What do yall want?

[Casa Grande]

In an ongoing effort to improve this site and make it the ultimate destination for all things Big Bend in and around the park, what may be missing here that you guys want?   Ask away, it may happen, no matter how ambitious you think it may be.  I've got big plans for this site in the future, so I have my own ideas, but my ideas may not be what you want.  And, since this site is dependent on  you, I'd like to hear from you.

[mule ears]

I still think that a lot of the suggestions in this thread are still good.

http://www.bigbendchat.com/portal/forum/from-the-administrator/possible-features-requests-for-features-t7058.0.html

I still like Jeff's idea of a FAQ page or ways to combine the best of the info here and I would still like to see a water source/spring reports board in El Salon.

Awesome job as always David and Richard!

[trtlrock]

First off David (and Richard)...this is a GREAT place, and I derive so much enjoyment I can't begin to thank you enough.

Resposes to queries like this can appear to be criticisms, so I'd like to say in advance that I'm not bitching & moaning here.

1) I can't believe how much stuff ends up in El Salon when it ought to be categorized elsewhere. I'd guess that 90% of the stuff in El Salon really isn't sensitive at all, or at least not enough to really justify sequestering it. Then you end up with a gazillion trip reports & photos stuffed in ES that would be more easily found & browsed if they were in their correct forum.

2) I'd love to be able to enter or edit a post without resorting to an outboard editor. As it stands now, once you proceed below the little text-entry box, typing anything is a massive source of frustration, as between each keystroke the screen jumps back to the top so you can't see where you are. Might have something to do with the blinking smilies, or maybe the flashing ads -- I dunno, but I know it is truly debilitating. Also doesn't happen all the time in 1st-entry, but most of the time. Happens all the time when editing.

3) echo ME's thoughts on the thread mentioned above.

4) this site loads more slowly than any other site I visit on a daily basis, and often freezes up without fully loading. Seems much worse over the last 2-4 months. Just FYI.

That's it!  


Still a daily-read for me, and I wish I could Golden Eagle all the time, but I try as often as I can anyway...

[fartymarty]

.... I'd like to hear from you.

How's that saying go "Be careful what you ask for.." rolling:
I'd like the preview button back on the "Post reply" page.

I mostly want you, David and Richard, to not lose your enthusiasm for the board as it adds a lot to my life. If I were to lose my job next week, or if I were to win the lotto next week, there would be big changes for sure. But either way BiBe Chat would still be part of my life.

Oh and if you could work a deal with BBNHA so that BiBe Chat Calendars could sit on the
shelf right next to the official ones that would be cool too.

 Did I mention a spell checker?....

[trtlrock]

.... I'd like to hear from you.

  How's that saying go "Be careful what you ask for.."
 
     I'd like the preview button back on the "Post reply" page.

   I mostly want you David and Richard to not lose your enthusiasm for the board as it adds a lot to my life. If I were to lose my job next week, or if I were to win the lotto next week, there would be big changes for sure. But either way BiBe Chat would still be part of my life.

   Oh and if you could work a deal with BBNHA so that BiBe Chat Calendars could sit on the
shelf right next to the official ones that would be cool too.

   Did I mention a spell checker?....

fixing the  thing would be way cool 

also agree that the preview would be nice

and being able to look up a member's posts without being a GE would be an, ummm, generous touch! 

[Sotol Vista]

just a wild suggestion here, and it may take a LOT of effort, but how about a recommended hike list, by categories, hiking experience.

Say if someone is making a quick 2 day trip and has never been to the park, what could they do in 2 days.

something for quick and easy day hikes for the "tourist" and places to drive to and look around

something for the VERY experienced

of course sensitive areas will not be listed, to keep them sensitive

the standard warnings will apply with all the results that these are just suggestions and you should always take caution while in big bend and be prepaid for harsh conditions, and that BBC is not responsible for anything that happens to you

James

[RikD]

this site loads more slowly than any other site I visit on a daily basis, and often freezes up without fully loading. Seems much worse over the last 2-4 months. Just FYI.

Could this be due to the advertisement links?  I've never really had freeze-ups, but did notice some slowness of loading.  When I decided to be a GE, that definitely helped with overall speed of loading.

-Rik

[trtlrock]

this site loads more slowly than any other site I visit on a daily basis, and often freezes up without fully loading. Seems much worse over the last 2-4 months. Just FYI.

Could this be due to the advertisement links?  I've never really had freeze-ups, but did notice some slowness of loading.  When I decided to be a GE, that definitely helped with overall speed of loading.

