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25 Sep 00 - 05:06 PM (#305236) Subject: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Max Forgot to mention I reserve the right to edit this thread for productivity purposes. I need it to be focussed so I can keep track of all your desires.
Hi Folks. Just wanted to let you know that the next upgrade to the Mudcat is getting very close to completion. It's been a year and a half since our last upgrade, and I have listened intently to all of your concerns and suggestions over that time. The most obvious change is going to be the elimination of the AskSam database and searching techniques. Dick and I have decided that the SQL Server Version (the SuperSearch) is more powerful and more efficient. AskSam has been very helpful and generous to us over the years, and we thank them greatly. Most other changes are minor and have the simple goal of making The Mudcat easier and more convenient to use. I'll try to list some of them here: Various design changes to make better use of the space available on a page. For instance, on the new Forum page, the first thread is 7 lines higher than the current site. This means less scrolling to read what you want. Also, the Quicklinks are a part of the banner so that they are on every page on the Mudcat. Personal Pages overhaul - Easier to manage archive and outbox, optional separate pages for tracer, personal messages, and bookmarks. Links overhaul - Our links page has a lot of great links in there to help folks find great things, but I believe that due to its cumbersome nature, we are not fully benefiting from it. Better Mudcat performance during peak times, and a new Mudcat mirror. More Admin features for volunteers to maintain the high standards we have become used to. There are more changes planned, but are too complicated or subtle to explain right now. I know I am probably a fool for posting this thread and asking for suggestions, but what the hell, after all, this is your site. That's all for now… let me have it. |
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25 Sep 00 - 05:09 PM (#305237) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: JenEllen You can have a big ol' smooch. Thanks for all the hard work. |
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25 Sep 00 - 05:11 PM (#305238) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: MartinRyan Many thanks, Max - yet again. Regards |
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25 Sep 00 - 05:20 PM (#305242) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: GUEST,Pete Peterson Congratulations and THANKS in advance-- and here's hoping you'll find more time to play the blues (but, I hope, not live them!) |
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25 Sep 00 - 05:21 PM (#305243) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: MMario Max, you have already made the only change I was going to suggest. Or you apparently have. Since AskSam is going away - I wanted to be able to do supersearch on forum only or DT only. and I see I now can!
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25 Sep 00 - 05:24 PM (#305247) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: WyoWoman Would having subdivisions in the Mudcat neighborhood be helpful? Blues, Trad, Tavern, Cafe, What I Need, etc... Just wondering if it would make sense as a way of managing the volume of stuff flowing in and out. Is it my imagination, or has there been exponential growth on the 'Cat in recent months? A big robust hug to all y'all who are working to make this community of ours work so beautifully. If there's anything I can do as a volunteer, let me know. I'm willin'. WyoWoman |
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25 Sep 00 - 05:25 PM (#305249) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: GUEST,Susan-Marie Max - Could we have a separate forum search like we used to? When I'm looking for something that I know was in a thread, it's annoying to have to scroll past all the DT titles first. Otherwise Mudcat is heaven on earth and I can't imagine improving on it. |
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25 Sep 00 - 05:29 PM (#305250) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: wysiwyg Most of what you mention is what I had wished for without wanting to ask for it, because you are too good to us already. The only thing on my wish list is that there are bunches of old PM correspondence I was too dumb and lazy to save to word processor as I went along and now it's all archived with inadequate subject lines because I didn't name them creatively enough at the time. If there is any way to purchase our archives on a CR-ROM, I'd pay for that. There was some good stuff in there, not just chatty crap, but some ideas fleshed out that are hard to retrieve now. I am also curious if there is a way to make it easier and faster to clear messages or manage them better from the git-go. (I do try to move those kinds of discussions to e-mail because how much can you store for us???????) And Max. Only make those changes that are fun and, um, helpful TO YOU, to do, OK???? ~S~ |
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25 Sep 00 - 05:39 PM (#305256) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Peter T. Thanks, as ever, Max. One very trivial suggestion: could you make saving personal messages optional rather than the default? For those of us with older networks, etc., they build up really quickly, and have to be deleted individually -- somehow one doesn't get around to it often!! That might save you some space. yours, Peter T. |
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25 Sep 00 - 05:41 PM (#305257) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Morticia A mudcat mirror??? What is a mudcat mirror?? A device in which to check we look presentable before we post? A glass that shows us what utter plonkers we would be to post that particular message? Something that reflects or causes us to reflect on what we are about to post? Sounds like the very lad to me....probably do us all good. |
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25 Sep 00 - 05:46 PM (#305260) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: wysiwyg yO, mORTY, WOULD THAT MEAN WE GO BACK TO SNOGGING OUR OWN..... SELVES? Damn Crapslock! ~S~ |
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25 Sep 00 - 05:47 PM (#305262) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Mbo No Morty, a mirror is the Mudcat on another server in case the main one goes down. Kinda like loki was. |
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25 Sep 00 - 05:51 PM (#305264) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Max Susan-Marie: The DT and Forum search will be separated as MMario already discovered. Praise & Peter T: With the exception of the CD-ROM idea, most of the personal message enhancements are planned for this upgrade. Joe suggested a lot of these changes months ago. WW: I have historically been opposed to separating things in the forum. I am convinced that the lack of separation serves us well. And yes, we have been growing exponentially for about 2 years now. My hope and efforts have and will continue to go towards enhancing the search and similar concepts to help find what your looking for as fast as possible without such division. |
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25 Sep 00 - 05:52 PM (#305266) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: MMario mirrors, when properly setup, can also share the load of the primary server while being more or less "invisible" - "transparent", actually, (you have to look hard to see they are there.) |
