Author Topic: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)  (Read 99685 times)

Online Chris Bergin

So, here we are, over 11 years since I had a really crazy idea to start a news site and forum covering Shuttle processing flows as the fleet prepared for Return To Flight.

While we've moved through several iterations of the news site CMS and the forum software, we are very much "as designed"....with a news site and a forum - just a heck of a lot busier. I think that familiarity has a lot of value, so any changes should always work within that foundation.

However, thanks to the size of the community here, we've seen pretty much all of the talent associated with this site's progression come from within our community. As such, the next push forward should be designed by the community that the site serves.

We've done a lot of work in the background on the hosting side, as seen with us able to cope with massive events (although we'll still need to work on that as we're still growing and there's some even bigger events on the horizon).

This "Master Plan" push should be based on a mix of ideas and skill sets.

For instance - we'll work on the aesthetics of the site, including items such as an updated logo, where people who have a skill for designing such things can provide their ideas and we'll go with the best one, likely via a shortlisted vote.

People may have suggestions about additional ideas, from things - for example - such as a chat room, through to ideas I've never thought of. It'll be cool if people with experience of areas of interest suggest and offer to help set up. That's going to be an important requirement, but we can never have too many ideas to consider. I'd rather see 100 ideas of which 10 may work, than 5 ideas.

We'll also look to increase our writer/content pool, as an example of how wide reaching this is going to be, all via their own threads in this standalone forum section.

The goal is to hit 2017 with a familiar, but updated NSF, to coincide with the new era really kicking in.

This thread is for the ideas, so don't be shy, fire away. Ideas with "likes", or clearly look like a good idea, will then gain their own thread in this section. Those offering actual help in implementing ideas will be rewarded.
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Offline Silmfeanor

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #1 on: 08/07/2016 11:58 pm »
I would suggest a way to have bigger pictures in news articles. Ie, have the thumbnails, in the normal article, but have some 'click to enlarge' or something. That way, renders and informative images are way, way easiert to see, and the visual element can help images; you could have text like 'as can be seen in the image to the left, damage to the interstage of this F9 was a bit heavier then expected; sources tell us it might be replaced'
Or- actually showing something that is talked about, ie the connection point for the SLS booster being given a new paintjob.

Tldr; bigger images in the news section.

Online cwr

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #2 on: 08/08/2016 01:00 am »
I have a very similar comment to Silmfeanor - there are times I see an image in a NSF news article, that has a lot of details [such as a NASA slide] but the image in the news article is way too small to read the info it contains - there is no point to including such an image in the article since it contains little actual info.

I'm quite happy when I can click on the image and open it in a new tab or window and hence can read the info contained in the image or save the image to my system and hence read the contents, though I prefer the former.

I don't know if this different behaviour is an individual authors preference, or the size of the original source image or editorial policy or what. Just have the URL in the News article point at an image that has readable text.

I find quite a few articles significantly lose their value by embedding an image that is too small.
Thanks for listening

Carl


I would suggest a way to have bigger pictures in news articles. Ie, have the thumbnails, in the normal article, but have some 'click to enlarge' or something. That way, renders and informative images are way, way easiert to see, and the visual element can help images; you could have text like 'as can be seen in the image to the left, damage to the interstage of this F9 was a bit heavier then expected; sources tell us it might be replaced'
Or- actually showing something that is talked about, ie the connection point for the SLS booster being given a new paintjob.

Tldr; bigger images in the news section.

Online Coastal Ron

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #3 on: 08/08/2016 01:17 am »
Two thoughts:

1.  A link on an article that leads directly into the discussion for that article.  I know this is a really small item, and I don't think it's backend dependent, but thought I would mention it.

2.  What kind of semantic tagging is currently being used?  If "we" want NSF to become more visible as a resource, then semantic tagging is going to be important.

For instance, Google is now orienting towards answering questions, not just providing results.  But in order for Google to do that it needs validated sources that have structured information (think tables and such).  I'm not sure whether that is a goal of NSF, but if it is then we'll need structured data.

But even if the goal is not to be a source for Google search results, semantic data can lead to more visibility and better search results, both internally and externally.

Some references:

Semantic Web - Wikipedia
Schema.org - Wikipedia
Schema.org
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Offline vaporcobra

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #4 on: 08/08/2016 04:56 am »
I certainly agree with the previous comments regarding the lack of full resolution images (or hyperlinks) in articles, that has been one of my main admittedly-minor grievances.

Aside from that, I have a few other suggestions.

1. I am not entirely sure how difficult it would be, but I frequently sit at different lengths from different monitors and would love if zooming in on articles resulted in not just larger text, but larger text that does not widen beyond the width of the screen it is viewed on. SpaceNews.com is a good example, a potential improved NSF might appear like SN but with more images for each article (as well as the premier spaceflight forum ;)

2. Along with the site's behavior, some aesthetic aspects could be improved upon. First and foremost, I would personally recommend that the site move towards a universally flat design language. Second, strive for greater symmetry, alignment, and consistency in that language (essentially construct a list of rules that that language follows and ensure that no visual element breaks those rules). Finally, the source image for the RSS button at the top badly needs a refresh!

Offline sfxtd

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #5 on: 08/08/2016 06:07 am »
I would love to see some improvement to the handing of live events. My initial thought is having a page with a couple of windows for chat-room-style push feeds for the update threads and the discussion threads. That could eliminate the need for constant refreshes.  Also, good would be links to the important live feeds, perhaps with small insert windows for those feeds.

Many of us put together screens that contain some of these elements, but having them formatted for ease of access would be great.

That said, having the record of live events as a forum thread for reviewing (and searching) events that one has not seen or wishes to see again is very important and I would not want to lose that.


Offline apirie98

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #6 on: 08/08/2016 07:46 am »
I'd like for the page formatting in the forums to not break whenever somebody posts a really long URL (like, forcing the URL to wrap onto multiple lines instead of just stretching the size of the text field)

Edit: Something else popped into my mind -

The site being segregated into three main parts as it currently is (the news articles, the public forums and the L2 forums) is great in terms of storing all the information that's available here in the places it's meant to be stored, it doesn't necessarily lend itself to reference or content discovery, especially for casual users.

While there is a search function, and the forums are sorted by topic, both of those tools do to a degree require the user to a) know what they are looking for, and b) know where to look for it, and don't specifically lend themselves to discoverablility. I think it would be faster and more user-friendly to serve up information in a way that negates the need to have such a specific idea of what you're looking for in mind. For example, have a list of all the launch vehicles that have been proposed or flown (perhaps sorted into active vehicles, retired vehicles, proposed vehicles and vehicles in development) and going on from there to find all the relevant information and threads much more easily.

Clicking on a specific launch vehicle might bring up a topic overview page which has the relevant articles and threads from the forums attached - searchable and sortable in their own right via tags on each thread - so information and discussion is easy to discover from quite a broad starting point.

I agree with what is said a few posts down about having wiki-style pages for topics; it would certainly be nice to have factfiles which contain information - and more importantly sources for all the information, chiefly to improve the quality of the conversation in the threads and to try and reduce the arguments about which press release said what and such.

Moreover having a bank of reliable and accurate information that can be treated as a source itself would be a great asset to have, especially if it could be integrated seamlessly with the articles and threads on the topic overview page as suggested above.

« Last Edit: 08/08/2016 08:49 pm by apirie98 »
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Online seanpg71

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #7 on: 08/08/2016 10:00 am »
I'd love to have a list of the next couple upcoming events (launches, flybys, spacewalks, etc) with local times and links to the live thread and/or webcast on the homepage. 

I paid attention to when upcoming shuttle and now spacex launches were, but for most of the rest I only see them if I happen to check the site and notice the live thread in the recently commented list.

Offline Robert827

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #8 on: 08/08/2016 11:03 am »
A couple of suggestions:

1. Caption images.

2. Add abbrevation dictionary. If a user sees an abbrevation he can click on it and get an explanation. For example, "SSME" is mentioned in an article. He/she is not sure what that means, so he/she can click on the "SSME" and "Space Shuttle Main Engine" pops out. Or something similar.

Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #9 on: 08/08/2016 11:29 am »
Good start guys! First one, about the images, is something I can play with and I'll start a thread as I could also use some people versed with Wordpress. The "click for bigger image" was a pain on several fronts (spend more time with images than words) and photos being "link stolen" which other sites suffer from (wordpress direct link to use the image and not the article...blah blah), but thinking we could use the opportunity to update the article look and go with bigger images. Captions always seemed like a problem to insert, but we'll look into this on the thread I'll set up.

Keep them coming, good ideas will get their own threads.
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Offline Space Opera

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #10 on: 08/08/2016 11:56 am »
I would suggest wiki-like topics or articles where everyone could contribute. This would be particularly useful for topics such as "Planned launches for 2017" that needs to be updated on a daily basis, or topics such as "Facts about the MCT" that require to have all information in one place. It's such a pain to modify the first post of a topic, where one need to add and delete new posts, to wait for the original poster to update the first message, etc...

Offline Kasponaut

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #11 on: 08/08/2016 11:58 am »
Good start guys! First one, about the images, is something I can play with and I'll start a thread as I could also use some people versed with Wordpress. The "click for bigger image" was a pain on several fronts (spend more time with images than words) and photos being "link stolen" which other sites suffer from (wordpress direct link to use the image and not the article...blah blah), but thinking we could use the opportunity to update the article look and go with bigger images. Captions always seemed like a problem to insert, but we'll look into this on the thread I'll set up.

Keep them coming, good ideas will get their own threads.

Hi Chris.

Great idea for a master plan to create an improved site :-)

1) I concur that larger pictures that you can click on to view separately would be a BIG improvement.
2) Also a list of upcomong events such as launches, EVA's etc.
3) A launch vehicle database with detailed launch vehicle specifications.
4) A longer list of recent forum posts. 10 instead of 5.

« Last Edit: 08/08/2016 12:08 pm by Kasponaut »

Offline First Mate Rummey

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #12 on: 08/08/2016 01:06 pm »
Also would be nice to see some youtube videos embedded in the articles (when available). Other sites include them, NSF only includes small images IIRC.

Offline Martin FL

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #13 on: 08/08/2016 01:16 pm »
Great idea. I'd also like to see a new logo, something that would work really well on t-shirts. The current one is great, but updating it would be even better.

Offline Rocket Science

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #14 on: 08/08/2016 01:28 pm »
How about having a "launch event status board" on the main page during live event. It would show either green of red at a glance without having to read and refresh update thread. The live chat for details would be nice and has been discussed over the years perhaps along side the board.
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Offline Poole Amateur

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #15 on: 08/08/2016 02:06 pm »
I type this with my eyes wide shut and ready for a torrent of abuse... ;)

NSF covers an awful lot more than just NASA Spaceflight. Is it time for a name change perhaps?

Obviously to be done in such a way that a transition is a gentle and  seamless thing with automatic linking, but I just feel that the name does not indicate the breadth of coverage contained within these hallowed pages, and may perhaps deter those who do not know her (NSF that is, not a spacecraft) from coming in to play...

I do not mean to be blasphemous, it is just a thought, so please be gentle with me!

Offline Eer

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #16 on: 08/08/2016 02:34 pm »
I'm spending more and more time on the site via phone and pad, less via desktop browser.  I've used tapatalk for past few years and now am back to trying the mobile-friendly browser interface from my phone.

One open issue is there's no good way to read articles / news stories on a phone.  Finding some mobile-friendly presentation really should be some sort of objective for 2017, I think.

I'm enamored by the flipit style interface WAPO and flipit app have adopted, but am certainly open to others.

Thanks
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Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #17 on: 08/08/2016 03:25 pm »
Is it time for a name change perhaps?


I can rule that out right away. It's like "maybe you should change your 12 year old daughter's name" to my mind. ;D

I get the point, but one has to stick with the name. Maybe we should create more splinter sites? :o
« Last Edit: 08/08/2016 04:01 pm by Chris Bergin »
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Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #18 on: 08/08/2016 04:04 pm »
I'm spending more and more time on the site via phone and pad, less via desktop browser.  I've used tapatalk for past few years and now am back to trying the mobile-friendly browser interface from my phone.

One open issue is there's no good way to read articles / news stories on a phone.  Finding some mobile-friendly presentation really should be some sort of objective for 2017, I think.

I'm enamored by the flipit style interface WAPO and flipit app have adopted, but am certainly open to others.

Thanks

Answering some of these in reverse order, but I am reading them all. Tapatalk sucks (in the style of Rainman's Dustin Hoffman talking about Kmart)....just my personal opinion and because some people like it, that's why we have it.  I'm overruled ;)

I use google chrome on my phone for NSF....but mainly desktop. If there's alternatives, we can check into that. This will be a thread in this section too. (Will be standalone threads for major items of investigation).
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Offline GWH

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #19 on: 08/08/2016 04:49 pm »
2. Add abbrevation dictionary. If a user sees an abbrevation he can click on it and get an explanation. For example, "SSME" is mentioned in an article. He/she is not sure what that means, so he/she can click on the "SSME" and "Space Shuttle Main Engine" pops out. Or something similar.

