17 replies to this topic

[Andrew Field]

I've transferred a few topics from the old board to the new one. I've now had enough of cutting and pasting....

Hopefully this is going to work well. If not, the old board can always be resurrected.

One remarkable thing is to see how many views messages get - with only a small number of members there are a lot of people reading the info. Either that or people are revisiting to bask in the glory of their own words.

Time for a coffee I think.

[Carole Faithorn]

What a star u r

...and what an _amazing_ number of views - and no it's not me re-reading my posts as infinitum! So who _are_ all these people? Perhaps they'd introduce themselves?

What's this 'Advanced Member' status, Andrew?

[Andrew Field]

Erm? Advanced member...

When you register you can post messages, but you can't view other people's details or Instant Message them.

The reason I've disabled this is to keep NGfL happy. But then I thought why should others lose out - so I think the best way will be to make those who are regular users 'advanced members' with the extras enabled.

I haven't set it up yet though.

This system is incredible though - there are some sites on the Internet that are just based round it. I don't want to do that, but there is a lot more functionality. What I need to do though is make sure that a casual user such as a pupil doesn't register and then have his / her e-mail up for grabs by anyone.

Currently if you aren't registered you can't e-mail. If you're registered you can.

It needs a bit of fiddling with - I just want to make sure we get the right side of safe (in NGfL's mind), but also keep the board as easy to use as possible...

This all comes about from the new server I'm using. I'm also in the process of adding logging of each resource download on my site - when you go to a page you'll see how many resources have been downloaded. I only started it last night - already the year 7 sections are recording downloads. I didn't realise it was this popular!

[Andrew Field]

Sorry - I've just realised what 'advanced member' is.

Nothing to do with my idea to have extra benefits to regular users. It is just the label according to how many posts you have made.

At the beginning you are a 'new member' (1 - 10 posts)
Then you become a 'member' (10-30 (?) posts)
Then you become an 'advanced member' (30+ posts).

In the 'old discussion group' user I created I posted more than 30 messages, so instantly became an 'advanced member'.

All gets a bit complicated - I think we just need to see how it gets on. In terms of administration there is a huge amount that can be edited / messed around with.

[Stephen Drew]

This is certainly an excellent new forum.

It is an improvement, particularly the ability to instantly see who made the last post on each topic and to see when exactly the new posts are going up.

One of today's posts is by one of my ex-colleagues, and she had replies within the hour from many of the 'usual suspects'!

I showed the message board to other colleagues who were not historians today and they were amazed at the quality and speed of response on a diverse range of topics. I pointed out that they clearly need to change subjects and join us!

[Carole Faithorn]

The Board certainly seems to be working well, doesn't it? I like the extra features eg 'Today's Active Posts' (or whatever it's actually called)

As a "usual suspect" .... I guess .... I'm surprised myself at the speed of response sometimes. However, I suspect that once term starts things may not be so rapid. These last days before the beginning of the year probably mean people are 'sweating over a hot computer' and accessing email and the Internet more than normal. I know I am.

Have been playing around with some of the Board's features ... like your fledgling Dept site a lot, Stephen ... really clear and well organised.

I wonder if other subjects have a Board like this to turn to? Perhaps your colleagues will be inspired to set one up - if they don't all join your Dept.

Re. amazing number of views per thread ... if you open the whole thread rather than an individual message then the system records a number of views equal to the total number of messages. (Don't know if I have explained that clearly?) ... so I assume this means that there aren't as many unique viewers as there seemed to be

[Dafydd Humphreys]

One thing Andrew - the forum's clock is an hour out. I think.

Apart from that it's quality.

[Andrew Field]

Well spotted!

Looking through all the admin stuff it says this is your fault!

Native Server Time Zone
If you have chosen the correct timezone and the clock is an hour out, this is because of daylight savings time and your members can correct this by editing their 'Board settings' via their User Control Panel.

Rubbish to that.

I've just pushed the entire sever clock on one hour. This will need to be changed when the clocks change.

edit...
Which is a perfect solution unless you've already set your settings to account for daylight savings time. Having made the change, it may be best to keep the server time accurate. Erm. This is all getting a bit technical.

I'll leave it as it is for now.

[Andrew Field]

...and there are further quirks.

When someone who hasn't registered views the board, all the times seem odd.

Minor, but it makes it look as if all the teachers are up at 3.30am working. Which of course, as we are all so hard-working and dedicated, is true.

[Stephen Drew]

Ah.... found out!

I was quite pleased last night when my post went up as 11.50pm not 12.50am as was the correct time, as it made me look a little less obsessive!

Anyway, I thought that new DfES regulations required that all teachers were available for super flexible hours including the middle of the night when the MaccyDs / txt msg generation are up doing their homework watching the wrestling on Sky 1!

[Andrew Field]

I'm very pleased with the success of this board so far - the new features seem to make it a little more interactive. Please make any suggestions for further improvement though...

We've been mentioned in the TES History forum now...

[Dafydd Humphreys]

I wonder who that was by...........

[Carole Faithorn]

Now _which_ of our regular contributors is keen on "the wonderful game", I wonder

[Dafydd Humphreys]

Please! It's 'The Beautiful Game'!

[Andrew Field]

As always, it depends who you support.