Yo, Midnite!!! :)

[BluePhoenix]

i thought i'd start a separate topic here, if you don't mind!

Just a quick note... I visited your forum (always anxious to see other sites) and wanted to say 2 things.  First off, it's GORGEOUS!  Am curious to know the source of your quote.  Okay, so technically that was already 2 things, but I'm not done yet:  My hat is off to you-- you're a heckuva moderator!

thanks, you're very kind! i've been with EZboard for 2 1/2 years now, and watched it grow tremendously. i've even spoken by email with the owner when we had some serious problems going on. it's a wonderful alternative to setting up your own board system, like this one, and i'm afraid i just couldn't handle all this yet! lol... so my hat is off to you and the rest of the staff here for their tech knowledge.



i think our terms are different where i come from, and i'm getting confused... for instance, any one who wants to can create a "board" at EZboard. within that board, you can create as many "forums" as you like, each for a diff subject, like general conversations, recipes, music, role playing, etc. and if the posters like only certain subjects, that's where they head. within a forum you can have 400 "topics" or "threads" before the ones that are oldest fall off the back of the board to oblivion. and if you have some real keepers in the forums, you can move the topic/thread intact to a new forum that you've created just to showcase them, where you can choose between allowing people to continue to comment within the threads or make them "read only".

Also, i think the staff titles and abilities are different. you have one EZop/owner, who can add on as many administrators as she likes, each with the ability to edit, move, and delete things across the entire board (the EZboard has a few more powers above the admins, btw) as well as access the controls of the board too; then you have Global Moderators, who have powers across the entire board, but can't get backstage to the controls; then we have Moderators who are assigned powers for specific forums(s) that interest them, and those forums are the only places they have more powers than regular posters do.

So, at Blue's Club, i'm the EZop, and i have two admins who have 99% of the power that i do; then i have some global mods who enjoy floating across all the forums helping with all the subjects, and who came in REALLY handy when we had attacks from another group who spammed and porned and made fools of themselves; then are the forum-specific mods who prefer to concentrate on just one subject/forum. together with the regular posters, we make up a pretty nice family!

[BluePhoenix]

on to the fun stuff...

EZboard gives you a lot of options for adding image backgrounds instead of just colors, if you choose, as well as your own custom buttons, banners, and all kinds of frills. you have to find the images yourself, or create them, however. that can make the page hard to load for people with 56k modems, so i try to be considerate.


we have a huge general chat forum, but as posters suggest more interesting things, like a scifi forum, or a Transformers forum (that's where we started out) or midis and lyrics, we branched out. several of the posters liked the idea of role playing, and some had tried it before, so we did a few small ones and decided we liked it! i have some hugely creative people over there... now it's a major emphasis, and since i'm a creative type too, i think it's great!

please feel free to stop over and say hi to us, it only takes a few minutes to register a name. and if you have any specific interests that we cover, jump in and ask questions; all of us are friendly there or i smack them personally    

[BluePhoenix]

ah, forgot your question about the quote! it's a song by The Alan Parsons Project... a wonderful friend of mine left the board suddenly, and i was feeling sad.

here's the link to the entire song. http://pub5.ezboard.com/fbluesclubthejukebox.showMessage?topicID=145.topic

[Midnite]

thanks, you're very kind! i've been with EZboard for 2 1/2 years now, and watched it grow tremendously. i've even spoken by email with the owner when we had some serious problems going on. it's a wonderful alternative to setting up your own board system, like this one, and i'm afraid i just couldn't handle all this yet! lol... so my hat is off to you and the rest of the staff here for their tech knowledge.

Thanks!  I count my lucky stars to not only be partnered with the web wizard MysteriousB, but also that we get along so well.  We've been working together at this for (don't faint!) 3 ½ years, and get along fabulously.  We also looked into ezboards as a temporary home for the interim after our 1st server deleted all our message boards for the 2nd time (yes, we should've bailed after the first time) and before this board was ready, since it was only in the planning stages at that point.

