'Ariel'
A thread to discuss naming threads, board policy, new thread suggestions, and anything else that has to do with board administration and maintenance. Guaranteed to include lively debate and polls. Natter discouraged, but not deleted.
Current Stompy Feet: ita, Jon B, DXMachina, P.M. Marcontell, Liese S., amych
The weird thing about the "shall we feature content" discussion is that all the boards elsewhere are an attempt to Build Community as an add-on to a content site, which is really a way to Make People Keep Coming Back, and indeed Make People Keep Hitting Refresh, so that you get more hits and more ad views.
The board is an add-on to the content, in other words. It's a fascinating idea that content could spring out of the boards.
It's a fascinating idea that content could spring out of the boards.
We've already done this a little bit with the filk site and the Buff Dive site, plus there have been articley type things like Brian's article on Vampire Ecology and Dana's analysis of OMWF. I think it's a great idea. I know of at least two people who found us through the filk site (I even met one of them tonight).
I don't want to be the Voice of Doom here, but one thing to bear in mind: the bigger and more diverse Buffistas.org gets, sooner or later the issue of funding will raise its head. And I'd hate for this community to break up because of something so profane as money.
It's probably just worth considering. If things are handled right it may not be a problem. But I'm sure it's one of the reasons why other sites like 11th Hr. and (I think?) TWoP are closing down.
We don't have any paid staff, obviously, so I guess the question is how much can we grow and stay all-volunteer? When does the workload become too great for people to handle at work/in their free time?
We don't have any paid staff, obviously, so I guess the question is how much can we grow and stay all-volunteer? When does the workload become too great for people to handle at work/in their free time?
From an organizational standpoint, our big weakness is that we're dependent on ita. Should she take a world tour with some buff brilliant krav kickboxing coder stud, we'd be left hanging. The answer, of course, is for force John and Gud to learn PHP more faster. Well, Typo Boy knows PHP too, so that's a plus.
We have a lot of people here who either know some PHP, or could pick it up right quick.
Isn't Jon B one of the code warriors as well?
I think we have PHP interns in Shrift and Amych (?) as well.
Jon B is another code guy. And I know that both Shrift and I are learning PHP now. And that's just people who have spoken up lately. We'll have it covered if we need it.
Jon B is another code guy. And I know that both Shrift and I are learning PHP now. And that's just people who have spoken up lately. We'll have it covered if we need it.
Okay, we're all set. Should Chow Yun Fat propose to ita tomorrow, we'd have no problems.
Well, Chow better not hurry, since the only solid offer of up to speed PHP/MySQL assistance I've had has been from Burrell's DH. There's been intern discussion, and Gud's volunteered to help as his schedule allows.
But we've by no means got anything solid in place.