Change the forums up

GnomeWizarddGnomeWizardd Member 4 LifeAkron, PA Icrontian
edited November 2005 in Community
IDEAS to change up the forums with new sections deleting sections and what not. Let em fly people!
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Comments

  • rapturerapture
    edited October 2005
    Id say keep em as is. We have a decent mix already, no point trimming down to an off topic forum and a babe thread...
  • LiLbRoLiLbRo Troy, Michigan
    edited October 2005
    I like it the way it is...
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    Icrontic needs to find it's focus. You can't really 'build' a community around a babe thread. It's great for us since we know and love this place - it's our off-topic chat forum... but it's not going to draw any new members. That's why growth is so slow.
  • verselloversello New
    edited October 2005
    Off-topic and an "Everything Else" are the only forums you need.

    Oh yeah, and the Adult forum :)
  • ZuntarZuntar North Carolina Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    primesuspect wrote:
    Icrontic needs to find it's focus. You can't really 'build' a community around a babe thread. It's great for us since we know and love this place - it's our off-topic chat forum... but it's not going to draw any new members. That's why growth is so slow.
    I would agree, but when the front page hasn't changed in like MONTHS, that ain't helpin!
  • GnomeWizarddGnomeWizardd Member 4 Life Akron, PA Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    front page needs to find its groove, I honestly think moving IC away from strictly pcs to a site that includes a variety of things wilkl help
  • ZuntarZuntar North Carolina Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    GnomeWizardd wrote:
    front page needs to find its groove, I honestly think moving IC away from strictly pcs to a site that includes a variety of things wilkl help
    I think that'is not a bad idea, but i do NOT think we should lose pc stuff at all.
  • rapturerapture
    edited October 2005
    Icrontic.com needs content to bring people to the message board. Turning it into some kind of portal for car and porn lovers will totally kill it for those of us that remember how things used to be but if thats what you want to do...
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited October 2005
    rapture wrote:
    Icrontic.com needs content to bring people to the message board. Turning it into some kind of portal for car and porn lovers will totally kill it for those of us that remember how things used to be but if thats what you want to do...


    I fully agree. The last thing we want is to turn this into a roxxor babe/car site. That'll draw they type of people that frequent those sites and you don't want that. I have no problems opening up a message style whooping on the majority of those idtoits. It's even fun for awhile. But I get my fix of that kind of stuff on nothingland and I'm happy to keep it there.

    I think we could probably condence some of the boards. It will look like there is more activity since if a new member comes to a forum and sees most boards are 1 week old etc... they tend to not stay. If we condence the boards so there is more activity in a tighter space it's probably better. Assuming the place gets jumping again then you can look at dividing the different areas up again as volume warrants it.

    The other area that needs to change is the front page. Which requires the admin to give more access to the people that are able/willing to update it. Now the front page is the portal so you need some things that will draw people. Certainly more hardware news would help, but possibly other things as well, movie reviews, general news, I'm just grasping.
  • TexTex Dallas/Ft. Worth
    edited October 2005
    kryyst wrote:
    I fully agree. The last thing we want is to turn this into a roxxor babe/car site. That'll draw they type of people that frequent those sites and you don't want that. I have no problems opening up a message style whooping on the majority of those idtoits. It's even fun for awhile. But I get my fix of that kind of stuff on nothingland and I'm happy to keep it there.

    I think we could probably condence some of the boards. It will look like there is more activity since if a new member comes to a forum and sees most boards are 1 week old etc... they tend to not stay. If we condence the boards so there is more activity in a tighter space it's probably better. Assuming the place gets jumping again then you can look at dividing the different areas up again as volume warrants it.

    The other area that needs to change is the front page. Which requires the admin to give more access to the people that are able/willing to update it. Now the front page is the portal so you need some things that will draw people. Certainly more hardware news would help, but possibly other things as well, movie reviews, general news, I'm just grasping.

    Finally a voice of reason in the madness.

    Tex
  • ZuntarZuntar North Carolina Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    I have to agree with what Kryyst/ Rapture / & Tex are saying. By my last post I did not mean that we should go towards cars and babes.
    Let's refocus on what Mort had and what Icronic was, it worked.
    Stick to the blue on black theme as a standard with the classic gangsta guy and "Welcome home theme", that's what most people remember.

    I think we need to condense similar to this.

    Hardware:
    General Hardware
    Motherboards & Bios Help
    Overclocking, Cooling, Cases, & Mods
    Storage & Networking

    Software:
    General Software
    OS: MS & Linux
    Recommended Downloads & Utilities

    Games: PC and Console

    Icronic:
    same breakout, no change

    The front page HAS to change and be the focus.

