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Post by M.S.-ARC on Apr 16, 2015 21:39:36 GMT -5
TL;DR MIA is moving here: www.miairsoft.org/index.phpAs you transition over, if you run into any issues or bugs, report them here: www.miairsoft.org/index.php?topic=60.msg380#newIf you want your post count to reflect what you had on MIA, PM luke213 so that he can modify it for you. Go and populate the new site. You guys know what topics work best in the different sections (like AR variants thread, car thread, funny thread, and so on) so be the first to post them.
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Post by luke213 on Apr 16, 2015 22:07:20 GMT -5
Also just so there isn't any confusion both www.michiganairsoft.org and www.miairsoft.org feel free to use whichever one you prefer since they are going to the same place. Luke EDIT: Also should be mentioned feel free to post guns in the new commerce area on the new site(not here still not allowed here). So commerce over there is the same as it used to be IE all the old rules are still in effect but you can now buy and sell guns there.
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Post by X on Apr 17, 2015 8:00:55 GMT -5
No offense guys, but this new site looks like balls. Why can't we use the code that MI6MM is running? That site looks like it was made in this decade.
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Post by Knief on Apr 17, 2015 8:11:34 GMT -5
X,
Just about everything should be changeable. I'm looking for new icons for new posts on the main page and I'm going to try to put together an original banner this weekend. What other things would you change? We want the feedback so we can tailor this thing to what the community wants. Our original goal was to keep the familiar MiA look, but we're not married to that idea if it doesn't work for the members.
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Post by Canto on Apr 17, 2015 8:23:50 GMT -5
I posted this in the private moderator discussion section last night. I feel it expresses my views and being a moderator myself and the reasoning for my support and transition with the community.
"I can't tell you how many close friends I've made, sitting around that fire-ring after events. All from different teams, groups, and fields all around the Midwest. People that I'm in regular contact with to this day, none of us care that we're from different teams or play at different venues. I really don't understand why there is so much drama between groups today, I get why there is ($), don't get me wrong here. But I can't say I agree with it, hence why I'm going with everyone.
I'll also admit the new forum will be an issue with me, out of habit alone...
Edit: I just logged into my facebook and pictures of other Michigan Airsofters pop up, I see likes and comments from players that everyone would know all around the state, stuff like this makes me smile and part of the reason I've stayed all these years. This is what I meant by drama."
As far as changes go on the new Michigan Airsoft, just message a moderator. You should be fine buddy.
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Post by X on Apr 17, 2015 8:31:19 GMT -5
X, Just about everything should be changeable. I'm looking for new icons for new posts on the main page and I'm going to try to put together an original banner this weekend. What other things would you change? We want the feedback so we can tailor this thing to what the community wants. Our original goal was to keep the familiar MiA look, but we're not married to that idea if it doesn't work for the members. Ditch the OG MIA look. It's old. I'm not trying to be a MI6MM fanboy, hell I've haven't even posted there yet, but their site is what a modern forum should look like IMO. EDIT: Sorry ignore the things that I marked up which you said you are changing.
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Post by luke213 on Apr 17, 2015 9:03:33 GMT -5
Well the main reason the look is what it is like Knief said is we were looking to more less match the current site. Really this move was a let's match what MIA currently does and looks like. Then once we get that all ironed out we'll worry about changing anything else. We can't run the same layout as MI6mm because the forum software behind the scenes is different they are running MyBB and we're running Simple Machines forum. So sort of like mac and PC but different. Simple Machines is a little bit of an odd duck but it's lightweight and well simple which makes it run really well and handle a large forum without much issues. I'm involved in quite a few other forums running on it and generally I'd say I like the way it runs better than some of the larger software versions out there. That said sometimes there are some little weird things that SM forums do by default like some of the alignment issues you pointed out that are just there until we get around to putting in some sort of permanent theme.
The little circle icons were actually on my plate to replace I just got busy and forgot about them. We've been working on the site for a while now but honestly very little of that time was into the way it looks. More was making sure it had everything functionally that we need, and getting posts and stickies and whatnot moved over. So we're more than open to suggestions going forward with theme, and if anyone out there is so put off by the new theme they would like to build a better simple machines compatible theme;) Feel free to send it to me and I'll take a look and put it to a vote or put it up as an option. You can change your own theme(or will be able to can't remember if it's currently enabled), as well if you just want something a little different.
Take care and like always just keep us posted what you think and if you run into problems and we'll all work to try and make the new site work for everyone.