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25 Sep 00 - 05:59 PM (#305271) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: catspaw49 I really like it but the few things are changing so except for the change which I don't like and the other changes which are even worse and then the changes from what it used to be, everything is OK. But if it could be more like what it was and less like what I don't want and you added in the parts I hate but took out the other parts that I hate even more, then we could have less of the stuff that I don't like and even less of the stuff that I don't like now and didn't like whaen you changed it to be stuff that I didn't like to begin with. So whaddaya' think Harpy??? Have I covered the bases for you? You KNOW I try!!! Spaw |
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25 Sep 00 - 06:02 PM (#305273) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca Should I remind you about the accessibility concerned raised on behalf of your visual impaired brethren? It would be nice to accomodate them, in simple measures. |
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25 Sep 00 - 06:09 PM (#305280) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Mark Clark Max, From my perspective, there aren't many changes needed. I think you and your team do an outsdanding job here. Perhaps a couple of things I'd like to see: I like to use the trace feature and I have enough of these built up on my personal page that I don't notice when I have a personal message waiting. It would be nice to have a PM notification banner at the top of the personal page. (This is because I don't use the main forum page very much.) The other thing I'd like to see is a change in the action that takes place immediately following submital of a post. Currently we are taken to the main forum page. This takes a long time and (for me anyway) isn't where I want to be. If you'd leave me at the bottom of the thread from which I posted, I could at least back-arrow to my working page. Please keep the "messages since last visit" feature. That goes a long way toward helping me focus on the discussions that appeal to me. I've saved a direct link to that on my Win2K desktop to avoid passing through the main forum page on the way in. Max, the work you and your team do to create and maintain the Mudcat Café is a service to people all over the world with an interest in folk music and blues. It acts as a global forum and resource for scholars, professional performers, amatures, fans and even those who just need someone to talk to. It's astonishing in its simplicity and in it's depth. You may feel like you're out there by yourself a lot of the time but I'll bet there's a whole world full of people who would do whatever it takes to support Mudcat were the chips to be down. - Mark |
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25 Sep 00 - 06:15 PM (#305288) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: katlaughing Sounds great, Max, the only thing I would mention is being able to delete PM's from the page we read them on, but looks as though you have that covered. One of your finest, yet, Spaw!**BG** Thanks, Max and everyone else. Your hard work is greatly appreciated. luvyakat |
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25 Sep 00 - 06:22 PM (#305295) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Jim the Bart Ditto for what Mark Clark said. This is a fine, fine place to be. |
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25 Sep 00 - 06:27 PM (#305298) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Peter T. Catspaw is secretly lobbying for "Smell'o'Thread". Resist this, Max, please, at all costs. yours, Peter T. |
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25 Sep 00 - 06:33 PM (#305301) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: campfire If it would be possible, it would be nice to be able to put a time limit on a search by user name, like we can on the main Forum search. If, for example, I remember that Catspaw posted something last week I wanted to find again, I could enter "Catspaw" in the USER box and put a time frame on the search, instead of getting everything he ever posted (which may be fun in iteself, but it "times out" my dinosaur computer) I'm not meaning to pick on you, 'Spaw, honest, but it really did happen!!! campfire |
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25 Sep 00 - 06:49 PM (#305317) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Naemanson Max, I ain't gonna try to say the Mudcat is perfect but I sure like it and I can't think of any changes you should make beyond what you've already outlined. Thanks for everything! Brett |
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25 Sep 00 - 06:53 PM (#305320) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: MK (These will never happen...but I'll put 'em in the old suggestion box anyway.)
Two links, under the Thread Name on the main Forum page. |
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25 Sep 00 - 07:14 PM (#305330) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: catspaw49 Well campfire...............This posting makes 7597 posts. In an effort to help you, I have done some research and come up with the following statistics:
Number of posts needed to equal the word count of War and Peace...6348 I remember writing those two, but I can't seem to locate them. Spaw
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25 Sep 00 - 07:19 PM (#305336) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: bbelle Having one's IP posted would be fine, if some people were not using Anonymizer.com software to scramble their IP address, thereby, rendering themselves anonymous. |
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25 Sep 00 - 07:24 PM (#305339) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: MK It was only a suggestion. Anonymizers tend to generate the same IP, attached to the originating IP. Some forums also have a script with scrambles the publicly viewed IP, into a series of letters, which can only be decoded by the Moderators...but the scrambled sequence of letters is always the same for a given IP. It was just a thought. |
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25 Sep 00 - 07:25 PM (#305341) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: bbelle Max ... whatever you do is fine with me. I've seen nothing but improvements in the last three years, so it never comes as a big surprise. I do wish, though, that deleting PMs was faster. I'm sure that what I've got stored, alone, is dragging things down ... moonbaby |
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25 Sep 00 - 07:45 PM (#305355) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: McGrath of Harlow It'd be good to be able to archive or delete a batch of PMs and tracer threads threads at once, rather than one by one. (Maybe it already is, and I haven't worked out how to do it...)
And - I suspect this isn't practicable, but I'll suggest it, just in case it is - if it were possible to do a time warp back to a particular day's threads, that would be fun - it would be a way of finding out if the Mudcat-is-a-shadow-of-its-former-self complaints actually add up to much. (And if they do, it might encourage us to measure up better.)
The messages since last visit - this never works for me, I push it and wait for ages and nothing happens. But it sounds a great idea.