My first posting boards were on SciFi.com.  I was made to feel right at home there and met some fantastic people, some of whom are my best friends today.  It was comfortable until, well, it became painfully obvious that the PTB at SciFi couldn't care less about what was happening at their boards.  I can't get into specifics cuz of a clause in the board rules that was written to keep arguments and problems on other DS sites from spilling over here.  But suffice to say that I quit, as did several friends and acquaintances, but still felt the need to have a place to hang out with other DS fans.  There was a discussion among 8 of us about starting another DS board on our own, and when it came time to decide on who would moderate, I was the only volunteer so that pretty much decided it, hee hee.  Isn't it amazing how a simple decision can grow into a labor of love?  My motivation back then was to have a place I could go to talk about the show that was comfortable.  Of course we hoped to be able to attract posters with similar interests, but had no idea it would bring in the numbers that it has.  THAT'S why we do this-- it's knowing that fans are enjoying themselves that makes it all worthwhile.  And despite the fact that it can be trying, most days it's a breeze and a joy.  I know you can relate.

You asked about the history of role playing here, and you're right that the earliest role playing was problematic (which wasn't unique) and that's the only time I've ever removed any RP from any board.  What I'll do instead is post reminders and warnings.  These forums are so large that we just can't accommodate role playing and fan fic, but I know that there are other forums available for either or both, and links can always be posted to alert readers to them.

i think our terms are different where i come from, and i'm getting confused... for instance, any one who wants to can create a "board" at EZboard. within that board, you can create as many "forums" as you like, each for a diff subject, like general conversations, recipes, music, role playing, etc. and if the posters like only certain subjects, that's where they head. within a forum you can have 400 "topics" or "threads" before the ones that are oldest fall off the back of the board to oblivion. and if you have some real keepers in the forums, you can move the topic/thread intact to a new forum that you've created just to showcase them, where you can choose between allowing people to continue to comment within the threads or make them "read only".

Sounds great!  The other DS board I visit is on ezboards and run by the wonderful Tim Choate, who also posts here.  In fact, I was surprised to see that I was already logged in when I visited your site; that was convenient!

Here, only administrators (just a word for the same thing you're describing) can start boards, but anyone can begin a new topic on this Testing board (which actually is supposed to be for forum questions or testing features... and here we are, oops?) and the Current Talk discussion board.  The CT forum is growing so quickly that even with unlimited bandwidth we'll eventually need to start archiving.  Having 2 boards deleted without warning makes you realize how awful it is to lose fantastic discussions forever.

Haven't had to use our "read only" forum feature yet.  The name for it is "locked topic"; same thing.

Also, i think the staff titles and abilities are different. you have one EZop/owner, who can add on as many administrators as she likes, each with the ability to edit, move, and delete things across the entire board (the EZboard has a few more powers above the admins, btw) as well as access the controls of the board too; then you have Global Moderators, who have powers across the entire board, but can't get backstage to the controls; then we have Moderators who are assigned powers for specific forums(s) that interest them, and those forums are the only places they have more powers than regular posters do.

We have the option to create other positions besides the executive administrators, and I'm trying to get a friend to return as a moderator.  I don't know how involved he'll be willing to be, but we could sure use his help!

So, at Blue's Club, i'm the EZop, and i have two admins who have 99% of the power that i do; then i have some global mods who enjoy floating across all the forums helping with all the subjects, and who came in REALLY handy when we had attacks from another group who spammed and porned and made fools of themselves; then are the forum-specific mods who prefer to concentrate on just one subject/forum. together with the regular posters, we make up a pretty nice family!

I saw how you handled someone on your board that was irate and I was totally impressed with how you listened and eventually talked him down!

EZboard gives you a lot of options for adding image backgrounds instead of just colors, if you choose, as well as your own custom buttons, banners, and all kinds of frills. you have to find the images yourself, or create them, however. that can make the page hard to load for people with 56k modems, so i try to be considerate.

I saw that.  Really amazing.

since i'm a creative type too

I noticed!

please feel free to stop over and say hi to us, it only takes a few minutes to register a name. and if you have any specific interests that we cover, jump in and ask questions; all of us are friendly there or i smack them personally

Hee hee!!  I will-- first chance I get.  Thanks!

ah, forgot your question about the quote! it's a song by The Alan Parsons Project... a wonderful friend of mine left the board suddenly, and i was feeling sad.

here's the link to the entire song. http://pub5.ezboard.com/fbluesclubthejukebox.showMessage?topicID=145.topic

I apologize for taking so long to get back to you!  I tried to play the midi this morning but couldn't, and then tried again tonite with no luck.  Ah well, but thanks for the info and at least I got to read the lyrics for the entire song.

