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i providing your name and current email account and selecting a nickname and password.
What will show up on the posts?
For security reasons I prefer for my whole name not to show (lots of folks know me by BobL in my noncyber life I sgn my work emails etc that way). Providing Taunton with that information is not a concern for me, and yes that is my real email address, I have recieved email from here at it.
Replies
*
I got a question too -
Any discussion groups already using Prospero software that you know of? If you do know of one, maybe we could check them out and get a "sneak peek".
*I've got a question, too- if no attachments will be moved, does that include the Photo Gallery? It would be a shame to lose all those pictures.
*Bobl et all,On the new forums there will be several places we ask for names, what will be displayed will be the Nickname that you choose, and in some cases the username will be displayed. On the registartion page we will ask for your real first/last names but we will not be using them for anything. There will be many areas that you can get help online through our new forums that will answer a lot of the questions that you folks might have and it will be much easier to explain to you all when we are live, but please continue to ask if you have general questions.Mark
*Yes unfortunatly that does include the Photogallery that is one of the reasons we are giving you a weeks notice so that if you have some favorite images you want you will have time to copy them to your hard drive. The reason that we are unable to include attachments is because they live on the WebX server and the links to them will go dead once we switch over.Mark
*Boss,Some of the other folks out there in cyber space that use the Prospero platform are Fox.com, about.com, amazon.com and the washington post.com. Please do take a look our, interface will be differant than what you see there as we have customized it to meet ours and your needs. Mark
*Can I have "John Swenson" this time?
*I suppose you can if you get there first.Mary
*Please tell me we're not going to a chat room type set up.Vince
*Vincent,Chat rooms will be an option that we can turn on and off but we will not be launching with them active. The basic setup of the forum is somewhat similiar to what we have here, folders with discussions within them.-M
*Comment,Us old people really hate it when you just start getting used to something and they go and change it.I'm sure it's for the best though. Thanks for the effort to imnprove. Tauton's site is already one of the finest. Hope it will still be easy to post photos and drawings.
*I hope you can set it up to have several messages on a page and not have to click for a page for each message. That's annoying.Also, the Wash. Post site performance is quite slow. Much worse than here. Hope you won't be going to that feature too.Mary
*Actually it will be easier to post drawings and photos along with posting in html and many other things...-M
*Thanks Mark, Will the site operate like it does now,subscribtions, outline, that sort of thing?Vince
*OH NO!!!! The shed will not be copied. The DIY thread (that I inadvertently started) and other well-known flame wars will go away.
*Vince,Things will be somewhat differant but most of what you are familiar with here will be on the new forums along with many new features.-M
*I want my name to be the same as my mail is delivered: 'Occupant'.
*I understand the need for a switch. But it would be a shame if pics disappear from threads like Boogerin' with Blue, OJT, and the Bathroom Saga, just to name a few.
*I promise I'll try to keep an open mind.Rich Beckman
*Actually, John, you can copy the DIY thread and transfer it!
*Wannabe,I also wish we could transfer the pics over, (especially the one of Andy that I've seen recently) its just that transferring the discussions is a monumental task in its self never mind adding several thousand megs of images on top of that. We looked into it long and hard and the end result was that it was just not feasable.-Mark (SYSOP)
*Mark,I'll bet that the photographer (is it Ralph or Mike?) would be very happy to repost that pic if you ask nicely (and pay more than Andy is paying...). I'm sure it is the most posted pic on Breaktime.Rich Beckman
*Guess that's the way it has to be. Thanks for the effort.
*8x10 glossies can be had for a small phenomenal fee.Or, one donated free if printed on the back page of FHB.
*Cookies are a tad more vocal on this subject . . . Marie-Louise "File Comments on the New Board Here..." 3/13/02 11:41pm
*Ops;I've looked at a couple of prospero sites and each shows only one message at a time.If that's the only option, I doubt if I'll stay long; it's like a giant step backwards to my uncle Ed's retaded neighbor's local direct dial bulletin board hosted on his junk 286 on toe fungus circa 1990.Please give us an link to one of one of the prospero hosted boards that you think is good (structurally, I don't care about colors!)The ability to scroll a thread is, IMHO, the only way to go.XPS is cool, but not in the prospero incarnation that I've seen!
