New Website Software...

We've just got some long awaited software upgrades for our website that will introduce some great new capabilities that I think everyone is going to love.
I'm going to installing them tonight (friday 2/6) so you might experience some minor problems with the site.
I don't know how much of the new stuff will be obvious until I get a chance to get it all configured, but I'll post any updates to this thread as I have stuff ready for people to try out...
-JB
AND P.S. - Get those PM's cleaned out.   We're about to switch to a new PM system.

 

Ok, I'm still trying to get a handle on how it all works, but I've got same basic stuff setup for testing. Club members should now see a "Beta" tab in the top menu.

Under the Beta Tab You should see 3 Options

GIRS Groups

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone...

There are a couple of issues that are preventing me from throwing the switch on this stuff. Once those get worked out (hopefully this week), I will go ahead and make the profile system available to everyone, switch us over to the new PM system and turn on integration with the main forums.

I don't think the "groups" functionality is that useful yet, but I think that will change shortly too. They are still working on some key enhancements and I've been talking to them about how to configure it for our needs.

-JB

 

Joel,

The rich text editor is missing from the current build. It will be in place in the next update (probably today). You can search from members from the profile list (Click on "User Profiles" under Beta). This offers a much better search and it will be even better once I configure it properly.

Keep in mind that this is not the "end all be all" of the app. This is the very first release of an app that is evolving at a very rapid rate, so you're going to see stuff get added every week or less. I'm guessing that the "Send" view of the messages will eventually let you quickly access the names of your friends (much like Facebook does).

Sticking with the old PM system really isn't an option if we want to move to the new profiles/groups system as it does not have the proper integration points.

On a plus note I managed to write a SQL script that will convert all of our old PM's over to the new system, so nothing will get lost in the switch.

-JB

 

We recieved a new update to this software last night. It's not perfect yet, but I think I can work around most of the remaining bugs.

I need to adjust a few of the templates over the next few evenings first, but I think we're about ready to go with this...

Beware everyone: THE PM SYSTEM IS ABOUT TO CHANGE

It's different in a lot of ways... Better in most, not quite as good in a few, but it's a necessary change to integrate with the rest of the site upgrades.

-JB

 

Your welcome...

I could actually use some input from everyone on how the groups, profiles and the new message center should fit into the new menus. I'm trying to figure out the best way to arrange things so that it's easy for both "power" users and people who are new to the site.

Suggestions are welcome.

-JB

 

Well, this is going to get delayed again... While I was cleaning up some of the templates, I found another nasty bug with the new PM system.

Aaron, I guess I'm still working on how exactly we'll use all of the new stuff, but I can tell you this much: All of the regional forums will be tied to a group. In order to post on one of the regional forums, you will need to join it's group. This will give the trustess a better way of communicating with people who are interested in events in their region.

-JB

 

Joel,

I see your point and I don't disagree. Trustees will be able to send group invites to users in their area. The only problem with that is that it requires action to be taken on the trustees part and we all know how people get busy and things (even simple ones) fall off the radar.

I probably won't set it up to require joining a group to post, but we'll have to see how the groups work without that requirement.

-JB