Changes to Access World Forums (1 Viewer)

[vbaInet]

Expert Exchange have that sort of system going. I don't know their success rate but they seem to be doing well.

How would that benefit the Mods or selected "helpers"?

 

[SOS]

I know I've seen some vBulletin sites (v3.8) that look a lot sharper than this one but have the same functionality. This particular skin feels a bit "dated" but it does get the job done.

A few examples:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/

http://www.xtremevbtalk.com/

http://forums.freebsd.org/

 

[Vassago]

I like the resolved answer suggestion. It would definitely help future people while searching. It would also let the rest of us know if someone's question has been answered so we can avoid their thread to help others. Maybe also if there was an option to select which post resolved the issue, like an accepted answer option.

 

[vbaInet]

Exactly what Experts Exchange does.

 

[ChrisO]

The resolved answer suggestion is quite old and there are two camps of thought on the matter.

The plus side is obvious so it doesn’t need repeating.

The negative side is that simply because a problem has been fixed doesn’t mean that it has been resolved.
There are many times when there is more than one fix but not all fixes have equal merit.

So the resolved flag may tend to block others from coming up with a better resolution.
This can also be used by people who would prefer for others to think they solved the problem.
There are sites where it is encouraged that the OP marks the thread as resolved but the OP doesn’t know it’s resolved, they only know they have a fix.

And yes I do know that a thread marked as resolved does not prevent further replies but it can be used that way.

 

[vbaInet]

Maybe a Preferred Solution flag marked by the OP? The flag could also be changed if someone else were to come up with a better solution. However, I can foresee problems with this

 

[Lightwave]

Jon

Just wanted to congratulate you on getting to this position and thank you for hosting a site I have obtained a lot of useful information from.

I think it is unfortunate in many instances that the work involved in hosting these sites is sometimes difficult to obtain financial reward from. I have some experience of this as I am involved in the hosting of a windsurfing forum which is the biggest in Scotland (although tiny compared to this).

My experience of that duty is that we have largely done everything on minimal cost. Ie hosted on a server owned by a web administrator who has paying customers.

I do wonder how such low cost operations can be sustainable. I myself have a paid job but have more recently been roped in to create databases for a couple of friends largely this has involved a great deal of work for very little money.

My rewards tend to come in terms of satisfaction - we have arguably the biggest windsurfing forum in Scotland and I am reasonably well know within the windsurfing community. This definitely opens up doors. Likewise I get a kick from seeing and knowing my databases are being used by others. I also seem to be well respected by colleagues inside and outside of my day to day job for being able to get tricky jobs done.

There still seems to be a widescale ignorance of the importance of database design and the shear breadth of its potential application. . I think this is largely because databases already tend to be highly highly bespoke. Its difficult just to transfer the technology from one computer to the next let alone teach each subsequent user to use a database. This is why forums like this are so important. Forums like this are helping to explain the importance of databases and hence increase the marketability of people with database skills. I still think there is a long way to go. I've been thinking about this quite a lot recently. How can things like push bikes have such a high value and software such low values when a similar amount of effort could have been involved in the construction of each. I've come down to the idea that everyone knows what a push bike is and how it works and it is has an extremely long shelf life. Once constructed it will remain largely for the duration of the individual working as well on the first day as the last with little or no maintenance. Compare this with motor cars which deteriorate and are likely to need replacement within 6 or 7 years - they also tend to be that bit more complicated and as such an individual is unlikely to be able to maintain it by themselves. I went past my local Triathlon shop the other day and there is a race spec Trek in the window for £5,800 I then went past the local motorbike shop within which I could buy a good bike for £5,800 which has a significant greater amount of engineering design and science in its construction.

I now see learning about databases as part of my continual professional development ( a very important part ) rather than an end in itself.

I'm not going to make any suggestions per se mainly because I'm not fully up to speed with what is and is not possible and as ever it is always easy to make suggestions but that much harder to implement them. I would say stick to your guns though and I would prefer to see a well implemented change rather than a rushed one. Some things I am for and against (ok that's a bit like a suggestion but you'll be interested in the first one!)

Some things I am in favour
Some sort of remuneration direct from users for yourself (although the devil IS in the level)

Some things I wouldn't want to see
Over moderation (not a problem to date)
Enforcing of payment for newbies (I fear they will never join)

 

[Jon]

Lightwave, thank you for your detailed response. I agree with just about everything you have said.

There will always be a free option when using these boards. It fits in with my philosophy of free information for all. My thoughts on paid memberships may run along the lines of access to some closed areas, depending on the level of the membership.

For example, if someone chose the top membership, they would get access to VIP fast response areas whereby helpers on the forum would be encouraged to help those who have donated to the forum via membership. They would have a badge showing their level of membership and consequently users here would be encouraged to help them either in more detail or faster.