*Chef2Chef apparently uses this same format. (According to Wolvie over at cooks talk - can't verify it for myself - Does anyone here know for certain?) They have a test board at:http://www.chef2chef.info/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=testYou can post test messages and replies without being registered, and they're deleted every day. I started one over there called "Breaktime Test" so we could play around with it.
*At the Amazon site, I was able to view ten messages in a thread at one time. That is the only reason I'm not completely pessimistic about this.Rich Beckman
*I went to amazon.com, but didn't see anything about a message board. Got link?
*At Amazon.com, click on the "Friends & Favorites" in the rust colored band accross the top. On the page that comes up, there is a box on the left headed "Explore". The sixth link down is "Discussion Boards". The next page gives lists of board topics. I had to register to get to one.Rich Beckman
*I've muddled around a bit in Prospero world, and I don't think anybody will have much difficulty adapting. If I can figure it out, so should any of you be able to.
*Once, or was that thrice (?) upon a time... vast sections of commentary and photography would vanish.Some truely important posts like Adrian Wilson'sMan of the New Millennia.We survived. Diminished, but... survived.Three months from now, 50% of the participants will know of no other system. In a year, 80 percent.So?Other than your Name, Address, Day and Evening Telephone numbers, D&B Credit rating, INS Status,and Social Security number being displayed with yourNickname (The Real John Swenson)... I wouldn't worry.-gwcTea break over... back out to the shop.
*Once again, I raise the question - why such a dinky message box? If this is an exchange forum where we are entering discussion, then please make the message box at least twice as large as the current one. Can anybody answer why they are so small?
*That Chef2Chef board is running on Universal Bulletin Board (UBB), from InfoPop Software. I don't think this is the same stuff.Dvae
*Ability to adapt and motivation to adapt are different, though. I agree with those who are reluctant to click through one message at a time, and am unlikely to do that even if the content is compelling. I'll repeat some of my comments from over in Sprout Off. (By the way, we Sprouts are being transmogrified into "Over-the-Fence"-ers, which sounds painful, or at least, too athletic, for me. I can't hear the phrase "over the fence" anymore without thinking of that poor young man in Wyoming, Matthew Shephard. I treasure being a Sprout.) One of the very positive things about the current set up is its resemblance to a traditional page of print. Black text on a white background, with some blue and gold accents. Using a serif font. It's easy and comfortable to read, and there isn't a lot of visual distraction. You can immediately read to get the "content" of what is being said.OK, web interfaces can be more exciting than print--that's one of the wonderful things about the Web. But when I am "reading" and after content, I don't want colored text on a colored background, or unreadable fonts. I know I usually advocate for interesting graphics and what Luka calls visual "foofaraw," but not for long stretches of reading. There is a difference between a legible font and a readable font (yes I can provide footnotes). Arial, a sans serif font, for instance, is legible, and attention getting. It's great for short captions and labels. For long stretches of text, not so great. For long stretches you want something "readable" and serif fonts like boring old "times Roman" are very readable over long stretches. Don't get me wrong, I adore innovative and fresh alternative fonts, for affect, but not for readability. So while innovative graphic work can be visually exciting on a site you visit intermittently or stay briefly while moving around a lot in the site, for hanging around and reading, visual fatigue can set in early, and that's what usually drive me away from forums that use text on color, too may graphics, and arial and other less readable fonts.I really really hope it is multiple messages on a page, and scrolling. The context clicking is a no-go for me from the start. That is to much technology getting in the way of the reading.
*I like the Times Roman font on the white background too--If the boss comes by, it looks like you're working!
*Quick!Somebody register the name "Robert Haugen" before he can switch over.Jon
*When my boss catches me on Breaktime, I AM working. This change will be like any other. We'll like some stuff, and not other. We'll miss the old format, but the new one shouldn't crash as much. A month from now, most of us will have forgotten how to post on WebX boards. I council deep breaths, and if needed, an adult beverage. Andy
*Interesting. I read Breaktime in Arial - I have my browser set that way because I prefer it. I would imagine your font could be adjusted through your browser in the new boards as well.
