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Elite Veteran
Posts: 790
  
| I have NO idea what it takes to run a forum site
like this?
The following are just (suggestions)I would like
to see here to keep the site more active.
1 - A welcome wagon for new members
2- A easier way to post pics !!!!!!!!
3- I find the search feature here difficult to use.
4- I like the Thanks, agree, disagree, like ratings system.
5- A positive/negative rating system for members part
parts/car sales
6- A section for orphan 62 Chrysler products
7 The text here gets kinda long and is difficult to read sometimes.
Again just a few suggestions I would like see here
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 6622
 
Location: Newark, Texas (Fort Worth) | Agreed. |
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Board Moderator & Exner Expert 10K+
Location: .Norfolk..Mafia.. ,England UK | Dave can probably answer this question better,, BUT he has said in the past that System he uses for Forwardlook is Outdated with No further Upgrades,, He wanted to move the Forum on to a VBulletin Platform,, But there isnt a way to carry all the Threads and Posts from here to VBulletin, and he had spoken to Coders about it,, So to Move to a better Platform we would Lose all the Info here and have to start from Scratch ..
Hence we have to Live with what we have here,, with No Upgrades,,
Clive |
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Expert
Posts: 1494
Location: Pacific Northwest | Frankly I've gotten use to this antiquated system. Call me a purist but don't change a thing.
my ?2. |
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Expert
Posts: 2361
Location: Eastern Iowa | GREAT THREAD Rocco!!
I Hate the MILE WIDE pictures and posts, which so far, this post is not, thank you very much!
PITA to read unless you have a MILE WIDE SCREEN
Ditch that part of this site, which for some reason, never used to be that way until a few years ago, and I'll be a much happier camper!
Dave, are you listening?? |
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Veteran
Posts: 293
Location: WA/USA | Old cars. Old guys. Old system?
I'm just happy that this site exists. Even though I have owned four FL's over the decades, I know that I am not an expert. There are so few knowledgeable people around to consult in person. This site has been/is informative and helpful. Thank you! |
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Exner Expert 10K+
Posts: 10540
Location: Lower Mainland BC | Rebels-59 - 2023-05-05 2:47 AM
He wanted to move the Forum on to a VBulletin Platform,, But there isnt a way to carry all the Threads and Posts from here to VBulletin, and he had spoken to Coders about it,, So to Move to a better Platform we would Lose all the Info here and have to start from Scratch ..
Once upon a time (from 1998 to 2009), I was on AudiWorld in the UrS forum. During that time I posted over 18000 posts as UrS4boy, many of which were long and detailed DIY-related posts, intended to help fellow UrS4/UrS6 (turbo 20 Valve 5 cylinder) sedan owners maintain and repair their UrS cars. This included establishing and maintaining a Frequency Asked Questions (FAQ) section.
Then one day in March 2009, the owners of the Audiworld website decided that it would be "kool" to migrate the site to VBulletin (they were owned by whoever VBulletin is -something like "Internet Brands" - or someother souless entity). That was a disaster for the FAQ because it would not translate as it was intended.
Within a few days there was a grass-roots revolt and a mass migration from Audiworld to a new website called quattroworld which used the old format and promised to migrate all the old FAQ info from Audiworld intact. Which they did. I immediately moved to quattroworld and continued to post helpful posts (mostly  ).
Between then and when I sold my 93 UrS4 in 2018, I posted over 35000 posts on quattroworld.
My Audiworld stats:
https://www.audiworld.com/forums/members/urs4boy-15624/
My 2009 to now (but mostly 2018) quattroworld stats (over 35000 posts)
https://forums.quattroworld.com/account/137.phtml?page=/s4s6/msgs/34...
So if our Adminstrator Dave says it might/will be a disaster to move to a more modern format like VBulletin, I would have to
a) agree and
b) tell him, please don't do it!!! To lose all the info that has been accumulated in the Forward Look forum would be a disaster.
Live with what we have and be happy, adapt and learn.
Edited by 56D500boy 2023-05-05 1:33 PM
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Expert 5K+ Passed away 30th Sept 2024. You will be missed Chuck!
Posts: 8954
Location: WHEELING,WV.>>>HOME OF WWVA | Apollo 61 - 2023-05-04 12:31 PM
I have NO idea what it takes to run a forum site
like this?
The following are just (suggestions)I would like
to see here to keep the site more active.
1 - A welcome wagon for new members
2- A easier way to post pics !!!!!!!!
3- I find the search feature here difficult to use.
4- I like the Thanks, agree, disagree, like ratings system.
5- A positive/negative rating system for members part
parts/car sales
6- A section for orphan 62 Chrysler products
7 The text here gets kinda long and is difficult to read sometimes.
Again just a few suggestions I would like see here
common sense wants but lest we forget FL is "free" -----------------------------------later |
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Expert
Posts: 3832
Location: NorCal | finsruskw - 2023-05-05 9:26 AM
GREAT THREAD Rocco!!
