[Luc]

NOTE: This is a new Poll in leiu of my previous, not-so-sensetive Poll. Tom agreed to pull it, per my request. All thoughts are welcome, and thank you. ------> Are there any elements of internet experience that you wish were available here on NWHikers.net? If so, what are they? Can you supply an example? I really like the 'mom/pop' style of this site. The content is completely generated by it's users. And personally, I would love for it to stay that way indefinitely, but I think there are experiences that have come about in the past few years that could be adopted. I'm more interested in hearing ideas for improvements (even if that means retiring some under-used feature) than cases for keeping it exactly the way it is. I say that partly because I too, want to keep this site grass-roots, but also because I know that a large number of users here prefer to keep any changes to the site at a minimum. Radical change is almost a moot idea, and I want to see if this thread can be a brainstorm, before it becomes a debate. That said, again, all comments welcome. Please chime in with your 2c about improvements, and keep in mind that this site is maintained by unpaid engineer(s). Personally, I would like to see NWHikers.net have more of an impact beyond our walls - both in our physical surroundings, as well as our internet world. That would require some growth behind the scenes, i.e. some features and plug-ins that aren't supported in it's current coding protocol - and thus could require additional tech guru(s) and possibly some funding. So I also pose the companion questions: "would you be willing to help support the site as a non-profit type?" and "do you think NWHikers.net could play a closer role in maintaining pacific northwest wilderness health (philanthropy?), and public education?" Of course if your idea is cost-free, then great! If you don't understand some tech jargon, please ask! There are techies of all types here who can likely explain it in human terms, and link to examples! Also, if you think your suggestion would require more support (person or monetary) please site how that support is sustained. I will participate with my ideas, as the voices of reason begin to weigh in, since I don't want this to just be my voice. Thanks everybody for helping make this site so awesome!

[Snowbrushy]

Hear the saying ~ If it ain't broke don't fix it?

[Luc]

Most online chat these days is done in IM style. How difficult would it be to add an instant-chat to the board? I like that you can see who is online in the bottom of the page. Would it be possible to either add a green/red dot next to someone's handle on thier post? Or equally as convenient, a hover option to chat when mousing over someone's handle in the "currently online" list, that gives the option to start a private chat? This would eliminate the need to use PM (which takes up limited server space) and would be much more efficient when you want to ask a simple question like: "hey what was the name of the new TNAB participant? i want to tag her in a photo" or "hey not sure if its going to work out for me this weekend, keep you posted". those types of comments can happen more expeditiously this way, and aren't neccessarily things that the whole group needs to scroll through.

[Tom]

That's not a bad idea, but I don't really see that many advantages over the PM feature. PM storage is not really an issue. A chat window would force the recipient to read the message instantly and be more visible than new PM notifications. If the user enables the option in their profile, they should get a pop up notification when a new PM arrives, but most probably have pop up blockers enabled, so they need to keep an eye out for the mailbox flag indicating a new PM. I see the mailbox icon pretty quickly when I get a new PM, but maybe it's just me. As far as chat, we are not allowed to host chat on the server that NWH resides (against our host's terms of service) so that's why the chatroom is located on another server. We could "fake" a chat that refreshes every 3 or 4 seconds, but again, I'm not sure it has that many benefits vs. the PM feature. I'll think about it though.

[Luc]

In this example, as in many i will propose, the advantage is the ease/speed in which information is traded. I know NWHiker's wouldn't need to worry about storage unless it started to archive photos locally among other things. An example I can give is gChat. Often I am typing an email and the recipient turns up active in my "available chat" box to the left in gmail. Typically, I'll ax the email I'm writing and just interact with them right then, right there. Presto, information traded. Of course this is only advantageous if the information we are relaying or inquiring isn't made for the masses. I personally don't like gumming up good conversation threads with a 1x1 dialogue that isn't pertinent to the topic. That's sometimes how threads get hijacked. Topic is started, people chime in, something gets mentioned that 1 other (or maybe 2) are personally interested in, but the rest of us are out of the loop, and off the thread goes for a page (or 3). Meanwhile the originator and the other participants have to sit back and wait for the inside-joke to finish. Now i'm not saying that's not entertaining sometimes. But this option would definitely lessen these instances, while not diminishing the amount of valuable data here.

[Ski]

[Luc]

[Ski]

[Allison]

[Luc]

to Ski and Allison - agreed that opening pandora's box = bad idea for the site. but i have no doubt that there are a handful of actions we all consider beneficial to the outdoors and it's users. i'm hoping this thread can spark some ideas from people with more experience walking that tight-rope, and making a difference. and Allison - this is the place to voice your ideas! surely this isn't the only site you visit! no?

[Allison]

Luc, I like the idea and support looking at making some changes, but the last thing I need to do is dig into another project. One site that's growing and doing some interesting things that I DO like is washingtonflyfishing dot com, but like this site, it's grown to a size where it's really lost its hominess, and I think that's a point of no return for forums. I really don't visit a lot of forums. This one, the aforementioned WFF, the Trail Blazers site, and a forum associated with my neighborhood blog. Facebook has really supplanted a lot of the forum stuff, and I like that it has transparency.

[Luc]

noted. and more/less agree. then maybe just start with a few thoughtful bells and whistles. things that 25% or more of us would use often, but wouldn't get in the way or slow things down, nor be a headache to maintain. maybe in time, some techies, besides the janitor could chime in with things that can be implemented. for now i'll keep poking the fire.

[Ski]

[Dane]

As Luc brought up in the past I'd like to see a mobile version of the site. If I recall Tom wasn't keen on the idea but as mobile browsing continues to grow I hope he'll keep it in mind. I agree there is a lot of potential for "philanthropy" but I don't see that as NWHikers' business. This site is a space for hikers to discuss hiking - that's all it does and it does it well. Moving the site beyond that towards some sort of organization would be too big of a change. That said I wouldn't mind some members using the site to organize clean-ups, slideshows, advocacy efforts etc. There are probably some tweaks to the site I'd support, but I can't think of any now. Forums don't need to be that fancy.

[Magellan]