Forums Restructuring

Discussion in 'Forum Announcements and Feedback' started by Daniel Mosquin, Feb 1, 2010.

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  1. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    I was confused about the "until February 9" situation, but I think the available to be read only by registered members starts February 23.
     
  2. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Oops. Locked it up now, so it should only be readable by registered members. Yes, the intent is to move the forums from "For Registered Members" into "Archives" after Feb. 23.

    Reducing workload, unfortunately. The greatest attractor to new members to the forums is finding the site via search engines. Hiding these forums behind a registered members only wall means they will eventually be removed from search engine results.

    A bit of a catch-22. I would like the information to be available (let's take an example, Citrus), but by having it available, people may think that Citrus forums continue to run. Register, find out they can't post to it, and get upset.
     
  3. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    That's correct.

    From now till Feb. 9, those particular forums can only be seen by registered members.

    From Feb. 9 to Feb. 23, those particular forums will be switched to "reply-only" (no new threads, but people can continue discussions)

    After Feb. 23 is when they will no longer accept any new postings, via reply or new thread.

    This latter 2 week gap is to give discussions an opportunity to be completed.
     
  4. Katalina25

    Katalina25 New Member

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    Thankyou Daniel!
     
  5. photopro

    photopro Well-Known Member

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    You guys have fun on Unusual Plants http://unusualplants.net

    I was just denied membership. It says I am a "known SPAMMER". That is news to me since it clearly says at the top of my website we don't sell anything.

    www.ExoticRainforest.com
     
  6. joclyn

    joclyn Rising Contributor

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    go over to the garden forums steve. you'll DEFINITELY be welcomed there!! and i'd love to see the aroid section there getting some action...
     
  7. photopro

    photopro Well-Known Member

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    Who is running this Unusual Plants? I just tried more than a dozen times to send them a private note and every time they wanted me to fill out the anti-spam number game. I did it accurately every time and they rejected every attempt!

    Some years ago a SPAMMER used my email address because they thought people would just open the mail. I finally got that fixed but these people are obviously using an outdated list and won't allow any communication.

    They won't even talk to me!

    I'll check out the other forum
     
  8. photopro

    photopro Well-Known Member

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    Sorry, if you have glaucoma you cannot read their pale colors to sign up. I'll find a place to post but it won't be either of these sites.
     
  9. janetdoyle

    janetdoyle Active Member 10 Years

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    I too have had trouble trying to register at Unusual Plants. Perhaps one of their members could find out for us why our attempts keep getting blocked for spamming. I have a yahoo.ca email address, but have never spammed anyone unless something is using my address. I also could not figure out how to use the coding with the letter-number recognition thing: do you leave spaces between the clusters of letters or numbers, as shown in the illustration you are copying, or just put the individual digits and letters together without spacing? Why not continue to use the Gardening in the Pacific Northwest forum as Daniel Mosquin recommends? We garden with all kinds of plants, I don't think it has to be specified as before as to type of plant. Too bad, though, we have lost our international participants. I would like to join an international forum too, but this unusualplants thing does not seem to be user friendly to join.
     
  10. Liz

    Liz Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    "--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    You guys have fun on Unusual Plants http://unusualplants.net"

    I too have had the same problem. It also happened to me on a totaly unrelated list to gardening that was in the same format. Maybe it's the soft ware they are using

    Liz
     
  11. Liz

    Liz Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Apologies did not realise I was on same message.


    "Yes, I'm glad we can stay in touch! Also- a lot of us have been joining unusualplants! Spread the word- it's a great site, and we can all interact with each other again!
    ~Tgplp :) "

    It appears it is not letting quiet a few of us in. Being accused of being a spammer. May be if you are in you can ask what is going on
    Ta

    Liz
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2010
  12. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Well, I have enough problems to solve here, but I will suggest as a possibility that they have some very aggressive anti-spam measures. They are using the same software as here -- though upgraded to the new version (which is what I had planned a few weeks ago to do today, until this decision was made -- I'm now postponing it for a few weeks).

    I wouldn't take rejection from that site personally, it's likely a little tweak the forum admin has to make in the settings.
     
  13. janetdoyle

    janetdoyle Active Member 10 Years

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    Here is a question I have, regarding the compaction and pruning of these wonderful forums we are all mourning the loss-of-currency of... [this question is repeated in the Pacific North West Gardening forum which is being kept on]

    Could not someone from, say, England, reply to a questioner regarding, for example, a Pieris plant, in the Gardening in the Pacific North West Forum, which certainly grows in the Pacific Northwest... it might have something to do with varietal characteristics which would apply in both places, perhaps...

