Could we look at establishing a communications committee comprised of a few members so that the membership at large would feel represented and not having one or two people decide the fate of us all?
-----Original Message----- From: Jarrod Major [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: December 5, 2002 1:25 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: (clug-talk) Website and Forum? RE: (clug-talk) Website and Forum?This why I suggested co-location. This is a ways off though, as CLUG doesn't really have the funds to do this long-term. Hence my idea of trying to be the beneficiary of someone's charity. With co-location, it's our box. For the record if we went the virtual host route we would almost certainly be looking at MySQL. There are exceptions and perhaps we might be lucky enough to find one. Nuc doesn't offer PostgreSQL unfortunately (I haven't convinced them that they should do this yet). If we did go the virtual host route I for one would not be comfortable with the idea of our membership database being there, but that's just me. At any rate, this is probably a cart before the horse situation. We should concentrate on design and features of the site. Do we want to start a different thread perhaps specifically addressing these issues or move it off list? I'll see if I can take some time to work something up this weekend. Jarrod ----- Original Message ----- From: Andrew Barnes To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Sent: Thursday, December 05, 2002 1:17 PM Subject: RE: (clug-talk) Website and Forum? Hmm... I'll see what I can dig up for hosting alternatives. It's not difficult to move between Postgres and MySQL from what I've seen, but I think the site would be on MySQL if alternate hosting was found - I've seldom seen Postgres listed in packages. Updating would be interesting - I would like to make it as seamless as possible for someone to do various website tasks like news but the actual site like layout would require PHP knowledge. I'm going to start on a layout pretty soon then... -----Original Message----- From: Jarrod Major [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, December 05, 2002 12:29 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: (clug-talk) Website and Forum? Website and Forum?Hey Andrew, I don't believe that you are stepping on toes. I think your ideas are good. I will address some of your questions to the best of my knowledge. > I'm not sure if this is the right place > - if not please direct me to the proper list. This is as good as any. I don't know how many folks are subscribed to the other lists. > At last night's meeting, the issue of moving to a UBB forum was > broached. I wondered if there was more interest for this as > there's benefits to be had - less chance of spam, IMO easier to > refer someone to a forum thread, more static viewing so a guest > can browse and get the feeling of the community, moderation if > necessary... I have used phpBB - it's both free and quite good. I would love to see us move to a forum such as http://www.protegeclub.com/forum/index.php I have seen a Linux Forum that uses the same forum code but I don't have the link with me. This type of forum has the ability to search and it easily moderated. It would be very nice. > I am unfamiliar with how CLUG is exists on the webserver though > - I got the impression that it is people sharing their bandwidth > by providing hosting. Is that correct? Yes, this is correct. Currently it is kindly being hosted by Jeff Clement, CLUG's Past-President and uses his personal bandwidth. I think the long-term goal is to have a server co-located at some prominent ISP in Calgary that has little in the way of bandwidth constraints. I'll have to work on my bosses at Nucleus... no promises but they do a fair bit of stuff for non-profit/not-for-profit organizations. If someone wants to help me make up a professional proposal I can give this to them. The worst thing they can say is no. > The reason I ask is that I would like to inquire if I (or someone) > could redesign the website. I mean no disrepect to the efforts > that have gone into what currently exists, but the layout is > rather antiquated and doesn't lend to easy access. I think a site redesign would be most welcome. I have done some of the updates to the site in my spare time with the aid of the WIKI. I think the WIKI idea was a good one and Jeff was kind enough to implement it in his spare time. I know that we have had problems with it in the past and I would like to see this come to an end. I'm speaking particularly of defacement of the site. I too am a web designer and the designer for the new CLUG logo and I would love to be a part of some new development for the CLUG website. I too am fluent in the use of PHP and MySQL but I think the server may be using PostgreSQL though. In any event the DB isn't that big a deal, PostgreSQL or MySQL would be quite easy to set up and use if they aren't there already. The downside is that taking away the WIKI would be a drag because it would prevent people from making changes as necessary. Perhaps if we had a select group making changes who had to log in under personal accounts who could be held accountable for their actions it might not be so bad. Leaving it open as it is now is dangerous but thus far has served us pretty well. I would like to see if we might be able to get a committee going on this. Anyone interested? > I think the site would attract more if it were easier to browse, > and the content on the main page was a little more active - more > Linux related news amidst CLUG news for a portal effect. Not > looking to re-create Slashdot but it adds to why someone would go > to the site. My intention or suggestion would be to move to a > PHP/MySQL etc. setup in the interest of adding email newsletter > support, polling, accounts for site administration like news > posting and backups.... The forum would provide even more of a > backend to the site, with the ability to discuss news topics etc. > and allow newcomers easy access to view the community. > Are these good ideas, or am I stepping on toes? I think all of this is good and some of it has been brought up before. It would be nice to get this stuff implemented in a new site context. We should definitely get a list of resources that Jeff's box has and move from there. Perhaps starting from the ground up might not be a bad idea either. Jarrod Major CLUG Treasurer Registered Linux User: #224211