*FWIW, I've poked around the Amazon board and gotten weird display results, I started at the Main page:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/community/forum/forum-home.html/103-5048923-0557445I went to the professional tools forum and selected a couple of multi-message thread:I got multiple message displays at:http://forums.prosperotechnologies.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=am-protools&msg=1.1&ctx=0But only single messages displayed at:http://forums.prosperotechnologies.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=am-protools&msg=10.3&ctx=0FWIW, I'm partial to the UBB type boards; vBulletin is the one I like best but don't know if it lends itself to Taunton's needs.I suspect a signifcant reason for the switch is ease/power of administration; I hope usability has been sacrificed, but I just don't have the experience with the new software UI.I'm fairly cynical about this subject, though. I've seen to many organizations select software based on the needs of technical support (which are, in the overall scheme of things, fairly limited, but of great imporatnce to the decision makers AND?OR their technical advisors) with little regard for the actually user's needs.We shall see....
*Bob,You are correct in that one of the list of important criteria was ease/power of administration, but look at it from a differant perspective. The easier it is for us to administer the faster we can resolve any issues that might arise. Another even more important item when selecting forum software/hosts is the infrastructure that is behind the software. You can have the best features list in the whole world but if its running on a single server that gets backup every now and then and doesn't have the people or resources behind it to develop and improve uponthen it is worth very little. Prospero has a server Farm with multiple servers that are constantly backed and a completly redundentsystem (that by the way I have been to and seen in person) So when you post a message to the new forums not only is it being copied across several servers, but it is also being backed up, so should there be any problems another server will immedatly jump in and take its place with little or no downtime at all.The resources that I have at my disposal through Prospero are great I can have someone of the phone in minutes should there be a question or problem that we cannot handle in house.But the most important factor to us when we were looking at boards was the user interface and we are confident that what we have in place will meet or exceed your needs and wants. Will it take some getting used to? You bet but all new software does.Mark
*I enter witha bookmark at webx.taunton etc. Are we going to have to start at the http://www.taunton.com page? Particularly the first time reregister.
*Having to click through each post one message at a time with no links or ability to jump back or leap forward was one of the things that KILLED the forums on the late great Remodeling Magazine On-line forums. Over there with each successive remodeling of their site(s Remodeling & Builder Online) the publisher Hanley-Wood show us all that just when we thought they just how bad can anyone screw something good like that up they would go out and show us they weren't done and make it worse again. The just made another change there about a month ago and now the whole site is completely worthless and useless (it looks nice though!)Taunton you’ve all done a great job for years now PLEASE DON’T BLOW IT like Hanley-Wood did. Learn from their mistakes. This has been such a great place to hang out learn and work on stuff.PS- it would also be nice if when I clicked on the FHB or FWW banner at the top of the forum pages if it took us to that particular magazines home page! Also set the margin at the top of the page so the top of the screen isn't wasted with extraneous white space.
*Any chance we'll see a little soft porn with the new software?
*Jim, Jim, Jim, You have issues. The scary part is that they're the same ones I have.Dave
*bobl,we will be doing a redirect from webx.taunton.com to the new URL so the first time you go there you can bookmark the new forums and will be all set from that point on.-M
*Jerald,A couple of points I want to make. Every page will have new navigation that will allow you to click links to any part of our parent website.The new forums are set up very well and I think you will be very happy with them once you get up to speed with them. You will be able to set how many messages you see at one time and will be able to navigate very easily from one discussion to another and from one folder to another. You can also choose to set how you want to view the messages if one message at a time is your fancy then use the basic mode if multiple messages at a time are more to your liking then use the advanced view mode. This will still be a great place to "hang out" and exchange information its just that it was time to put a new foundation under the old house.-M
*Mark, I'm fine with the change... like I said... we've seen vast sections of archived and active posts vanish over the years.This nickname thing... John Svenson/Swenson seems to be most popular... I'm thinking about something quiet... like: Web Ops, operations, or Mark the Web Guru at TNM. Are any of these taken? Come with a parking space?Pass to the Fine Cooking 4pm/Fridays Limbo party?-gwc
*One of the many things I like about this board in contrast to many of the others is that there is very little real estate given over to frames that hold the links to other parts of the board. I hope that what you have described as allowing easy navigation isn't going to squeeze down the area usable for text to some small area. I am also in agreement with those that like the plain white background with black text for the messages.One thing you might think about is setting up a way to add a new thread (or "add discussion" in Breaktime nomenclature) that is less confusing to new users. We seem to get a lot of people adding what should be new threads to old ones. I assume that is because the "add discussion" is none too clear to many first timers.
