A few of us put on a lil' test a wee bit back, we called it the MLA v2.0, and I will be the first to say, for about the 50th time, that that was one of the worst weeks of my life.Not only was that particular forum ill-planned, but it had bad timing, creating it probably went against all the values of at least 3 of those who started it, and killing it probably went against any values that may have been left.
It was a fantastic success, in only one way.
It attracted alot of attention.
Within 24 hours, I bet that 20 people signed up, and 17 of those 20 decided to 'stay active'
There were many problems though.
1) we tried to have multiple administrators
- WORST IDEA EVER.
- It meant that we were always running into eachother, always doing the same thing over, and always undoing what others' were doing.
- We could never decide what to do , and what not to do. So the person who considered himself "top dog" did everything without the permission of everyone else.
- that included watching over the forum like a hawk. He'd delete anything
2) it had bad timing
- There's nothing else to say, we were oging to wait for another form of hosting, but that kid I mentioned before? abaolutely insisted that we use his hosting.
- When I posted about it here, I probably lost the respect of a good... three people? (I may have gained it back, in the case of Stryder, but I've heard nothing on the matter from the others.)
- Bad timing, is bad timing,and for me, it was certainly bad timing, because that forum, in it's entirenity, took up nearly 25 hours of my day. Not all with the posting and the fighting/being assertive for what I thought was right, but just the thinking about it. I probably lost a good amount of sleep that week.
Generally, it was a great idea, executed badly. I think that any switch of the actual forum software that we use for the 68kMLA, isn't the best idea ever. I do, however think that changing the database engine, from JET to MySQL, would be a good idea. It might be as simple as upgrading our installation of Snitz, and then finding a new host for the database and moving the data there.
I'll say that again, because I think that it's VERY important to hear.
Solving our problems, MIGHT be as simple as upgrading our installation of Snitz, and then finding a new host for the database, and moving the data there.
Official 68k videographer
Official MLA TourGuide
Editor of the MLAgazine
"I'm just a normal computer geek who somehow landed a social life"
Too Damn Buggy.
Posted - 20 Oct 2003 : 14:26:25
68k of the Week: kastegir's PowerBook 180.