SuperTed Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 Hi All, I have been developing an idea for a new website. It would be a very simple site whose purpose would be to provide a clearinghouse of information related to the various CM websites. As things currently stand, webmasters typically use this forum to inform the CM community of website updates. What I plan to do is create a site that will accept the news/updates/announcements from all of the CM websites and post it (daily, ideally) for the CM community. By doing so, I hope that CM web browsers will stop at my site to find out what is new at the various CM sites. I would greatly appreciate any feedback you can provide. Thanks. ------------------ SuperTed Wild Bill and the Raiders Boots & Tracks Team Member Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 Will you have an online form that we webmasters can use to automatically feed updates to your site, or will this be dependent on us emailing you and hoping you have the time to make the additions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperTed Posted February 15, 2001 Author Share Posted February 15, 2001 Michael, I would ask webmasters to submit information to me via email. I am online approximately 16 hours per day, so getting updates posted promptly would not be a problem. If there comes a time when this system becomes a problem, I would add a form for automated updates. The reason I will not be doing that initially is because I would like to try a few ideas I have regarding the organization of the incoming updates. Thanks for your feedback. ------------------ SuperTed Wild Bill and the Raiders Boots & Tracks Team Member Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanco Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 The only feedback I can possibly think of is, it sounds like an absolutely killer idea. One stop shopping to find out what's new with CM (mods, AAR's, articles, etc.) without having to wade through a bunch of posts. Brilliant. Do it. ------------------ DeanCo-- CM interface mods: http://mapage.cybercable.fr/deanco/ so many games...so little time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harv Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 Please please please do it!! It takes me at least 2 hours a week to go through all of the websites to see if any new scenarios have been posted, and this would be just the thing that would ease the workload. Hmmm, I sound a litle selfish about this, but I do think it's a great idea on its own. If you miss a couple of days here on the forum, any news will be buried 6 pages back. Harv ------------------ Get The CM Scenario Database Here: http://wbr.thegamers.net/boots_tracks/index.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperTed Posted February 15, 2001 Author Share Posted February 15, 2001 Deanco and Harv, Thanks for the positive feedback, guys. (Harv: now you know why I have not sent you an email yet. ) I should have things ready to start rolling on Monday (February 19). Anybody who has a website and is interested in participating in this project, please send me an email (tedquincey@yahoo.com). This invitation applies to all CM sites, CM-related sites (eg. military history, etc.), and even sites in languages other than English. My goal is to set up a kind of bulletin board for CM fans. (That would be the non-electric, corkboard type. ) Thanks again. ------------------ SuperTed Wild Bill and the Raiders Boots & Tracks Team Member Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manx Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 Although i think it's a good idea and i would be willing to co-operate, there is one problem in having something like this that i can see - it takes away any opportunity for people to comment on a sites updates and as such the webmaster can lose valuable feedback. What do you think??. ------------------ COMBAT MISSIONS - Resources For Combat Mission Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gremlin Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 Manx, I'd recommend putting a "Feedback" email link in a prominent place on the site, then. I know the CM community is small compared to many games, but it would certainly be useful to have a dedicated news site, akin to what you see in many other game communities. ------------------ New to Combat Mission? Visit CM Boot Camp at Combat Missions for tips. "90% of the crucial decisions in this business are made by idiots who don't even play games." Cliff Bleszinski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperTed Posted February 15, 2001 Author Share Posted February 15, 2001 Manx, Excellent point. There are a few ways to address the issue you raise. First, I can include email addresses for webmasters (assuming permission has been granted) so that people can contact them directly. Second, every update will include a link to the appropriate site, so people will be able to visit immmediately and provide feedback through the site itself. Third, there is no reason why webmasters should discontinue posting updates at this forum. That would increase the chances that all who are interested won't miss any updates. My intention is not to take anything away from this forum. Rather, I feel that my website can add to it by organizing the massive amount of information that is out there. Thanks again. ------------------ SuperTed Wild Bill and the Raiders Boots & Tracks Team Member Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manx Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 Gremlin - hello my friend!...i already have a "Feedback" link on the front of the site, but actually receive very little e-mail about the sites updates through it. In my experience, most people would prefer to comment directly on the forum. Here is just one instance where instant feedback from the forum proved to be useful:- Last week Tiger sent in a new Mod. Moments after posting a forum member replied to the post saying that he had downloaded the Mod only to find that there was a problem with one of the bitmaps contained in the download. From this i was quickly able to repair it and everything was sorted before too many people had downloaded it. Now if i had sent news of this new Mod to SuperTed instead of posting on the forum it could have taken any amount of time for this to get back to me. