WFCFORUMS: Newsletter 1: 24th November 2006

WFCForums.com: What’s been going on?

I thought now might be a good time to let all the new people, (and regulars), know what’s going on behind the scenes here.

Part 1

A quick history lesson:
For a long time now I’ve wanted club to do something about their message boards. It wasn’t the idiots who were spoiling things in my opinion, it was the PTV software they were running and only having 5 areas in which to move around. It was one of the busiest forums I’ve ever been part of, yet had without doubt the worst look and feel possible. In June this year another board started up called wfcf.com, which was almost exactly what we have here now. I thought it was superb, joined up and became a part of the small community. Unfortunately it was closed as soon as it had opened, for reasons unknown. The few that had joined up were all of the same opinion; we needed a serious alternative to the main boards. This left me with an urge to go it alone and see what happened, so in August I purchased a chunk of web space, a few domain names and got hold of some free software called SMF Forums. It took a few weeks to get it set up and played with, until the look and feel was OK then I put a post on the message boards advertising it.

The response was immediate. A few regular posters and a lot of main board lurkers joined and we were up and running. The main theme was that people were too scared to post on the main boards because they were then a target for abuse, so they had found a safe haven. We grew, slowly, but we grew. In October I took the plunge and purchased a fully licenced copy of V-Bulletin software, and upgraded to a business package with the hosting company. V-Bulletin forum software is much more flexible, supported, secure and scaleable than any of the free software. Converting from the old to the new software took a day, and when the regulars started moaning at me that they had missed the place then I knew we had a good solid community growing.

Then Graham Simpson at the fans forum!

The next day we really grew! Panic on the main boards led to many many new members and guests over the following few days. I wasn’t worried. I knew he was just firing a warning shot to clean up the boards, wasn’t he? Members kept joining and we even had our first trolls show up, so I knew we’d made the big time I decided to make moves to make some of the most trusted regulars here into moderators, even though I still had no problem covering all the work. I was literally in the middle of getting that sorted when BLACK WEDNESDAY happened….

 

Part 2

From a small stream to a raging torrent. As quick as that we were being over-run. E-mails, private messages, posts everywhere, trolls, impersonators, it went bananas. Since Wednesday lunchtime I’ve had 200 private messages. In the previous 8 weeks I had 6! Our slowly growing and evolving forum was now a fully grown up one with a full compliment of users, but something was missing.

I had no moderators. I was doing everything, (or not doing anything).

So my plans to bring my most trusted regulars up to moderator level have been increased in speed and urgency. We now have 4 brand new mods, and due to the nature of what happened this week they are all what I’d call “in training”. They’re learning the software and we’re all communicating a lot to each other so everyone’s clear on what’s expected of them and how to act. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Hopefully everyone will understand that although there are now many people who’ve migrated over this week who would no doubt make excellent moderators, I am 100% loyal to those who have been here the longest and who have earned my complete trust and respect. In time there will be behind the scenes work for many new users, but for the short term I’m sticking with my trainee mods until things have settled down considerably. You’ll probably work out who they are in time, but for now I’m keeping them hidden in-case they either decide they don’t want to be a mod, or it simply doesn’t work out. Soon enough you’ll meet them, there are to be no secrets in this forum, but for the time being we need you all to respect the fact that the work they are doing is going a long way to keep this place as good as it currently is, and will continue to be. They are so much more important to this place than you’ll ever know, so I urge you to treat them with respect, as they will you. Without them we wouldn’t have a decent place to call home.

Finally

It’s been a shock to everyone that the main boards have closed down. You’re all in a new and alien place. It’s been a strange week for sure. I know for a fact that the club know of our existence and have definitely been looking us over. Combine that with the fact that the trolls and idiots have been here too, and then you can hopefully understand that we’re being a tad on the cautious side for the time being. We’re not being anal about having a laugh, winding each other up or even going for a bit of “fishing”. We’re just making sure that the undesirables get the message, the club see that we’re a well run forum and that everyone can find their feet here and have time to explore without all the cr*p that’s been on the club boards for so long. Give us a chance to catch up, get out of general football and take a look around, (so many in one area), and watch us evolve into something the club "might" be proud to call an unofficial forum, and something you’ll enjoy being a huge part of.

