Feedback Needed By Everyone

Kevin

Kevin

Wood is good.
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Kevin
I've been compiling a list of things that need improvement, most of them features etc. I'm making the changes that I can, but also having another round of more major changes implemented that are above my pay grade. Many you will not notice.

These changes will be rather long and drawn out, so I want to get some feedback from as many members as I can, as to what would make your experience here better. No closed questions as yet, just open questions. What changes would you like to see here at WB that would improve your experience?


I will ask some closed questions later, and submit a couple of polls I have already written but I like this open question format first, because it gives me ideas I wouldn't otherwise get. I will give you an example of one AO (add on) I am already designing; it will allow a member to request that no off topic posts be made in his/her thread. It will be an option as you are crafting your thread, that you can tick that will let the participants know whether you will allow it in your thread or not. I am also trying to get the AO made where each thread owner can soft delete posts they believe are off topic etc. This would give true ownership of the thread to the thread owner. Example:

  • Off topic posts not allowed
  • Off topic posts allowed
  • Off topic posts allowed but keep it real
As it stands, the thread owner does not have the control over that and he should. Some people simply don't have a sense of humor but even those that do, sometimes just don't have the time to sort through the posts that really matter to them and those that don't. So this is just one example of the changes I am making and I'd like your other ideas as I'm sure most of you have them.

Share them!
 
Ok, so here's my thought on your post... and I apologize if you weren't asking for input. While it seems the majority here are plenty mature, I just can't see the ability to delete posts as a good thing. All it takes is the report button and you guys are on it like stink on shat. I also don't care much for the ot/no ot thing. If someone is totally against it, all they gotta do is post, and you'll handle it. Just makes for a more complicated, and less welcoming feel... again just my opinion.

Some things I can see being beneficial would be a feedback forum. Can't say that I've ever seen even a hint of dissatisfaction from a transaction here, but I'm sure you've seen at least a couple. Rather than trying to dig through the site, we would have a forum dedicated. Could even have a "Good" or "Bad' tag associated so that you could easily see from the thread title.

The search function on this site sucks. I'm not sure if it's the forum software, or bad database housekeeping... was looking for a thread the other day and used the word "gradient" with no results. A quick google site search found it as the first result. If it's forum software, perhaps adding a custom google search embedded up top would be beneficial.


This is probably my favorite site on the internet. I'm sure that whatever you choose to do will only reinforce my thought.
 
I want to be able to post pics in my PM's.
Example: I'm going to send you (Kevin) a PM in a few weeks about a special project I'm doing with Jason B. I don't want to post a pic of it on the forum yet, but want to give you a sneak preview so you can give it extra publicity when the time comes. I'll have to ask for your personal email address to do that. Gary
 
HomeBody said:
I want to be able to post pics in my PM's.
Example: I'm going to send you (Kevin) a PM in a few weeks about a special project I'm doing with Jason B. I don't want to post a pic of it on the forum yet, but want to give you a sneak preview so you can give it extra publicity when the time comes. I'll have to ask for your personal email address to do that. Gary
Click to expand...
You can if it's hosted somewhere. Just can't upload one. But, I know that the software allows uploading in a PM, so it would likely be a very simple change for them to add that.
 
I have been very happy with the site as it is and look forward to any enhancements, If it would be possible to bring back some sort of chat feature in the future I think that would be nice but not something we have to have.
 
I had to sleep on it before I added my .02.

I don't like the idea of being able to upload pix into a PM. I agree that for the established members it likely wouldn't be a problem but it will open the door to skirt the rules of selling/trading stuff behind the scenes. This could be a problem could the perfect storm come along.

If I could tweak the for sale section to prevent "spamming" I would do that. I am thinking of one particular member who would list something, unlist it, relist it, change it, tweak it, etc... and completely clog the first few pages of the for sale section making other members threads drop quickly to the realm of not being visible or over shadowed. In my eyes this is spamming! Someone who behaves that way should have to pay for that type of exposure rather than get it for free. My suggestion is to put limits on each member as to the number of threads they can start in that section in a given month. I'm not sure how this can be done, but if it is possible, it should be done. It will also help to protect the members of the forum from new comers who have a less than good moral compass. I can site 3 new members who have come in with one really good thread handled it beautifully and were stand up individuals. This goes to show that restrictions on members won't hurt their experience nor the experience of the base population on the forum. There is a handful of creeps that came along and burned us. Thread starting limits could have minimized the damages. My specific thought would be new members get 1, partly established members get 2, and established members get 3 new threads each month in the for sale section. If you want more than that you should have to pay for them. Paying to play will fund the site and help us to never have to use outside advertisers for that purpose.