    If all this means more help on the admin side is needed then for the love of God, ASK for help!!
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited October 2005
    Zuntar wrote:
    I have to agree with what Kryyst/ Rapture / & Tex are saying. By my last post I did not mean that we should go towards cars and babes.
    Let's refocus on what Mort had and what Icronic was, it worked.
    Stick to the blue on black theme as a standard with the classic gangsta guy and "Welcome home theme", that's what most people remember.

    I think we need to condense similar to this.

    Hardware:
    General Hardware
    Motherboards & Bios Help
    Overclocking, Cooling, Cases, & Mods
    Storage & Networking

    Software:
    General Software
    OS: MS & Linux
    Recommended Downloads & Utilities

    Games: PC and Console

    Icronic:
    same breakout, no change

    The front page HAS to change and be the focus.

    If all this means more help on the admin side is needed then for the love of God, ASK for help!!

    That seems like a pretty good break down I'd probably just group games in with software though. Have three headings:

    hardware - Use it
    software - Run it
    Icrontic - I drew a blank
    keep it at that
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    Okay but all these things are pointless without new visitors, and changing forums around isn't going to bring people in.

    Back to what I said: Icrontic needs to find its focus. Are we a hardware site? If yes, are we focused on hardware review? Well we'd better start recruiting some writers. Not a review site? Okay, what? Overclocking? Where are our overclocking champs posting massive 3DMark scores that we can post all over the web to draw people over here? See what I'm saying? We need to do something extraordinary, something that gets noticed, and then tell the world - then people show up and the site grows.

    Organizing the forums is all well and good, but it won't solve anything.
  • GnomeWizarddGnomeWizardd Member 4 Life Akron, PA Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    I was doing a review a month, Now ill admit I am not a great reviewer but i was trying to contribute, Now the fact taht Iv'e asked citrix for parts from geeks.com and have been held off and the fact taht parts have been shipped to others but yet no review followed is kinda disturbing. All of the reviews I did were of personal stuff I bought but unfortunately Funds have been low so therefore no purchases. IF i was to aquarire some stuff from our partners at geeks.com id be happy to write more reviews ( i am in elglish classes too so now i can do it properly )

    Maybe open up a spyware and virus team and maybe a new slogan on he fron tpage " You f'd it up! We can help fix it! "
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    I mean, opening a spyware and virus team is great, but who's going to staff it? Reviewers have to do a ton of work to get review samples. You can't just say "send me stuff", you have to constantly be in contact with hardware vendors, build relationships, and treat it like the business that it is. If you want to review stuff, don't rely on Citrix to get the stuff for you. Email the PR or marketing departments of the vendors you want to get samples from, tell them about Icrontic, tell them the site's history and traffic numbers. I hate to say it, but until you build traffic up a bit, you might have trouble getting review samples. You can start small though - build relationships with vendors for stuff like cases, heatsinks, optical drives, peripherals, or software. If you write AMD they're not gonna give you the time of day yet, not until you can prove that you have the traffic to justify sending you new hardware.

    Is icrontic really a review site? Don't take this as an offense, but I don't think we have it in us to be a review site right now. Plus, does the web really need another review site? Personally I think the site should find a new focus - what that focus is, I don't know, but I don't think hardware review is going to get us anywhere.
  • citrixmetacitrixmeta Montreal, Quebec Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    2 items were shipped and reviewed.. and posted..
    the 3rd item that was shipped had many problems, geek is aware of this.

    i cant believe you even said that gnome
  • GnomeWizarddGnomeWizardd Member 4 Life Akron, PA Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    from my standpoint i was lead to believe there were more than 3 items shipped, I knew of the two I figured there was around 5 or 6 items sent, My misunderstanding.
  • citrixmetacitrixmeta Montreal, Quebec Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    i love ya man :)
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited October 2005
    I agree with Prime at the present time we don't have the staff or time to become a reveiw site. It'd be nice but I don't think that is the reality anymore. At least not in the short run.

    The you f'd it we fix it seems to be a better aproach. I know of other so called expert sites Experts Exchange being a big one, and frankly many of the people handing out advice there are idiots. We have a pretty good group of core techies here that have a really good understanding of the general sort of computer problems. We also know how to use google to find solutions that escape us.

    There are aspects that we at the moment can't cover and that's generally the deeper routed, more obscure enterprise software. So be it. If we can attract more members there is a good chance we can pull some of them in.

