home page

[abendx]

Hmm.... i went to the home page looking for the bylaws.... while they aren't up yet, I noticed that the front page is still as tired and stale as always.


Lots of suggestions:

UPDATES!!!
Lots of them.... should actually be daily to keep the site fresh.

PICTURES and VIDEOS!!
Needs to be member driven, not GJ driven. I believe this would cause the amount of pictures to swell, giving new visitors something to look at and get a feeling for the club. This can be completely offloaded to other sites (e.g. Picasa, Flicker, et al.), using plugins to get the pics and videos here... just like we do with YouTube. Little to no cost to the club!

RUN REPORTS!!
Also should be user,not GJ driven. I have no idea, but assume this might get a bunch more play. I would start posting them there.

MEMBER PROFILES!!
Again.... needs to be automated and GJ needs to not have a middleman hand in this.

These should be addressed sometime soon. Now you might know my background or not.... and it doesn't matter, but that and plenty of constant change is necessary to keep new and old people interested, coming back, and staying.

No offense to you GJ, but I just this automating it would go a long way to getting more info in there. I know, as an example, that I have written a few run reports and have posted a massive amount of pictures and videos. I'd have placed all of them on the homepage and gave new visitors something to look at. I know when I go to a website, the forum is usually the LAST thing I would click on unless I had a reason (support, etc). If the home page seems old and tired, I bet the entire site is as well as the people that put it together.... we do not want that exposure!! Even if it's not.... people seem to get that impression (or at least I do and in my previous life... it seemed to usually work).

[Lake_v2]

In GJ's defense, I know he has used member's run reports and posted them on the main page, not sure on the pictures, didnt know we had a gallery... im a forum hound, so i really never see the homepage all that often.

Those are some good suggestions though, maybe have a different Rig on front page each month

[chrisrigby]

with a day or so heads up if anyone has any room ill gladly take my photo gear on the closer runs and post them to where ever. could set up a link to a FLIKR account or somthing to share off of. just let me know.

[Dirty LJ]

The pictures can be automated, and once someone finds a good program to automate the members page I will happily do it. I have done numerous listings for peoples info for themembers page and to pm me video links so they can be posted, yet my pm box remains empty.........

There is a reason I moved most info to the form and that is cause most people don't visit the main page (I have the stats). Most people once logged in direct link to the forum.

As for the bylaws....slow down turbo! Shit takes time! I'm still in bako and have not been home. HTML editing is rather difficult on a cellphone. You should know that.


Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[abendx]

Just giving some suggestions.... shit can them, take them, or do some hybrid.... just suggestions folks!

If you feel more comfortable handling the submissions, cool.... but I am telling you that I think it has a lot to do with why you didn't get many responses. Among other things, people want instant gratification and at least as far as I am concerned, the ability to edit on my terms.

I was going to work with you on the pictures, but we could never get together on it. We looked briefly one day and I pointed out a few things out, but nothing really happened from there. Unless you want to sit down with me and work on it... all I can do is either give suggestions or take the keys to drive for a while. I know part of the problem was your hosting... maybe not any longer that the club has a fund machine? Although.... as we talked about, integrating the major hosting services is probably a better idea. Doing a very quick search shows there is code for Webshots, Flicker, Picasa.... and I would guess most of them!

And your stats.... do they address my thoughts? I am thinking mostly about NEW visitors. People we want to introduce to the club and our ethos. People that may want to become future members of the club. People we want to get excited!

Now these bylaws are something I am looking forward to seeing!