Why this format of forum???

Forums › Geekzone › Why this format of forum???

Unxious

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#56573 17-Jan-2010 23:11

I visit a several forums and they use the (I assume) the same forums software. Yet this site seems to use something not so common. In my opinion it is unweildy. It doesn't feel like a site build by IT professionals.

Specifically:

- Drop down box giving quick navigation to any forum/sub-forum is very handy
- Quick reply lacks basic editing options (quoting, formattings etc)

E-mail notifications is on by default? perhaps it should not be.

And lastly, I don't care how many friends people have. This is superfluious information. Comes across as one-upmanship.

Of course, these are just my opinions.

sbiddle

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#290781 18-Jan-2010 06:54

Unxious: I visit a several forums and they use the (I assume) the same forums software. Yet this site seems to use something not so common. In my opinion it is unweildy. It doesn't feel like a site build by IT professionals.

Specifically:

- Drop down box giving quick navigation to any forum/sub-forum is very handy
- Quick reply lacks basic editing options (quoting, formattings etc)

E-mail notifications is on by default? perhaps it should not be.

And lastly, I don't care how many friends people have. This is superfluious information. Comes across as one-upmanship.

Of course, these are just my opinions.

Quick replies lack all formatting because they are designed to be a quick reply - something that's accessible from all browsers and will work from a mobile phone without having to load a HTML or Javascript editor that typically won't work on a mobile device. If you want a full editor the compose reply button is there.

Most forums I've visited have email notifications on by default, it's a simple matter of unticking the box in the user profile if you want it switched off.

As for the number of friends I guess it's whatever you make of it - the ability to have "friends" allows you to see status updates of other people. We live in an online world where Facebook, Twitter etc all list our "friends", the feature on Geekzone really is similar.

Zippity

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#290813 18-Jan-2010 09:44

Guess it all comes down to the almighty $$$$$ and how many mine host is prepared to shell out :)

freitasm

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#290826 18-Jan-2010 10:32

By the last comment it is obvious you have no idea how much it costs to run a site of the size of Geekzone in New Zealand...

kingjj

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#290941 18-Jan-2010 19:18

freitasm: By the last comment it is obvious you have no idea how much it costs to run a site of the size of Geekzone in New Zealand...

Lets see... $25 per annum for the domain + $120 per annum shared hosting (10*12) + $300 per annum coding/maintenance (25*12) + $445 and change? haha

But seriously, there's a reason freitasm works full time on GeekZone!

freitasm

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#290942 18-Jan-2010 19:21

I will just get that as a joke... First we don't use shared hosting. We actually have a colocated server running five VMs, eight IP addresses and unlimited traffic - multiply that $300/yr by 50 times and you are getting closer to the figure.

Geekzone moved out of a shared hosted environment years ago, when our traffic got too big to have it with other users of the same SQL database. We are currently on the top 25 New Zealand-based sites in unique visitors/month.

I won't get into my own time (full time work here), costs including ACC, tax, GST, salary, Internet access, mobile data, travel, postage for all items sent/received and your "numbers" are not even close to a week of expense around here.

Some people...

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#290956 18-Jan-2010 20:38

It was intended as a joke! I wouldn't want to actually know or guess the actual cost of this site.

gehenna

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#290961 18-Jan-2010 20:59

hey just out of interest is this a vbulletin or phpbb forum? or other?

freitasm

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#290970 18-Jan-2010 21:18

Something completely different - none of those were used here.

codyc1515

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#290978 18-Jan-2010 21:41

freitasm: I will just get that as a joke... First we don't use shared hosting. We actually have a colocated server running five VMs, eight IP addresses and unlimited traffic - multiply that $300/yr by 50 times and you are getting closer to the figure.

Geekzone moved out of a shared hosted environment years ago, when our traffic got too big to have it with other users of the same SQL database. We are currently on the top 25 New Zealand-based sites in unique visitors/month.

I won't get into my own time (full time work here), costs including ACC, tax, GST, salary, Internet access, mobile data, travel, postage for all items sent/received and your "numbers" are not even close to a week of expense around here.

Some people...

I guess I have a stereotypical assumption that running 5 vm's would make the server incredibly slow, would it not?

johnr

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#290982 18-Jan-2010 21:49

Some people are never happy

freitasm

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#291011 18-Jan-2010 22:53

codyc1515: I guess I have a stereotypical assumption that running 5 vm's would make the server incredibly slow, would it not?

No, not at all. And we are talking about some grunty HP DL server here, not a Pentium desktop.

gehenna

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#291015 18-Jan-2010 23:12

I guess I have a stereotypical assumption that running 5 vm's would make the server incredibly slow, would it not?

One of my servers at work runs about 25 virtual servers on it at the moment, and each one runs well :) The server itself has insane specs, from memory theres like 160GB of RAM in it.