Ameraucana Breeders Club
The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club => Ameraucana Marketplace => Topic started by: Guest on March 27, 2006, 09:06:44 AM
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I have suggested that more categories be added to the forums to allow more organization of our discussions. All the existing threads in the \"Ameraucana Marketplace\" would then be sorted into the new categories so users could find relevant information more quickly. I would leave Ameraucan Marketplace as the \"For Sale / To Purchase\" category where users would post \"looking to buy and sell\" threads.
Personally, I use forums for not just topic disussions, but as a knowledgebase where information can be found quickly when needed. Having to look through hundreds and even thousands of threads makes for a daunting task.
For example, a user has a heating question for chicks. They come to the forum and run a quick search for \"heat\" (and several other keywords) and don\'t find what they are looking for. Just a couple of months ago, they saw a great discussion that had exactly what they needed, but can\'t find it again. Now, they are faced with going through each topic one by one until they run across it again.
In this scenario, their pile of threads they have to go through one by one can be significantly reduced if they were categorized and the discussions contained in each category were limited to subjects falling within that category.
What are your thoughts?
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When I started the ABC Forum it was going to be just for a few purposes so that it wouldn\'t compete with the ABC Sharing Place which was started by ABC members. The Sharing Place is an MSN message board and they have rules that don\'t allow buying and selling on their boards. The ABC Forum is a Mercury Board and doesn\'t have those restrictions. Originally we had about three categories, like the Market Place for buying & selling, a Club Notes section for club news, meet info and such and I think some other category. Some folks started having discussions anyway. The Forum was hacked and went down. Rita and Vicky were managing the Sharing Place and both said they welcomed the Forum and didn\'t see it as competition or a conflict of interest so with their blessings I brought the Forum back with just one category open for any Ameraucana related stuff.
The Forum has grown quite a bit in the last year or so and we now have several members that post on a regular basis.
It may be time to do as Wes suggests and come up with some categories. This Forum is paid for by the ABC, but whether you are a dues paying member or not if you use the Forum I would like to know what your suggestions are.
Leave it as is or add categories? If we add categories how many and what subjects should we use?
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When this forum first started, I expected there to be other categories as in most other forums. However, as time went on, I haven\'t missed other categories. ABC Shareing Place has several categories, but since I am really interested in all of the discussions there (because they are mostly about Ameraucanas or at least from Ameraucana people) I always click on \"View all Messages\" rather than one of the forum categories.
I can see the point of being able to search for old discussions better, but many of the discussions get off-topic from the actual name of the topic--which is okay, too, it just happens with any good discussion on a forum or in real person-to-person communication. So I don\'t know whether categorizing the topics would really help with that or not. The \"search\" feature has worked pretty well for me, so far, for wanting to find something that I\'d read earlier.
I\'m pretty happy with the way it is, but I wouldn\'t have an objection to categorizing the topics as long as an option like \"View all topics\" was available, too.
Susie
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John,
You titled this forum the official forum of the ABC. There are little message boards all over the place for different breeds....that\'s fine....But, if this is the official club forum, maybe it should be enlarged to encompass different aspects.
When I want reliable information, I come here....I don\'t go to some message board...no matter who runs it. I refer everyone to this web-site.
Angela
Oh, and just a thought.... Wouldn\'t it be lovely to have a breeder list available to the public so that they can find the varieties for which they are looking?
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One of the traits of a good message board which has many categories is a group of moderators and administrators that move topics and discussions to where they need to be (under the proper category) and keep discussions from straying from the original post.
If more than two or three posts are entered \"off-topic\" then the thread is split into two separate discussion threads, each one containing the relevant parts.
Then, you don\'t have the problem of a post that encompasses a dozen different thoughts and seems to be jumping with no clear relationship and natural progression of discussion.
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maybe it should be enlarged to encompass different aspects
Do you have something more in mind than just adding headings or Categories to post under?
move topics and discussions to where they need to be...if more than two or three posts are entered \"off-topic\" then the thread is split
Good points.
There have only been a few times that I have gone to any forums other than the Sharing Place and this one so I don\'t know how they are handled. I have split a few topics that got off track over the past year and just figured out what Locking and Pinning do a week or so ago. I am trying to set back from overseeing the Forum and Website more and more since others have volunteered to help out.
:D
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John,
Here is a suggestion for what to do, remember it is worth what you\'ve paid for it. Anywho, go to www.reloadbench.com then check the bulletin board.
Greg
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Here are a couple of forums that I frequent with with monster user bases and gargantuan post and thread counts:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/
http://forum.ev1servers.net/
I work in the telecommunications industry and I have my own software and webhosting business as well. I manage the machines that host websites. I have installed and administered phpBB, vbulletin, ikonboard, ubb, and many other bulletin board systems.