I Hate the MILE WIDE pictures and posts, which so far, this post is not, thank you very much!
That would be my only complaint about this forum and it's a consequence of the oversized pics. There are plenty of image resizing programs so there's no excuse. |
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Expert 5K+ Passed away 30th Sept 2024. You will be missed Chuck!
Posts: 8954
Location: WHEELING,WV.>>>HOME OF WWVA | 57chizler - 2023-05-06 11:25 AM
finsruskw - 2023-05-05 9:26 AM
GREAT THREAD Rocco!!
I Hate the MILE WIDE pictures and posts, which so far, this post is not, thank you very much!
That would be my only complaint about this forum and it's a consequence of the oversized pics. There are plenty of image resizing programs so there's no excuse. |
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Exner Expert 10K+
Posts: 10169
Location: So. Cal | 57chizler - 2023-05-06 8:25 AM
finsruskw - 2023-05-05 9:26 AM
GREAT THREAD Rocco!!
I Hate the MILE WIDE pictures and posts, which so far, this post is not, thank you very much!
That would be my only complaint about this forum and it's a consequence of the oversized pics. There are plenty of image resizing programs so there's no excuse.
"Oversized" is a meaningless, relative term as everyone is using different devices & screens to view this forum. We could set a maximum pixel width that could be enforced by moderators, if we could agree on what the limit should be. Any suggestions? I have set my personal limit to 1100 pixels wide, but will extend it to 1200 pixels if it's really necessary.
But then even more people would be complaining about not knowing how to make their pictures smaller, just as they are currently doing.
Edited by Powerflite 2023-05-08 3:39 PM
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Exner Expert 10K+
Posts: 10540
Location: Lower Mainland BC | Powerflite - 2023-05-08 12:36 PM
"Oversized" is a meaningless, relative term as everyone is using different devices to view this forum. We could set a maximum pixel width that could be enforced by moderators, if we could agree on what the limit should be. Any suggestions? I have set my personal limit to 1100 pixels wide, but will extend it to 1200 pixels if it's really necessary.
Nathan: You and I had this discussion (possibly off forum). When I have copied the photo link from an eBay auction, you have typically suggested that those eBay photos are too wide, maybe like this one, which I think is 1600 x 1200. 1600 is probably too wide, even for my 22" LED monitor at home (I am on my laptop right now in France).
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/HicAAOSwtJlkSBh8/s-l1600.jpg
At that time I agreed (or offered) to limit the photos in my posts that originated from my computer to 1024 x 768. It is a good size, not too wide and only about 150 kB (so well less than 250 kB)
Here is that same eBay photo as linked above, first as 1280 x 720 and then 1024 x 768 (I think that the 1280 x 720 is too wide:
Edited by 56D500boy 2023-05-08 3:52 PM
 (eBay56DodgeFenderMirror_1200x720.jpg)
 (eBay56DodgeFenderMirror_1024x768.jpg)
Attachments
----------------
 eBay56DodgeFenderMirror_1200x720.jpg (147KB - 133 downloads)
eBay56DodgeFenderMirror_1024x768.jpg (138KB - 129 downloads)
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Exner Expert 10K+
Posts: 10169
Location: So. Cal | My opinion on the original post:
1 - A welcome wagon for new members
2- A easier way to post pics !!!!!!!!
3- I find the search feature here difficult to use.
4- I like the Thanks, agree, disagree, like ratings system.
5- A positive/negative rating system for members part
parts/car sales
6- A section for orphan 62 Chrysler products
7 The text here gets kinda long and is difficult to read sometimes.
1. A new member can start a post in the member rides section. That's really the best way to get started, and I don't see how a separate section would be of any more benefit.
2. Adding support for .jpeg would be really nice, and I believe could be rather easily coded in as the files are exactly the same. Adding support for automatically reducing file sizes wouldn't be easy though. And allowing ginormous pics at full phone resolution would be insane and eat up serious resources.
3. I think the search is OK, but it would be much better if you could search the entire site instead of just one section at a time. The problem is often, you don't know which section it was posted in, so you end up checking many different ones. But doing your search through google instead, using forwardlook.net as a keyword, is a good alternative to get around that problem.
4, 5: You can do this by just saying something in a post, just like Marc and others did in the posts above.
6. I heartily agree, though I doubt you would get any flack from posting about the '62 Chrysler, Dodge 880 or '62 Valiant or Lancer. Many already have done so without issue. I posted the '62 paint & fabric book on here and no one complained.