But the crucial thing is not to do anything that would screw up the Mudcat, which is far far better than we have any right to expect. Thanks. |
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25 Sep 00 - 07:48 PM (#305359) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: McGrath of Harlow Oh yes - and if when I push the submit button what came back was the same thread, but with my post added, I'd find that preferable. That would make it easier to check that any blue clickies had been put in correctly and worked etc. |
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25 Sep 00 - 07:48 PM (#305360) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Max, you are truly amazing. Thank you and your elves for all you do!!! |
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25 Sep 00 - 07:53 PM (#305362) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: DougR What you are doing sounds fine to me, Max. Some of the content recently might be a bit questionable if it uses space that could be better used for music questions and replies, but that's something that the community, itself, has to police. And I don't know if it even causes such a problem. Questions like: What is your favorite cornplaster? These are the type things I am referring to. By the way, what is ...? DougR |
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25 Sep 00 - 08:02 PM (#305369) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Bill D I'll 2nd the idea of being able to search by time frame or time 'limit'..i.e., "last 10 days"...or "Aug.21-Aug27"...but NOT having that is not gonna keep me up nights... It is totally amazing what we have here, and I sure hope you keep YOUR enthusiasm for it half as much as the members do....thanks a bunch |
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25 Sep 00 - 08:14 PM (#305375) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Uncle Jaque Please accept my gratitude for a noble endeavor, here. I tend to sculk around a number of odd discussion forums dealing with an ecclectic array of topics using a wide variety of formats, and it can get a little confusing trying to keep on top of their individual idiosyncracies. Technically, Mudcat is one of the better ones; I like the way a "hot" thread is kept alive by going to the front of the line whenever someone hits on it, then slowly settles to the bottom and dies a natural death as interest wanes. The forum loads quickly in my relatively outmoded system, and is fairly easy to navigate. A couple of things that I'd like to see... they may already be featured and I'm just too numb to figure them out; 1.: Simplified format on postings; elimination of need to use HTML code for line breaks etc., so that lyrics/poetry could be posted in proper form without being all run together or having to paste a little "{br}" after each line. Ability to format chord notations over appropriate sections of lyric lines. Being able to select fonts/colors for postings (I've seen this done but have no clue how to pull it off). 2.: Some mechanisim for posting *.gif or *.jpg picture files, or musical scores from the more common and popular editing/composition programs, such as *.mus files (Melody Assistant). Could graphics files be "attached" to a posting as they would be to an e-mail message? 3.: Inclusion of MIDI attachments to postings - as a link, perhaps, so as not to slow down page loading. This might be a good way to share a tune or two for those who may not be all that musically litterate! About the niftiest thing about Mudcat besides the gifted, talented, funny, creative, generous, and usually very interesting people we meet here, is the "HearMe" feature, where we can "jam" around the globe in real-time. That's just the (Mud)cat's pajamas! I share the hopes of others that sometime soon HearMe will be open to the MAC users of the world (preferred, I understand, by many Musicians), and a "conference call" feature can be developed whereby several of us can sing/play together (even harmonize!?) and be heard by all, performers and audience alike, as an "ensemble". Keep up the good work, Mates, and blessings abundant attend thee! "Uncle Jaque", Yarmouth ME USA |
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25 Sep 00 - 08:18 PM (#305382) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Alice I second Peter's request to be able to quickly delete or save personal messages so they don't pile up.
You and your helpers are doing a great job, Max. Thanks. Alice |
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25 Sep 00 - 08:19 PM (#305383) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Mark Clark Well... there's an issue related to the "where do we go after submit" problem. It's "where do we go after trace." If we're looking at a thread or list of threads, it would be nice to be left where we are rather than moved to our personal page. As it is, it just takes extra time to get back to where we were working. - Mark |
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25 Sep 00 - 10:05 PM (#305456) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: harpgirl ...what Pat said...but why do we have to change anything? I hate change! |
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25 Sep 00 - 10:15 PM (#305464) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Mbo Because nothing can evolve without change. Imagine the state of folk music if there was no change. It would all sound the same and be pretty darn boring. Nothing endures but change. |
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25 Sep 00 - 10:16 PM (#305465) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: wysiwyg yeah, what campfire said, about name-searches in time frames, yeah! ~S~ |
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25 Sep 00 - 10:34 PM (#305478) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Bugsy Max, I thoroughly enjoy Mudcat and heartily thank you for it. I have "messages since your last visit" bookmarked and usually enter Mudcat at that point. Would it be too dificult to have the "you have (?) Personal messages" banner placed on this page? Once again thanks for the site.
Cheers
Bugsy |
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25 Sep 00 - 11:00 PM (#305497) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Rich(bodhránai gan ciall) Max, I've never taken the opportunity to thank you for putting this thing together. It sounds like you got better plans for this than I could think of. The mirror could be a major benefit,in allowing access to threads that time out during peak hours. I've got one suggestion but I'm gonna PM it to you, because it's liable to cause an argument and if it turned out to be a suggestion you decide against, there is no sense in staring trouble. Rich |
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25 Sep 00 - 11:26 PM (#305525) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Big Mick I have been sending my suggestions to Pene Azul for a little while now. They have responded to all of them. Max, you know what I think of you and all the work you do. You folks are wonderful. Mick |
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26 Sep 00 - 12:35 AM (#305581) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Amos Max is the Most. Of course anyone with a rudimentary mastery of Latin knows that! But ours is also a First Class Human! If there were any way to capture the plain text formatting of messages even though the transmission was in HTML, as occurs when you choose an HTML output in Outlook, it would save millions of hand-coded linebreaks and para breaks and bold on/offs per year! Think of it! All that energy could be poured into song challenges. If we could toggle each message on the PM page on and off and then "Delete selected messages" it would be super. And if we could forward selected messages through "mail" or equivalent, so we could gather them into our home systems without painful copy-and-pasteys, it would also be super. But you know how it is Maxie -- ANYthing you do is just super, cuz you is th emost!!!
