Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Website change imminent.....

Greetings, Pond Boss faithful!
We've been talking about changes for what seems like eons, but we are finally on the cusp of those changes.
Here's what's happening.
1) We've created a brand new website. Gayle is loading content right now and when she's finished, we'll check it, make sure everything works as advertised and then we'll launch.
2) The forum will still work as it does now. However, I'm looking at making a few changes. I'm thinking we have too many categories and some are redundant.
3) Please offer suggestions about how the forum can be improved. I'll take those suggestions until next Wednesday, then we'll start making changes to improve the forum.
4) I've also been thinking about adding one or two more moderators. We have a great group of moderators and as usage increases, we'll have even more members. Spreading the load makes sense to me. Your thoughts? If you think it's a good idea, post on this thread. If you think it's a good idea and you have a nominee, send me a pm.
5) The main reason we've spent quite a bit of money to improve the website is to make it profitable. Our main goal, at this point, is to push our subscriber numbers to 10,000+. Right now, we are just under 3,000 paid subscribers. Yes, we will offer an electronic version of the magazine to go with the hard copy. We need EVERYONE's help to get us to 10,000. When that happens, we can become more successful which leads to significance and we'll be able to give more back.

Thanks so much for your support. The entire Pond Boss family appreciates it.

Improvements are always welcome, but this is already a great site. As far as new ideas, I would like to see the "Recent Posts" list expanded where it shows more of the recent posts. To me the "Recent Posts" list should be at least twice as long as it currently is. I also would like each member to have a small picture gallery on their bio where they could show a few pictures of their own body of water. I also like the choice of being able to put a small avatar by your posting name. Also possibly have a permanent link on the main page that explains/defines all the constantly used abbreviations that new and newer members are many times confused by.

I agree for sure on the too many categories.

I look forward to the changes.

All good things. I too look forward to the new and improved Pond Boss.

i think this is a great site, (even though i do not have a pond) - as a budding aquaponicist, the information here is great.. i've been telling many people on other forums about what you have here!
good luck, and keep up the good work!

I like Zep's ideas.. I think there should be recent post listing aswell as a recent post category.. The categories could be slimmed down so they aren't as specific, but still nicely separated. I think pictures could be easier to load, mainly where you can load a pic directly to the thread instead of loading a link you have to click on to see the pic.. I can be a moderator if you need a highly dedicated professional moderator, plus I'm usually on before anyone else in the morning so I get first peek of late night spam slot of times.

I also agree that there are too many categories, often two or three that are basically the same.
The one feature I like on some bulletin boards, is when you put your cursor on the subject line it gives you the first few lines of the text. I think that this might be a Vbulletin feature though and you run UBB.

I'm sure there will be growing pains, but we'll work thru them. One thing that I really want you to keep is the little indicator that shows what sub forums have new posts in them. Also, I like how when you click on a thread it takes you to the first unread post. Some other forums that I visit make you scroll thru all the posts, or make you click on the last page, then scroll thru the posts until you find where you left off.

One thing that really turns me off on some forums is the constant pop-ups that you have to manually close before you can continue to view the forum. I tend to not visit those forums after a while. If you're thinking of going that route, I wouldn't mind paying a fee to keep them off of my screen.

My favorite is the active topics section, just click it and you see all the recent posts going back for days. This is great when your away for a while.

Forum topic suggestion: Humor (: I like to laugh. Browsing these forums I see I am not alone! I'll be reading a dead serious thread about weed control or whatever and someone will post something that just cracks me up. Randomly coming across these jems is always a pleasant surprise...but thought that it would be nice to go straight to a forum that might make you smile on those days when you need the medicine that only laughter can provide!
Here's a true story to get things started. July 17,2010. Nightime club tournament. I draw a young college student non-boater. 12:15 am we're pitchin 1/2 ounce football jigs to heavy cover. 12:17 "Chris" is using 20lb test big game tied to his jig and announces " I'm hung on a stump" Before I could speak this kid points his 8ft flipping stik DIRECTLY at the stump (which I could see in the moonlight is hung on top of this stump) about 30 ft from him and begins to pull directly toward him about nipple high with his thumb clamped tight on the spool..As soon as I start screaming NO! NO! STOP! STOP! a big gust of wind blowing in his face and his Hurculean efforts to free the jig(projectile) combine successfully. I could only watch in disbelief( horror-shock-??) as that jig hit him square above the lip traveling at what could only be described as WARP speed, and over the boat he went. BTW he's fine now and none the worse for wear and will NEVER DO THAT AGAIN, although that was his first and last tournament and doesn't come to meetings anymore. I think he has taken up golf.

Sounds like some positive changes coming! This site is great, but I often feel that i am probably missing some really good info because I don't take the time to browse all the different categories. I would like to see these shrunk down.

I would like to be able to access PB articles and download from the website. (Even if there is a charge for it). Buying a whole prior magazine doesn't always make sense.

Mr. Lusk will remember? that I asked for this before, but not in the context of the website.

Ditto on the too many categories, especially the species list. There are many I have never clicked on since the expansion.

