G'Day, Stranger!

1. •  
     CommentAuthorFraser
   • CommentTimeMay 22nd 2009 edited

    
   This has been a bit of a rush job to quickly put together this forum. And so it's a little short of meaning and functionality right now. But stick with it, we'll get things moving shortly and slowly but surely the forum will spring to life.
   
   In the meantime, the forum is open for discussion and anyone can join in. You'll have to register of course to be able to post, but it's painless to do so and of course free.
2. •  
     CommentAuthorFraser
   • CommentTimeMay 26th 2009

    
   Ok, things are still a little threadbare at the moment due to the limitations of time. Over the next few days I'll be able to meat out the presentation into a more readable version posted on the main part of the website. It'll explain in greater detail the background of the project and its direction.
   
   Following that we'll be able to kick off some discussion about "kickstart" members. Not necessarily playing members of the band, just a small quorum of people with enough energy and spare time left to throw a couple of hours of activity at the project to help it along.
   
   As the Chinese say: A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
3. •  
     CommentAuthorFraser
   • CommentTimeJun 21st 2009

    
   Apologies for the apparent lack of activity over the last couple of weeks. Bare with me, no days off work since last month at the Ayr Gathering. Day off today, so what did I do, fix up the website.
   
   Changes:
   The website now runs under a different system. The details don't really matter. What does matter is that information for those visiting the site is all under one roof.
   
   Communication is one of the most important aspects of this project. With that in mind, the website has been trimmed down and has a more direct approach.
   
   I've tried to import almost all of the content from the previous site. There may be an odd inconsistency in dates/times with some of the posts. If you spot one, let me know.
   
   The site is now back open for business.
4. •  
     CommentAuthorFraser
   • CommentTimeJun 21st 2009

    
   Those people who had previously registered on the forum in the old website have been imported into this forum. An auto email has been sent out to you with your new login and password. Feel free to login and change the details to whatever you wish.
   
   Those people who have volunteered to become playing members of the band have had logins created for them and likewise notified of their logins and temporary passwords.
   
   There will be a few more changes made tomorrow (Monday) and a few notifications may end up in your email inbox.
   
   Bear with me - progress will be sporadic due to limitations on my time at the moment. It's not how I like to work, I prefer a nice steady rate of progress - better for everyone. But it'll all settle down in due course.
5. •  
     CommentAuthorFraser
   • CommentTimeJul 22nd 2009

    
   I'm trying out a couple of chat options for the website. The one being trialed just now is webbychat. You'll see a "chat" tab at the top of the page. Clicking this will bring up the chat window on the left side of the screen.
   
   Remember, this is just for a bit of quick communication with others. But put the meaty stuff in the forum for others to read afterwards.
6. •  
     CommentAuthorFraser
   • CommentTimeJul 22nd 2009

    
   WebbyChat abandoned. Seemed a bit buggy. Looking for something drop dead simple.
   
   Trying shoutmix.
7. •  
     CommentAuthorFraser
   • CommentTimeJul 22nd 2009

    
   Shoutmix seems to work well with the site. Have upgraded the shoutmix service to a paid service. This allows a range of extra features including the extrended security on the shoutbox, access control and faster auto refreshing - the box will refresh 10 times a minute by itself.
   
   At the moment the shoutbox is public. It's on the front page for all to see and use (or abuse). Let me know if you think we should put the shoutbox behind the login. That is, should we use just for player use? Bearing in mind there will be a temptation to use it to discuss things that might not really be for the public domain?
8. •  
     CommentAuthorFraser
   • CommentTimeJul 26th 2009

    
   Calendar now implemented on site. Powered by Google. Dates being added today.
9. •  
     CommentAuthorFraser
   • CommentTimeJul 26th 2009

    
   About Page and Google Map Directory page have now been combined under the "About" tab. As the "About" page develops, the information on the map becomes more relevant.
   
   Thank you to Nathan and Steve for recently putting themselves on the map.
   
   To everyone else: Please, please, please ...
   
