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Better forums

benjdm's picture
Posted by benjdm on July 2nd, 2006 at 11:41 am | 6 Replies

The forums here could be much more useful than they are now. Of the other forums I frequent, many of the most useful and functional use vBulleting software. I can imagine subforums by region and topic. In the region subforums, each group could have their own thread. It would allow for both small group information exchange and large group brainstorming.

My $.02

‹ Community research plan?
Shelby Tay's picture
Shelby Tay
August 23rd, 2006

Follow up on v-bulleting software

Hi Benjdm,
Thanks again for your suggestion for the forums. We probably won't adopt the v-bulleting software because it would mean maintaining another system and we'd need to connect it to our drupal base for authentication. However, we can make our current system look more like v-bulleting, so I am told.
Will post more as things develop.

shelby

Shelby Tay's picture
Shelby Tay
July 5th, 2006

Re: Better Forums

Hi benjdm,
Thanks for your suggestion. The format of the forums could definitely use improvement. My understanding is that the software would have to be compatible with the drupal framework that we're using for the website, otherwise we'd have to establish an external site. We will certainly pass your suggestion on to Mack, our Technology Coordinator. Thanks for the thought! What's an example of an online forum that uses vBulleting software?

cheers,
shelby

Doomer68's picture
Doomer68
July 28th, 2006

peakoil.com

Is it possible to mirror peakoil.com's forums? I am on that site every day and it is extremely easy to navigate. I would like to see the profiles changed to provide an easier way to contact individuals. I have been a member of the Tidewater group and have never been contacted and yet on Peakoil.com and I am im'ing friends in Texas, ashame we don't have a "contact" button-email, PM-private message, etc.. for each profile. It is somewhat difficult to find my way through the site-aesthetically, it does look much better. The ability to converse and exchange ideas needs to be simplified in order to achieve our goals!!

Mark

benjdm's picture
benjdm
July 8th, 2006

vbulletin forum examples

This is a relatively vanilla example:

http://www.iidb.org/vbb/index.php

This is an example with a ton of custom code, they have also started their own wiki:

http://www.christianforums.com/

I think these guys use vbulletin, but it looks like a very sparse, maybe older, version:

http://www.bikeforums.net/index.php

Kathy McMahon's picture
Kathy McMahon
July 4th, 2006

I agree

Thanks, Benjmdm for bringing this up.

It is important to be able to send one's comments to the audience it is intended for and not to clutter a national reader with info designed for a local group. Right now, blogging doesn't allow for that. I may want to share my thoughts that are directed to my local group, but not post them to the entire board. I haven't yet figured out how to do that.

It also discourages the reader from reading blogs, because so much of it is really intended for the local audience, and therefore the writer doesn't add relevant information, like what State "Townsend" is located in.

If there is a way to specify the difference between "Announcements" of conferences, etc and "Musings" of random thoughts anyone can read, or "Local Alerts" that are within each Council, this would be great. I also really like the new broad areas that are listed below. We do need a way of generating ideas about each of these vital areas.

Kathy McMahon

www.peakoilblues.com

Marie Garand's picture
Marie Garand
August 25th, 2006

a newcomer thread

Hello,

I am new here. I think it would be nice to have a section dedicated for people to say hi, talk a bit about themselves and have the opportunity to exchange a bit with others. Break the ice, so to speak...Liveliness and conviviality are a big part of what makes a forum attractive, IMO.

So, in brief, my husband and I live on 2 acres in a small fishing community. He is a retired engineer and I am an agronomist. We are not part of a post oil group per se but we are progressively shifting toward self-sufficiency. We are lucky enough to be hooked to a fairly small electric grid fed by a local hydroelectric dam. We heat in part with wood cut from nearby forest. About 75% of the veggies come from our garden. And so far, we can get most of our meat from local farmers. Our latest development is the addition of chicken for meat and eggs and a small flock of sheep. The biggest challenges are fuel for transportation and tools and production of grain and pulse for us and the animals in winter.

Small scale efficient technology will be critical to help getting through the bottleneck of overconsumption, peak oil and overpopulation. Family of 10 children to man the homestead are not something to encourage, which means that technology will be needed to replace in part the manpower. Sometimes an old technology like windmill need to be rediscover, other times new ones like solar or geothermal. What I know is that without my Gardenmobile, a small trailer hooked to an ATV, I would not be able to do half the work, from getting seaweed to fertilize the garden, to transport the 50 crates of potatoes at harvest. And John could not do much without a chainsaw and his bad arm when it boils down to dropping a tree. I think each community would benefit to produce some biofuel but restrict its use for mobile use or tools for agricultural, fishery and forestry work. Biofuel cant be produced at comparable level of oil extraction, but it has its place.