Scoobynet. My 2009 Mission Statement.
09 January 2009, 01:55 PM
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Scoobynet. My 2009 Mission Statement.
Hey guys, who would have thought it eh? 2009 and we are all still here despite various mad buggers the world over trying to ensure that we are not! 
I have now been at the helm of the good ship Scoobynet for almost 2 months (read here if you missed it) and I am slowly starting to get a feel for the place and its members. Its a great forum and you should all be proud of not only yourselves for its content but also the Ex Admin and all members of the web team. They have all done a great job IMO and deserve some long overdue praise.
Massive thanks are also due to the current team of moderators who have worked their asses off for nothing but trouble, some for a good few years now, and of course to Internet Brands who of course own and run this forum and are carrying out all my requests and generally getting done what needs to be done to ensure the community stays strong.
As far as I'm concerned, things are looking good now, the forums are busier than they were just before I came on board with people now abiding by my new rules and using the right room for most things. However, whilst things are certainly looking good, they could be better and there is still a little ill feeling in the air that needs to be addressed as I'm sure most of you will be well aware.
Most of you will be aware that I am also the administrator of PassionFord.com and being Admin over there as well as having first hand experience of some of the larger sites we run (Scoobynet and PassionFord are not even in the top 10 biggest sites IB run
) I have learnt a few new tricks and been given a few new toys, so my immediate ten point plan for January/February 2009 is as follows. (In no particular order)
1) Ensure everyone is aware of our totally new set of rules. (Can be found here)
These rules have been in place a month today and seem to have been well received overall. The main aim is to weed out bad feeling and, importantly, ensure there was a central point of reference for the forum rules.
2) Move the server over to a bigger one.
At peak times we aren't nearly as fast as I would like and, importantly, the IB web developers are struggling to communicate with the UK hosts as they are of course in the USA. So thats where I want her to go. Ideally on one of our huge content servers.
3) Upgrade the forum software to the new VB3.8.
This is coming very soon now and will fix most of our bugs around here, as well as introduce a few cool new features, some of which will be plus members only of course in order to reward the paying members some more for their contributions.
4) Finalise repair of all forum bugs that the upgrade doesn't fix.
This doesn't need any further explanation.
5) Enable a lot of the VB3.8 features.
such as who's viewing what forum, who's viewing posts, lists of recent topics, similar topics at bottom of page, members online on forum and maybe even a totally new forum portal showing the latest topics posted, polls, birthdays, that sort of thing. (I have purposely not mentioned the bigger features that the upgrade brings as I have yet to finalise which ones we will activate and for whom)
6) Introduce a new Trader Contact Area for traders.
In essence this is simply a new closed forum where all our traders get one post to explain who they are, what they do and how to contact them so you can always easily find them and see what they have to offer you by way of discounts etc instead of trawling posts where you last thought you saw them to grab a phone number. (We have all done it).
I added this feature to PassionFord yesterday so you can see what I mean here:
(Only two traders have made their posts so far)
7) Implement a way to make SN a little more secure for trading.
There is currently no way of telling if a member has any feedback regarding his buying or selling practices on SN.
I started by putting out some guidance notes (here ) but I would really like to set up some form of feedback system too.
This is currently under review as its an extensive job but it will happen sometime very soon but must sensibly come after the server upgrade as it will add a lot of processor requests to an already taxed system.
8) Weed out troublemakers.
There are a pocket of members on here who seem to lurk around just waiting for an opportunity to cause trouble.
They will all be leaving us very soon as many are on their last warning already thanks to my new rules.
9) Make newcomers feel more welcome.
I have seen some new members being made to feel unwelcome or criticised. This will be stopping.
10) Search Available to all.
I don't like the current policy of it being for paid members only as this should be a resource site, aimed at helping Subaru owners find the information they need. (I fully understand why it is how it is, but i plan to change it once we have no hosting issues)
So there you go, some big changes are going to be happening and they are all for the better as far as I am concerned. But as always, discussion is welcomed. Your moderators have spent a great deal of time behind the scenes helping me plan a lot of these things so thanks guys and girls, I appreciate your help and its great to know your all behind me 100% and we all have the same common goal in mind.
Roll on ScoobyNet 2009.