   ... stick yourself on the map. Help the band find players and sponsors by representing ourselves well on the About Page/Map. You don't have to be overly detailed. Check out Ash's entry on the map.
10. •  
      CommentAuthorAsh
    • CommentTimeAug 5th 2009

     
    And stick a photo next you name. That way it's easier to equate faces with names. they don't have to be perfect photo's, just something we can recognise you by.
11. •  
      CommentAuthorNathan
    • CommentTimeAug 10th 2009

     
    Ok, Ok, finally stuck a photo on. After spending 20mins trying to work out how to downsize it to make it fit. And it's not even a great photo.
12. •  
      CommentAuthorFraser
    • CommentTimeSep 7th 2009 edited

     
    Announcement:
    
    Brenden White will be helping to look after the website from the admin side. Brenden has had experience running forums and as President of the NQ Zone has a vested interest in promoting a high level of public discussion on pipe band matters.
13. •  
      CommentAuthorFraser
    • CommentTimeJan 26th 2010

     
    Forum software has just been updated to latest version this afternoon. But I'm stuffed with the flu so I may have missed something. If you find there's anything broken please email me and let me know.
14. •  
      CommentAuthorFraser
    • CommentTimeJan 31st 2010 edited

     
    Got a bit of work done on the new look of the website. Work in progress. Logo has made its first appearance, and the colour scheme will reflect the logo and the colours we have picked for our uniform. Things are still a bit of this and a bit of that. Will get it tidied up over the next week.
    
    Following that will be the inclusion of a more news-like front page / blog to hold some of the more informative parts of the site for first time visitors. The current Media Stream will get pulled into the main part of the site and onto the front page.
    
    Following that will be some new functionality in the band room area: videos, tutorials, etc.
    
    If things look a little too whacky, try using your browser refresh (F5) to flush out the old and in with the new.
15. • CommentAuthorOwen Capon
    • CommentTimeJan 31st 2010

     
    Great work, how does a member create a new category, say the "Southern Cell" so we can get the word out on practice times?
16. • CommentAuthorMacka
    • CommentTimeJan 31st 2010

     
    web site is looking great
17. •  
      CommentAuthorFraser
    • CommentTimeJan 31st 2010

     
    So far, we haven't really used categories as we have been more or less dumping everything into the band room forum (private). Convenient but a bad habit as so much of the discussions could really be out in the open forum.
    
    Categories will feature strongly in the upcoming changes to the back end functionality. They have to be added from the admin backend so put in your requests: Owen's for example.
18. • CommentAuthorOwen Capon
    • CommentTimeJan 31st 2010

     
    Fraser, can you please add a category for the southern cell which would be mainly used for the purpose of arranging local practices. Perhaps make it public so others can see and may want to come along for a look. Also, this will enable other members to join in the practice if they are down this way.
19. •  
      CommentAuthorFraser
    • CommentTimeJan 31st 2010 edited

     
    Will do Owen. We'll create a public category for all 3 regions and try and keep as much of the local discussion public in those forums.
    
    I'm going to take out the Categories link from the top of the page and put a list of categories on the side panel. So I'll wait a day or so and see if there are any other suggestions - either public forums or private forums.
20. • CommentAuthorOwen Capon
    • CommentTimeFeb 1st 2010

     
    Thanks, categories link on the side would be good - a lot of other sites have a similar layout and is easy to use
21. • CommentAuthorOwen Capon
    • CommentTimeFeb 1st 2010

     
    Fraser, I'm finding that as there are a lot of catergories under the private and public links, after a week, its hard to find things. As you mentioned, it need tidying up, would the use of sub categories help. I can give suggestions if required.
22. •  
      CommentAuthorFraser
    • CommentTimeFeb 2nd 2010 edited

     
    Owen this version of the forum software doesn't handle sub categories very eloquently. I also chose this particular forum software (Vanilla) because its model represents discussions as a single list of unread posts. That makes it an ideal solution for a small group of people all trying to keep tabs on the same information.
    
    One of the drawbacks of the big forums is that all the "need to know now" information is hidden behind categories and subcategories. That doesn't help our cause any, and for the net-wary it's a big turn off.
    
    But we can create as many top level categories as we like and any of those top categories can be restricted to any group - public, private or whatever.
    
    In addition to those categories we can use "tags" to help mark discussions. For a small group like ours this is also a good way of doing things. For the simple reason that a discussion on one topic leads to snippets of other little topics or ideas. Not enough to move that part of the discussion over to another category, but still you would like to earmark it somehow as being relevant to something else. This is where tagging comes in. And with the tagging system used in this forum, anyone can tag anything. That's a boon because it puts everyone in the admin seat and lets them share relevance with other users where they see it.
    
    Tagging hasn't been started yet on the forum, because on a small forum, it's overkill but as our backlog of information is growing, now might be a good time to start it. Will fix it up later this week.
    
    In addition to this, there is a tendency for people to keep on adding to topics as if the topic itself was a category. Instead they should be hitting the "Start a New Discussion" button to keep the discussion threads as clear as possible. But that's an education thing, and we'll make an effort to encourage people to do that.
    
    In the meantime:
    
    Category Suggestions
    -------------------------
    Some public categories:
    - General Discussions - Public (as much as possible goes in here)
    - Travel & Accomodation - Public (one of our biggest hurdles shouldn't be kept a secret)
    - Calendar - public - for what is booked and what might be booked. Again, don't keep it a secret. Give everyone in NQ time to plan ahead.
    