This would be great, especially when one gets into an article on a rover or probe and each instrument has its own acronym, it gets to be quite hard to read. 
I think it would be pretty seamless if rollovers were used to provide a brief acronym definition rather than a separate page.
« Last Edit: 08/08/2016 04:53 pm by GWH »

Offline the_other_Doug

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #20 on: 08/08/2016 06:23 pm »
I like the idea of a members-only chat room for live events.  It wouldn't replace the regular forum posts, but would let us respond with all the "oohs" and "ahhs" and "what the heck was that" kind of stuff that currently tends to clutter the threads during live events.

I don't think the chat rooms would need to be L2-only, but you would obviously need to be an NSF member to enter the room.  You could maybe engineer a room with a window that was, say, a live feed of the event built into the chat room page.  More like a thumbnail than the full-resolution feed, but big enough to follow what's happening if you happen to have the chat room page open on top of a full-screen HD page display of the YouTube feed, for example.

I'd be good with regular chat rooms, no live feeds, but hey, it's the 21st century, I figure a guy can at least ask for a cool futuristic page design that pulls in multimedia elements... :)

Oh, one more thing -- I know the forum is partially supported financially by the ad bar that runs along the side of the page.  But the flashing animated ads are annoying, and can actually bother people with a variety of physical and mental illnesses.  For example, such flashing can have a very bad effect on people with PTSD, as well as various elements of autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy, etc.  They are designed to make you look at them, I understand that.  But if there is any way to make it such that they are not constantly on the screen while you are reading articles and forum posts, we would feel more like a cool, respectable site and less like a... well, I won't say it, but we all know the kinds of sites that go way overboard on garish, flashing ads.  I don't think it makes the feel of the site attain the level of excellence that the site achieves, if you get my meaning.

Just my $0.2...
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Offline mfck

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #21 on: 08/08/2016 09:46 pm »
I know it is a farfetched idea, but this place is so awesome, it could actually work.

NSF Sci-Fi would be a collaborative story telling effort, where the narrative Universe, it's physical rules and restrictions are created wiki-style and provide a realistic and consistent setting for story-telling. 

The characters, and the story could also be created via collaborative process, where you have the opening post in a thread to present your character, then people would challenge the presented charcter, and the autor, with a setting and a conundrum. The readership could rate the character and/or the author on several parameters. Characters rated high enough can have story thread spin-offs

Now, if this gets traction, it seems to have a mild capitalization opportunity, apart from the obvious fun that it would be.

Just a mind bubble
« Last Edit: 08/08/2016 09:47 pm by mfck »

Offline mike robel

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #22 on: 08/09/2016 01:24 am »
A library.  There are tons and tons of valuable documents that are attached to threads.  While one can search for them, it would be great to have a indexed portion of the site that is organized to allow a person to quickly get to a specific topic.  If not a library, a link to the post/message where it is posted.

+Manned Spacecraft
   +US
      +Pre-Mercury
      +Mercury
      +Gemini
      +Apollo
      +Shuttle
+Russian
+Chines
+Unmanned Spacecraft
+Boosters
   +US
   +Russian
   +ESA
   +Japan

And so on.

Do away with the likes.  I don't really think it serves a purpose, except in this instance when you are using it as a poll.

I like the idea of a chat room(s)




Offline craigcocca

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #23 on: 08/09/2016 02:06 am »
The top 5 requests for me are:

1) Responsive site design - The site should automatically format itself for the width of the device it's being viewed on.
 
2) Rebuild the live threads in a live blog format - Only the updates get pushed down to the user, lightening the load on the server farm during live events (especially the SpX ones). It's not a badge of honor to push gigs of traffic per hour during a live event when you can instead be pushing < 1kb updates out via a well designed live blog that implements WebRTC.

3) Temporarily ban users during live events who reload the live blog repeatedly - Those who don't follow the instructions to "not reload the live blog because it will update itself" should get banned for the remainder of the live event.

4) Integrate the live video feeds of launches, EVAs, etc into the live blog / live threads where legally possible (I think we could probably do this for all NASA and SpaceX events).

5) Once a live launch is done, go back and attach the T-0 to the thread so that all of the posts show the UTC time stamp as well as the number of seconds before or after launch in which the post was added to the site. 
« Last Edit: 08/09/2016 02:06 am by craigcocca »
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Offline Space Pete

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #24 on: 08/09/2016 02:32 am »
So this might be a good time to float an idea I've been toying with of late.

How about an NSF YouTube channel, to essentially allow us to branch out into video coverage?

Having been inspired by the likes of "Jenny On Console", I myself have for a while been thinking about making some videos about the ISS, explaining all I know about certain systems.

So, for instance, one "episode" could be all about ISS docking systems, another could be about the electrical power generation system, etc. Think of it as a series: "How the ISS Works, with Space Pete". :)

The videos would include visual graphics and animations to aid in understanding of the systems I was describing, as I find that text isn't always the best way to describe complex systems, it can be far easier if you can visually show people.

And therein lies the problem - generating the graphics that I would need, which would likely involve animated 3D renderings of the ISS and its components. I don't have the know-how to do that myself, and I imagine it would be quite an involved and time consuming process.

But maybe we could create an NSF YouTube channel and, in the same style of the forums, allow knowledgeable users on particular aspects/systems to create their own content and share it via the channel? Or maybe Podcasts would be a better format, as that wouldn't require the creation of graphics/animations.

Anyway, something to ponder...
« Last Edit: 08/09/2016 02:41 am by Space Pete »
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Offline Lar

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #25 on: 08/09/2016 02:51 am »
Random comments


- Don't change the logo (or the name, but we're good there)
- Semantic tagging is a great idea
- Push for live events is good idea if it can be made to work, I fear that push takes more resources even than a bazilion refreshes a second but don't know for sure
- Wikilike area for collaborative editing might be useful. If it had better assistance for creating tables and formatted text/lists even  better, We are seeing more data collection/collation efforts  like the scrubs thread, etc. and this might help.
- I agree about finding a way to handle long links, and also about resizing also reformatting the text.
- The search needs vast improvement. Has a custom Google search been considered?
- Keep likes. I think they're working great
- Give mods the ability  to like more than once every 120 seconds (no I wasn't kidding about that)
« Last Edit: 08/09/2016 02:55 am by Lar »
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Offline TinkerLaspeyrs

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #26 on: 08/09/2016 09:21 am »
A feature to convert times into local time for the readers location. Heavens above it can't be difficult - Heavens Above does it. We're not all Florida or Hawthorn centric.

Some standardisation of Units of measurement or a conversion feature. Metric would be preferable, makes it much better for comparison of performance, size, weight etc and might help ensure some hardware doesn't miss Mars again. The only countries in the world remaining nonmetric are Liberia, Myanmar and some place I watched Endeavour launch in 2007 on STS-118 with lots of fabulous people speaking Spanish.

Has anyone thought about attempting to create a price index for launch services or collections of rocket hardware and consumables. Is there enough fine grained data to meaningfully do this? If the data is available it is not difficult to do, just a bit time consuming. Then there would be an idea of the price change over time of different services and hardware etc. Might be the best way to see if the promise of making space more affordable is a happening thing. I think all derived indexes should be measuring change in $/kilo to somewhere.
Could get a bit messy with utilisation of capacity arguments (might need to specify a fixed weight, ha, Price index practitioners might see a pun in that) and the value of reusable stages. Which makes me wonder if a reusable stage could be treated as Capital, 'Spose it depends on whether it you're producing an input or an output index. This 'NSF' would be a good forum for Delphi Method polls for quality or utility changes in hardware or its use.

for a moment there I thought I'd done that without an acronym - but looky-see STS - drat.
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Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #27 on: 08/09/2016 10:10 am »
A reminder this is for suggestions. They will be discussed by other members if we take them forwards into their own threads, but for now this is just the suggestions (so hold your additional thoughts on other people's ideas until that point to keep this as a list of suggestions). However:

A feature to convert times into local time for the readers location. Heavens above it can't be difficult - Heavens Above does it. We're not all Florida or Hawthorn centric.

This is something we already have. Go to "Profile, Look and Layout" and you'll see it.
« Last Edit: 08/09/2016 10:38 am by Chris Bergin »
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Offline yg1968

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #28 on: 08/09/2016 02:17 pm »
A Youtube channel where we could upload full launch webcasts and other NASA/space related events.

P.S. Edited in response to Chris' post below.
« Last Edit: 08/09/2016 02:50 pm by yg1968 »

Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #29 on: 08/09/2016 02:27 pm »
A reminder this is for suggestions. They will be discussed by other members if we take them forwards into their own threads, but for now this is just the suggestions (so hold your additional thoughts on other people's ideas until that point to keep this as a list of suggestions).

And the next two posts didn't read this. ;D

Keep the channel clear for suggestions please chaps. I'll tidy it up later. We're talking about improving the site, not "to use metric or not".
« Last Edit: 08/09/2016 02:28 pm by Chris Bergin »
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Offline RonM

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #30 on: 08/09/2016 02:56 pm »
Simple improvements to live coverage would help. Sort of like how the BBC handles it would be good (a page with links and windows for video and new posts).

Is there some way to have alerts for upcoming live events? Something like the way My Messages works (shows number of new messages on the forum tool bar).

Youtube channel is a good idea. We have a lot of creative forum members that would have fun making informative videos. Probably should have videos reviewed before being posted to the official NSF Youtube channel to maintain editorial standards. Get enough views and it can be a revenue source for NSF (got to pay for those severs).

A wiki is also a good idea. Put moderators in charge of maintaining the quality of the information posted and it will be a more reliable resource than Wikipedia. It would be a great place to put historical data or links to threads with historical content.

Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #31 on: 08/09/2016 04:06 pm »
Yeah, I do love the idea of NSF TV or somesuch. That'll be a thread for us to work within.
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Offline Poole Amateur

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #32 on: 08/09/2016 07:22 pm »
Just a tiny thought  (like most of mine are.. ), would it be an idea for articles to be read by a few volunteer members, before being published, to check for any obvious mistaks?
« Last Edit: 08/09/2016 07:23 pm by Poole Amateur »

Offline okan170

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #33 on: 08/09/2016 07:32 pm »
A Youtube channel where we could upload full launch webcasts and other NASA/space related events.

P.S. Edited in response to Chris' post below.

This is pretty interesting.  Over the last few years, I've noticed a few NSF members have YouTube channels where they've uploaded things for the forums, bringing everything together in one spot would be advantageous, especially when there are many gems out there that are hard-to-find.

Edit:
Another thought regarding reformatting future articles; would this also retroactively re-format the existing articles or would there be a way to have "new-style" articles with the more updated formatting while preserving the older ones? 
« Last Edit: 08/09/2016 07:35 pm by okan170 »

Offline cebri

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #34 on: 08/09/2016 08:11 pm »
Hi guys,

First of all, thanks for this awesome site.

I think a wiki would be an amazing addition to the site where we could refresh all the latest information about launches, boosters, ships, missions, etc. It would be a good and easy way to access a lot of information instead of having to dig very deep in some threads to retrieve some great info.

About that url change name, i'm proposing www.spacexandotherstuff.com (just kidding :D )
"It's kind of amazing that a window of opportunity is open for life to beyond Earth, and we don't know how long this window is gonna be open" Elon Musk
"If you want to see an endangered species, get up and look in the mirror." John Young

Offline ChrisGebhardt

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #35 on: 08/10/2016 12:53 am »
Yeah, I do love the idea of NSF TV or somesuch. That'll be a thread for us to work within.

This was the first thing that came to mind.  Maybe even allowing us to do some kind of live feed coverage where we talk about the engineering and tech aspects of the upcoming launch/mission and not just "oh cool, there's a rocketing launching".  I don't see that kind of engineering live launch coverage out there.  (And yes, I know that writing this means this is something I'll be heavily involved with.)

Offline DecoLV

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #36 on: 08/10/2016 01:09 am »
We don't have 'breaking news' around here often  but you know it IF you see it. Would be nice to be able for an editor to flag something as hot across the site...important speech, accident, approval of a  CDR,..broad interest.

Offline Andy USA

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #37 on: 08/10/2016 01:21 am »
The news site is very, very good, but aimed at quality over quantity. However, if there's any space news out there, there's no way this forum part misses it. The problem is the forum is so massive it's hard to keep up. So some people picking out breaking items from the forum and that being a feed on the news site alongside the great articles here would be awesome.

News site:

News site - NSF Articles.
News feed - picking out breaking and major other news - which people can then click through to the forum and discuss.
NSF TV.