I have now been at the helm of the good ship Scoobynet for almost 2 months (read here if you missed it) and I am slowly starting to get a feel for the place and its members. Its a great forum and you should all be proud of not only yourselves for its content but also the Ex Admin and all members of the web team. They have all done a great job IMO and deserve some long overdue praise.
Massive thanks are also due to the current team of moderators who have worked their asses off for nothing but trouble, some for a good few years now, and of course to Internet Brands who of course own and run this forum and are carrying out all my requests and generally getting done what needs to be done to ensure the community stays strong.
As far as I'm concerned, things are looking good now, the forums are busier than they were just before I came on board with people now abiding by my new rules and using the right room for most things. However, whilst things are certainly looking good, they could be better and there is still a little ill feeling in the air that needs to be addressed as I'm sure most of you will be well aware.
Most of you will be aware that I am also the administrator of PassionFord.com and being Admin over there as well as having first hand experience of some of the larger sites we run (Scoobynet and PassionFord are not even in the top 10 biggest sites IB run
) I have learnt a few new tricks and been given a few new toys, so my immediate ten point plan for January/February 2009 is as follows. (In no particular order)1) Ensure everyone is aware of our totally new set of rules. (Can be found here)
These rules have been in place a month today and seem to have been well received overall. The main aim is to weed out bad feeling and, importantly, ensure there was a central point of reference for the forum rules.
2) Move the server over to a bigger one.
At peak times we aren't nearly as fast as I would like and, importantly, the IB web developers are struggling to communicate with the UK hosts as they are of course in the USA. So thats where I want her to go. Ideally on one of our huge content servers.
3) Upgrade the forum software to the new VB3.8.
This is coming very soon now and will fix most of our bugs around here, as well as introduce a few cool new features, some of which will be plus members only of course in order to reward the paying members some more for their contributions.
4) Finalise repair of all forum bugs that the upgrade doesn't fix.
This doesn't need any further explanation.
5) Enable a lot of the VB3.8 features.
such as who's viewing what forum, who's viewing posts, lists of recent topics, similar topics at bottom of page, members online on forum and maybe even a totally new forum portal showing the latest topics posted, polls, birthdays, that sort of thing. (I have purposely not mentioned the bigger features that the upgrade brings as I have yet to finalise which ones we will activate and for whom)
6) Introduce a new Trader Contact Area for traders.
In essence this is simply a new closed forum where all our traders get one post to explain who they are, what they do and how to contact them so you can always easily find them and see what they have to offer you by way of discounts etc instead of trawling posts where you last thought you saw them to grab a phone number. (We have all done it).
I added this feature to PassionFord yesterday so you can see what I mean here:
(Only two traders have made their posts so far)
7) Implement a way to make SN a little more secure for trading.
There is currently no way of telling if a member has any feedback regarding his buying or selling practices on SN.
I started by putting out some guidance notes (here ) but I would really like to set up some form of feedback system too.
This is currently under review as its an extensive job but it will happen sometime very soon but must sensibly come after the server upgrade as it will add a lot of processor requests to an already taxed system.
8) Weed out troublemakers.
There are a pocket of members on here who seem to lurk around just waiting for an opportunity to cause trouble.
They will all be leaving us very soon as many are on their last warning already thanks to my new rules.
9) Make newcomers feel more welcome.
I have seen some new members being made to feel unwelcome or criticised. This will be stopping.
10) Search Available to all.
I don't like the current policy of it being for paid members only as this should be a resource site, aimed at helping Subaru owners find the information they need. (I fully understand why it is how it is, but i plan to change it once we have no hosting issues)
So there you go, some big changes are going to be happening and they are all for the better as far as I am concerned. But as always, discussion is welcomed. Your moderators have spent a great deal of time behind the scenes helping me plan a lot of these things so thanks guys and girls, I appreciate your help and its great to know your all behind me 100% and we all have the same common goal in mind.
Roll on ScoobyNet 2009.
Last edited by Evolution Stu; 10 January 2009 at 12:06 AM. Reason: Fat Fingers.
09 January 2009, 02:04 PM
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Just to add, there are many more plans such as more detailed and clearer forum descriptions and a "How To" section, but these are the most important ones. 
09 January 2009, 02:15 PM
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Thanks for the post Stu. I have read the rules and can't find anything to whinge about there. My thanks to you and the mods for your hard work and your attitude in general towards the members.
