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Post by H2O on Jul 21, 2017 20:00:40 GMT -5
Hey Everyone!
Its been a while since I've posted but I've been in the background tinkering away and reading all the posts.
I've been thinking about this for some time (several years if you count the first times) and I truly believe we need to move our forum over to a different platform. We've talked about it before but turned down the idea mostly based on the fact that it would cost money to run as opposed to the currently free platform. Things have been changing and I think we need to change with them if we want to keep site alive and running. Facebook has consumed all but a few forum and it would be a shame to see the same thing happen here.
Over the past couple months I've talk to a number of people and it seems the biggest complaint is how much of a pain in the ass it is to post photos, hence why most people don't post anything any more. Having to upload to a 3rd party host and then copy links becomes a giant chore and most people just can't be bothered, this is why Facebook has taken over most forums. My purposed idea would solve this very easily.
I believe we should move over to the Xenforo software, it is extremely good but isn't as expensive as some of the more premiere forums. Those who are familiar with Canadart.org will know what it is like and how easy it is to post photos. You can literally post a photo from your phone or computer in 3-4 clicks and takes about 15 seconds. It also gets stored on the forum server and there will never be another broken image again. The final nail in the coffin happened this week when Photobucket decided to block all unpaid 3rd party hosting, which most of us use, and who's to say other 3rd party sites don't start doing the same?
The cost isn't very much but it also is to much to come out of my pocket from year to year, everyone I have spoken to has had the same idea and that is to have a plant sale/auction once a year to cover the cost of running the forum for the next year. Anything additional can be set aside for the year after or donated towards a CP related conservation program. The rough cost to licence the software (after the basic and photo album upgrade) would be about $200 and the server hosting, domain name etc would be another $150-200 a year. The licence fee is a one time thing and the hosting is year to year. I would find it hard to believe that we wouldn't be able to raise the amount needed each year. One plant from the 4-5 people that sell would be more then enough.
This also allows us to permanently change our name and to link multiple URL's to the forum.
Unfortunately the large downside is nothing can come with us, the scripts that would need to be written are vastly out of my ability and it would actually break the terms of using this platform and could run into legal issues. This doesn't mean we can find good threads and literally copy and paste them to form an archive of good posts.
At this point I would love peoples thoughts. If people are down I will move forward and start building the forum. Unless the large majority disagree I really think this is the only way to go.
Thoughts? Questions?
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Post by jbron on Jul 21, 2017 20:54:02 GMT -5
I would say it's a good move. Even though it will be inconvenient right now or at anytime to make this change, in the long run it'll be more beneficial for the CPSC.
Also, those members who have created threads that are full of great info could copy and paste their own threads to the next site? I know I don't have anything special, so it may be a bit more work than what I'm thinking it could be.
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Post by amanitovirosa on Jul 21, 2017 21:22:17 GMT -5
...AHHHHHHHH, am I hearing angels singing??? The inability or the inconvenience of posting pics here renders the forum almost useless in my opinion. What we do is very visual, pics are essential! The downside of not being able to transfer anything over may be an upside. All good and relevant posts can be copied over and all the fluff will just be left behind and forgotten. Anyways, I am all for this change and would help or contribute in any way I can. Thanks You Justin!
AV.
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Post by Samskwatch on Jul 21, 2017 21:53:00 GMT -5
I think that making things as easy as possible will also get more people to join this community. And Facebook is really not something I enjoy. The benefits with forum is that it is aiming at a particular subject (CP in our case) and so we don't get to know useless stuff like what people eat for breakfast.
Moving the forum can be a pain and we must be aware of what we can and what we can't do. But afterward it will become rewarding to move to a more user friendly platform.
Well, that's just my opinion. 👍
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shadow
Seed
Not addicted.. nope nope
Posts: 39
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Post by shadow on Jul 22, 2017 5:32:11 GMT -5
Lurker chiming in fwiw I know I haven't posted much since joining but have spent countless hours (and many sleepless nights since knee surgery) searching and reading through the info on here. To me the move sounds like a great idea to keep the community active and growing as well as preserving all the valuable knowledge that has been shared to date. I'd be happy to help with copying and moving any of the posts/threads that needed to migrate to the new home to ease the burden on our Admins as much as I'm able to. I think the plant sale/auction is an awesome idea and, if for any reason needed to, could be supplemented with a seed sale/auction (as seasons allow). My CP collection is small so I wouldn't be able to donate those just yet, but would be sure to buy a plant or 2 for the cause and could even try my hand at selling some non-CP plants/seeds locally to help out as much as I can. Just let me know if/when/how I can be of help! my 2 cents Sue
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Post by lloyd on Jul 22, 2017 15:17:56 GMT -5
I like that we have a history here and a lot of posts you can search through. Also it didn't work out that well when we switched last time. I can see the image paroblem. I've heard that Tapatalk allows images. If we're going to a paid forum, should we have a yearly fee? Maybe you can post for free but to see any sales, offers, trades or group orders you'd have to pay a yearly membership. How about a poll to see who would pay and how much?
I'm willing to move but I'd want to see that people would support a new forum financially.
Also would we lose people who wouldn't want to pay
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Post by Apoplast on Jul 23, 2017 7:50:50 GMT -5
As an outsider here, I don't feel my opinion is necessary. That said, I very much enjoy that this has remained a vibrant community when so much has been swallowed up by Facebook. I agree with Samskwatch that Facebook is unappealing for its tendency to bleed across internists that one may not want to combine. Whatever is decided, I will support efforts to keep this community together and growing.