7. See my previous post.
You didn't mention other issues like having the ability to add tables or tabs in the text. But there are ways to get around these things, and I agree with Dave, that I wouldn't want to lose the info that's already here. With the popularity of moving to facebook, the help that other people give will be forever lost in the messy abiss of facebook. This old site is all that's really keeping the info alive.
You can move to ForCbodiesOnly if you wish, but I find most of them are very congratulatory without offering real solid information that people are looking for. I was surprised that no one had made up a compendium of muscle car dog dish caps over there (A, B, & C body pages) before I did. And when I did post it, I only received 1 or 2 partial answers to the questions that I asked about them. I had to do my own research on it, in the end - on a subject that should have already been done by them many times over by now. This site is unique and I like it that way.
Edited by Powerflite 2023-05-08 4:05 PM
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Exner Expert 10K+
Posts: 10169
Location: So. Cal | I agree that 1280 is too large. 1024 isn't bad for me. |
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Exner Expert 10K+
Posts: 10540
Location: Lower Mainland BC | Powerflite - 2023-05-08 12:58 PM
2. Adding support for .jpeg would be really nice, and I believe could be rather easily coded in as the files are exactly the same. Adding support for automatically reducing file sizes wouldn't be easy though. And allowing ginormous pics at full phone resolution would be insane and eat up serious resources.
3. I think the search is OK, but it would be much better if you could search the entire site instead of just one section at a time. The problem is often, you don't know which section it was posted in, so you end up checking many different ones. But doing your search through google instead, using forwardlook.net as a keyword, is a good alternative to get around that problem.
2. I don't understand why .jpegs are not handled the same way as .jpgs. 150 kB is big enough to make a point in a post. I hate when people send me photos from a Apple device and imbed them in with the text instead of as an attachment. They are just too big.
3. Umm....the default in the "Search" is "SEARCH ALL FORUMS" so I don't think that is an issue. I use search almost daily and usually get good results. My problem is remember what the best key search phrase that I should use for any particular search.
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Exner Expert 10K+
Posts: 10169
Location: So. Cal | Good point. I usually search within a thread, and didn't try the search function at the top of the forum. Silly me. |
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Exner Expert 10K+
Posts: 10169
Location: So. Cal | As far as new sections that I would like to have added, I would include:
1. Garages, Tools & Restoration Techniques
2. Orphan '62 Chrysler, Dodge 880 (Only if people can't agree to just include them everywhere on the site).
3. Literature Library (with 500MB or larger file size & annoyingly large pixel allowance)
4. Mid-Century Style, Art & Architecture (Move some of the large threads created in the general section to this new section, if possible)
5. '60-'62 Valiant & Lancer (Info for A-bodies is more unique to them)
6. Specifically for Wagons
7. C-Series & Power Giant Trucks ('61-'65 is the D Series. Not sure how to handle those)
8. Towing, Camping & Forward Look Recreation
9. Off-Topic Member Rides (pull it out of the gutter of the nether region into it's own section)
10. Aftermarket Accessories
11. FAQ's for each section, maintained as a SINGLE sticky thread that contains information in list format, by one person. This person is available by email & PM to add or modify the content in the list. The quality of organization in that list is paramount here.
Edited by Powerflite 2023-05-08 6:20 PM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1111
Location: Tulare Ca | Powerflite - 2023-05-08 2:06 PM
As far as new sections that I would like to have added, I would include:
1. Garages, Tools & Restoration Techniques
2. Orphan '62 Chrysler, Dodge 880 (Only if people can't agree to just include them everywhere on the site).
3. Literature Library (with 500MB or larger file size & annoyingly large pixel allowance)
4. Mid-Century Style, Art & Architecture (Move some of the large threads created in the general section to this new section, if possible)
5. '60-'62 Valiant & Lancer (Info for A-bodies is more unique to them)
6. Specifically for Wagons
7. C-Series & Power Giant Trucks ('61-'65 is the D Series. Not sure how to handle those)
8. Towing, Camping & Forward Look Recreation
9. Off-Topic Member Rides (pull it out of the gutter of the nether region into it's own section)
10. Aftermarket Accessories
11. FAQ's for each section, maintained as a SINGLE sticky thread that contains information in list format, by one person. This person is available by email & PM to add or modify the content in the list. The quality of organization in that list is paramount here.
I would love to see all of these! especially the Fwdlk Adjacent but not direct like the recreation and mid century styling ones
As for changing to Vbulletin, Ive gotten used to the way this site functions after 10 years of use, Why change so little to lose so much?
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1068
Location: PL / EU | Powerflite - 2023-05-08 9:58 PM
I agree with Dave, that I wouldn't want to lose the info that's already here. With the popularity of moving to facebook, the help that other people give will be forever lost in the messy abiss of facebook. This old site is all that's really keeping the info alive.
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Just a few suggestions for a better FL site.
