I think it's time to talk about the forum

redneckengineered · Apr 24, 2018

It is my humble opinion that Hardline is going down the shitter. I don't know if it is just me but I feel like interaction on the board has been steadily declining. Something is up with the for sale section, most of the parts threads have disappeared and been replaced with stuff from 2008. Sweet. The board software is dated and the email notification function hasn't worked in months. As far as I know, Ricky B is the only one with any IT experience maintaining the board and he stays super busy with his new job. Unless we want this place to continue to decline, it is probably time to take a hard look as this place and talk about some upgrades. Since I hate to be the kind of person to point out problems and not provide solutions, I will give it a start...

Short term:
Fix classifieds, lots of threads were lost, are they recoverable?
Fix email notification function. This is probably the #1 feature that keeps me coming back. It reminds me to respond to my threads.
Make a post to stir up membership and let them know upgrades are coming. We are losing good members to **** platforms like Facebook groups

Long term:
Discuss new forum software implementation (vbulletin?)
Value adding features. Better photo upload functions,etc
Premium membership to help pay for hosting?

Pirate4x4 is the only other forum I frequent and let me tell you, it has gone down the shitter as well. Ever since it was purchased and the new owners gave it the "hands off" approach simply relying on the popularity of the website it has really declined. Forums are just like a business, if you don't try to keep them fresh they will fizzle out. I can't think of any other forum that is really a go-to for east coast wheeling. This is it, let's keep it that way.

:spin:

???

P · Apr 24, 2018

I agree across the board with all the issues you mention. We are having issues simply paying for site dues and all that. There is ALOT of disconnect and hands off approach and simply not enough technical know how or time from Gregg or Myself to do the IT items you mention.

Obviously, we havent found a solution to the " Who " is maintaining HL forums. And that is the #1 issue

redneckengineered · Apr 24, 2018

I have an IT background and have even run a vbulletin forum in another life. I would be willing to help. Time is also a limiting factor for me but any help I could provide would be a plus I guess.

Since I have no idea what it costs to run this place we should start by getting a handle on that. Cost of hosting + possible forum software upgrade + misc expenses. Let's figure out what that is and I guarantee you we could raise the capital through forum members in a day. Lots of loyal members here would be willing to kick down $20 to improve the board and keep things afloat. Once that is done, I think we should implement a simple premium member feature like Pirate has. For $20/yr through a paypal subscription you get access to premium features. This would probably generate enough income yearly to pay for hosting and would be a long term solution. Any additional funds every year after expenses could either be donated or pooled together to buy beer for a forum ride. Just spitballing here.

edit: Wasn't Matt O the main IT go to back in the day? I know he doesn't really get on anymore but if anyone has his contact info maybe shoot him a text with a link to this thread. I would like his input.

P · Apr 24, 2018

The money is there, its a mess on stupid stuff.

onetoncrawler · Apr 24, 2018

man I agree 100%. True tech has declined and without notification I don't follow up as often as I should. I too have limited time, but would be willing to help wherever I could, monetarily or with an action item. I have tried to contribute more on the forum, but about 50% of the time my post time out for some reason and it doesn't post either unknowingly or I get an error so I just give up and move on.

I don't want to see it decline, so let's step up and make it better

EDIT: I had to post this twice, got an error "the website isn't working" on Chrome

bbone · Apr 24, 2018

So what do we need to do? Do we need any $ to upgrade?

CHASMAN9 · Apr 24, 2018

bbone said:
So what do we need to do? Do we need any $ to upgrade?

That is part of it Ben, the other part is what will it do to the site in general once the updates are installed and who is IT literate enough to make these changes without shutting down this whole site? Bill Gates we are not? Bill's crazy brother, RickyBobby Gates we are. :drinkers:

smbroady82 · Apr 24, 2018

I'll be honest, I don't spend 1/10th of the time I used to on the board. Part of it is I am getting tired of seeing the same 3 or 4 people post in every single thread regardless of what section it is in.

Anyone else tired of reading about funnel cakes, why Kel left, Tony B's money or not having money or who the hell cares, motor mashin and how everything is gay? :spin:

smbroady82 · Apr 24, 2018

Oh and another thing, anyone notice how the build threads have slowed down? That's because 90% of the people building stuff don't want to have to wade through all the b.s. keyboard know it all fabricators on here..

There have already been 3 or 4 really good fabricators that have left and don't contribute anymore due to this.

redneckengineered · Apr 24, 2018

smbroady82 said:
I'll be honest, I don't spend 1/10th of the time I used to on the board. Part of it is I am getting tired of seeing the same 3 or 4 people post in every single thread regardless of what section it is in.

Anyone else tired of reading about funnel cakes, why Kel left, Tony B's money or not having money or who the hell cares, motor mashin and how everything is gay?

Yes, this forum needs a mute function.

