EDIT - A DAY LATER: If you aren't concerned about, or interested in, the details or features of the new forum software, don't bother to read through this LONG post.
I hope everyone (and their families) is safe and healthy.
Sorry for the delay...
I have a number of things to report in this update and want to open a few things up for discussion.
General Comment About Progress
I reported on July 13 that I had purchased a license for the new software. In the event that you're wondering why something hasn't "happened" in the 3+ weeks since, I have been busy working on things every day since. Yes, I have actually been plugging away at a controlled pace for the last 23 days.
You might be interested to know that there are sites/forums out there that have still not migrated to new platforms after many months and, in a few cases, years after acquiring new software for testing/migration. I know this as I have become an active member of the support community and have had personal "conversations" (think PMs) with other members about their conversions.
Ours won't go many months or years but I'm not ready to make the switch just yet for a number of reasons - many of which are technical, relating to database performance and tweaking and others related to:
- Which software features should be implemented or not
- Gaining an understanding of a very detailed permission system
- The necessity for me to put together a comprehensive things-to-do list for actually making the conversion. This is nothing like setting up a forum from scratch. I have two pages of detailed notes about how to execute the conversion process already.
As I said somewhere else, you may find that there is no forum for a day or two or... after I do the migration as I will need to test again and need to set up the permission system (and other things) properly. This alone could take the better part of a day.
Needless to say, I don't want to make the transition prematurely without understanding the consequences of all the decisions/options. Having said that, it is likely that I will have to tweak things after the fact. I do want to have the major permissions set at the onset though.
For example, I will have to edit each Supporting Member's profile separately to set them as a Supporting Member in addition to being a Registered User.
About "Friends"
If you have a list of Friends HERE now, they will not convert properly. The new software utilizes a slightly different approach called "following" / "followers". That is, you can "follow" people and they can "follow" you.
The activity of the people you follow shows up in a "News Stream" personalized for you based on their activity. For obvious reasons, following too many people creates a busy stream of data. On day 1, no one will have followers or be following any one.
About Location Data in Your Profile
As you know, there is a field in your profile now called "Location". In the new software, if someone views your profile and might be interested in your geographical location and clicks on your location, a new tab opens up in your browser and displays your location in Google Maps. This only works however, if you have enough, formatted, information in your location field.
For example: My profile field reads: Markham, Ontario, Canada. This will result in a correct Google Map result.
If your location field has something like "Black Creek" in the location field, the resulting map will find the closest "Black Creek" to the person clicking on your location. That could be a street, another town called Black Creek, an actual creek , etc.
So, if you care, you might want to edit you location field NOW before the migration (or not - up to you). You can find it by clicking on "User CP" in navigation bar then "Edit Your Details" in the left sidebar. Again, only if you care - not a priority.
About Photos - Inserting, Uploading. Attaching
I'm still learing about this sub-system but have a pretty good handle on the basics of how this works in the new software. I will likely create a small tutorial about this in the new software "Resources" section.
But a few things now FYI:
- Assuming you will have a "permission" to upload photos, I am going to set an inital maximum file size of 6000 kb (6 MB) and force the system to resize the width to 1024 pixels. This is for .jpg and .jpeg file extension only at the moment.
A 1024 WIDE pixel photo looks like this:
- If you have the capability to crop, resize and compress the size of your photos, please think about continuing to do that PRIOR to uploading as it will save processing time initially. A compression factor of 30 is a safe setting to use.
- Any photos that my photo testers have uploaded HERE will migrate over to the new software as large thumbnails but will be viewable full size by clicking on them.
- With photo uploading being open to Supporting Members, the file system holding the uploaded photos will become huge obviously over time. One thing that I've read about in the support forums is abuse of the privilege of direct photo uploading. That is, in some cases, frivolous uploading simply because they can. Hopefully we will avoid that here.
This is a quote from an Admin about this subject:
"Profile Page Posting"
Profile posting in the new software is akin to writing on someone's "timeline". EDIT: Removed social media reference
Examples (if allowed):
1) Someone could navigate to my profile and write a "post" on my profile. I would be alerted to this and could respond.
2) I could write a post on my own profile which I thought wasn't worth posting in one of formal forums. A "follower" would see my post in their News Stream and could then go and view it. Or, someone could stumble upon it looking at my profile.
These profile posts are communications between members outside of the category threads that are available for viewing by anyone with privileges - unlike a "conversation" (the term for PM in the new software) between users which is not viewable outside of the members conversing). EDIT: This feature is in addition to the "Conversation" feature (PMs) for supporting Members.
This has created a few questions in my mind:
1. What are your thoughts about this feature? Enable or disable? Useful in some circumstances?
2) If yes, enable, who can VIEW someone's profile page posts? Visitors? Any Registered Member? Followed Members (like friends)?
3) If yes, enable, who can utilize this feature on their own profile page? Any Registered Member? A "Supporting Member"?
4) If yes, who can post on another person's profile page? Any Registered Member? Other "Supporting Members"?
*NOTE: By "Supporting Member", I'm referring to those that stepped up to support our upgrade and migration. this will be a new category once we migrate. And, I think I will need to summarize what I THINK we deicded about Supporting Member privileges in another post.
To Wrap Up
That's it for now. I'm still working on a bunch of things but would like to get some opinions on the few things I mentioned above and the suggestion about your Location. Refer back to bold red type above.
Just by the way, I'm taking the day off for tomorrow for my Grandson's birthday so I may not respond to any replies or questions.
Thanks.
I hope everyone (and their families) is safe and healthy.