 

Wish you the best of luck mr. admin.

thanks for thinking of the thing and actually doing something about it in the first place.

 

Keep up the good work!
Very impressed so far

 

Superb board running here
Good luck in keeping it maintained

 

Have you had Hollywood on the phone yet? It's an inspiring story... ;D

 

I do all of Aidy's newsletters

 

Good write up,

 

One thing I missed out, (not on purpose), was that I've had great support from many of the clubs message board regulars. That's been appreciated.

 

It is such a great story. I really, really hope Graham Simpson comes on here and sees how a message board should be run. Well done!

 

Don't hold your breath.

An independent (of the club) site is a much better way to go.

As Wolfie said POWER TO THE PEOPLE

 

Independent or official, doesn't matter; it's all down to how the board is run. The club didn't take the responsibility of running it seriously and let it degenerate into the lunatic asylum it became.

PS Feel free to go back and correct your spelling - that's what the edit facility is for. Don't expect me to do it for you ;D

 

I don't see a problem?

 

Clearly - that's why you got it wrong in the first place. But I won't be dropping hints any more, you're on your own. ;D

 

to be honest, GS didnt run the message board

 

At least you don't have to be mods here to edit posts eh????? We can all do it now, not just a select few!

 

Very impressed

and already feel little has changed from how it used to be with the fact so many regulars have grouped together. Even the little minor tiffs on the main board were niggling me because it seemed such a waste of time viewing a decent thread and after 5 posts see the next 20 posts degenerate into a war of words and insults. But a great volume have come over here and they obviously want to be part of a community that can agree to dis agree with each other, debate and also have their own style and humour.

very well put together forum. Now all I need to do is to learn how to use it efficiently and win loads of V Cash on my silly bets nd find a way into deal or no deal and millionaire.

 

Arcade button on the top bar!! when you get into the arcade you will need to log in again so that your scores will be kept.

 

No-one suggested that he did ( I would hope he'd have made a better job of it if he did) BUT he is Chairman and the buck stops with him, that's why he closed it down. He should have put systems in place to see that it was run properly instead of torn apart (sob!) by internal divisions and rifts (sob, sob!)and left to be the playgound of the ASBO crew (floods of tears here!), it was such a shame.

Did someone mention Hollywood? Who would you cast in the roles of certain message board posters? I think George Clooney might do the job of afanof. I was thinking of Leonard Rossiter as jobr. What do you reckon?

 

Keep up the good work Admin , you've done a great job so far

 

I see afanof being played by someone more along the lines of Vicky Pollard.

 

Yeah but, no but.......

Admin I think should be more Richard Harris as Dumbledore (except he's dead RIP) than SBC.

 

I think you'll find Tele Savalas would have been better playing me

 

super board admin keep up the good work. i can't even remember how i found this place but thank god i did. since i joined there hasn't been a day where i have not logged in and had a look about, which to me is the sign of a bl00dy good board! as i said earlier keep up the already fantastic work you're putting in and you will reap the rewards. if you ever need any help i'm always here (logged on!)

 

I think the only days I've missed is when I was on holiday, managed to get on here once but the rest of the week I was too busy getting drunk and diving!!!!!

 

nothing wrong with a bit of diving

 

your sins have been forgiven!

 

Thank you father

 

2B honest I started using this board just a few days B4 the main board closed and only returned to the MB to suggest this one to others.

My main reason for preferring this environment are:

Admin - a Guy/Guyess who actually communicates

Software - editting facility is a lifesaver when you've made a p***k of yourself the night B4 due to too many glasses of red

Independance - 4 some reason I like the fact it's not an official site

 

I used to hate having no edit facility on the mains for exactly that reason

 

yep, gotta agree great job and very good site......did someone mention getting drunk...bbl

 

Tis ok.. but now we have to use the edit button a lot sooner as this site has grown so much in the last week you no longer have the luxury of waiting til the following morning to edit things as normally some smarta$$ has spotted it within minutes/seconds of you posting it and using the "Quote" button leaves it there for posterity!

 

and you have so been caught out with that haven't you

 

I see country sports are back in fashion!

Jobr bating being as popular as ever....

 

Jobr bating has been renamed - SOME NOW CALL IT MASTER BATING, ollie......