Re-org completed
 

Finally I get around to doing what I threatened to do a few months ago, and re-organize the forums.

I also restricted IotD so that I'm the only person who can post new threads. This is NOT out of disrespect for everyone who posted images to it -- cos you know, your images are quite often better than mine. But since new Farkers arrived and started posting all sorts of things there, well, it was only a matter of time before something had to give. I hope everyone will use the "Other Images" section to post everything they like.

I still have it in the back of my mind to create a jury system for IotD, but for now I guess it's a jury of one. Anyone can still send me images if they prefer to see them as potential IotDs.

Oh yeh, and slight... thanks for pointing out the oddity of the two HB F-14 posts.

I generally love what they've done with vbulletin, but sometimes this software acts a little bizarre. There are no forums set up such that new posts have to be moderated. And yet, I checked the moderation queue and five posts were there, waiting to be validated. One of them was the F-14 post. What the..? So I validated it. And wham, there it is, in the section, with no replies.

What I didn't notice was the post exactly like it, with all the replies.

HB, did you have to post that twice for some reason? Did it tell you it had to be validated or anything?

It's a sad day for IotD.

Long live Other Images. I hope the trend continues for quality in Other Images, and it doesn't become a repository for Other Shit.

Is it your plan to move the best of Other Images into IotD from time to time, thereby ensuring that your forum will by design be a better image forum than the other shit in Other Images?

btw, UT, will you be posting to Other Images? ;)

We'll be expecting you, when Other Images becomes the hot forum in the Cellar. And, of course, you'll be welcomed back to the community. We know you're trying to do the right thing.

Noted on Toad's report card: Does not play well with other children.

LOL

And why should Other Images be defined by reference to IotD.

It might be better to call it Great Images. That would encourage quality posts in that forum by the members, and not make it seem like some other second rate catch all forum of pics that aren't sourced by one person as worthy of Image of the Day.

Originally, Other Cities were by definition other than Philly.

btw, I like what you've done with the re-org of Cities and Images. :)

Good idea. I'm going with "Quality Images".

Are you able to re-direct the "new thread" button on IotD to the "create new thread page" of Quality Images?

Nah... the problem was on my end, not yours. I was on a box with an old version of Mozilla (one that still had the annoying text box bug). I forgot what I was doing. Oops.

My apologies, sir.

And to answer your questions Nic:

No, yes, and no.

By the way, Nic, did I mention that I do some business in web hosting? You can host with me and have the same quality connection as the Cellar. In fact, for a mere $20 a month I will set up any domain name you like to be served from the same system as the Cellar, and for another $10 a month I'll set up your very own vBulletin system and take care of the back-end, the database, etc.

It's just an idea, since you seem to have a very strong opinion of what makes a quality forum. You could even have your very own Image of the [time period]. I honestly wouldn't mind if it became more popular than the Cellar. At some point you may have to pay more bandwidth charges if it got *really* popular, but that's the only down side. And if you were really bright, you could even come up with an advertising or sponsorship scheme that allows the forum to pay for its own bandwidth.

$20 per month? :eek:

Hey... that's a nice price. Tell us more. What does $20 per month buy for a Dwellar in need of hosting?

Thanks UT.

Sounds like a plan!

As far as hosting goes, I can't imagine getting better service than you provide for the Cellar. I'm quite impressed.

Let me get my thoughts together here with that in mind.

I'll send you an email detailing what I'm thinking of and see what you think. Your experience would be much appreciated.

My concept would never be as poplular as the Cellar because, as a genealogy site for a single surname, the membership potential worldwide is really quite limited.

Bandwidth will never be a problem.

The quality of the gene pool might be the problem, though.

You know what they say ... ya can't pick yer relatives. :)

There are a lot of $20/month hosting plans out there in the world, HB, and a lot of them are set up on T1s just like me. What I need to do is to set up accounting and stuff such that I can set an upper limit on bandwidth, which should only take me a few days or so.

Basic hosting would include DNS, FTP access, like 20 megs of space (whatever everyone else is doing), some basic email handling.

Oh, um, the one thing I didn't mention is that the vBuletin license isn't included in my price... just the setup and managing the database. The license is pretty cheap... I think it's around $85/year or $160 outright purchase, something like that.

Hey Tony, i've been looking around at the various message board software packages, and I was just wondering what made you choose vbulletin? With phpbb, which is free, you can edit your posts and insert images into posts. The templates are very nice looking as well. What other distinguishing features does vbulletin have that warrants paying $160 for it?

$160 is nothing NOTHING in the software world.

The model is ideal, IMO. It permits continuing development and support while giving you the source code.

Well, it's not nothing to me. I'm extremely poor! :) What I really mean is, what features do you think sets vbulletin above all the rest?

The model. I don't know that there are fewer features in the other types, but there are enough features to keep everyone confused in this one (and more needless confusing features happening all the time).

For a smaller BB I would not hesitate to go with one of the free choices, though.