-Rik

Not as far as I can tell. My GE lapsed a while ago, and the site loaded very fast for quite a while after that. I should clarify that I am not referring to pics loading within a post; I mean that the top 'banners' of Unread posts (let's say) will load, but (more & more often) nothing underneath will appear until I refresh the page, sometimes 2-3 times. I keep weird hours, so fyi doesn't matter if it's 2am or 4am either.

[dkerr24]

Same problem here.  At times, just the top banners will load and then freeze up.  I've tried it with IE7, IE8, Firefox, and with 3 different computers with the same results.  I'm using AT&T's top speed DSL, so it doesn't appear to be a problem on my side.

However, I'm not a Golden Eagle, so really I have no room to complain at all.  Just thought I'd add my .02 worth to the conversation.

[mule ears]

However, I'm not a Golden Eagle, so really I have no room to complain at all.  Just thought I'd add my .02 worth to the conversation.

Yeah but you are a freshly minted Mountain Lion and that is some rarified air! 

[Casa Grande]

RE: Preview Button....I know a lot of you are using it, but there is no fix for it.  I don't think there will be a fix on this version of the forum.  However, later this year, I will be updating the board once again to the newest stable version.  Right now, the version I'm going to upgrade to, 2.0 is only in alpha stage right now.  Should be ready to go by the end of the year.

RE: FYI Page.....definately agree!  This is a feature I've been wanting to add for a longtime and it's also very time consuming, hence why it hasn't happened yet.

RE: Slow Page Loading.....this is a new one for me.  I don't get slow page loads here.  Of course, it may be due to the some of the ads being served.  Can't say for sure.  My set up is about the same as dkerr24 and I test it on all browsers.  Never had a crash either.  So, I'm a bit surprised at this.  Is it slow on ALL pages?  Or just the home page?  On the home page, you can "disable" some of the gadgets on the page, ie., dopplar radar, which will help the page load faster (and it remembers which ones you have minimized based on your username).  Minimizing the gadgets you don't care about, will in effect disable them and cause them not to load thus speeding up page loading.

RE: trlrock's number 2 I'm a bit unclear about.  I'm not sure what the problem as I haven't seen that either....can you elaborate?


keep 'em coming!

[Fred]

**RV section.  In addition to user posts, get input and maybe adds. from local RV camps in the area.

**Second the request for "Preview" button on posts.

**Lists of area businesses.  Live link for those that chose to support this site.

**Second the request for speller.

**I used to be able to go to my favorite member's profile and quickly view all their recent posts.  I can no longer do that.

**Second the observation on slow loading.  Sometimes it is and sometimes not.

**Revive the Political Section.  I know some get their dander up on this stuff, but I look at it this way.  If a person has a personality type that disallows them the joy of banter on such subjects, then they are free to not open that section up.  Warnings to that effect that make it clear if you are overly sensitive, just don't go there.

**User submitted listing of private parks in Texas and New Mexico.  These places are the jewels of our state in that Rules, and Regs. are fewer, extending greater freedom to the guests that are fortunate enough to find them.  But that is the problem, finding them.   A user submitted list would let us all know where they are and current conditions.  Again, a live link to those that choose to support the site.

**On the golden membership, or whatever you call it, the enticement should be added features, not loss of adds.  Post Preview, Speller, Member Posts Look up, Access to El Salone, Access to newly reopened Political Section, etc.  Some might pay for real goodies like these instead of just lack of adds.

**"For Sale" section.  Folks can sell their old land, camper, backpack, whatever.

**Trip report rewards.  5 "good" reports per year and your golden membership is free.  You decide what is good, but photos are a big part of that.

[trtlrock]

RE: Slow Page Loading.....this is a new one for me.  I don't get slow page loads here.  Of course, it may be due to the some of the ads being served.  Can't say for sure.  My set up is about the same as dkerr24 and I test it on all browsers.  Never had a crash either.  So, I'm a bit surprised at this.  Is it slow on ALL pages?  Or just the home page?  On the home page, you can "disable" some of the gadgets on the page, ie., dopplar radar, which will help the page load faster (and it remembers which ones you have minimized based on your username).  Minimizing the gadgets you don't care about, will in effect disable them and cause them not to load thus speeding up page loading.

