PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

I notice strangeness all the time, but I doubt it is from technical problems with the forums ;)

LosT

You just wait... we have 2 more down-times to go. I bet that one of these fixups/revisions will lead to strangeness! It is like rilling a dice... if you have gone 100 rolls without rolling a six, then the next rull must be a six! ;-)

(And for people that don't know me or my sense of humor, I do now that the above probability is wrong,)

Next downtime will probably be tonight, fairly late. If that one works, the down time should only last a few minutes.

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

Next downtime will probably be tonight, fairly late. If that one works, the down time should only last a few minutes.

9:30pm pacific time, we'll have another down-time. Probably for around 5 to 10 minutes (assuming it all goes well.)

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

9:30pm pacific time, we'll have another down-time. Probably for around 5 to 10 minutes (assuming it all goes well.)

Minor problem, but it only delayed restart for a few minutes. Next Downtime, will be at 10:30pm, and should only last another 5-10 minutes. (Maybe even less.)

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

We're going to try another experiment.

Over the past few years, I've noticed a number of people wandering onto the forums, looking for information about their Defcon Group, due to lack of website(s), forums, blogs, response to email messages, etc.

I've also been surveying various DCG sites, and have notices some have their own forums, some don't, and some don't even have web pages, and some have links to what were probably web pages, but are not 404-ed or under new ownership.

Objective: Make it easier for new users to find, and join DCG, and offer resources to DCG that may not have much to get started.

1) I'll be adding a new Forum to the Defcon Forums for Defcon Groups (DCG) which will contain one subforum for each and every DCG listed on this page.
2) For DCG that have forums, these subforums will be "fake" subforums that act as place-holders and direct links to those DCG's Forums. (Increase traffic)

*** Each and every subforum will be "opt-in" or "opt-out" just like "/dev/random" the Social forum.
*** All new users will automatically be added to every DCG UserGroup.
*** All existing members will NOT be automatically subscribed to any DCG -- they will have to manually select to join their DCG.

This will allow people to "join" DCG they like, and ignore DCG they don't want to hear about.

There are no present plans to offer moderatorship to people to run their own DCG SubForum here on the Defcon Forums, but for people that have been here on the forums enough to be trusted, or people who are official goons , or vouched-for by a core goon, mods, or admins there is a chance for them to become "Leader(s)/Organizer(s)" in a single DCG SubForum.

Leader(s)/Organizer(s) are not modertors.

Leader(s)/Organizer(s) can't ban/unban people, IP Address. They do not exist to enforce rules or moderate anything. However, they are given access to tools to do things like open/close threads, soft-delete posts, stick/unstick threads -- tools that help them to better promote their Defcon Group. DCG Leader(s)/Organizer(s) need not be the actual DCG Leader.

More will be explained in the new subforum, and I'll spam every email address on that contacts page with this information too, letting them know what we are providing.

This will not replace the general Leetings and local events. That is a general forum that can remain for general announcements of DCG meetings, and other cons, and operate exactly as it has.

If you have questions or comments, feel free to reply here.

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

I am guessing, I will be ready to demo the complete Forums for each DCG thing next week. It will be open for questions, comments and from this feedback, I'll probably revise it.

Also next week, I'll send e-mail messages (spam) to each email point of contact for each listed DCG on the main page, to let them know this is here in case they wish to use it, or let me know about their forums so I can link to them.

[theprez98]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

I am guessing, I will be ready to demo the complete Forums for each DCG thing next week. It will be open for questions, comments and from this feedback, I'll probably revise it.

Also next week, I'll send e-mail messages (spam) to each email point of contact for each listed DCG on the main page, to let them know this is here in case they wish to use it, or let me know about their forums so I can link to them.

It will definitely be a help for groups such as 814 which are struggling to get off the ground when the founder is not exactly in the 814 area code. :-)

[Z^2]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

Also next week, I'll send e-mail messages (spam) to each email point of contact for each listed DCG on the main page, to let them know this is here in case they wish to use it, or let me know about their forums so I can link to them.

Can you let me know if there end up being signs of intelligent life associated with the 734 group from the DCG page?

[shrdlu]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

Can you let me know if there end up being signs of intelligent life associated with the 734 group from the DCG page?

I find this is a problem with about 2/3 of the groups. The contact is no longer there, or the web page gets a 404. I have considered starting one in the local area, but want to see whether I can do it justice first.

