So what happens after November 15th? Are people thinking about migrating somewhere else? Patch for example?

Just wondering.

We can all meet up at Ackerman and work out together.

I don't want to say Clam doesn't work out much, but he thought a barbell was something you used to summon the bar tender.

quote:

Originally posted by southge:
So what happens after November 15th?

A small, temporary spike in worker productivity.

A meeting of minds at Tap House to figure out who takes on the job as new board owner (a new forum)? I am already an admin at a large international photo forum, so I don't want to take on the project as a community forum owner. Just too busy with the real paying full time job plus that other forum. I can, and am willing, to advise on pros and cons of various forum software, plugins and how to control spammers effectively.

Thank you you're too kind. Don't forget to tip the wait staff and bar tenders.

there is always Facebook

quote:

Originally posted by southge:
there is always Facebook

Eeeewwww. I sure hope it doesn't come down to that.

How about creating a Yahoo group? They are easy to manage. Not as easy to naviagate.... but it can be useful. Glen Ellyn Newcomers has 2 set up, one for current members and one for alumni.

If you guys want, Tony will build you a site.

What is his Jeep site?

How about this as a solution...Nextdoor.com

Nothing beats real forum software. Forum software is very customizable and somewhat inexpensive to buy. Plug-ins to the software are either free or go for low cost.

To go the forum route, at minimum, you would need:

Domain name, under $10/year
Web Host, $10-50/year
Forum software, $90-200 one-time buy. Updates are usually free for a while.
Plug-ins for security and anti-spamming, skins, etc., $free - ~$25

vBulletin, which is what we use where I help out, is a couple hundred but earlier (and less buggy) versions below 4.x can be had for less, but are unsupported, except for the user forums to discuss their own product.

It takes a lot of hours to do initial forum setup. It isn't an out-of-the-box proposition. This is where it would help to have several admin and moderator level helpers to discuss sub-forum names, permissions, and visibilty of certain hidden sub-forums for the volunteers to discuss changes (email is too slow for that). T.O.S. terms would need to be ironed out and posted. How one would integrate any official Village news (if allowed) would also need to understood. Make no mistake, owning an active forum is an avocation, at minimum. Volunteers are fantastic to share the load.

The big forum I work with has about 15 admins and 35 moderators. As spam cop, I spend about an hour per night just checking through new registrations, re-checking suspect users for activity, deleting spam posts and filtering out IP#'s, domain names and nuking spam posts (and we have four layers of automatic anti-spamming procedures in place).

The big work, for a prospective new forum owner, is setting up the initial forum software, tweaking and testing it before it goes live. Test postings (via invites, basically) will help vet out problems. One would re-tweak the thing gradually as it grows. Changes to forum settings should always be expected for the life of a forum.

What if we bought a domain name . . . say www.thegebb.com . . . and force some random IT guy to set it up?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Clamato,

quote:

Originally posted by Clamato:
What if we bought a domain name . . . say www.thegebb.com . . . and force Gus's IT guy to set it up?

I'd say that I'm there! Well actually I'm Perplexed. That's Perplexed with a capital P although as I write this I'm becoming perplexed with a small p. Speaking of p.. Back, where was I? Oh, I know. If you build it I will come as Perplexed, but not as perplexed Perplexed. I think.

Perplexed (With an Upper Case P) - I promise on any new sight not to inadvertantly steal your avatars. We would have Avatars, wouldn't we? How would I recognize the posts worth reading without seeing a flamethrowing cat?

PS. Can someone go over to Ack's blog and let him know where we are.....oh, never mind.

GEBB© 1996, 2011 T. C. Eselgroth

The GEBB is going into hibernation. Technically, it will continue to exist until further notice. No further notice is yet planned.

You realize that I am now out approximately $8, right? Anyone want to buy www.thegebb.com ? Need to recoup my losses.