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Arrived in Denver - BB discussion with ICC

vegas paul

vegas paul

Silver Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2009
Messages
495
Location
Salina, KS
I arrived in Denver last night and met informally with all the folks who are going to try and hash out the old/new ICC bulletin board problems. The usual suspects were there:

Peach, Mule, Tjacobs, JPRanch, Daddy-O, Fatboy, Enginerd, and many others (and me, Vegas Paul).

What was most interesting so far is that only 2 ICC folks (that I could tell) were here. Additionally, there were 3 folks from a web-design firm who has been contracted by ICC to run/fix their website. They were NOT the design firm that changed it initially when the BB went south. It's also interesting that although no ICC personnel admit to being terribly aware of Jeff's BB (believe me, they are), the web-design staff readily said that they read Jeff's BB frequently. That's a good sign, in my opinion.

I believe (but cannot substantiate) that the web-design firm is paying for this event, including travel and accomodations reimbursement.

Anyway, no real info of substance to report yet, we just had some good conversation, hors doerves (sp?), and adult beverages, courtesy of our hosts. I really enjoyed putting a few more names to faces with those I feel I have gotten to know on Jeff's BB and the old ICC BB.

More to follow as we get into some of the meat today. I don't think there any shy people from the forum here, so it should be interesting.
 
I agree with with VP's uptake on the evening. There wee a couple others there that i didn't ever figure out their purpose/background. This a.m. start with intro's so hopefully we will find out more. We will keep you posted, and yes there is strong representation there from this forum/the old forum.

To add to VP's list, code neophite is also here, and I'm sure we are still missing some.
 
Vegas Paul -

The proper way to say the words, according to Fred Sanford, is Horse Divers. Can't argue with an authority like Fred Sanford (old comedy Sanford and Son, for those of you who remember).
 
vegas paul said:
Additionally, there were 3 folks from a web-design firm who has been contracted by ICC to run/fix their website.
Click to expand...
It takes a web-design firm to provide a link to this website from the ICC website?
 
Texasbo

Link: no problem

How to collect money before link connects :: Problem
 
Having owned three businesses, I can confidently say that anybody that contracts with ICC for compensation at this point is taking a huge financial risk.

Hope they have a solid legal contract in place.
 
Well, from my viewpoint we had a very good meeting with ICC and the Web folks today. Did intro's talked about what we wanted, didn't want to see in a new forum platform. After lunch they showed us a demo of a prototype and got more feedback from us. Looked real good for a proto, they are going to take our suggestions and see about how to integrate tham into a new forum. We will have an opprtunity to actually play with it before it launches, which they hope to do by early next year. Everyone is pretty optimistic that this is the real deal, and they will launch a decent forum. But, all us us told them, that we would come back, and we weren't abandoning this site by any means, but there are some that will never come back to a ICC forum.
 
Not to be a "Debbi Downer" but the "prototype" is their way of showing you all what it is and the design firms getting free/Denver junkit consultation. I hope ICC at least gives you a year's free membership or code books of choice for your Beta testing;)

Represent!
 
I had a family emergency and had to cancel going to Denver. I am glad that Fatboy could take my place.

I was wondering; who from ICC was at the meeting?

The web design company can accomodate/add any Bulletin Board format to the website (they do not design bulletin boards); so anything else they do to the site is not in question for me. All they have to do is put a link to the Bulletin Board on the home page. It is the Bulletin Board that the meeting is suppose to address.

The web design company will do whatever the ICC tells them to do; so, to me they are not an integral part of the meeting. What is the intent of the ICC conserning the Bulletin Board?

It should not be difficult for the ICC Staff to answer the following questions;

1. Will the old BB be put back?

2. If not; will the new BB have an "OFF TOPIC" section; where we can discuss whatever we want?

3. Will the moderators be limited to controling foul/abusive language and personal attacks?

4. Or, will the moderators have the authority to block, delete, and close threads and posts; that they personally do not want posted?

4 (a) or feel are not in the ICC's interest?

5. Will the Bulletin Board be "FREE AND OPEN" TO EVERYONE; without membership requirements.

These questions can only be answered by the ICC staff (not the web designers).

If these questions are not addressed by the ICC staff; then I don't see any point to the meeting.

They had a lot more time to plan and decide what their intentions are, and, what they were willing to do; than we did; before calling this meeting.

It's about the Bulletin Board; not the overall website,

Uncle Bob
 
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UB, happy to hear from, hope all is OK. You were missed, all the forum folks were asking about you.