This stuff is what I do for a living.
maybe it should be enlarged to encompass different aspects
Do you have something more in mind than just adding headings or Categories to post under?
I regards to Angela\'s post that John quoted, I have tons of ideas beyond just enlarging the forums and categorizing them. Here are just a few ideas that could be implemented for the site:
1) A \"members only\" section. A place where paid membership users get access to within the site.
2) An email mailing list
3) Interactive Photo Galleries
4) Realtime chat rooms
5) Live news feeds
6) Classifieds
7) Vendor, breeder, and subscriber directories.
8) Interactive Event calendars
9) Ecommerce / Shopping Cart
10) Paid vendor advertisements (ad space ... In some cases, it makes sense but I don\'t always like the obnoxious ones that are distracting and other times, I just want a totaly ad free site).
But back to the topic at hand, the forum itself can be expanded to handle more than just chicken discussions. Spinoffs of the byproducts, like garden fertilizer and the other more bizarre alternative uses of chicken manure such as jewelry, paint, yard ornaments, and such.
We can even have discussions of the obvious benefits that a crowing rooster has on noise pollution...if one rooster will do then why not have 47???
There are endless possibilites in the HowTo guides such as getting back at an annoying neighbor by tying a rooster under their bedroom window or my alltime favorite, the notorious \"present\" left at their doorstep.
Come on people! Use your imagination, let the juices flow, stretch out those creative bones and lets make this site one to be envied!!!!
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I agree in principle with Wesley -- I also understand John\'s position re ABC Sharing Place (of which I and many others are also members).
Certainly, we don\'t want to duplicate efforts. Is everyone from ABC Sharing Place here? If so...perhaps merging the Sharing Place flock to here and adding the Sharing Place Admins to our Admins, then defuncting Sharing Place -- and expanding this board\'s capability as Wesley suggests would be something to consider. I hope I\'m not hurting anyone\'s feelings in suggesting this, but if everyone here is on both boards, I do think it\'s worthwhile to at least consider bringing everyone here -- kind of like tearing down two smaller coops and building one big one.
Right now, there is a lot of breed-specific as well as general poultry knowledge all buried in posts. Suppose I wanted to find out all about Wheatens -- or all about Silvers -- or how to build a brooder box without voiding my homeowner\'s insurance policy -- that knowledge is here, but you\'d have to dig deep to find it. More than simply categorizing the messages, I\'d like to see a knowledge base -- and I would be willing to pay a fee to access one.
I would love to see a breeder\'s list here. Someone wants Ameraucanas, comes here -- finds a breeder; the chicken farmer gets Ameraucanas and the breeder earns income. I found my source/breeder/mentor right here on this board -- but by digging through the posts -- and finding that nugget.
The ABC site is an excellent place to be -- perhaps this discussion will make it even better.
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adding the Sharing Place Admins to our Admins,
FYI, Rita and Vicky were invited to be administrators on this Forum when it started. They both thanked me for the offer but declined. They felt there is plenty of room for two Ameraucana forums. I then asked for volunteers and Susie and Laura stepped forward.
It should be noted that Rita suggested that the club start a message board several years ago. I didn\'t even know such things existed at the time and don\'t think many others at that meeting did either. Anyway the club didn\'t act on her proposal so she started the Sharing Place.
I would love to see a breeder\'s list here.
That is something I\'ve wanted for years also. It should be brought up at the annual meeting for discussion and referred to the Board of Directors for a vote if there is support.
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Well, in that case, this board and Sharing Place could actually complement one another -- by each one offering and focusing on some aspect that the other does not. Since a number of us partake on both boards -- both boards operating in coordination can only be a good thing....it would expand the audience and promote greater interest in the breed.
The objective is to promote knowledge of Ameraucanas; varieties within breed; strains within varieties; crosses; as well as unite buyers and sellers of hatching eggs, day-olds, and mature Ameraucana, straight run or sexed; and to announce shows.
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I too would like to see topic categories and a breeder\'s list. I think a member\'s section is a good idea in theory, but I\'m not clear what that section would encompass. and the idea of a knowledge base or \'library\' of specific info is fab! but not everyone on this board also goes to the Sharing Place, so I don\'t think the \'stuff\' or topics or what have you should be parcelled out between the two. this is the Official Club site- people shouldn\'t have to go to an additional site to find info. times change, clubs and boards grow. there is no reason to think that 2 boards couldn\'t get along just fine, with plenty of traffic to go around.
but if nothing else, definitely add topic headings please!
