Moderators please ammend the forum.

That is fine. The way you do it is too give somebody who comes here regularly some moderation power in which they can lock threads for going off topic.

One of the strictest yet also best forums on the net is Australias very own www.whirlpool.net.au

Great layout and great moderation .

Clean and simple.

Time for a change guys.

I have noticed the chit chat that can push treads to the top of the list like on other forums which can push down the list more interesting topics but then you have to go down the list looking for them....

Join the dots.....johnny

Leroy

Yes but here all the good topics get lost forever too anybody who misses logging on for a few days.

Does that make sense ?

Moderators can close threads that go off track.

Can you follow that ?

No it's all very complicated but I do try to stick to the topic and answer the question and not hijack other peoples threads.

Can you follow that?

Join the dots.....johnny

Leroy

The thing I like about this setup is that I get to check out all threads and not just the ones I think might be interesting coz I dont know if I want to read them unless I look. The only ones I dont open are ones I know I definitly cant contribute to for example best camping spot around melbourne or mazda tribute vs mitsi outlander (just examples). I know what the last threads I read were and if away I go till I reach them. threads with heaps of followups have nearly always degenerated (like this one is sure to)

yep just checked out the whirlpool forum - it is like other forums the ones with the most replys/followups end up fulla crap withlittle usefull info. Generally the most difficult to answer qs on here have the fewest answers - but also the best

While Invision may be a "nice" multi-topic forum, it is certainly not the standard - phpBB2 (being fully GPL and therefore "free") and its derivatives is the defacto standard in public forums these days - by a long shot. I create CMS (Content Management Systems) professionally - and either use phpBB2 or fully-fledged (inc. support) Mambo CMS - not Invision or vBulletin. It's usually most customers' choice - not mine.

Quite frankly, I'm kinda tired of the same-old, same-old. This BBS is nice and simple, and the single forum layout is easy to navigate and search. It doesn't take a rocket-scientist to use it, and you can easily sort threads by activity rather than the default post ID. The reason a single topic board works so well here is that the designers want to encourage "4WD-related" topics only, and not diversify all over the place like some others. They become very messy IMHO, and are not ideally suited to the type of public that browse here.

In a world of forae, I personally like using this system, so David & Michelle - I vote to keep it as it is..... not that it's being put to a vote.........

It is just an idea which I think will create even more traffic here .

Anybody who loves forums as I do finds this setup very frustrating and unique.

Look around and you will agree.

Look how nice and clear this forum is.

http://slskboard.savagenews.com/index.php

Thats fine Johnno, I'm not interested in other forums, this is the only one we use. How boring would it be if all the forums were the same? All the posts that you think are good posts, somebody else might not even read as it dosn't intrest them. Michelle and David have to cater for all "members" and visitors, and alot of elderly people and people who arn't very good on computers (like my husband, flatout turning the puter on) don't like changes. So how do you know it would create more traffic, alot of people might not use it if it changes.
Leave this forum as it is, and that way we are all happy. Not because one person comes on and says "change it". Alot of paying members would be cranky if one person who is not a member, like yourself, came along and said change it and they did. You are entitled to your say and your opinion, but I thought the way you worded your post was very rude and abrupt...........have you ever wondered how many hours Michelle and David spend organising this forum, and you come along and say what was in your post. As I said Johhno, if you don't like it don't use it. There are other 4wd forums apart from this one, and those I don't use because I don't like the way they are set up.

Ok.............. now I will get down off my soap box and hope I don't slip.

Have a good day...............

Cranky Karen

Go Michelle and David

Geez Karen relax a little bit.

There is nothing wrong with change you know . Especially change for the better . The forum is just a default type set up , easy to change and would be all the better for it.

There is so much good information here but it is a nightmare to find !!!!

What a waste.

Little Johnny,

I think it's a case of that you don't know how to use the search function!

Leroy

Have no trouble with the search function. How do you know what to search for if you don't log on for a few days ?

Do you guess what has been the hot topic ?

You go away on holidays and you don't buy the paper for a week do you go to the newsagent and buy the previous weeks paper to see what news you have missed?

Join the dots.....johnny

Leroy

Johnno1,

You join up as a member, which will give you the added option of searching for posts unread since last log on.

I totally agree with Geoff & Karen on the format of THIS forum.

We are all used to how it operates and have no problem with it.
It's one of the better ones I have used. Bugger whether it conforms to someone else's idea of "standard"

Typical responses.

Knock anything which suggests change until it happens and then you go " wow this is really good now !! "

Natural human response to resist change.

It is for the better in this instance.