I agree that the search function is not good. I tried to use it recently to find an older post using key words I knew were in the thread title and couldn't find it. If anything could be done to help that issue would be great! I think someone posted above about imbedding a Google search feature. If that is easy to do my vote would be to do it. I often get threads from the forum pop up in Google searches that I do. I hope I am interpreting that correctly as a good thing and we want that to happen.
 
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  • #8
Excellent points being made by all. I'm not responding because I just want to let it flow without me interrupting. One thing I do want to acknowledge though is that I'm aware of how crappy the search function is. That's the biggest weakness of this software. When I want to search the site for something I use google and follow the search term/s with woodbarter. It works pretty good, but we shouldn't have to do that. I'm not sure what I can do about it though it's a core problem.

Thanks for the feedback.
 
Well over all this site has become the only site (forums) I visit now days. Not to big to get lost and not to small as I can find anything I want from old timers awesome suggestions to @SENC people who should be banned. Guess I'm just happy all around and the fact that I don't like change
 
JR Custom Calls said:
The search function on this site sucks. I'm not sure if it's the forum software, or bad database housekeeping... was looking for a thread the other day and used the word "gradient" with no results. A quick google site search found it as the first result. If it's forum software, perhaps adding a custom google search embedded up top would be beneficial.


This is probably my favorite site on the internet. I'm sure that whatever you choose to do will only reinforce my thought.
Click to expand...
Interesting on the search function. I see what Jonathan means in not getting any hits with the "simple" search, but when you hit the "More" button to open the advanced search window, it yields an appropriate set of posts/threads with the search term "gradient" in it, and no other options selected. I've noticed this with other forums as well and often I just go to the advanced search fields first.

I can see both sided of the soft delete thing. I guess I've always thought a little perusing in the site will show the banter that can go on, and either accept it or not. I mean c'mon, how serious can a thread be that it can't tolerate a little deflection here and there. Thicken the bark up, I say.
 
Kevin said:
I use google and follow the search term/s with woodbarter.
Click to expand...

Matt (I think was his name?) should be able to embed a custom search in at the top. Google makes it pretty easy - https://www.google.com/cse/

What I do is go to google and type in 'site:woodbarter.com "keywords"' and it only searches this site. Obviously "keywords" would be replaced with whatever, and wouldn't have quotes around it. That's the same thing the custom google search would do.
 
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  • #12
I agree JR but there was a downside to embedding the GCS bar on the forum last time I looked into it that gave me pause. I will check on it again . . . .
 
I don't love the idea of paying for posts. one thing i like about being here is that posters get all the money, it keeps the cost of the sale down and helps both parties. I do however recognize that this stuff costs money. Hopefully we are all generous enough that money isn't a problem to keep things going. I think post limits is a good idea but perhaps the number climbs or you can request a be lifted and if you behave that can stay lifted. Even though i have had some very sporadic access lately with real life, I know there are some very active members that post more than 3 (a bunch more sometimes) that are all legitimate posts, that are great offers and most all get sold and that I would like to keep seeing.
 
I love this site because we are all good friends and the bantering is great for a good laugh now and then. To many rule can ruin a good thing! Let the sour pus find another site. Besides you would ruin all kevin"s fun.
 
I am sure there are lots of things I don't see. But seem like things work real well. Sure I have seen talk about ford trucks in a wood for sale post. It brings that guys or gals post to the top each time also. So is it good or bad? Seems good for the guy selling the wood. Maybe the guy looking for the wood would stop clicking on it if he saw the truck rant. But but most of us wood addicts will keep clicking......lol
My vote goes for if it is not broke don't fix it.:hi:

Maybe if you could fix my typing and spelling:rofl:

Dave
 
I know I'm relatively new here, but by and large everything (to me at least), seems to be great. I'm sure there is a lot I don't see/know about, but on the surface it works fine. I of course defer to the Administrators in that if there if something they feel needs to change, by all means do it. It's a great site as far as I can tell, and I enjoy the heck out of being a part of it. Thanks guys! Tony
 
I don't like change, never did. Seems when there's a change, I have to relearn things. I don't like relearning what was working fine. If I was ok with changes, I would have jumped ship and headed to woodworking babble long ago.
 
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