|
Post by manureslinger on Mar 21, 2007 19:20:18 GMT -5
I have a suggestion/request. The horse owner or person in charge of the horse, could you make their posts or posting name a different color. It often takes a lot of time to find updates from them in the midst of the other posts. Thanks And - AHA - place updates at the beginning of the thread. Have the owner place them, and then their chit chat could be in the regular places. Totally agree on this one. It's so hard to find the posts of updates from the owners among 7 pages of chatting. Reply: Answered below.
|
|
brookhaven
Global Moderator
Humor Moderator
Fallen Ash Scouts Dark Secret
Posts: 1,310
|
Post by brookhaven on Mar 22, 2007 6:43:37 GMT -5
I agree as well that there is so much chit chat (and I too am guilty) that we lose updates. Maybe a "Cliff Notes" board where only owners can post updates and recaps of foalings. I know we also anxiously await news from the owner on what happened during the foaling and this would be a good way to keep it separate. Don't know how you could limit postings to just owners though. Guess people would just have to honor the system.
Reply: I really don't know what the answer is here... It is too much time/work to try and change colors of all the owner's posts, and because of how the board is set up, you can't rearrange and put them first. I can't justify having separate threads just for updates on each mare because there are so many, the board is 2 and 3 pages deep of close mares already... Even if I did the ones with several pages it would be too many. As for a separate board for updates... Maybe, but then that would leave the other one as just a chit-chat board, which I'm not happy with. It all boils down to Mare Stare's growing pains... As we get bigger and have more people posting, we'll have to find solutions to these issues... We were hoping people would come into chat during foalings, and even changed programs to avoid the problems people were having with the old program where they couldn't get into chat, so there would be less chatter on the board... That isn't happening, obviously, though a lot of new people are using chat. A suggestion I do have is this... Perhaps we could get the owners to bold-type their updates?? We'll see what we can do.
|
|
|
Post by Debbie on Mar 22, 2007 11:48:30 GMT -5
Heather, maybe all the cam subscribers could have their name in red on their replies. And under their name, rather than groom or hoof picker or whatever, their title could be the name of their farm. Just a thought so their replies could be picked out quickly.
Reply: Because of the board's software, there is no way to do this. The only way would be for owners to put their updates in another color, or bold. That would be up to them to do when posting.
|
|
|
Post by lynntn on Mar 22, 2007 13:16:36 GMT -5
Bold sounds good, doesn't it. I don't want to imply that I am against chit-chat at all.
|
|
|
Post by ImbriumStorm on Mar 25, 2007 15:54:39 GMT -5
Convenience suggestion: the link to the forums at the BOTTOM of the page in threads. I see this in every forum except this one. Yes it has the Forum Jump dropdown, but what about exactly the same linkset from the top: Mare Stare Message Board :: GENERAL INFORMATION :: Forum Help & Camera Assistance are all links, it would be nice if it were at the bottom too, so that we don't need to wait when we press the Back to Top link which seems to take forever to load most of the time. I know it's a change to the forum itself, but just a suggestion. REPLY -- by Rich -- Actually, MOST of the BBS programs out there DON'T do this by default; PHPBB does and it's the most commonly used by far, but Invision Powerboard, and V-bulletin don't, as a couple of major examples. However, I am also a big fan of this feature, and you can rest assured that any bulletin board program we go with in the future will have this feature. ***EDIT: Just one more suggestion: With the stickied threads that are located at the top of the page (below the announcements) could they maybe get a different shade of color, or stars or bolded or something next to them to identify them. For a while there i keep expecting threads to be updated, and nothing happens... THEN i would look down the screen and VOILA! New pots! *smacks head* how intelligent i felt! Other than that, i love Mare Stare! well... maybe a different color scheme would be nice, coming on Mare Stare always makes me want either Easter Eggs or want to eat a lot.
|
|
|
Post by Silver Creek Farms on Mar 25, 2007 15:55:42 GMT -5
What about giving each farm their own thread category (sort of like you already have for some farms)? Then each farm can have an update thread (sticky note type) for each mare under their farm that only the farm posts under. The viewers can continue to post chat threads as they are now.