And that's YOUR opinion! And that is the beauty of a forum. Everyone has thier own opinion and if they like it the way it is then fine. If you wanted change then you should of voted for Mark Latham.

join the dots.....johnny

Leroy

The current way the forum works basically sucks big time........often people who reject change become stagnent. The moderation and the fact the popular threads are quickly being bumped off the fron page needs assressing. Ps No sucking up to anyone from me.

Well said.

At last someone who is not afraid to tell it like it is to get things improved around here.

Credit to you.

Sorry guys but I would run with that as well.

Often come through these parts but damn it is tricky navigating. Lucky I have got my wife Helen on board .

Johno .....truckster has posted below in this thread a way to list most recent responses at the top of the page. Makes my point a bit hollow now, but the speed is something i think needs adressing.

There is something new everyday anyway .

That is the idea of a forum.

well well well ,

I visitor comes on and criticises the way the forum is running, ummmm I dont here any paying members complaining, strange that hey.

Clive

Hey Clive ,

is that really the case ?

Its a nightmare cleaning out your email account all the time. You open it up and check a response which takes you to the thread and then you inadvertently read the other responses while you are there and then you go back to your email to souble check you have not missed one and then you double up double up double up.

Nightmare !

Karen - you go girl...... there are great benefits to membership, but I suppose only the members enjoy them. I think you stepped down quite elegantly.

If you want to check out the best forum in OZ then look at this one.

There is not better layout and setup. Easy search facilities which are accurate and clearly layed out threads.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/

Yes V Bulletin is great also.

CruiserHead, having membership eliminates that as you can choose to only read the posts that have appeared since your last logon.

Jeff - thanks for letting me know. It seems it does pay to become a member, then. Will have to think about it. Just paid for my 4wd monthly subscription so I canhave the tyre deflators - maybe later in the year...

cheers, CH

...unfortunate timing...
That is... I agree with most of the posts here. It's fine the way it is.

fine the way it is????its slow as even with adsl.

there is, you can select the display to id number or response time (took me a while to figure it out, too.)

Oh yeh that is real user friendly .

The problem is no other forums have this setup ( for a reason ) and then new visitors here have to be retrained in their browsing techniques.

As you said. There are much better templates than this .

Flappen,

Still worth contributing because the person that asked the question would still value your response even if it is on the 3rd page by then.

Leroy

GOOD call Karl.Ive been on this forum for years and dont have a problem with it.Johnno1(voices in my head guy) if you find it slow and old ,move onto another forum,Maybe the playschool forum maybe more to your liking.Also you still have not answered my questions from other postings
uppy

:-) Uppy your a classic! :-)

Oh dear.....Truckster what have you done! He who thinks he knows all now knows something new about the forum which he was whinging about in this thread!

Joing the dots.....johnny

Leroy

Thanks Truckster , I'll give that a crack.

Thanks truckster........looks like what i am after. If only i knew before.Wonder how many others didn't know that view existed?

thanks truckster that is very helpful

Much of the accurate information on this forum is provided by non members. Should you choose to donate money to a commercial enterprise that is your choice. Without all the non members posting their knowledge this site would be much poorer.

Nevertheless this thread has now become, all but, unusable because of it's length. Anyone who reads usenet would be frustrated by this software.

Mike Harding

Bradley, Bradley, Bradley.......you know why you can't find all the posts telling you how grouse Toyota is,,,,,,,,,,CAUSE THERE IS NONE.
All the posts are about how grouse PATROLS are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go the TROLS
Sorry, couldn't help my self
Karen
Proud Patrol owner
LOL
LOL
LOL
LOL

LOL, Crazie well said mate! ;-)

LOL,Crazie,Jeff m(wa) I agree with you guys.
regards uppy

TC,

I think it's more his attitude and the way he went about sugesting a change. Lot's of posters have made different suggestions and these have been debated, some implemented and some not. The format here obviously suits the demographic here and is obviously sucessful because of the large amount of traffic that comes through here.

Leroy

Top cat I dont know how often you visit the site but the main reason for the responses have been his replys and hijacking of threads. If you do a search on johno1 you will see what I mean although some of his worst drivel has been moderated. I kinda agree with you that it was possibley an ok topic up for discussion and I thought I gave fair replys further up but his recent activities have everyone on the front foot hence all the attitude. His former identity backtracks got so bad I believe he was banned
BTW 35yrs old and I dont have a closed mind its just that things go smoother when everyone agrees with me

good call Davoe,Top Cat just check out some of the posting that he has been involed in ,and you will see why we react so. regards uppy

Thanks.

I havent seen any of the stuff u are talking about........probably cos i tend to just mind my own business I guess.

I saw the name of the thread and as its something i agree with, i was prepared to offer my thoughts.............and then got an aweful shock when i read it all.