Les
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09 January 2009, 02:40 PM
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Search available to all an especially welcome move. 
Just add "Unban all life-banned members and give them a fresh chance" and we're home and dry.
Just add "Unban all life-banned members and give them a fresh chance" and we're home and dry.
09 January 2009, 02:47 PM
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Good Stuff.
I must say Stu, since you took over and sorted the infraction system out, Scoobynet is a much better place to be. Seems like its back on track now.
How about a username amnesty to allow banned members like PSLewis to come back under there original names for one last chance?
I must say Stu, since you took over and sorted the infraction system out, Scoobynet is a much better place to be. Seems like its back on track now.
How about a username amnesty to allow banned members like PSLewis to come back under there original names for one last chance?
09 January 2009, 02:59 PM
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09 January 2009, 04:28 PM
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I imagine it is people expressing their view without posting it Telboy. Not everyone wants the unbanned people back, I don't know them myself so I am only guessing it must be personal things?
Maybe a clean 1 strike allowance for them may be a good move and if the rules are set out for them they would then only have themselves to blame if they got banned again?
Stu, good news on the forthcoming plans it can only improve what is already a great site, and the search was useful before
Maybe a clean 1 strike allowance for them may be a good move and if the rules are set out for them they would then only have themselves to blame if they got banned again?
Stu, good news on the forthcoming plans it can only improve what is already a great site, and the search was useful before
09 January 2009, 04:59 PM
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10) Search Available to all.
I don't like the current policy of it being for paid members only as this should be a resource site, aimed at helping Subaru owners find the information they need. (I fully understand why it is how it is, but i plan to change it once we have no hosting issues)
I don't like the current policy of it being for paid members only as this should be a resource site, aimed at helping Subaru owners find the information they need. (I fully understand why it is how it is, but i plan to change it once we have no hosting issues)
09 January 2009, 05:32 PM
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sounds good Stu, especially the search and the trading feed back as i am in the process of trying to get a item i purchased and will be posting about it in the future as to the outcome etc.
Mac
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09 January 2009, 05:49 PM
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I'm curious to know what the additional paid membership benefits will be and if some will apply to us mere blue and orange types as well as the fully paid up plus members.
Telboy, I'm going to act like a man (a bit of a change I know!) and say I negged the post. Why? To be quite frank, you are sounding like a broken record by going on about getting a few accounts un-banned. There has been a thread in policy about this issue, and if I recall, it was stated that it's not a high priority issue, and compared to the other items on Stu's current list, again, I doubt it is a high priority issue.
I'm sure those concerned could start their own thread with a new user name, or contact Stu directly to ask about being un-banned, if they have not done so already, and thus they don't need you to champion their cause. If they don't wish to do this themselves, then perhaps they don't really desire their banned account back?
So your comment was negged, big deal. Some don't like the post, they neg it, some like it they give it a positive rating. It's not as if this causes your posting rights to be denied. I'm sure my post will turn a lovely shade of "unwanted" fairly soon, and it won't bother me in the least.
Telboy, I'm going to act like a man (a bit of a change I know!) and say I negged the post. Why? To be quite frank, you are sounding like a broken record by going on about getting a few accounts un-banned. There has been a thread in policy about this issue, and if I recall, it was stated that it's not a high priority issue, and compared to the other items on Stu's current list, again, I doubt it is a high priority issue.
I'm sure those concerned could start their own thread with a new user name, or contact Stu directly to ask about being un-banned, if they have not done so already, and thus they don't need you to champion their cause. If they don't wish to do this themselves, then perhaps they don't really desire their banned account back?
So your comment was negged, big deal. Some don't like the post, they neg it, some like it they give it a positive rating. It's not as if this causes your posting rights to be denied. I'm sure my post will turn a lovely shade of "unwanted" fairly soon, and it won't bother me in the least.
Last edited by Markus; 09 January 2009 at 05:54 PM.
09 January 2009, 07:16 PM
#26
Stu, sounds good to me!
Only one question, do they have decent bandwidth at the new home the server is heading in the US ... just want to make sure that the UK based users aren't going to suffer any performance degredation due to the move.
Otherwise
Only one question, do they have decent bandwidth at the new home the server is heading in the US ... just want to make sure that the UK based users aren't going to suffer any performance degredation due to the move.
Otherwise
, Fair play to you fella , all sounds very good to me 