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but i personally would be sorry to lose forum feedback by only posting news of updates to SuperTed. Just my two pence worth. ------------------ COMBAT MISSIONS - Resources For Combat Mission Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperTed Posted February 15, 2001 Author Share Posted February 15, 2001 Manx, I would encourage you to post your updates at my website and here in the forum. That way you (and others) can have the best of both worlds. My site can provide "...one stop shopping..." (in the immortal words of DeanCo) and the forum can provide an opportunity for instant feedback. My hope is that the instant feedback could be provided through my site as well. However, as you have said, that has not been the usual route for those who do respond. So, at least initially, I think it would be useful for all parties involved to utilize both my website and the forum. They provide services that complement each other well. ------------------ SuperTed Wild Bill and the Raiders Boots & Tracks Team Member Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manx Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 SuperTed I understand a little clearer now of what you intend to do - thanks. I would be more than willing to support you and your new site. I too can see the benefits of having a "CM News" site and your right, it would make it easier for everbody to quickly see whats happening around all the sites. How do you intend to categorise the information you receive?. Will you be doing it by having a separate page for each site, or by sections such as "Mod News", "Scenario News" etc. etc. ------------------ COMBAT MISSIONS - Resources For Combat Mission Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoJo Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 SuperTed, Sounds like a great idea although the idea of not having a forum kind of hinders it, seeing that people prefer this over the E-Mail method. If you would like a free message board check out www.coolboard.com , this would allow for anyone passing through to comment on the site, mods, problems, etc. Hope this helps! -MoJo ------------------ "For every soldier that died at Dieppe, ten were saved on D-Day" --Lord Louis Mountbatten Visit my website at http://www.angelfire.com/ns/mocm/index.html ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperTed Posted February 15, 2001 Author Share Posted February 15, 2001 Manx, Things are still early in the development process here, but I'll try to explain my intentions as clearly as I can. I think it would be easiest to do that by explaining the process. 1) Webmaster submits update to me. 2) I read (and edit for spelling, etc.) update. 3) I attach small icon to update and post on my website. Each webmaster will have their own icon. It will be attached to the beginning of each of their updates. That way a person can find updates for specific websites rather easily by looking for the icon instead of the name. (Sometimes I can be so smart. ) 4) News will remain on the Active page for 1-2 weeks. After that, it will be sent to the Archives page. 5) Assuming the webmasters organize their updates the same way (eg. new scenarios, then new mods, then new maps, etc.), I can color-code the sections of the updates (eg. red=scenarios, green=mods, etc.) to help people quickly find what they want. (Again, the smartness is running rampant. ) Sorry, I am coming up with ideas on the fly here. I hope that makes sense. ------------------ SuperTed Wild Bill and the Raiders Boots & Tracks Team Member Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperTed Posted February 15, 2001 Author Share Posted February 15, 2001 MoJo, Thanks for the feedback and the info. I'll add that to my wish list for the website. ------------------ SuperTed Wild Bill and the Raiders Boots & Tracks Team Member Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 Originally posted by Manx: Although i think it's a good idea and i would be willing to co-operate, there is one problem in having something like this that i can see - it takes away any opportunity for people to comment on a sites updates and as such the webmaster can lose valuable feedback. What do you think??. I don't agree with this at all. Any good website will have a feedback link of its own, and there is nothing stopping people from plugging their own site on this forum IN ADDITION to Superted's site. Superted's site would be just one more tool - it couldn't possibly take away from this forum or anyone's site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanco Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 Manx makes a very good point. The board has been invaluable in helping me find minor (and major) bugs in my releases. The feedback is almost instantaneous and my email client goes "driiiing" whenever