A |
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26 Sep 00 - 12:50 AM (#305593) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Charlie Baum It would be great if we could fix our posts after we've posted them and discovered the horrible typo or the bad html coding that makes a link non-functional or the lines break badly. Yet I can understand why we all can't monkey around with threads and need to rely on someone like Joe Offer or Pene Azul to fix them for us. Still, it would be truly nice if there were an extra button beside "submit meassage" and "clear entries": one that submitted the message provisionally, in a way that all the coding would act just like it does on the Mudcat forum. From that provisional posting place, we could review our posting, and either fix the coding, post it permanently, or say "forget it" and clear the message. It's not for everyday text posts that it's needed--it's for the posts that contain html coding, that, as much as we know the proper codes, have manually placed screw-ups in them. --Charlie Baum |
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26 Sep 00 - 03:07 AM (#305623) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Jon Freeman Sounding good Max. A couple of thoughts though: I don't know how typical I am but I nearly always go straigt back to check a post that I have made so it would be easier for me to remain in the thread rather than be taken back to the main forum. An alternative to this that might also suit Charlie Baum would be to have a preview button to allow you to see what you have posted before actually posting to the forum. I think date parameters on the searches would be a good idea. If I am searching for a past post or thread, I often know roughly when it was made and I would have thought it more effiecient to just select and view the information within a given time period. Jon |
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26 Sep 00 - 10:29 AM (#305651) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Peter T. I have thought of one other suggestion I have made before, but I will give it another go. It would be nice to have, on the main page (perhaps as a permanent link) a place for reviews of current records, books, whatever, on the folk/blues scene. To do these properly takes some time and effort, so the thread (if it is a thread) should not disappear for awhile. It might make a good "Semi-Perma Thread" -- moveable every month or so. I know that there is already a request to send this kind of material, but I wouldn't do the work involved unless I knew that the article was going to be prominent and available for some time. I am sure that other people would have the same reservations. But I would certainly like to be able to reap the rewards of the wise eyes around here on the vast array of stuff coming out each month. yours, Peter T. |
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26 Sep 00 - 10:35 AM (#305654) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler (Miles Davis should be playing "My Funny Valentine" in tha background) "Don't change a hair for me Not if you care for me..." Great work, Max , don't let 'em load you with too many changes. RtS |
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26 Sep 00 - 11:47 AM (#305730) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: MartinRyan Max I'm getting some very odd effects at the moment - the number of entries to a thread shown in the list bears no resemblance to the actual number ini the thread. Any ideas? Regards |
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26 Sep 00 - 11:53 AM (#305738) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: catspaw49 Possibly Joe Clones? Duplicate deletions and the like? Spaw |
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26 Sep 00 - 12:01 PM (#305744) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Midchuck I'd also like to see a "preview" feature, so I don't have to advertise to the world what a dupper I am at HTML. An automatic line break when you hit "enter," without having to type the HTML code, would also be nice; especially since so much of what gets put in is song lyrics or doggerel. Of course, I don't know if there's a practical way to provide the above features, because I am such a dubber at HTML. Peter. |
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26 Sep 00 - 01:05 PM (#305810) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Clinton Hammond2 A preview feature or an edit feature here is an absolute must have!!! Especially if you insist on staying in the dark ages and making people insert their own HTML code.. preformatted text would be some much better... What about dropping the html thing all together and using UBB code? UBB code makes for a damn fine MB... A refreshing window somewhere on the Mudcat with a link to a currently playing folk radio station, be it mudcat or not would be a nice feature... and they're not so hard to find... The possibilities are endless... {~` |
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26 Sep 00 - 01:37 PM (#305837) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: WyoWoman I really like being able to put in my own HTML code. It's inspired me to actually learn some, and to sign up for an online class in web design and buy resource books on HTML. (Of course, armed with my new knowledge, i turned an entire thread bright pink the first time I tried the old "stealing source code" trick. But ... there's always a learning curve.) AND ... you actually can delete several PMs at once if you click the "archive" button really quickly. I've deleted up to ten at a time just by being quick on the trigger finger. I probably am using way too much storage capacity now with my saved threads and personal messages, and I, too, would pay for a CD that downloaded that stuff for me and then I could delete it and make a couple of more inches of space on the Mudcat shelves. And yeah, Max, I generally like not having the threads separated into neighborhoods, too. Just wondered if it would make a difference re. the storage and quicker retrieval of info thaing. But once again, without blowing any smoke, this is a remarkable site, remarkably designed and managed. I keep telling people in the newspaper industry to take a look, that this should be a component of every newspaper in the country. So far, out of probably six or seven lead editors and publishers I've talked to NOT ONE has done so. We're all so smug ... Keep on keepin' on, and thanks for asking for feedback in taking the next step. ww |
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26 Sep 00 - 01:39 PM (#305840) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: GUEST,Mbo_at_ECU Here's a suggestion, Max. Can you PLEASE always stay such an awesome guy? You're the best. --Matt |
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26 Sep 00 - 01:47 PM (#305843) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: annamill Max, you are wonderful!! I hearby grant you one full evening in my jacuzzi with anyone of your choice (except catspaw). Honey and I will go to the movies for the evening. Just one suggestion..speed. Seriously, thank you for the hard work. Love, annap ..whoops.. annamill
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26 Sep 00 - 02:22 PM (#305871) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Joe Offer Well, it looks like most of my wishes are going to be granted. I've noticed several subtle changes that have appeared over the last few weeks (and some have appeared and disappeared). I think Max likes to see if we notice or not. The SuperSearch has some really nice improvements. Max, I don't know if I've mentioned this before or not, but consistency in naming certain items might be helpful. On I see a lot is "login/reset cookie." The one that really seems to confuse people is UserName, and all its variations - I think User Name is probably clearest. I think I'd agree with eliminating the need for HTML line breaks, if that's possible. Also, I'd like to see the QuickLinks box a little longer so you don't have to scroll through the links to see all of them.(and Áine's name spelled correctly in Quick Links). Also, if the message posting and editing boxes were just a bit wider, we would have a better idea what lyrics (and especially chords) would look like before we post them. (but not so wide that it won't fit on WebTV). Thanks, Max. You do good stuff. -Joe- |
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26 Sep 00 - 03:23 PM (#305942) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Eric the Viking can't think of nothing except mega thanks for the greatest site in the world. Just don't get too technical-thicko's like me with old computers can't always get up to speed. With thanks Eric |
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26 Sep 00 - 03:34 PM (#305954) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Max Michael K: Unfortunately, you are right, these changes will not be made, and here is why. Music/Song/Lyric Discussions is not what the Mudcat is. Music/Song/Lyric Discussions & Everything Else is what the Mudcat is. The great thing about the internet is that it gives just about everybody the ability to build their own Web sites. IP address: Its much safer and far more practical that I keep them to myself. At very least it allows us to take an official stance on issues before someone anonymously acts upon them. The only things to do with an IP address anyway is to 1) contact the ISP and PROVE that they broke one of that ISPs rules (which would mean that you would have to learn that ISP's rules) or 2) PROVE illegal activity to the FBI or 3) Hack the IP. Bugsy: That feature will be in the new site, in fact I have it done already. Amos: RE: Text Formatting: I'll try it. Not sure, but it seems doable in my brain. Like the idea. Charlie Baum: RE: Edit your own messages: The Mudcat Council has pondered this issue for years now, and I think we have decided that it cannot be done in any simple fashion. The reason? Someone could say some very bad things, then change it before being held accountable. We will be happy to continue to fix your errors, plus it gives us all a laugh around the watercoolor at headquarters. RE: Preview message before posting: I will consider this one. The only concerns I have about this is having too many features in the way for a quick post. I want to keep it simple, so its never a burden, and always the least possible resistance to speak up. I like the idea though and will attempt to resolve my concern with technology.