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Post by Samskwatch on Jul 23, 2017 11:13:06 GMT -5
I just thought of it but another way to finance another forum would be a tax. Now, I know we all hate taxes but this would be a way to finance the forum with the sales that occurs via the forum. It is a way to thank the forum for bringing along the seller and the buyer. Forum finances has to be open book and left overs are to be donated toward CP conservation organism.
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Post by WillyCKH on Jul 23, 2017 16:19:32 GMT -5
Justin, you have my full support from Little Green Monsters. If it is just ~$200 yearly, I don't see why we cannot afford it. I can donate plants or even money just to keep our great community running! Many people would know, that I come online on a daily basis. I'm grateful of many inspirations, ideas and information from everyone else. Even though I'm not a CP expert, I enjoy reading all the posts and I reply all of the messages as soon as I can. It is the kind members and great peoples we have here that draw us all together. To me, the website proboard is purely a bridge for us to connect; there's a new bridge that connects us better? Yes, please! I agree that auctions and special sales will be able to cover the yearly cost. I don't think members should pay just to join. We should welcome everyone to join us! If we want to support the community, we will participate in those fund raisers for sure. Best, Willy
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Post by JeffSarr on Jul 24, 2017 11:42:02 GMT -5
Full support here as well!
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Post by yukondave on Jul 24, 2017 12:03:38 GMT -5
Will we still be able to access the new forum via Tapatalk after the change? I use Tapatalk to read and post photos on this and other forums so if that doesn't change then I'm all for it. I'm cool since nothing will really change for me. I don't like change.
"I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess."
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Post by shoggoths on Jul 24, 2017 21:35:12 GMT -5
With the day to day life changes, I have way less time to give to my CPs. Still, I come here every day or two. I'm not a ICPS member anymore because of the 30$US fee. At the moment, I would be willing to pay like 5-10$ a year. Though, like Lloyd said, I like that we have a history here and a lot of posts you can search through. I would not go through explaining some basic stuff over again ... So, count me in the Possibly group.
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Post by jeff on Jul 25, 2017 1:56:00 GMT -5
Bonjour
no possibility to use a free forum ?
jeff
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Post by ep31 on Jul 26, 2017 2:48:26 GMT -5
I wouldn't mind changing to a new forum. I know we have a history here and I love being able to go back through the old threads to read up on information. Personally, I wouldn't mind sacrificing this if it meant that we could have a setup that would help attract more people/facilitate posting by current members. I don't like the idea of asking new members to pay to join but at the same time, it doesn't seem fair that only a handful of members sell their plants to cover the costs. I don't mind buying plants to help cover the costs, but my collection is definitely too small to start selling off anything to help so I feel bad that only some people would be putting up their plants.
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Post by H2O on Jul 26, 2017 21:22:39 GMT -5
I will respond to any comments or question as I would like this to be community discussion. Before that I did want to point out that this forum WILL still be around, it costs nothing to keep and we can archive it. So at any point we can still link to threads and read through old posts. The pinned posts will need to be redone on the new forum but random informational threads can still be linked to if we need to. jbron, I agree that it will be an annoying to move over but I hope to do most of the work and most members will just need to sign up and keep posting. I think one of the best way to continue threads on the new forum would be to start a thread with a link to the old one and just continue. Unless its great information which then it would be worth reposting any imagines or tutorials. amanitovirosa, I knew I would have you sold just on the photos alone! You are one dedicated member and you try hard to get your photos working, for every one dedicated member there are dozen that just don't want to figure it out. Samskwatch, completely agree, it must be easy these days or people won't join. I really want to keep this place for people that don't use FB. shadow, I am glad lurkers are chiming in! There are many and your opinion very much matters! Thank you! lloyd, as I long time grower and member I value your opinion very much. I agree that the last move soured many members opinion of switching forums, unfortunately Syb really didn't do it properly. The main reason was for petty additions like more emojis, it was also a downgrade in free software and still had all the same problems as this pro boards forum. I would REALLY like to keep the forum and "Society" completely free to use. I've discussed the idea with many people and even if it was only $1 we would loose members not based on the cost but the effort involved in paying that fee. I truly believe we could raise the funds through an annual sale of plants/seeds/etc. I will be donating plants and funds from my sale and feel that many will do the same. I 100% agree that we need to have the funds and see that people will support this new method. I also want to add that everything would be above board and there would be a dedicated thread to the amount of money coming in and what it was used on, we will also vote on what to do with the extra funds. Apoplast, you are no outsider, you are one of us! Growing wise I actually think you're more Canadian then I am Please never stop being you my friend! WillyCKH, I am glad to see you are on board! Your sales have really helped spread the love around Canada. My first option would be to only have members that want to donate and contribute and that there will be absolutely no obligation to do so. I want to keep it just as free as this forum unless you would like to help. @jeffsarr, thank you for adding your thoughts. yukondave, love the quote. As far as I am aware you will still be able to use that. I will double-check with my friend that runs Canadart. Are there ads on there? Because there will be no ads on the new forum, which will be nice. shoggoths, its great to hear from you. We will be keeping this society and forum completely free to everyone, only those who want to donate plants/cuttings/seeds etc will finance it. The fee is small and I feel like we will have extra money each year. We will also be keeping this forum as a locked achieve so people can still search through here before asking questions jeff, unfortunately all of the free forums have the same problems with photo storage and restrictions on modifications. ep31, I agree with many of your thoughts. The forum will always be free to use and the members that buy/bid on donated plants will be just as important as those who donate them, this was new members can still contribute. As mentioned earlier we will still be able to read old posts on this forum. Feel free to continue to voice your thoughts and any silent members please speak up with any questions, comments or concerns.
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