The addition of local DCG forums here may help to keep groups going in areas where the founder has moved on. I think it's an excellent idea.

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

It will definitely be a help for groups such as 814 which are struggling to get off the ground when the founder is not exactly in the 814 area code. :-)

Thanks! :-) The new idea applied to "/dev/random the social group" can help us here. Hopefully, it won't be to complicated for hackers. ]:>

Can you let me know if there end up being signs of intelligent life associated with the 734 group from the DCG page?

It appears, the 734 has their own web page and forums, so in this case, the defconforum, subforum for them is actually a link to their forums. If they decide to abandon their forums, or would prefer to have a subforum here in addition to the one they run, then we'll have a forum here too.
Also, I won't have time to check other forums for content quality. As for the locally hosted DCG SubForums, it will be easy enough to subscribe and check or yourself.

The addition of local DCG forums here may help to keep groups going in areas where the founder has moved on. I think it's an excellent idea.

Yes. This has been an on-going problem. People try to contact the previous leader, and there is no response. So then they contact the DCG coordinator (as suggested on the defcon.org DCG page(s), and there is a waiting period before lack of response allows for control of the DCG to officially be handed to a new leader. Meanwhile, people come here and ask about members from their local DCG, in a common forum, where it is easy for local DCG requests to get burried.

The energy, and interest of an individual or group gets squashed by red tape, time, and difficulty in "Getting the word out." Some might accuse these people of lacking the dedication needed to run a DCG, but 3 months is a long time to wait.

Hopefully, the forums will be a more reliable, and stationary location for DCG discussions even when core leaders/organizers of any DCG leave their DCG.

[wump]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

regarding forcing new members to be lurkers for a bit:


the problem is that its keeping new members from being active, if not driving them away.
I know such is true in my case.

Then again, I'm a spambot who wants to hand out penis enlargment ads.

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

regarding forcing new members to be lurkers for a bit:


the problem is that its keeping new members from being active, if not driving them away.
I know such is true in my case.

Then again, I'm a spambot who wants to hand out penis enlargment ads.

We've cut it down from 7 days to 24 hours for people being able to post, and I believe, one exception allows for posting replies immediately to the contests/events sections and Rides/Room sharing.

What would you consider an adaqueate waiting period for new users to have time to read the rules, understand them, and see how things work here?

Waiting periods seem to help stop spam, question like, "how do I find google?" and tech support requests like, "My brand new Dell is broken, how can I make it work again?"

It was because of a discussion I had with a few people at Defcon about the waiting period that we moved it from 7 days to 24 hours. [I am open to hear discussion on what people think would work better/worse.]

Your thoughts?

[TheCotMan]

Rides/Roomshare put back into storage and closed.

Contests/Events taken back to require waiting period of 24 hours before posting replies to existing messages.

Social Forum should now include a 24 hours waiting period too.

Pre-Defcon 14 forum is closed , too.

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

I plan to finish work for the public testing of the DCG subsection later this week.

First round, this morning, is the provision of the "pseudo subforums" which are really off-site links to DCG that actually have and run their own forums.

If you run a DCG listed on the main DCG page and have your own forums, please let me know so I can include a link to them.

If you run a DCG listed on the main DCG page and have your own forums, and would like to NOT have the pseudo forum link, but have a subforum here in addition to a link to your forums, please let me know.

After the usergroups and permissions are completed, I'll try sending an e-mail to all of the Point of Contact email addresses listed on the main DCG page, letting them know about what has been provided.

Round 2, should be the publication of the subscription-based DCG subforums (like the social group for, "/dev/random The Social Forum")

For forum members that are well known, and trusted, we may try to apply the same "Leader(s)/Organizer(s)" as used in "Contests and Events" but do this for users in DCG, for their specific DCG.

However, there are no plans to add moderators for these DCG subforums at this time.

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

Why were the forums down?

No, they were not hacked... unless you call me botching a list of network filter rules before loading, "hacking the forums."

This was compounded by not having anyone available to bounce the box, but the ultimate cause of this downtime was me.

Sorry about the loss of service.

Why change the rules? We are looking to add more services, and this was meant to allow us to test the new services.

Ok. Back to work.

[renderman]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

Bad cotman, no donut.

Any possibility of a note on the main site if issues are expected to take a bit?