Everyone: RE: Formatting of Message Posts: There are ways to format messages more naturally, but I have been afraid to change it. We have been so used to doing it this way for years, and Joe and others have gone to so much trouble teaching folks the valuable skill of HTML. We'll have to learn the ins and outs all over again. I am still fooling around though, we'll see. RE: Storage Space: Folks, don't worry about storage space. That we have plenty of and getting more is cheap and easy, that is the least of our troubles. Computation is far more important than storage, and the only thing we can do about that is buy more PC's to share the load of our ever popular Mudcat. Don't be afraid, the changes I am planning are to make things easier for EVERYONE, not just fast computers or sophisticated users. Many, if not most, of these changes are to simplify and speed the Mudcat. Joe: You'll get most of those wishes. I'm just a few days away from letting you into the development site. You because some of the changes will force you to update some of your Newcomer's Guide stuff. That's all for now folks, thanks for your suggestions. Believe it or not I hadn't thought of a couple of these improvements. |
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26 Sep 00 - 04:33 PM (#305996) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: catspaw49 Well, I like the ones that stay the same and the ones that don't aren't right but if you have to have changes instead of staying the same, then make sure the changes happen so that everything is the same and when its not you can make it the same later. So if you do all these things then the changes will eventually be the same and we can go back to the things that are different and make them the same again. Sounds real good Max if I have it right. Harpy and I will undoubtedly be pleased except when we're not. Spaw |
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26 Sep 00 - 04:50 PM (#306011) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Joe Offer Spaw, that makes five times today you've completely cracked me up. -Major Tom- |
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26 Sep 00 - 06:08 PM (#306064) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Peg Max: thank you from the bottom and top and middle of my heart. Your work is an enduring source of information and pleasure (not to mention networking) to so many of us! What would we do without Mudcat??? That said, I second Peter T's comment about making saving PMs optional...and making line breaks easier than typing the html... other than that I am pretty darn happy with the place...and I kinda like the Smell a Thread idea (then again I am an aromatherapist and I would use that function for good instead of evil) Peg |
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26 Sep 00 - 06:41 PM (#306095) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: M.Ted Max--God bless you for your good work, and, undoubtably you know more about what goes on here than others of us, but are do you really think that Michael K suggested the IP numbers so he could hack or for some other vicious purpose? In USENET, it is necessary to have an e-mail address attached to every post, so it is possible to at least respond directly to anyone that you want, and, it is often possible to file a complaint of offensive conduct with a systems operator or some such--From his post, it seems like Michael K suggested this to give us all the kind of recourses that others on the internet have-- The weakness in the system, as it stands now, is that it really facilitates anonymity (though someone mentioned at one point that you have the power to figure out where posts really come from) and it is a weakness that has cause some big problems in the past. There are certain to be more problems in the future, from transient trolls, from longstanding members who cross over to the darkside, and for that matter, from people who join and just start sizzling people for one reason or another-- I have no solution to this, there probably isn't a foolproof way to hold everyone accountable for what they say--on the other hand, it wouldn't be such a great invasion of privacy if people had to log-in e-mail address before they could post, or even if you fixed it so that people had to fill in some sort of a name before they could post--
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26 Sep 00 - 07:52 PM (#306147) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Bernard I quote: > The other thing I'd like to see is a change in the action that takes place immediately following submital of a post. Currently we are taken to the main forum page. This takes a long time and (for me anyway) isn't where I want to be. If you'd leave me at the bottom of the thread from which I posted, I could at least back-arrow to my working page. Just what I was going to ask!
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26 Sep 00 - 08:07 PM (#306160) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: DougR WyoWoman, I always figured you for a pretty fast woman. :>) DougR |
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26 Sep 00 - 09:33 PM (#306208) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: MichaelAnthony Max, Thanks to you and all your helpers for a great site. MA |
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26 Sep 00 - 10:36 PM (#306235) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: WyoWoman Thanks, DougRs. But, you know, tempo isn't everything... Now, back to my online web design class. Tonight we're learning how to insert images ... hmmmm .... No, no. I promise. My experimentation stopped with the hot pink thread ... really.
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26 Sep 00 - 11:23 PM (#306278) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Jim Dixon 1. I don't see any benefit to listing the names of all the people who have posted to a thread, at the beginning of the thread. Yeah, I know, you can click on a name and go directly to that posting, but I never do that anyhow. On the rare occasions when I want to look for a particular person's posting, I can always use my browser's search function. You could omit this list of names, save space, and I would never miss them. 2. It might be nice if very long threads were somehow divided into sections, so if you wanted to read just the most recent postings, you could go directly to the last section, and not have to load the whole thread. It might be nice if you could just load one section of a thread, and on that thread there would be blue clickies that say "go to previous section" and "go to next section." You could divide them into groups of, say, 10 messages, and the blue clickies could say "previous 10 messages" and "next 10 messages." Or you could divide them by the day on which they were posted and they could say "previous day's messages" and "next day's messages" or "today's messages." 3. Once I view a thread, the color of the thread name on the main forum page changes from light blue to dark blue. That's fine. But why doesn't the color of the thread name on my personal tracer page change at the same time? Could this be fixed? 4. I agree with Campfire's suggestion, that it would be nice if we could retrieve a certain person's postings on a certain date, or range of dates.
5. Could we standardize the use of delimiters with search arguments? When I'm looking for a certain phrase, it's natural for me to enclose "the phrase" in quotes. However, I can never remember whether I'm supposed to uses "quotes" or [brackets] or
6. If you could somehow fix Spaw so he could only post one message per day, we would all be grateful. I might even start looking forward to his postings!