CDA and UB's Q#5........yes free and open to all. There will be "members only" section, but it will be a small part that will really only have benefits that members deserve, the heart of the forum is free and open.

RJJ and UB, the web folks actually ran most of the meeting and appear to have pretty free run of the development, but we'll see.

UB, Michael Armstrong, Sanjey Gupta and a one more, can't remember his name were there from ICC, pretty much the lead team for the website development, and the fourum development. Armstrong actually made a very sincere "mia culpa" on ICC's part for the mishandling of the website/forum debacle. Wasn't just me that felt it was sincere, everyone I talked to thought it was sincere.

The "old" BB won't be back, but it will feel very close, and very close to this forum. Yes, there will be an "off topic" section that we will have access to, they even showed a "humor" button.

The Mod's job will be the same as it was in the old forum, dealing with the extreme issues only.

As I said, this isn't only my opinion, we all had time to chat during breaks and lunch, and I could find nobody that didn't think this was on the up-and-up. But, as we all said, and are saying, proof is in the pudding. We'll see it when they roll out the "paper" version for our thumbs up, and when the roll out the "beta" for testing. The next step is a "soft" lauch,where more members will be asked to test, (I was thinking this entire forum should be included in that), then the hard launch.

Will try and post a recap after tomorrows meeting, after it wraps up, see how we all feel about it then.
 
I'll be willing to beta test the forum/site. I think a month or so or more would be needed in beta to work out any technical quirks. Then we can have more. Moderation should be level headed, soft-handed and were appropriate, move, close or delete posts / threads as necessary.

Deleting posts and threads should be done when there are spammers or when it is out of hand. But basically, relaxed.

The way it was handled on the old BB was reasonable. How it is handled here too is reasonable so they should look to that basis.
 
Fatboy,

Thanks for the update. Ya'll are doing a great job. Please give my regards to all the gang. Family is doing ok.

I believe we are well represented in Denver.

Thanks,

Uncle Bob
 
I missed you, UB... I was looking forward to seeing you. Hope all is going well.

I was very cynical about this meeting, and came away very impressed. Not just with the prototype product, but with the attitude and demeanor of the ICC and web-design staff. It was made VERY clear by Mr. Armstrong that they had goofed, they were very apologetic, and were asking for our forgiveness and patience, and assistance.

This will be a free BB, open to all, and the member's section isn't just for members! It is merely a section of the BB that can be used to discuss member issues, benefits, etc. Basically, just another topic area for member-related issues, but anyone can participate.

Bottom line... We'll see! Ane we'll probably use this BB for as long as Jeff keeps it alive. I can see both being active and used by all of us for a long time.
 
I don't understand why there is a prototype. Install vBulletin and be done with it (unless the prototype is vBulletin). Web companies love to reinvent the wheel because they get paid to craft the wheel and continue to get paid to fix it every time it gets a flat tire. vB is tried, true, and solid.

They can design whatever pretty graphics they want for it. I do not want to learn another system and (more than likely) use a system that lacks features that vB has had for years.

All they need is a link on the iccsafe site that points to vB. Of course just about anybody can set up vB, so that would be too easy. The money to be made is in the interfact between their existing database of members and vB. Not in designing a new bulletin board system.
 
It is about the website AND the bulletin board. I don't have time now to go into detail but suffice it to say that they not only screwed up the BB but the entire website. What they showed us was the web re-design since Feb. and they have come a long way. They are using an add-on for Sharepoint that looks very much like a standard BB. We already complained about the race car sound which has already been removed, and the ridiculous picture of the "beautiful people" that takes up too much screen real estate on EVERY page.

Can't add much more to what has already been said. Suffice it to say the BB members here have not held back on the criticism of ICC, and not just about the BB but the lack of ICC focus on the basics.
 
Stuck in DIA. Beer 5.50 a glass! Fatboy, this ones for you. Need a little time to digest everything. Uncle Bob, I' call you soon. Very happy to know all is well.
 
Stuck in DIA. Beer 5.50 a glass! Fatboy, this ones for you. Need a little time to digest everything. Uncle Bob, I' call you soon. Very happy to know all is well.
 
Sorry, didn't mean to get all preachy on the bulletin board. I never go to the iccsafe site except a few times to check my certs and when I need to order books (not often), so the rest of the website really isn't of interest to me. I will use what remaining energy I have to restrain myself from ranting about Microsoft.

Did I mention I think they should use vBulletin?
 
JP,

Looking forward to the call. I hope everyone gets home safely. Make time for a lot of questions. :)

Ya'll are the best,

Uncle Bob
 
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