The New Eagler's Nest - Test Posts

[Tom H]

I made it.  This forum is similar to another I participate in.  Gonna be different than receiving the posts via email, but will eliminate the trials and tribulations of dealing with yahoo.
Thanks to the admins for their efforts to keep the Nest going strong.

I suppose the yahoo eaglers nest archives and photos will be available, but the functionality of the group will be turned off?

Tom H
Stubby, a BDE
Treehugger, LEU

[Steve]

Tom:

Thanks for joining the Beta group...

Regarding your thoughts:

Most of the near 1400 Eaglers do not select the message mailing function and a tiny group selects the daily summary - we thought coming to this site and being presented an un-read message link was an improvement in a busy world... Please note that members who make their email available can be sent a private message directly from this site...

We are building Link bridges to the yahoo archives and will leave all but the yahoo (New) msg function in place...

As you know we are being confronted by yahoo Neo data randomizing plus cranky file and folder handling but we will prevail and tame the file & photo Link-ups from here...

Thanks for your support...
Steve

[Tom H]

Steve, you mentioned Beta group, so I suppose you want some comments from some limited initial users:

1- I first registered yesterday, chose a few settings in my profile, such as "no avatar".  Now, I may want to select an avatar, but I don't seem to have the option.  Is a uses restricted to making profile settings only one time (got to get it right the first time), or should there be a way to edit at any time?

2- Seems that there may be too many categories/sub-categories.  For example, under "Airframes", there are "Single Seaters" and "Double Seaters" then under "Single Seaters" there are "LE" and "XL".  I suggest only one category level under the main category, for example, under "Airframes", have "LE", "XL", "DE", "CE".  I understand the idea of categorizing the posts to narrow the information, but it seems it is easy to get so deep that one gets lost.

3- Tied to #2 above, there will be posts made that are clearly in the wrong category.  Will these be moved to the correct category?  By whom?

Thanks for your efforts.  We'll all get lined out, eventually.
Tom H

[Steve]

Tom:

Thanks for your feedback...

Your item 2. hits on the most difficult development issue the alpha group had... The center of the problem is the fact that many posts will apply to both single seaters or to some extent the 2 seaters as well... This  applies to both flying and building Topics... This leads me to your item 3. The Admin team will move Posts and there are simple tools at the Admin level to do that... The features of the move tools are varied and include the power to reorganize the (posting structure) on the fly (no pun intended)... We can road test this structure and change it latter if it works out to be a better practice...

Steve

[Tom H]

Steve, sounds like a plan for #2 and 3.  Modify as necessary based on experience.

What about #1 - is it, or should it be possible for a logged-in user to edit his details?

Tom

[Tom H]

Steve, messing around in the Nest regarding the updating of my profile.

Seems that the next time I logged in after you answered by Q 2 & 3, that my profile was available for update by me.  I did not make changes or hit "change".  Then, I logged out, then back in, and that option was gone.

Does an admin have to allow update editing per request?  Or, can you make this option available all the time?

Tom H

[Steve_]

Tom:

I'm logged in as a member now and the tools seem to be available - I took the attached screen print as a profile change test and an answer to your item #1 Avatar feature question...

Steve

[Tom H]

Steve,
It baffles me.  I just logged in, read your reply post, then checked my profile, and, sure enough, the edit option is there again.  Maybe it's a random thing.  Could it be that yahoo is somewhere back in the shadows of this site?  Naw, can't be.
I'll conclude for now that the profile items are changeable by the user part of the time.

Thanks,
Tom

[Steve]

Tom:
I'm guessing only that you may have not been logged in and operating in Guest mode where the tools are not available...
Steve

[Tom H]

Yeah, Steve, pretty sure I was logged in, but possible I screwed up somewhere.  Seems OK now.

A different thought/idea/suggestion:

Sonerai.net appears to use the same platform that this site uses.  One difference is they pay for the site, there are no ads, that could allow more features.

On that site, I log in, and a main page shows, which features the category list, and on the right, a sidebar showing recent posts, and those that I have not read, indicated by "new".  (if not logged in, same view, but no "new" indicated).  Then, click on one of the posts, it opens with the related earlier posts.  Same as on Eaglers Nest.  But, a good feature on Sonerai.net is the sidebar remains while viewing postings, showing the recent and new posts.  This allows me to simply select the next "new" post without going back to a home page.  I tried to put in a screen shot, but don't know how, so I put it in a word doc, attached.

I think it smooths out daily reading of the posts, and may be worthwhile if it can be implemented.

Thanks,
Tom

[Dan_]

Tom,
Try this... At the left top of the page is "Hello ______"  the next line is a link to all unread posts since your last visit.  It does not appear like links you are used to...

Click  that, pick a post to read, then hit the back button in your browser to return to the unread posts link...

Do you really think the scruffs would pay  money for their own site..?  Personally  don't, but it may make a good poll question later on.

[Tom H]

Dan, that will work.  Just a matter of getting used to a new system.

I'm not suggesting a paid site.  I think the site as you and Steve have set it up will work good, so no need to complicate things with a paid site.  A lot of the scruffs could probably be convinced to pony up some money to pay for a site, but it would have to be for a good reason.  Any issues that come up should be minor, and can be worked out as time goes on.

Thanks,
Tom