Board format

[Clarke Echols]

This will take some getting used to...

I have seen similar boards in other areas, so it shouldn't be too bad.

There is one thing about MAK's "old boad" that I really liked, and that is having all topics
in a single list so I can browse up and down the list and read and respond as I choose.  One
thing I don't like about other boards is that everything gets broken into "categories" where
I have to search all over to see everything.  For somebody interested only in how to adjust
a height-control valve, that might be just fine, but given the tendency for topics to drift
a bit or somebody dropping an aside into a thread that might be useful to others, having
a base posting listed with no hierarchical showing of responses (with possible changed
topics) leaves a lot out of the interactivity of MAK's board, and that is the main reason I
don't visit the other bus boards.  MAK's was so much more "alive".

I appreciate the need to block spam.  I just wish we could keep that format with the
protection of logins with a valid email address required.

Clarke

[gumpy]

It appears that you can order the display by the latest response by clicking on the right side column. When you come in, you can see which threads have had recent activity.

[FAST FRED]

Agree with CE about the dificulty  of searching usefull topics.the BNO boars works just fine, as does todays MAC board.

 The Mac lack of searchable archives (as BNO has)makes it almost useless for newbees that wish to get up to speed .

Don't like AT ALL the need to give E mail adress to register.

 My E mail is part of my business and endless spam is a BIG  time waister.

If the scum can get into the Top Seceret  areas of the Pentagon ,
 my feeling is you will be broken into at will, by some 9 year old.

I WIN! enough bogus lotteries in Zambia already.

The last "sign in" board for MAC was a huge disaster.

Hopefully,

FAST FRED

[gumpy]

So set up a free email address someplace and use it just for this site.

[plyonsMC9]

Thank you all who have taken the time to comment, and to those who will comment in the future. 

I will take what I have so far and do some follow up on what can be done. 

What I have so far:

- avoid categories   Does this mean keep all under "General Discussion" for example?
- heirarchical listing - (tree view ?) - of posts
- avoid email requirement if at all possible. 
- searchable archives

I do indeed remember the dual BBS MAK rolluot - experienced it first-hand.  Am working hard to not have that happen.  With the good suggestions & feedback we are receiving, I don't think we'll have a repeat.

I'll be away with researching this list for a while (OK, and working my real job), but will definetly continue to check for additional posts & suggestions.

Our web-tv tester has responded that the interface works with their browser, so that is one item checked off anyway.

Kind Regards - and thank you
Phil Lyons

[rv_safetyman]

Hi folks.  Looks like a good start to me.  I did not try the search, but that MUST be a part of the board. 

The thing I did not like about the old board was the need to load each reply to a thread.  I have satellite broad band so that I can use my Datastorm on the road, and the latency (22,000 mile trip back and forth) always slows each transaction down.  I guess the other way of saying that is that I can load the whole thread just as fast as each reply to a thread.

I will continue to play with this test, but it sure looks a lot better than the old board.

Looks like you can do most anything with the text -- not sure that that is a great thing, as some folks are going to go

Well, I guess the text stuff does not work yet, as I tried to really load up the word "crazy).

Jim Shepherd
Evergreen, CO
’85 Eagle 10
http://rvsafetysystems.com   Toll Free:  1**888**349**0704
Bus Project details:  http://www.rvsafetysystems.com/busproject.htm (updated 2/9/06)

[gumpy]

CRAZY


Looks like the underline is killing the text highlights.



The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round. All through the town.
COOL!!

Pictures work!!

[plyons]

Clarke,

When you mention avoid categories   - does this mean keep all under "General Discussion" for example?  e.g., just don't start a bunch of categories such as 6v92, series 50, old busses, new busses, etc., etc., etc.,?? 

I agree - and would like to just keep one general discussion.  LMK if that is what you are talking about.  Other comments also welcome!

Best Regards,
Phil

[plyons]

Hi Jim,

Actually, the font thing works (now anyways) by typing your words,   ex; one, two three, then pressing on the font button, ex: color or italics.

Then that drops in a begin and end "TAG".  You have to put the words you want changed , inside the tags.    The tags are enclosed with square brackets.  The tag with the "forward slash" goes after the last word you want modified.

LMK if other questions.  Hope this helps,
Phil

[plyons]

There are some quirks - especially with scrolling, underlining as craig noted above.

Hope this helps,
Phil

[plyons]

Thanks for the bus pic.  really nice.   

test
http://www.phillyons.com
Best Regards,
Phil

[gumpy]

... You have to put the words you want changed , inside the tags.   [/color]


The easier way to use the highlights is to first type the message, then go back and select the words you want to change, the hit the highlight button above. 

It will enclose the selected text within the tags.

craig[/size][/font][/color]

[Busted Knuckle]

I like what I see so far! I'll learn how to goof it up b4 to long! LOL! Anything that I fool with much becomes a disaster in no time! I do like being able to just scroll down and read each post instead of having to open each an every one seperately! BK

[plyonsMC9]

I do understand the desire to keep the same format - it is very clean and easy to follow.  It is also easy for me to backup in an automated fashion.  On the flip side, an issue that I face daily with the current board and code behind it has many security holes which are time-consuming to patch.  I have worked on some of them, but the board has a known reputation as a security risk, and it is difficult to get support in the forums due to that reputation.     On a positive note, the SMF board does make it very easy to export the data from the SQL database to other formats for things like a searchable archive.  The current perl-based setup has code wrapped around the posts, making content extraction more difficult. 

Thoughts? 

[Clarke Echols]

I'm still learning to reply to this thing, so here's my first attempt.  That is exactly what I mean -- no separate categories for 6V92, MC-9, MCI, Eagle, Prevost, etc.  Too many topics bridge categories,
and if something useful shows up in a Prevost category that I might think I'm not interested in,
and I miss it.  There is a LOT of cross-pollination of ideas on the "classic" MAK board that makes
it so enjoyable an environment that gets missed in "categorized" boards (like some of the woodworking boards I'm familiar with.

Clarke

Clarke,

When you mention avoid categories   - does this mean keep all under "General Discussion" for example?  e.g., just don't start a bunch of categories such as 6v92, series 50, old busses, new busses, etc., etc., etc.,?? 

I agree - and would like to just keep one general discussion.  LMK if that is what you are talking about.  Other comments also welcome!

Best Regards,
Phil