Achtung! Everyone read about OUR re-launch!

OK, it's not really a re-launch. I just said that to get you to read this. Did it work?

 

Anyway, a few months back I asked for suggestions for how to improve the site. A great many excellent suggestions were made, especially by Lumbering Jack, but only one really requires a lot of prep time. And that is: DEATH TO ALL GROUPS!

 

Well, not all of them. But the consensus was that Groups were superfluous, and split conversations into more than one place, and were confusing for newbies, and caused genital warts.

 

Now, not all Groups were unnecessary. Here are the ones I intend to keep:

 

WILD CARDS: This singular interest with almost zero overlap with comics really needs a "room" where Wild Carders can gather and do their thing. This is the one place I think Groups functions the way it's supposed to.

 

COMICS NEWS: Because otherwise all the press releases that I ... um, I mean, Newsboy posts would sorta overwhelm the front page teases.

 

THE TIMELINE GROUP: This Group was created by the Baron as a home for all of his Earth-44 stuff, which is so huge I would not dream of asking him to move it all. If I can, I'll rename it "Earth-44 Timeline Group" (but I'm not sure I can).

 

MODERATORS: Don't look over here. There's nothing over here. This is not the Group you're looking for. (Seriously, this is a private "room" for the Mods to discuss problems freely without worrying about hurt feelings. We need the room, because e-mail has proved too clumsy.)

 

And I propose to add a Group at some point, that will be ARCHIVES or FAQ or somesuch as a place where we can park things we will reference in future: Board rules, columns with lots of good information, FAQs, Moderator contacts, boilerplate legalese, stuff like that. If anyone can suggest a name to cover all that, I'm all ears!

 

Anyway, I intend to delete all the rest. Which means:

 

1) If there's a group you think has a compelling reason to exist that you want to convince me to keep, you'd better get to convincing, and

 

2) If there's a thread or a post in any group that you want to save, get to saving it. Cut and paste to another thread somewhere, or start a thread and paste it, or whatever. Because when I delete a given Group, I doubt I can resurrect anything.

 

And when will I delete this Groups? You fools! Why would I explain my master plan and give you time to stop it? I did it 20 minutes ago! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

Just kidding -- I couldn't resist the Watchmen reference. Anyway, I thought a month would be enough time, so how about Aug. 1 for The Big Delete?

 

As ever, spout off, Legionnaires. This is your site, and I'm doing this to make it better. If I'm NOT gonna make it better, then let me know!

 

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Comments

  • Cap:

    Like the new look to the site. I think you've hit the right balance with the front page now.

  • Who's this "Jeff" person?   ;>)

    I've never done CSS or any true web design (nothing but templates for me), so I can't advise you on that. I can only say what looks purdy and what don't look so purdy.

    Regardless, this new incarnation is a great update.

     

  • I've been through all the formats and tools Ning provides, Jeff, and you can't do that. The entire background is either one color or another -- there's no separation of elements. And if I monkey with the backround, I have to update to the new themes menu, which doesn't include the current one. So we'd be introducing problems without solving any.

     

    The only way to POSSIBLY address this is to go into the CSS and poke around there. I've worked in CSS before, but I'm hardly an expert and am reluctant to monkey around with it.

     

     

  • I think it looks good.

    My only suggestion for that would be to change the background color on the two small-width columns. At first glance it's a bit of a jumble of headings, logos and words. That might be off-putting to newcomers.

    Coloring the small-width columns would add prominence to the center column.

    If you are able to change the background color, make them both the same color. Standard white would be a nice subtle adjustment, but a light blue or light pink would also do.

     

  • I like it too.
  • I like it!
  • On another topic, what do you guys think of the "big story" approach, with big stories at the top of the page? This weekend promises to be big (SDCC, you know), so I'll probably be rotating through "big stories" as they occur. I figure a maximum of three ... does that sound right to y'all? I don't want to push Blogs and Forum too far down. Most weeks I'd guess I'd only have one or two big stories for the whole week and it won't be a problem.

     

    Pushing Blogs and Forum is one of the downsides. Some of the upsides include giving the site a more traditional layout, where people know where to look first; giving us a place to draw attention to extraordinary events or posts (especially the latter, which can disappear all to quickly); and giving me a solid handle on where to direct people from Twitter and Facebook. Plus it makes us look kinda newsy and fresh.

     

    I'm sure there are more downsides, and I'm waiting to hear them!

  • I have found (the hard way) that the system only allows you so many edits even if you are still within your time limit and locks up, eating the revisions in the process.
  • Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do about the time limit. I've only got a certain amount of tools allowed within the Ning parameters, and that's not one of them.
  • Hey, is there anyway you can remove the time limit on editing posts? I hate that. I often go back to read what I wrote and see errors. I need lots of time to edit my thoughts, which often come out as scattered on my first try.
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