The more paying members I can get, the more it helps us fund these forums and potential improvements. These are just my initial thoughts and feel free to chip in!

Also, maybe members get access to cheat sheets, greater upload privaledges etc.

 

[ghudson]

I understand the need to make money to pay for the costs to host the forum but I have to admit I would be forced to go elsewhere if I had to pay to use the functions of this forum that I am using now for free. Your site appears to be unique where you offer paid services [unrelated to the forum] if I understand correctly. This forum has been very helpful to me over the years since I joined the forum back in 2002. I enjoy helping our forum members and I feel more comfortable on this forum compared to some of the other popular Access forums which would explain why I post more answers than questions by a very large margin in this forum. I definitely appreciate you changing hosts to fix the response problems for the slowness of the forum forced me to go elsewhere whenever I had a need or felt like posting some answers to other Access users in need.

 

[rainman89]

I agree with ghudson.

Best thing about forums, is that they are free.

Are you saying you will offer a pay membership for some people who want it (to have direct access to VIPs) and keep the rest free?

 

[Jon]

I am saying that you will have use of the forums pretty much as they are for free. Paying members would getting additional benefits. Make sense? I am not trying to take away what you currently get, at least those are my current thoughts.

If you pay, you get added value. Another area of added value might be allowing you to put a larger avatar on your profile and things like that.

Don't worry, you can still do most things here for free!

 

[Lightwave]

Couple of points

1) Might want to make it free for VIPs AWFs - cos they answer more than they ask.

2) Have you ever written to Microsoft?
I think there marketing guy might want to make a donation.

Lets face it there budget must be substantial and I can't think of a better advert for their program

 

[dan-cat]

I am saying that you will have use of the forums pretty much as they are for free. Paying members would getting additional benefits. Make sense? I am not trying to take away what you currently get, at least those are my current thoughts.

If you pay, you get added value. Another area of added value might be allowing you to put a larger avatar on your profile and things like that.

Don't worry, you can still do most things here for free!

It's an intriguing subject.

Up until now the model has been a free service to the public and revenue obtained through advertising.

Perhaps wait and see what the reaction will be to News Corp's break from this? Link

Well done on the hosting fix. That was an issue that could have finished this site off.

 

[chergh]

As far as I can see the only reason to pay for a membership would be premium support being offered.

But as all the support comes from unpaid volunteers why would I pay for this premium support when I will have no guarantee of any level of service?

No one is going to pay so they can have a larger avatar, if there was money to be made from this a lot more sites doing it already.

As I've said before the value in the site is the content, i.e. all the code you have. Why not try doing something with that.

 

[dan-cat]

No one is going to pay so they can have a larger avatar, if there was money to be made from this a lot more sites doing it already.

Yes, I feel it is the traffic that is the commodity here, not the individual users themselves.

I like Lightwave's idea of approaching larger companies with a budget for some kind of sponsorship deal.

Also how about selling ad space to smaller companies/freelancers?

Perhaps a seperate board for companies/freelancers to publish their services/profile for a subscription cost? This could be quite lucrative for the smaller business if they received positive feedback on the boards.

You'd have to make your traffic stats known in some way for this to be enticing.

EDIT: A charge to link to said profile in your post footer?

 

[Magno]

The forum must remain free for the whole people who want to register.
I will not admit any attend to charge this forum. The Admin is a friend of mine and he has told me that he will not allow this forum to became an aristocratic one.
Everybody have the right to access the information, not only the rich people who can affort a fee forum.

I will fight for a free forum for the whole communitty of programmers.

 

[Brianwarnock]

. Another area of added value might be allowing you to put a larger avatar on your profile and things like that.
QUOTE]

The cluttered feel of UA has allready been mentioned, that and its poor presentation is why I rarely visit, I feel that its large avatars are also part of the problem, small posts are lost in the general cr. er! presentation.

Brian

 

[Brianwarnock]

The forum must remain free for the whole people who want to register.
I will not admit any attend to charge this forum. The Admin is a friend of mine and he has told me that he will not allow this forum to became an aristocratic one.
Everybody have the right to access the information, not only the rich people who can affort a fee forum.

I will fight for a free forum for the whole communitty of programmers.

Guess you must be a socialist as you don't care if somebody is losing money as long as you get something for nothing.

Brian

 

[SOS]

. Another area of added value might be allowing you to put a larger avatar on your profile and things like that.
QUOTE]

The cluttered feel of UA has allready been mentioned, that and its poor presentation is why I rarely visit, I feel that its large avatars are also part of the problem, small posts are lost in the general cr. er! presentation.

Brian

Brian:

Have you been to UA in the last two weeks? If not, you should take a look as it has changed drastically.

 

[chergh]

Guess you must be a socialist as you don't care if somebody is losing money as long as you get something for nothing.

They're called freetards these days