How about that for making NSF even greater!
« Last Edit: 08/10/2016 01:22 am by Andy USA »

Offline mhlas7

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #38 on: 08/10/2016 01:58 am »
I'm spending more and more time on the site via phone and pad, less via desktop browser.  I've used tapatalk for past few years and now am back to trying the mobile-friendly browser interface from my phone.

One open issue is there's no good way to read articles / news stories on a phone.  Finding some mobile-friendly presentation really should be some sort of objective for 2017, I think.

I'm enamored by the flipit style interface WAPO and flipit app have adopted, but am certainly open to others.

Thanks

Answering some of these in reverse order, but I am reading them all. Tapatalk sucks (in the style of Rainman's Dustin Hoffman talking about Kmart)....just my personal opinion and because some people like it, that's why we have it.  I'm overruled ;)

I use google chrome on my phone for NSF....but mainly desktop. If there's alternatives, we can check into that. This will be a thread in this section too. (Will be standalone threads for major items of investigation).

I too am not a fan of the Taptalk app

How about a community developed NSF app for iOS, Android, etc? It would be a place to read articles, browse the forum's, self updating live threads, customizable push notifications, chatroom, access video streams...

If there are members of the community that wanted to do this, I would be willing to help with the development. I personally have an Android phone and I have made a few basic apps but I am by no means an expert.

Offline gin455res

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #39 on: 08/10/2016 06:19 am »
I've built a system to help people learn to read more easily. It adds a diacritic overlay to English to make it regular.


http://webpidgin.co.uk/augmented-english/lexicon/outputbox.html


If you try it, you will notice that some words have two possible pronunciations, e.g. lives in spain, the tomcat's nine lives


In this instance I provide buttons to choose the correct option.


Adding this to the site would allow non-native speakers to improve their English while using the site.




But even more useful would be a similar system that allowed contributors to post edit their entries for semantic meaning.  If you could mark between pressure (pascals) and pressure (stress); we could then have a fairly simple to implement and accurate partial-translation* system. This system would make the site more accessible to non-native users, and should also allow them to improve** their language skills.



*The system would translate a varying fraction of English back into the mother tongue (L2).  The lower frequency (harder, and less ambiguous) words would be translated to L2 based on a frequency threshold.

**Research suggests knowing 95% of the words in a text allows readers to acquire some of the remaining lexis from context.

Offline Humuku

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #40 on: 08/10/2016 06:56 am »
Hi, things are pretty good as they are and I would caution against changing too much, because things might get out of control workload wise.

Anyways, the things I would prefer to concentrate on:

* higher resolution images with captions
(e.g. https://wordpress.org/plugins/captionpix/)
* link to discussion added to articles
* https encryption for forum (and maybe site)
* some mouse over magic converting units and times
(e.g. https://wordpress.org/plugins/unit-converter/)
« Last Edit: 08/10/2016 07:04 am by Humuku »

Offline mtakala24

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #41 on: 08/10/2016 07:18 am »
Automatically updated launch update feed/page that is changed/converted into a forum thread afterwards.

Please no responsive site, as usually the responsiveness is achieved by reducing features/decluttering the user interface. All features on every device is a good thing these days.

Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #42 on: 08/10/2016 10:35 pm »
Again guys, just suggestions. Those suggestions we take forward will become their own threads, then we can expand on the idea and discuss them.
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Offline Tea Party Space Czar

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #43 on: 08/11/2016 12:42 am »
IBTR

The idea I have is a NASA Spaceflight University - this is a disruptive idea. 

I just do not want to see innovation - I want revolutionary development.

We have some of the most amazing people here with such diverse backgrounds.  Imagine if this was the place where people could bring their ideas and truly vet them and crowd source the development.  I had an executive from one of the BIG THREE aero firms talk about how amazed they were with the fidelity of data on L2.

Why not take it to the next level?

Why couldn't NASA Spaceflight be a repository for lessons learned and spacecraft development?  We know we can go to universities around the world to study engineering.  We also know many areas of study are not fully developed because ideas are shot down.

It is my opinion that this could be a place where we could do some really amazing things for spaceflight - human and robotic.  I am quite certain if we mission planned this we could work on things like:

#1  Standards for inner solar system exploration with robots
#2  Discuss and write (meaningful) papers on issues that are not being addressed in a manner we (the NSF community) feels should be worked on
#3  Develop software
#4  Build Hardware

Finally, Chris, you have "linkedin" a community of very highly specialized people unlike anywhere in the world.  This is like the RED FLAG of spaceflight.  There are so many amazing people here who lurk and privately communicate.  If we had a forum where we could really do something special - it would make NSF even bigger.

As an example - what if I could go to people who invest and say:

Quote from: Andrew Gasser
Look, we have a team of people who have proven track records of flying hardware in space.  We would like to build and design a cubesat that takes 8k pics of the moon.  Would you be willing to invest?

There are so many angels out there who just "want to believe" who are willing to help (with resources) to do amazing things.  We could explore this further if you desire Chris. 

...but frankly - we could do some really cool... stuff.

We have the people here - we have the ability and expertise.

Respectfully,
Andrew Gasser

Offline Bubbinski

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #44 on: 08/11/2016 01:22 am »
I'd like to see push notifications on launches and breaking news for Android, iOS etc. (I use my iPad and Galaxy 7 to view NSF almost exclusively). Perhaps this could be combined with a NSF Android/iOS app

Other ideas:

- a countdown clock to the next launch or event on the NSF homepage
- a forum section or a page exclusively with launch manifests for US, Commercial, ESA, Russia, Japan, China, India, etc. also with links to mission pages & webcasts embedded in the manifest
- a dedicated page with flyby/orbit times and important events for planetary probes (Juno, Curiosity, Schiaparelli/TGO etc), perhaps in the format of a map of the solar system
- a dedicated page with links to active missions, list of known exoplanets, solar system objects, etc. (weblinks, not necessarily putting all the information on the NSF site)
- an image gallery (dedicated page) with pics or art uploaded by members
- a YouTube channel as previously mentioned

Edited to add: a live Twitter feed on the side of the homepage or the forum page with the tweets from NSF, NASA, ESA, etc. especially useful during launches

« Last Edit: 08/11/2016 01:24 am by Bubbinski »
I'll even excitedly look forward to "flags and footprints" and suborbital missions. Just fly...somewhere.

Online Galactic Penguin SST

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #45 on: 08/11/2016 03:18 am »
I have been pondering on a dedicated page here showing an airport/train station display board type timetable for every spaceflight related event. The biggest part would be the "Departures" sections for all launches - Date and time (with automatic conversion to your local time by sensing your computer settings; if a launch has a defined window, the start of window is listed), LSPs in place of airlines, payloads and rocket variant in place of flight number, planned orbit in place of destinations, launch site in place of gate number, and of course a status section (*) complete with red/yellow/green lights.  ;) This should work with every launch, unless someone like to sneak onto the runway (you know which nation always like to do this  ;))

(*) Departed 22:55/ Scrubbed/ Expected 18:50/ Delayed/ Please contact staff etc.

You may also add an "Arrivals" section for everything coming back to Earth, from ISS crews to Dragons to asteroid sample deliveries; an "Arrival to other stops" section for ISS arrivals to Mars landings; a "Hopping flights" section for sub-orbital flights; and maybe an "Events" section for everything from EVAs to Mr. Musk's next talk.  ;)

I can help with the updating when this page is up. 8)
« Last Edit: 08/11/2016 03:20 am by Galactic Penguin SST »
Astronomy & spaceflight geek penguin. In a relationship w/ Space Shuttle Discovery. Current Priority: Chasing the Chinese Spaceflight Wonder Egg & A Certain Chinese Mars Rover

Offline theebag

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #46 on: 08/11/2016 07:40 am »
As an example how not to redesign a forum would be Airliners.net. They went all new and the backlash was unprecedented, the last couple of months the site is step by step going back to the old format.
Floating around the globe.

Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #47 on: 08/11/2016 01:14 pm »
Great stuff, keep it coming. I'll be starting the dedicated threads in this section over the weekend.
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Offline lamontagne

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #48 on: 08/11/2016 02:00 pm »
As something of a content creator, I can say that the like button is appreciated, as I otherwise get very little feedback on what is right and what isn't.

It would be nice if the function that provides a list of all attachments by a contributor could show the images and not just the titles.  That way we could scan quickly through images for references.

Please do not make drastic changes.  I've seen two discussion sites die as the administrators embarked on overly ambitious improvement plans, just to see the readership move to other sites as they couldn't get their 'information fix' from the sites under reconstruction. 

It might be interesting to create some kind of Facebook add-in, for more public access and some revenue, if possible? But only if it doesn't add to the noise level on the forums. 


Offline fthomassy

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #49 on: 08/11/2016 02:08 pm »
I'd like to see some enhancements to searching.  Features to search within specific thread, section, sub-section.  Then the ability to sort results on user selected metadata.  Perhaps even relevance ranking can be created as a sort category.

For example, search for "wrong", only in "SpaceX Missions".  Then sort by thread name then username so I can review Jim's zingers.
« Last Edit: 08/11/2016 02:10 pm by fthomassy »
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Online gongora

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #50 on: 08/11/2016 02:59 pm »
We could definitely do some cleanup on all the various threads/articles/calendars for individual missions.  Defining a look for the first post in a thread, more cross-linking to the other related threads/articles on the same topic.  I think the presentation of the links could be cleaned up too.  Personally I prefer something like:

Quote
NSF Threads for JCSAT-16 : Discussion / Updates / L2 Coverage / Party / ASDS
NSF Articles for JCSAT-16 : Booster prep / Static Fire/Pre-Launch

instead of

Quote

Discussion Thread:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40373.0

Party Thread:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40089.msg1520968#msg1520968

ASDS Threads:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?board=66.0


because it's cleaner to read and puts the information in a much smaller amount of space on the screen.

Offline the_other_Doug

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #51 on: 08/11/2016 06:09 pm »
I like the idea of making the thread indexing a little more straightforward, but I'm not all that thrilled with doing too much combining of things.  I hang out on other fora than this one, and some get into sub-thread structures to the extent where you have to click through four or five sub-levels of organization just to get to where you can actually see posts.

I like the rather large and extensive main forum index page more than I would like making the main index shorter, at the expense of being able to easily get to the various topics you might be interested in.  So, I would vote for making very few, if any, changes to the main index page.  Some re-arrangement may be good, but I'd want to see how y'all would re-organize the index page before I could chime in on how I liked it (obviously).

I would also toss my hat into the ring of those who want the search function to work better.  You don't need to rework the index pages so much if you make the search function more usable in finding various topics and threads, especially when you're trying to look through old discussions for nuggets of info that apply to a current discussion... :)

So, to summarize what I would suggest or support, from my earlier post and this one:

- Have multi-media-supporting chat rooms where we can watch live streaming coverage of events and comment on them at the same time.  Being able to archive these rooms and watch/read/live through the whole experience again later would also be really, really kewl.

- Make the ads more sedate, maybe changing images once every 10 seconds instead of every three seconds.

- Leave the main index at about the same level of detail, don't merge a lot of topics and sub-fora into layers and layers of nested categories that you need to click through down three or four levels to get to posts -- leave it such that any topic selected from the main index gets you to a list of posts, please.

- Make the search function more robust, context-aware and thread-aware, might also try supporting Boolean search functions.

That's my input for now.  I hope it's helpful to gather it together and summarize it... :)
-Doug  (With my shield, not yet upon it)

Offline scienceguy

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #52 on: 08/12/2016 12:08 am »
Over on www.boardgamegeek.com they have a video section on the main page that only plays a video occasionally, like if there is a board game convention. We could have that here, playing a live stream video for every launch.
e^(pi*i) = -1

Offline NaN

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #53 on: 08/12/2016 12:44 am »
Is there a potential search for improved forum software for migration? There are a lot of tweaks that could be made to forum functionality that I would suggest, but they would generally come as part of a package during a migration to new software.

For example: Cross-quoting from other threads could be a lot easier, having links for related threads (update and discussion threads would be related, a CRX mission thread would suggest links to the Dragon and Falcon and CRS discussion threads... would make finding related topics much easier), usable search, formatting improvements...

Offline Robotbeat

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #54 on: 08/14/2016 02:21 am »
I had this idea of nested discussion thread, where you could post an update, a discussion comment, or a party comment in the same thread. Those who wanted to just view updates could select just the "update" option. This would allow easy discussion of updates and would avoid having updates in the discussion thread and vice versa. Mods could easily mark comments as "discussion" or "party" if they were incorrectly tagged originally. It'd also prevent a proliferation of threads.

Anyway, just an idea.
Chris  Whoever loves correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

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Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #55 on: 08/14/2016 02:00 pm »
Right then, let's start some projects from the suggestions (well the ones I didn't stick my nose up to, like changing the URL!) ;D

First one will be the articles, images and presentation of articles. I'll start that today. That's something we can do within the framework on the current site.
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Offline GWH

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #56 on: 08/15/2016 08:20 pm »
On the main page there are tabs for the various recurring topics.  Didn't there used to be one specific to SpaceX?  Seems odd that a subject that is 1/3 of the articles doesn't get it's own tab.

