What's Next?

dwessell · 03-08-2008, 02:06 PM

Fellow Members,

SRP is about to undergo another set of improvements, and we’d like your help and your feedback. We’ve grown so much since we opened the site, that we’re having to move hosts again. Our current host can’t support our usage anymore, and we’re in the process of setting up a server just for SRP.
With that in mind we’d really like suggestions for features that you would like for us to add while we’re doing all of this. Nothing reasonable is off limits, and we look forward to some really interesting ideas from you.

As well, we’d like to ask for your help. We’d really like to get a series of helpful articles going for our main site (Not forums). How to Hone, How to Strop, etc… Anything that you think would be interesting. If there are any aspiring writers, or anyone who wants to take a crack at it, let me know. We feel like the community is missing this, and it would be a big boon.

Since Lynn and I started SRP.com back in Oct 2006, we’ve gone from 4,000 unique visitors per month, to 18,000 per month. Now we’ve got Joe and Don on board, and things are getting even better. We appreciate everyone here, and look forward to this next run where we push to make SRP as good as possible.

David,Don,Joe,Lynn

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Nickelking · 03-08-2008, 02:17 PM

I'd really like a chat interface not based on flash, there are IRC based options that would be much more stable.

Love the site, love the folks here and if nobody else steps forward I'd be honored to compile all the descriptions of how to do stuff into one text file. (don't feel knowledgeable enough to make one from scratch yet.)

And I'm gonna add a thanks for all the work you guys put into this site for us to play on.

5¢

azjoe · 03-08-2008, 06:01 PM

Jared,

Which is more important to you... HAVING IRC or NOT having flash?

All Chat capabilities, including IRC, place an extremely high load on a server. Many hosts (eg, the one SRP currently uses) no longer allow the running of any "chat" software on their machines... so, we host the chat on a different server (ie, different from the SRP host). Further, most reliable hosts will not allow anyone to run an IRC server on their equipment. Most of those that do require that the chat be fully moderated... that's because of legal issues (eg, making sure illegal activities are not being supported via IRC on their servers), not bandwidth. Granted, there are "free" IRC servers out there... but you know there's really no such thing as "free".

There are non-IRC chat programs besides the one we use... some are flash based, some not. Some are quite expensive.

Lastly, the subject of voice chat and video chat always surfaces about this time. If you think text based chat requires a lot of server resources, voice and video requires orders of magnitude more.

Ultimately, it comes down to cost (both in dollars and manpower)... how much is it worth to our community to have a better chat capability than we have now?

So, those are some of the issues to think about.

Nickelking · 03-09-2008, 11:49 AM

More the not having flash... ok exactly the not having flash. I get so many flash errors while using the chat that it's almost not worth using. I know byrontodd has come across some IRC based things that reside on thier own server.

Mainly I want to get away from all the error messages that flash results in. We won't start on my hatred of Adobe in general

And yes, I'd be willing to chip in a few extra bucks myself to get a non flash based chat. (The extra word being used as I plan to when I sell use Old Schools idea of shipping a percentage back to srp.)

Edit: I'm wholly against voice or video chat... not necessary at all for us. If I want to talk to someone on a voice line I'll ask them for their skype or phone number and go outside SRP. It would be quite ungentlemanly IMO to expect SRP to foot the bill for that.

keljian · 03-09-2008, 12:11 PM

ok..

The one thing I think is lacking from SRP is a Newbie guide incl quick start guide.

The newbie guide on B&B is pretty good but isn't straight razor specific.

Lynn's dvd is a great start, but _some_ of the info should be public knowledge in my opinion (to attract more people to straight razor shaving).

perhaps we could get a few members to collaborate on the project with unique skills - eg I've worked as a pro editor, I'd be happy to edit the material and write a bit but not all, nickel is an actor so he can help out with the videos etc..

Kenrup · 03-09-2008, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nickelking

More the not having flash... ok exactly the not having flash. I get so many flash errors while using the chat that it's almost not worth using. I know byrontodd has come across some IRC based things that reside on thier own server.

Mainly I want to get away from all the error messages that flash results in. We won't start on my hatred of Adobe in general

And yes, I'd be willing to chip in a few extra bucks myself to get a non flash based chat. (The extra word being used as I plan to when I sell use Old Schools idea of shipping a percentage back to srp.)

