JUBot & Page Loading

[TheNoNamedOne]

dk, I had noticed last night that when you added the JUBot page loading became quite slow. I wonder if the bot is the cause of that or something on my end?

Has anyone else noticed a slowdown in page loading?

Btw, I think it looks good. That can send people to the JU Mainpage from here. But don't forget, gotta send them from there to hear also with that Comment on this story tag at the end of each news story.

[dk]

Yeah, I know. lol. But I needed this done as the first step.

I haven't noticed a slowdown, and it wouldn't be from the JUBot as it only does an import every 12 hours and it only imports rss. Let me know if anyone else is experiencing a slowdown though.

[dk]

Links have been added to the stories directing readers to our forums. As you can see here: http://www.japanupdate.com/?id=7630

Hopefully, that should liven up the place.

I need you guys to start telling your friends about these forums too. And I'll probably go ahead and make this forum live on our website navigation soon. Why wait till July. It seems to be doing pretty good, and none of the administrative tools are too difficult that we won't be able to cope with any challenges that the introduction of dozens of new users will bring. TELL YOUR FRIENDS. Bring people to these forums. Let's get this party started.

Or do you guys still think I should wait till July? I will keep the original forums up at their current address for several months until I decide to take them down. I just won't be cracking down on bots on that forum as much as these ones seem pretty much bulletproof.

What do you guys think? DrP? TheProsecutor? Anyone?

[TheNoNamedOne]

Links have been added to the stories directing readers to our forums. As you can see here: http://www.japanupdate.com/?id=7630

Oh awesome, dk! I am excited about this feature. I really hope that is a winner for the site and perhaps leading people to network with one another when they feel a need to connect on an issue with others at the local community level.

----------- Different topic about the JUBot ------------

But, I was wondering about one thing that could possibly be good for the forums as it concerns the JUBot automatically sending links from the homepage to here every week. After a few months that list is going to be quite long as it becomes a repository of sorts. That could make that section look rather daunting to jump into, and rather uninterestng if all those threads are sitting there with zero comments.

Would it be possible to write a code that if a story does not get at least one post within 2 weeks of being posted, it automatically is just pruned off the forum (of course it would still be in JU's archives and someone could comment on it from there and thus revive it if they come across it). But, if it at least gets one post, then it would be safe from pruning and would always be in the forum. That is just a suggestion to keep the thread cut down a little to those topics that people find interesting to comment on. Do you think that would be possible?

[DoctorP]

Why wait till July. It seems to be doing pretty good, and none of the administrative tools are too difficult that we won't be able to cope with any challenges that the introduction of dozens of new users will bring. TELL YOUR FRIENDS. Bring people to these forums. Let's get this party started.

Or do you guys still think I should wait till July? I will keep the original forums up at their current address for several months until I decide to take them down. I just won't be cracking down on bots on that forum as much as these ones seem pretty much bulletproof.

What do you guys think? DrP? TheProsecutor? Anyone?

I think that you should go for it. I've been playing aorund on the moderator screen and don't see any problems or any reason why we shouldn't ramp things up a bit.

[TheNoNamedOne]

I agree with DrP. Let 'er rip!

[dk]

Yeah, I was actually thinking about auto-pruning and I'm pretty sure it's actually built into the forum already. I just have to activate it. I'll look into this tonight and I'll change the navigation link on our website tomorrow. I'll probably run a story in our paper about the forums this Thursday as well as keep a decent sized display ad in the paper every week to advertise the place.

Things should pick up in here more than ever happened before. The big thing I need help with is the word of mouth aspect.

I'm really excited about all of this. This is probably the first time I've genuinely been excited about anything on any website in a while. :)

Edit: Screw waiting till tomorrow. I'm still in my office. I'll change the forum link on our navigation right now.

Edit: Done. We're live.

[TheNoNamedOne]

Yeah, I was actually thinking about auto-pruning and I'm pretty sure it's actually built into the forum already. I just have to activate it. I'll look into this tonight and I'll change the navigation link on our website tomorrow.

Ok, but try to make it so that the auto-pruning targets only that one forum category of Bot news dumping. I think as more new members come in, many will begin very interesting thread topics, that should stay up for future visitors, even if they are not posted in a long while. Often forum searchers like to dig around in forums for oldie goldie threads and revive them. And, it can be fun to see one's opinion from a year ago and how it may have changed when it is brought up again. I know I find that interesting, and others do on other forums as well. Those who dig around like that are kind of like forum archeologists, or some plow constantly tilling the soil.

