OMS Website
- Thread starter bubbaOPPD
- Start date
huskerreef
New member
Not sure whats up with the site, got an email from derek the other day and he made some updates, maybe the server is down. As far as creating a new forum, I don't think that is a good idea. Derek has done a lot for us and everyone seems to be piling on and complaining. I am not sure why everyone seems to think we can afford to pay for a forum we only raise money from dues and most of that goes to speakers, we have tried a lot a of things to raise more but get little support, people don't show up for meetings, they don't buy t-shirts, everyone wanted a used equipment sale yet no one bought a table. I am frustrated with this thread running off on a tangent and all the negativity. Everyone needs to relax a bit and let Derek fix it. Like the rest of you he does have a job and may not even know the site is down. I still do not know why everyone has issues, i have not had hardly a one with the forum.
LizardKing
New member
Im not familiar with some of the issues your talking about, as Im rather new. However I wasnt trying to pile on the site, just giving some constructive critisism. I dont know that your need to pull him, the site from its location, ect, ect.
That said I did feel it would be smart to mention the problems I was encountering, as it seems everyone has run into them. Over the last few weeks, ever single time Ive used the site, every time, Ive encountered a bug.
It says they are logged, and for the longest time I just didnt mention anything. That said, I can assure you nothing will kill a sites participation quicker then a non user friendly site. And currently the site is not very user friendly.
I dont know who Derick is, and I can assure you I mean nothing wrong towards him or the work hes done with the site. I am well aware of the work it takes to get a site running, Ive built and rebuilt my site to the tune of over 1000 hours. Its not easy work, and you cant please everyone.
I dont know that any money needs to be spent, or that anyone needs to be thrown under the bus. Most of the work thats been done, generally speaking, is easier to re duplicate then it was to create to begin with. Maybe its time to look at the current site as a rough draft, not a mistake.
Just my 2 cents thats liklely worth half if not less.
That said I did feel it would be smart to mention the problems I was encountering, as it seems everyone has run into them. Over the last few weeks, ever single time Ive used the site, every time, Ive encountered a bug.
It says they are logged, and for the longest time I just didnt mention anything. That said, I can assure you nothing will kill a sites participation quicker then a non user friendly site. And currently the site is not very user friendly.
I dont know who Derick is, and I can assure you I mean nothing wrong towards him or the work hes done with the site. I am well aware of the work it takes to get a site running, Ive built and rebuilt my site to the tune of over 1000 hours. Its not easy work, and you cant please everyone.
I dont know that any money needs to be spent, or that anyone needs to be thrown under the bus. Most of the work thats been done, generally speaking, is easier to re duplicate then it was to create to begin with. Maybe its time to look at the current site as a rough draft, not a mistake.
Just my 2 cents thats liklely worth half if not less.
LizardKing
New member
Ok, I was messing around last night, and re set up a forum on my site. This is just to show the functions, and how quickly one can be set up.
Hopefully I dont get in trouble for linking this, its not an advertisement, more of an example of what can be done with very little work. This took about 2 hours work, most of which was trying to figure out the way to update to the most current version of the program.
http://thelizardkingreptiles.com/FORUM/index.php
Again this is nothing personal against anyone, just an example of an easier to use forum (IN MY OPINION).
Hopefully I dont get in trouble for linking this, its not an advertisement, more of an example of what can be done with very little work. This took about 2 hours work, most of which was trying to figure out the way to update to the most current version of the program.
http://thelizardkingreptiles.com/FORUM/index.php
Again this is nothing personal against anyone, just an example of an easier to use forum (IN MY OPINION).
huskerreef
New member
you computer geeks make it sound so easy
maybe we need to form an IT committee to help out with this type of stuff. I don't want Derek to feel as if we are ungreatful, he has done a lot for us and maybe there is a way we can help him out so its not all layed on his shoulders. I am still trying to see whats up with the site
maybe we need to form an IT committee to help out with this type of stuff. I don't want Derek to feel as if we are ungreatful, he has done a lot for us and maybe there is a way we can help him out so its not all layed on his shoulders. I am still trying to see whats up with the sitehuskerreef
New member
Talked with derek and he has made some changes so locking up will less of an issue. I would encourage all technical issues be sent to me via a pm so I can address them and follow up on the fix. Keep in mind that not all issues are the fault of the site, human error can come into play. Derek was out of town this weekend so he didn't realize we were down.
huskerreef
New member
there is still a glitch somewhere and an error code that comes up, your post will still work but a little glitch somewhere. I have passed it on to derek to be fixed. thanks for your patients
While I don’t feel that some of the people on this thread even warrant a response, I feel I must let throw my 2 cents in the mix due to the fact that not a single one of you know me but are all very comfortable talking about me so openly. Nothing bothers me more than inconsiderate people who always seem to have a better way to do everything in this world but will never actually lift a finger to make it happen. I agree with some of you that phpBB is a great open source tool, that’s why I set it up for over 30 of my customers. It is not however, a bug-free application without limitations and using the wizard that comes from IPowerWeb (whom I was a reseller for4 years and hosted over 50 sites before I stopped using a wizard-based everything) won’t allow you to customize anything within the application thus making it look just like the 1000’s of other phpBBs out there. (Yes. I’ve used the templates but please keep reading so I can make my point) I think it’s great that some of you use it and can demonstrate how easy it is to setup but I’m curios where all of you forum guru’s and web designers were 6 months ago and how come you didn’t build, customize, field complaints and host the site for the OMS in your spare-time? Also curious why all of you choose to sit on this forum and complain, complain, complain instead of calling me up and saying “Hey Derek, I know a little about building websites. How can I help make the current site better?†Those of you who wish to get a petition together and move the site to a new server with a new operating system, running an entirely different database and written in a completely different language; I will not discourage you. In fact, if it is in the best interest of the OMS then guess what? I will help you! Either with hosting, customization, additional feature or anything else I can do because I’m not afraid to step up to the plate and actually try to make something happen. I’ll tell you what I won’t do though…………………
Not worth it. If you can’t figure out where that was going re-read a few of the previous posts. I give my regrets to those of you who read this and were actually trying to give constructive criticism and were sincerely trying to help. I mean no disrespect to you personally and hope that this in no way offends you. In fact, I look forward to working with you to help make the OMS a better organization, with a better site and with better people in it.
