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Accepting the torch.

Nathan Flowers

Administrator
Hi guys,

As Chris has mentioned in his thread, he's transferred ownership of VLJ to me. Some of you may know me as one of the guys who co-owns the Fedora Lounge. I started helping out with some behind-the-scenes stuff last year, and took over the site last week.

That said, I'd like to offer you guys some ideas of what I've been doing, and hear from you all about what you'd like to see happen with the change.

First, VLJ will not be under the umbrella of the Lounge. It's just me running it, and as such, won't be subject to any of the Lounge rules or moderation.

I don't plan on changing anything with the moderation or rules of the site as it has been in the years leading up to now. Bill, John Lever, and John Chapman are all still moderators, and hopefully will remain on board well into the future.

I don't plan on changing much with the design of the site, at least not right now. When I migrated the server, I did do some database maintenance and and upgrade to version 3.1 of phpBB, which is more mobile-friendly, but since you guys are so used to the design as it has been for so many years, I found a way to make the old theme work with the new version, which is what we have today. That said, I would like to make the site more mobile-friendly for you guys. We can explore ways of doing this, be it through designing a mobile style, or deploying the Tapatalk app. We won't do any of this without engaging you guys for feedback on it.

phpBB is a bit of a dog on the admin control panel side, and doesn't offer nearly as much customization for users as Xenforo (what the Lounge and other large sites use). We can talk about migrating to Xenforo if you guys would like, but the decision will be up to you.

You may have noticed that the forum is extra-snappy since Friday when I moved it over, and that's because I have it running with an excellent host, with multiple redundant hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly database backups. I'm paying for this out of pocket, and will continue to do so into the future. We will not be placing ads on the site for members, and we will not be charging anybody to post.

My main goals with running VLJ are:

Keep the site alive and growing.

Maintain and safeguard the vast amount of knowledge that has been shared here over the years.

Keep you guys happy.

If you guys have any questions, comments, or concerns, please share them!

-Nathan
 

ButteMT61

Well-Known Member
Cool! One thing I know that has kept many from joining is the email requirements.
That should change to open up to as many as possible (IMO).
I like basics and the themes here now are fine, but as you say, the nuts and bolts are pretty far behind the times. Do what needs to be done to make the forum modern, fast and easy to maintain.

TFL is much nicer now to use. Direct image posting is probably one of the best features, along with "likes" etc.
Good luck Nathan. Looking forward to seeing where the new place goes!

Scott
 

CBI

Well-Known Member
thanks for doing this. I will be in the minority here but I would have no problem if this merged with the FL. Having a VLJ category and its threads. I know there is probably no way to do this but if it were easier somehow in the long run, that would be fine. There is so much duplication - why not? The mods for here could be the same for VLJ stuff on FL.

again - thanks
 

Nathan Flowers

Administrator
ButteMT61 said:
Cool! One thing I know that has kept many from joining is the email requirements.
That should change to open up to as many as possible (IMO).
I like basics and the themes here now are fine, but as you say, the nuts and bolts are pretty far behind the times. Do what needs to be done to make the forum modern, fast and easy to maintain.

TFL is much nicer now to use. Direct image posting is probably one of the best features, along with "likes" etc.
Good luck Nathan. Looking forward to seeing where the new place goes!

Scott

Thanks Scott. I agree, I think changing the email requirement might be a prudent move, but I don't intend to change anything without carefully weighing the costs and benefits with everybody here.


CBI said:
thanks for doing this. I will be in the minority here but I would have no problem if this merged with the FL. Having a VLJ category and its threads. I know there is probably no way to do this but if it were easier somehow in the long run, that would be fine. There is so much duplication - why not? The mods for here could be the same for VLJ stuff on FL.

again - thanks

You're welcome! Yes, there is some duplication between VLJ and the Lounge, but VLJ is truly a totally different community. Everybody here has helped to make VLJ have a different feel, and I know it can stand on its own. Plus, there are guys who might not like the Lounge, and vice versa. I don't aim to fix what isn't broken. Additionally, it would be a complete nightmare from a database perspective. It's a far better option to keep things as they are, and that's something we're committed to.

6148th T.C.Squadron said:
Maybe an easier way to download pictures????? direct rather than say photobucket.

I agree, I think that would be extremely helpful.
 

John Lever

Moderator
Thanks Nathan, but you forgot to mention that it was largely through your efforts that VLJ was rescued during the last crash .Without your help it is quite possible that this place would have gone.
Regarding loading images, over on TFL I still use Photobucket because when I try to load directly my images are too big. I like the notifications window it's very useful.
 

Nathan Flowers

Administrator
John Lever said:
Thanks Nathan, but you forgot to mention that it was largely through your efforts that VLJ was rescued during the last crash .Without your help it is quite possible that this place would have gone.
Regarding loading images, over on TFL I still use Photobucket because when I try to load directly my images are too big. I like the notifications window it's very useful.

You're too kind. All I did was offer suggestions. Bill worked tirelessly to get it back up.
 