*If any body else grabs the name piffin, I'll pif in his eye.
*Ops,Thanks for taking the time to read and respond. The proof, of course, will be in the pudding!As a moderator on a vBulletin board (with much less traffic than here) I have some feeling for your needs. I'm still leery, based on prior experiences, but ....BTW, as an older goat, I hate changing software; but will admit that sometimes the new stuff turns out better than the old!
*that is our ultimate goal, we are not changing just to change we are changing because we firmly believe that it is best.-M
*Actually George they are all taken, including the Free passes to the Friday afternoon limbo parties. But I'll see what I can cook up for you.-M
*Post New, Post New, Post New, that is the verbage that is used throughout the new forums when you want to start a new discussion. Navigation within threads and folders is much more straightforward and if someone posts in the wrong location it is super easy for us to move that post. Plain white with Black text is what the messages will be displayed in. One of the goals in designing the new forums keeping things simple was on the top of the list. Yes frames does reduce the area for text slighlty but there is still plenty of room.-M
*Piffin,for the right price I can reserve the name for you... Large unmarked bills in a plain brown envelope sent to SYSOP at Taunton works...-M
*Ops, it'll be fine. Good luck with the transition. I look forward to the changes, and w/ apologies to Bowie, I don't know what the hell he's talking about, but it seems like a good theme song:Still don't know what I was waiting forAnd my time was running wildA million dead-end streets andEvery time I thought I'd got it madeIt seemed the taste was not so sweetSo I turned myself to face meBut I've never caught a glimpseOf how the others must see the fakerI'm much too fast to take that testCh-ch-ch-ch-Changes(Turn and face the strain)Ch-ch-ChangesDon't want to be a richer manCh-ch-ch-ch-Changes(Turn and face the strain)Ch-ch-ChangesJust gonna have to be a different manTime may change meBut I can't trace time
*Thanks for your assurances M. Anyone who was there at the beginning of Remodeling Online and went through that trashing by Hanley Wood understands my trepidation. But Frames! I hate frames. You can't bookmark frames. Hanley-Wood also remodeled their JLC site and while they didn’t screw that up at all the way they screwed up RO the one thing that sucks about it now is that you can’t bookmark the individual discussions. Something about the dynamic generation of the content there changes the URL that you have bookmarked day to day so if you want to e-mail someone the URL of a particular discussion or reference it in another post somewhere else you can’t.As for forum sites running through frames (like MuralsPlus.com) I’m always opening frames in a new window (command clicking on a Mac). Very inconvenient and it makes navigating back to the main directory page views difficult.I got a UBB forum set-up on a site I help run and while I really like it I know that you guys are never going to please everybody here. I know there are plenty of people who gripe about UBB. Good luck and thanks for listening.Hey you guys want some good error Haikus for your error pages?The Web page you seekcannot be located butendless others existYou step in the stream,but the water has moved on.This page is not here.Stay the patient courseOf little worth is your ireThe page you seek could not be foundRather than a beepOr a rude error message,These words: "File not found."
*Oh man oh man....Mama don't like change.....Hang on.....here we go!Can I still be Ed.? Or is Ed Hilton gonna be Ed and I have to be something else.......I don't wanna be something else.Will there be a dress code, 'cause if there is, I can't come over and play.Do I have to wear a tie?.......I hate ties.I have some dress shoes, but I feel funny in them.I like change, I really do......but most times it seems as though it's not for the better.OK, OK, I'll give it a try, but.......I'M NOT DRESSING UP!!!ok?What's this about porn? Is there gonna be porn? At least they don't have to get dressed up. And if they do, at least they don't have to stay dressed up for very long......Not that there is anything wrong with that, but then again, I could be wrong.Ed.
*C'mon over here, Ed. This is the tennis elbow havin', bifocals wearin', ibuprofin chuggin', crotchety old fart section over here. There's a bunch of us over here waitin' to get in...whatcha drinkin'?
*I have a BIG feeling that some of us are going to need some counseling due to the change. Is Taunton going to pick up the tab? Tamara
*In that case can I have the name 'SYSOP'?
*what's been playing in my mind the last couple of days is joni mitchell - 'big yellow taxi'i don't it always seems as tho,i you don't know what you've got till it's gone -i pave paradise and put up a parking lot -we'll see - DOUD
*I have one basic question I haven't seen yet. Are the search and spell check functions finally going to do something productive?