    - Northern Practice Group - Public
    - Central Practice Group - Public
    - Southern Practice Group - Public
    
    Some private (band only) categories:
    - Band Room - Private (for general discussion not suitable for public forum for whatever reason)
    - Finance - Private (may contain sensitive information)
    - Downloads - Private - for comp and concert rep material, forms etc
    - Tuition - Private - (video based, still to come)
    
    Then we need a fund raising category - something into which we can post good ideas and daft ideas. Daft ideas, however unrealistic, are very valuable. Sometimes you can glue together a couple of those daft ideas and come up with something that is worthwhile. But the question is, should it be public or private?
    
    An important note on public categories:
    It's a mistake to think that creating public categories will encourage others to join in the discussion. In reality, that doesn't happen. Most people read and go away. It's called lurking. In addition to this, the few that do take part in public discussions are apt to fill it with irrelevant rubbish - not always, but it's a drawback - and being public, important people read these irrelevant discussions and form an opinion about our project. There are a number of pipe band forums around the world - all full of all sorts of rubbish. That doesn't help our cause.
    
    Most importantly, the real benefit of properly controlled public forums, even if most of it comes from us, is that it is an ideal way to let the outside world see what we are up to: that we are serious, dedicated, ambitious, industrious, etc. And above all that we carry out the things that we say we are going to do. This is an important quality to possess and publicise when it comes to being assessed by grant boards and prospective sponsors.
    
    And above all
    ----------------
    - KISS
    - Use the fewest categories as possible
    - Don't dilute the information by hiding it in a hierarchal structure
    - If there is no reason screaming at you to keep information private - make it public and make it work for you
    - Remember, the forum is here to serve us
    
    A bit long winded, but I type quickly, and it's important for us to set these things up correctly.
    
    Tuppences please ...
23. • CommentAuthorOwen Capon
    • CommentTimeFeb 3rd 2010

     
    I think the working side of Grants should be kept private, as there will be sensitive info such as the grant application itself, our ideas, methods etc.
    However, a public section for grants/sponshorship which are successful, in turn helping to fulfilling our obligations towards recognising business.
    Under private the catergory could be Grants - working
    Under public - Grant Acknowledgements
    I haven't studied it, but tagging certain things looks good. For example I lost track of the equipment costs, does tagging overcome this problem (for me).
    I'm typing this, then thinking is this public or private, I know I can scroll to the top to find out, but a little prompt on the side may be a good reminder, if its possible.
24. •  
      CommentAuthorFraser
    • CommentTimeFeb 3rd 2010

     
    Good idea for Grants - a private one for the sensitive details.
    
    And maybe we kill 2 birds by putting the public side of grants into a general acknowledgements category - for thanking a number of people.
    
    Tagging won't tell you whether a category is private or public. Best way to describe tagging is that you can have a long discussion about "elephants", describing them in detail, without once ever mentioning the word "elephant". But due to the content of the discussion, everyone is in no doubt that the subject of the conversation is about elephants. The problem occurs when you try to find that discussion again. Searching for elephants won't find your discussion. So, someone involved in the discussion as it takes place, realises the importance of this, and tags the conversation with keywords such as "elephant", "trunk", "mouse". It's a form of loose categorisation.
    
    For the problem of: "Am I about to say something in a public forum that should be private"
    
    I think the best solution is to colour code the discussions or have an icon such as a "lock" appear next to discussions that are private, or some other visual device for public forums. Another option is a visual reminder next to the "Add your comments" box so that as you type, you are aware of the scope of your comments.
25. • CommentAuthorOwen Capon
    • CommentTimeFeb 4th 2010

     
    I just realised. in my previous comments, I have incorrectly been referring to discussions and categories as just categories. At present the four items listed on the left are categories and the heaps of topics under each category are discussions as indicated by the headings. I hope my comments haven't caused too much confusion.
    I also just realised where the "start a new discussion" is, just under thew croc, which has probably been distracting me.
26. •  
      CommentAuthorFraser
    • CommentTimeFeb 4th 2010

     
    Yep, s(he) who has not been named yet ...
27. •  
      CommentAuthorFraser
    • CommentTimeFeb 21st 2010 edited

     
    Tags now working to help us find things a bit easier. You can find them on the side panel. When you are looking at a specific discussion, only tags in that discussion will show up.
    