I had a few minutes today and refreshed my memory on vbulletin. They have a cloud option now that includes hosting with the forum software. I'm a big fan of cloud computing and I thought that was pretty cool. Let's start with this. Can someone post up a link to the current hosting package we currently have (domain hosting + website hosting). I would like to know costs as well as the services we are being provided (i.e. bandwidth, server storage, etc).

edit: Here's another option and potentially easier but I literally just thought of this and have done no research yet. We could stick with the Simple Machines forum software and just upgrade. They are currently on version 2.0.15 while we are on 1.1.21. I will look into this further.

redneckengineered · Apr 25, 2018

redneckengineered said:
Let's start with this. Can someone post up a link to the current hosting package we currently have (domain hosting + website hosting). I would like to know costs as well as the services we are being provided (i.e. bandwidth, server storage, etc).

Bueller? Anyone?

I did a whois lookup. Domain is with godaddy, Matt O and Ricky B are contacts and looks like hosting is with a company in Utah bluehost.com. I would like to see an invoice from them for the hosting package.

smbroady82 · Apr 25, 2018

redneckengineered said:
Bueller? Anyone?

And this is the other problem.,,,

P · Apr 25, 2018

503 and change for 3yrs. Getting paid now due May1 .

bbone · Apr 25, 2018

So who pays for that currently ?

TacomaJD · Apr 25, 2018

bbone said:
So who pays for that currently ?

JohnG told me a few yrs ago the OG HL members pool money too pay for it, because I had offered to help financially if needed when I was more active and actually wheeled.... molaugh

smbroady82 said:
I'll be honest, I don't spend 1/10th of the time I used to on the board. Part of it is I am getting tired of seeing the same 3 or 4 people post in every single thread regardless of what section it is in.

Anyone else tired of reading about funnel cakes, why Kel left, Tony B's money or not having money or who the hell cares, motor mashin and how everything is gay?

Yeah I agree, and I won't name names because from past experience, Easyline is not air tight like some may think.....but even I, me, the resident postwhore, am posting much less. I pretty much quit replying to people smartass comments that are supposed to be funny but really are irritating. But what can you do...and I'm sure in my early days here, I was probably one of those that people hated seeing post all the time...hell I guess I still was recently, about beer pics and so on. But overall, it doesn't seem to be the same for me...of course I don't wheel so my interaction is completely on here, no rides to talk up, pics to post from rides, etc...guess my situation here is a little different.

TacomaJD · Apr 25, 2018

Also, this may not be the forum with the demographic for it, but little funny things like P has done lately like altering thread titles to be Random Thots instead of Random Thoughts, is funny **** to me. Keeps things interesting, if people are laughing they are enjoying whatever it is they are laughing at. Reminds me of a past forum home, gixxernation.com, an old motorcycle forum. Got really big at one time, then faded and eventually got taken down completely. I spent many years on that forum same as I have here and met lots of great guys from all over at track days all over the southeast. The mods (admins) would always pick one of two of us and fawk with us like changing our avatars to something gay or funny, making small change to something in our signature that might go weeks undetected, etc. But it was all funny as **** and everybody there was super cool. No "yer doing it wrong" or "I'm smarter than you" or "You post stupid stuff" dickheads on every other post ruining everyone's experience.

Its the people that makes the forum, and I'm not really sure how to manipulate that here in order to improve things. But I think Andrew is on the right path to figuring it out.

And fwiw, I'm proud P is devoting his time here, I think he is a great addition to the mod squad and will handle **** here in traditional HL fashion.

smbroady82 · Apr 25, 2018

bbone said:
So who pays for that currently ?

Gregg and I talked about this last night, I'll let him specify if he so chooses. If they/him/we/whatever come up short, I've offered to help out to keep it going as I'm sure several others would.

Juan_Hong_Loe · Apr 26, 2018

I can put a dollar down if needed as well... I lurk enough on here to at least contribute in that way.

P · Apr 26, 2018

Ill address the elephant in the room, Paying for it has never been an issue. All of us OGs are always quick to offer up for fee's, Control has been an issue and I dont really know where that motivation comes from. Maybe at some point in the past this forum could have had some monetary value , who knows.
FACT : Everyone around in the forums hayday is not as close as we all once where as a club and wheeling. JohnG's passing, numerous guys 110% uninterested and or uninvolved, makes it difficult to give the site direction and legitimacy IMO. The actual Hardline Club is what kept things alive and moving and the club basically doesnt exist anymore. We were out there wheeling, meeting folks and traveling to new places to wheel and enjoy the sport. That provided alot of content and conversations. So where we are now is, no new content no new conversations in regards to wheeling and travels. And not as many spin off joking with new folks people meeting first time etc. I dont think any amount of cash thrown at upgrades and the boards can fix that issue.

My opinion on whats not working here, I could be way wrong. Obviously social media apps and that cause the biggest Forum killer there is no doubt. I want to see the boards do well again, I wouldnt have gotten involved again if I didnt , whatchu all wanna do ? :popcorn:

BamaTJ · Apr 26, 2018

Hey guys, sorry don't get on much been trying to get money to renew the domain, so I wanted to touch base. This forum needs a technical owner, it used to be Ricky, then Me, then John G, now it is absent. I don't have the time to login, much less manage it. Andrew, I am happy passing you the torch to get it back up to snuff. I appreciate you offering.