Reply: While a nice thought, this is just statistically impossible... There are over 100 cams on Mare Stare. Can you imagine how colossal that would be? And not all owners post. It's just not a feasible option at this time. I think owners posting in bold or bright colors is a good solution for now... Ideally, chat should be in the chat room, and the foaling threads for updates and foaling. That's how it used to be.
|
|
|
Post by living2ride on Mar 31, 2007 10:28:55 GMT -5
I agree, I want to read the updates from the owners, not all the other pages of commentary. (I thought that was what chat was for.) Is there a way to lock the updates from being replied to? So maybe have a true update thread for the owners to post to without replies, and perhaps another thread for comments and congratulations (or even better, just send them a PM or e-mail.) I generally end up giving up after trying to sift through 20-some pages of "good lucks" and "congratulations." KWIM?
|
|
loni
Stall Mucker
Macy
Posts: 30
|
Post by loni on Mar 31, 2007 11:00:19 GMT -5
Is there any way to add what state each farm was from?. If the owners would approve. It would be great to know that they are with in a reasonable distance to see a horse that is for sale personally. I understand that some farms have thier own site that have thier locations, but not all do. Besides I think it is more exciting to watch a mare that is from your own state.
REPLY -- by Rich -- With all of the harassment and midnight visits that some farms have been getting, I think the trend may be toward MORE anonymity, not less. Sometimes it's hard to balance the business aspects of a farm with the privacy issues of that business also being a private residence. We construct the cam pages per the farm's instructions and publicize only what they want publicized.
|
|
nat
Ranch Hand
Posts: 582
|
Post by nat on Apr 3, 2007 14:23:28 GMT -5
I agree, that it time consuming and hard work, trawling through pages and pages of chat, to find an update. what makes it seem worse, is when people go "off topic". Can we have an off topic smilie, just to remind people please?
|
|
|
Post by bella on Apr 3, 2007 16:01:03 GMT -5
Mare Stare absolutely rocks!! I have neva seen a mare foal before, and now ive seen two in four hours! My only suggestion is that you gice the smileys proper codes. I tried to do a sad face, but it changed into and i didnt mean for it to hapen. so then i had to tell ppl what happened...and yeah. they should have proper codes, that's all otherwise Mare Stare is GREAT!!
|
|
|
Post by Heather T on Apr 3, 2007 17:16:26 GMT -5
Mare Stare absolutely rocks!! I have neva seen a mare foal before, and now ive seen two in four hours! My only suggestion is that you gice the smileys proper codes. I tried to do a sad face, but it changed into and i didnt mean for it to hapen. so then i had to tell ppl what happened...and yeah. they should have proper codes, that's all otherwise Mare Stare is GREAT!! Thank you Bella!!! We are working on the smilies as we speak
|
|
iaskye
Outhouse Monitor
Posts: 136
|
Post by iaskye on Apr 9, 2007 12:43:03 GMT -5
I would like to see threads that have multiple pages have a way of letting you know which page you read last. Like a color change perhaps? And on some threads, if you try to go to say page 8, it still takes you to page 1 anyway.
|
|
devotee
Global Moderator
Posts: 3,723
|
Post by devotee on Apr 9, 2007 14:35:53 GMT -5
I like iaskye's suggestion, too. Sometimes I spend more time finding my place in a thread than I do reading the 20 pages of posts that have gone up while I've been gone.
Also, as to the debate over distinguishing owner's posts from others - I'd like to add that owners are not the only ones to post informatively about their mares. I get plenty of information from other MSers who make good observations or contribute to threads in other ways. If folks would read the threads before posting (especially with questions that have been answered 5 times in 3 pages), the threads might be a lot shorter. (For one thing, they'd have less time to write posts. LOL!) But I don't think anybody would advocate making threads required reading before posting. LOL. It sure would help, though.
As far as banter goes, the MB would lose a lot of character if it were outlawed. We already know it's frowned on, and I think that most of us try to avoid cluttering the threads with chit chat. It's just not a clinical place, you know? Too much restriction would ruin the fun.
But I do appreciate it when owners use a colored font or bold face to make locating their posts easier.
EDIT by Regret-- I noticed a very cool little thing that you can do and it will bring you RIGHT to the last spot you were on. When you see the "new" button next to a thread, click on that and it will bring you right to the last post that you read! I just discovered it a few weeks ago!
|
|
|
Post by wisteriafarms on Apr 9, 2007 15:24:26 GMT -5
And on some threads, if you try to go to say page 8, it still takes you to page 1 anyway. I was getting frustrated with that too, but then I realized that it was because my cursor wasn't directly over the page number when I clicked. You can click anywhere on the 'box' to go to page 1, so if you aren't exactly on a different number you will go there. Make sure a little line appears over and under the number you want, and you will know you are positioned correctly. Hope this helped a little. Julie
|
|
|
Post by cher1010 on Apr 10, 2007 20:28:01 GMT -5
When I want to see what the owners have said, I just click on their name at the beginning of the thread and it will show you the last five or ten posts. Works great for me.
|
|