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Did this discussion ever come to a point where we had enough concensus to decide in favor of or against adding more categories to this forum?
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Bumping this thread back to the top.
I see 5 votes in favor of adding categories to the forums and zero against in just the few people that responded.
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Hi all,
John, if there were to be any changes made to the web site\'s formatting I would agree to adding a \"General\" discussion section. That way the \"Market Place\" section could be used as the \"for sale / wanted\" section it was intended as. A breeder\'s section would be nice but quite honestly we all pretty much know each other here on the forum and as members, we get a really nice listing of all the other folks in our club who have birds. To me that would be encouragement enough for people to want to join the club, they get a free breeder\'s listing along with their membership, lol. Since the \'Market Place\' gives a more or less current listing of what people actually have available it seems redundant to list ameraucana breeders directly on the site.
I would like to point out a few things regarding \"members only\" discussion sections and chat rooms. In my experience they tend to be a turn off to potential new members and can certainly put a damper on lively discussions. Non members and members alike can benefit a great deal from each other. On the sites and forums I\'ve managed over the years I\'ve found daily maintenance to be a \"killer of joy\" something akin to the \"discussion police\", lol. It\'s perfectly natural for discussions to meander and change. If you start pulling parts and pieces of a discussion and relocating them to another thread or area you\'ll soon find that the original meanings begin to change and the context can become vastly different than the authors intended.
Just to sum up my thoughts on what I feel would be realistic and \'manageable\';
Discussion forums~
General Discussions
Marketplace Discussions
Periodically updated pages (suggestion for addition to the front page) ~
Monthly or Quarterly \'paid\' advertisements
Regards,
Dan Demarest
Auxvasse, MO
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I agree with everything Poultry Guy wrote, except that I would maintain a breeder\'s list and have it as subsection of marketplace. I know when I was new, I was desperately searching for an Ameraucana breeder and I struck gold, but it took two months of searching.
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My point I\'m trying to get across on this thread is to create more categories and sort into them what we have in the current Ameraucana Marketplace. Then, moderate all the forums and move off topic posts over to the correct category so that it doesn\'t take months to find something.
Just the other day, yet again, I was looking page after page for a single post that has occurred within the last few months and I couldn\'t find it. I gave up since this single line of posting without any organization whatsoever just frustrates me to no end.
A Breeder\'s list is a great idea, but it doesn\'t belong in a forum. It is a relatively static entitiy that would not require posting. There are other ways to implement a breeders list.
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HI John,
I would really like to see more discussions here on this board. I find it easy to use and I like how it is set up. I do not think it will take away from the discussions on the Sharing Place site.
Thanks, Laura
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I think that some really great ideas have been put forth.
I do believe that a \"member\'s only\" area would be a mistake. I don\'t care to join every forum that I may visit, so when I run up against limited access, I just leave. Also, how better to promote the breed, then to make the breeders more accessible?
Years ago, when I was trying to pick up this breed, information was anything but forthcoming. I was looking elsewhere, at other breeds, until I met Paul Smith at a show. He was friendly, and full of information for which I didn\'t have to beg. We need to make it easy for those people who are looking for birds and information. I wouldn\'t pay for it, nor would I expect anyone else to do so.
Just my thoughts....
Regards
Angela Stanley
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Poultry Guy,
I agree with your thoughts about the placement of the breeder\'s list. That can be a simple HTML page off the main site and should not be in the forum itself.
--Ron
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A Breeder\'s list is a great idea, but it doesn\'t belong in a forum.
I agree with your thoughts about the placement of the breeder\'s list. That can be a simple HTML page off the main site and should not be in the forum itself.
I agree too.
I do believe that a \"member\'s only\" area would be a mistake.
I agree.
I would really like to see more discussions here on this board.
I am actually surprised at the volume of posts and number of topics on this forum, but would certainly welcome more. How do we get more? This forum is only about a year and a half old and only deals with Ameraucana chickens, the breed club and related topics. I think this forum is filling that niche.
create more categories and sort into them what we have in the current Ameraucana Marketplace.