[BluePhoenix]

It was comfortable until, well, it became painfully obvious that the PTB at SciFi couldn't care less about what was happening at their boards

ah, our stories are somewhat similar, then. i began on a very large, commercially run Transformer board (cartoons with an impressive toy line) and had a great time meeting people and talking TF until we became extremely bored (the cartoon was between series) and started talking about other things, or just plain cutting up, but nothing bad of course. well, the moderator in charge didn't like that, and started editing posts, then deleted them, then started temporarily banning people, then permanently banning. mind you, i never heard of one person who talked to this guy, either on the board or email. you would come back and posts would be changed or gone. it was alarming to see someone with so little courtesy or common sense.

a large group of us, who had already become friends, decided we wanted a place with less restrictions and more caring, and one found EZboard. well, that caused a mass exodus! ...and suddenly we had ALLLLL this freedom to talk about whatever subject we wanted, have food fights in virtual reality, ride roller coasters that went up the sides of trees, ANYthing we could think of to entertain each other!

i was elected an admin, *boasts proudly*and had a blast greeting people and enjoying friends while learning the technical aspects of running a board. Since then i've branched off to my own board (a friend created it for me as a surprise, naming it after a play on words where two posters went to a blues club to have some fun) and broadened out. one of my admins loved to write, and began a science fiction story where all our members were in a spaceship instead of on a board, and the adventures we ran into. later, he began allowing them to role play between his own posts, which we all loved!

when a friend asked if he could begin a Dungeons & Dragons game and we drew a ton of posters who loved SF, D&D and RPGs, i decided it would be a good theme for the board. we now host several different RPGs (all SF related in one way or other) as well as all the other forums we've accumulated over time...

it's knowing that fans are enjoying themselves that makes it all worthwhile.  And despite the fact that it can be trying, most days it's a breeze and a joy.  I know you can relate.

yup. i'm here because i enjoy people, and i love hostessing a SAFE place for them to come.

this Testing board (which actually is supposed to be for forum questions or testing features... and here we are, oops?

ooops. feel free to move this topic to the CT forum if you have a way to do that. i'm sure i'll find it!

Haven't had to use our "read only" forum feature yet.  The name for it is "locked topic"; same thing.

we have locked topic too. read only sets the forum so only mods or admins can post or edit. another frill!

I saw how you handled someone on your board that was irate and I was totally impressed with how you listened and eventually talked him down!

hmmm... i'm trying to think where that was. do you recall the topic or poster?

i consider them ALL my friends, and guests in my home. if someone is upset, they usually just want to be heard; if they're being rude, i find that most people will be respectful and listen to my requests because i always offer the same to them.

here's the link to the entire song. http://pub5.ezboard.com/fbluesclubthejukebox.showMessage?topicID=145.topic  


I apologize for taking so long to get back to you!  I tried to play the midi this morning but couldn't, and then tried again tonite with no luck.  Ah well, but thanks for the info and at least I got to read the lyrics for the entire song.

i guess i need to work on posting MIDIs then... sorry about that! try going to EZboard and clicking on my profile (just click on my name at the beginning of any of my posts) and you should be able to hear the song. it's just a fragment of the song, anyway; i haven't been able to find it, so i'm considering learning how to build my own MIDIs for the songs i love!

actually, i've had good luck passing MP3s to friends over AIM, MSN and even ICQ (but i rarely turn ICQ on, lol). if you'd like to hear the real song and you don't go to Napster replacements such as Kazaa or Bearshare, come find me and i'll send it to you myself!  




we were considering moving off EZboard for our own board like this, so were the AllSpark Classic team; i'd like to learn more about how to handle a board like this sometime, but i'm very pleased with how EZboard handles so much for us, and the ease of having literally thousands of posters who can bop around the boards and keep their IDs and profiles, so they can post at a new board at will! did it take you long to learn the controls here? and can you do any of the coding yourself?

[Midnite]

ah, our stories are somewhat similar

Yeah, which is really neat.  Thanks for telling it.

i was elected an admin, *boasts proudly*

Obviously a wise choice.

my own board (a friend created it for me as a surprise, naming it after a play on words where two posters went to a blues club to have some fun)

How cool.

when a friend asked if he could begin a Dungeons & Dragons game and we drew a ton of posters who loved SF, D&D and RPGs, i decided it would be a good theme for the board. we now host several different RPGs (all SF related in one way or other) as well as all the other forums we've accumulated over time...

Wow, no wonder you have so many forums!

i'm here because i enjoy people, and i love hostessing a SAFE place for them to come.

