A Kick in the Right Direction - Totseans.com Mass Upgrade Project (April 2012)
Introduction
Ever since starting at University, I haven't been around as much as I used to be. I've been incredibly pressed for time and as a result, checking up on this community has been one of the things right at the back of my mind. However, whenever I DID manage to come back and visit, I couldn't help noticing something. It's no secret that this place has been sitting still for the past few months. We lost members to other communities and IRL ties and the majority of them may never return, and ever since the domain change we've had to pretty much start all over again. All the hard work put into getting the name of "Totse.info" has been made fairly redundant, and the change to Totseans.com has certainly set us right back in terms of our general internet presence.
Nevertheless, this community still has a lot to offer. The intentions are certainly there, and our goal of providing a community to those who wish to share their information, work and ideas to the world is certainly a reachable one if we all put the effort in. The only problem, no one is going to take us seriously at this stage in time. Our userbase has taken a massive axe as mentioned earlier, and while we've still got a few committed members left, the outside world will still see us as an inactive community who is just like any other forum on the internet. This has got to change.
We've got a good number of DEDICATED members here. We've got members who have the power to make serious changes to Totseans.com, and we NEED to embrace this power, aiming our ability to push ourselves in the right directions. This is why I propose that we make the following changes to our community...
When is This Happening?
Planning stages are happening right now, with the creation of this thread to listen to your opinions and thoughts and document them in a readable fashion.
However, we will implement these changes throughout the month of April, commencing April 1st.
What Needs to be Done?
What Needs to be Done?
Frontend, CMS and Other Pages
- Decide on a theme which works, and leave it. We need to associate ourselves with a theme which not only WORKS, but gives us an image. At risk of beating a dead horse here, remember the Totse.com color scheme? People see that, and think TOTSE. People see our current theme and think "generic Wordpress theme". The logo isn't bad though, although it looks strange in it's current position. I'm no website designer so I can't really suggest anything there.
- Get the articles correctly tagged, layed out correctly with all errors fixed. This is work for our team of editors, including myself, RemadE and whoever else has CMS access. Thirdrock also has temporary CMS access and can also help out with the rest of the tagging (as together we fixed 80% of the articles over Christmas).
- FIXED - Fix the ToS. We STILL have references to "Totse.info" in there, making our ToS absolutely pointless. Fix this ASAP.
- Reconsider accessibility. How easy is it to actually navigate the CMS? I've had people asking me how to access the forum, so consider this point especially as part of your changes.
- Reconsider Wordpress Plugins. Think carefully about the WP plugins we're using and ask yourself, "do we REALLY need this?". While you're doing it, think about the impact the plugins have on the site and whether or not they actually enhance the user's experience. Also remember that a lot of Wordpress vulnerabilities come through insecure plugins.
- Fix grammar and spelling mistakes. We have plenty of them around the place, one pointed out by Chippy a few posts below this one. These don't look pretty.
Totseans Forum
- Extend the CMS theme onto the forum, so there is a completely smooth transition between the two. No one wants to click onto a forum and find it looking like a completely different website, with different logos and colors altogether. Keep the same color scheme as the one you're creating for the CMS.
- Fix grammar and spelling mistakes. We have plenty of them around the place, one pointed out by Chippy a few posts below this one. These don't look pretty.
- Update/Remove/Create Stickies. Many of the current stickies are very old and outdated. They should either be removed altogether, or replaced with updated information.
- Change location of intro section. The introduction section is a great place for newcomers to make a post and get to know the community. Currently, the section is very hidden and hard to access! It's position and prominence on the forum should be reconsidered.
- Totseans Kingdom. Make it more clear that this section is for members only. Also when clicking on each subforum here, it displays an unhelpful message of "There are no posts here". This needs to be changed.
Post-Upgrade Tasks
- Advertisement. We've got a nice looking website which we want to show off. Get people talking about it, using the power of social media (Twitter, Reddit, Digg, Facebook, etc). These are our primary means of advertisement.
- Backlink. Those backlinks increase search engine rank and above all, get more people visiting the site. This ties onto advertising.
- Keep ontop of things. Why perform all this hard work if standards aren't maintained afterwards? All staff members need to keep on top of their game. Don't get lazy when adding new articles, tag them properly and get everything in ship-shape before hitting the submit button. Forum mods also need to keep on their game, especially when the fresh meat starts rolling in.