    Prime I also don't think any of us were suggesting that a simple visual change was going to instantly draw members. But by going through changes it'll keep the board looking more active and possibly help to keep new members around.
  • Nive11enNive11en Europe
    edited October 2005
    Well, maybe we (well.., you :p ) should set up an Icrontic history page on http://www.icrontic.com/ instead of what currently can be found there. Real news won't happen. I think a page showing the birth, events, etc of Icrontic and what happened to the site would be nice. Then put up a link to icronticforums.com

    I wonder, I've never really used Icrontic before it got hacked. I remember checking it a few times before, was extremely active. Did really all backups of the posts on the forums and the articles on icrontic.com get lost? Can't believe it.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    it's really true. Not to talk bad about mortin, he's dead, but he didn't really care about icrontic at the end, and he had given the admin the wrong database info to backup. For over a year, the db that was being backed up was zero bytes, and nobody who had to the power to check, checked... or probably even knew how.
  • verselloversello New
    edited October 2005
    Hmm, if I was an admin and I was backing up a files that equated to 0 bytes... I would have raised an eyebrow... wtf...
  • GnomeWizarddGnomeWizardd Member 4 Life Akron, PA Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    its ok cause if it didn't happen SM wouldn't be around and addaboy well it wouldnt be addaboy
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    The admins in charge didn't have the technical skills to determine the backup size. Essentially, it was "login, run command, log out" every day, just trusting that mortin had given them the correct procedure. It was many failures on many fronts. We've learned many valuable lessons from the whole ordeal. SM's backup strategy is probably overkill. :)
  • ZuntarZuntar North Carolina Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    Ok, since were on the subject, who does what around here as far as admin goes? What does it take to keep icrontic up on a daily basis?

    Not try to say anything, but nothing will ever happen unless those in charge show up and interact here. Right? I don't see or hear about anyone except for citrix (great guy) who is clearly a busy man. But then again so are most people!

    I wouldn't mind posting relevant hardware/software news from around the web, IF I had a clue what, how, when, where to make it happen. I have offered to help for a long time, but I am not going to beg like a child.

    I see Prime all over the place at SM, and I receive emails from SM about folding and about whatever, that makes for great comradery!

    Zuntar :bowdown: to Prime
  • TexTex Dallas/Ft. Worth
    edited October 2005
    primesuspect wrote:
    The admins in charge didn't have the technical skills to determine the backup size. Essentially, it was "login, run command, log out" every day, just trusting that mortin had given them the correct procedure. It was many failures on many fronts. We've learned many valuable lessons from the whole ordeal. SM's backup strategy is probably overkill. :)

    Not to rehash old probs here but.... Prime a backup of zero bytes takes how long? You and I both know the answer. Maybe a second or two...... And that would be a clue wouldnt you think? For someone in a admin position? This wasnt rocket science. Or even bottle rocket science if that was the size of the database.

    I have customers who have some dumb old lady in basicaly a data entry type position in charge of their backups that call if the backup takes one second to complete because they know that can't be right.

    To give everyone the benefit of the doubt lets assume their were MULTIPLE copies of a full database out there and they were copying the wrong version. Which would be harder to detect but.... then again that wouldnt explain why no posts or member lists etc... survived either? Ok so they must of copied a zero byte DB in 2 seconds I guess.... and assumed the backup was good. Over and over.... I think I would of asked someone to of checked out the backup. Don't ya think? I know my mind works differant at times but.... You would of thought .... Oh never mind...

    Tex
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    It's pointless to wonder about it. That's the reality of it, and the only person who could answer these questions is dead. Time to look forward.
  • Nive11enNive11en Europe
    edited October 2005
    Haha, this is a mystery, I'm more and more curious. Evil must have been at the inner workings of Icrontic. Sabotage and conspiracy I say! Sure there haven't been any clues, left over logs, whatever?
  • TexTex Dallas/Ft. Worth
    edited October 2005
    primesuspect wrote:
    It's pointless to wonder about it. That's the reality of it, and the only person who could answer these questions is dead. Time to look forward.

    I am very sorry then. I never realized it was Mortin backing up. I aplogize. I thought he only wrote the script that was flawed? Isnt that what you said? I thought it was some of the key folks that started S-M basicaly that were supposed to be backing up Icrontic in those days? Remember ? The old admins at Icrontic in charge of backing it up before you split off? And you guys split after there was no backup... and you were in charge of the backup basicaly..... Because Mortin had actually split for College and left them in charge.

    My mistake. My apologies.

    So your actually saying here in this public forum on the record that the guys backing up Icrontic's zero byte database in 2 seconds were not the admins at Icrontic that are now the key owners of Short-media? But instead it was Mortin backing it up? maybe I was delusional all this time and its really nice of you to clear it up.

    Tex
  • ZuntarZuntar North Carolina Icrontian
    edited October 2005
    Hind sight is always 20/20 lets move on please.

    Back to Gnomes original question, and the front page.

    I genuinely want to know about the admin side of these sites, so bump to my last post please!!!
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