I think a reorganization of the contents of the tabs would be nice.  In navigating through the ISS articles having a hierarchy to separate launch event articles from ISS op articles would make it a lot easier if one were looking for a specific article.  Or for "commercial" some separation on the various companies/vehicles.  Building in a countdown to events in these areas would be great if a "next event" countdown is added on the main page - one could click on the ISS section and see when the next crew launch is or EVA etc.

Offline fthomassy

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #57 on: 08/15/2016 11:25 pm »
On the "help create it" front ...

What about establishing a development environment?  GitHub is how I'm thinking of it and I see the Simple Machines Forums develops through GitHub as well.  Folks could fix bugs, as well as develop and test site improvements themselves without disrupting the 'real' site.

I code a lot but I am not a professional s/w developer.  While I'd probably be incompetent in setting up on GitHub, I found it remarkably easy to participate in an open source Python project.
gyatm . . . Fern

Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #58 on: 08/15/2016 11:29 pm »
We do have a dev site....I remember this current forum was built and tested in the dev site before it went live, so that's something we can go into when we start implementing things.

Going to be a long process. Starting with the obvious stuff first and going through the coming months with the aim of being sorted for the new year.
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Offline gin455res

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #59 on: 08/16/2016 04:30 am »
The recent posts I like, and the unread posts on each section too.

Is there already a function to see recent posts for a section, not the entire forum?

Offline BrianNH

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #60 on: 08/16/2016 05:28 pm »
This may be one of the 90 unworkable suggestions, but how about a top level button that dynamically builds pages listing all recent posts in all update threads.   The idea is that you would see what looks like a regular forum thread, but it would contain posts from many different update threads, sorted by time.  It would be a quick overview of "what's new" across the forums without having to click through to each section.

Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #61 on: 08/16/2016 10:52 pm »
One thing we're already implementing is an improved mission update and discussion thread lead post. Check out the first one, which we're going to use as a template. All credit to Daniel for the creation of that format.

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40373.0
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Offline rocketguy101

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #62 on: 08/17/2016 02:22 pm »
This may be one of the 90 unworkable suggestions, but how about a top level button that dynamically builds pages listing all recent posts in all update threads.   The idea is that you would see what looks like a regular forum thread, but it would contain posts from many different update threads, sorted by time.  It would be a quick overview of "what's new" across the forums without having to click through to each section.
You mean like the "Unread Topics" button except it is filtered for "update threads" only?
David

Offline rayleighscatter

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #63 on: 08/17/2016 11:48 pm »
This one might be a bridge too far but...

What about NSF arranging events off forum? NASA and contractors have done social network gatherings and open houses in the past and NSF has a lot of members within NASA and the various companies. Maybe every now and then a meetup could be organized to tour some sort of site, or for an expert in some field to maybe talk about a project or do a little Q&A.

Offline starhawk92

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #64 on: 08/18/2016 06:04 pm »
Is it time for a name change perhaps?


I can rule that out right away. It's like "maybe you should change your 12 year old daughter's name" to my mind. ;D

I get the point, but one has to stick with the name. Maybe we should create more splinter sites? :o

Instead of splintering, how about subnetting?  Like "spacex.nasaspaceflight.com", "spaceshuttle.nasaspaceflight.com" and the every-valuable "L2.nasaspaceflight.com".  Each could be a copy of the current forum software -- this also solves capacity depending on how the subnet sights are hosted.

I am also on board with the "new of space" website and would be willing to help with that (I've made webcrawlers and harvesters before).

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #65 on: 08/19/2016 04:30 pm »
This kinda goes along with what Galactic Penguin SST was talking about above in https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40878.msg1568004#msg1568004

It would be kinda nice to have some sort of data structure to contain the launch logs (whether it be database, xml, csv, whatever) where the people maintaining launch logs of various areas (US, SpaceX, Europe, Russia, China, etc) could all update a common set of data.  Then you could have a launch schedule feature on the site where it could automatically show an up to date list of upcoming launches, and people could filter it by country/launch provider if they wanted to.

Offline francesco nicoli

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #66 on: 08/19/2016 05:03 pm »
This kinda goes along with what Galactic Penguin SST was talking about above in https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40878.msg1568004#msg1568004

It would be kinda nice to have some sort of data structure to contain the launch logs (whether it be database, xml, csv, whatever) where the people maintaining launch logs of various areas (US, SpaceX, Europe, Russia, China, etc) could all update a common set of data.  Then you could have a launch schedule feature on the site where it could automatically show an up to date list of upcoming launches, and people could filter it by country/launch provider if they wanted to.

Indeed. In fact, I would go forward, saying that the website would benefit from a section called "projects" in which people working on common issues can maintain a home page with their key findings or data, and a associated discussion thread. Of course, this happens already in discussion forums, but it would be nice to heve a dedicated instrument for projects (whether it is keeping a log, collecting costs data, or presenting experimental results from DYI experiments).

Offline 1

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #67 on: 08/21/2016 08:11 am »
Two things; apologies if they've already been suggested.

 First, I'll also throw out a suggestion that may well be completely unfeasible. Any chance of getting an equation editor built into the forum a-la-LaTeX? The sup/superscript buttons can only take us so far.

Secondly, when a thread gets large page numbers are listed like "1 2 3 ... 100".  Clicking those three dots always seems to expand the smaller end of that number line. Which is great if I want to jump to page 6, but somewhat less than great if I want to read page 96; the latter of which occurs more often when I'm trying to catch up on recent posts. Can we get a few trailing numbers for the last few pages of a thread? (Or even better, something like "1 2 ... 50 ... 99 100" )

Appreciate all of the work that's gone into the site!

Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #68 on: 08/21/2016 12:31 pm »
This one might be a bridge too far but...

What about NSF arranging events off forum? NASA and contractors have done social network gatherings and open houses in the past and NSF has a lot of members within NASA and the various companies. Maybe every now and then a meetup could be organized to tour some sort of site, or for an expert in some field to maybe talk about a project or do a little Q&A.

Yep, really like that idea. That'll be a thread ;D (PS I'm still going to do threads for main ideas, just didn't want to overload it and this is a long process. This has helped the logo thread as it's focused people on it).
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Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #69 on: 08/21/2016 12:32 pm »
Is it time for a name change perhaps?


I can rule that out right away. It's like "maybe you should change your 12 year old daughter's name" to my mind. ;D

I get the point, but one has to stick with the name. Maybe we should create more splinter sites? :o

Instead of splintering, how about subnetting?  Like "spacex.nasaspaceflight.com", "spaceshuttle.nasaspaceflight.com" and the every-valuable "L2.nasaspaceflight.com".  Each could be a copy of the current forum software -- this also solves capacity depending on how the subnet sights are hosted.

I am also on board with the "new of space" website and would be willing to help with that (I've made webcrawlers and harvesters before).

You're into my thinking about NSF as a central site, but - like some other sites - they have splinter sites, still part of the parent, but specific to a major area. Absolutely would like to look into that as it's a natural way for a site to expand.
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Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #70 on: 08/21/2016 12:33 pm »
This kinda goes along with what Galactic Penguin SST was talking about above in https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40878.msg1568004#msg1568004

It would be kinda nice to have some sort of data structure to contain the launch logs (whether it be database, xml, csv, whatever) where the people maintaining launch logs of various areas (US, SpaceX, Europe, Russia, China, etc) could all update a common set of data.  Then you could have a launch schedule feature on the site where it could automatically show an up to date list of upcoming launches, and people could filter it by country/launch provider if they wanted to.

Launch logs - launch manifests - launch central. Yeah, want to do more with that and be innovative with it.
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Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #71 on: 08/21/2016 12:35 pm »
Two things; apologies if they've already been suggested.

 First, I'll also throw out a suggestion that may well be completely unfeasible. Any chance of getting an equation editor built into the forum a-la-LaTeX? The sup/superscript buttons can only take us so far.

Secondly, when a thread gets large page numbers are listed like "1 2 3 ... 100".  Clicking those three dots always seems to expand the smaller end of that number line. Which is great if I want to jump to page 6, but somewhat less than great if I want to read page 96; the latter of which occurs more often when I'm trying to catch up on recent posts. Can we get a few trailing numbers for the last few pages of a thread? (Or even better, something like "1 2 ... 50 ... 99 100" )

Appreciate all of the work that's gone into the site!

Things like the first one might be like the acronym expander. We had that, but it put a lot of load on the database (but that might be solved by now, so we have this thread and Mark can pick out things that are viable). I remember "likes" was a problem, but that has since been solved (per load).

Second one really sounds like something we could and should do. I know what you mean about that with long threads....and I've got 2300 pages of PMs (seriously ;D) which really shows the issue when you're looking back for a message from a few months ago.
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Offline 1

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #72 on: 08/22/2016 08:17 pm »
Things like the first one might be like the acronym expander. We had that, but it put a lot of load on the database (but that might be solved by now, so we have this thread and Mark can pick out things that are viable). I remember "likes" was a problem, but that has since been solved (per load).

It's certainly not a trivial thing to request, but one can always hope. And since I'm not a fan of bringing up problems without also suggesting possible solutions, I'll throw out the MathJax tool https://www.mathjax.org/ as something that might help. It's actually built for client-side operation, although server-side implementations exist. Anyway, I'll cross my fingers and leave it at that.

Online Space OurSoul

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #73 on: 08/23/2016 12:06 am »
I have a very simple request: could the orange "NEW" button at the end of thread titles (that links to <url>#new) be a little bit bigger? It's awfully hard to hit on higher-DPI touch screens.

ta!
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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #74 on: 08/23/2016 12:12 am »
I had this idea of nested discussion thread, where you could post an update, a discussion comment, or a party comment in the same thread. Those who wanted to just view updates could select just the "update" option. This would allow easy discussion of updates and would avoid having updates in the discussion thread and vice versa. Mods could easily mark comments as "discussion" or "party" if they were incorrectly tagged originally. It'd also prevent a proliferation of threads.

Anyway, just an idea.
I had the same idea but Chris (THE Chris that is. Robot, I think you have to be the "other" Chris, at least in this context :-) ) wasn't a fan.

But if there is some other way to catch up on just the updates in a thread to which one hasn't returned in a few days, I'd be a fan.

Perhaps a simple alternative would be to have "reply in discussion thread" and "quote and reply in discussion thread" buttons that are peers to the existing reply/quote buttons (and of course available only in update threads). People would get it right most of the time. I do realize this requires back-end structure to link update and discussion threads, though, so perhaps it's not feasible.

Might save the poor mods a bunch of work moving out-of-place discussion replies too.
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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #75 on: 08/23/2016 08:22 am »
I have a very simple request: could the orange "NEW" button at the end of thread titles (that links to <url>#new) be a little bit bigger? It's awfully hard to hit on higher-DPI touch screens.

ta!

And could the 'new' button be moved to the of the replies column (since its a new reply?), and left or right justified in that column?
When I am clicking NEWs on the threads that take my interest, I am getting RSI having to jigger my mouse all over the screen. It would be much easier and more comfortable if all the NEWs were in a vertical line.

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #76 on: 08/30/2016 06:47 am »
Ok I confess, for reading the forum I mainly use tapatalk on my mobile. Why? Because it's the easiest way to see which of the myriad of threads I follow across the site have new posts since I last read them. It's also very quick to jump into the relevant point in those threads. It also helpfully lists new threads in the subforums I subscribe to and I can easily add/remove subscriptions.
I used to use email notifications but my inbox just clogged up with 100s of messages, with no clear overview and it was a pain to constantly switch between email and browser.
So in my ideal NSF 2017 there would be a way to do this within the site itself. There's no question that reading the web version is nicer. The issue for me is finding the content I want to read.

Offline moralec

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #77 on: 08/30/2016 08:18 pm »
+1 for two ideas already mentioned above (also happy could help in turning either a reality)

1) wiki/library. Some amazing documents and information scattered over old threads and news articles. Great to see those transformed into a knowledge repository

2) live events. Would love to see something like what theguardian uses to cover events as they happen.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Offline Joaosg

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #78 on: 09/02/2016 01:58 pm »
Chris an important implementation would be an SSL certificate for the forum (subdomain would be cheaper than all domain and subdomains).

Google values SSL on their rank and it is a good idea for security reasons also.

Don't know what version of Wordpress we are using (hope it's updated) but there are a lot of awesome off the shelf themes that with some proper customization could really step up the news site both in terms of functionality and design, and all of them are now responsive so they can adapt to mobile devices.

Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #79 on: 09/02/2016 02:06 pm »
Chris an important implementation would be an SSL certificate for the forum (subdomain would be cheaper than all domain and subdomains).

Google values SSL on their rank and it is a good idea for security reasons also.

