Site Downtime

[GAJ]

Lots of people who 'lurk' aren't up to anything sinister, it's just that they might think that they don't have anything to contribute by posting. That's absolutely fine! We are more than happy for them to continue to browse the site. The more distinct people who regularly click through and browse the site the better (particularly for our advertisers!!).

Since the site launched, almost 3 years ago now, we have had an active core membership of around the size mentioned, 50 to 100 people BUT it's not always been the same 50 to 100 people! That's the nature of the beast; people lose interest and new people join and so it continues . . .

I don't think it's helpful to see the launch of the new forum as an opportunity to narrow the membership of NMS. We already have full access to site traffic information - we know who logs in, how often, when and from where (big brother is indeed watching you, on here, as on every other website that you visit!!) If the need arises people can be denied access to the site.:evil:

Unless we find an ASP/MySQL guru soon we will have no choice other than for all our visitors to re-register. I would encourage everone to do that; even those who may not post very often.:)

[Gismo]

Not wanting to make it look like the mods versus the rest here, but, some of the lurkers are also sponsors :)
Firms who sponsor this or any site look at the registered users to guage their committment
Apart from that, i'm all for whatever makes the site run smoother, easy to post etc etc
As long as i get to keep my post count to show how sad i am

[Craig]

my comments may have been taken out of context/misunderstood. I actually meant the people who cause trouble, not those who just "browse". we all need the sponsors.. It's good to know the troublemakers are being dealt with.

[sleepyrascal]

Whatever needs to be done is cool with me!

Calum, if your totally stuck technically, I would suggest contacting some of the Universities/Colleges in your area. Switching the forum could be an excellent project for a computer science/IT/related student, and you get it done for free!

Companies are really starting to take advantage of me and my course mates for the wrok we do, which we dont really mind. They get work done for free, we get recognition and experience on live projects! Actually thats not strictly true. I got a free FIRST rail and bus pass out of the last project

[AndyP & Lenore]

quote:Originally posted by GAJ

If the need arises people can be denied access to the site.:evil:

Note to self> Don't get into another pissing contest with GAJ over downloading.<Note ends.

Re-regsitering wouldn't bother me at all. It's good that we would still be able to access all the previous posts. And I agree with most of the Mods, a lurker is just another person waiting to get involved and come to meets etc. etc.

On a personal note, I'm not so keen on the system MINI2 uses. I love the simplicity of this board, but at the same time I understand the complexity of the problem in keeping up with demand.

I wish I knew [s]more[/s] anything about MySql, if I did I'd gladly help out.

AndyP

[GAJ]

No problem Craig. The policy of zero tolerance for anyone whose sole reason in visiting the site will continue. I can't tell you what happens to these people, for obvious reasons, but a wee hint - don't eat Hall's pies!

Seriously though, NMS is fortunate not to have suffered from the problems which I know have afflicted other forums. I think that, at least in part, this is due to the fact that people who frequent this site do feel part of a community where everyone's view is respected and people are free to read and post in any topic. Having excessive bureaucracy, 'member only' forums, heavy handed moderation and such like can often have the opposite affect from that intended. Moderators on this site thankfully have a pretty quiet life on the whole, despite Mr. Nice's best efforts!

To clarify; my earlier post was just to explain the benefits of having a large registered user base, regardless of whether or not those members actively post.

quote:Originally posted by AndyP & Lenore

quote:Originally posted by GAJ

If the need arises people can be denied access to the site.:evil:

Note to self> Don't get into another pissing contest with GAJ over downloading.<Note ends.

I thought you had realised we had been saying the same thing, just not realising it -

Downloading legally held files = Good:)
Downloading illegally held files = Bad:(
:approve:

[AndyP & Lenore]

quote:Originally posted by GAJ
I thought you had realised we had been saying the same thing, just not realising it -

Downloading legally held files = Good
Downloading illegally held files = Bad

GAJ. It was a joke mate. A JOKE. Jees. OK. Maybe I should have put a "" at the end of the sentence. But really, it was a JOKE!

[GAJ]

Andy, doh! I know it was! If you look at my post again you'll see that I did put a smiley there! Wake up!:)

[The Dogfather]

Gaj - What format is the current forum in? Is it still an Access database?

I can sort of remember there is a facility to import data into vBulletin, do you or M^3 know what format the data has to be in?

[GAJ]

Currently it's an Access database. It's not possible to import this directly into vBulletin, it would first have to be converted to MySQL. This in itself poses loads of problems, it's not a case of simply getting a script and clicking run, unfortunately. Full details of the problems others have had attempting similar conversions can be found on the vBulletin forum. I have a guy working with me at the moment who is a wizard at these things but he doesn't have the time (or inclination!) to spend on this gratis and there's no way we can afford his £1k day rate!