CavySpirit
Administrator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2004
- Posts
- 7,064
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2004
- Messages
- 7,064
We begin the huge upgrade to an entirely different platform with a dramatically updated look and feel next weekend. That's the plan.
I've been working heads down on it for weeks now. There is a huge amount of content to manage moving. It's not just the forum either. All of the articles and content on the main site will be redone, reformatted, etc. FINALLY. Years overdue.
When we start, I'm not quite sure of the phases yet, but at any time in the coming days over the next week or two, if the site is down, IT'S TEMPORARY while we make the changes. Things will be a little rough around the edges to start, as a lot of polishing, editing and tweaking will be necessary in the beginning.
This isn't an upgrade to THIS forum software. It's a new platform that none of us are used to using yet, so there will probably be some challenges getting settled in. However, the platform is the most similar to this one that is possible and it's more feature rich.
What's going away:
Profile posts -- mainly used by spammers and too hard to moderate.
Member blogs -- not used much, too hard to keep track of
Forum categories are being consolidated, making more use of prefixes to identify and filter content. There will be around a dozen forum categories.
I'm changing the avatar policy such that you can use whatever g-rated avatar image you want, doesn't have to be guinea pig-related.
The photo gallery IS getting migrated and looks better.
Many sticky forum posts will be converted into articles.
Articles can be created from forum posts (via staff). Contributing authors will be acknowledged.
There will be a link directory for various products/sites. Submission of new links is moderated for approval, but members can contribute links.
There will be a Cage Reviews section. That will list other vendors' cages, grids and coroplast with editor reviews and member reviews.
Both of those will be fleshed out over time once we get through the migration.
There will be a member showcase section for members with great cage examples and stories -- also moderated, requiring approval. That's an experiment that I hope works out.
Private messages are now called "Conversations" and will be migrated over. Still between individuals and not public. I think that's a little more feature-rich as well.
At the moment, there won't be any ads, but I'll probably add some in later. Maintaining this site is expensive. While I will allow product listings and competitive cage vendors and such to be listed, I intend to have them pay to upgrade their listings and/or advertise. I've been giving away free advertising to many other businesses that turn around and copy every one of my ideas and then compete against me, so it's been a bit of challenge to remain neutral and unbiased and 100% altruistic. I think I've charted a balanced approach that keeps honest people honest and a win/win for everyone to the extent possible.
I hope the new site will bring back more people and participation to the community in the midst of social media noise everywhere. We provide deep, searchable content vetted by our community that holds to the highest standards of guinea pig care.
I'm very excited about the next phase of our journey together!!
I've been working heads down on it for weeks now. There is a huge amount of content to manage moving. It's not just the forum either. All of the articles and content on the main site will be redone, reformatted, etc. FINALLY. Years overdue.
When we start, I'm not quite sure of the phases yet, but at any time in the coming days over the next week or two, if the site is down, IT'S TEMPORARY while we make the changes. Things will be a little rough around the edges to start, as a lot of polishing, editing and tweaking will be necessary in the beginning.
This isn't an upgrade to THIS forum software. It's a new platform that none of us are used to using yet, so there will probably be some challenges getting settled in. However, the platform is the most similar to this one that is possible and it's more feature rich.
What's going away:
Profile posts -- mainly used by spammers and too hard to moderate.
Member blogs -- not used much, too hard to keep track of
Forum categories are being consolidated, making more use of prefixes to identify and filter content. There will be around a dozen forum categories.
I'm changing the avatar policy such that you can use whatever g-rated avatar image you want, doesn't have to be guinea pig-related.
The photo gallery IS getting migrated and looks better.
Many sticky forum posts will be converted into articles.
Articles can be created from forum posts (via staff). Contributing authors will be acknowledged.
There will be a link directory for various products/sites. Submission of new links is moderated for approval, but members can contribute links.
There will be a Cage Reviews section. That will list other vendors' cages, grids and coroplast with editor reviews and member reviews.
Both of those will be fleshed out over time once we get through the migration.
There will be a member showcase section for members with great cage examples and stories -- also moderated, requiring approval. That's an experiment that I hope works out.
Private messages are now called "Conversations" and will be migrated over. Still between individuals and not public. I think that's a little more feature-rich as well.
At the moment, there won't be any ads, but I'll probably add some in later. Maintaining this site is expensive. While I will allow product listings and competitive cage vendors and such to be listed, I intend to have them pay to upgrade their listings and/or advertise. I've been giving away free advertising to many other businesses that turn around and copy every one of my ideas and then compete against me, so it's been a bit of challenge to remain neutral and unbiased and 100% altruistic. I think I've charted a balanced approach that keeps honest people honest and a win/win for everyone to the extent possible.
I hope the new site will bring back more people and participation to the community in the midst of social media noise everywhere. We provide deep, searchable content vetted by our community that holds to the highest standards of guinea pig care.
I'm very excited about the next phase of our journey together!!
