Des-Lab
06-07-2008, 10:18 PM
Hey fellow TapeHeads! even though it *IS* Saturday night, I am up a bit past my bedtime. I'm normally an early bird. But, I did a lot of work around the house today. So I took a late afternoon snooze for a few hours and am now awake.
I'd just like to keep you all abreast of site updates and changes as it continues to evolve and be fine-tuned as I familiarize myself with the back-end control panels. Most of what I have been doing has been pretty transparent. But a couple of things I did can be immediately noticed by you. So I'd like to share.
First is TITLES. This is the wording that appears rght below your username when you post. I had set default values of 0-10, 11-99, and 100+. And corresponding titles of "lurker", "TapeHeads.Net member", and "Serious tapehead". I enabled the functionality that allows you to put whatever title you want in there. Go to your user CP (control panel) and under "edit details" there is now a space to put in a custom title. So have fun. And of course, keep it in good taste.
The other is ACTIVITY. Although I'm fully aware that many people do join to have a primarily passive membership (i.e. join to read as opposed to participating), I don't want my bandwidth to get filled up with a bunch of "dead" users. To that end, I have set membership expiration days of 180 days (six months). If that amount of time goes by and you do not make a post, your membership will automatically be cancelled. Surely, if you took the trouble to join this site, there is SOMETHING you can say at least once in that time. But if you are a highly active member of the site (such as myself, or a Braxus or a VinylDavid), don't worry. This will not apply to you as your continuing contributions will keep your membership active.
And finally, some of you may have been wondering. Yes, you can only access and view the forums if you are a registered user. I have the site intentionally set to "ticketed passengers only" mode. The reason is twofold. One is so that itmakes it harder for spammers to get your contact information. It also provides some level of privacy. A real person must take the time to sign up and join the site. I don't want a bunch of people who really have no interest in the site (such as shady e-bay sellers) coming in and poaching our information and pictures to use for less than honorable purposes. The other reason is that it keeps "The Dark Side" of BadKarma at bay. I know I've said that this is MY site and I can say and do whatever I want here, and I still maintain that position. But why make it easy for them? Although I have asserted my firm belief that they already have a plant/mole in here (another reason for the shelf life of inactive users), in the event they don't, they will HAVE to join and see 'what's going on'.
I guess that's about it. The suggestion box is of course there. Thankfully it's been a quiet and slow forum with only a couple of suggestions made. That must mean I'm getting it (mostly) right.
So keep it up. I love this site. It is my "baby" (aside from my wife and my actual system), and I get a lot of mental gratification and satisfaction in watching it grow and seeing all of you having fun here. Keep it up. Keep spreading the word out (a special thank you goes to fellow TH'er Braxus for tirelessly promoting this site every chance he gets). And keep the tape rolling.
Matt "Des-Lab"
Saturday, June 07 2008
I'd just like to keep you all abreast of site updates and changes as it continues to evolve and be fine-tuned as I familiarize myself with the back-end control panels. Most of what I have been doing has been pretty transparent. But a couple of things I did can be immediately noticed by you. So I'd like to share.
First is TITLES. This is the wording that appears rght below your username when you post. I had set default values of 0-10, 11-99, and 100+. And corresponding titles of "lurker", "TapeHeads.Net member", and "Serious tapehead". I enabled the functionality that allows you to put whatever title you want in there. Go to your user CP (control panel) and under "edit details" there is now a space to put in a custom title. So have fun. And of course, keep it in good taste.
The other is ACTIVITY. Although I'm fully aware that many people do join to have a primarily passive membership (i.e. join to read as opposed to participating), I don't want my bandwidth to get filled up with a bunch of "dead" users. To that end, I have set membership expiration days of 180 days (six months). If that amount of time goes by and you do not make a post, your membership will automatically be cancelled. Surely, if you took the trouble to join this site, there is SOMETHING you can say at least once in that time. But if you are a highly active member of the site (such as myself, or a Braxus or a VinylDavid), don't worry. This will not apply to you as your continuing contributions will keep your membership active.
And finally, some of you may have been wondering. Yes, you can only access and view the forums if you are a registered user. I have the site intentionally set to "ticketed passengers only" mode. The reason is twofold. One is so that itmakes it harder for spammers to get your contact information. It also provides some level of privacy. A real person must take the time to sign up and join the site. I don't want a bunch of people who really have no interest in the site (such as shady e-bay sellers) coming in and poaching our information and pictures to use for less than honorable purposes. The other reason is that it keeps "The Dark Side" of BadKarma at bay. I know I've said that this is MY site and I can say and do whatever I want here, and I still maintain that position. But why make it easy for them? Although I have asserted my firm belief that they already have a plant/mole in here (another reason for the shelf life of inactive users), in the event they don't, they will HAVE to join and see 'what's going on'.
I guess that's about it. The suggestion box is of course there. Thankfully it's been a quiet and slow forum with only a couple of suggestions made. That must mean I'm getting it (mostly) right.
So keep it up. I love this site. It is my "baby" (aside from my wife and my actual system), and I get a lot of mental gratification and satisfaction in watching it grow and seeing all of you having fun here. Keep it up. Keep spreading the word out (a special thank you goes to fellow TH'er Braxus for tirelessly promoting this site every chance he gets). And keep the tape rolling.
Matt "Des-Lab"
Saturday, June 07 2008