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The start of this... (Read 11020 times)
wozzy
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The start of this...
Jun 8th, 2009, 4:26pm
 
if no one minds me asking, how did this forum start?  do alot of you know each other? although it seems u dont live that close!

Just curious how it all came about.

Cheers  Smiley

(Not sure if this is in the correct topic area)
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All advice is at least two years out of date.
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Re: The start of this...
Reply #1 - Jun 8th, 2009, 4:55pm
 
Primeval swamp perhaps?

Did Darwin miss a step in the evolutionary process?
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Lectrician
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Re: The start of this...
Reply #2 - Jun 8th, 2009, 5:11pm
 
I believe all the founding members came over from Screwfix.  The original idea was to operate a forum which was not so heavily moderated.  Supersparky had an old computer, and ran the forum software on this.  The computer was in his loft.  It used a standard broadband connection.

Plugwash lives close to Supersparky, and they set it all up and got it running.

I was just a moderator for a long while, but as I had been involved in some other forums and websites, I did some work to update the forum software and site.

The computer and DSL connection supersparky was using became problematic due to huge traffic loads, and crashed.  The forum vanished on and off for weeks.  Supersparky was busy, and Plugwash was ay uni I believe.

The forum travelled in a jiffy bag from London to devon on a hard disk!  It was then uploaded to a maintained server for which we pay yearly.  It took almost a day to upload the entire forum due to it's size.  This was all going on just as I was due to leave for a two week holiday, and I was still getting it up and running on the morning I flew out!

Since then it has remained on the same server.

We are looking to improve the front end of the website, and welcome input and material for this.
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Re: The start of this...
Reply #3 - Jun 8th, 2009, 6:12pm
 
Well, if you need a contribution to the running costs, let us know!
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Re: The start of this...
Reply #4 - Jun 10th, 2009, 3:11am
 
Lectrician wrote on Jun 8th, 2009, 5:11pm:
Plugwash lives close to Supersparky

No I don't, all the stuff I did related to the server was done remotely (either by telling SS what to do over messenger or by doing it myself over ssh)

LS (an old friend of mine) was the guy who roped me into setting it up BTW.
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Re: The start of this...
Reply #5 - Jun 10th, 2009, 12:26pm
 
Just noticed the TIME of your post Plugwash. Ain't you got a bed to go to?
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Re: The start of this...
Reply #6 - Jun 10th, 2009, 9:05pm
 
insteresting how it all came about then.

Its rather different from the screwfix forum now.

When i first joined i cudnt believe alll this information was avaliable for free.

What front end changes are being planned?
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Re: The start of this...
Reply #7 - Jun 11th, 2009, 6:14am
 
Most people just stumble on the actual forum and book mark it in their favourites, forgetting the real front of the forum at www.askthetrades.co.uk.

The front end of the forum has never been finished, and was done very quickly.  It needs more content such as "how to's" etc.  It just needs a tidy up and brought upto date.
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Re: The start of this...
Reply #8 - Jun 11th, 2009, 8:29am
 
I still can't remember how I found this forum. I know I was looking for that rogue Dutchman at the time in order to warn people about him, but I've tried entering various combinations of 'building/self-build/diy/etc forum' into various search engines and this one doesn't come up.

Did I, perhaps, see a post on another forum advising a poster to look on this forum for the advice they needed?

I've said elsewhere that there are a number of good things about this forum that make it pretty near unique, and often wonder if it's because it is tucked away in a quiet corner of the web.

1) It's actively and closely moderated.

2) No blatant spamming disguised as offers of help or advertising.

3) No narrow-minded advocates of a particularly purist viewpoint to the exclusion of any contrary opinion.

4) A singularly open-minded collection of people who actually know what they're talking about and advise on the basis of knowledge gained from experience.

5) The trade-only section allowing free expression.

6) No plasterers. Grin
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« Last Edit: Jun 11th, 2009, 8:31am by Joiner »  
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Re: The start of this...
Reply #9 - Jun 11th, 2009, 1:33pm
 
Thats why I want to get some more info on the front of the forum, so search engines index it more often.

The forum itself is well indexed against google.  All our traffic (well 99%) if from there.

I will see if I can copy the referral log.

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« Last Edit: Jun 11th, 2009, 1:37pm by Lectrician »  

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Re: The start of this...
Reply #10 - Jun 11th, 2009, 6:57pm
 
wozzy wrote on Jun 10th, 2009, 9:05pm:
insteresting how it all came about then.

Its rather different from the screwfix forum now.

Well yeah, all the good people from the screwfix forum moved out.

The trouble with the screwfix forum was that the moderation was a PITA, they actively deleted links to sites they considered as competitors (which was something of a problem since screwfix sell electrical stuff but only a very limited range) but they did nothing about clueless posters. Also some people wanted to discuss certain things away from the eyes of the general public (hence the trade forums here).
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Re: The start of this...
Reply #11 - Jun 13th, 2009, 2:08pm
 
If you want to see how quickly a forum can go downhill, take a look at

http://www.ebuild.co.uk/forums/messages/3414/21674.html?1244809950

And that's mild.

Many of the plasterers on that link have been binned from other forums, even the plasterer's forum.

The two guys I work with most on my jobs are both plasterers and top men and, unlike that lot on ebuild, able to string more than two words together to express themselves. One guy I became quite friendly with off ebuild said that he'd once posted an opinion which the plasterers took exception to and was "expecting a knock on the door" it got so abusive.
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