xray can finally get rid of us!

I just found out that someone has created a new Wolfeboro/Tuftonboro forum. Xray can finally have some peace and quiet on his site. But I am beginning to wonder if he didn't get to like us, especially arguing with Peace. Oh, did I say PEACE? Anyway, here is the link to the new site. Thanks for putting up with us x. I hope you will join us on the new site. I don't know if Keith is ever going to get the old site back up. Thanks X.

http://wolfeboro.forumcab.com/viewtopic.php?p=18#18

Forums:

We need another Forum?
oc

"...But I am beginning to wonder if he didn't get to like us, especially arguing with Peace..."

I certainly have no argument with Peace, but the dimness and weakness inherent in Liberalism will assure that we shall have War.

Gee, did I just paraphrase Winston Churchill???

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Peace_through_Weakness

And...sigh...another password to remember....

If not, you'll recognize me—I'm certain of that!

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Peace_through_Weakness

Somebody ask Anti_Federalist if Ron Paul would have gotten U.S. troops out of Iraq in under six months.

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Peace_through_Weakness

xrayspx's picture

Somebody ask Anti_Federalist if Ron Paul would have gotten U.S. troops out of Iraq in under six months.

Was that for that other thread?

Speaking of Ron Paul I demand you all read the 5 (short) comics in the Secretary series on XKCD, takes 2 minutes.

xrayspx's picture

I haven't checked out New Site yet, hopefully they're pretty good. As always, you're all welcome to stick around also. These forums cost me literally nothing to run. My site is going to be here anyway, so it's the same $59/month forums or no.

I held off with any real Wolfeboro-specific customizations like a custom landing page, "Wolfeboro News" page, etc, for a couple of reasons:

1:) I didn't want Keith and Ralph to feel like I was taking their idea and site away from them, I just wanted to provide you guys a home until they came back online.

1a:) I am also aware of the break-neck speed and cold-blooded efficiency that Keith and Ralph move with. I didn't want them to get a site up 8 months from now to find their only valuable asset, their boards, were going to die because you guys had all moved on

2:) In running the main Wolfeboro.net site, and owing to what I do for a living, I analyzed the traffic on Wolfeboro.net pretty deeply. What I found was that the only thing that mattered was the forums. The homepage obviously got lots of traffic during the Sarkozy visit, which was why I ended up hosting it in the first place. However those sessions were worthless. You can blame the fact that the homepage was never updated, ever, which might have something to do with the rate at which newsworthy events happen. There also really wasn't any real interactivity there.

3:) I think Ralph and Keith initially had some idea that ads were going to pay some amount of revenue, and I certainly don't want to "steal" the users if they're trying to make a profit.

I've been thinking about expanding the forums out a little to have a couple more general NH sections, as well as the ones I discussed earlier about "Ask Me Anything" (Make me do research for you) or just random BS about music, technology questions, etc.

I really have enjoyed the discussions here for really the last couple of years. I just really never joined in much when it wasn't my site because, well, it wasn't my site and I don't live up there anymore. When I did start running the boards, I was keen to take some time and have some real discussions. I even especially enjoy the spirited debates and digressions.

There are many, many blogs and forums in and about our state. I have little interest in them on the whole, and many seem to skew heavily one way or another. I think we've done a great job, with a very small number of users, of representing many different viewpoints on a given issue.

If you guys try out New Site and find that everything clicks and it's just the cat's pajamas, that's great. If they're more restrictive (I, for instance, have no user policy at all, since I think they're dumb), or you don't feel like it's fitting, feel free to stick around.

If we end up with some more users, it would be fun to expand out the boards. I was going to encourage you all to upload photos to Flickr for a tag-based gallery section as well. I thought that might run into some of the same privacy concerns Old Coot was mentioning in the last thread about more general sections too, but hey, they're just pictures, what's the worst that could happen :-)

Anyway, whatever you guys decide, it's been fun. Remember, this isn't "Chris's Forum", or "Keith & Ralph's" forum, it's really all about the users which make things work. Without you guys having been Gulag'd, I would have just kissed WB.net goodbye and never given it a second thought because without the forums, that site didn't really interest me at all.

I'm really glad that didn't happen.