someone posts. Perhaps a Talkback thing like they have at GameSpot where people can post comments about individual updates would be useful. It doesn't bug me to check back every few hours, I do that anyway with all my mods when I release them in case there is a problem. I also agree that emailing the author about a problem is not very common. It HAS happened to me a few times, however, with great results. But for bug fixes, last minute changes and stuff, not everyone knows my email address but pretty much everyone remembers where they read or downloaded something. This is just a suggestion, I have no idea how hard that would be to implement. If it's too hard, tell me to get lost. I think your concept is a great idea, so great I wish I had thought of it myself! ------------------ DeanCo-- CM interface mods: http://mapage.cybercable.fr/deanco/ so many games...so little time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manx Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 Originally posted by Michael Dorosh: I don't agree with this at all. Any good website will have a feedback link of its own, and there is nothing stopping people from plugging their own site on this forum IN ADDITION to Superted's site. Superted's site would be just one more tool - it couldn't possibly take away from this forum or anyone's site. I thought i had already cleared this up before your post Michael. I initially got the wrong end of the stick with regards to what SuperTed was proposing. I realise that he isn't advocating that we stop using the forum to post news on site updates, rather, having a news site that "compliments" the news issued via the forum. We all know how quickly posts disappear off the front of the forum pages and it's easy to miss a post about a new mod or scenario, so having a site that acts as a central resource for this info is very, very useful. It's a great idea and kudos to SuperTed for thinking of it. ------------------ COMBAT MISSIONS - Resources For Combat Mission [This message has been edited by Manx (edited 02-15-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 Originally posted by Manx: I thought i had already cleared this up before your post Michael. I initially got the wrong end of the stick with regards to what SuperTed was proposing. I realise that he isn't advocating that we stop using the forum to post news on site updates, rather, having a news site that "compliments" the news issued via the forum. We all know how quickly posts disappear off the front of the forum pages and it's easy to miss a post about a new mod or scenario, so having a site that acts as a central resource for this info is very, very useful. It's a great idea and kudos to SuperTed for thinking of it. My fault, Manx, didn't mean to appear like I was attacking you. I should have read the rest of the posts! You are correct on all counts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manx Posted February 15, 2001 Share Posted February 15, 2001 Originally posted by Michael Dorosh: My fault, Manx, didn't mean to appear like I was attacking you. I should have read the rest of the posts! You are correct on all counts. Michael - No problem btw - i've been meaning to add a link to your site on the COMBAT MISSIONS links page. Could you possibly send me a brief description of your site?. You know the sort thing. Thanks! ------------------ COMBAT MISSIONS - Resources For Combat Mission Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperTed Posted February 16, 2001 Author Share Posted February 16, 2001 DeanCo, I agree that a message board would be very useful to allow people to have another option to provide feedback. I may not have it in place when I open the site's virtual doors on Monday (2/19), but I plan to add it as soon as I get a chance. Thanks for all the feedback. Keep it coming, please. ------------------ SuperTed Wild Bill and the Raiders Boots & Tracks Team Member Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisl Posted February 16, 2001 Share Posted February 16, 2001 Sounds like a great idea to me- there have been a lot of useful info sites (many of them pretty static) that people find and post pointers to in the forum, and then after a few days they drop off the first page or two and are gone. Some I've bookmarked, but some I didn't. I'll send you some of my favorite URLs that I've pulled out of the forum. ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MantaRay Posted February 16, 2001 Share Posted February 16, 2001 Count me in too Ted. I have actually 2 sites for ya. Ray ------------------ When asked, "How many moves do you see ahead?", CAPABLANCA replied: "One move - the best one." Click now for shelter from the Peng thread The Red Army of the Rugged Defense Group Ladder The Red Army Mirror Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperTed Posted February 16, 2001 Author Share Posted February 16, 2001 Hi All, If you are interested in becoming a Charter Member of the Forward Observer website, please send me an email (tedquincey@yahoo.com) that includes your name, your preferred email, your wesite's name, and your website's address. Thank you. ------------------ SuperTed Wild Bill and the Raiders Boots & Tracks Team Member Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperTed Posted February 17, 2001 Author Share Posted February 17, 2001 Hi All, In an effort to generate more feedback, this baby's getting bumped again. ------------------ SuperTed Wild Bill and the Raiders Boots & Tracks Team Member Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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