UMSF Changes Ahead- PLEASE READ Options

[nprev]

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.