7. Other people have suggested that Mudcat be divided into music and non-music, and I sympathize with their frustration because I have felt it too, but it seems you have already provided us with the means to separate music from non-music (or whatever) by the use of prefixes to thread names. Trouble is, you can't force people to use them. You can't force people to think up meaningful names for their threads. Lazy people and newcomers will always create threads called "please help" or whatever. But of course anything you can do to ENCOURAGE people to use prefixes and meaningful names, would be welcome. |
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27 Sep 00 - 10:33 AM (#306512) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: M.Ted Jim--In long threads is that you can drop down to your last post on the list (presumably you have read up to that point) and then read from there. It is also very helpful to see the names and dates before embarking on a list, since threads often get re-activated after long periods of time, and you can just bounce down to the recent activity-- The list is also very helpful when you want to scroll back to a re-read a post on one of those long threads--It also lets you know how long a thread is, and helps you to see whether the thread is a general discussion or is just a dialog between a couple people-- I am sure that there are a lot more uses that people make of it-- |
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27 Sep 00 - 02:18 PM (#306691) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: GUEST,Barry Finn Hi Max, just thought I'd say that the Mudcat is just as peachy as ever but how's about working on a bluesy bottle neck style. LOL, see ya in DC. Barry |
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27 Sep 00 - 02:48 PM (#306723) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: hesperis Max - This looks really good. Thank you so much for the Mudcat, it's fantastic! Having separate pages for tracer, messages and bookmarks would be a great idea. Formatting of posts: you can do a double enter (without typing the <br> tag) to have your words double spaced.
If you want to
Then whenever you want hesperis |
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27 Sep 00 - 05:45 PM (#306847) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Peter T. Max, you are the best & Everything Else! How you got to be so sane about not mucking around with the best features of this, and slyly upgrading some, I do not know. But it is a godsend. You could have royally wrecked this place, like many other sites that have deteriorated with incessant grandiosity and tinkering and arrogance. You must have a great mom. yours, Peter T. |
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28 Sep 00 - 03:28 PM (#307493) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: GutBucketeer Help: I knowe that I am not the only one. Butt I am a viry bad speller. So when I post to eht mudcat I oftn have to look up words in the dictionery. Is ther any way you could help me hide my ignorants by adding a spell cheker?? It would be much appreciatted. JAB
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28 Sep 00 - 05:17 PM (#307599) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Max Lets stay focussed here people. (Yes, I am editing this thread. I think the last thing that we want is for me to get pissed off at off-topic stupid crap in the thread where I am trying to make this a better place. I find it absolutely amazing that folks would do this here of all places.) Peg & Peter: I'm redoing almost the whole PM concept, the ability to delete will be greatly eased. Bernard et al: I'll try to make an option setting so one can make their own decision where they want to go after submitting. Jim Dixon: 1) I use the names at the top all the time. I like how it presents a concise view of the personalities in the thread, as well as the time frame from beginning to end. That said, I like it so it stays. 2) I have been debating that concept (previous 25 - next 25) for years. My theory is that having everything in one place makes things real simple and straight forward. Which 25 to show? The first? So if all you want is the last 10, you have to click 6 times to get there. OK, so have a choice on the main threads page to link to the first 10 AND last 10 messages? Is there room for that on the threads page? How cluttered to we make it? Will it get confusing? I know some folks have slow connections or old computers, and I do sympathize (not really but it sounds nice). Even with fast connections large threads are cumbersome. But I think that works for us by keeping threads concise. Anything over 100 messages on any particular topic may be pointless anyway, and certainly the cumbersomeness prevents for to much rambling. 3) Yes, I can do that. I am doing that to personal messages as well. 4) Date ranges is a little tricky, but I'll do my best. Its definitely a good idea, I'm just whining. 5) The AskSam search (Digitrad) is going away. The main search is going to be the SuperSearch, and its search conventions are in the help file and cannot be changed. 6) I'm pretty sure Spaw can't be fixed. But it shouldn't matter, I don't think he wants more kids. 7) As long as I have anything to do with the Mudcat, it will never be subdivided. My efforts will go to devising filters so that individuals will be able to drill down to anything they want. The data will stay whole and pure though. hesperis: You will be correct about your formatting tips until the upgrade. I have solved the problem and no BR's will be needed anymore. It will take some time to get used to, but me and Joe will try to come up with some tips to deal with the new way of doing things. Peter T: I have the best Mom. JAB: dick and I have discussed this for some time. I guess I could make it an optional feature, but there are so many odd words and dialects in a lot of the songs and conversations that the spell checker just might go crazy. Cletus would crash it every time. Also, more generally, I am always afraid to have too many features. Just the business of all the options may confuse people. (Hell, the on/off switch confuses some) Our volunteers are already spending several hours a day (no exaggeration) helping people. I will fool with this as well though. I for one always write my long posts (like this one) in Word first, then paste it into the forum. |
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29 Sep 00 - 11:24 AM (#308182) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: dick greenhaus A word on AskSam- The Web implementation of AskSam is just too slow to handle the increasing amount of traffic, ans is a bit fussy about punctuation. The DOS version of the DT that we've been making available does and will continue to use AskSam: it's simply the most powerful and versatile search engine I've found for single-user application. The Windows/Mac version of the DT (currently available only on CDROM) is much slicker, shows and prints scores and plays music on a much wider variety of cyper instruments, but is noticeably weaker than the DOS version in terms of searching (Booleans, proximity searches, wildcards etc.) Both the Dos and the Windows/Mac versions will continue to be made available for non-web use. |
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29 Sep 00 - 11:45 AM (#308200) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: GUEST,Russ Just a comment about Michael K's suggestion of 25-Sep-00 about displaying IP addresses. My place of business uses DHCP. That means that every time I log into my work computer I get a different IP address. IF I were to join Mudcat threads at work (I said "if", I didn't say I actually do such a thing), my Mudcat name would probably show a different IP address each time. If other 'catters noticed this, SOME (not all, of course) might assume that different people were sharing a name and comment unfavorably. |
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29 Sep 00 - 11:59 AM (#308210) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: catspaw49 The spell check thing is just a waste. ITs true about the language and dialects used in songs.....What could possibly cope with all of that? And frankly, though we may all kid some about it, in the final analysis, who cares? Guy Wolff is always apologizing and embarassed about it, but Guy's posts are not only readable, but well worth reading and if you're uptight about his spelling you need to get a grip. Most threads that run to the 100 plus extreme are BS threads to begin with and although some may be on serious topics, if we can just remind folks occasionally to do a part 2 and link it, that problem is solved. I think we've gotten away from that lately which has triggered some of the complaints and PT just ran a thread asking that we all remember. A reminder notice is a lot simpler solution. Glad to see the BR's eliminated. AND are you going to reorg and kill some of the links categories on this upgrade? Lots of overlap. Max, I'm sure your Mom is great but mine was better. Spaw |
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29 Sep 00 - 12:48 PM (#308258) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: mousethief In threads, a column with the name/date section, showing the number of each post (starting with 1), would be nice - if you remember that the last time you went there, there were 47 posts, and now it says 53, you can click on the one next to "48" and pick up where you left off, so to speak.