Don't know what version of Wordpress we are using (hope it's updated) but there are a lot of awesome off the shelf themes that with some proper customization could really step up the news site both in terms of functionality and design, and all of them are now responsive so they can adapt to mobile devices.

Very interested in the Wordpress stuff. My thinking is to mirror what we use right now and play with themes etc. Rather than work in the current CMS in case I mess up current articles ;)

Per the cert, I thought we had sorted all of that out?

Talking about this? (The s in the URL)?
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Offline miscme

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #80 on: 09/02/2016 04:10 pm »
The user avatar's are loading in http mode and that prevent's me from seeing the green padlock of trust.

Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #81 on: 09/02/2016 04:14 pm »
Thanks. We'll get on that. Everyone should have a green padlock. Otherwise it just isn't cricket ;)
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Offline Joaosg

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #82 on: 09/04/2016 06:26 pm »
Chris an important implementation would be an SSL certificate for the forum (subdomain would be cheaper than all domain and subdomains).

Google values SSL on their rank and it is a good idea for security reasons also.

Don't know what version of Wordpress we are using (hope it's updated) but there are a lot of awesome off the shelf themes that with some proper customization could really step up the news site both in terms of functionality and design, and all of them are now responsive so they can adapt to mobile devices.

Very interested in the Wordpress stuff. My thinking is to mirror what we use right now and play with themes etc. Rather than work in the current CMS in case I mess up current articles ;)

Per the cert, I thought we had sorted all of that out?

Talking about this? (The s in the URL)?

Ohh.. There is a SSL installed, but it isn't redirecting the http:// to https://, it should be redirecting everyone to the https format. Using a simple .htacess redirect should do it!

You can read about it here: http://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/website/ssl/how-to-force-https-using-the-htaccess-file
It's just adding that to the htacess of the site/forum.
Also what miscme said is right.

About the wordpress, since you use the built-in editor of the wordpress without any special code a new theme shouldn't become a problem to old articles, but we could always start a new folder in beta.nasaspaceflight.com and test everything and receive feedback from L2 users (at first) for instance
« Last Edit: 09/04/2016 06:27 pm by Joaosg »

Offline MP99

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #83 on: 09/04/2016 09:44 pm »
Ok I confess, for reading the forum I mainly use tapatalk on my mobile. Why? Because it's the easiest way to see which of the myriad of threads I follow across the site have new posts since I last read them. It's also very quick to jump into the relevant point in those threads. It also helpfully lists new threads in the subforums I subscribe to and I can easily add/remove subscriptions.
I used to use email notifications but my inbox just clogged up with 100s of messages, with no clear overview and it was a pain to constantly switch between email and browser.
So in my ideal NSF 2017 there would be a way to do this within the site itself. There's no question that reading the web version is nicer. The issue for me is finding the content I want to read.

If you want a list of all your subscribed threads with "new" buttons, just go to Profile / Modify Profile.

Edit:- this is on the desktop site.

Cheers, Martin
« Last Edit: 09/04/2016 09:46 pm by MP99 »

Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #84 on: 09/10/2016 04:26 pm »
Right, not enough hours in the day.

Call for help on one of the projects....anyone very savvy with Wordpress CMS, so we can do that experiment with the article layout? I'm worried I might break something if I fiddle with it too much ;D

Fire me a PM if you're that person.

--

That's sorted and in work :)
« Last Edit: 09/19/2016 12:13 pm by Chris Bergin »
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Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #85 on: 09/19/2016 12:13 pm »
Going to set up a L2 reception area as the payment merchant is now a lot easier and welcoming to any form of online payment (rather than the old days where it really wanted you to join paypal). Will do a payment tutorial and a new overview landing page :)
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Offline Rocket Science

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #86 on: 09/21/2016 12:50 am »
I really enjoyed the Aerobee-19 article. There is so much spaceflight history to choose from, perhaps we can make this a regular ongoing feature on NSF? :)
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Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #87 on: 09/21/2016 12:52 am »
Going to set up a L2 reception area as the payment merchant is now a lot easier and welcoming to any form of online payment (rather than the old days where it really wanted you to join paypal). Will do a payment tutorial and a new overview landing page :)

And that's complete (and will be built organically as we go).

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?board=79.0

I really enjoyed the Aerobee-19 article. There is so much spaceflight history to choose from, perhaps we can make this a regular ongoing feature on NSF? :)

Yeah, if we spot good anniversaries they make them newsworthy. I certainly enjoyed reading that one!
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Offline Kaputnik

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #88 on: 09/21/2016 10:36 pm »
Some great ideas- I love the "arrivals & departures" board for upcoming launches.

Massive, long, rambling threads are a daunting read. I try not to skip ahead but it can be hard to find the time to read thousands of posts. And some people don't even try to catch up, but just wade in by posting something which already been discussed to death a few pages back- which just exacerbates the problem.
I don't really know how to address this. Ideally it would need some sort of regularly updated summary. But perhaps a feature where you could temporarily view only certain posts (e.g. posts by your chosen favourite users, posts that have been liked, posts which have generated x no. of replies) would serve to improve the signal:noise ratio and make catching up on huge 100+ page threads more managable.
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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #89 on: 09/21/2016 10:39 pm »
Yeah, I'm thinking of a plan of "section leaders", where they - people with a big interest in the subject  - can edit the opening post and link key posts, provide one stop summaries linking to the point in the thread where something was updated, etc.
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Offline catdlr

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #90 on: 09/21/2016 10:53 pm »
Yeah, I'm thinking of a plan of "section leaders", where they - people with a big interest in the subject  - can edit the opening post and link key posts, provide one stop summaries linking to the point in the thread where something was updated, etc.

I'm very much favor what Kaputnik suggested.  I would like to suggest that if a member likes a particular topic, then they could hit a new button on the bottom of the page along side the Reply, Notify, etc with one that's labeled "Favorite Topic".  Then at the top of the Forums page toolbar, an addition button, alongside "Unread Topics", labeled "Favorite Topics" would only populate the threads that user is interested in (thus the user manages what they would like to view and read.  Of course, NSF would have the update the user database to make that happen, but your doing this so far with the "Notify" option already.   The original "Unread Topics" could be renamed "All Unread Topics".

I too spend way to much time looking just for the topics I'm interested.  I would rather have a means to manage what I'm interested.

Thanks, and as always, this is such a great site, no matter what become of it.

Tony De La Rosa
« Last Edit: 09/21/2016 10:54 pm by catdlr »
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Offline GeneBelcher

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #91 on: 09/24/2016 06:14 pm »
I skimmed this thread and didn't see this mentioned, so sorry if it already was.

Multi-quote ability.

Instead of seeing multiple posts in a row from the same person because they are quoting and replying to different previous posts, the multi-quote function allows you to select multiple posts at once and then it includes them all as separate quotes in one reply. Would help clean up the long discussion threads.

A perfect example of when this is useful is right here in the 2nd AMOS-6 discussion thread. https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=41252.msg1587924#msg1587924

jongoff has 8 reply posts in a row, plus a 9th pointing out the other 8. That could have been just one post if the multi-quote function existed.

Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #92 on: 09/24/2016 06:18 pm »
Jim also does that sometimes. It's not the fault of the site. It's the fault of an overly chatty member ;D

And the multiquote is available, but Jon simply didn't use it.

I'll merge some posts. And done, it's now four posts. And to be fair, had he done all that in one post, people would be complaining about such a long post with lots of quotes, so the balance is now right.
« Last Edit: 09/24/2016 06:22 pm by Chris Bergin »
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Offline Lar

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #93 on: 09/24/2016 06:22 pm »
I skimmed this thread and didn't see this mentioned, so sorry if it already was.

Multi-quote ability.

Instead of seeing multiple posts in a row from the same person because they are quoting and replying to different previous posts, the multi-quote function allows you to select multiple posts at once and then it includes them all as separate quotes in one reply. Would help clean up the long discussion threads.

A perfect example of when this is useful is right here in the 2nd AMOS-6 discussion thread. https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=41252.msg1587924#msg1587924

jongoff has 8 reply posts in a row, plus a 9th pointing out the other 8. That could have been just one post if the multi-quote function existed.


Multiquote exists now, you just have to add one post at a time and remember that you have to leave the cursor in the bottom, the quote you click gets inserted wherever the cursor is, I think. (or maybe always at the bottom)

Yeah, I'm thinking of a plan of "section leaders", where they - people with a big interest in the subject  - can edit the opening post and link key posts, provide one stop summaries linking to the point in the thread where something was updated, etc.

I'm very much favor what Kaputnik suggested.  I would like to suggest that if a member likes a particular topic, then they could hit a new button on the bottom of the page along side the Reply, Notify, etc with one that's labeled "Favorite Topic".  Then at the top of the Forums page toolbar, an addition button, alongside "Unread Topics", labeled "Favorite Topics" would only populate the threads that user is interested in (thus the user manages what they would like to view and read.  Of course, NSF would have the update the user database to make that happen, but your doing this so far with the "Notify" option already.   The original "Unread Topics" could be renamed "All Unread Topics".

I too spend way to much time looking just for the topics I'm interested.  I would rather have a means to manage what I'm interested.

Thanks, and as always, this is such a great site, no matter what become of it.

Tony De La Rosa
I think "section leaders" doesn't require as much technical change to the sw, Fine grained filtering of only certain threads to only certain posters is not something this board software has, I don't think...
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Offline GeneBelcher

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #94 on: 09/25/2016 03:23 am »
Jim also does that sometimes. It's not the fault of the site. It's the fault of an overly chatty member ;D

And the multiquote is available, but Jon simply didn't use it.

I'll merge some posts. And done, it's now four posts. And to be fair, had he done all that in one post, people would be complaining about such a long post with lots of quotes, so the balance is now right.

Multiquote exists now, you just have to add one post at a time and remember that you have to leave the cursor in the bottom, the quote you click gets inserted wherever the cursor is, I think. (or maybe always at the bottom)


Ahh I see. Sorry about that. It's not setup at all how I've more seen it done before so I didn't even notice. Cool deal. If only I actually posted enough to use it. :)

Offline Kaputnik

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #95 on: 09/25/2016 09:50 am »
Fine grained filtering of only certain threads to only certain posters is not something this board software has, I don't think...

Is there an 'ignore list' function? It would act along similar lines, but in reverse. My idea is that you see a 100+ page thread and can just see posts by, e.g., Jim, HMXHMX, JonGoff, and whoever else you choose and know is worth reading. But you'd need it to be something that you have to actively select and perhaps only available on threads over a certain length, and which turns off again by default.

I have no idea whether the forum software could support such a thing, but, heck if we can put a man on the moon...

I also like the idea of a favourite threads or topics list, as mentioned above. As much as I would like to follow every thread on the forum there simply aren't enough hours in the day. In fact I believe Jim only manages it because he has been cloned multiple times as part of a government rocket scientist breeding program.
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Offline Star One

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NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #96 on: 09/25/2016 11:24 am »
Fine grained filtering of only certain threads to only certain posters is not something this board software has, I don't think...

Is there an 'ignore list' function? It would act along similar lines, but in reverse. My idea is that you see a 100+ page thread and can just see posts by, e.g., Jim, HMXHMX, JonGoff, and whoever else you choose and know is worth reading. But you'd need it to be something that you have to actively select and perhaps only available on threads over a certain length, and which turns off again by default.

I have no idea whether the forum software could support such a thing, but, heck if we can put a man on the moon...

I also like the idea of a favourite threads or topics list, as mentioned above. As much as I would like to follow every thread on the forum there simply aren't enough hours in the day. In fact I believe Jim only manages it because he has been cloned multiple times as part of a government rocket scientist breeding program.

I would be strongly against this idea as if you only saw posts by certain posters that would run the risk of both missing posts that might be interesting by other posters and losing the overall context of certain threads. It also runs the risk of acting like an echo chamber where posters only read posts in certain topics like policy for example where they already pre-agree with a particular viewpoint rather than actually seeing any posts that might present a dissenting one. Which in my view is a dangerous avenue to go down and something on social media that has led to entrenched and infantilised public debate, not something I would like to see take root here.
« Last Edit: 09/25/2016 11:30 am by Star One »

Offline Kaputnik

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #97 on: 09/25/2016 12:20 pm »
I 100% agree with your concerns which is why I would not suggest this filtered view as a default or permanent setting.
However, catching up on long and fast moving threads is not easy, leading many people to simply not bother and to wade in with their 'new' idea which was debunked ten pages earlier. The Amos 6 failure was a good example- by the time I was able to get to a computer, it was already at about 50 pages and growing about as fast as I could get time to catch up with it. So my own approach is to skim through the posts and only concentrate on those that look sufficiently interesting.

My ideal 'filter' would work something like this:
- only available on threads above a certain size (e.g. 20 pages long)
- has to be actively enabled by the user each and every time they view an eligible thread
- the entirety of the first page, and the most recent page, are not filtered
- all posts which have generated X no. of quoted replies are not filtered
- all posts from moderators are not filtered
- (possibly also all 'liked' posts not filtered)?
- the user can select additional posts as they choose, from other named users. Perhaps a suggestion list of memnbers known to work in the industry could be included as a default position on this.

