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Network Talk
For discussions about network-wide site topics, announcments, etc.
Fall usually more windy....ut oh....
staff_Jim
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Posted: Sunday, September 30, 2007 - 05:26 PM UTC
So you know what that means. Yup... the winds of change are blowing again. I have made some updates to the Latest Posts area. Knowing full well that some of you will not be pleased with these changes I decided to create this topic to make everyone aware of why I have made the changes.

Basically if you want to view the Latest Posts area you will now need to go through the main "ALL" page. This page displays all the normal forums across the entire network. It is also a cached page so that if the sites are busy you should not have to wait too long for it to load (unless you are the one who is re-creating a new cached page... which happens). All the other pages are now UN-cached. We will see how that goes.

The main effect of this change is that anyone who was bookmarking their favorite LP page will now note they cannot do that (unless it's the ALL page). This will hopefully push more of to use the (ahem) homepage as your entry point. Or you can continue to use the ALL page of the LP if you choose.

My long range goal is to switch over the current LP system to an XML feed and have it run via a cron job. This means no one will ever have to wait a long time to run the needed database queries. And I may be able to build a more dynamic XML-based page that allows someone to pick and choose the forums or category of forums they want to see.

On other fronts we now have our first AJAX piece (not counting Lightbox) on the site. You can find it partially implemented on any news story page. It's a rating system that anyone can use to rate an article on the site. Eventually it will be on all major content, features, reviews, comments, links, etc. I would like to use something that is the same across the board and this type of function allows someone to simply click without having to refresh the page.

Also I will be looking more than ever with the busy winter season for a new managing editor for Armorama. We have been running very well under the current staff, but we are being somewhat hurt by not having someone 'at the wheel' so-to-speak. I have much less time these days than ever thanks to starting a new job and that job is going to demand a lot more of my time than ever.

The time is right for someone with a lot of drive, ideas, and the right skills to step forward and be the leader of this site. Is it you?

Anyone interested can email me for more info or to stake your claim.

Thanks,
Jim
Gunny
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Posted: Sunday, September 30, 2007 - 09:05 PM UTC
Well Captain, I'll be the first to step up and say that as always, change is good, change is good. . .

Even though there may be a grumble here and there when there are these types of changes made at the Network, the final outcome of the change is always a betterment of the overall user experience. . .small changes are all part of the big picture, an ever-evolving, growing website, just as is the membership here at KitMaker. . .I do see and appreciate the big picture, and also all of the changes made thus far, all which are improvements, IMHO. . .Bravo Zulu, mate!

staff_Jim
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Posted: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 - 06:45 PM UTC
Thanks Mark. I can always count on you for feedback.

And yes I have seen the thread on Armorama's Site Talk. This forum is where network related stuff should be though.

Now to just get more people logged in and posting... hmm.....

Cheers,
Jim
Grumpyoldman
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Posted: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 - 01:34 AM UTC
Well, I certainly like the new latest post page, reminds me of the old days, but then again I'm just repeating myself from the other thread. Of course at my age, and senility I'm been know to repeat myself quite often, and sometimes to actually forget what ...........in mid sentence.

Oh did I say I like it?

My home page is the kitmaker home page, so what ever site I click on, I still get the latest ALL post page, which works fine for me.
Mojo
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Posted: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 - 03:08 AM UTC
First time I've logged in since Ive been on holiday.. But I noticed the change right away... Isnt the LP page back to the way it was sometime ago, meaning you get the latest posts of all the sites? I do like the changes.. It will let me poke around the sites i dont visit as often as I should. Historicus and Shipwrights.. Well done boss


Dave
Reporting in from New Hampshire
staff_Jim
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Posted: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 - 07:26 AM UTC
Well... yes and no. The LP page is really the same as it has been for the past year, except for the fact that you now land on the "ALL" page (notice the tabs across the top? All, Aircraft, Armor/AFV, etc?) instead of landing on the page specific to the site you were on.

You can still reach those pages by clicking the buttons across the top of the LP area.

Your feeback has illustrated though why this was probably a good change to make if people didn't realize they could still see "all" posts on the left hand tab.

Thanks,
Jim
drabslab
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Posted: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 - 09:36 AM UTC
I'm always in favour of improving things and I like teh change.

However, there is a drawback for the time being (at least for me) and that is that it seems to be slower.
staff_Jim
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Posted: Thursday, October 04, 2007 - 02:55 AM UTC
Sorry Drab,
I kind of thought my post was trying to say that fixing the LP page with XML feeds should improve the slowness issues.

Also I am planning on migrating the server to a new platform with dual-core processors and breaking the gallery application away from the main server. These are projects that will take time though and nothing is going to happen overnight.

500+ concurrent users is reason for any site (not running in an enterprise environment) to run more slowly.

Thanks,
Jim
WeWillHold
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Posted: Thursday, October 04, 2007 - 04:48 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Also I will be looking more than ever with the busy winter season for a new managing editor for Armorama. We have been running very well under the current staff, but we are being somewhat hurt by not having someone 'at the wheel' so-to-speak. I have much less time these days than ever thanks to starting a new job and that job is going to demand a lot more of my time than ever.



Besides addressing the technical aspects of the site, I felt this was also a huge part of Jim's original post, (and I'm assuming), a link pin to long term success in running/management of the site. Hopefully this piece goes well also.

Steve

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