundy says, newbies often don\'t know where to look. Maybe a link from the Forum FAQ to the Pheromone FAQ and to the Cookbook aswell, to increase the chances or hearding the newbies to the right place!

[Lucky]

Bruce,
In my opinion, one of your strongest marketing tools is the Pheromone Reference Materials, including the cookbook. Right now you have to work to find the info - I think it ought to jump right out at you.

Lots of newbies are shy about posting, only remotely curious about pheromones, and would buy more if we could figure out what we should try - without it being a hassle.

My two cents.

[Watcher]

Well im volunteering to overhaul the cookbook and reference material, i will download the whole document, and regig it with an overhaul and send a copy to bruce for feedback, anyone else is welcome to PM me with any new additions they want, that is if it is permissable by bruce etc.
Good idea about increasing the presense of it to make it more helpful to newbies - could also have a link called newbies click here.

[TBiRD]

MY PRAYERS HAVE BEEN HEARD ...



<<<<<<: Even if someone can\'t register, they can still browse around and learn a heck of a lot. Just think of all the newbies who drop in, register, and *immediatley* post something like \"I\'m a newbie, what\'s the best product around?\" Maybe it is better for everybody to slow that process down a little. >>>>>


I was always hoping , that one day you would come up with a line like that ! Great ! DO IT !!!!!

[Watcher]

Ive got an idea T-bird what we need is a newbies area where they can ask all those beginner questions and people can put in basic answers if they wish, would seperate that from the more advanced discussion that goes on in the pheromone section.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I feel like it\'s a trade off. I get to come here and goof around and share experience and talk about pheromones ... and then I do my part and work the newbies for awhile, too, when they\'re on. It does get incredibly tedious answering the same questions over and over again, but that\'s what we all do -- people who\'ve been here way longer than I have still answer the same old \"Tell me what to do, I have no idea\" questions with infinite patience, day after day. Working with the newbies is just part of the forum chores, is how I see it.

[Phantom]

yea, remember ladysadness....

[Watcher]

Yeah it seems to be that way, and to suck new users into the forum to enhance the knowledge flows and new idea generation on a broad range of topics. We help them out and they get very good advice.
Bruce will find a proper balance as in the past because of so many ideas that are forthcoming.

[Bruce]

FTR,
Wow! Well said. And you thought you didn\'t deserve the Bodhi Satva title...
Bruce

[TBiRD]

yeah Watcher , I Like your idea about a \"newbie section\"

This should be the only section they can post when they sign up.......And the pros can help them there whenever they feel like it...just like FTR mentioned ! This way the main discussion Forum will not be \"junked up\" and the n00bs will be satisfied with the help they get in their own section. Incase a newbiepost is very interesting , it could be moved to the \"pheromone discussion\" section\" + vice versa too...if a pro posts nonsense...off to the newbie section .

[EXIT63]

How about BIG NEWBIE HYPERLINKS on the registration page. Or, after they register, the automically go to a special newbie page with faq and links and stuff. \"Please take 2 minutes to read this page before posting. Then you put a little countdown timer set at 120 seconds so they can\'t access the forum until they read the page.

Okay, maybe the timer part is a bit much.

[bundyburger]

<<Okay, maybe the timer part is a bit much. >>

...or maybe not. LOL I know \'I\' would just click \"continue\" automatically. /ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif

[Watcher]

No that sounds like a good idea. And once they get knowledgeable then they can come to the main pheormone discussion. If some of us have moderator status we can automatically move newbie questions over to the new newbie section.

[franki]

I think that when Bruce opens up the forum to newbies again, the forum will get FLOODED with newbies, who have been anxiously waiting to get in...

Franki /ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif

[Bruce]

Good ideas everyone. We are upgrading the forum to a new version. We may have a brief down time during that procedure. After that we\'ll check out the new features and see what we got with the package. Then it will be time to customize in anything else we might need.
Bruce