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2012 feedback request/ direness survey (Read 32734 times)

ukb

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2012 feedback request/ direness survey
April 23, 2012, 11:32:00 am
Another request for feedback, for no particular reason posted a couple of months earlier than last year. Is there anything about UKB you'd like us to add/ remove/ enhance/ censor/ sanitise ...?

Bonjoy

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Image hosting would be nice. It's a ballache having to uplaod pics elsewhere and then link to.

slackline

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Could dramatically increase server/bandwidth costs though.

Perhaps that could be a paid for service though, e.g. donate £X/year for premium account and get Y/Gb of storage space (although that would only cover hosting, rather than the increased bandwidth of sending that to each computer that views a page).

 :-\

Greater use of the Wiki would be good, but thats down to users have the inclination to write things up.

sidewinder

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Option to somehow ignore threads (unless this is there already?) I normally browse ukb by using the unread posts link, but am never going to be interested in certain threads for example the football one, at the moment I just don't open them then mark all as read but would be nice if I could mark some so they didn't come up?

SA Chris

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I'd like to be able to vote for more than one thing when a vote comes up.

I think it's great, apart from the pervading smell of piss and sour milk, but I think that's because someone needs a bath

Rocksteady

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UKB is a never-ending source of delight.

I too think the wiki could be better maintained - I've seen a few times on threads that people just don't know where it is.

I know it's one of the tabs on the homepage but that only clicks through to the highlights. Perhaps that could be better used as a wiki contents page? Just my 2p?

r-man

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I posted the same query in the wiki upgrades thread a while back. Should be an obvious link to the wiki homepage.

There's also no way to edit the highlights, so the wiki looks as though it hasn't been updated for years.

slackline

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I'd like to be able to vote for more than one thing when a vote comes up.

Just checked and thats down to the person setting up the polls.  When setting one up there is the "Poll Options" section after you enter the possible responses and the first field is "Maximum votes per user:" which defaults to one.  So the functionality exists in the forum software, its just not used very often (if at all).

tomtom

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First re image hosting.. the Tapatalk app does image hosting for you.. (if you use in on your iOS/Andriod device..) works really well.

My tuppence - which I've been thinking about for a while.... and possibly looking at a bigger picture for the UKB future..

3-4 years ago, when I first started posting my dribble on this wonderful site - it was the best/most easy/dominant/there form of social media for climbing/bouldering chat/hookups/beta etc... Now, I know a load of folk from here on twitter and on faceache.. so I find that when arranging trips to the crag or piss ups etc.. then twitter is used - and to catch up with gossip - news, first ascent, new videos etc.. then faceache is often the first place I see/find out about things. So UKB's role within my climbing life has shifted a little. Twitter and faceache (which I hate, but abide btw..) are no replacement - but some of what I did/could do on UKB is now carried out on there... so I use UKB less...

Now the twitter side of things (meet ups - banter etc.. whats the weather like in sheff questiosn) does not detract from UKB usage much - but the snippets of news etc.. on FB does...

So I think that UKB may need to catch up a little and work on some sort of FB/Twitter integration. Quite how you do that I dont know - and I would loathe/hate it to move lock stock to FB (I dont think it could/would) but some sort of canny linkage thing to drive traffic back to this site from FB so UKB becomes more of a hub (again).

In summary, because of this I tend to check/dip into UKB a few times a day rather than just leave it on.... (though it depends of course on how much of a lazy skiving bastard I'm being at work!)....

All just my views etc...
TT


SA Chris

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I'd like to be able to vote for more than one thing when a vote comes up.

Just checked and thats down to the person setting up the polls.  When setting one up there is the "Poll Options" section after you enter the possible responses and the first field is "Maximum votes per user:" which defaults to one.  So the functionality exists in the forum software, its just not used very often (if at all).
Fuck me, it was an attempt at being humorous.

slackline

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Despite your footer...


slackline

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Image hosting would be nice. It's a ballache having to uplaod pics elsewhere and then link to.

Just had a quick look at the SMF forums, and this thread is a few years old, but shows how the forum can be configured to allow users to upload pictures from the forum, but they are actually hosted at ImageShack (last post in the thread was 2010 and suggests it worked then). 

tregiffian

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I like the current mix. Some threads have been a real help in times of need.

rodma

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I like the current mix. Some threads have been a real help in times of need.