Chris

I'd first like to say how much I enjoy forums in general. I had a really good time, as did many others, on the now dormant Wolfeboro.net Forum. Then all of a sudden, without warning, the Wolfeboro.net Forum closed down. wolf and I (independently) found a way onto the dormant website. I notified the few members who I knew how to get a hold of outside of the Forum about the sneaky new address that I'd discovered. For about a week, our little small group carried on like kids in an abandoned house!
Well, it turned out that it wasn't an abandoned house, it was x's house. But rather than get all officious with us about trespassing and stuff, he graciously invited us to stay.
He's been gracious ever since! His Forum has nice tools such as personal messaging and editing features. As our little site progressed, every minor complaint was addressed with a new Forum feature.
Frankly, I don't understand the members who are now promoting the new Forum. There's certainly nothing wrong with the new Forum it's just that one Forum seems adequate for a small group like this one. This site has no advertising other than the free "Pimping Yourself" section where Dragonfly has her ad.
The other site's webmaster, who calls himself (herself?) Lugnut may turn out to be like x-ray, but maybe not. The other site's webmaster has declined to identify himself, which is certainly his privilege. But, It's difficult to tell what Lugnut's motives might be this early on. "Time will tell" is a well proven adage. Therefore, I'm going to give it time.
oc

I agree with you oc. X has been very nice to have us, and although he told us from the first it was temporary, he seems happy to have us now. He has done a lot to make us comfortable and tried to change anything that anyone requested! The one thing I was disappointed in, is that everyone else did not join here. Maybe because they thought is was temporary. You really need more than 6 or 7 people to make a really interesting forum. I missed oc and anti and the others who seemed to not join us here. However, I must say, I do not like to have to check a lot of forums every time I log on, so it would be kind of nice if we could all agree on one forum. But then, maybe each will have it's place. I guess time will tell.
But, X, no matter which way it goes, you have been a great host-thank you very much. I have a feeling this forum will not just die.

I need to make a comment, how do I make a comment?
Nevermind.

xrayspx's picture

I agree Tis, I think that either people saw it as too temporary, or, in the case of the person launching the other site, it seemed like they genuinely didn't know you all had come over here.

I should clarify a couple of things too. I'm not just going to wash my hands when/if wolfeboro.net comes back. If they come back online and you're more comfortable here, and wish to say "thanks but no thanks", that's fine too.

More the merrier. I'm not really trying to "drive eyeballs" or anything, but if something on the rest of the site catches your eye, or you wish to make a blog post that shows up on the front-page, you're welcome to it.

I think (think, because I'm the only one that ever posts Blogs), that if someone else creates one, it should drop straight into the frontpage queue. If it doesn't, I do know that I at least get notified, and can promote it out of the /blog/ section to the main site.

Ah well, thanks for your thanks guys!

Anything I can do to help where I can.

W.net was basically the same half dozen posters anyway and it got tedious, especially when they had nothing really to add but their "opinion" or a comment with no additional facts toward the conversation. We all pretty much know each others' "opinions" already.

xrayspx's picture

Firstly, I have to say I'm biased because I abhor PHPBB. "BBCODE" is a farce, not allowing straight HTML is something I never got. Why should I learn some BBCODE nonsense when it would be just as easy for them to add HTML.

BBCode is also too cluttered and "cutesy" for my tastes. I don't need to see a block of animated smiley faces every time I edit a post.

Also, specific to the board itself:

I find the Terms of Use annoying.

I went to create an account so I could tell Tis how to sort posts, but there's activation involved, and I'm unwilling to wait for that.

So I created my own forumcab forum to test my assumptions on the answer to Tis's question.

Tis, there's a menu at the very bottom of the page that allows you to sort by "oldest first" or "newest first", it defaults to "oldest first" so you can read the thread in order.

I have no idea if that is a setting that attaches to your user profile, but it seems there is no setting to set this on the Profile page. Shame. I guess it probably lasts as long as your login cookie does.

In toying with my profile on my own forumcab forum, I found a setting to "always allow HTML", which I thought would allow me to use HTML to post, but I guess not. Turns out there's a setting somewhere in the forum admin pages to permit this.

Thanks for the reply x. I found at the top a place that says view new posts and I hit that and it works. However, after maybe two times or more (if there are say 4 new posts since last visit), it tells me the webpage has expired and I can't always go back and see them. It isn't a big deal, it's just that it saves time to see the last posts easily without looking through all of the times and dates to see what maybe you haven't read. Here it is great because I always see the last posts first as you told me to do. Sometimes they even light up in red "New". I really like that!

After I posted this, I went back over there and tried it again (the view new posts at the bottom and it doesn't work at all for me.) As I said the one on the top right does work and today worked perfectly without kicking me out, so maybe it have been changed. Will keep you posted.

I tried to make a post on the New Site in response to their newest Forum Rule which was enacted today. My post was blocked, so I thought I'd post it here.

"Lugnut posts 1 new Forum Rule which reads:
Do not post links to other internet discussion forums. (Changed 6/23/09)

Seems a harsh attitude. After all, lots of us on this site learned about this site via a link previously posted by tis on the Wolfeboro-In Exile-Forum. They don't have any rule list either."
BLOCKED

I think it is a credit to this Forum AND its members that we do so well without oppressive rules.
oc

I think not, magic is everywhere.