With this approach, moderators would be able to control the discussion and perhaps provide summaries along the way in the knowledge that these would be read.
The idea is to improve the signal to noise ratio and to prevent threads becoming clogged up with newbies asking the same thing over and over again.

Perhaps the filter could be disabled on threads that are not especially fast-moving, even very long ones, as the point of it is to allow people to catch up in a reasonable period of time. And of course users would always have the absolute option of not turning the filter on in the first place.

All moot if the software does not allow it...
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Offline Star One

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #98 on: 09/25/2016 01:53 pm »
I 100% agree with your concerns which is why I would not suggest this filtered view as a default or permanent setting.
However, catching up on long and fast moving threads is not easy, leading many people to simply not bother and to wade in with their 'new' idea which was debunked ten pages earlier. The Amos 6 failure was a good example- by the time I was able to get to a computer, it was already at about 50 pages and growing about as fast as I could get time to catch up with it. So my own approach is to skim through the posts and only concentrate on those that look sufficiently interesting.

My ideal 'filter' would work something like this:
- only available on threads above a certain size (e.g. 20 pages long)
- has to be actively enabled by the user each and every time they view an eligible thread
- the entirety of the first page, and the most recent page, are not filtered
- all posts which have generated X no. of quoted replies are not filtered
- all posts from moderators are not filtered
- (possibly also all 'liked' posts not filtered)?
- the user can select additional posts as they choose, from other named users. Perhaps a suggestion list of memnbers known to work in the industry could be included as a default position on this.

With this approach, moderators would be able to control the discussion and perhaps provide summaries along the way in the knowledge that these would be read.
The idea is to improve the signal to noise ratio and to prevent threads becoming clogged up with newbies asking the same thing over and over again.

Perhaps the filter could be disabled on threads that are not especially fast-moving, even very long ones, as the point of it is to allow people to catch up in a reasonable period of time. And of course users would always have the absolute option of not turning the filter on in the first place.

All moot if the software does not allow it...

I can see where you're coming from, but from purely my personal viewpoint I wouldn't ever use that kind of system but I get that some might prefer it. I didn't know if this could be done but once busy threads dropped below a certain pre-determined level of daily posting such options should then be removed from the thread as they would no longer have a use for any viewer. Also that the number of threads at any one time that such filtering would ever be applied to would be very strictly limited.

Offline Lourens

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #99 on: 09/27/2016 09:58 pm »
You mentioned aesthetics, so I think I should post this here. I created a design refresh for the front page and the articles a year and a half ago, based on the current logo. I shared it only privately with Chris back then, but it still looks nice to me, and this seems to be the opportunity to put it up for everyone. There's a frontpage and an article. Note that these are mock-ups, it would take quite a bit of coding to actually integrate this into the site and make sure everything works properly.

I seem to recall working on a responsive version of the front page. I tried to do it completely with CSS, no JavaScript, and got quite far but didn't quite make it IIRC. I'll see if I can dig that up tomorrow.

I've been very busy with a new job and I haven't had time for even reading the forums in months, so I can't offer any help building the new one, but if anyone wants to develop it further into something, go right ahead :). Here is a zipfile with the whole thing for convenience.

Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #100 on: 09/27/2016 10:04 pm »
You mentioned aesthetics, so I think I should post this here. I created a design refresh for the front page and the articles a year and a half ago, based on the current logo. I shared it only privately with Chris back then, but it still looks nice to me, and this seems to be the opportunity to put it up for everyone. There's a frontpage and an article. Note that these are mock-ups, it would take quite a bit of coding to actually integrate this into the site and make sure everything works properly.

I seem to recall working on a responsive version of the front page. I tried to do it completely with CSS, no JavaScript, and got quite far but didn't quite make it IIRC. I'll see if I can dig that up tomorrow.

I've been very busy with a new job and I haven't had time for even reading the forums in months, so I can't offer any help building the new one, but if anyone wants to develop it further into something, go right ahead :). Here is a zipfile with the whole thing for convenience.

I really, really like that!!!

Let me get my head back on after today's crazy day, but yep, I do like that!
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Offline Comga

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #101 on: 10/02/2016 12:45 am »
This may be one of the 90 unworkable suggestions, but how about a top level button that dynamically builds pages listing all recent posts in all update threads.   The idea is that you would see what looks like a regular forum thread, but it would contain posts from many different update threads, sorted by time.  It would be a quick overview of "what's new" across the forums without having to click through to each section.
You mean like the "Unread Topics" button except it is filtered for "update threads" only?
This could be a boon, particularly in a time of rampant discussion like now with the SpaceX failure and IAC Mars announcement generating many pages on several threads each every day.  It is impossible to catch up with them, and what I really want is the rare Updates, which fall down the Recent Posts page.  I would go so far as to elevate a "New Updates" button to the top line, right beside the "Recent Posts" and extend the duration that qualifies as "New".

Could there also be a way to trace a post forward, so that we could see if others have responded to a given post? Here I am replying to a post on Page 3 (on my screen) that will pop up on Page 5.  It is not knowable without searching if it has already been commented on on Page 4, comments with may have covered my point above.  This would also help avoid the  post/reply chain bifurcating.

As others have said, these are suggestions for small tweaks to what is by far my favorite and most visited site.  Keep up the good work!
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Offline MP99

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #102 on: 10/02/2016 06:46 am »


I also like the idea of a favourite threads or topics list, as mentioned above. As much as I would like to follow every thread on the forum there simply aren't enough hours in the day.

That function already exists.

Click "notify" on the threads you're interested in.

Go to Profile / Modify Profile / Notifications to see all your subscribed threads in a list with most recent posts at the top.  (Add that page to your favourites / bookmarks.)

BTW, you may want to set the notify option on that page to "nothing at all".

Cheers, Martin

Offline MP99

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #103 on: 10/02/2016 07:23 am »


I 100% agree with your concerns which is why I would not suggest this filtered view as a default or permanent setting.
However, catching up on long and fast moving threads is not easy, leading many people to simply not bother and to wade in with their 'new' idea which was debunked ten pages earlier. The Amos 6 failure was a good example- by the time I was able to get to a computer, it was already at about 50 pages and growing about as fast as I could get time to catch up with it. So my own approach is to skim through the posts and only concentrate on those that look sufficiently interesting.

The forum already maintains a Likes vs Posts ratio. One simple option might just be to filter on posters with a certain minimum ratio.

BTW, there is no option to Like from Tapatalk, so this would be relying on browser users, only. (It would be superb if there was some way to enable Likes on Tapatalk.)

Cheers, Martin

Offline Kaputnik

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #104 on: 10/03/2016 09:54 am »
I'm not entirely sure what you mean about the likes:posts ratio. And as a user since 2006 I have a lot more posts than likes, so my ratio is rather poor, compared to a newer member.
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Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #105 on: 10/03/2016 08:03 pm »
Yeah, that ratio is nonsense, as it tapatalk, ironically :)

This is hardly master plan fodder. We're looking for real improvements.
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Online ulm_atms

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #106 on: 10/21/2016 12:26 am »
I searched some but could not find exactly what I would like to request if at all possible.  If what I want to do is already possible however, please let me know how.

Now....

I would like a way to "subscribe" to a thread and have a link called "My Topics" that could be the forum main page for each user when that user is logged in.  Basically a customizable forum home page for each user that shows the subscribed threads for which they chose first and then everything else.  That way you can do a quick scan of all the topics you are currently interested(subscribed) in and see real quick if there are any new post counts or who was last, etc...

Example: I subscribe to topics X,Y, and Z.  Those three topics show up first when I am logged in and click on the Forum link.  After that, everything else show up as always.  If you want, I can supply a picture of what I am talking about....but in a nut shell:

Click Forums:

My Topics (header)
X - new
Y
Z - new

NASASpaceflight L2 Subscription Sections (header)
L2 Master Section
etc...


There are just so many topics, it would make it easier to show only the one you are currently discussing(subscribed) in to get a quick, one stop update on them all.

That is really the only thing I find myself wanting on this site.  Everything else is simple and functional with no unneeded eye candy.  So many site nowadays are so worried about eye candy that they make the site horrible to actually use.

And while I am at it...Thank you Chris(and team behind the scenes) for the site and everyone else for the content of the site.  Without the content and knowledge that everyone contributes to this site......there would be no site...so THANKS!!

 

Offline catdlr

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #107 on: 10/21/2016 12:31 am »
I searched some but could not find exactly what I would like to request if at all possible.  If what I want to do is already possible however, please let me know how.

Now....

I would like a way to "subscribe" to a thread and have a link called "My Topics" that could be the forum main page for each user when that user is logged in.  Basically a customizable forum home page for each user that shows the subscribed threads for which they chose first and then everything else.  That way you can do a quick scan of all the topics you are currently interested(subscribed) in and see real quick if there are any new post counts or who was last, etc...

 

That was the same request I made on a previous page and a good solution was posted above:  http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40878.msg1593407#msg1593407
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Offline FishInferno

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #108 on: 10/21/2016 01:17 am »
Maybe already suggested, but an upcoming launch schedule tab would be a great addition.
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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #109 on: 10/21/2016 01:52 am »
That was the same request I made on a previous page and a good solution was posted above:  http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40878.msg1593407#msg1593407

Sorry.  I re-read it and yes that is basically it.

The problem with the "solution" posted has two issue.  One is, i don't want to get a notification every time someone posts something in one of the watched threads.  Depending on the thread...that can end up with ALOT of notifications.

The other issue that I have with it is the favorites/bookmarks.  I jump around on multiple computers (I have used 10 different computers to view the site in 1 day before).  My(your) request would make it browser/computer independent...and you would not have to keep up with all the bookmarks/favorites as you add/delete subscribed topics.  The solution posted above, does work, but is quite cludgey.  It would just be nice to streamline all of that into one neat, simple package.

Hey....they ask for thoughts...so I give the thoughts.... ;D


Offline catdlr

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #110 on: 10/21/2016 02:39 am »
That was the same request I made on a previous page and a good solution was posted above:  http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40878.msg1593407#msg1593407


Sorry.  I re-read it and yes that is basically it.

The problem with the "solution" posted has two issue.  One is, i don't want to get a notification every time someone posts something in one of the watched threads.  Depending on the thread...that can end up with ALOT of notifications.



On the above issue, you can turn off notifications on your Profile settings as I've done on the picture here.


But for my 2 cents - I would rather like what your asking.
« Last Edit: 10/21/2016 02:41 am by catdlr »
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Offline Kaputnik

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #111 on: 10/21/2016 06:39 am »
Maybe already suggested, but an upcoming launch schedule tab would be a great addition.

See? Only six pages long and we already have people jumping in at the end, not skimming the previous posts.
(Although I agree with the actual suggestion).
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Offline speedevil

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #112 on: 10/21/2016 08:51 pm »
I have skimmed the above thread, and not seen my thought which is to aid people who skim threads and post.

For example - https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/new/mod - this is to make a freedom of information request.
If you start typing in the subject box, (for example, type 'NASA') - it brings up past requests that may contain relevant information about your query.

It could work quite well for new topics - I'm unsure how well it could work for replies.

Offline Bubbinski

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #113 on: 01/08/2017 06:06 pm »
Say, how is the new site development coming along?
I'll even excitedly look forward to "flags and footprints" and suborbital missions. Just fly...somewhere.

Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #114 on: 01/08/2017 06:13 pm »
Say, how is the new site development coming along?

Very well. Mark's been busy at work and has sent me screenshots of the dev site, but via text and I'm not sure how to post that. Buzzwords are "Clean" and "Professional". He's also got one of his guys to do a new logo which looks amazingly professional.

Going to fill and work the same as the current place, so no one is going to be "I'm lost" - but it'll look better (and function better).
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Offline Star One

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #115 on: 01/08/2017 06:24 pm »
Say, how is the new site development coming along?

Very well. Mark's been busy at work and has sent me screenshots of the dev site, but via text and I'm not sure how to post that. Buzzwords are "Clean" and "Professional". He's also got one of his guys to do a new logo which looks amazingly professional.

Going to fill and work the same as the current place, so no one is going to be "I'm lost" - but it'll look better (and function better).

Looking the best for the best Spaceflight content.:)

Offline RobM

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #116 on: 01/17/2017 08:51 am »
Just went through the 6 pages of posts here and I'd say a lot of suggestions can be interpreted as "the forum software needs an overhaul".
For a personal forum project I tried to use Discourse (see http://www.discourse.org) and I have to say I *really* like both the user experience and the level of professionalism of the developers. ESA's STEP program for their Copernicus project is using it, see http://forum.step.esa.int

I'm not at all sure if replacing SMF with Discourse is feasible for NSF, for a number of reasons including the need to have Ruby programming experience available, but I wanted to show it to you just in case :-)

Roberto
« Last Edit: 01/17/2017 08:51 am by RobM »

Offline mtakala24

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #117 on: 01/17/2017 10:33 am »
Its all about the tools to convert content into a new/other system so that everything doesn't just break apart. For that reason, staying with SMF is a good option....

