UMSF Changes Ahead- PLEASE READ |
UMSF Changes Ahead- PLEASE READ |
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#1
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![]() Merciless Robot ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Admin Posts: 8784 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 ![]() |
Hey, everybody. Members of the admin/mod team met this week with The Planetary Society (at their request), and the bottom line is that the Forum will be transforming in several ways in the near future. As those of you who are TPS members probably already know they've rolled out a new interactive interface recently and their initial thought was to incorporate us into this in some way. During our discussions we made it clear that above all else we must preserve the high quality of discourse here and accessiblity of same to both the amateur and professional spaceflight communities at large. We feel very strongly that this unique synthesis benefits both communities substantially.
That said, we are also painfully aware that our current Forum software & interface is, in the words of one member of our team, "very 00s". We badly need a more modern, functional, accessible and sustainable platform, and there was considerable discussion as to what the best options for that might be. TPS agreed to investigate a bit from their side...but more importantly, this is where you the Forum members come in. We respectfully ask all of you to please share your thoughts and suggestions on this issue. In particular, we would like to know your ideas in the following areas: 1. What aspects/functions of the current incarnation of UMSF do you feel are the most important to preserve? By this we mean things like topic searchability, opportunity to engage with subject matter experts. etc. It is likely that the current site will be archived with reachback capability, so this is the perfect time to tell us what you like & what you don't about the way the place functions now so V2 will hopefully be a significant improvement in as many ways as we can do that. 2. What things would you like to see in a future version of the Forum? Should mention up front that years ago we decided to change the name to RoboticSpaceflight.com but for various reasons that was too difficult for us to implement in practical terms with our limited time & skill sets (stuff like link migration, etc.). However, with this new major revamp that change will finally occur. Aside from that, we'd like to know what sort of modernized interface(s) you would like to see, and especially any recommendations in that regard based on your own experiences elsewhere on the web. And of course any other relevant ideas anybody may have would be most welcome. This is your time to shine; let's hear it! ![]() Thanks to you all for your help, and as always for your superb contributions to our special little corner of the net. -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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#2
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Senior Member ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 2519 Joined: 13-September 05 Member No.: 497 ![]() |
We badly need a more modern, functional, accessible and sustainable platform...[/color] I could imagine that behind-the-scenes administration of the software is a hassle, but I personally don't think it's missing any particular feature. If "accessible" is code for increasing the number of participants, I question if that should even be a goal. One has only to look at nasaspaceflight dot com for an example of what happens when the commenting community is large; SNR suffers and knowledgeable participants leave as they are drowned out by nonsense. -------------------- Disclaimer: This post is based on public information only. Any opinions are my own.
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#3
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Founder ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Chairman Posts: 14433 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 ![]() |
UMSF was born in a time before Twitter, Reddit, Discord, Mastodon, Slack, because back in '04....dedicated forums to a specific subject were the only place discussions of reasonable quality happened.
The manifold options for discourse today have inevitably fragmented communities of this kind. That can't be undone. People aren't going to come flooding back ( nor would that be a good thing ). I handed the keys to TPS ~13 years ago after moving to the USA to take a job at JPL so as to eliminate any possible perceived conflict of interest. Back then - Emily was still at TPS, I was a member of TPS, it felt the right place for it to call home. But it's never been clear to me what TPS's intent was regarding UMSF specifically - or their online presence more generally. I let my TPS membership expire long ago for that (and other) reasons. I question how realistic it is to expect TPS to invest any meaningful technical effort into a new platform when they failed to do the very basic things that would reasonably expected over the past 13 years like....leveraging the modern features of IP Board.....keeping on top of things regarding server maintenance....moving the URL to the new one proposed over a decade ago etc etc. I have it on reasonable authority that one competent SA with a day of work could complete the migration to the new URL with ease. If TPS couldn't even find a way to make that happen, expecting something far more significant seems, at best, ambitious. FWIW - I find the interface to be snappy and sufficient as it is. The vast majority of modern Web UI just ends up being clunky, slow and gets in the way of the content. NASA is AWFUL at this, TPS has been heading down the same path to the detriment of their own website. If TPS is happy to keep paying the bills with the help of donations they should just keep IP Board updated, look at some of the more modern UI options, expand attachment limits if the server capacity allows and leave well alone. This place is 6 months shy of turning 20 years old. Is it a massively popular website? Nope. But it still just about does today what it was started for in 2004. There's still nowhere else like it. It ain't broke. I don't think TPS should try and fix it. If they're insistent - then UMSF should simply move out from the TPS family, find more affordable hosting options and be a place of its own once again. To be frank - I simply don't trust TPS to do the right thing based on the choices they've made regarding their own online presence. Finally - a massive thank you to nprev. That UMSF is still around at all right now is thanks to his dedication to this place and I can not begin to thank him enough. |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 19th June 2024 - 04:15 PM |
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