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 2005-05-25 19:43:22   Laszlo
"Is this thing on?" Once we added a bunch of images to the database, folks seemed to have vanished. Bah!

Which of these new feature should we add to the web site next?

- User Profiles (optional, of course)
- Live Chat (Java applet)
- Refurbish the message board
- Email Discussion List (in-house, *NOT* Yahoo!!)

Feel free to add your own suggestions.
 2005-05-27 10:46:54   Juliet
I would say: the email discussion list.
 2005-05-27 19:19:17   Laszlo
It sounds like 100% of the 1 opinion(s) offered say to do the email discussion list first. So be it.

I've started work on it, but it may take some days to complete. I don't think there's any way to install any kind of antivirus software on our ISP's server to run emails through before sending them, so I many have to blindly strip off attachments. And then there needs to be a way to read the emails on the web site.

There is much work to to be done, but I think it will be worth it. When I get around to it, the message board refurbishment will be an even bigger task. It will be a very good thing.
 2005-05-29 09:01:37   boblover
i'd like to see user profiles and live chat. i'd love to talk with like-minded bob lovers!
 2005-05-30 09:49:29   Laszlo
User profiles and live chat are definately coming. Let's hope we have enough frequent web site visitors to make good use of them. Yesterday I saw three people logged in at once (if you count me). Perhaps more will stay longer if there are more community things to take part in like chat. I'll add little things too, like a way to see how many and who is logged in.

I'm working feverishly on the email discussion list system. It's going to take at LEAST an extra day to write a server, off-site from our web host, to handle the actual sending of the emails. Our web hosting service says running email lists on their web servers is "forbidden". I've tried the mailing list option they provide. Its performance is grotesquely bad.
 2005-06-03 23:42:05   Laszlo
Hopefully we'll have the email discussion list up and ready in the next day or two.

It's different from the "Email Alerts" (nee "Mailing List") mentioned on the User Account page. The Email Alerts option hasn't been used yet (I haven't yet written the tool needed to send out the occasional alerts). If you want to be on the email discussion list, you'll have to subscribe to it seperately from the "Email Alerts".

When it's up, you'll see a big 'Subscribe' button on the email discussion page. It's all very straightforward. There is an archives section where you can peruse the messages that have already been sent...once there have been some.
 2005-06-10 19:18:51   Laszlo
Now that we've gotten some of the changes made to the Message Board/Forum, the next things I'll do are some simple user profile stuff, and a live chat applet.

Live chat applets have been done and re-done to death, including a couple I've done in the past. I'm also still pretty unsure about whether it will be used very much here. But none of that is a big concern, since my reason for doing it is less about having a live chat and more about writing it, just because they're fun to write.
 2005-06-12 05:42:42   Laszlo
There is now a rudimentary user profile area. You can enter some of your own information on the user profile page by clicking the "Edit Your User Profile" button on the User Account page.

So far the only way to view others' user profiles is to click on their names here in the message board/forum. We'll migrate this feature out to other areas where user names appear, but we probably won't have a "user list" type of thing. I think a 'user list' would cross a line of privacy we and some of our users might want. But any place you see a user name, soon you should be able to click on the name and see the profile information, if any, that a given use has enetered.
 2005-06-18 02:30:43   Laszlo
I'm sorry to have to say it, but the live chat applet is on hold for now.

Due to policy limitations at our web hosting service, and about half a dozen security issues, I need to tell folks not to hold your breath on the live chat. I do have other things going on. But it remains on the to-do list.
 2005-06-19 17:42:38   Laszlo
We will be adding some account timeouts sometime soon.

I've noticed that there are lots of folks who register, but who don't 'confirm' (confirming is done by following the URL in the confirmation email). This can happen for several reasons. But whatever the reason, we're planning on adding a timeout where unconfirmed accounts will go away automatically after 48 or 72 hours. The impact to users should be minimal, and it will help keep our database a little cleaner.

Also, it's commonplace for folks to sign up, look around, and then never come back. We'll probably be adding a timeout for that, too. It seems reasonable that accounts not accessed for four or six months probably don't need to stay in our database.

It's not as though we're a bank or big retailer. We don't need to keep your important information like credit card and shipping address on file in perpetuity.

And FYI, I am proceeding my work on the live chat, but I'm not trying to keep any schedule.
 2005-07-10 21:12:09   jonny62
I would like to see more frequent updates of the pictures. I have just joined the discussion board although I have been a fan of your site for years. Thanks to Lazlo.
 2005-07-11 02:15:26   Laszlo
The more often I do the updates, the fewer pictures there will be in each update. But perhaps that's OK. I'll try to do it more often.

 
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