News

The Reefuge

Administrator
Jul 9, 2011
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Last Update Before The Change
Hello everyone,

This is going to be a fairly long post but I will keep things as concise as possible. It is important that you all read this update as it is going to change the way The Reefuge functions and the role the site has.


Over the last 2 years The Reefuge has been growing at a steady pace. We have a great, friendly community which behaves in a mature manner and conducts themselves with respect. For this, The Reefuge staff can not thank the community enough. The members and staff of The Reefuge have made the whole culture and content possible and I would like to say a big thanks to everyone!

Now, on to business.
Over the last few weeks I have lost my mind around 6 times, had hardly any sleep, and see conditionals and numbers when I close my eyes - oh, and my wife is not super happy either :p. This is because I have made something big for you guys. I hope you enjoy what is headed you way :)


Direction
The Reefuge has so far been a forum-first, Australian reef forum. This is going to change. The first thing will be that the forums will now be another "part" of the site and not the site itself. The focus will be on tools for users and businesses. Tank Journals, Groups, Directories and Forums will be the "main" focus of The Reefuge.

We are also not going to limit ourselves to Australia any longer. With the next upgrade The Reefuge will be open for all reefers of the world, each with their very own marketplace and state-groups. This will allow the "Forum" section of The Reefuge to grow as well as network everyone with their "neighbours". All upgrades and paid features will be in USD from that point on.

Below are the smaller changes that will be made to the site.


Journals
The tank journals are now done. More things can be added as requested, but there is a very powerful system for the journals in place. All countries will share the journal section which will give you all a lot of new material to read on a daily basis. Journals will appear under the users posts automatically regardless of where they have posted on The Reefuge.


Groups
There is now a dedicated section for groups. There are 3 types of groups that exist on The Reefuge. All groups can be created and joined. Joining a group allows you to receive updates of when new content is added into these groups and alerts as desired. This means you can subscribe to the content that you find interesting and relevant as you choose.

All of you can access your Tank Journals, Groups and Subscriptions @ http://www.thereefuge.com.au/g/


Micro Groups
  • Non-Business accounts can create a micro group
  • Micro groups should be somewhat related to reefing
  • Micro groups can be about things like coral propagation, CAD, societies, organisations, reef websites, etc.
  • Marine Aquarium Societies from around the world can also create a micro group for ease of communication with their members.


State Groups
  • State Groups can only be created by The Reefuge. If a state group does not exist a request can be made to create one.
  • State Groups are there ONLY to network neighbours with each other. Meetings, gatherings, etc can be made by members if they choose to do so but will not be "offical" Reefuge meets.
  • State Groups will be for all countries. The countries abbreviation is at the start of the states name for quick access.
  • Businesses, organisations and societies or websites can not advertise in the state groups.


Business Groups
  • Example of a business group
  • Business groups have 2 options. Open and Closed. Open means members can reply to threads. Closed means they cant. The business owner makes this decision.
  • Business groups can have an RSS feed put in them. This means the business can mirror their facebook feed (or website feed) into the group to get it to post updates automatically to their Business-Group when their Facebook page (or website) is updated.
  • Business groups can advertise their services and products as much as they like within their own group.
  • Only business accounts can create business groups.
  • EDIT: Do not create a business group yet. The build is still not done and the business groups will be wiped clean before the upgrade. They will be available AFTER the upgrade.

Forums (Community)
  • Forums will be member-wide. This means members from all countries will be able to post and discuss reefing within the main forums. The users profile will tell you which country they are from.

VIP and VIP+
  • More information at a later date




I expect all of this to be 100% ready in the next month. Once it is ready there will be a massive upgrade that will take place along with the websites framework and some security patches. This may cause the site to go down for some hours. More information on downtime will be provided closer to the date.

For those of you who would like to help support The Reefuge, please purchase a VIP subscription. These things go a loooooong way towards running costs, development and time spent working on The Reefuge.

Thanks.