    How are people going to be included in the PNW forum? Discussions of, say, Pieris shrubs might pull in responses from our correspondents we usually hear from in England, France, Ecuador, Australia, you name it...

    In other words as I now think I understand it, this pruning of forums is going to enable Daniel to watch posts in just one forum rather than having to skip around and monitor numerous posts in numerous threads in numerous forums! If anyone can establish a thread in "Gardening in the Pacific Northwest", then we can still discuss internationally the characteristics of a Pieris variety! I hope this is the case, so smile all, we can still be in touch here!
     
  14. joclyn

    joclyn Rising Contributor

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    if anyone is having any trouble registering at the garden forums, please send me a pm here and i'll contact the admin there to get your registration finalized.
     
  15. turtile

    turtile Member

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    I own and run unusualplants.

    The picture with numbers is a method to stop spam bots from spamming my email. I currently get 1000 spam emails a month the way it is now. I'm working on a new system that will be easier for users and impossible to get around for spammers.

    I currently have the system set up to block users who match known spammers for the last 45 days. I'll send a request to remove you from the database once you sign in.

    Let me know your desired username and I'll manually create an account for you. I'll PM you a temporary password here.
     
  16. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Well, yes and no. International participants are certainly welcome to participate there, but that forum is specifically for gardeners in the Pacific Northwest. If someone initiates a discussion on growing something in Australia, then the thread will either be moved to General Gardening Q&A (if the person is new to the forums) or closed as inappropriate to these forums. Yes, people could functionally work-around what has been set-up, but it'll just end up causing more work for me... and if that's the case, then the meeting after 3 months might go in a different direction than what we seemingly all hope for.
     
  17. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    I've bumped up your user level so you can send / receive PMs. Something you might consider to prevent spammers private messaging members upon successful registration. Though it is work to maintain.
     
  18. photopro

    photopro Well-Known Member

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    Turtile, I'm aware what the codes they want are and why they use them but neither my wife nor myself can read the super light colors. When you hit my age your eyes just don't work like they did when you are younger. At the very least some of these sites need to consider not everyone has 20 year old eyes anymore!

    I maintain a very popular aroid website and am too aware of SPAMMERS. My mail box is filled with junk all the time since my email address is on the net but I also know how to buy and use good SPAM filters. There are ways to work around these things without depriving interested parties of the desire to participate.
     
  19. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    I've been taken to lots of other forum postings where there's a prominent indicator that the thread is closed and no replies are allowed. If that's set at a top level, doesn't it apply to all the subforums and postings below that level? Closed means closed, but you can still read good information. Are you able to change the message about the thread being closed to postings to say something that indicates that the whole whatever it is forum is closed to postings?

    You're already set up to handle the bandwidth. It wouldn't seem to be extra work to let everyone read them, and you collect some hits.
     
  20. turtile

    turtile Member

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    Thanks! I may consider doing this if I have problems.

    Sent you a PM.
     
  21. janetdoyle

    janetdoyle Active Member 10 Years

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    OK, well, then, regarding the users who can use Gardening in the Pacific Northwest, I guess we will all have to be careful about restricting it vigorously to that topic, or seek out other forums. I can see the problem Daniel is having with monitoring it all. I will check out the unusualplants one, if I can get on [I was not admitted and told my email address was a spammer, but I have PM'd the owner above and asked that I be sent a password], and I will try that other garden forums one which was suggested, as well...
     
  22. Junglekeeper

    Junglekeeper Esteemed Contributor 10 Years

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    A different background with an appropriate message (and perhaps a different color) could be used for archived forums, similar to that currently done for Test Bed. The New Thread and reply-associated buttons would be disabled of course.

    Speaking of Test Bed, I think it would still serve its purpose under the new forum structure and should be retained.
     
  23. photopro

    photopro Well-Known Member

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    Both forums suggested have kindly resolved my problem signing up. I believe if you are having a problem the administrators will help if you post a note here.
     
  24. terrestrial_man

    terrestrial_man Active Member 10 Years

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    Daniel,
    All I can say is THANKS!
    Having ran a news type website for a couple or three years I can definitely relate to just how much time is involved in dealing with all the updates and issues that arise and that you simply have to spend much more time in monitoring to be on the forefront of whats news. It is a thankless task that few can relate to until they are faced with having to meet the onslaught of daily input that seems to grow more burdensome by the minute.
    I believe that the option chosen will serve everyone well.
    As has been noted, there are a number of forums online that may be adequate to fill in nonUBC topics.
    Perhaps in time UBC will have the resources to resurrect the forum to what we have all come to enjoy browsing through.
     
  25. et2007

    et2007 Active Member

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    Hello Daniel,
    I'm so sad... this is my #1 forum...
    Thank you.
     
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