Pond Boss visitors:

We hope you're finding this site useful in the management of your own pond. Let us know how we could improve this site. Or do we just need to go back to our previous format? Weigh in, please.

Editor, Mark McDonald

mark knowing you spent good money on this new site, this is hard to say but frankly, i liked the format of the previous site much better. Just easier to see and follow everything - will use the site no matter what but you asked!

Mark: People always resist change, may I remind everyone that the "old board" was wiped out. Sure, it was user friendly and comfortable, but if that asshole is lurking out there waiting to nuke it again, stay with the new and massage it until folks are used to it.
Jim

It will just take a little getting used too and maybe a few tweaks along the line. I wouldn't want to go back to the previous format.
Larry

I like this one better...you can go straight to a topic instead of scanning all the topics before you find a reference you were looking for.

Mark.....can you make this software display names of all people in the room at the same time. When I log on I notice my name up there..maybe that is because I'm the only one here...but it would be nice to see who your in the room w/. Just a suggestion. I like the main board change...It will take time...be patient.

I'm sorry Mark........one more suggestion.......on the right hand side you have a column for date, and time for the last reply.........could you also put the poster's name there..... ....it would be nice to see who responded...Thanks

Mark,
I just found the new board thanks to a user clueing me in on the old one. Problem is I like it so much I had the old one book marked. Others may have done the same thing, so they could have no way of knowing this is here unless you tell them. Love the new board, just read all the reports I have missed the last few weeks.

I liked the old board.....can you password protect it?

Mark: Can you post an explanation of the comment that was made about the "old site being torched"? Was it a physical thing that spurred the creation of the new site & the demise of the old site?
Suggestion: The old site was so popular because it very easy & simple to use (KISS keep it simple for the ...). Bob and others were in a slow period and could DAILY provide valuable and knowledgable advise. Now the spring/summer seasons allow very little free time for pond experts/managers. So the board suffers somewhat because of a lack of experts attending. However w/ the very heavy usethe old board became too lengthy & unyeildly to find a previous topic or search for an old post.
IDEA: consider using the old format & after a time have the old posts/topics archived into categories.
One possible(?) way of having this done automatically is to require the poster to input a key word or words when creating the post. The program/software "archiver" would then file them by topic/keyword.
Another way would be to manually have someone archive each one after a set time period. If someone reviews/scans all topics, an archiving keyword or number could be assigned at that time. The "archiver" would then file the post.
Posters of new topics should be instructed or automatically required to scan the old topic archives first to minimize duplicate questions & recreating the wheel for the people answering the questions. Maybe an auto scanner of keywords would apply here.
"Experts" answering questions with enough details to make the answer meaningful and useful requires quite a bit of their "free" time which is what many of the experts are often times short of "free" time. The board should not waste their time by answering the same type of question over and over. Their free help should be protected & nurtured so they stick around and not get frustrated; kind of like catch and release.
There should be a set of instructions/rules and guides for the users, esp. if the board is "busy" with many buttons or icons.
B.Cody aka Breezy

Mark, I liked the old board better in some ways. It was simple. However, I don't see a problem with this board. After a few tries, it essentially works the same way. You post a question, you generally get an answer or at least several opinions.

The lack of expert response this time of year is understandable. This is the pond pro's busy time of the year. It is like the XMAS season to the retail crowd. I first thought that you guys had picked a poor time of the year to implement something that you didn't have time to support. However, I've noticed that the lack of a quick response from Lusk has generated more responses from other "members" out of their own experiences or from knowledge gained from past posts. Thats not a bad thing and may be a sort of improvement. My thought: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Mark

The new board works just fine for me!

My only sugestion would be to create a "how to use this this bulletin board " section that will explain in simple non technical terms how to post questions in the approprate catagories & reply to the questions.(For all the new to bulletin board people)

And - Or

You could create a "Commonly Asked Questions" Section that could answer "how to post questions" as well as other qeneral questions about the bulletin board (The boards purpose & intended use, and similar type questions)

Maybe both topics (buttons on the first page of the "Ask the Boss" section of the web site) would make it easer for people to use the board?

What do you think?

Personally I like this board better, it is more attractive and more professional. I have used similar boards and they all tend to work well.
Anyone with trouble using it can feel free to ask.