Luke
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Post by X on Apr 17, 2015 9:18:58 GMT -5
You'll have to bear me, I understand you're running it on a different forum software. What I'm saying is trash it, it looks and feels ancient. From a user standpoint I don't care that it's lightweight or easy to configure. These other forum engines (or whatever) are much more feature rich and right now we're looking at a downgrade from proboards moving to this site. Take a look at www.focusst.org. This site maybe has a lot of features I don't use, but there's many that I do which are lacking in the new forum. Here's a list off the top of my head that I think is important... 1) Like button for posts. We're not allowed to simply quote post with no text, so the like button is a nice quick way to show you agree with someone. 2) Forum image hosting (not attachments) I want to be able to upload a pic to the site and have it show up inline as if I had placed a link in img tags. 3) Multi-Quote support 4) Signatures have no divider between posts 5) Some sort of history (person quoted your post, person liked your post) 6) Calendar of events 7) Forum Chat (mainly for others I never use it) 8) Participated Threads button (I use this CONSTANTLY) 9) would be nice: My guns page in profile (similar to My Vehicles on FocustSt.org) You can fill in information, make, model, color, year, etc. Then upload pics of it. If you want this to be a forum that brings the entire Michigan community together then I think your going to need a forum that people actually like to use. This thing looks like junk. I get that it's open source and cost is an issue. I'm just saying this is how I feel about it, the reality may be that you guys can't afford nice forum software. In that case I think everyone moving to MI6MM is the better option. They don't have all the features I would like either, but it's a step above what we're looking at with miairsoft.org right now.
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Post by Priest (Immortal) on Apr 17, 2015 9:39:52 GMT -5
^ That's got a nice look to it.
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Post by luke213 on Apr 17, 2015 9:40:27 GMT -5
Here's a list off the top of my head that I think is important... 1) Like button for posts. We're not allowed to simply quote post with no text, so the like button is a nice quick way to show you agree with someone. This is something I've been fiddling with I had a system in place for this but I didn't like the way it integrated into the other layout stuff so I pulled it. It's on my list for sure because I agree whole heartily.2) Forum image hosting (not attachments) I want to be able to upload a pic to the site and have it show up inline as if I had placed a link in img tags. This I doubt will happen, only because it means more storage as well as more bandwidth on the site. Since MIA is running on a budget and as cheap as we can do it we're going to likely take some steps to try and keep the costs on that side down as much as possible. If we did advertising or something it might be different but at this point we're trying to avoid that.
3) Multi-Quote support First time I've had someone mention it so I'll look into it and see if I can't add it for ya.4) Signatures have no divider between posts This is likely just something with the current theme not having it. Since it's not a permanent deal I'll look into it once we get ready to play with other themes.5) Some sort of history (person quoted your post, person liked your post) Another I'll have to look into it, might be there but somewhat hidden as it is.6) Calendar of events This is something we've been planning on working out to be able to integrate but haven't completed yet7) Forum Chat (mainly for others I never use it) I had a user suggest this a while back but I haven't looked into it. Should be fairly easy to install but it was one of those things I never use, and I forgot to bring it up to the other mods to see if they wanted it on the new site as well8) Participated Threads button (I use this CONSTANTLY) I'll look into it should be easy to add, I thought I had already done this one but I'm not seeing it but I agree that's something I use allot as well.9) would be nice: My guns page in profile (similar to My Vehicles on FocustSt.org) You can fill in information, make, model, color, year, etc. Then upload pics of it. That should be pretty easy to add a few more profile fields etc, I'll look into itAlso I did enable the ability to change themes, if you go to your profile there are a couple generic types of themes available now which are just defaults. They are something other then the existing one if you really despise it;) That said I'll be looking at some more and probably start working on making something with it. But do keep in mind that I've got somewhat limited time so I'll be picking away at things as I can likely things aren't going to change overnight but I'll do my best to fix any issues we run into with the new site. That was the reason for keeping them both open for now was to iron out any issues and more less find any bugs we missed so far getting it going. So feel free to shoot me PM's or whatever with anything that anyone finds on the new site that they don't like or have a problem with and I'll talk to the other mods if it's adding something or fix it if possible. This new site is for everyone and we want it to work for them as well. Take care! Luke
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Post by X on Apr 17, 2015 9:58:38 GMT -5
Here's a list off the top of my head that I think is important... 1) Like button for posts. We're not allowed to simply quote post with no text, so the like button is a nice quick way to show you agree with someone. This is something I've been fiddling with I had a system in place for this but I didn't like the way it integrated into the other layout stuff so I pulled it. It's on my list for sure because I agree whole heartily.2) Forum image hosting (not attachments) I want to be able to upload a pic to the site and have it show up inline as if I had placed a link in img tags. This I doubt will happen, only because it means more storage as well as more bandwidth on the site. Since MIA is running on a budget and as cheap as we can do it we're going to likely take some steps to try and keep the costs on that side down as much as possible. If we did advertising or something it might be different but at this point we're trying to avoid that.