I dont think I have read his stuff before.........I take ur word on it all.

And yes i agree that it could have been better thought out and put by the original poster...........

Fact is there are heaps of different peeps in the world and all have ideas and some no better how to put there ideas across.........I tend to just accpet that some are not so good at it as others.

Yeah im a pretty tolerant person.

Anyways, such is life.........lets get on with it.

Cheers all.

Tomcat,
"The guy........jonno..........has simply aired a fair and reasonable suggestion and he has been bandied from pillar to post. "

He is a self absorbed moron who has been causing trouble on here for weeks.

Fair enough if you think it should be upgrade/updated in some way, however the correct medium for these suggestions is to email the guys that do the hard yards and create this forum from scratch. Not to bad mouth their hard work in the public forum (like Johnno1 has). This forum is unique because David has written it from scratch, not just bought an off the shelf forum package and put his own logos into it. If you have ever done any programing and or webpage design you might have an understanding of how complex it is and how many thousdand of man hours have gone into producing it. To have it shoved back in his face and told to use a $99US package that "EVERYONE" else uses is insulting to David and insulting to all of us who enjoy using this forum.

JMHO of course Tom Cat!

Mind you I found that previous reply to you a tad harsh, but I think emotions are now playing a part for some formites. I do have just posted a reply directed to Johnno1 that is starting to push the boundies of what is exceptable on this forum.

Jeff M.........

Firstly please note that I had the decency to get ur name right.

Secondly. I have no idea about most of your post......it just doesnt mean anything to me.........or i suspect anyone else for that matter.

Thirdly, You seem to believe that this is run for nothing.........I can assure you the owners would make a handsome profit from it all.......they are not stupid.

Fourthly, I dont care how much effort someone puts into something.......it doesnt take away my right to simply make a comment or to make a suggestion that "I" feel may be an improvement..........its only my opinion........and doesnt mean everyone will agree with it........I am more than happy to accept that.........its why i love my country.

Fifthly, I did not have a go at anyone......... I got no idea why you feel I have insulted you or anyone else.

Finally........relax........its just a forum........a good one interms of being able to help people who have a problem........but thats all it is..........a forum. Of course it can be better.........there is nothing in this world that is perfect. Do I care if my thoughts are taken on board........absolutely NOT....... I couldnt give a pink stuff.

I will however give a stuff if I think someone is being attacked unfairly..............a gentleman took the time to give me a heads up from the other side of things and I accept that.........its OVER.......grab a beer and relax man...........here, have one of mine.

Cheers.

Top Cat sorry I got your name wrong.

I can't understand you it did not make sense to you, others please tell me if it was too complicated or if it is just a problem with the way Top Cat is reading it.

You think that they are making squllions?? Do you have any idea how much it costs to run a site like this? Have you even met David and Michelle?

As I said it my previous reply! If you want to make a comment on the way David has written the forum, email him direct don't bad mouth the way his pride and joy work accross a public medium.

I don't know why you think I've been insulted by you, I think you have read an email reply and not the reply in context on the forum their matey.

I'm not stressed. Are you?

I was standing up for you in regards to a reply that has now been moderated, why do I need to chill out? Very strange reply mate....

OK, now u are making more sense.......I havent seen one of the posts it would appear.

Please re read my posts........at no time have I ever bad mouthed anyone.

No I have not.........and have no desire........to meet them.......why would I want to do that? You act as if they are somebody special.........let me assure you, they are no more or less important in this world than you or me or jonno or Fred at the pub or queen lizzy.

It would appear that you are close friends........Im glad u are supporting them........but u dont need to support them to me cos Im not having a go at them............in fact I dont recall anyone having a go at them in this thread.

Fair dinkum........I have seen some great forum blow ups over the years at other places........but this is the silliest in history.

Keep smiling all.

Top Cat
I think with all the moderation going on in this thread it has knocked a few items out of whack.

Maybe I get a bit more of a bee in my bonnet about this kind of thing because I have been there and done that. When you create a complicated program on a computer it is almost like a living thing, when you spend months writing it, living and breathing it you are quite happy to take constructive comments on bugs or ways to make it better but to be told it usless and needs to be replaced with a commercially avil. program I think that's a bit rude. Esepecially when there is no need and the majority of formites are happy with it.

As far as David and Michelle goes no they are not close friends but they are just average joes like you and me, they are running this website and trying to make a living to support their family and get to enjoy some 4wding and traveling as part of their work. They are not millionares, they are not big shot business people just people like us and they offer a great serice for us at no or very minimal costs to us but HUGE amounts of their time and money are spent on keeping it going for all of us to use.