-HH

This is a great site, hands down, the people, the knowledge, the topics, the very essence of owning a pond, it's all right here.

However, the most effective and convenient site I have ever kept up with has a search feature on it that will list all new topics and topics with new posts, across all of it's categories, since your last visit.

Let that sink in for just a moment, and consider the time savings to all. A user would come to the site and with one click, have a list of all new topics and all topics with new posts since their last visit. To me, this means I don't miss a thread because either I couldn't find it or didn't have time to scan every category (of which there are a great number on this site). That site is written in Vbulletin software, but surely this UBB software uses a date and time stamp to keep track of users comings and goings, a short macro written to do this would basically sort the DB forward from that time date stamp and display those links. That is my only suggestion for this site as well as any site where real people have to leave and come back to topics old and new. I find that feature the handiest of handy features and it allows more active topics to remain at the top of said list, while others move lower in the batting order. I don't know if that helps, but those are my thoughts.

Well I have been thinking for sometime now that the moderators do seem to be swamped. Heck you don't here to often from some of them as they are so busy with there world which dont get me wrong I totally get, but correct me if I am wrong the moderators are not only here to keep quote unquote the peace but they are moderators because of there vast knowledge about ponds and all things pondish too right?? So if we have 2 or 3 Mod's that dont check in to often anymore because they are busy, or out of town or what have you, then it hurts the site because they may have the answer or advise a certain person may be looking for. So I do agree with the fact that we do need a couple a more Mod's that have the time and knowledged needed to be watching over things a little more. I hope that did not come off sideways at anyone that was not my intention just an observation is all.

One addition to the site that could be nice is a chat Pingbox. One similar to Facebook and MSN Live Messenger.

The 'Top Posters' list on the left side of the forum should exclude Moderators. They have a big numbers advantage due to their management status.

The Top Posters list should be longer, perhaps the top 10.

I'd like to see us able to post an avatar with each post.

This almost needs to be a round-table discussion at PB IV.

Moderators. We've lost the daily attention of several really great moderators. I think it may be time to have new nominations, elections, appointments, whatever. Possibly something like 3-year renewable terms, with 1/3 of each of the terms being renewed annually. Probably six moderators, starting this year with two that have 3 year terms, two that have two year terms, and two that have one year left -- but these same people could sign up for three more years.

Advertisers. I subscribe to a number of hobby magazines. For several of them, advertisements are as important, maybe even more important, than the articles. I would have no problem with more ads on the Pond Boss website, as long as they aren't horribly obtrusive and intrusive.

Forum List. We really seem to have too many forum categories. To me, and apparently to most of the others, the two most important categories are "Questions and Observations" and "... if it ain't about ponds." Except for INTRO and GENERAL questions, I'd turn all the other forums into just categories without sub-categories -- POND CONSTRUCTION, STOCKING A POND, FISH, etc. I'm not sure what I'd do with the photo gallery. We all love photos, but the present photo gallery just doesn't seem to be working like it should.

LOG IN. Before we went to the current format, I could click on a post and if I wasn't logged in, it would allow me to log in. After logging in, it would take me back to where I was. That doesn't happen anymore. After logging in from a post, we are taken back to the main forum page. We have to try and remember what we were getting ready to answer.

Products. This probably goes hand-in-hand with the advertising. But, from the forum, or even from the main page, it is difficult to find Pond Boss products or a Pond Boss subscription. As a long time member, I find that trying to buy a Pond Boss hat or book is difficult.

Getting to the Forum. Again, if a search site gets someone to the main page, it is not real obvious how to get to the forum. "Ask the Boss" just doesn't do it. Something as simple as "Pond Boss Forum" might be more descriptive.

Search. The advanced search is just awkward and somewhat unconventional. On many other sites, when asking for a "Name Search" it means that a user has given a name to a particular set of search characteristics. How about "Member Name Search" or something similar? Also, the advanced search default is for postings less than 1 week. Even with my bad memory, I can find those without a search. At least for me, it would be better if the default was some much longer period of time -- like less than 1 year.

I'm sure there are more suggestions, but this is a start.

No matter what, the site is still fantastic -- because of the people and the great moderators.

What about a listing of the species most commonly stocked in ponds, a brief description of each, followed by pros and cons? It seems the same questions come up fairly regularly, maybe this would help?

Whats the latest on this?? I really think the uploading needs to be fixed, It has to be a fairly simple fix because this is about the only forum i go on that uses this style of loading up a link to look at a pic. Pics should be directly loaded to thread for easy viewing and the loading.. I honestly dont load pics just because of the set up..

BGK -I don't find it difficult at all and I am near 86 years old..
....

Your age has you use too old technology.. just kidding

Is it possible to load pics directly to a thread without using a photobucket link.? I just hate saving my pictures to my computer, then saving to my photobucket, then loading to pondboss after opening a second page to cut and pasted pic addresses after signing into photobucket.. I mean why do this? When most websites It says plain and simple UPLOAD PIC. you hit browse, find the pic and baddabing its on the thread.