Replies to post #407 on The Question and Answer Board (IHUB)

[Was (Bob)]

Just noticed the ads. To me, those are fine, as long as they go away for subscribers when/if we go subscription.

It doesn't assault the eyes, is obviously not something the writer typed in, and takes very little of my precious bandwidth.

Thoughts anyone?

[Joemoney]

yes bob. one reply is fine for a message and it helps keep your mail box clean.

joe

[Carolyn]

Can we have folders for them?

[marcos]

'PM, do you want it to go bye-bye after you've done'

stockhouse.ca does that, once you press send on a PM that's it, it's gone ... so you learn to treat them as ephemera, and to remember anything important you sent ... which in my case is not much, i'm not a big fan of PMing in general, there's a feeling of deviousness about it i can't get over ... but i do use the PM system on SI, mostly in response to others who do, and i save interesting bits in the ones received [never use those folders, don't know how, never took the time to learn] ... currently i have 271 in my inbox over there ... seem to be able to access only a few dozen of them though ... that has to be taking up server space [or something] ... not something i'd ask for in a startup operation ... but i'm easy either way.

Those suggestion box threads on SI - people were asking for the most incredibly complicated stuff ... i never had the guts to say that because i didn't want to make enemies, you know? ... but simple is good ... the ten-at-a-time, now that's worth looking into imho .... and the logout thing, well that's like a glitch, and it hasn't happened for half an hour now ... cheers

[edit] - another thing stockhouse does is it makes your incoming PMs go away after a period ... which i believe is seven days, but am not sure, have only been PMed there recently and don't go to the site on a regular basis ... here's their url, i'm sure Matt knows their site - http://www.stockhouse.ca/

[edit 2] - ¡search capabilities! ... the whole database should be searchable, and using all those nifty terms like altavista has, like +aaardvark +diode should bring up only posts with those two words ... and all the other advanced search stuff from anywhere, i don't know enough to judge the quality of them, just saying searchability is good ... nay, crucial

[edit 3] - and search within a thread, or within a poster's bio [on his/her posts] ... i was using the former on SI yesterday, it works pretty well now.

[edit 4] - this is an experiment to see how long this edit function can be kept going ... let's see now, if a person could sleep in eight-minute increments, and get fed through a tube .... lol

[edit 5] - still going, gotta be twenty-five minutes now .... 'simple is good' - that means covering the basics in a spectacularly competent fashion - i.e. instant loading, legibility, reliability, and freedom of speech ... this place has the first two covered well at this point, jury's out on the latter two .... reliability - well i remember when Real Dryer SI was pretty funky, it would go down or do weird things, we just thought that was entertaining, as we knew they were building something great ... so no big deal on the odd shutdown, for a startup ... freedom of speech - well it remains to be seen how the CoB will work out ... suspicion of the concept will dog the site for a while, imho

[Ruellit]

IH Admin Bob,
I've been here at Ihub for about six months, I've used the PM feature often and in answer to question, NO I don't want them to go away! A separate folder for them would be great. In fact I'd like to see separate folders for those recieved, sent, and of course board messages. The PM folders should be accesible to only author/recipient.
btw, welcome to Ihub Bob
muel

[Bernard Ng]

Hi Bob, I would like to see check boxes beside each PM, so I can select which one to be deleted... I have about 200 PM in my mailbox now, and have deleted tons already... I have been requesting this feature for a long long time, but Matt keeps saying that besides me, who will have so many PMs... well... I don't know...

signed,
Bernard

[Bernard Ng]

Since the PMs have already been archived... is it possible to get a function like "one click and I will be able to bring up all the PMs from one person to me and vice versa chronologically"? Having folders would be nice... BTW, for troubleshooting purpose, I only got logout when I'm using public terminal to login.. It has never happened with my home PC.

signed,
Bernard

[OMD]

The PM's should definitely not go completely bye-bye.....

Folders would be good. Also good is the SI "who wrote" feature...where if you call up a PM it is responding to Member X (who wrote) and you keep clicking back through the "who wrotes" to get to the beginning of the conversation. I find that really useful sometimes.

As for ads, I may be in the minority here, but I hope to see ads all the time. I want the site to make money. Even lots of money. The only restrictions I would place on that are the following:

1. Don't hog bandwidth. In my neighborhood, high speed Net access is not available....so if you put some fancy graphics-laden ads on the site it's a PITA.

2. Don't mix them into the text of the messages at all, even in a different font etc. It can make it look like there is some connection between the message and the ad. I know Cousin Shorty (who may not have found his way here from the home planet yet) feels very strongly about this. So do I.

3. As the site adds more features, like quotes and charts and news and stuff, it is better to place the ads there if possible than in the messages themselves. Though I don't mind something unobtrusive in the messages.

I think a lot of people here don't want to see ads at all. But we have to be realistic. Matt started this site as a business. He could have joined the Peace Corps instead. Ads are one of the main ways to make that business make money. One of the only other ways is to reach into my pocket, and I'd prefer you didn't do that. Even if you grandfather people in and start charging, the minute you start charging the community might as well be closed. Those days are gone, probably forever.

[greg s]

Bob,

I like the way PM's are handled now. When you delete them, they automatically go into the archive.

Kind regards,

greg