IE7 & IE8 for me. btw, IEx never crashes itself, not does it freeze up -- I can always go to a new web page or hit the refresh on BBC. When it happens it'll load down to (but won't show) the horizontal bar with all the links (L to R: Home...Logout); nothing below this point will show. The little hourglass thingy is not still spinning, so it's not like waiting will solve the problem. Definitely the home page, and the 'Forum' link, and the 'New posts since you last visited' link. I'm not sure I ever remember it happening when I click on a thread -- it is upstream of that, if that makes any sense. I'll try disabling some gadgets to see if it has any effect. fyi I've got good 6+MB Comcast broadband, Vista.

As to my point #2 -- there are (looks like) 12 lines of text you can enter while posting, or editing a post. i.e. you can only see 12 lines before use have to use the vertical scroll bar to continue farther into the post to enter or edit. When it's a problem (which seems to be >80% of the time, although I haven't nailed down the total pattern yet), what it means is that although your cursor is still in the correct place, you can't see it because as soon as you type a character you get bumped back to the top of the text box. The next character you type (or delete, or backspace over) you will see what you did for a millisecond, but then it reverts back ...

wait, as I'm typing this I'm figuring out the pattern (maybe).  of course, I can't see what I'm typing right now  , so bear with me.

#1) as I entered this post, the problem began happening as I finished the line beginning with "although your cursor is still..."
#2 As I type this line, the text box keeps jumping back up to whetver line begins with the word "Definiitely."
#4?) and, as I continue typing, the range of text I can see changes -- now I see the line beginning with "that make..."
#6? So there's something going on where when yor text gets longer than a certain number of lines, the text-box starts 'sliding' downwards within the text, but never lets you seem the "bottom" where you are typing

I'm doubtful it's my IE8/Vista setup, and I hope I've given enough info that David or anyone can experiment easily & chime in with their results.

fwiw I think ythis started happening in the last few months, although I'm also pretty sure it pre-dated my upgrading from IE7 to IE8Ha- Ha I find this so annoying I'm not even going to edit all these mis-spellings since I won't be able to see what I'm doing while in edit mode for exactly the same rason.  

What (of course) does work is to go into edit, highlight something, choose select all, copy, paste into Notepad, edit & finish, copy, back into BBC edit highlight something, select all, and then paste...  

[trtlrock]

**On the golden membership, or whatever you call it, the enticement should be added features, not loss of adds.  Post Preview, Speller, Member Posts Look up, Access to El Salone, Access to newly reopened Political Section, etc.  Some might pay for real goodies like these instead of just lack of adds.

I guess I disagree pretty strongly with this one. I feel that things like post-preview, the ability to look up a member's posts, and access to El Salon are not things that, to use obviously & purposefully melodramatic words, should be 'auctioned' or 'extorted.' And I AM NOT saying they have been. And, if it turns out that my problems with editing or posting text are caused by the ads, then a way to solve that needs to be found. imho these capabilities are fundamental site-navigation & search capabilities and as such should be available to anyone who has registered at BBC.

Having said that, I will (sooner rather than later) be a GE again. But it won't (and I hope never will) be predicated upon what features I get for becoming a GE. And personally I don't mind the ads. I see the GE as an opportunity to ensure that David & Richard don't lose their butts running this site, and the money will be donated as/when and in whatever amounts are practical at the time.

Giving bonus points for worthy contributions is always an enticing idea, but it calls for subjective decision-making from David & Richard, and as such is a PITA for them and would never (imho) be practical.  btw -- wait for it... now I can't see what I'm typing again.  

For instance, I think I contribute some useful stuff, but on the other hand I have yet to complete two epic trip reports that would be useful for research as well as entertaining. It is still quite a while off until I have time for those. Okiehiker deserves a lifetime GE for past service, but has posted maybe once in the last year. Presidio catches sh*t all the time, although I actually enjoy skimming his posts and never find him to be annoyingly combative. And, btw, just a few nights ago I ran into an actual pic that Presidio posted. No. Really  . So, basically, where can one even begin to draw the line?

I've enjoyed your 'mellow' presence here over the last few months Fred   You've been an excellent contributor. You really want to go all politico on us again?       [hmmm...any more of these-here smiley thingies I can use?   ] yep!  

[RikD]

Just to circle back on the Big Bend Chat speed-of-loading observations...  I have to say that for whatever reason, loading of the site is almost instantaneous at my desktop.  Should note that I switched to the "Google Chrome" browser a few months ago, and even though it's not optimal for all things, it does seem to be quicker in general.  I am using a 16 mbs connection from Comcast at home, which does pep things up quite a bit overall.  However, I often access BBC from a Verizon CDMA broadband connection on a laptop.  The broadband connection is where I really noticed the speed difference after not having advertisements anymore.  However, I also started using Google Chrome just prior to that time as well.  

-Rik