Offline leovinus

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #118 on: 01/22/2017 04:41 am »

- The search needs vast improvement. Has a custom Google search been considered?

Search is key indeed. There is so much history, docs, insights here, and could be linked up even better. Saying "Google search" or "semantic" is helpful but not quite the full solution. Ideally, you just keep on diving into the topics, especially via L2.

Example, just today, I was searching for XS-1 status. I thought there was a thread but wasn't sure where. I used the search function on the site with "XS-1" and find all kind of textual hits for "XS-1" but across all different threads. Crucially, no hit on thread titles, i.e., I was non the wiser. In fact, I had to manually figure out and guess that it might be under the "other US launchers" and found what I was looking for.

Therefore, ideally, you'd start with a search for XS-1 to find the thread, pictures, most relevant DARPA docs, project managers, contractors, status, timelines, history, etc

For this example, I did remember the program manager name, Jess Sponable. Ideally, I'd like to see on Nasaspaceflight that when searching that name, I do not get the textual hits, but the XS-1 threads and docs, DC-X and DC-Y as related topics, book suggestions, videos, slides, etc.

Looks like searching in a knowledge graph to me :) As others mentioned the search as well, it would really lift the (L2) content of this site to the next level.

Finally, making old scanned documents from NASA or MIL-SPEC searchable via OCR would help to add even more depth to search the examples above. PDF and PS are searchable these days but not much before the '90s as you know.

Online Semmel

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #119 on: 01/31/2017 07:33 am »
I don't like change. Let's keep everything the same.

Thats why you moved to a new area where the ground is dug out and landscape is remodeled on a daily basis... right.. ;)

Back on topic.. I would like to be able to like posts on the mobile version of the site. Yes, likes are not an essential tool but especially in L2, when I read the posts on my way to work, I have to remember all the insider infos that I intend to like and then the 120s-delay throws additional logs in my rusty memory.

I also would like for L2 to have a different background color than the rest of the forum. That visual clue will more easily stick in the brain and its actually easier to remember which piece of information can be discussed in the public threads and which not.

Offline fthomassy

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #120 on: 02/13/2017 02:08 pm »
Hope this is the right place for "suggestion box" items.

I like to browse by unread threads.  However, if I check back after the weekend (like just now) there are just too many so I browse unread threads section by section.  Once I've opened the threads of interest to other tabs I then select the "MARK READ" button.  This puts my browser back to the top of the  Forums page.  I then need to page down to get back to where I left off.  I would rather be directed to the Forums page at the section I just finished browsing. So if I just finished browsing the SpaceX section I'd like the MARK READ button to put me here.  This facilitates moving down the forum section by section.  ... Thanks!
gyatm . . . Fern

Offline saliva_sweet

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #121 on: 09/05/2017 06:28 pm »
I'd like the option to get email notifications of posts with x number of likes in any thread.

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #122 on: 11/06/2017 10:34 pm »
When the forum gets revamped it might be nice to add a little vertical spacing between attachments at the end of the post (or have some way to group document attachments separately from image attachments).  If a document and an image are both attached the link for the document is right up against the image.
« Last Edit: 11/06/2017 10:35 pm by gongora »

Offline tyrred

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #123 on: 11/07/2017 03:55 pm »
I had a dream last night that the site went holographic. Ah, dreams...

In reality, it would be interesting to have an optional "node-based" mode for threads and comments, that can link to other threads and comments similar to the visuwords thesaurus:

https://visuwords.com/rocket

Offline JohnR

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #124 on: 11/18/2017 02:43 pm »
I find that I am browsing the web more and more on my iPad. One issue that I am running into is that there are quite a few videos on the site (especially the historical ones) that are not in a playable format (WMV usually). I would be willing to pay a extra to have the website transcode or stream those videos when I am browsing on my iPad. If not possible, I would also be willing to help transcode them to a different format.

Offline catdlr

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #125 on: 11/18/2017 11:31 pm »
JohnR,

Welcome to the site.  I post most of the Historic videos on this site (as well as others), and I usually point them to YouTube.  I usually provide two links (for those with TapTalk).  I tried the following thread (http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=44262.0 ) on my IPad and had no issues viewing the video directly in the thread or using the link to bring up and view the YouTube app.  Perhaps there is some setting that is causing this to happen to you (which I'm not aware of to assist you).  By the way, most if not all of these videos are on mp4 on YouTube.

Hope you the best.
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Online gongora

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #126 on: 11/18/2017 11:38 pm »
I post most of the Historic videos on this site (as well as others), and I usually point them to YouTube.

There are quite a few older videos in L2 that were not posted by you and are in .wmv format.

edit:  A lot of stuff in the public side NSF Video Collection thread are also in .wmv
« Last Edit: 11/18/2017 11:40 pm by gongora »

Offline catdlr

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #127 on: 11/18/2017 11:43 pm »
I post most of the Historic videos on this site (as well as others), and I usually point them to YouTube.

There are quite a few older videos in L2 that were not posted by you and are in .wmv format.

edit:  A lot of stuff in the public side NSF Video Collection thread are also in .wmv

I See, it's the direct uploads of members videos to NSF that are of issue.  I got it now.
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Offline JohnR

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #128 on: 11/20/2017 03:51 pm »
catdir,

Thank you for welcome. I didn't meant to insult the fine work that other members have done on the site. I like a lot of the historical stuff and some of those videos were uploaded to the site several years ago. I made the change from MS to Apple and it takes some work to make WMV videos play. I certainly would be willing to pitch in help to transcode them.

Offline AnalogMan

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #129 on: 11/20/2017 05:39 pm »
catdir,

Thank you for welcome. I didn't meant to insult the fine work that other members have done on the site. I like a lot of the historical stuff and some of those videos were uploaded to the site several years ago. I made the change from MS to Apple and it takes some work to make WMV videos play. I certainly would be willing to pitch in help to transcode them.

Would VLC for iOS be of any help to you (it will play several versions of .wmv files)?

Link: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-ios.html

Offline JohnR

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #130 on: 11/20/2017 07:22 pm »
AnalogMan,

Yes, VLC is helpful.

Offline Fly_or_Boom

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #131 on: 05/09/2018 05:55 am »
Updated the logo on NSF's Wikipedia page!  :)

Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #132 on: 05/09/2018 10:54 am »
Updated the logo on NSF's Wikipedia page!  :)

Thanks! We probably could do with updating the text too! ;D
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Online Semmel

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #133 on: 08/17/2018 09:11 am »
Question for the forum software geeks:

When watching peoples posts containing lots of useful information (especially in L2), I tend to 'like' them. Especially series of images as for example from launch- or media events. I noticed that the forum always reloads the entire page whenever I hit the 'like' button. Now that seems a bit unnecessary. Is there a way to prevent the site from reloading when I use the 'like' button? In this context, thank you for removing the 2 minutes waiting time between likes. That made the above process much more comfortable already!

Also, I would love to 'like' on the mobile version of NFS forum as well ;)

Offline DanseMacabre

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #134 on: 01/04/2019 03:06 pm »
A plugin providing a "Quote in Discussion Thread" button for posts in an update thread that automagically starts a new post in the discussion thread with the quote prefilled.

Offline Tomness

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #135 on: 01/04/2019 06:00 pm »
Is there enough L2 membership to go to month by month bases instead of every 2?

Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #136 on: 01/04/2019 06:06 pm »
Is there enough L2 membership to go to month by month bases instead of every 2?

Bottom line is it's still less than 99.9 percent of the people who will use this site today being L2 members, but that's natural as most people think sites like this are free and cost nothing to run "I'll never pay for using the internet, it's free" types - running around with their paid-for ad blocker. ;)

Per the other part, I always get worried about changing the L2 sub format, as I don't want to let anyone down who's already subscribed. It's why we don't do "Black Friday" and such, because if someone signed up and then a week later it was cheaper, that's a kick in the teeth for someone who's supporting the site.

Now one month at 9.99 wouldn't impact that, but I don't want to annoy the members who signed up at the lowest sub, two months.

If there was a large demand for it, I'd consider it, but that's the first time anyone's asked me in years, so I'm not so sure.
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Online Johnnyhinbos

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #137 on: 01/04/2019 06:09 pm »
A plugin providing a "Quote in Discussion Thread" button for posts in an update thread that automagically starts a new post in the discussion thread with the quote prefilled.
I 100% echo this sentiment. It was something I proposed a while back. I think if the naming convention was consistent - such as "[Subject X] Discussion" and "[Subject X] Updates and Photos" then finding the corresponding discussion thread to put the quote into programatically would be quite doable. Putting proper metadata tags into threads could also serve the same purpose without having to put constraints on thread names.
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Offline Lar

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #138 on: 01/08/2019 02:49 pm »
A plugin providing a "Quote in Discussion Thread" button for posts in an update thread that automagically starts a new post in the discussion thread with the quote prefilled.
I 100% echo this sentiment. It was something I proposed a while back. I think if the naming convention was consistent - such as "[Subject X] Discussion" and "[Subject X] Updates and Photos" then finding the corresponding discussion thread to put the quote into programatically would be quite doable. Putting proper metadata tags into threads could also serve the same purpose without having to put constraints on thread names.
I would love this but I think it would be fairly hard to do reliably.
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Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #139 on: 01/08/2019 02:53 pm »
Yeah, I literally can't think how it could be done unless someone manually enters the code into the script each time for the discussion thread on each update thread and even then such a thread may not exist, only for the usual amount of people to ignore that option as much as they do with the update only threads at present.

The sort of people who'd use it are more than capable of getting their head around "Quote" "Copy" "post with rely in the discussion thread". Those who aren't sure as heck won't use the script tab to copy their post - as listed, while some poor soul has to script each update thread to allow it.

Non-starter. Just need to drum it into people's heads that "Quote" "Copy" "Post" in the discussion thread isn't hard.
« Last Edit: 01/08/2019 02:54 pm by Chris Bergin »
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Offline DanseMacabre

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #140 on: 01/08/2019 03:10 pm »
Yeah, I literally can't think how it could be done unless someone manually enters the code into the script each time for the discussion thread on each update thread and even then such a thread may not exist, only for the usual amount of people to ignore that option as much as they do with the update only threads at present.

The sort of people who'd use it are more than capable of getting their head around "Quote" "Copy" "post with rely in the discussion thread". Those who aren't sure as heck won't use the script tab to copy their post - as listed, while some poor soul has to script each update thread to allow it.

Non-starter. Just need to drum it into people's heads that "Quote" "Copy" "Post" in the discussion thread isn't hard.

I actually disagree. I've been looking into plugins and SMF integration, and I think I can make a plugin to do the dirty. I'll set up a test forum and get on with it, hopefully results soon, just not space-soon!

Alternatively, however, perhaps enforce moderator rubber stamp on posts to an update thread, with an easy "send to discussion" button to simplify the moderation process.
« Last Edit: 01/08/2019 03:14 pm by DanseMacabre »

Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #141 on: 01/08/2019 03:25 pm »
Well don't waste too much time on it, as there's a 101 much more valuable things you could look into if you're entering this thread now with "I've been looking into plugins and SMF integration" as opposed to a thing for lazy people who can't read "update" in the thread title (and as such won't read "click here to post in discussion") ;D

And I can pretty much say right now Mark isn't going to add any plugins unless absolutely needed and pass the sniff test due to the horrendous battle we had making "likes" SMF mod actually work due to its original crap programming. That was, of course, actually something we needed.

Also, we don't know how long SMF has in its lifecycle. Eventually we'll probably move to a near mirror, but better software, forum like XenForo. Of course, commonality is key. No one likes major changes.

But sure, go for it, just pre-warning that I've given my opinion on it. ;)
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Offline DanseMacabre

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #142 on: 01/08/2019 03:34 pm »
Well don't waste too much time on it, as there's a 101 much more valuable things you could look into if you're entering this thread now with "I've been looking into plugins and SMF integration" as opposed to a thing for lazy people who can't read "update" in the thread title (and as such won't read "click here to post in discussion") ;D

And I can pretty much say right now Mark isn't going to add any plugins unless absolutely needed and pass the sniff test due to the horrendous battle we had making "likes" SMF mod actually work due to its original crap programming. That was, of course, actually something we needed.

Also, we don't know how long SMF has in its lifecycle. Eventually we'll probably move to a near mirror, but better software, forum like XenForo. Of course, commonality is key. No one likes major changes.

But sure, go for it, just pre-warning that I've given my opinion on it. ;)

Mmhm, I had noted the not-so-hotness of the current SMF version and the plugin/modification architecture.

Feel free to PM if you've any ideas for additional plugins/mods, I could use a hobby project!

Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #143 on: 01/08/2019 03:38 pm »
Awesome, will do!

Yeah, SMF is good, but they've kinda gotten lazy. Our forum is highly modded and the new server hamsters appear to be awesome, the new news site is very cool - so the next natural step would be forum architecture....albeit not for a while, but that was at the back of my mind when reading "plug ins", in addition to the battle we had with "likes". "Database error" gives me nightmares. ;D

Anyway, sure play around in a test forum. Just didn't want you to spend too much time and only for me to say "Mark says no to plug ins".

Will PM you later today, anyway.
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Offline Lar

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #144 on: 01/08/2019 03:38 pm »
Is there enough L2 membership to go to month by month bases instead of every 2?

Bottom line is it's still less than 99.9 percent of the people who will use this site today being L2 members, but that's natural as most people think sites like this are free and cost nothing to run "I'll never pay for using the internet, it's free" types - running around with their paid-for ad blocker. ;)

Per the other part, I always get worried about changing the L2 sub format, as I don't want to let anyone down who's already subscribed. It's why we don't do "Black Friday" and such, because if someone signed up and then a week later it was cheaper, that's a kick in the teeth for someone who's supporting the site.

Now one month at 9.99 wouldn't impact that, but I don't want to annoy the members who signed up at the lowest sub, two months.

If there was a large demand for it, I'd consider it, but that's the first time anyone's asked me in years, so I'm not so sure.
I think we want to encourage more L2 subscriptions, right? ... so this is a crazy idea... what if you offered a one time only one month subscription that was discounted? Idea being to get people "hooked" so they would re-up at the normal rate? Might be a headache to see who had or hadn't already used the trial offer though.
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Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #145 on: 01/08/2019 03:40 pm »
Is there enough L2 membership to go to month by month bases instead of every 2?

Bottom line is it's still less than 99.9 percent of the people who will use this site today being L2 members, but that's natural as most people think sites like this are free and cost nothing to run "I'll never pay for using the internet, it's free" types - running around with their paid-for ad blocker. ;)

Per the other part, I always get worried about changing the L2 sub format, as I don't want to let anyone down who's already subscribed. It's why we don't do "Black Friday" and such, because if someone signed up and then a week later it was cheaper, that's a kick in the teeth for someone who's supporting the site.

Now one month at 9.99 wouldn't impact that, but I don't want to annoy the members who signed up at the lowest sub, two months.

If there was a large demand for it, I'd consider it, but that's the first time anyone's asked me in years, so I'm not so sure.
I think we want to encourage more L2 subscriptions, right? ... so this is a crazy idea... what if you offered a one time only one month subscription that was discounted? Idea being to get people "hooked" so they would re-up at the normal rate? Might be a headache to see who had or hadn't already used the trial offer though.

I refer the gentleman to the answer I gave some time ago. ;)

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40878.msg1896809#msg1896809

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Offline Nomadd

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #146 on: 01/08/2019 03:42 pm »
Is there enough L2 membership to go to month by month bases instead of every 2?

Bottom line is it's still less than 99.9 percent of the people who will use this site today being L2 members, but that's natural as most people think sites like this are free and cost nothing to run "I'll never pay for using the internet, it's free" types - running around with their paid-for ad blocker. ;)

Per the other part, I always get worried about changing the L2 sub format, as I don't want to let anyone down who's already subscribed. It's why we don't do "Black Friday" and such, because if someone signed up and then a week later it was cheaper, that's a kick in the teeth for someone who's supporting the site.

Now one month at 9.99 wouldn't impact that, but I don't want to annoy the members who signed up at the lowest sub, two months.

If there was a large demand for it, I'd consider it, but that's the first time anyone's asked me in years, so I'm not so sure.
I think we want to encourage more L2 subscriptions, right? ... so this is a crazy idea... what if you offered a one time only one month subscription that was discounted? Idea being to get people "hooked" so they would re-up at the normal rate? Might be a headache to see who had or hadn't already used the trial offer though.
That could be a problem. There are rude people, like me in the past, who would use that month to continuously download everything they could find, which is well over ten megabytes in L2, then quit.
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Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #147 on: 01/08/2019 03:46 pm »
Is there enough L2 membership to go to month by month bases instead of every 2?

Bottom line is it's still less than 99.9 percent of the people who will use this site today being L2 members, but that's natural as most people think sites like this are free and cost nothing to run "I'll never pay for using the internet, it's free" types - running around with their paid-for ad blocker. ;)

Per the other part, I always get worried about changing the L2 sub format, as I don't want to let anyone down who's already subscribed. It's why we don't do "Black Friday" and such, because if someone signed up and then a week later it was cheaper, that's a kick in the teeth for someone who's supporting the site.

Now one month at 9.99 wouldn't impact that, but I don't want to annoy the members who signed up at the lowest sub, two months.

If there was a large demand for it, I'd consider it, but that's the first time anyone's asked me in years, so I'm not so sure.
I think we want to encourage more L2 subscriptions, right? ... so this is a crazy idea... what if you offered a one time only one month subscription that was discounted? Idea being to get people "hooked" so they would re-up at the normal rate? Might be a headache to see who had or hadn't already used the trial offer though.
That could be a problem. There are rude people, like me in the past, who would use that month to continuously download everything they could find, which is well over ten megabytes in L2, then quit.

10 megabytes? ;D

I've got a 4TB hard drive in my draw that's not even everything in L2. Also got a lot in the cloud.



My main area of concern is not to kick those who are supporting L2 in the balls. We've all been there, bought something and seen it cheaper a week later and thought "dammit!"
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Offline Tywin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #148 on: 01/08/2019 05:05 pm »
I don't have problem for make a offer for months...The true, is when you see the annual membership, ...you say well is a "lot money now" in only one pay (off course not, but normally like you say the people want all free) but if you can make membership for every month and they discount to your account in paypal...like for example, the Planetary Society have this system...

For example 8$  each month...it's not to much...and it's almost the same the annual fee  ;)
« Last Edit: 01/08/2019 05:08 pm by Tywin »
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Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #149 on: 01/08/2019 05:07 pm »
I don't have problem for make a offer for months...The true, is when you see the annual membership, ...you say well is a "lot money now"in only one pay (off course not, but normally like you say the people want all free) but if you can make membership for every month and they discount to your account in paypal...like for example, the Planetary Society have...

For example 8$  each month...it's not to much...and it's almost the same the annual fee  ;)


Which is unfair on those who bought a two month sub for 19.99. It's not one year or nothing, it's two months for those who want to try it out and then the options of renewing at two months, six months (discounted), one year (discounted) or lifetime.

We won't be changing it. :)
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Offline AnalogMan

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #150 on: 01/08/2019 05:24 pm »
Ok I have suggestion for quite some time now jeje...Why when you reply to a thread, automatically send you off this thread?

In other forum, you make a repond to one comentary, and you still are in the thread, and you can continue read and respond other comentary...

It's possible fixed that?

You should be able to change this in your forum profile - from the menu bar:

Profile > Modify Profile > Look and Layout

then tick the box next to "Return to topics after posting by default."

Offline Tywin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #151 on: 01/08/2019 05:27 pm »
Ok thank you very much...and sorry I delete my message because I think so this was not the best thread for ask that...i was going to put in this thread:

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=44520.0

Ok thanks again, I am change this right now  :)
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Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #152 on: 01/13/2019 08:35 pm »
The news site now has our twitter feed running (and live updated without the need to refresh) down the right column (home page and news articles).

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Offline butterwaffle

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #153 on: 02/14/2019 03:43 pm »
I know you've just refreshed the site recently, so perhaps this is a bad time to comment... but have you ever considered using Discourse https://www.discourse.org/ to host the forums? It has a lot of features that I think would make navigating NSF easier. It is open-source, so you can host your own server and they host a marketplace where people offer to do setup and maintenance of servers for a fee if you prefer not to.

Online Chris Bergin

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #154 on: 02/14/2019 03:52 pm »
I know you've just refreshed the site recently, so perhaps this is a bad time to comment... but have you ever considered using Discourse https://www.discourse.org/ to host the forums? It has a lot of features that I think would make navigating NSF easier. It is open-source, so you can host your own server and they host a marketplace where people offer to do setup and maintenance of servers for a fee if you prefer not to.

We only really refreshed the news site, so that'd not a bad comment at all, as the forum is next.

There's been a number of suggestions about alternatives to SMF. I know XenForo is one as that has a good port from SMF. However, SMF is deep into beta testing of its major update, which would be ideal as it would not remove the key element of familiarity, which is so important.

Radical changes to the functionality of a forum people are used to can kill a forum, so the current focus is to use the upgraded SMF 2.1 when it's in stable release.

We are working in the background ahead of that, which is mostly focused on design, making the forum more married to the design of the news site (as the news site and forum do look like different sites right now). Talking about desktop of course, as that's the vast majority of visitors still. So functionality improvements via SMF's upgrade and design improvements via taking what we know works well on the news site. It'll look better. Function better. Allow NSF more use of the forum to enable its future. However, it will work and feel just like it does right now.
« Last Edit: 02/14/2019 03:53 pm by Chris Bergin »
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Offline Michael Baylor

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #155 on: 02/15/2019 03:50 am »
There's been a number of suggestions about alternatives to SMF. I know XenForo is one as that has a good port from SMF. However, SMF is deep into beta testing of its major update, which would be ideal as it would not remove the key element of familiarity, which is so important.

Radical changes to the functionality of a forum people are used to can kill a forum, so the current focus is to use the upgraded SMF 2.1 when it's in stable release.
Changing forum software is never ideal, but I am starting to think that SMF may no longer be the best route. It is turning into the Windows 95 of forum software. I believe the 2.1 update that is finally nearing release has been under development since 2014! I've been reading the release notes, and I have no idea how that could possibly take so long. Not seeing anything ground breaking in them. It seems inevitable that SMF is going to fall too far behind eventually. XenForo, on the other hand, is keeping up with the times very well. It is the best forum software out there in my opinion.

That all being said, there would certainly be riots in the streets if we were to switch. However, I think people would survive. The core functionality is actually quite similar. Additionally, while the regulars on NSF are obviously use to SMF, it is hard to judge how many people are being turned away from the site due to the forum software being so ancient (lack of mobile support, crappy UI, etc).
« Last Edit: 02/15/2019 03:53 am by Michael Baylor »

Offline butterwaffle

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #156 on: 02/15/2019 04:52 am »
It might be worth exploring by setting up a Discourse mirror (either read-only or with a notice that all new content will be erased) to see how people like the look and feel.

https://meta.discourse.org/t/migrating-from-smf-to-discourse/26322

I have not looked into it much, but if migrating content from SMF is as easy as the link above makes it look, it might help gauge interest and kick the tires.

Online Johnnyhinbos

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #157 on: 02/15/2019 10:21 am »
Sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make a new, er, forum format.

Besides, if I’ve learned anything from this site, it’s that people loooove to complain - so, no matter what you do folks will grumble and moan. Might as well orient yourself in the best possible direction, put your head down, and march forward...
John Hanzl. Author, action / adventure www.johnhanzl.com

Offline Space Pete

Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #158 on: 03/12/2019 10:42 am »
Just thought I'd add this - if anyone wants a dark theme for the main site and forums, and you use Firefox or Chrome, then install the "Dark Reader" addon by Alexander Shutov - it works really well with the main site (no errors at all) and pretty near perfect with the forums (although there are a few elements it doesn't like such as some of the buttons). But it makes things much easier on the eyes to read at night! :)
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Offline Arb

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #159 on: 03/12/2019 06:37 pm »
...no errors at all...
Not quite true; it 'inverts' the colours of Twitter inclusions (on Chrome; haven't tried FF). Other than that, concur.

Offline catdlr

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #160 on: 03/13/2019 03:52 am »
...no errors at all...
Not quite true; it 'inverts' the colours of Twitter inclusions (on Chrome; haven't tried FF). Other than that, concur.

Not with me. I'm using Chrome and I turn on and off the app and no change to the picture.  I played with the app setting, must have picked the right combo.  I love it, do a lot of dark time reading. Not going back to default.
« Last Edit: 03/13/2019 03:55 am by catdlr »
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Offline catdlr

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #161 on: 03/13/2019 04:01 am »
Quote
Not with me. I'm using Chrome and I turn on and off the app and no change to the picture.  I played with the app setting, must have picked the right combo.  I love it, do a lot of dark time reading. Not going back to default.


Here are the settings I use for this site.
« Last Edit: 03/13/2019 04:02 am by catdlr »
Tony De La Rosa, ...I'm no Feline Dealer!! I move mountains.  but I'm better known for "I think it's highly sexual." Japanese to English Translation.

Offline Arb

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Re: NSF Master Plan for 2017 onwards (Help create it)
« Reply #162 on: 03/13/2019 07:20 pm »
Here are the settings I use for this site.
Thanks, will try those...

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