    Didn't quite work out the way I thought originally, so for now you can only tag your own discussion when you start it off yourself. Which is ok, because I guess no one knows better than you do quite what you really mean. For the time being, if you really want to add a tag to a discussion started by someone else, you'll have to ask myself or Brenden to do it, or ask the person who started the discussion to go back and edit the first post and add in your suggested tags to the tag box.
    
    For those who don't tag or don't care, the forum will automatically pick up the main words from the discussion topic title and exclude common words such as the,as, is, etc.
28. •  
      CommentAuthorFraser
    • CommentTimeFeb 21st 2010 edited

     
    Blogging capability partly in place. Will finish it off over the next few days. First up, the content that was housed in media.nqscots.com will be transferred to the blog and media.nqscots.com discarded entirely. That way information about the band is all in one place.
    
    How it works:
    
    The blog section is for comments that are lengthy, newsworthy or informative in some way.
    
    Any comment from any discussion can be promoted to the blog page where it will appear in full (or summarised), listed alongside all the other blog items. Promoting a comment to the blog will be controlled from the backend for now until we get a handle on how we will best use this. To the reader, the blog section will read more like a blog and be a little more informative about who we are and what we do. An easier read, rather than ploughing through forum discussions.
    
    Visibility of a blogged comment is still controlled by what category it has been posted in and who sees what. Therefore the blog section can be used for both public and private side discussions and content.
29. •  
      CommentAuthorFraser
    • CommentTimeFeb 28th 2010 edited

     
    Blog now fully in place. All the content from media.nqscots.com has been transferred into the blog and the domain media.nqscots.com taken down.
    
    I still need to go through all the old posts and look for content that can be "promoted" to the blog. If you see something, that makes sense to you for us to publisize in greater detail, let me know.
30. •  
      CommentAuthorFraser
    • CommentTimeMar 15th 2010

     
    Just added excel spreadsheets to the list of allowable file types to upload (if your role status has permission to do so). Might be worth adding here that you can upload many different types of files by attaching them to your posts, just as you would an attachment when writing an email.
    
    If the file type you are trying to upload is not supported let me know.
    
    An important one is images. Attached images will automatically be thumbnailed allowing easier loading for those on slow connections. Clicking on the thumbnails will automatically pop up a smooth gallery box for you to view the thumbnails in.
    
    Up to 10 attachments can be added at a time.
    
    Put 2 + 2 together = this means you can build your own thumbnail galleries by simply adding more photos to a single post ... Sonia?
    
    Have a look at this example: http://www.nqscots.com/discussion/147/ayr-water-festival-parade-photo-gallery/#Item_1
    
    That little mini gallery has 10 images. But I could have re-edited the post and added more images second time around. The limitation is simply attaching only 10 or less at a time.
    
    Add a few words to the post and you have a fairly informative piece of story telling.
31. •  
      CommentAuthorFraser
    • CommentTimeMar 21st 2010

     
    A new user role has been created for the forum: Band Member (Guardian).
    
    This logon has the same privileges as Band Member. It's purpose is to allow both younger members and their respective legal guardians to a have separate logons with identical access privileges.
32. •  
      CommentAuthorFraser
    • CommentTimeMar 23rd 2010 edited

     
    NQ Scots public calendar has been created on Google Calendars - a neat way of organising and publishing events with built in maps, directions etc. And of course all fully indexed by Google.
    
    Bevan will be putting the band dates into the calendar, and when it's ready I'll take down the old "What's On Tab" at the top of the site navigation and replace it with an embedded google calendar page.
33. •  
      CommentAuthorFraser
    • CommentTimeApr 17th 2010

     
    The public calendar has been updated and should now appear:
    
    1. On the calendar page - open to public - link at top of page
    
    and on the following restricted access calendar category discussion pages:
    
    2. Full list of calendar discussions
    3. List of specific discussion comments
    
    If it appears in any other odd places or doesn't appear where you think it should please let me know.
34. •  
      CommentAuthorFraser
    • CommentTimeApr 22nd 2010

     
    Have you changed your email address?
    
    From time to time, we send out mass emails to various groups when we need to bring something to everyone's attention quickly. These are few and far between, but they contain information that is important or time-sensitive.
    
    If you have not updated your account profile with your new email address you won't receive anything. You'll be in the dark.
    
    So if this applies to you can you please log in and update your email address here:
    
    http://www.nqscots.com/account/?PostBackAction=Identity
    
    This link can be found after you log in: Account->Personal Information
35. •  
      CommentAuthorFraser
    • CommentTimeJul 13th 2010

     
    Problems logging in?
    
    A couple of people have had problems logging in recently. I've made a few changes to the backend to help eliminate this problem. If for any reason you have problems logging in following these changes, you will need to empty your browser's cookies that relate to the domains www.nqscots.com and nqscots.com.