Edit: I'm wholly against voice or video chat... not necessary at all for us. If I want to talk to someone on a voice line I'll ask them for their skype or phone number and go outside SRP. It would be quite ungentlemanly IMO to expect SRP to foot the bill for that.

Flash error messages? I've not experienced a single one with our current chat setup. I'm running a 8 year-old Dell. I admit it's tricked out and maxed out on its capabilities but it runs faster then any other newer computers that I use.
I vote, it works for me, leave it alone.

sidneykidney · 03-09-2008, 12:40 PM

Does this overlap with the FAQs joe?

Nickelking · 03-09-2008, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenrup

I vote, it works for me, leave it alone.

There is that

I'm just saying from hanging in the chat daily there's a lot of folks that get kicked every couple of hours.

It's a horribly tiny thing in the grand scheme, but suggestions were asked for.

azjoe · 03-09-2008, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sidneykidney

Does this overlap with the FAQs joe?

IMHO, Yes... once all the existing relevant threads get cleaned up and moved into the FAQs.

I think the recurring issue here is that often people (I'm not picking on anyone specific, so calm down) want/expect that someone else is going do the work to create these things... eg, construct the FAQ, write a guide, etc., etc.

Guys, this is a community... ie, a commune ... ie, everyone helps create what everyone enjoys. That's why David asked for volunteers. We get out of this what we put into it.

azjoe · 03-09-2008, 11:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nickelking

There is that

I'm just saying from hanging in the chat daily there's a lot of folks that get kicked every couple of hours.

It's a horribly tiny thing in the grand scheme, but suggestions were asked for.

The timeouts are something I've experienced too... they have something to do with connections timing out and I'm convinced there's a bug in their program, but can't prove it. What's frustrating is some people never see them, others see them regularly... and I haven't spent the time to figure out why.

BTW, I have never gotten a flash error either... I think that's a problem primarily for those not running windows. I'm not a big fan of flash either, and certainly am not a fan of Adobe. But flashchat works pretty well for the money (if we can solve the errors and timeouts) and could work until we need to support more than 50 people in chat. Now, IMHO, if more than 50 people want to chat at the same time it will be pandemonium no matter what chat is used... but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

FiReSTaRT · 03-10-2008, 12:30 AM

I've always preferred irc to flash, but Joe is offering valid reasons for why we still have to put up with it.
I have a question on another topic though. I am aware that there were some serious obstacles to setting up a donation system as opposed to advertisements, when it came to supporting the site. Is the situation the same or can we switch to a voluntary support system?

dwessell · 03-10-2008, 01:55 AM

Thanks for the input guys, give us more!!

Our chat will morph into something else. I'm not sure what yet. But even if I have to write it myself, we'll do something better.. I've got some ideas in the back of my head for some nice chats.. And it'll take something better then we are using now..

We do need newbie guides.. Anyone willing to help, email me at dave at wessell dot net and let's talk about it.

Advertisements probably are here to stay. They give vendors a good voice, and way to get customers, and they put some beer money in our pockets. Instead of you giving SRP $5 a month, I'd rather you put that towards a new razor, by one from a vendor, then they give SRP the $5 for advertising.

What else do you want on the site? Gimme more!!

justchillin · 03-17-2008, 01:32 PM

I think a helpful option for me is to be able to have the individual seller's FS threads on BST be compiled upon request so I can see a seller's selling history.

hoglahoo · 04-15-2008, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justchillin

I think a helpful option for me is to be able to have the individual seller's FS threads on BST be compiled upon request so I can see a seller's selling history.

You can already do a search on all threads started by a specific user in the BST area - are you talking about something else?

barneycg · 04-15-2008, 10:56 PM

How about decent RSS feeds ... I know vBulletin has one but it is at the top level and its refresh rate is awful (at least in its current configuration), an RSS feed for each sub group with a frequent refresh would be fantastic.

Barney

jgoldswim · 04-16-2008, 06:23 PM

I think a newbie package section would be great. A place where if people have old stuff laying around or would like to help out new members rather than having all the new guys have to post "WTB".

Every newbie to straight blades wants to start off with the basics so rather than clog up the buy sell area, people could post a cheap bade/strop combo. Also for the guys that already have combos and have been helping newbies (Kenrup helped me out) make them stickies. I think that will really help everyone new to straight blade shaving plus it will keep the buy sell trade forum a little bit cleaner and easier search through.

-Jason