*ROTFLOLwetting myself
*Tamara, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the 'shed just one big group session?
*Mr Pita, what do you mean?
*Hello, I'm Fred, I'm a shedaholic .... 12 step program to recovery?
*Andy,toooo funny! LOLBut I think you are right!Going over there right now for some more therapy...Mary
*Well that one is already taken for sure...-M
*b YES YES YES, There are 2 versions of both spell check and search, advanced and basic and they are easily acessible.-Mark
*Mark? I'll settle for the parking space... mine said "visitor - tow at will"... and the pass to the FC Limbo party. Nice umbrella drinks they had there.-gwc
*"Acessable"? Aw geez.Andy says any bad language could be sanitized... "f__king itchy fibreglass" would become "fluffy itchy fibreglass". Cool. I can type what I feel... and you'll take care of the creative interpretation!What about OSB sheathing? Would that become SOB sheathing?Curious minds ya know.Heading downstairs... I want a good seat near the Jamaican Steel Drum Band... and a Rum Punch... don't forget the Rum Punch.
*Steel Drums.....my favorites.....Are there gonna be steel drums?You don't have to dress up in the islands.Tex,Lately I've been partial to Miller's Genuine Draft. Will there be Miller's? And I don't mean the "lite" stuff.Ed.
*Yeh, to all the petty complaints so far. Now for the important stuff: Will "Login" be on the same end of the line both times you see it? That was the biggest pain in the hemmorhoids to have it on the right end of one line and left end of the next. Oh, yeh, can it be arranged so that the spell checker will recognize the spelling of all our last names, no matter how many consonants they have in succession? Youi should see what it suggests for "Venema."Don
*Awl speel cheekers are useless too me. Thay speel inn Ameciran, witch I don't you's. Slainte, JR.
*acessible?
*I'm still wondering about basic and advanced spelling...will we have study sheets before the test to see which version we get to use?
*If not we'll get some in for ya, big guy. Spittoons, bidets, whatever you need. Geez, I was just gettin' comfortable with this software. You been makin' any music lately?
*It should be sheduled for the 21 st. 1st day of spring and I am shaving my beard that day so I won't be able to speak normally anyway.
*Can we take something from the old Tavern, just for the memories? How about Ron's table? He's gonna need his table...
*Tex,Lately I've blown the dust off my old 5 string banjo and been plunking on it. I'm thinking about buying a new mandolin. I've got a fiddle, but never been able to get anything out of it but noise. I guess I'm heading back into the roots music for a while.I'm still drowning out the compressors at the shop on the drums.When are you gonna write that book?Ed.
*Maybe he'll get a new clean table at the new tavern. I kind of miss his shorts fetish... ;-)Mary
*I am thinking of writing a cook book. That'll be short.
*Jim...we're only gonna get soft porn...gezzz, I thought this was an upgrade didnt you Lisa Lust?LOLAnd one other thing can I use the name Jack Larson?My favorate actor aka: Jimmy Olsen...LOL
*Lisa, since you're a regular, you should feel free to grab any bit of tavern furniture that you'd like to take with you. C'mon folks, it's not as if Cheers is closing, (Saddest moment on TV, when Sam locked that door)just moving to new digs. The way to ensure that nothing important changes is for all the usual suspects to come on over and christen the new place.Andy
*Dear Andy,Don't try to sugar coat this. It's not like we have to just find the light switch, new restrooms, and tissue dispensers. We're going to have to learn to wipe ourselves all over again. And it could be pretty ugly.Scared stupid, Fred
*OK, thanks. I'll be responsible for Ron's table. And I'm also taking the moosehead with the cigar in his mouth. That ought to make the new digs feel nice and homey.
*Okay, hush up, the rest of you....what about the archives? what about the archives of the shed....I read it that current threads won't be transferred, but what about archived ones? HuH?
*Anything that is in the archives (any archives)will be traveling to the new forum.-M
*I never cared for anchovies.
*I understand that moving all of the pictures would be an incredibly arduous task. Is there anyway that you could move pictures limited to threads that are deemed "reference" material? THe recent bathroom remodel thread comes to mind.
*I enjoy the current spell checker. How else could a person think that architect could be spelled artichoke (as in one recent post)?