I'll probably run a story in our paper about the forums this Thursday as well as keep a decent sized display ad in the paper every week to advertise the place.


Great, if you want text and catch phrase ideas for the ad, just say so, perhaps make a thread for it and it can be a group effort from here. Get a list to choose from, and you tweak it to make the one you choose even better. Just a thought.

Things should pick up in here more than ever happened before. The big thing I need help with is the word of mouth aspect.
Some forums have a print-out flyer they ask their visitors to print out on their own and place it on cork boards or leave them in dentist offices or where ever around town when they are out and about. Perhaps that could help. If you made a simple one and put it as a tab button somewhere to print out (perhaps at the bottom), I would sure do so. I would then leave them on tables at Starbucks, or other wating areas etc...

I'm really excited about all of this. This is probably the first time I've genuinely been excited about anything on any website in a while. :)

Happy that you are. I am looking forward to the site taking off, too.

[dk]

Ok, but try to make it so that the auto-pruning targets only that one forum category of Bot news dumping. I think as more new members come in, many will begin very interesting thread topics, that should stay up for future visitors, even if they are not posted in a long while. Often forum searchers like to dig around in forums for oldie goldie threads and revive them. And, it can be fun to see one's opinion from a year ago and how it may have changed when it is brought up again. I know I find that interesting, and others do on other forums as well. Those who dig around like that are kind of like forum archeologists, or some plow constantly tilling the soil.

I haven't quite figured out how to auto-prune. I just had a look at our control panels and it looks like it's possible to set up automatic tasks, but it's a little complex. There are however pruning capabilities in both of our control panels. Have a look and you'll see it. In two weeks, we'll have a discussion in our hidden administrator and moderator forum on how to use this if you guys haven't already figured it out. It doesn't look too complicated, and it is possible to prune specific categories only.

Great, if you want text and catch phrase ideas for the ad, just say so, perhaps make a thread for it and it can be a group effort from here. Get a list to choose from, and you tweak it to make the one you choose even better. Just a thought.

I'd love some help on the catch phrase for the ad. My creative juices are a little low. I'm also going to put a banner on our front page on the right side to try to bring in even more of our readers. I'm going to do everything possible. If you think of anything that I haven't thought of, please let me know. And if any of you have photoshop or illustrator experience and would like to help out with the banners and/or advertisements, that'd be good for me to know as well.

Some forums have a print-out flyer they ask their visitors to print out on their own and place it on cork boards or leave them in dentist offices or where ever around town when they are out and about. Perhaps that could help. If you made a simple one and put it as a tab button somewhere to print out (perhaps at the bottom), I would sure do so. I would then leave them on tables at Starbucks, or other wating areas etc...
This is a great idea and I'll definitely get right on this as soon as we have a few ideas for catch phrases and design concepts. What size would you like? 4x6? Half page? Full page? I'm thinking a quarter page should be fine and not overly intrusive to find lying around on a table or cork board. The sooner we have this created, the better, and I'll definitely put up an advertising topic with all the tools one could want to promote this forum. You moderators could help me a lot with this topic. Nobody else will be able to post in the topic.

Please keep the ideas coming. I'm very happy with the state of JU at the moment. This is all very thrilling.

[TheNoNamedOne]

This is a great idea and I'll definitely get right on this as soon as we have a few ideas for catch phrases and design concepts. What size would you like? 4x6? Half page? Full page? I'm thinking a quarter page should be fine and not overly intrusive to find lying around on a table or cork board.

I wouldn't worry about it being overly intrusive laying around. What I would care most about is making it easy for people to print out and people wanting to print it out without any hassles of changing paper size and printer tray/feeder set-up. For the most part people keep A4 size paper in their printers and their trays and feeders are set for that dimension. So, I would just make it an A4 size print, and if they want to resize it themselves, they can. You may want to include a color version with two or three colors and a black and white version. I would probably print out a few color versions, but many more black and white ones. Also, when making the images in the flier, or the fonts, don't use too many styles that create a lot of solid spaces that will be filled in with ink. People may not want a run on their ink, so keep that in mind.

Please keep the ideas coming. I'm very happy with the state of JU at the moment. This is all very thrilling.

I'll try to offer a few more ideas and think of some catch phrases. Give me a day or two.

[dk]

By the way, Prosecutor and DrP, are you guys able to see the moderator and administrator category directly under this one in board issues?

[DoctorP]

yeah...I already read your post in there.

[dk]

Ok, good. Just checking.

[TheNoNamedOne]

Yes, I can see it, too.