New BD website design (but no change to Forums)

[Mason King]

Dear CCBers:

Mason King here, managing editor of Billiards Digest. We’re planning a big change to the BD website in the next week that will affect you guys in a very small way, but I still wanted to give you a heads-up. I regret springing the new forum package on you six weeks ago (rookie mistake), so I want to make sure we keep you in the loop about any new improvements.

Specifically, we’re revamping the design of the website to bring it into the 21st century, and adding a LOT more content to the site. We’ll go live on Wednesday, April 2, but I can give you a quick rundown now of the new features:

• Lots of instruction articles, including Tony Robles’ regular “BD House Pro” column
• An archive of informative articles on pool equipment, history and more
• A new blog (from yours truly), plus regular columns by George Fels and Mike Panozzo
• Greater visibility for our video features — “PoolDawg Stroke of Genius” and “30 Over 30” — that dig into the archives of Accu-Stats Video Productions, ESPN, WPBA, Matchroom Sport, Billiards International, and our own vaults.
• Daily news updates in our Headstring News section

Here’s the change that will affect you: We’re making a point of calling out the fact that we have a very active forum community — giving the Forums link greater visibility on the Home page and adding links to the top four most active CCB threads at any given time. I’ll say that again: On the home page, viewers will see the most active CCB threads and be able to click right to them.

You guys are the heart of the BD web site, and we really appreciate the time, thought and passion that you put into the Forum. And we want to help grow the community. Hopefully, this added layer of exposure will raise your profile a bit and perhaps broaden the conversation even further.

Please check out the Web site when it’s up next Wednesday. Feel free to respond with any observations — good, bad, whatever.

Thanks again for your presence on CCB!

[Rich R.]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Mason King</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Here’s the change that will affect you: We’re making a point of calling out the fact that we have a very active forum community — giving the Forums link greater visibility on the Home page and adding links to the top four most active CCB threads at any given time. I’ll say that again: On the home page, viewers will see the most active CCB threads and be able to click right to them.</div></div>
I would highly recommend that you don't link posts from the non-pool forum to the home page. All of the political debate will chase the pool players away, rather than attract them. We have already lost too many members because of the non-pool forum.

[Mason King]

Rich:
Yeah, that's an excellent point. And it's just going to get worse as we get closer to the election.

We're definitely sticking to the Cue Chalk Board. Pool topics only.

[JoeW]

Thank you for heads up. I have found that of the several pool related forums I visit that this is among my favorites. In general, the tone of the site and the polite discussions are one of the finest assets. Thanks for all the efforts.

[SKennedy]

It must be decent....I spend way too much time on here! We do appreciate the site. I think it has helped my game in several ways. And more importantly, I think it is good for the game. The recent changes to the forum were unexpected and there were some kinks and problems with it, but things seem to be much better.
And while the non-pool portion does ruffle some feathers and it's not for everyone, you don't have to visit it. It is certainly a site that will make you laugh, cry, get angry, etc. Sometimes one does need a break from swerve, throw, and Dr. Dave's diagrams (appeciate you too Dave)!

[Mason King]

I agree. I love the sense of community on the CCB, as well as how much practical advice you can find. ... And I edit Dave's column in the magazine, so I appreciate you guys vetting some of those principles.

[dr_dave]

Mason,

Thank you for your efforts and desire to improve things. I look forward to seeing the new website. I hope it gets a better debut (and reviews) than the new forum.

One thing that would be nice is to have all past instructional articles from all past columnists available for viewing and searching. This would be a valuable resource that no other major pool and billiards magazine currently offers. I already have all of my past articles online here (http://billiards.colostate.edu/bd_articles/index.html), and Bob has many of his here (http://www.sfbilliards.com/articles/BD_articles.html). Again, it would be nice if all past articles from all columnists were available for searching all in one place.

Concerning the new forum, here are some issues that still remain:

- The keyword search tool is not working. This is a serious problem that needs to be fixed.

- The folder icons in "Threaded Mode" are not working properly. An individual icon should be white when a posting has been read by a user before, and it should be yellow when a posting has not been read yet. Without this functionality, it is very difficult to follow a thread efficiently. The folder icons do work in the forum view listing the threads, but not in a thread's view listing all of the posts in threaded mode.

- The right column containing "Who's Online," "Top Posters," "Shout Box," and "Forum Stats" is not very useful to most people. It would be nice if this stuff could be optionally hidden (by each individual user) to make more room for the content column.

Again, thank you for your efforts.

Regards,
Dave

[Mason King]

Thanks, Dave. The listing is really helpful. We're just wrapping up work on the redesigned BD Web site, so we'll start working on those problems at the end of the week.

[Treehumper]

I'm a newbie here and have enjoyed the site. Two problems I've run into are: inability to use my own avatar, the "Contact Us" link not working. I'm only given the option to use a stock avatar.

I did post about this in the Newbie forum but had no response thus, attempted to use the contact us link. I would recommend that the moderator monitor the Newbie threads as it appears to be a means for us to communicate with the moderators.

As for keeping the Politics thread off the home page, I agree. It is important that the key discussions that are promoted on the home page are billiards related. Mind you I would be leery of using the actual posts as those can be off topic when a debate gets personal.

[Mason King]

Glad you're enjoying the site. I'll talk with the webmaster today about these issues.