Responsible & Involved members

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warringtonrhino
Posts: 476
Joined: Sat 18 Feb, 2012 2:31 pm

Responsible & Involved members

Post by warringtonrhino »

Does anyone know how often this site is maintained or updated?
Has anyone suggestions for improving the site?
My suggestions/comments which would improve the site
We have 15,400 users, 13,500 have never posted, and only 1.600 has made more than 1 post.
Could some be deleted?
I don’t seem to be able to search the site without leaving the site?
I see the word COLON everywhere. What does that mean?

volvojack
Posts: 1471
Joined: Tue 26 Jan, 2016 11:57 am

Re: Responsible & Involved members

Post by volvojack »

Funnily enough that word has always puzzleed me but as a relatively new member i did not like to ask.
Is there not a way to put out an appeal for more members to contribute,?

This similar appeal worked on an Ex. Forces site i am a member of but on there it is easier to look up topics.

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buffaloskinner
Posts: 1431
Joined: Sun 01 Apr, 2007 6:02 pm
Location: Nova Scotia

Re: Responsible & Involved members

Post by buffaloskinner »

Sorry to say that you are digging up old ghosts again, the site is run and operated by Duncan who is a private individual who personally pays for this site to run out of his own pocket, and whilst there are a number of issues with the site I do believe that he has decided that enough of his money has been spent.
The user numbers you refer to go back to 2007 when the site first began and none refer to todays figures, they are spread over the last 10 years.
COLON refers to nothing else but a software error/problem and has been there since the new site began.
Is this the end of the story ...or the beginning of a legend?

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Brunel
Posts: 1173
Joined: Thu 20 Mar, 2008 12:34 pm

Re: Responsible & Involved members

Post by Brunel »

COLON: Keeps appearing, along with other anomalies due to errors in the HTML coding of the forum.

warringtonrhino
Posts: 476
Joined: Sat 18 Feb, 2012 2:31 pm

Re: Responsible & Involved members

Post by warringtonrhino »

buffaloskinner wrote:Sorry to say that you are digging up old ghosts again, the site is run and operated by Duncan who is a private individual who personally pays for this site to run out of his own pocket, and whilst there are a number of issues with the site I do believe that he has decided that enough of his money has been spent.
The user numbers you refer to go back to 2007 when the site first began and none refer to todays figures, they are spread over the last 10 years.
COLON refers to nothing else but a software error/problem and has been there since the new site began.
I was not digging up old ghosts, I was asking a question I didn't know the answer to.
You need to appreciate that not everyone on this site knows the answer to every question, or where every building in Leeds is.
Has Duncan has stopped maintaining the site, or is that your opinion?
If he no longer is able to work for free perhaps it is time to contact him and discuss a way forward.
The options might be that Duncan continues and we make a contribution to his costs:or he trains some of our members and hands over the baton. I would contribute time and/or money to the maintenance if a solution could be found.
According to the members list we still have 15,400 members, have some unsubscribed and not told anyone?
Yes I know COLON is a software problem, I was not digging up old ghosts I was being positive and suggesting something could be done to correct it.

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tyke bhoy
Posts: 2410
Joined: Wed 21 Feb, 2007 4:48 am
Location: Leeds/Wakefield
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Re: Responsible & Involved members

Post by tyke bhoy »

Duncan is still around but is more reactive than proactive as he does fix "site down" problems pretty soon after I (and probably others point them out). He doesn't quite run the site out of his own pocket as there is an associated IT Business of which I believe Duncan is a partner. There is also the onsite advertising. Unfortunately though Secret Leeds is a bit of a sideline for Duncan while he tries to get on with the "day job" and as such site maintenance isn't top of the priority list especially when like the last major event it introduces the error which turns punctuation marks (colo and ellipsis) into their spelt equivalents. In a perfect world Duncan would be able to keep up with the site maintenance but while we still have the site I'm not going to complain. We are lucky to have the resource even if we do have to live withsome of the imperfections.
living a stones throw from the Leeds MDC border at Lofthousehttp://tykebhoy.wordpress.com/

warringtonrhino
Posts: 476
Joined: Sat 18 Feb, 2012 2:31 pm

Re: Responsible & Involved members

Post by warringtonrhino »

Yesterday I asked Does anyone know how often this site is maintained or updated? and Has anyone suggestions for improving the site?
Today it is apparent that we need
someone who knows how to remove obscene posts, and we need
someone to oversee new posts submitted by new members.
Do we have members who are able to carry out these tasks?
If no one is able to make a positive contribution, I will try contact Duncan tomorrow to get advice.
We need to stop discussing and start acting.

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tyke bhoy
Posts: 2410
Joined: Wed 21 Feb, 2007 4:48 am
Location: Leeds/Wakefield
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Re: Responsible & Involved members

Post by tyke bhoy »

Rhino I have emailed Duncan (at 3 addresses so hopefully one will be picked up).
Those with some admin powers are listed here http://secretleeds.com/memberlist.php?mode=team but MHoulden is the only one recently active and I don't think he has as widespread powers as the others.
living a stones throw from the Leeds MDC border at Lofthousehttp://tykebhoy.wordpress.com/

dsco
Site Admin
Posts: 884
Joined: Fri 26 Jan, 2007 8:21 am

Re: Responsible & Involved members

Post by dsco »

Hi there, it's Duncan.

It seems to me that one of the other site admins has cleaned up the spam. If anyone spots any more please let me know (you'll get a quicker response emailing direct to duncan@tyrell.digital)

Comments above accurately reflect the situation with the site, I do occasional bits and bobs to keep the site running but don't dip in regularly. The colon/ellipsis fault I've tried to fix on a couple of occasions but not managed to resolve the issue. Other than that the site is running and bar occasional spam attacks seems to operate fairly smoothly from a technical perspective.

Currently I have no plans to radically revise or otherwise work on the site. It will stay up in its current form (or an improvement thereof) for as long as I'm around and can manage to continue to do so. Financially it just about pays its own way through the adverts. The site rebuild a couple of years ago enabled me to reduce running costs substantially, so it bubbles along fine now (as opposed to costing me £50 a month in dedicated Windows server fees!) One day it may pay off the development costs too, but I'm not holding my breath :)

If anyone is keen to take on some admin or site development responsibilities please step forward! You can reach me on duncan@tyrell.digital. Look forward to hearing from any interested parties.
Contact me via ask@tyrell.mobi if you have any questions or comments about the site.

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mhoulden
Posts: 396
Joined: Fri 27 Nov, 2009 8:00 pm
Location: Wortley
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Re: Responsible & Involved members

Post by mhoulden »

You rang? I've removed the spam posts and banned the users who posted them. I've done admin stuff on a couple of other forums so I'd be happy to step up from moderator to full admin on this one. I might also have found a fix for the colon issue (seems to be something to do with language packs). I follow a few local history groups on Facebook but I'm not going to get involved with the internal politics of all that.

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