Mark,
New fomat is great, but font needs to be larger for the old blind folks.
Thanks

Joe B,
In Internet Explorer 6 the font size is determined by an option in the VIEW menu. Click on View, then Text Size, and select the text size. I don't know what browser you are using but I would imagine that practically all of them have a similar option.

Larry

I like the new format in that it segregates the posts into topics, but it looks like people just kinda post where ever they want to, with little regard as to where they should post. So that capability is not taken full advantage of. I found the other format much easier to navigate and to understand. I consider myself to be an advanced computer user, (being a college instructor of computer courses) and yet this board is difficult to find ones way around. So I did like the old board better, but at the same time, I see the potential for this one.

In my mind, here is what would be perfect, if such exists. If there were a board that would automatically segment the posts into topics. It would have to give the post writer a menu before they began a topic. When the user clicked that he wanted to post a new topic, a menu should come up and ask, "Select a topic from the following list." His selection would be used to segregate the posts into topics. Users that wanted to simply view posts, and reply (not post a new thread) should have the capability to view all topics one by one and read all new messages for that topic. They could then go back and select another topic of interest and view those postings too.

I know that sounds a lot like what we have here, but people are not using the topics. Also, it is impossible to keep track of what messages I have already viewed with this software. One key sore spot for me is that the old board kept the messages that I have previously viewed in one color, and the messages that I had not viewed in another color. This board does not do that. I can view a message and go right back into the board and that message looks like a new one that I have never viewed. It only changes the color once I log out. It makes me often view the same message two are three times.

SO I liked the old format better because it kept track of what I had looked at. I like this ones capability to segregate topics. I would simply like to marry the twos features and delete the drawbacks.

Ok, retraction. Today, on my home computer, the board is changing the color of the links that I am visiting. It was not the other day on my laptop. I remember because it was driving me crazy.

Regarding my previous post, the best way would be to have only one board and have a person on hand there to segregate the postings into topics. That way, it would be done correctly, However, that is time consuming and expensive. So my suggestion was to have a drop down topic list to choose from. Most would probably choose the correct topic, but some would not.

Maybe better yet, have a drop down list that when a topic was chosen, it brought up a new page with another drop down list so that the topic list could be refined more. As an example, on the first list I would choose, stocking. On the next, I would choose stocking bait fish, (versus stocking game fish.

OK, OK, I will shutup.

Nick,
I think most people are trying to use the correct topic. There are some questions that don't fit any of the listed topics, so people will naturally use this one. After all, the topic name is Open >> Questions & Observations.

Larry

I really miss and enjoyed the old format. I rarely take the time to come here anymore. Used to check up on things daily. Anyhow, good job for the efforts....after all, it is all free, and the info I have obtained over the last couple of years is absolutely unreal. Thanks!

I like it!! Took a while to get used to. Keep it, maybe tweak it, but keep it.

I liked the old format because I was able to blaze through and read most of the old posts. I'm reading all these posts as well, so this format works me fine. Don't change it.

Gordon/Flatlander

MARK, I VOTE TO KEEP THE NEW ONE. I LIKED THE OLD ONE BECAUSE OF THE "ONE STOP SHOPPING" SO TO SPEAK BUT ONCE YOU NAVAGATE THRU THIS ONE A FEW TIMES AND GET THE HANG OF IT YOU CAN CHECK OUT THE ITEMS THAT YOU WANT AND DON'T HAVE TO GO THRU POSTS THAT YOU HAVE ALREADY READ. THE INFORMATION HAS BEEN REALLY HELPFUL FROM THE DIFFERENT CONTRIBUTORS.

I like this one, Outdoor Site.com uses this same format and is easy to navigate. I am new to this site and did not use the old one so I can not compare them.

Just registered today as I have used this type of chat site for commercial lawn topics and it seems to work well. Oh, I am so glad this site is here!!! I absolutely love dreaming up ideas for the ultimate trophy bass pond and this site will help greatly. Well, that is all I just wanted to say I'm extremely glad this new chat site is here.
To be honest I didn't care much for the old site.
It has been probably been at least a year since I posted on the old site. Although, having more members has been the biggest improvement I've seen. Also, are there any more links to pics of big fish caught in member ponds?