Steve27752

Well-Known Member
CBI said:
thanks for doing this. I will be in the minority here but I would have no problem if this merged with the FL. Having a VLJ category and its threads. I know there is probably no way to do this but if it were easier somehow in the long run, that would be fine. There is so much duplication - why not? The mods for here could be the same for VLJ stuff on FL.

again - thanks

NO WAY. let's keep the forum the way it is. Also, lets keep the email requirement as is
 

ButteMT61

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I think it's definitely better to keep TFL/VLJ separate. Two totally different cultures, IMO.
But the software, etc. there now is really good. I'd surely vote to move this place when prudent and NF has "spare" time ;)
 

a2jacketpatches

Active Member
I was wondering the same thing. Personally, I enjoy everything right where it is. And as a vendor, I think merging would be a conflict of interest. Hoping that isn't going to be an issue here. I've always been free to plug my stuff here being geared toward Military jackets but FL is very strict about it. Along with everyone else this is a great place to post your products for consideration, reviews, what have you without admin being concerned. I'm all for finding some way to help fund this forum if need be but to be brutally honest, the amount FL required was way out of sight for me, would have cost more than I made. Though a vendor, I'm small potatoes. Thoughts on that Nathan?
 

Dr H

Well-Known Member
SteveM422a said:
CBI said:
thanks for doing this. I will be in the minority here but I would have no problem if this merged with the FL. Having a VLJ category and its threads. I know there is probably no way to do this but if it were easier somehow in the long run, that would be fine. There is so much duplication - why not? The mods for here could be the same for VLJ stuff on FL.

again - thanks

NO WAY. let's keep the forum the way it is. Also, lets keep the email requirement as is

+1
Personally, I think the new proximity will kill it, but hey ho.
 

Nathan Flowers

Administrator
SteveM422a said:
CBI said:
thanks for doing this. I will be in the minority here but I would have no problem if this merged with the FL. Having a VLJ category and its threads. I know there is probably no way to do this but if it were easier somehow in the long run, that would be fine. There is so much duplication - why not? The mods for here could be the same for VLJ stuff on FL.

again - thanks

NO WAY. let's keep the forum the way it is. Also, lets keep the email requirement as is

Agreed, VLJ is not going to merge with the Lounge, period. The email requirement, we can talk about. There are benefits and disadvantages to both sides of the issue. We can always test it out and see how things work, and make changes in the future if it doesn't work. I'm committed to doing the right thing for VLJ and you guys here, and I won't do it without consulting everybody.

ButteMT61 said:
Yeah, I think it's definitely better to keep TFL/VLJ separate. Two totally different cultures, IMO.
But the software, etc. there now is really good. I'd surely vote to move this place when prudent and NF has "spare" time ;)

Agreed, I think a move to Xenforo for the forum software would be a real improvement. Having the ability to upload photos to a gallery, multi-quote messages, better mobile integration, and a more navigable admin panel would be fantastic.

John Lever said:
How could merging make things better ?

I honestly don't think it would make anything better. VLJ will remain separate.

a2jacketpatches said:
I was wondering the same thing. Personally, I enjoy everything right where it is. And as a vendor, I think merging would be a conflict of interest. Hoping that isn't going to be an issue here. I've always been free to plug my stuff here being geared toward Military jackets but FL is very strict about it. Along with everyone else this is a great place to post your products for consideration, reviews, what have you without admin being concerned. I'm all for finding some way to help fund this forum if need be but to be brutally honest, the amount FL required was way out of sight for me, would have cost more than I made. Though a vendor, I'm small potatoes. Thoughts on that Nathan?

The Lounge is a legitimate business, with expenses, taxes, and everything else you could imagine that is involved with running it. As a business, they do have to charge vendors to have an affiliate thread in the primary content areas. Smaller vendors who are unable to pay are able to post in the Merchants area. While not as busy as the main content areas, it does allow them to get some exposure to customers. The Lounge has to do this because it's serving over 2 million pageviews per month. It's expensive to run, and because I am just one of several owners over there, I can't unilaterally decide to stop charging.

As I said in my initial post, VLJ is NOT going to be under the umbrella of the Lounge. Nor is it going to be subject to the Lounge's policies. VLJ is a much smaller community, and it has a history of allowing small vendors to post on the board. We plan to keep things exactly as they have been, make minor updates to things to make it better for you guys, and keep VLJ healthy and growing.

Dr H said:
SteveM422a said:
CBI said:
thanks for doing this. I will be in the minority here but I would have no problem if this merged with the FL. Having a VLJ category and its threads. I know there is probably no way to do this but if it were easier somehow in the long run, that would be fine. There is so much duplication - why not? The mods for here could be the same for VLJ stuff on FL.

again - thanks

NO WAY. let's keep the forum the way it is. Also, lets keep the email requirement as is

+1
Personally, I think the new proximity will kill it, but hey ho.

Different ownership, different servers, different communities. No offense meant here: I intend to prove you wrong. ;)
 

dmar836

Well-Known Member
Great to have you Nathan.
BUT, let's not forget a big thanks to those who have gone before and made this the forum and community that it is.
Dave
 

Nathan Flowers

Administrator
dmar836 said:
Great to have you Nathan.
BUT, let's not forget a big thanks to those who have gone before and made this the forum and community that it is.
Dave

Hear, hear!
The work and knowledge that you guys have shared over the years are what makes VLJ such an incredible and special resource.

Honestly, my job is to be a good steward and caretaker for the place. Keeping the lights on, and keeping you guys happy.
 
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