3) Multi-Quote support First time I've had someone mention it so I'll look into it and see if I can't add it for ya.4) Signatures have no divider between posts This is likely just something with the current theme not having it. Since it's not a permanent deal I'll look into it once we get ready to play with other themes.5) Some sort of history (person quoted your post, person liked your post) Another I'll have to look into it, might be there but somewhat hidden as it is.6) Calendar of events This is something we've been planning on working out to be able to integrate but haven't completed yet7) Forum Chat (mainly for others I never use it) I had a user suggest this a while back but I haven't looked into it. Should be fairly easy to install but it was one of those things I never use, and I forgot to bring it up to the other mods to see if they wanted it on the new site as well8) Participated Threads button (I use this CONSTANTLY) I'll look into it should be easy to add, I thought I had already done this one but I'm not seeing it but I agree that's something I use allot as well.9) would be nice: My guns page in profile (similar to My Vehicles on FocustSt.org) You can fill in information, make, model, color, year, etc. Then upload pics of it. That should be pretty easy to add a few more profile fields etc, I'll look into itAlso I did enable the ability to change themes, if you go to your profile there are a couple generic types of themes available now which are just defaults. They are something other then the existing one if you really despise it;) That said I'll be looking at some more and probably start working on making something with it. But do keep in mind that I've got somewhat limited time so I'll be picking away at things as I can likely things aren't going to change overnight but I'll do my best to fix any issues we run into with the new site. That was the reason for keeping them both open for now was to iron out any issues and more less find any bugs we missed so far getting it going. So feel free to shoot me PM's or whatever with anything that anyone finds on the new site that they don't like or have a problem with and I'll talk to the other mods if it's adding something or fix it if possible. This new site is for everyone and we want it to work for them as well. Take care! Luke Well at least you have about 6 weeks to polish it up. Are you actually modifying the PHP or just playing with themes and settings? I think you're going to have to make a lot of changes to the PHP underneath to get these things built in. I would help, but I know nothing about PHP development. It would probably take me a few weeks to even get to the point of being able to do anything and as it stands I already have a side project (an iOS, Android, and embedded C project) that, as you can imagine is taking up all my spare time. If that's finished early by some miracle I will offer up my services though.
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Post by luke213 on Apr 17, 2015 10:09:43 GMT -5
I appreciate it, I think most things should be able to be taken care of with theme changes and modules installed on top of the framework. Generally there are modules available for just about anything under the sun so it's just a matter of finding which ones work best for the new site. I'm not a huge coding guy honestly I can learn things and muddle through but mostly I'm an old school tech guy.
So any help you have time to put forth is appreciated, and I'll be picking away at things well probably forever since there is always something to do.
Luke
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Simon
New Member
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Post by Simon on Apr 17, 2015 10:48:59 GMT -5
I actually kinda like that although it's like the older version Pb it still feels very familiar. I wish "view recent posts" was "view recent threads" but it doesn't matter too much. Anyone familiar with previous Pb versions should feel right at home. Is it lacking some functions I would like? Yes, but I'm sure that'll change. The important part is we have a new MiA.
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Post by Puma1 on Apr 17, 2015 12:53:43 GMT -5
I've spent a little time on the new forum and I have to concur with the general consensus that it's a little rough around the edges. I really love the Mybb set up that deacon has made over on MI6mm as well. I even like the layout more than 99% of the forums I'm currently on. The new forum definitely needs work but in my opinion things will get better as time goes on and more people are willing to be proactive about making the forum better. I'm still going to be active on MI6mm (as i really like the site) but I'm also going to try and do what is best for the community as a whole. Hopefully people will understand that this community is just as important as getting out to an event. To me the community should actually be first, but no one gives a shit what I think . EDIT: As luke pointed out, I'm not trying to say its any forum against another. I've just grown to like the maneuverability of MI6mm.
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Post by luke213 on Apr 17, 2015 12:59:38 GMT -5
Well I just want to put this out there, I don't think anyone in MIA as far as mods or staff think it's an "us vs them" situation with any other forum. I'm on tons of forums and groups as a whole and I've got an account on 6mm as well. It's just that MIA has always been it's own stand alone entity, but that doesn't mean by any stretch of the imagination that other forums can't also coexist within Michigan as a whole there will always be other groups with forums and that's great. I think guys should be both places if they want to or on other forums as well.
I've been fiddling some with a few more modern looking layouts too since this morning though admittedly I haven't had much time. The one I changed to make the current one looked a bit old school which is part of the reason I used it. But like I said I'm happy to make it a little more updated, or at the very least offer guys some options on how they want it to look. I may end up just sticking with this old school look if on no one else's profile but mine just because to me it's undeniably MIA;)
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