Changes to take place.
Hello everyone,
I am going to post a fairly long update, so please take your time to read it, as there are some huge changes that are about to happen to The Reefuge. As you have all seen, this website constantly changes bits and pieces. This is because I do like "slowly" changing things, so members get use to new things. Some of you like this, and some of you don't, but it is the nature of the beast.
Unfortunately, some things can not be implemented in small sections, and do require some website downtime and immediate integration. This will be slightly annoying at the start, but once you get use to it you will really start enjoying this site.
The purpose of this website is as follows;
Not many people know this, but I myself am not a "reefer". I have minimal understanding of any sort of aquariums, pets, etc. I am the administrator here, and my job is to focus on the technology side of this community. People who volunteer their time here, such as the moderators, the content creation team, and the members are the real heart and soul of the community, as they are the people who fill it with great information, funny posts, and make it a really nice place to hang out. Even I have learned things reading peoples posts about their tanks, and had a good laugh along the way. Thank you to all of you, this is the best community I have ever had the privilege of running.
Now, on to the updates. Over the next few months, expect to see these appear overnight. I can not give you an exact time on when they will go live, but in about four weeks they will start to appear online, and go live shortly after.
Thread Displays
The thread displays are going to slightly change. Right now everyone is viewing the forum in a linear style. This is what 99.99% of the forums on the internet use. This looks nice, and is neat to the eye, but from a readability point of view it is not really that great.
Thread displays will soon move to "Threaded" displays. Most blogs use this sort of display with their comments systems. This allows the user to easily keep track of who is talking to who in comments made to the thread.
Right now, members are "quoting" other users. This means that if the first reply to the thread was quoted 20 posts down the thread, you would need to go to the 20th post to see what a user has replied. This is not very easy to keep track of.
What a threaded display will do, is allow you to reply directly to the person you want to reply to. This will shift your avatar slightly to the right, followed by your reply. If the thread has 100 replies to the original poster (thread creator), and you would like to reply to the second post comment, you can click reply and it will show up directly under it. This allows for all messages to stay in line with their topic. A lot easier to read, and the information stays within its own topic.
Blogs
User blogs are on their way. As opposed to using a blog system, we are going to be using an AFBG (Automated Forum Blog Generator). This means, that for the users blog, it will be a dedicated forum to the users. This will allow the user to make as many sub-forums (tank journals) within their dedicated forum, and as many threads (latest updates) within their tank journals.
Users will then be able to post replies to the users tank journals, and again, everything will be neat and in line. This will allow an extremely powerful blogging system for the users to build their tank journals on. There will be no limit to the amount of tank journals a user makes within their blog forum, and users will have control over their own content (updating titles, sending out updates, etc).
Shops
The shops feature will be a huge section of The Reefuge. This is going to work as a trading platform for businesses and traders. Here is a basic list of features that the shop will offer.
Sell unlimited products - There is no limit to the amount of products sold through the store. It can be a single item, or a full online LFS. This service was added to The Reefuge with small shops who do not have an online website in mind.
Sell Services - Moving tanks, cleaning tanks, and any other service you wish to provide customers. You can easily sell it here.
Ability to Add Orders manually - If for some reason you would wish to do this, the option is there.
PayPal, 2CO, and ccBill payments - Three main gateways will be hooked into this website. All of them are safe and secure.
Special Deals - If you wish to have specials on your products or services, you can easily let everyone know about them.
Unlimited images per product - You can add as many images as you like to your products description.
Customers can rate and review products and services - ONLY customers who purchased from your store can rate you. This will free up the rTrader for other purposes.
Delivery locations - A simple form that will automatically tell you who paid, what they purchased, and where you should ship the item.
Invoice creation - Automatic invoice creation. This will update automatically as orders are placed.
Rss Feed - If you would like to add your RSS feed to other sites, or users feeds, this option allows for that.
PM system - Your shop will send a PM to both you and the customer with the order details once payment has been made. VERY handy.
Wish list - Allows users to build up a wish list of that they wish to purchase.
Currently these are the main modifications that will change things on The Reefuge. By doing this, it will allow our community to move forward and grow. If we do not make changes like this, we will end up being "another" reef forum and eventually fade out and die.
I would also like to take this opportunity to put a stop to some rumours that have been going around lately (to the best of my knowledge). I have heard that there are a lot of users who are lurking these forums to "see what happens". Apparently, this is because they have heard this community will not last.
This community is forever growing, forever changing, and is going to be around a very long time. It is not on shared hosting, it is running on a dedicated server, and the server has been online for the last three years. So believe me when I tell you, we are not going anywhere.
Thanks.
I am going to post a fairly long update, so please take your time to read it, as there are some huge changes that are about to happen to The Reefuge. As you have all seen, this website constantly changes bits and pieces. This is because I do like "slowly" changing things, so members get use to new things. Some of you like this, and some of you don't, but it is the nature of the beast.