I've gotten to the point where I don't even like to visit unmoderated sites.

ooops. feel free to move this topic to the CT forum if you have a way to do that. i'm sure i'll find it!

Well, technically we are talking about the board, hee hee!!  (Ulp?!)

we have locked topic too. read only sets the forum so only mods or admins can post or edit. another frill!

Hmm, what's the difference between your "read only" and "locked?"

hmmm... i'm trying to think where that was. do you recall the topic or poster?

Oh, it was someone banned on another board and since he couldn't ask his question there had come to your board to ask why, and I recall you had offered to get the admins together to discuss it with him.

i consider them ALL my friends, and guests in my home. if someone is upset, they usually just want to be heard; if they're being rude, i find that most people will be respectful and listen to my requests because i always offer the same to them.

I knew I liked your style.

i guess i need to work on posting MIDIs then... sorry about that! try going to EZboard and clicking on my profile (just click on my name at the beginning of any of my posts) and you should be able to hear the song. it's just a fragment of the song, anyway; i haven't been able to find it, so i'm considering learning how to build my own MIDIs for the songs i love!

Thanks!

if you'd like to hear the real song and you don't go to Napster replacements such as Kazaa or Bearshare, come find me and i'll send it to you myself!

Thanks again.  Someone in my house can't live without them, so it's no problem.

we were considering moving off EZboard for our own board like this, so were the AllSpark Classic team; i'd like to learn more about how to handle a board like this sometime, but i'm very pleased with how EZboard handles so much for us, and the ease of having literally thousands of posters who can bop around the boards and keep their IDs and profiles, so they can post at a new board at will!

Yeah, I'm sure that using EZBoards is great for traffic.  And there are definite advantages to using a company that provides customer service.  Unfortunately, there're also pesky disadvantages, such as the difficulty with getting the word out yourself if you have to suddenly move.  You can email the users whose addresses you have, but reaching lurkers is tricky, even with the help we got from friends; that's why we went the domain route this time.

did it take you long to learn the controls here? and can you do any of the coding yourself?

While the webmaster was still tweaking the board I was able to use the time to get accustomed to its new features.  From start to debut took a couple of months, though MysteriousB had already conceived the idea before that.  As for the code, I know zero about Perl so MB set it up and handles ALL updates and adjustments.  In other words, while I'm looking over the YaBB program to learn how to work the durn thing, MB is looking over it and asking, "Why not?"

[BluePhoenix]

the diff between "read only" and "locked" is that, i can set the thread/topic to "read only" and only allow mods and/or admins access to editing, moving or replying to a thread (for instance, one that we have archived and i'm already quite happy with the posts and don't want it added to or tampered with) or i can "lock" it, so that no one, even an admin, can inadvertently add another post or edit it or move it. of course, any admin can unlock it and lock it again, but it's a matter of courtesy to NOT interfere when another admin has made a decision like that...


and i'm like whoever it is in your family.. i love music!~  

[Midnite]

Yo, Blue!!

the diff between "read only" and "locked" is that, i can set the thread/topic to "read only" and only allow mods and/or admins access to editing, moving or replying to a thread (for instance, one that we have archived and i'm already quite happy with the posts and don't want it added to or tampered with) or i can "lock" it, so that no one, even an admin, can inadvertently add another post or edit it or move it. of course, any admin can unlock it and lock it again, but it's a matter of courtesy to NOT interfere when another admin has made a decision like that...

Ah, I get it.  Thanks!

and i'm like whoever it is in your family.. i love music!~  

It's my son, who dowloaded your song for me off KaZaA.  Whoa, lemme start over... I listened to the midi in your profile, it stuck with me, had to hear the whole thing, and then decided it was a keeper.  And of course it's all your fault, hee hee!!

[BluePhoenix]

HA!! another convert!!!  

you'll find a TON of their music online, i think i started with the first of their Hits CD, then got the second Hits CD, then backtracked and started getting all the other albums/CDs... some if it just hits me in an odd way, and i love the music, arrangements, emotions, voice(s), lyrics, all of it!

okay, how old is this son who's handling the Net for mom? mine are 8 and 11.

[Midnite]

HA!! another convert!!!  

Hee hee, Blue!

okay, how old is this son who's handling the Net for mom? mine are 8 and 11.

OMG, mine are 9 and 12!!!  (girl and boy)