This Forum

[Lady Alyx]

I hope for the new year this forum will be straightened out..need

to have a spot for new topics at the TOP and then all other Calendar

topics to be afterwards....

[Rumba Rue]

I'd like to see each calendar month removed as we go through the year, so we don't have to go through the whole dang forum just to get to the bottom where the 'other stuff' is.

[Mission]

#1 What about a scrolling event bar at the top of the first page, the contents of which are clickable to get you into the specific forum for that event? That way it would only take up a single line on the main page. You could load it with the events for the upcoming month or two and just let it run through them continuously.

#2 I believe Stynky is also working on a way to have the recent events rise to the top of the Raids forum. This involves working with the people who designed the forum, so that is probably going slowly. I do not think you want events to fall off until at least a month after they're over because a lot of discussion takes place post-event. This is the value of the clickable scrolling events bar IMO - it could be restricted to upcoming events to serve as a sort of advertisement for them.

#3 I know Stynky wants to have a calendar with clickable links to the forum. My concern with that is the how to fit all the events in. Some weeks/weekends (in the spring-summer for example) probably contain 5 or more events. That's a lot to fit in a day box on a calendar. It might make sense to just have a calenders by week rather than have slots for each individual day. Especially since events typically last several days, often during a weekend. Then you could fit more text inside the box.

Kinda' like this:

_________________________________________________________

|Dec.| Pirates in Paradise, KW, 11/28-12/6

|6-12| Mr. Happy Gerbil Pirate-Festorama, Ludlum, OH, Dec. 10-13

_________________________________________________________

|Dec. | Mr. Happy Gerbil Pirate-Festorama, Ludlum, OH, Dec. 10-13

|13-20|

_________________________________________________________

Er, etc. (This is a pain in the arse to do in text and it looks boring as can be, but you may get the idea from that mess.)

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

So, what was wrong with having the months being their own forum, and the events threads in their respective month/forum? (the way it was I quit trying to browse this mess long ago. it really does suck this way. I agree it needs major help. I'd vote for returning to the previous format as mentioned. That really did work well.

Bo

[Lady Alyx]

I would not have to sort out the 2009 events from the 2010 events, it gets confusing...

can we float the 2009 events to the bottom of the page?

Edited January 20, 2010 by Lady Alyx

[Capt. Sterling]

I would like to see Mission index everything....snigger....

[Mission]

I suggest you contact Stynky directly. He's in charge of the organization of the forum and having people modify things. I'm pretty sure he doesn't read the forum beginning to end so he may not have even seen this post. In fact, it should really have gone in the Pyracy Pub Status forum because that's sort of what it's for; I know he reads that when he checks in.

I suggest presenting him with a well organized idea about what could be done to improve the forum. (Don't just complain about why you don't like the new format and how it was better before. Think about how well you respond when someone complains to you about something you've taken the initiative to design.)

Stynky really does want to make the format better and if you have a good idea, I'm sure he'll at least consider it.

[Mission]

I would like to see Mission index everything....snigger....

I'm afraid that would go badly. See, I never read this group of forums, so I have no intrinsic feel for indexing it. I only pop in and post in the forums that exist for the events that I've decided to attend based on outside invitations and recommendations. (I only attend 3 or 4 events a year and one of them has it's own separate forum.)

[RedJessi]

I think Mission should organize this Mr. Happy Gerbil Pirate-Festorama

[Mission]

Ok. First, I have to confirm the dates and the location.

[Captain Jim]

I could wear my Gerbil Shirt:

[RedJessi]

Period encampments? (canvas tubes, no pink and purple plastic!)

[Mission]

Where the hell did you find that?! That is just too hilarious!

[Captain Jim]

Ya gotta love Google. Entered "performing gerbils" and found that. Weird.

[Mission]

Canvas and gerbils? I give that about 2 minutes. No gerbil or hamster wants to be in a cage, no matter how colorful or Byzantine it is. (Believe me, I have over a decade of experience with such rodents. Sharp pointy teeth!)

But there will definitely be an old-timey period section.

And of course, for the purists.

[Stynky Tudor]

You guys are right and I've know it for a long time, the Events Forum is a disorganized mess. Plans and strategies to organize it and keep it organized have failed miserably.

Before I moved things into monthly forums, I got complaints that new, less popular or unknown events were getting pushed down and drown by the busier, more popular events - the threads with the most traffic stick at the top.

Then I organized things by monthly forums, I got complaints that it was too messy, too much of a pain to go digging for events. So I put them back - sort of the way it was. . . obviously not the right answer and still unusable.

Basically the number of events have out grown or previous way to manage them.

I've looked around for some code that will tie in the event discussion forums to the Pub's clickable event calendar, but without any luck. To be honest though, it has been a while since I've delved into it and at this point it's not beneath me to actually find and pay someone else to write the necessary code.

[capn'rob]

Kind Sir, I'd just like to be the first to step forward and tell you that I, yes I shall boldly accept the going rate or just some reasonable fee, if that is what is being offered. I must tell you up front, I have no computer skills beyond checking e-mail and occaisionaly posting pictures. My computer chronically mis-spells as well. I wouldn't be able to mess this up any more than it is because I probably couldn't access the forum, I could just use some money. What ev! Dutch "X" his mark

[Mission]

I've looked around for some code that will tie in the event discussion forums to the Pub's clickable event calendar, but without any luck. To be honest though, it has been a while since I've delved into it and at this point it's not beneath me to actually find and pay someone else to write the necessary code.

What, exactly, is beneath you? (I'm just curious.)

[Stynky Tudor]

I've looked around for some code that will tie in the event discussion forums to the Pub's clickable event calendar, but without any luck. To be honest though, it has been a while since I've delved into it and at this point it's not beneath me to actually find and pay someone else to write the necessary code.

What, exactly, is beneath you? (I'm just curious.)

Just a large mass of small rodents, they mostly carry me around on their backs. Sometimes I use them to overwhelm my enemies or big game animals when I feel snackish.

[LadyBarbossa]

LOL... rats or crabs, Stynky? Poor thing.

Anyways... Well, I suppose in the meantime whilst experimenting and searching for something that's user-friendly... perhaps removing the old events so that the 2010 events could be easily spotted? Right now... it's uber confusing.

I'd be glad t' offer some assistance, Skynky, if ye needs it. The Pop is rather quiet anyways.

~Lady B

[Mission]