Forum question

[Phil Herring]

Perfect question for a slow forum day: is everyone about ready to switch over to the new forum design?The good news:- you can select your view (one post per screen or whole thread per screen)- better navigation- server 'remembers' you more effectively- will ultimately tie together all your posts, reviews, photos, etc.The bad news:- registration is required- some options (like My HOW forum for Hunter owners) will change or be discontinued)Any comments on how, when, or if this occurs?

 

[Ward Niffenegger]

I like it, but.......

I like the new format and have no problem signing up. I am concerned that the requirement to sign up may scare off some. Whether it is the concern of privacy or whatever, I would hate to see people quit using the forum.Ummmmmm. unless I get to pick which ones quit. ThanksWard

 

[Ed Schenck]

Ready when you are.

For all the work you put in Phil you can switch whenever you want. There probably isn't anything you could do that would keep us away. Assuming it was free of course.

 

[Paul Akers]

Go for it!

nm

 

[Russell Egge]

We trust you Phil

nm

 

[Tim]

I'm Ready

And while you are at it why not create a Pearosn owners forum.Tim R

 

[Phil Herring]

Registration

Yeah, I'm sure there will be some who don't like that... we'll put the approrpriate privacy assurances on the reg screen (because we don't do anything with the info). FWIW, we've required registration for most of the forums on the SailboatOwners.com site since the beginning and have about 10,500 registered users, probably 9,000 or so unduplicated.

 

[Phil Herring]

Pearson

Actually, we _do_ have a forum (not a whole site) for Pearson owners at http://www.sailboatowners.com. Look under brand-specific forums.ph.

 

[Tim]

Thanks Phil

Actually a Pearson site is what I meant.Tim R.

 

[Steve Dion]

Should have done it long ago.

Phil:You probably should have required reqistration from the beginning. We have had some real yahoos on the site over the years. This will make the wise guys a little more aware that some one is watching them!

 

[DMJ]

Ready!

NM

 

[Tom FitzGibbon]

Will miss MyHOW but...

I'll go along with whatever Phil thinks is best.

 

[Phil Herring]

Tom -

How does the model-specific forum work as a substitute for My HOW? On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being 'My What?' and 0 being a '404 page not found' error.

 

[John]

New format

Is it supposed to be up and running now? Just tried to register and take a peek. Just kept going in circles and ending up back at theold format.

 

[Ken Palmer]

Works for me

I have used the new forum from the beginning, and it works like a charm. My only observation is that when I click on the originators post, and read down through the list (nice feature), The hyperlinks on the responses don't change color.That may sound like a small thing, but when I do a 24 hr. view of responses, I cannot easily detect items I have viewed before unless the original post has been visited and has changed color.Not a big thing, and my vote is to change over for all.

 

[Glenn G]

Registration

Phil, I'm not crazy about having to register. It's not that I do anything I'm ashamed of, or wouldn't want identified with me, but I do enjoy the anonymity the internet provides. Perhaps if I understood the benefits and why you want us to register it might make it less objectionable.I agree with Ward, it might chase some people away.

 

[Fred Ficarra]

Do it Phil

And I don't need anonymity. I'm splattered all over my web site.

 

[Phil Herring]

Glenn and John

Hi Glenn,We'll do a better job of explaining that so we don't scare people off. Annonymity isn't the issue -- in fact, you can register and still be completely annonymous. We don't have this set up so your password is sent to you via email, so a valid email address is not required. The registration allows us to store a number of preference settings that are unique to you. These will grow over tiime, but right now the main one is how you view threads (one post per screen or the whole whole thread). Without registration, any preferences have to be stored on your computer. If your browser cookies are ever lost it can be difficult to reconstruct them. With registration, these settings can be stored on our computer. You can easily change preference settings and if you get a new computer you just log in and they all work on your new machine.We are one of very few forums that does _not_ require registration, and frankly it has hurt our ability to deliver a better forum experience. I can see that we'll have to find a succinct way to explain all this prior to registration!John: If you can't log in (and are looping) it means our cookie isn't seting properly in your browser. What is your operating system and browser type/version? Thanks!

 

[BoatBum]

Loop de loop

The machine I registered from is not permitted to accept any cookies. I was able to log in easily on my home machine. Guess problem solved?

 

[Michael]

You cant hide

Not wanting to register to keep your annonimity(sp)is not a concern, if it is, dont ever visit a website, anywhere. Having forums on my website i know that even if you come up with a bogus email to register I still know where you are, when you enter a site it records your ip, now i dont do anything with it, since it is a forum for our clan and we have kids as well as adults, and the joking and flaming can get pretty bad, we dont really care where you are. most on our site know each other from playign online or chatting. got off on a tanget there, no matter where you go, your ip is recorded, i work at one of the largest computer companies around and i have friends in IT who have to track visitors emails sometimes whether for lost orders or correspondence. they can tell me where the person lives down to the section of neighborhood from the ip.  Scary huh?? but that is part of this wonderful tool we call the internet. kinda like caller id and a return addy on snail mail.