Like DFBWGC  ;D

Jaspersharpe

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The power of UKB, it's enormous. It dictates my entire existence.

slackline

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The power of UKB, it's enormous. It dictates my entire existence.

 :lol: :2thumbsup:

Oldmanmatt

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#16 2012 feedback request/ direness survey
April 24, 2012, 06:28:10 am
The power of UKB, it's enormous. It dictates my entire existence.

Amen...

psychomansam

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I voted VCS but i'm pretty fucked off you've abandoned the pinks
 :worms:

tomtom

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Good topic! According to Google Analytics, UKB's "unique visitor" numbers are flattish 2012 vs 2011, having risen sharply 2011 vs 2010. And average time spent on the site has declined slightly.  That may reflect the Twitter/ FB impact you describe. Obviously there are "solutions" like a more active UKB presence on FB and Twitter , with some underlying aim like trying to point people back to threads on the forum. But is that really useful to anyone or would it just be adding yet more link-spam to the internet? It seems like UKB has (hopefully not: had) some genuine identity as a community. Shouldn't it live or die on that basis alone?

:-\

I've been thinking about this alot...

Interesting on the stats/figures.. I'd kind of suspected this had happened..

As I first kind of suggested I think a FB only way would be an option (as in possibility) but one I would hate to see happen...

But you need to draw some traffic back to UKB. Suggestions are...

1. Get a twitter name and twitter feed box on the front page (piss to do - twitter even set up the code for oyu etc..). This can either/both display UKB's tweets (e.g. look at this new story!! woo woo.. or Ned does something bastard hard etc..) and probablty more important, get it do display every message with the hashtag #ukb. That way UKB-ers who tweet can easily post something relevant to UKB by dropping in the hashtag...

2. Add a tweet this - or facebook this button to the left of the reply to link.. OK, this clutters up the page a bit - BUT - if someone see's a good video/story etc.. then they can easily insert the story in their FB/T timeline etc.. If someone posts something in their timeline - then 100-200 (probably mainly) non UKB people will see it through that persons time-line.. thats some marketing...

3. Get a UKB faceache page (its easy to do but does feel like selling your soul to satan..). I'm involved with a charity (with c.200 members) that set up a faceache page. We got 100 friends/followers etc... after settign up the faceache page - this means the charity popped up to 20 000 people via time-lines etc.. everytime someone liked something on the page - all their friends saw it too.. thats powerful marketing. Imagine UKB gets the first video clip of Ondra breakdancing.. easy way to make him doing the worm viral... ;)

4. Do some work owners!... Someones got to keep it updated to drive traffic back to your site. Whether this be updating the faceboook page/twitter feed or front page - if you want to keep people here and drive some traffic back then you have to make somethign for people to see.. The best social media feeds for businesses have regular but not too obviously commercial updates - so people are drawn back to have a look. This has to be c. every day IMHO...


Why do you need to do this? Well, this AM - in my FB time line, is a video of Ned flashing requiem for a dream, taken by a regular UKB'er and been posted up on vimeo - thats also been tagged/flagged by another regular UKB lurker - and liked by another two UKB very regular users..    Its not on UKB first... It'll make it here at some point, but really it should appear here first? I wish it did instead of on facewank...


I dont want to see UKB become some mega commercial horror site - but equally part of its healthy continuation is to keep drawing new people in, and to retain existing regular users.. Otherwise will it become the internet equivalent of an old working mans club where the only regulars left are a couple of old giffers still talking about whether the other dabbed on his flash of xyz :)

lagerstarfish

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Why do you need to do this? Well, this AM - in my FB time line, is a video of Ned flashing requiem for a dream, taken by a regular UKB'er and been posted up on vimeo - thats also been tagged/flagged by another regular UKB lurker - and liked by another two UKB very regular users..    Its not on UKB first... It'll make it here at some point, but really it should appear here first? I wish it did instead of on facewank...

