What would improve this eaa forum? I have my own ideas , but would like to hear what those who create the site, whom we mostly dont hear from, think?
What would improve this eaa forum? I have my own ideas , but would like to hear what those who create the site, whom we mostly dont hear from, think?
As far as Operational Features, EAA is limited by those provided by the forum software. They use vBulletin, a common package. There are features and limits that EAA can enable/set as needed. They've been amenable to changes, for instance, I requested enabling tables and an increase in post size (to allow larger tables) a few months back and they implemented them.
Sometimes a capability is there, but one doesn't really realize it. It helps to poke around the various options. Hitting the "Go Advanced" button brings more stuff into play. Anything beyond vBulletin would probably require a massive overhaul, something along the lines of the EAA365 transition a few years back. We don't want to do THAT again....
As far as Content, I suspect EAA has implemented all the forums they thought of, but I'm sure they'll willing to entertain suggestions. They've added the VFR and IFR clubs, as well as the Solidworks forums.
As far as Policies are concerned, it might be best to engage them directly. Other people tend to kibitz if such discussions are held publicly.
Ron "No ****, Sherlock" Wanttaja
vB is problematic. It’s hardly supported and full of security issues. POA made the jump to xenforo and I’m doing the same on several sites I maintain. At least this site is only one major rev out of date but blimey. AOPA.
What I'd really love to see is a function to ignore threads started by specific individuals.
Measure twice, cut once...
scratch head, shrug, shim to fit.
Flying an RV-12. I am building a Fisher Celebrity, slowly.
Dale, I dont know if you are referring to me as 'specific individuals", I hope not, especially in view of the positive, and nice comments that Ive gotten from you, but as for not reading what a person posts, it is easy, just dont open or read it. There are a few people that Ive found most likely to not be writing something positive or responsive to anything I write , so I mostly dont, and mostly dont answer them at length.Ive found some are not really interested in finding a consensus or info, but or even a discussion but have an axe to grind. I know their comments are going to be divisive and often off topic. The site shows the name or at least alias of anyone posting so its easy to see. Some people like me use their real name some use an alias. Some forums require real names, wish this one did.
Youve written a couple of times that you are a low time pilot and its good that you are open to learning. At 200 hours I knew the basics of handling a standard plane pretty well, and most important I was careful , Much of my learning after that came from exposure to other airplanes, T-6 etc, as well as fly to and in other locations. Thats fun and a learnig experince.
Last edited by Bill Greenwood; 11-01-2017 at 01:27 PM.
You've brought up a good point...POA transitioned from vBulletin to xenforo and was able to transfer stuff over without the dual-system angst the EAA forums did a few years back. Since you've got some knowledge the EAA Forum PWB (Powers What Be) don't have, let me quiz you a little bit:
1. Can you give some examples of a couple of security issues? What are the risks to EAA if these are not handled.
As an aside, there are occasional folks who get virus/malware alerts when they come to this site. Could those be related to the vB security holes?
2. As a ballpark, what is the labor effort required for the conversion?
I think the PWB would need #1 to justify the switch over, and #2 to let the EAA budgeteers know how much it'll cost.
Ron Wanttaja
"Ignore User" capabilities are handy when there's a suspected troll at work. Because of the scrolling nature of the presentation, "not reading it" isn't really an option unless you blur your vision and scroll by the person's posts blindly.
Just say there's someone who mostly posts dumb puns, usually including a quotation within their name.
Hypothetical example, of course.
Anyway, if you put that person on your "Ignore" list, you wouldn't see any of the bon mots they added to the thread. The downside is, you'll still see the quotation when anyone else responds to it. It increases the signal to noise ratio. In cases where the troll is a pure idiot who ignores forum etiquette and rules, it also removes the temptation to tell them what a true, unadulterated idiot they are.
The other aspect of this capability is an "Ignore Thread" capability. If a subject completely doesn't interest you, you can use the Ignore Thread feature so it doesn't keep popping up in your "New Posts" feed. I'm not interested in Solidworks or IFR Club posts for example (nothing against the subjects, just not within stuff I care about). So as soon as a longish thread pops up, you can select "Ignore Thread" and it doesn't appear any more.
I do like the way the "Ignore Thread" works on POA. You can select to either just ignore it when the "New Posts" feature are used, or if you manually access that particular subforum. It also has the capability ignore subforums, too, so a guy could opt out of the, for instance, "Ultralight" forum and not see any other postings.
I do not, personally, use Ignore features very often. It's a nice wrench for the toolbox, though.
Ron "The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it" Wanttaja
I don't use it often either. There is exactly one person on my ignore list.
Ron, I'm not finding the "ignore thread" function anywhere. I've looked. Am I blind or something? That would work almost as well as "ignore threads started by X".
Measure twice, cut once...
scratch head, shrug, shim to fit.
Flying an RV-12. I am building a Fisher Celebrity, slowly.
Oh.... There are one or two trolls that pop up on this forum from time to time. No one on this thread...so far. I find it interesting to see how they try to spin us up. And amazed at how willing some forum participants are to rise to the bait.
But it would be a nice feature to have should I get tired of seeing it.