Friday Teaday 1/15/10 Forum Chachachanges?

[Chip]

Good TeaDay everyone and welcome to yet another Teaday. Come in and sit a spell ... share what is in your cup with us!

Yesterday we discussed more TeaCup philosophy 101. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.

(I think here would be a great time to imagine the opening music score to 2001 A Space Odyssey ) Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic. You may have noticed that there are some changes to the forum today, mostly still in transition, but will hopefully be virtually complete by the end of the weekend.

But some exciting things, I believe:
The TeaRoom for members only (should be fully live by the end of the weekend).

TeaVendors' Guide (should also be fully live by the end of the weekend).

Some forums moved around (still looking at this).

Some condensing through the first time use of "subforums" on TeaChat so the forum index is not so longgggggg while not losing any of the actual forums in the process (also still looking at this).

The Poll question, do you like what you see so far? Please discuss your thoughts and share input. The last great idea scored AdamMy a GraviTea Water Purifier compliments of Adagio, so fire away!!! Bottom line, I am hoping to see teaChat as an exciting and fun TeaForum while still maintaining the quality posting we have come to expect! I am hoping this will be an exciting time on the forum as we enter a new decade and approach TeaChat's 5th anniversary!

Also some more great news, I have been working with Adagio to fix those nagging technical glitches this week! A lot of them have already been taken care of ... but not the email notifications YET! We went through a LONG list. Still not done, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I am looking forward to sharing this TeaDay with everyone! Bottoms up.

[Jasmin]

I love it so far. The tea vendor guide is a great idea!
The rest I like too. Good changes.

This morning I'm drinking a fruity rooibos again. I'm in a rooibos phase. But the topic the other day makes me think I just want to use my new tea pot and that's why I feel like drinking rooibos, because that's what I bought the pot for...I don't know

[bsteele]

Definitely like what I see!

I'm excited about the new sub-forums. Thanks for putting in the work to get things done Chip, and thanks for being a great host Adagio! I'm especially looking forward to the new vendor guide. Imagine, no more crazy dead-end searches or endless hours and hours of reading through posts to find a good vendor for that garlic darjeeling I've been craving...

Okay, I don't think I've ever done that... nor will I ever have to now thanks to the new tea vendor guide!

One small cosmetic thing I've noticed that shows up on Firefox and Chrome but not I.E.:



Oh, one other thing. Prospects of getting /chat.php back?

Waiting to eat before I start my TD.

[geeber1]

I especially like the Tea Vendor Guide idea. It will be nice to have it all in one place.

I'm not so sure about the Members Only area, mainly because I thought you already had to be a member to post on any of the topics on the board. So I wonder what the purpose of Members Only is?

No tea yet, but have already chosen to have Darjeeling Castleton 2nd flush from Lochan (tea chosen first!) in my good ol morning mug.

[Victoria]

Thanks Chip, everything looks great. Thanks for all your hard work.
I think the members only forum will be a great addition. It will give us a place to get to know each other better and discuss some non-tea topics, like the Haiti disaster for one and on a lighter note, current movies and things happening in our lives and the world.

In my cup this morning: Soom Estate Darjeeling

Have a nice day everyone!

[LauraW]

I'm not so sure about the Members Only area, mainly because I thought you already had to be a member to post on any of the topics on the board. So I wonder what the purpose of Members Only is?

I agree. Maybe I'm biased because I'm still fairly new here, but I would think the board-participation would be higher priority than having been a member for 6 months.

But again, that could just be my bias.

Scottish Breakfast again this morning, in a company mug.

[geeber1]

I think the members only forum will be a great addition. It will give us a place to get to know each other better and discuss some non-tea topics, like the Haiti disaster for one and on a lighter note, current movies and things happening in our lives and the world.

Ohhhhhh, okay. I understand now!

[Trey Winston]

I think the forum looks better and better. Well done to all involved.

Currently guzzling Silver Needle for the second day running. Talk about hedonism (or actually, don't).

700 posts! Yay!

[Chip]

Thanks Bsteele for pointing out that glitch. IE seems fine, is anyone experiencing the same problem, but with IE? Please let me know. Thanks.

Also, thanks for the input on the TeaRoom! The TeaRoom is not intended to be "exclusive" nor a clique nor a secret society within TeaChat. But a short time of membership will indicate whether someone is serious about the forum, and not some troll or complete jerk who simply wants to antagonize everywhere else on the forum ... they would not be able to be one in the TeaRoom!

Also, Bots, spiders, spammers, lurkers would simply not have access. This is a small but essential security measure.

The 6 months was an example, could be much shorter, and could be a formula that is countered by other forum activity such as posting. So, maybe someone who does not post much would qualify in 6 months, while a more active member might qualify in a few months.

My current intent is to leave it visible to everyone, but not readable to guests and registered users who do not yet qualify, except for a very brief explanation.

Thanks again for your input.

[depravitea]

I think the members only forum will be a great addition. It will give us a place to get to know each other better and discuss some non-tea topics, like the Haiti disaster for one and on a lighter note, current movies and things happening in our lives and the world.

Definitely! Looking forward to being able to talk about some non-tea-related things as well, especially films and books.

[artmom]

The Tea Vendor idea sounds good.

The members only TeaRoom is a little murky to me. Don't quite know what 6 months membership requirement does for you. I guess being a newbie to TeaChat I don't like being considered in a second-class status!

Chip's explanation about spammers, flamers, etc. gives a bit of insight, though.

I'll look forward to being able to participate in the TeaRoom.

[leiche2]

Changes are nifty, yeah.

Lazy day today. I see myself doing some serious tea drinking this afternoon.

[bsteele]

The members only TeaRoom is a little murky to me. Don't quite know what 6 months membership requirement does for you. I guess being a newbie to TeaChat I don't like being considered in a second-class status!

Don't think it has anything to do with being a second-class chatter.

To me, the private forum makes complete sense. It's a place where we can make fun of you second cla... I meaaaaan.

But seriously, I see it as being a place where you can be a little more open about things but with some extra privacy from the prying eyes of Google-bots and and inter-lurkers.

Even if it's not something super personal you are talking about, it is nice to know that you can have some place to post certain things that the only other people that would be seeing it are those you have gotten to know (as much as you can over the interwebs, I suppose) for a few months or more on TC.

[bsteele]

Oh, and I totally love the feature that lets you know a new reply has been posted before you submit your reply. I didn't catch it at first and was like, "dang you, why do I have to click submit twice! Am I clicking preview or something!!?"

Cool.

[virago_ns]

Changes are good, but for us lurkers who don't have enough posts it could be a problem with the private sections. Of course if the membership time over-rides it then it isn't an issue for me