I saw it in Quality Vids last night... posted by Willackers

edit
and Thesiger beat me to reporting this

tomtom

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#20 2012 feedback request/ direness survey
April 24, 2012, 08:00:03 am
Yeah, but where did I find out about it first!

(despite being on ukb then..)

lagerstarfish

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but it was nicely embedded on UKB

oh yes it was!

he's behind you!

etc.

and besides, it's the version using heels on that video, so you might as well have waited till it appeared on FUKC

Oldmanmatt

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#22 2012 feedback request/ direness survey
April 24, 2012, 08:16:40 am
There already is a Ukb faceache page and a twitter feed and an Rss...
They haven't been updated for a year or so (except the "is it greasy" twit).
I can pull down those feeds through Flipboard on iOS. Some sort of share function would be good.
I do share the odd thing in FB, but it's a ball ache copying and pasting urls and switching between apps.
You should be able to feed the site into flipboard in a similar way to taptalk?

slackline

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Why do you need to do this? Well, this AM - in my FB time line, is a video of Ned flashing requiem for a dream, taken by a regular UKB'er and been posted up on vimeo - thats also been tagged/flagged by another regular UKB lurker - and liked by another two UKB very regular users..    Its not on UKB first... It'll make it here at some point, but really it should appear here first? I wish it did instead of on facewank...

Surely thats down to your usage of websites, in so much as you go and check Farcebook before UKB (and I'd hazard thats because it aggregates several different things in one place).

Perhaps the key, particularly with Vimeo, would be to get the people who make and post the videos to add them to the Vimeo UKBouldering Group as part of uploading it.  But again that comes down to user behaviour and if the first thing they do once its uploaded is to embed/post it on Farcebook rather than add it to that group then you can't change that.

Perhaps setting up an RSS feed to suck the latest additions to the Vimeo group into a Video thread a la the blogpile would get the videos here quicker, but it won't have the same distinction between Quality/Non-Quality that currently exists.

The @isitgreasy twitter account exists on twitter and sucks in posts on conditions.  I'm not sure having all posts tweeted to an account would garner many followers (beyond bots/spammers).  There is certainly too much activity here for me to add it to my Twitter followers (although I could silence it add it to a list and then look at that list as and when I want to, but then thats not much different from coming here and looking at "Unread Posts").  Perhaps you could increase traffic by having a (convoluted) Vimeo Group -> RSS feed sucked into UKB -> Updates to UKB Vimeo thread posted to @ukbvideo account on twitter .

Not trying to be down on the idea of increasing traffic to the site, just my take on how/why things happen the way they currently do.


On the Wiki front, I don't think it needs a 'maintainer', at least not at the moment, for the simple reason that it really needs content before it can be maintained.  Collating all the advice that is repeatedly posted in the forum in response to questions/posts on injuries (Pulley Injuries and Elbow1), training, people's knowledge and experience of venues, into these wiki pages would mean that there is then content that needs maintaining (e.g. updating links, removing dead ones, ensuring consistent formatting/style across pages).  Adding content isn't the responsibility of Wiki maintainers because that comes from users adding stuff.  But most people would, quite rightly, rather be out bouldering/climbing than writing wiki pages.

tomtom

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Why do you need to do this? Well, this AM - in my FB time line, is a video of Ned flashing requiem for a dream, taken by a regular UKB'er and been posted up on vimeo - thats also been tagged/flagged by another regular UKB lurker - and liked by another two UKB very regular users..    Its not on UKB first... It'll make it here at some point, but really it should appear here first? I wish it did instead of on facewank...

Surely thats down to your usage of websites, in so much as you go and check Farcebook before UKB (and I'd hazard thats because it aggregates several different things in one place).


Grr.... (not at you Slackers - in general at being misunderstood)...

typical - you post a thread to try and add something constructive and get pulled apart by using a weak example.. ;)

But in the way the internet is I feel compelled to explain/give my excuses.,. I'd been on UKB last night (after 10) and before lookign at FB this morning! Not the best example to post - but there have been others.. Still, Stallioni and PaulB both liked it on FB and not sure they've commented on the vid thread here...

I guess part of my point was that UKB should be the place that aggregates things into one place - as faceache's not called boulderbook! I missed that video on UKB - and found it on FB this AM...


 

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