Unfortunately, some things can not be implemented in small sections, and do require some website downtime and immediate integration. This will be slightly annoying at the start, but once you get use to it you will really start enjoying this site.
The purpose of this website is as follows;
- A community where every bit of documented knowledge is free and available for anyone to use.
- A community where people learn from one another by being polite, understanding, and helpful.
- To help all LFS's and OLFS's where possible, and to make available tools to help their business grow.
- To make the user experience second to none. Ease of use, and easily readable information.
- To always stay at the front of the latest website technology, and move forward with the times.
Not many people know this, but I myself am not a "reefer". I have minimal understanding of any sort of aquariums, pets, etc. I am the administrator here, and my job is to focus on the technology side of this community. People who volunteer their time here, such as the moderators, the content creation team, and the members are the real heart and soul of the community, as they are the people who fill it with great information, funny posts, and make it a really nice place to hang out. Even I have learned things reading peoples posts about their tanks, and had a good laugh along the way. Thank you to all of you, this is the best community I have ever had the privilege of running.
Now, on to the updates. Over the next few months, expect to see these appear overnight. I can not give you an exact time on when they will go live, but in about four weeks they will start to appear online, and go live shortly after.
Thread Displays
The thread displays are going to slightly change. Right now everyone is viewing the forum in a linear style. This is what 99.99% of the forums on the internet use. This looks nice, and is neat to the eye, but from a readability point of view it is not really that great.
Thread displays will soon move to "Threaded" displays. Most blogs use this sort of display with their comments systems. This allows the user to easily keep track of who is talking to who in comments made to the thread.
Right now, members are "quoting" other users. This means that if the first reply to the thread was quoted 20 posts down the thread, you would need to go to the 20th post to see what a user has replied. This is not very easy to keep track of.
What a threaded display will do, is allow you to reply directly to the person you want to reply to. This will shift your avatar slightly to the right, followed by your reply. If the thread has 100 replies to the original poster (thread creator), and you would like to reply to the second post comment, you can click reply and it will show up directly under it. This allows for all messages to stay in line with their topic. A lot easier to read, and the information stays within its own topic.
Blogs
User blogs are on their way. As opposed to using a blog system, we are going to be using an AFBG (Automated Forum Blog Generator). This means, that for the users blog, it will be a dedicated forum to the users. This will allow the user to make as many sub-forums (tank journals) within their dedicated forum, and as many threads (latest updates) within their tank journals.
Users will then be able to post replies to the users tank journals, and again, everything will be neat and in line. This will allow an extremely powerful blogging system for the users to build their tank journals on. There will be no limit to the amount of tank journals a user makes within their blog forum, and users will have control over their own content (updating titles, sending out updates, etc).
Shops
The shops feature will be a huge section of The Reefuge. This is going to work as a trading platform for businesses and traders. Here is a basic list of features that the shop will offer.
Sell unlimited products - There is no limit to the amount of products sold through the store. It can be a single item, or a full online LFS. This service was added to The Reefuge with small shops who do not have an online website in mind.
Sell Services - Moving tanks, cleaning tanks, and any other service you wish to provide customers. You can easily sell it here.
Ability to Add Orders manually - If for some reason you would wish to do this, the option is there.
PayPal, 2CO, and ccBill payments - Three main gateways will be hooked into this website. All of them are safe and secure.
Special Deals - If you wish to have specials on your products or services, you can easily let everyone know about them.
Unlimited images per product - You can add as many images as you like to your products description.
Customers can rate and review products and services - ONLY customers who purchased from your store can rate you. This will free up the rTrader for other purposes.
Delivery locations - A simple form that will automatically tell you who paid, what they purchased, and where you should ship the item.
Invoice creation - Automatic invoice creation. This will update automatically as orders are placed.
Rss Feed - If you would like to add your RSS feed to other sites, or users feeds, this option allows for that.
PM system - Your shop will send a PM to both you and the customer with the order details once payment has been made. VERY handy.
Wish list - Allows users to build up a wish list of that they wish to purchase.
Currently these are the main modifications that will change things on The Reefuge. By doing this, it will allow our community to move forward and grow. If we do not make changes like this, we will end up being "another" reef forum and eventually fade out and die.
I would also like to take this opportunity to put a stop to some rumours that have been going around lately (to the best of my knowledge). I have heard that there are a lot of users who are lurking these forums to "see what happens". Apparently, this is because they have heard this community will not last.
This community is forever growing, forever changing, and is going to be around a very long time. It is not on shared hosting, it is running on a dedicated server, and the server has been online for the last three years. So believe me when I tell you, we are not going anywhere.
Thanks.