Having a go at this forum (which J1 IS doing" is having a go at David's program, he wrote it.

I am sorry if I somehow implied that you were bad mouthing people, I would have been reffering to J1.

Hello Jeff. I find most of that a bit rich. A good friend also in his 50's runs a forum for model aircraft and has very good traffic through there. the upkeep is absolutely minimal . He can leave it for months if he wants to and it just goes and goes.

Huge amounts of time is a bit rich sorry but I can understand you sticking up for a mate.

Lucky Vic , You are obviously not understanding several things...

1. This website is not JUST a forum.
There is a lot of other work that goes on here as well.
2. This forum is NOT just an off the shelf forum program that you can go and buy (like Word or Excel) David has Written it from scratch.

How long does it take you to write a letter in word Lucky?
How long would it take you to write word, that is make your own word processor from scratch using Delphi or Assebly? Then right your letter.

Total different Scenarios matey.

3. He's not my mate. I've only met him once.

And I don't understand your point.

Are you suggesting that you continue using something that is clearly inferior just because it was hand written by someone ?

I am not Pc whiz but I am sure that a young gun could program this site in not too long at all. If there is something better available you use it , no need to get emotional about it.

Surely the paying members deserve atleast that ?

Why do you think that I am being emotional?

I don't belive it is inferior I like it, that's why I only use other forums when I have to (maybe for different types of content).
The fact that it is customer written means that when members go through the correct channels and ask David constructivly for modifications (as has been done in the past many times) he can go ahead and make them excactly the way the members want them.

The fact that you think a young gun can "slap it together" means you truley have very little understanding of what we are talking about.
Regards,

Your opinion.

We will leave it at that then.

Vic

"here please pass opinion on this forum so we can better handle the increased traffic we are receiving"

You speak like you have been a long time contributing paying member of this forum or that you own it or something.

"Most of the members seem to like it the way it is but I feel this could be because they have experienced nothing better yet"

As someone has pointed out there are other4x4 forums that are out there but they prefer the format and style of this one.

You just don't get it do ya.

Join the dots......johhny

Leroy

I took the Liberty of checking out some of the other posts on that site and I got the distinct impresion that that particular site catered for an entirely different social and age and intrest demographic to this one, my suggestion would be rather than directing us to other sites would be to contact the site owners with a detailed suggestion of changes with an example of the finished product

I have tried the forum you recomend at least 10 times and been told it is offline....... fantastic. So I then went to the front page of the forum and read through some threads, it appears they the users of that forum are not completely happy with it....
best you go back and join them.

Might have something to do with traffic ?

71,054 members
7,268 in past 24 hrs
583 are online now
306 guests visiting
-
261,803 threads
4,125,129 posts

That place is damn busy !!

Hi Magnus,
you have got it in 1 :-)

Cheers

Voting so far

User Friendly - 1
Difficult Navigation - 12

some comments

_____________________________________

That said, at a first glance the page looks way too cluttered / overwhelming and therefore I did not even bother trying clicking around to see how the navigation feels.

In this aspect, it really needs to be more user friendly.

Another vote for WAAAY too cluttered. But thats just myopinion. It looks like when you ran out of space you just reduced the font size to fit more on :)

It doesn't actually say anything...

have you counted up the number of people here who actually use this website who like it how it is vs you.
User friendly about 40 +
Against - maybe 2

The people you asked are not used to using this site and have no interest in why this site exsist.

Not sure of what you are trying to prove here and not sure why you have bothered. All you have done is critises someone elses work, and by posting your thoughts on antoher forum and asking other to evaluate this site, just shown everyone what a narrow minded, thoughtless person you are.

Number of people who want you on this site - 1 - you
number of people who couldnt care less if you came here came - probably every legitimate user of this site.

Oh I personally agree that Whirlpool is a great easy to use forum.

Never heard of it but thanks for the link whoever it was.

Very well said.

Why is their such opposition to change here ?

It is as they say very "cluttered" .. For my old eyes anyway.

Seems poor johnno01 has copped both barrels for a fair and reasonable suggestion.

I thought better of the folk here.

When the site appearance changed I didnt really like it, I was used to looking here for this and there for that, and then its different. If I was asked to vote I would say leave it as it was.

Now I can't remember what it looked like before and I like what its like now. Its whatever you get used to and if you want the info you'll use the tool.

nuff sed

>Why is their such opposition to change here

Humans are creatures of habit Lucky, we are most comfortable with what we know and resist the unknown. Once the change occurs most adapt of us adapt very quickly.

Well said Karsten,I well also check out you new 4x4 website Johnno1 and looking forward in beening enlighten,by you wealth of information which will not be bias at all.In fact sign me up now!!!!
uppy