Evening all,
There have been some fair commentary on the forums and PMs around the new logo, proposed site changes and changes that have been implemented so far since I became the Site Admin. One thing I hope I have encouraged though is for folks to openly share their opinions and thoughts without being censored (exceptions have been where members were antagonizing others and personal commentary was involved) and this thread hopefully will answer a couple of unasked questions as to where I would like to see APS in 6 months or there about.
If you don't feel like reading the below essay, in essence it reads, "Fix site with what I think will work or leave alone for site to die a slow death"
Onto my thoughts.....
In regards to the site logo, the reason I have been looking at changing this is because I have had a large amount of feedback saying that the site needs a "facelift" of sorts and being that my artistic flair peaks at making sure I colour within the lines with no more than 3 colours, I needed the input of someone with experience. My thoughts was to use the new logo as of a ground zero where I could start looking at redesigning the site colours etc. The new and old "looks" will be setup in such a way that if you don't like the new design or I stuff it up royally, you can switch to the view you see currently with a mouse click.
One of the bigger changes that is pending and slowly being worked towards is the Subscriptions, Sponsors and Power Sellers setup where folks are required to pay a fee before they can advertise any products. This is a good way to generate funds for the site but its also unfeasible for those who want to sell a single item or who also just want to support the site by way of anonymous donation. To give folks a bit of perspective, the site costs me around $200 per month to keep online, backed up and maintained which isn't a cheap endeavor but when the impact of the site being offline for a month was so prominent, its proven that its a worthwhile resource for the Australian Herp community and worth keeping it up. I have heard all the comments in regards to continued financial support to keep the site running and I agree that I cannot foot all the site costs indefinitely (or until I need to buy more diamonds for the wife) which is why I am looking at implementing the Donations section which will eventually replace the Subscribers and Power Sellers titles and will allow a bit more of a flexible advertising for those who just want to sell their single reptile. I cannot turn the Subscribers/Power Sellers off yet as mentioned as it would be unfair to those who have paid for these statuses. I have taken onboard 2 good suggestions on how to address this from a couple of site members and am slowly working in how I can implement them.
I changed the old site rules because I felt they were too constrictive and could be interpreted in a way that would stop folks posting because of other members responses, post administrations or favoritism to name a few reasons. I want the new rules to basically read in that we are all adults and to treat each other with respect. If they could be improved/reworded or otherwise please let me know.
In a nutshell and as I have said before, I did not take over APS to make a name for myself or as a source of income. I wanted to keep a great resource online for interested parties and while I know I cannot please everyone, all I can try and do is better the site to make it more useful for the members. I have and will continue to make mistakes which I will apologise for and if I need to change something or leave something as is, I am open to all opinions.
Any and all comments on the above are welcome.
Thanks again for all your continued support and helping APS grow.
Stuart
There have been some fair commentary on the forums and PMs around the new logo, proposed site changes and changes that have been implemented so far since I became the Site Admin. One thing I hope I have encouraged though is for folks to openly share their opinions and thoughts without being censored (exceptions have been where members were antagonizing others and personal commentary was involved) and this thread hopefully will answer a couple of unasked questions as to where I would like to see APS in 6 months or there about.
If you don't feel like reading the below essay, in essence it reads, "Fix site with what I think will work or leave alone for site to die a slow death"
Onto my thoughts.....
In regards to the site logo, the reason I have been looking at changing this is because I have had a large amount of feedback saying that the site needs a "facelift" of sorts and being that my artistic flair peaks at making sure I colour within the lines with no more than 3 colours, I needed the input of someone with experience. My thoughts was to use the new logo as of a ground zero where I could start looking at redesigning the site colours etc. The new and old "looks" will be setup in such a way that if you don't like the new design or I stuff it up royally, you can switch to the view you see currently with a mouse click.
One of the bigger changes that is pending and slowly being worked towards is the Subscriptions, Sponsors and Power Sellers setup where folks are required to pay a fee before they can advertise any products. This is a good way to generate funds for the site but its also unfeasible for those who want to sell a single item or who also just want to support the site by way of anonymous donation. To give folks a bit of perspective, the site costs me around $200 per month to keep online, backed up and maintained which isn't a cheap endeavor but when the impact of the site being offline for a month was so prominent, its proven that its a worthwhile resource for the Australian Herp community and worth keeping it up. I have heard all the comments in regards to continued financial support to keep the site running and I agree that I cannot foot all the site costs indefinitely (or until I need to buy more diamonds for the wife) which is why I am looking at implementing the Donations section which will eventually replace the Subscribers and Power Sellers titles and will allow a bit more of a flexible advertising for those who just want to sell their single reptile. I cannot turn the Subscribers/Power Sellers off yet as mentioned as it would be unfair to those who have paid for these statuses. I have taken onboard 2 good suggestions on how to address this from a couple of site members and am slowly working in how I can implement them.
I changed the old site rules because I felt they were too constrictive and could be interpreted in a way that would stop folks posting because of other members responses, post administrations or favoritism to name a few reasons. I want the new rules to basically read in that we are all adults and to treat each other with respect. If they could be improved/reworded or otherwise please let me know.
In a nutshell and as I have said before, I did not take over APS to make a name for myself or as a source of income. I wanted to keep a great resource online for interested parties and while I know I cannot please everyone, all I can try and do is better the site to make it more useful for the members. I have and will continue to make mistakes which I will apologise for and if I need to change something or leave something as is, I am open to all opinions.
Any and all comments on the above are welcome.
Thanks again for all your continued support and helping APS grow.
Stuart