- Tell your friends! Keep the activity level up. Post well, tell your buddies about the great community we've got here, and stay proud of the Totseans community. We're a family, after all!
- Showcase good content using TV Channel + Newsletter. Chippy mentioned this one, and it sounds like a pretty good idea. Very good for getting people viewing our content.
Communications + Organization
To make this happen, we're going to need some organization. The Teamspeak server isn't currently online due to TDR moving house (he's going to the old folks home) but we've got;
- Skype - Highly recommended for good quality voice comms. Great for getting shit done, very effective.
- IRC - Great for realtime meetings with multiple people who lack voice capabilities.
- Steam/other IM - I know a few of us have Steam, so we're able to chat on there if you need to.
Once we establish our means of communication (preferably Skype, or TS if the server comes back online), we can assign ourselves tasks. I know I'll be taking the CMS articles, along with a few other editors. At the same time, other people can get working on the theme. We'll be doing multiple things at once, and halving the time it takes to get this done just by splitting our workload evenly.
Comments
I think if we pull our fair share, this site can be boosted. I feel confident about this, and hopefully I'll be able to make more time for totse!
As long as people can stick to their word this would be great. I'm a tad crap at CMS and stuff (only as I have never done it) but when we can get chatting again (Skype, anyone?) then I feel we can come together. Which is a perfect ending as the delay in me replying to you, trx, is because I was fapping *dances stage exit right with top-hat, gollywog paint and cane*
Also, I think I might need to make the dates a bit more clear. I'll be done with Uni for 3 weeks starting on April 1st. It's not long, but it's long enough for a major site overhaul and I'll be helping as much as I can during this time. I reckon we can get the theme for both the CMS and Forum done within that first week of April, if we get BK on board and everything goes to plan.
I've been mucking about with vanilla forums and i really like the way the do things with tags and filters.
Have a look: http://vanillaforums.org/discussions - Maybe there's a vBulletin plugin for this type of thing.
It makes their site look fuller, and this type of thing is pretty fasionable now-a-days.
I've been waiting 3 months now for the site upgrades that were talked about, patiently for the most time, but you must have noted the odd impatient comment I have made. I appreciate DFG is busy, working for a living for a change. But as the weeks go by, it's been getting a bit disheartening. To see some action, confidence in the future and a plan of action has probably just stopped me wandering off and looking for somewhere more interesting to post.
Listen to this guy, he's a very knowledgeable and technologically fluent member which makes him very important to us, especially in these crucial times
I couldn't agree more mate. I'm extremely surprised you've stuck around as long as you have done, but I'm also very glad you've been part of this journey. Things HAVE been slow for a long time, but we need to come together now more than ever if we're wanting to get this place back on track. We've got a week to consider our plan of action, so if you're willing to help out, post in this thread and get some more thoughts into the bucket.
What would YOU like to see changed here, and how can we work towards making those changes a reality?
e.g.
My friend, i often have fantasies over doing just that. I'm a little bit of a control freak (doesn't show up on the forums much).
But it's not my decision, or yours. I'll tell you what i will do: I'll create a skeleton site, on another server and show it to you'll. If people like it, Dfg may use any part of it he likes.
Noted, and added to the list. I don't suppose you would be able to find the other suggestions which were previously made? I wasn't around much earlier in the year so I must have missed the suggestions
I admire your enthusiasm and willingness to help out. I promise you, your efforts will not go unnoticed and you will be rewarded with a flourishing community if we all get this fixed once and for all.
As for your skeleton site, I'd love to see what you have in mind. Remember that it needs to be easy to implement, and keeping the same URL structure as what we've currently got is a must or else we'll have links all over the internet which don't work any more. No doubt Dfg will want to keep using Wordpress though, will this be a problem?
Cant find them now, it was possibly in team speak. I think DFG made a list at the time. I remember I asked if the cloud navigation on the front page could be added to all pages. Some changes have been implemented, and what's happened to the news letter and the TV channel?
Dfg edits videos, from what I remember. He can work on this after we've got the rest of the site working properly. I'll add this suggestion into the "Post-Upgrade Tasks" section as it involves advertising our hard work. It's a great idea, and I fully support it. However, we've just got to make sure we take this all in the right order or we'll end up getting ahead of ourselves.
Thanks for the input.