As mentioned we originally had more than one category. We had the Marketplace for buying & selling birds, eggs and related items and Club Notes for club related information including posts about shows. When we brought the forum back after it was hacked we went with one general category, but still called it the Ameraucana Marketplace. I think the category title still fits since it is a marketplace for everything associated with Ameraucanas, including information. If we had a lot of daily posts on this forum I would agree that about three categories would be an advantage. Other than checking out the ABC Sharing Place from time to time this is the only forum that I visit. I check it out daily and find that with everything under one category I can check out any new posts quickly. If I had to open three different categories to see what is new under each one of them it would take more time. Even when I go to the Sharing Place I view the general category so that I can view all the topics at once. I see it as an advantage on forums/boards dealing with one breed of chickens like this. If this forum encompassed all poultry or even just all breeds of bantam chickens we would need multiple categories for sure. After reading the responses here and receiving some email messages I don\'t yet see a consensus for change. It really wouldn\'t make a big difference to me and I am one that is always for change when it is beneficial. A few here have said they would like multiple categories, but I am not sure if the silent ones don\'t care or if by not posting don\'t want change.
moderate all the forums and move off topic posts over to the correct category
Good advice, but it takes time. I\'ve done it myself a few times. The administrators have their own lives and have volunteered to help with this forum. I am thankful for their help and time. It ain\'t no fun doin\' it yourself. :D
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We aim to please, but we know we can\'t please everyone.
This club is run by the ABC Board of Directors, and its decisions are final. The way to get involved is to run for office. 2006 is an election year, and if you are a dues paying member you will have ample opportunity to throw your hat into the ring. In the meantime, the present ABC Directors have delegated decision making with regard to the website and the forum to the administrators - those who are doing the actual work. We feel they are doing a great job at a very reasonable cost . Thanks to them and to all who participate with discussions and advice to help make this a valuable place to visit on a regular basis. If there is some bit of knowledge about Ameraucanas you need please do not hesitate to ask. In this way we can all help one another.
Mike Gilbert
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Mike,
I agree with you. I wish there had been a board like this when I first got interested in the breed. Would have saved me a lot of time, money and grief.
Everyone is so nice here and helpful. I enjoy reading the posts here and appreciate the work that goes into maintaining it.
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I\'ve offered to do the work several times.
I\'ve offered to setup and administer new tools for everyone to use (calendars, etc). I\'ve offered to do automated, offsite backups of this website and forum database on one of my servers. I\'ve also offered to host this website on one of my servers when the current site fees expire.
I\'ve even created a reworked website (at the suggestion of one of the board members) that includes a dynamic navigation menu, clickable image map for the districts, and a rudimentary image viewer for all the photos. This initial draft site was posted for review at http://www.ok-pics.com/abc/
All of this I\'ve offered free of charge.
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I\'ve offered to do the work several times.
Wes,
I know you have and you seem to have much more knowledge regarding websites and forums than I do, but as you know I forwarded your ideas to the club Directors and club members that help with these areas asking for their input. I only had a couple responses and they said to leave things as they are. Please don\'t take it personally. You are a relatively new member to the club and we have several new members each year that come on strong, but then drop out. Maybe you are in for the long haul, but we don\'t know that yet. There is concern about anyone that is new to the club revamping the website and/or forum and then not being around to maintain it. As it is the current webmaster and forum administrators have the knowledge needed to maintain the website and forum the way they are setup. Just because some ideas aren\'t being implemented at this time doesn\'t mean they won\'t ever be.
Once again thanks for the time and thought you\'ve put into your proposals.
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One of the reasons I am so frustrated (not anyone\'s fault here) is that I recently was on another forum where I found that the so called \"administrator\" was once a month deleting off the old posts to make room for the new ones. Yes, that\'s right, he DELETED them.
His reasoning was that everybody had read the \"NEWS\" already so why keep it, those old posts were just cluttered up the website anyway and took up room.
When I suggested implementing a database driven bulletin board / forum which used space more efficiently and keep the forum posts for people to search through to able to learn from, he told me to stop spamming him. He didn\'t need somebody telling him how to run that club\'s site, everything he had was perfectly good for what they wanted.
I apologize if I come across pushy. When I see sites that could use improvement and I am tied to them in through my interests, I can\'t help but suggest ways to help. I spend 75% of my waking hours in front of a computer. I\'m always looking for ways to drop that back a few percentage points whenever I can by automation and installations of newer and better tools.
I\'ve already have started my pen expansions from 3 flight pens to 12. I\'m adding Blue, Buff, and Black Gold this year to my existing lineup of Black, White, and Silver. I\'m here to stay.
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Glad to hear that Wes, and we are really glad to have you.
Please understand that some of us who have been around this breed for up to 30 years, as I have, have seen countless folks full of enthusiasm burn out after a year or two. For that reason one of the main criteria we use in awarding the annual \"Breeder of the Year Award\" is longevity. We have yet to award that plaque to anyone who has been with us less than 10 years, though that could change in the near future.
There is nothing wrong with any of your ideas, and we are happy to have your input, so don\'t give up. But don\'t be surprised if it takes a year or two to implement some of your suggestions. Thanks so much for your generous offer.