Sorry for the delay...
I have a number of things to report in this update and want to open a few things up for discussion.
General Comment About Progress
I reported on July 13 that I had purchased a license for the new software. In the event that you're wondering why something hasn't "happened" in the 3+ weeks since, I have been busy working on things every day since. Yes, I have actually been plugging away at a controlled pace for the last 23 days.
You might be interested to know that there are sites/forums out there that have still not migrated to new platforms after many months and, in a few cases, years after acquiring new software for testing/migration. I know this as I have become an active member of the support community and have had personal "conversations" (think PMs) with other members about their conversions.
Ours won't go many months or years but I'm not ready to make the switch just yet for a number of reasons - many of which are technical, relating to database performance and tweaking and others related to:
- Which software features should be implemented or not
- Gaining an understanding of a very detailed permission system
- The necessity for me to put together a comprehensive things-to-do list for actually making the conversion. This is nothing like setting up a forum from scratch. I have two pages of detailed notes about how to execute the conversion process already.
As I said somewhere else, you may find that there is no forum for a day or two or... after I do the migration as I will need to test again and need to set up the permission system (and other things) properly. This alone could take the better part of a day.
Needless to say, I don't want to make the transition prematurely without understanding the consequences of all the decisions/options. Having said that, it is likely that I will have to tweak things after the fact. I do want to have the major permissions set at the onset though.
For example, I will have to edit each Supporting Member's profile separately to set them as a Supporting Member in addition to being a Registered User.
About "Friends"
If you have a list of Friends HERE now, they will not convert properly. The new software utilizes a slightly different approach called "following" / "followers". That is, you can "follow" people and they can "follow" you.
The activity of the people you follow shows up in a "News Stream" personalized for you based on their activity. For obvious reasons, following too many people creates a busy stream of data. On day 1, no one will have followers or be following any one.
About Location Data in Your Profile
As you know, there is a field in your profile now called "Location". In the new software, if someone views your profile and might be interested in your geographical location and clicks on your location, a new tab opens up in your browser and displays your location in Google Maps. This only works however, if you have enough, formatted, information in your location field.
For example: My profile field reads: Markham, Ontario, Canada. This will result in a correct Google Map result.
If your location field has something like "Black Creek" in the location field, the resulting map will find the closest "Black Creek" to the person clicking on your location. That could be a street, another town called Black Creek, an actual creek , etc.
So, if you care, you might want to edit you location field NOW before the migration (or not - up to you). You can find it by clicking on "User CP" in navigation bar then "Edit Your Details" in the left sidebar. Again, only if you care - not a priority.
About Photos - Inserting, Uploading. Attaching
I'm still learing about this sub-system but have a pretty good handle on the basics of how this works in the new software. I will likely create a small tutorial about this in the new software "Resources" section.
But a few things now FYI:
- Assuming you will have a "permission" to upload photos, I am going to set an inital maximum file size of 6000 kb (6 MB) and force the system to resize the width to 1024 pixels. This is for .jpg and .jpeg file extension only at the moment.
A 1024 WIDE pixel photo looks like this:
- If you have the capability to crop, resize and compress the size of your photos, please think about continuing to do that PRIOR to uploading as it will save processing time initially. A compression factor of 30 is a safe setting to use.
- Any photos that my photo testers have uploaded HERE will migrate over to the new software as large thumbnails but will be viewable full size by clicking on them.
- With photo uploading being open to Supporting Members, the file system holding the uploaded photos will become huge obviously over time. One thing that I've read about in the support forums is abuse of the privilege of direct photo uploading. That is, in some cases, frivolous uploading simply because they can. Hopefully we will avoid that here.
This is a quote from an Admin about this subject:
One area that this could become an issue is event coverage. I would be interested to know what you think about a "policy" relative to uploading event photos. That is, for example, should we think about insisting on outside links for event photos? (i.e. car shows - not small gatherings or shop tours).
"Profile Page Posting"
Profile posting in the new software is akin to writing on someone's "timeline". EDIT: Removed social media reference
Examples (if allowed):
1) Someone could navigate to my profile and write a "post" on my profile. I would be alerted to this and could respond.
2) I could write a post on my own profile which I thought wasn't worth posting in one of formal forums. A "follower" would see my post in their News Stream and could then go and view it. Or, someone could stumble upon it looking at my profile.
These profile posts are communications between members outside of the category threads that are available for viewing by anyone with privileges - unlike a "conversation" (the term for PM in the new software) between users which is not viewable outside of the members conversing). EDIT: This feature is in addition to the "Conversation" feature (PMs) for supporting Members.
This has created a few questions in my mind:
1. What are your thoughts about this feature? Enable or disable? Useful in some circumstances?
2) If yes, enable, who can VIEW someone's profile page posts? Visitors? Any Registered Member? Followed Members (like friends)?
3) If yes, enable, who can utilize this feature on their own profile page? Any Registered Member? A "Supporting Member"?
4) If yes, who can post on another person's profile page? Any Registered Member? Other "Supporting Members"?
*NOTE: By "Supporting Member", I'm referring to those that stepped up to support our upgrade and migration. this will be a new category once we migrate. And, I think I will need to summarize what I THINK we deicded about Supporting Member privileges in another post.
To Wrap Up
That's it for now. I'm still working on a bunch of things but would like to get some opinions on the few things I mentioned above and the suggestion about your Location. Refer back to bold red type above.
Just by the way, I'm taking the day off for tomorrow for my Grandson's birthday so I may not respond to any replies or questions.
Thanks.