Alex |
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29 Sep 00 - 01:01 PM (#308270) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: bbelle Alex, you can still do that, you just click on the name of the mudcatter and it will take you to that post. |
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29 Sep 00 - 01:37 PM (#308309) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: mousethief Yes, Jen, but you don't know what number the post is, that was my point.
Alex |
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29 Sep 00 - 04:30 PM (#308415) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: bbelle I reckon I'm being obtuse because I'm not gettin' it. The forum front page gives you the number of posts in a thread and the thread opener gives you the names of the posters, which you can click on to get there. What am I missing? Or is it just Friday and I'm ready to scramble?
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29 Sep 00 - 04:33 PM (#308421) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: mousethief I'll try to say it slow. :-) If you wanted to go to post # 47 on this thread, you'd have to count down 47 from the top. I'm calling for a column next to the name of the person who posted, which column has the numbers of the posts, one number for each post, starting with one and incrementing by one, so that the 47th post in the thread has the number "47" next to it. Then you can easily find post #47. Because often I will see a thread and say "It has 97 posts now; it used to have 92. I want to start reading with post 93." And I was suggesting a way to make it easy for me (and other people who think like me) to do so. NOW do you get it? :oP
Alex |
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29 Sep 00 - 04:37 PM (#308424) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: MMario I see what the kleptomouse is getting at. I use dates and times myself rather then the names in the initial list to choose where I skip to; but I can see where having the numbers would be valuable. |
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29 Sep 00 - 04:38 PM (#308427) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Mbo Well Alex, try this, here's what I do. I scroll down the list of names, keeping in mine what time of day it was when I logged off. I find the post right before the time when I left, and start reading from there. I left the library to go to class today at 1:53pm today. So when reading the threads, I skip to the one that was posted just before 1:53pm (usually it's mine). |
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29 Sep 00 - 04:40 PM (#308429) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: mousethief But I'm miserable with clocks and time, and the numbers just seem to stick in my head. Perhaps I'm the only one and this is just too idiosyncratic a thing to invest the programming time to change.
Alex |
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29 Sep 00 - 04:48 PM (#308439) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: catspaw49 So what happened mouse? Did the clock strike one and knock your ass out or what? I like the idea....seems like a simple reference to use. Also if there are multiple posts by the same person and I want to tell someone it would be easy to say, Yeah, kat's post #39....not 17 or 30. Spaw |
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29 Sep 00 - 05:26 PM (#308470) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Jim Dixon Consider this a substitute for my suggestion #2 which I posted back at 26-Sep-00 - 11:23 PM: Right now, when somebody decides that a thread is too long, they start a new thread, and create links to link them together. What I'd like to do is AUTOMATE that process. Make a new thread appear automatically when the old thread reaches a certain length. Set up the links automatically, and use a standard format (size, font, color, position, whatever) that is easy to recognize. Once the new thread is started, make it impossible for anyone to post to the old thread. The new thread could even have the same name as the old thread; you could distinguish them by the date/time they were last posted. How's that? |
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29 Sep 00 - 06:23 PM (#308499) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: McGrath of Harlow If it ain't broke, don't fix it. So, only changes which really do help. That seems to be Max's approach too, fortunately, and the changes flagged up sound like they will smooth things along.
I quite like the feeling that it is up to us to decide when a thread is getting too long, and start a part two or three, rather than having it too mechanical. Generally speaking people don't post to the old one much.
The problems arise more when someone starts a part two or three without putting a link to it in the old thread; or without putting a link to the old thread inthe new thread. It's not hard to do it, but if there were some simplified gizmo it might be helpful - if wqe could click a button next to the submmit button saying "start new part-thread", and that'd be taken care of by the magic machine.
However, as it is, over time more of us learn the tricks, like sticking in links to other relevant threads and so forth, and maybe that's the best way. (And if it hadn't been for the Mudcat I wouldn't have learnt even the basic HTML wrinkles I have, and they are very handy.)
But it's amazing how well this whole thing hangs together, when it'd be so easy to have "improvements" that would wreck it, which is what seems to happen to most good things.
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29 Sep 00 - 10:25 PM (#308663) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Jon Freeman I could be wrong but I would have thought that rather than trying to automaticaly split threads, it would be better to consider keeping the thread as one and displaying the longer threads in pages of say 100 posts each. Jon |
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29 Sep 00 - 11:17 PM (#308696) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: GUEST,leeneia First, let me say how much I appreciate the chance to join in at the Mudcat. I know how much work must be going on behind the scenes. I would like it if threads which are totally unrelated to music, etc. just got bumped off the page somehow. I refer to threads about elections, scandals, recipes, whatever. I think it's especially important to keep an eye on the political topics. Political people have a way of moving in on traditional music gatherings, to the detriment of the music. They are also taking unfair advantage of the musical promoter's (or volunteer's) efforts. Also, if it seems that rough guys with dirty mouths are ganging up on someone who is perhaps twelve years old and sweet-natured, then their postings should be wiped out. |
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29 Sep 00 - 11:22 PM (#308699) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Mbo Leen...I believe you can set a filter already so all BS threads are not shown on your browser. |
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29 Sep 00 - 11:30 PM (#308707) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Bill D yep...like getting 842 hits in AltaVista..it gives you 10 at a time...(and some search engines allow you to specify what size chunks you want the hits divided into...) |
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30 Sep 00 - 12:12 AM (#308752) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Mbo Max, this isn't a suggestion...just a goofy question. How come sometimes when you load the forum page, there is a space between each thread name? How does that happen? Is it just an HTML glitch type thing? |
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30 Sep 00 - 06:25 AM (#308877) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: McGrath of Harlow I hate those search engines which serve things up in packages of ten or so with a "next ten" button at the end. The way we've got it here seems much better to me.