We've had a good run so far tonight, and we've already covered a lot of suggestions. It also seems that we have got plenty of members who are willing to help out and get this place back on track, how it's supposed to be. I've got to get to bed now as I've got a shit load of work to be doing tomorrow, but I'll try and check back in if I get a spare moment and take a look at this thread, as I hope to see more discussion while I'm gone
Keep the suggestions coming, and if a mod is on, please add them to the list. Teamwork :thumbsup:
Goodnight!
Trx has already commented but I can picture me wearing a balaclava giving a guide on how to rectally administer morphine :facepalm: lol
Still, on topic, I think we need a flush-through of new material. I'll spend today in the Library speeding my nut off coming up with new ideas as I do actually have a list of ideas of guides. When my assignments are done and I'm just revising then I can get more into &T again. Seriously, I don't even have time to go out in the sun. Literally go out for a smoke instead of getting skin cancer, leering at the arse from my window and getting work done.
So yeah, forum flush-through (out of date threads, tags, new material in IFIOTW etc etc) and some guides which I will do my downright best to come up with.
I'd take full charge if I could, but during this week I don't have the time. I'll be good for organizing/rallying everyone together over Skype at the start of April though, as I'll be back at home without Uni to worry about. During this week I suppose you'll be relying on Dfg to take charge. He said he'd take care of the theming with BK (assuming he's up for it).
After the theming has been sorted, it'll be April 1st and we can start implementing our ideas and making changes. That's when I can help out over voice comms and get everyone organized.
I would prefer this place to be more Reddit friendly and more Adsense friendly as well. But Adsense is a bitch, so I am not going to bother with it. We already have portals in place, we just need to populate them with things. I started Totseans Community Network websites which is basically a totseans account on all the major websites from social to technical. I would like everyone to just make accounts in the name of totseans.com. use richard(at)totseans.com to register them or better support(at)totseans.com.
In that way, we can use those portals to spread our content. It's a pretty neat trick, also we need to get out page rank higher. At least 5 which would mean that we would need to really great some standard content that people are looking for. Also, I wouldn't mind working with Tech related forum or company or working with guys who can build something. Also, if you know any awesome blogger, try to grab them. I should mention, that we need to get the blog type look away from everything and make it look somewhat professional as well.
More focus on Pinterest and Reddit
Minor things being what exactly?
I was rather aiming toward getting the stuff on the list finished first, as they're pretty important things (fixing the theme once and for all, fixing the CMS etc).
Like making the forum work, making the CMS display images, removing plugins, adding new ones.
Btw, I did all of that just few minutes ago. CMS image now work
I noticed, it looks much better now. Good job! Hopefully BK gets back to you, and I really hope we can get him on board. I'll keep looking for bugs/shit to be fixed.
i'd like to hear everyones views on a theme, Are we wanting contemporary totse, art deco, clean is mean, or perhaps grungy anarchist ....
Consider the fix in queue then.
Clean layout. Nothing too extravagant, just nice and simple so it's easy to look at.
Good menu location/simple navigational structure - personally I feel as though we've got too many links to places on our homepage. It's way overcomplicated.
That's actually all I can think of at the moment. Sorry!
EDIT: Oh, and we need to make it very clear who we are, and what this place is all about in a kind of "short but sweet" fashion. Not sure how this could tie into the theme though :P
Waits for the new IRC link.
Personally, I really like this color. Perhaps we can use it in our new color scheme?
Totseans, where Totse matured.
Totseans, the MILF of information.
Totseans, travelling places, not trolling faces.
Totseans, where opinions count.
The future's bright, the future's Totseans.
This is along the right track. We're all about sharing information and the freedom to express yourself/opinions etc, right? We need something to reflect this.
See below;
how about this:
Communication: The Universal Solvent
Communication isn't always understanding
Totseans, where communication meets debate
Totseans, where the real talk goes on.
Totseans, it's what the internet was invented for.
Totseans, content counts.
Totseans, the content is priceless.
Totseans, news for nerds and stuff that matters.
Totseans, share your world with the world.
Totseans, because everyone is entitled to your opinion.
Totseans, banned in China.
I kinda like these.
Totseans, banned in China.
Totseans, share your world with the world.
Totseans, because everyone is entitled to your opinion.
Communication: The Universal Solvent
Totseans, it's what the internet was invented for.