Derek
Not worth it. If you can’t figure out where that was going re-read a few of the previous posts. I give my regrets to those of you who read this and were actually trying to give constructive criticism and were sincerely trying to help. I mean no disrespect to you personally and hope that this in no way offends you. In fact, I look forward to working with you to help make the OMS a better organization, with a better site and with better people in it.
Derek
huskerreef
New member
I am glad that you stepped forward a spoke your mind as i felt you were getting unfairly picked on. The success of our club and its site depends on people volunteering, participating and supporting our club. The fact that we have a website and forum for the benefit of our members is great and makes the sharing of information much easier and free from the reefcentral moderation wich is great for the support of our local stores. Myself, Brad, Ray and Derek have put a lot of time into this club over the last 6 months, we have brought in some great speakers, set up a forum, had t- shirts made up all in an effort to provide a club that members could benefit from and have a lot of fun with. To be honest I took all the picking on the site personally. As the club president I am always looking for ways to make this better for out members and I am always open to new ideas and suggestion. We will not be reinventing our website and forum, it works fine. I have made some suggestions to Derek to give our forum some added features, based on some suggestions I have recieved in talking with some of the members. Again I strongly urge people to contact any of the club officers or Derek directly if you have issues or suggestions or if you would like to volunteer to help Derek with site, not post a public bashing of our efforts.
lvpd186
Reefing in NE
Copied from the OMS site:
Derek,
Well said. After all the posts I think you have the right to vent a little. And you are correct that there are people who will complain and not offer to help change things. As far as I'm concerned, like I posted on reefcentral, this site serves its purpose very well, regarless of some minnor bugs (that you have fixed). Thanks for your time and effort and don't give up.
Derek,
Well said. After all the posts I think you have the right to vent a little. And you are correct that there are people who will complain and not offer to help change things. As far as I'm concerned, like I posted on reefcentral, this site serves its purpose very well, regarless of some minnor bugs (that you have fixed). Thanks for your time and effort and don't give up.
I guess I'm one of the people that doesn't warrant an answer since I e-mailed derek about my problem over 2 months ago, no response. Then told one of the officers of the OMS of my problem a month ago nothing came of that, then told to post on the OMS site and not RC...since my problem was not being able to login to the site how was I to accomplish that. But did you notice that my post did accomplish what I wanted it to...which was to fix the site so I could login. So no matter how much you might think that I'm a whiner I got the job done. When you ask for help and receive nothing and get the same problem 3 times what do you want me to do?
Two days ago you thanked us for our "constructive criticism" and now it's considered complaining? I think some of us were trying to offer solutions becuase, like it or not, it's a fact that the site was down for several days and that's why the discusion was taking place here.
Mike
lvpd186
Reefing in NE
Mike,
I did thank you for your constructive criticism but I think you are misreading what I was saying in that last post. I was agreeing that there are people who will complain and not offer to help change things like Derek stated. That statement was not directed to anyone in-particular so please don't take it that way. Working with a volunteer group or club can be very frustrating at times. There are always people (in general and once again not pointing fingers) who will complain and not offer to help out or even participate. Posting in an internet thread is very impersonal and can easily be misread because you can't see the non-verbal communication. I do agree with you that some of the posts on this thread were in good spirit and trying to come up with a solution to a problem.
Bubba,
Its obvious that there was a breakdown somewhere along the communication lines. Hopefully something like this doesn't happen again.
I did thank you for your constructive criticism but I think you are misreading what I was saying in that last post. I was agreeing that there are people who will complain and not offer to help change things like Derek stated. That statement was not directed to anyone in-particular so please don't take it that way. Working with a volunteer group or club can be very frustrating at times. There are always people (in general and once again not pointing fingers) who will complain and not offer to help out or even participate. Posting in an internet thread is very impersonal and can easily be misread because you can't see the non-verbal communication. I do agree with you that some of the posts on this thread were in good spirit and trying to come up with a solution to a problem.
Bubba,
Its obvious that there was a breakdown somewhere along the communication lines. Hopefully something like this doesn't happen again.
garvin90
New member
As far as you talking to me steve, I did tell derek about it several months ago. Infact I remember having the conversation with him because I had interupted his dinner for it. So please, dont think that things just fall on deaf ears here. The answer I was given was that he would try to reset your info and email you a working password.
Anyway, the site works, seems to be going fine, I think we can move on.
Anyway, the site works, seems to be going fine, I think we can move on.
huskerreef
New member
Moving on is a great idea....everything works now
