This Is our Village

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Combine the BLOGS

We understand that technical limitations prohibit enrolling more than 100 neighbors on each of the two (or maybe 3?) Century Village blogs.  Since both blogs are interesting, valuable, sources of information, it is time to migrate to a new blog service that will support many more of us simultaneously.

Pick a service, probably Wordpress based, migrate all the current users to that service, and block the existing blogs from the creation of new topics.  Keep the old blogs as an archive of valuable information and let the new blog thrive.

10 comments:

  1. Hi Capt. Stu,
    This has been considered.

    I started the BLOG about 5 years ago, and it took about 4 years to build up 100 registered members, since starting the overflow BLOG I have picked up about 25 more.

    "Migrating" members is not trivial, It would probably be best to code a custom re-direct, which would be transparent to the user.

    There is just not enough time in the day Stu., but I will give it some serious thought.

    Happy & Healthy New Year.

    Dave Israel

    ReplyDelete
  2. I thought Stu was volunteering to do all the additional admin required by Wordpress (NOT TRIVIAL). He who suggests also gets to carry the idea thru! Right.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Maybe Capt. Stu has a good idea, I wouldn't know. It's great that even with your heavy workload you are open to it, Dave.

    I think what does need saying at the end of these five years is what a magnificent job you have done in originating the blog (before you became UCO president) and in keeping it going to the present day. Blogs have their problems, and you've had to deal with them, but you've kept this blog going, and what is it now? It's not only a forum for questions and ideas, but it's an information source second to none in the Village. The amount one can learn from just the sidebar is mind-boggling.

    It is oh-so-easy to criticize, but you have been the man in the arena to keep this instrument going. How you have done it while at the same time being UCO president is beyond me.

    We are within a few hours of ringing in the New Year, Dave. I don't care what the naysayers say. As the bells toll, I think it's time you took a bow for all you have done in creating and maintaining this Village-wide source of communication and information. THANK YOU, DAVE ISRAEL!

    ReplyDelete
  4. THANK YOU, DAVE ISRAEL FOR ALL THAT YOU HAVE DONE ON AND OFF THE BLOG. LONG MAY YOU REIGN! HAVE A VERY HAPPY AND A HEALTHY NEW YEAR.
    MY SINCEREST GOOD WISHES TO YOU ALWAYS.
    RUTH BERNHARD

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dave ,
    I think Esther and Olga have a thing for you. This act they have going is nothing more than a smokescreen for unrequited love.
    Happy New Year Buddy.
    Mike

    ReplyDelete
  6. The blog is great the way it is. It certainly tells a lot about the kind of people we have living in the Village. Thanks Dave, Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I wouldn't object to merging the blog, at the same time, I ask, have the people from "that other blog" attempt to register to write on part 2? They say they are banned, but if they haven't even attempted to register... well, we know then that they would be basing their accusations on lies and half truths. I have asked in the past when they complained and received no answer, so one could only assume that they did not even try.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Let me jump back in, First, it takes about3 people to keep a blog spam free and up to date. Implicit in my comments is the willingness to volunteer as one of the three.

    I suggest the blog be independent of the CV administration and have a published criteria for membership and "censorship".

    This includes reaching out to the minority to assure their views, subject to the agreed rules, are included.

    David has does a TERRIFIC job of building and growing the blog - but the chosen technology limits the usefulness in two ways. 1) The blog has only a flat, date based structure. There is no mechanism, for example, to collect all the WiFi comments under one heading that is searchable.

    Each new thought is a new topic, reducing the the synergism that makes blogs so successful.

    Finally, the rate of growth of the blog is, as a result, limited. Blog two, for example, deals largely with social and club topics, while blog 1 is largely political. Both valid topics, but I don't post to blog 2 (although I was invited), thus the community seems to partition itself.

    Thanks for the opportunity to discuss this issue.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Capt. Stu,
    January 4, 2014 at 10:34 AM,

    There is lots of substance to reply to, but I just want to point out an interesting feature of the BLOGGER system.

    Take your given example of WiFi, try plugging it into the BLOG search box at the upper left, bingo, all WiFi posts are extracted for your viewing pleasure.

    The only comprehensive way to get the customization suggested, is to graduate to a full up Web Site.

    How many of us can code in either PHP or HTML? How many of us have the time to do so.
    Certainly not the average user.

    BLOGGER has done the heavy lifting as regards coding, I do the best I can within the constraints of the platform provided, the same issues would arise on Word Press.

    As to separating the BLOG from UCO, I completely agree, the fact that I happen to be UCO President at this time and also operate the BLOG, is purely coincidental, there is some history here.

    A full up managed chat room is a huge workload, and I am not up to it at this time.

    Dave Israel

    ReplyDelete
  10. Clearly, Dave is involved in many more important activities than managing the instances of this blog. Changing to a unified blog won't reduce our fees, increase the cooperation among the dissatisfied neighbors, or otherwise make make my life better.

    So, it is time to drop the issue. Dave is busy doing more important tasks.

    If, however, we ever decide the merging of the multiple CV discussions into a single discussion, I'll be happy to help.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.