New Modified progress report

[PoisonTaffy]

Nothing will be lost - the site is hosted on amazon's cloud service, so as long as it's alive (half the internet is there so they better stay alive), the content will be alive as well. The current url simply points to it, and any future url will do the same.

I can do featured blogs, technically it's easy, the question is who decide who gets featured, and where do we show the featured blogs.

Regarding the avatar, yep right now it's the only option: I figured it's easy to use, helps keep the database smaller, and with the trick of being able to use a specific image only for the site I think it doesn't have too many downsides. But if popular demand asks for hosted avatars that can be done as well.

[Anz]

Featured blogs could be ran by recognised people and those whos blogs are frequently followed nowadays. If there's a tourney coming up someone can volunteer to write a blog about it. Or maybe Tournies and Tournie write-ups could have their own section even. "Who decides" shouldn't be such a big issue, it's all up to the admins. The Internet isn't a democracy, so no-one can't feel bad about being left out.
Where to put it? You could show the topics of the latest three-or-so featured blog posts in it's own box under the activity box.

I feel like I could write a general blog about the practicing side of footbag. If it sounds like a good idea and people would be interested to read it.

The site needs a section for newcomers to find easily understoodable information about footbag with featured videos and such. Kinda like footbag.org, but clearer. I can help creating the content with Jay.

[Jeremy]

I would go with some kind of rotating "featured" blog system - much like the way "featured" articles work on Wikipedia. People could vote or nominate particular blogs to be on the featured list. A voting system that prioritises people who have made the most contributions to the site would be best, since it encourages participation (which is surely the goal of the project). Vote weighting shouldn't reflect contributions in a linear manner though - otherwise those who contribute the most will end up making all the decisions. I think it would be important to not repeat the mistake of trying to build a resource website instead of a community forum too - as I think has been discussed in these series of topics a number of times.

I think if you feature a couple of blogs all the time, it creates a significant divide between the featured and non-featured. The aim should be to build an inclusive community instead. At the very least, featuring should be based on activity (you could feature the last 5 posts, and the 5 posts that have got the most activity in the last week, or something like that). The model of dictating to consumers what they should read is, I think, the idea that social media has made untenable.

[Anz]

Jeremys idea is good. Active users (moderators?) could pick blog posts to be featured.

[PoisonTaffy]

What if we make posts featured instead of blogs, and a like (or "kudos" in the site-speak) is like a vote to make it featured, and every period of time, the site randomizes a bunch of the newest posts with the most likes to be featured, and admins can step in and automatically include a post in the featured batch?

btw my current concern is the site url, I urgently want to make it final, and I'm starting to think getting a subdomain on modified.in is not gonna happen. I kind of think I shouldn't have posted this on facebook until the url was final. What if I purchase another 'modified' domain, or a brand new domain? Which is best?

[Anz]

Featuring both wall posts and blogs is a great idea. And yeah, basing it on kudos along with moderator picks is also good. Having it change like once a week sounds alright?

Does anybody else feel like there could be a better name than Modified for a footbag community?
If you change the the domain, you could change the name too.

[rjadamson]

I think a brand new name would be best. Would tripledex.org (or something similar) be too arcane?

[PoisonTaffy]

You can look up available domains here: http://www.namecheap.com. Price should be reasonable of course.

I am so terrible with names that I forbid me from polluting this specific discussion.

[Anz]

The name needs to be something that can be associated with only one thing (the community). Modified is pretty good, because when you say it, people know you mean the forum. The new name just could have something more to do with the sport.
Something like:
-Shred Pit
-Footbag Corner
-Freestyle Masonry (works on so many levels)

Jay's ideas:
-Dexing Grounds
-Anssi's Comrades

We can have a poll about it, if people throw in a couple more good ones. I kinda like the "Shred Pit" myself.

[PoisonTaffy]

I like shred pit too.

[rjadamson]

I will be honest here because I think this is worth potentially offending people over. I would personally find it much easier to refer people to something like tripledex.org or paradoxwhirl.org. Naming the new site after a popular trick or component would be an obvious enough association with footbag without sounding contrived or redundant.

"Shred Pit" comes off sort of juvenile to me. A little too xtreem if you will.

I'm still at work and that domain checker site isn't working too well on my phone...

[Jeremy]

http://www.footb.ag

Edit; Unfortunately expensive, but I'd be happy to chip in for that

Edit2;

The best suggestion I could come up with, taking into account costs and practicalities is www.ripste.in

[Anz]

I still think it needs to refer to footbag instead of a trick name, because it would cause confusion. I agree that Shred Pit can sound a little extreme. How about Footbag Pit or Footbag Grounds?

[C-Fan]

"Shred Pit" comes off sort of juvenile to me. A little too xtreem if you will.

How about "xtreem shred pit?"

I think Jeremey's ripste.in is very clever. That said, I think the best bet we have is to give it a name that's easy for non-footbaggers to remember. Modified worked even though it wasn't footbag related, because it was easy to remember. Domain hacks are clever, but harder to remember. And picking a footbag trick name can be hard for a footbag newbie to remember. Something like "orangemonkeys.com" is easier for a non-footbagger/newbie to remember than "paradoxtorque."

Just my 2 cents. I haven't been following Roy's new site too much, but I appreciate it anytime somebody dedicates effort to improve the online footbag community. If our blogs survive to the new site, even better, but really whatever is best for the community.

[brianbear]

how about something like...
shredcentral
or
shredcenter
or
shredhard

[Jeremy]

I support anything that doesn't have "pit" in the name. Shorter is generally better too I think. Shred Central or Shred Centre are ok. What about www.footbag.in? It appears Yves Archambault owns that address but just uses it to forward to prokicker.ca. Perhaps we could buy the address off him, or add a link to his page on the home page or something like that?

[PoisonTaffy]

freestyle-footbag.com seems available. Simple and obvious?

[PoisonTaffy]

I want to implement an articles system, and have a number of dilemmas on how to do it exactly.

Dilemma #1: How do we make a system that makes contribution painless and doesn't require a lot of manual labor by mods?

Off the top of my head, here are some possible options:
1. Everybody can write an article, Mods can delete/hide/bury bad ones
2. Only mods can write an article
3. Mods can mark users as authors, and they and mods can write articles
4. Everybody can write an article, will be published only when a mod approves it

Dilemma #2: Less pressing, but still interesting. An article is a text that has permanent value. e.g. an interview, a tutorial, guide about equipment... So do we categorize them? If so, into what categories? How do we display the categories on the site? I'm going to start with a single "Articles" link on the main menu with all articles simply dumped there, but at some point they should be categorized.

[Anz]

I still think the name should be something that doesn't cause mix ups.

Mods marking users as authors sounds good.

[PoisonTaffy]

Articles is sort of ready (not yet sure it's bug-free, and some stuff are missing, like sorting, categories...)
Admins can mark users as authors, who get permission to write articles.
Articles have public and publish status:
public - with it, the article is visible to non-members. without it, only members can see it
published - without it, only admins and authors can see it. can only be modified by admins and the original author.