Hey KM…. Question about old Posts?!

Hi Buttons – I might be able to answer one of your questions. Click on you avatar and then hit forums. You can see a list if topics you started, ones you’ve replied to, and see the topics you’ve marked as favorites.

Does anyone have any ideas for tweaks or functions that they would like to see? Part of me is half tempted to have a play with the theme and make it something that is half way between the current look and the TDK of old (this wouldn’t effect current functions, just the look).

I like the way the previous site was set up too, it was just quicker to find/get to threads, perhaps the forum page needs condensing so we can see a lot of threads at once without scrolling . It is a little difficult to find where to begin a new thread unless you go hunting the first few times, that has caught out a few people who have given up trying to begin a thread.
The search box is confusing with the results too, we used to get a list of threads our search had appeared in.
The heart of the site is still here though and that the important thing, just some tweaking needed. Please don’t take this all as criticism KM as it’s definitely not, I love this site and have been here for almost a decade(I think) and had many enjoyable, hilarious, informative discussions and made so many wonderful friends. It is a fantastic caring and sharing community.

Tks KM,
Got it! See your point re uploads from one’s own hard drive. On plus side, as mentioned, if I wish pics don’t take up space on my hard drive either plus upload site allows for cropping, editing etc. Small price to pay for a pic-laden Café. 🙂

Kj, I think the ability of having pics and video links being able to be embedded in posts is my FAVOURITE of the new features.
Buttons, I hadn’t really wanted to mention it (I certainly don’t want to mention the persons name) but it did (still does as I’ve never talked about it) have me miffed too, as I had spent a good amount of time tweaking the bugs they were having when the change first came about so it would work for them, only to be told a month later that I had “completely ruined the site” for them and they wanted nothing more to do with TDK. If the criticisms had just been at me and the theme change, I probably would have bent over backwards to help them more to try and get them to stay, but when this person said there were other TDKer’s that were ruining the site (completely 100% untrue in my opinion), I was more than happy to show them the door.

Sorry for the negativity in that last bit, been bottling that up for a while.

Just so you all understand, I care about TDK and all of its users and I want to give you all the best site that we and our kits deserve, and I can’t do that without open and honest feedback.

The site is now busy with ads, I know it helps with the cost of the site, but it is frustrating. All things change and people adapt. I certainly miss the “old days” but that time is changed and many have left. The site will become and change as the times and technology change. It is hard to catch lightening in a bottle twice, but there are many that are new and the site is growing in that manner. KM grow your vision and enjoy your time with the site.

Ads on sites is always a very difficult balance to get right. Too many is horrendous, while not enough makes a site unsustainable (unless you have a super paying day job or a lottery win – neither of which I have yet but I still have 4 hungry cats). I know in the past some people have mentioned the idea of membership fees or donations, but I’m against that. If there is one thing I can guarantee about tdk is that I will never ask members for donations or membership fees. TDK WILL ALWAYS BE FREE TO USE.
I try to be selective with the ads that get displayed which is why I’m only using google and amazon. Google ads should display something that is of interest to the user based on previous browsing/search history, and if there is nothing to go on it should display ads based on the sites theme (something I have on my tweak list post-Tokyo will be ad placements and layout so ads are less intrusive. The amazon ads are only ever going to be cat product related. I can’t remember when it went, but the pinking of words with amazon links has gone. That was something I thought I would try as I thought it would be less intrusive than actual ads, but after however many months of having it it didn’t even make enough to buy freddy a chew toy, let alone cover any server costs.

@Nirmal, about a year ago the forum went through a huge increase in spam. As Buttons will remember we could have been dealing with about 50+ spam forum posts a day. Before then we were looking at possibly 1 or 2 a week. We had never needed moderators except for me until the influx, so someone would post something spammy, I’d get an alert from the ever vigilant tdk crew (similar to the @kittenmaster that you do now) and I would swoop in and delete the offending article. When the spamming was heavy I asked the crew for volunteers and approached some of the most active posters at the time to help moderate (as I was on UK time, it made sense to get all time zones covered). Since the site theme change, I don’t think I have seen any spam appearing in the forum or comments, although spam still gets in with new members adding spammy updates on their profiles, which is what the @kittenmaster alerts are for because as of yet I haven’t found a way to give moderators powers over the activity stream (Show Me What’s Happening) and profiles, so I still deal with those (and am happy to – this Kittenmaster has claws 🙂 )
The best thing about TDK is that it doesn’t need moderating, everyone here follows the rules (no unfluffy behaviour) and the forum is a joy to read (subject depending of course). I can’t remember the last time that a moderator had to do any moderating (I may be wrong but it must be 6 months +), but its always better to have them and not need them, than to log in and find the forum 50 posts deep in spam.
Any way to answer your question as to how you become a moderator, if there ever is the need then I send out emails to the users I think would be best suited, but fingers crossed, with the anti-spam software the site is rocking at the moment and the well behaved members this site has (I cannot state this enough, the TDK forums and it’s members are an absolute delight to deal with) then I’m hoping not to need more moderators for a long while.