But what would be helpful with long threads is if you could ask it to "sort descending" in advance - that way the more recent posts would come up first, and if the thread times out, you'd still be able to keep up with what's been happening. |
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03 Oct 00 - 09:17 PM (#311519) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Burke As a result of this thread when I went away for the weekend I updated my 'last visit' and tried to use the messages since last visit feature. The biggest problem was the 90 second refresh. It seems to be refreshing almost constantly. I think it used a good part of my 90 seconds just to load the page so I only had a short time to read the subjects & decide about reading. I tried changing the refresh to 10 minutes, but this setting was back to 90 sec. when I returned from reading a message of interest. Wouldn't you lessen the load on the whole system by not checking automatically at all? Or make automatic checking an option that can be turned on by those who want to use it that way. |
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03 Oct 00 - 09:32 PM (#311529) Subject: Help Forum Heading Links From: Joe Offer Max, somebody posted this at the Help Forum. It's a minor problem, but something that several people have noticed over the years- the links on the top of the Help Forum page aren't line up right. -Joe Offer- On the help page, the co-ordinates on the mudcat banner at the top of the page are wrong. ie if you click on the end of 'Shop and Auction' you get taken to the 'Links' page, if you click on the start of 'Radio' you get taken to 'Lyrics, Forum and Chat' etc.(Poster forgot to enter a name) |
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03 Oct 00 - 09:33 PM (#311531) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Jeri I'll agree with Burke on that last one. While I can change the settings once I'm in, or manually "refresh" it the default is set to "Refresh is Off," it can take a long time to load the page initially, then another long time to load after changing the refresh setting. Burke, you can change the settings to "Refresh is Off," add that page to your Favorites, and click on that when you want to go to the "New Messages Since Last Visit," or use it as your "Home." |
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22 Oct 00 - 11:18 AM (#324479) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Bernard Maybe this may seem a little trivial, but it has occurred to me that I find it somewhat irritating that the list of 'postees' has the first at the top. Is it possible to have the list with them most recent at the top (just the list of names, not the entire thread), or, better still, have it as a user option? This is the way I'm used to seeing my emails, you see... When the thread is short, it's not a problem, but when the threads are longer, it's more difficult to keep track! Just thought I'd mention it! |
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22 Oct 00 - 11:21 AM (#324481) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Bernard OOOPS! Egg on face alert! It's there already, isn't it!? Duh!! |
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22 Oct 00 - 11:28 AM (#324483) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Bernard Oh! Now I remember! It has to be selected every time you visit a thread - that's what I would prefer to see changed, and that's why I don't use it - it takes too long! Just the list would be fine! BTW does this cancel out the Egg On Face? Thought not!! |
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30 Oct 00 - 03:41 PM (#330537) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Jim Dixon Thread titles seem to be limited to 45 characters. That's OK. There has to be some kind of limit, and 45 characters should be plenty, assuming people use some discretion. However, some people seem unaware of this limit, and they try to post titles that exceed it, resulting in truncation. Is there any way you could warn them? Instead of accepting whatever title someone proposes and then truncating it, maybe you could reject it and give the poster a chance to revise it. If you can't reject long thread titles, the next best thing would be to make the new thread title appear in a fixed-width font such as Courier, with some kind of visible mark at the 45-character point. (It would only have to be fixed-width on the new thread page, not on any other page.) If you CAN reject long thread titles, while you're at it, maybe you could reject duplicate thread titles, too. (Duplicate thread titles are usually the result of someone inadvertently posting the same new thread twice.) |
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30 Oct 00 - 03:57 PM (#330556) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: nutty As a 'newee'to this internet lark I discovered Mudcat about 3 months ago but have only just found the Hearme page and concerts and radio. Could there be a permanent thread or link describing all the features on site ( in simple language ) for others like me? |
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31 Oct 00 - 03:14 PM (#331302) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Jim Krause Max, Maybe there could be a perma-thread called Musicians Looking for Other Musicians. Sort of a place to post your business card, so to speak. A place where folks looking to form bands/join bands could hook up with eath other. Another idea, how about a Mudcat gig list? |
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31 Oct 00 - 03:17 PM (#331304) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: MMario soddy - anyone with a gig can post to the "What's on" thread |
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31 Oct 00 - 03:49 PM (#331333) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: voyager Max (et. al.) - Please see my favorite on-line Music Site 1. www.freighttrainboogie.com for a great way to keep 'live', 'uplifting' music on the NET. Real Audio hooks for musical performance, etc. 2. ALSO....get rid of this K-rappy edit window for typing messages that have no CR/LF. 3. Print a daily banner message reminding Mudcatters of how many days remain before next FSGW getaway! Cheers - voyager FSGW Ghetto |
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01 Nov 00 - 01:47 PM (#332055) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: Jim Krause MMario, Thanks. I didn't know that. |
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29 Dec 00 - 08:54 PM (#365398) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: GutBucketeer I just wasted 2 hours last night trying to find some out-of-print/imports CDs through various used CD sites. They all seem to cater to the punk and new music crowds. None provide have a really good folk and blues collection and/or focus. So how about a Mudcat Classified section and/or CD/book/instrument exchange! The Mudcat would get a set amount per transaction. This would be similar to the Auction but would allow us to set specific prices. For an example see the classified postings on BanjoL. The advantages of this are: 1. We are pretty sure that people with interests in folk, old-time, celtic, blues, etc. would see our postings. 2. I for one would much rather interact and deal with Mudcatters than the great unknowns of Ebay and other anonimous auction sites. 3. It would help support Mudcat JAB P.S. I am going to try to post some "Would like to haves" and "items to sell" in forum. If the idea takes off then it might be worth expending energy setting something up.
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29 Dec 00 - 10:52 PM (#365458) Subject: RE: Mudcat Changes Coming, Suggestions Here From: RWilhelm I didn't read all these posts but I hope someone suggested a separate section for music. You know, like mudcat used to be. |