Know Your Xixax: Donation begging and site news

Started by Xixax, December 02, 2006, 08:52:14 PM

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Jeremy Blackman


Kal

Don't want to complain given that I do little to contribute (I do donate $$ when needed every time), but I've noticed the overall site organization has been a little sloppy and it's hard to find stuff.

For instance, there are very few films in the "This Year in Film" category, and many films that have come out this year are not there even though some have threads elsewhere.

On the other hand, Fantastic Beasts does show up there instead of being in "The Grapevine".

That's just an example but I have noticed other small things here and there. Too many categories but hard to really navigate.

We need to do a little housekeeping. Maybe some fresh, hungry admin/interns can help?

Jeremy Blackman

Alright. I moved Fantastic Beasts to Grapevine. I moved High Rise, Slack Bay, and The Ones Below to This Year. I don't see any other obvious ones at first glance.

I've been insanely busy this month with real life stuff, which should be cooling down soon. But if you (or anyone) ever notice specific things that we've missed that you want changed/fixed/updated, feel free to PM me.

As far as having too many categories, we've already pruned a bunch semi-recently, so that might not be in the cards soon. At a certain point, combining forums makes existing threads harder to find. Other things could be changed, though. Would moving The Director's Chair below Non-Film Discussion make for easier navigation?

Kal

Thanks bud. That's why I said you obviously need some help. Are Mac and mod off duty for good?

If I was getting picky I would merge News and Theory and In Front of the Camera as both are essentially the same idea (maybe call it News and Rumors) that's not a specific movie that is being made.

I would put 2015 into The Vault already and just have every film that's not from this year in the same place. That way you have Older Films, Current Films, Upcoming Films, done.

The joke of Ratner is not even funny anymore because he doesn't seem to even be a Director anymore, so maybe we can update The Directors Chair - I don't even know of Lynch and Kubrick generate enough conversation these days to keep them as separate threads, but obviously both of them deserve it so won't mess with that :)

Club 82 and Xix & Xax should also be the same. Can't really tell the difference.

My $0.02 but I do think less is more.

Jeremy Blackman

Point taken... If anyone is interested in being a moderator, definitely let us know and we'll consider it. Tasks/powers would include moving threads, making helpful edits when you see fit (like spoilers or broken urls), and possibly editing the news.

Club 82 is the esoteric forum. More info here. Basically it's the forum exclusive to regulars. There are quite a few threads there that we'd rather keep somewhat private (like the dream thread).

Absorbing "In Front of the Camera" into "News and Theory" is a good idea, I think. Any other opinions on that?

I don't like combining 2015 and The Vault, though. When we're doing awards and making year-end lists, it's valuable to have last year's movies still there for a while. I suppose you could make an argument for absorbing last year into the vault around summer, but that would feel weird. (Also, shuffling/changing those forums at the end of the year is actually relatively painless.)

wilder

I moved some more threads around, lots of stuff in The Grapevine lingering from 2015 or earlier that never got a wider release than the festival circuit, and probably never will.

One thing that gets confusing is that movies will premiere at a major festival but be held off for a general release for almost a year, or have a non-US theatrical run earlier than a domestic (US) release - i.e. Slack Bay is out in France but the US release is TBD. Which dates are we going by?

Jeremy Blackman

We should go by US theatrical (i.e. not festival) or VOD release.

But I think there should be an exception if enough of us are seeing it, like what happened with The Lobster.

Jeremy Blackman

I installed a Soundcloud embed mod. You can now put Soundcloud tracks or playlists right into posts. Use the buttons when you post... and ... or use these tags:

[soundcloud][/soundcloud]

[cloudset][/cloudset]


(I think when this mod was written, playlists were called "sets.")


Example of a single Soundcloud track


[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/yeasayer/henrietta-1[/soundcloud]




Example of a Soundcloud playlist


[cloudset]https://soundcloud.com/teganandsara/sets/so-jealous[/cloudset]

Jeremy Blackman

We're back up! Hooray! The website was down since this morning. Thanks for your patience.

On the plus side: Godaddy tech support is actually great if you manage to find a phone number. And I learned a thing or two, so that's good.

FYI, if the site is ever down for an extended period of time, go to the imdb forum for Magnolia, and I'll post an update there (which we've done in the past). Or email me at xixaxfilmforum@gmail.com, and you'll get a response.

Jeremy Blackman

EDIT: Had to revert this avatar change because of a margin resizing issue. Will hopefully get it worked out. Avatar max is currently 250 width & 275 height.

We increased the allowable avatar width from 250 to 275.

Also increased the width of attachment thumbnails.

We may go even bigger in the future. People seem to have wider/larger monitors these days. But let us know if this causes any problems.

Jeremy Blackman

We've changed the colors of "staff" ranks, because the default colors are not great. It may be further adjusted, but I think this is an improvement! Now you won't see an ocean of red in the shoutbox.


Admin
Moderator
Shoutbox Moderator

Jeremy Blackman

FYI, hosting renews March 2nd. We should do some kind of fund drive in a year, but let's skip it for now. Donate if you're moved to, but don't feel bad if you're not. (It kinda feels like there are more urgent causes at the moment.)

wilberfan

I noticed that SMF 2.0.15 was released a couple of weeks ago.  I'm sure you're aware of it, but just thought I'd bring it up.   ( noticed we were on 2.0.11.)  You going to wait for stable 2.1 before upgrading to that?

Jeremy Blackman

Thanks for the reminder. I updated to 13, but the installer warns of an error updating to 14, so I can't go further without doing it manually, which I may try.

I will be testing out 2.1 beta at some point. But obviously somewhere other than the live forum.

wilberfan

I just noticed that according to the stats, there are over 1,700 members of this forum.   I seem to recall that there are only 50+ that contribute on a regular basis (am I remembering that correctly)?   Thats, like, a 3% participation rate.

Is that typical for an online forum??