New forum location and software!!

[dory36]

Thanks much to BigMoneyJim, who installed the new software and moved the messages over to the new server!

All the old stuff from the past several years is preserved under "Old Boards", so that our wisdom will live in posterior posterity. We will make those "read only" -- start new threads in the new boards.

Before we populate the new boards with sections - - - what would you recommend? Most seem to want fewer divisions than before, to reduce the overlapping topics. I agree.

Suggestions?

Dory36

 

[BigMoneyJim]

Thank you for the kind words. And thanks for the honorary grandpa status.

I have one disclaimer: I take no responsibility for the following smiley. It was in the new software:

O0

 

[haha]

Jim and Dory- what  a great job. Thanks very much to both of you.

Mikey

 

[dory36]

TH suggested the following sections:

1. Frequently asked questions
2. Investing (which would include calculators and swrs)
3. Our lives (consolidating costs, lifestyles, travel, young dreamers)
4. Coffee House (other yapping)


BigMoneyJim suggested:

1. Admin board (HELP! and News and Announcements)
2. Other Topics (includes You Gotta See This and Make Money Fast; perhaps messages can be marked with special smiley to indicate scam status)
3. Withdrawal Strategies and FIREcalc (SWR board, part of Calculator boad dealing with SWR calculators)
4. Retirement Expenses (Costs of Ret Life)
5. FIRE Lifestyles and Places to Live (Lifestyles in Ret)
6. Young Dreamers
7. Investing (includes non-SWR calculator topics)
8. FIRE Travel and Boating

Your ideas?

 

[BUM]

Good job guys....I noticed that the time was off by 1 hr...not displaying local? No biggie just thought I'd mention it.

BUM

 

[dory36]

The old server was on eastern time and this one is on central. If you are in the east, you'd have never noticed before; others would have had to enter an offset to have the times show according to their own local time.


Everyone will probably need to go into Profile, then click on "Look and Layout Preferences" on the left, and set their offset according to their own time zone.

Or not -- it won't affect anything except that time display for the messages.

 

[BUM]

Did it. I was easy. I works! Thanks and congratulations.

 

[BigMoneyJim]

http://early-retirement.org/forums/index.php?action=stats

Wow, I just discovered the above link. It's near the botom of the first page: "[More Stats]".

I draw your attention to the "Top 10 Boards". There's a large dropoff between the 7th and 8th board.

 

[flotsam]

I liked top posters:

th 3457
Cut-Throat 2081
unclemick 1395
Nords 1257
wabmester 1165
- SG 1049
mikey 1007
Bob_Smith 848
Hyperborea 846
BigMoneyJim 723


(dory36 posting under a test account)

 

[BigMoneyJim]

A revised suggestion after looking at the "Top 10 Boards":

I wonder if we should pull Investment Strategies out of the mothballs and put it back on the main page. Possibly the same for Costs and Lifestyles because those topics aren't so transient and as far as I know don't have archived tiffs that could be bumped back up.

Anyway, whether we leave the old stuff in the mothballs or not, maybe something like this:

• Forum Admin for news and help
• Hi, I am...
• Other Topics
• SWR
• Costs of Retirement Life
• Lifestyles in Retirement
• Young Dreamers
• Investment Strategies

Hmmm, now that we can make child boards, perhaps stick Travel under Other? I say this because although Travel is small it was specially requested by a few members.

A couple of other ideas...I'm not sure what I think of these, but it would keep the main page less cluttered: Perhaps put Young Dreamers under Lifestyles and/or SWR under Investment Strategies?

It may make sense to put the busier boards near the top. I just listed them in the order there were in the old board.

 

[BigMoneyJim]

Here is a list to consider. I made it partially to illustrate my thoughts and partially to test nested lists. Neat new software!

• Forum Admin for news and help
• Hi, I am...
• Other Topics
  • Travel
• Costs of Retirement Life
• Lifestyles in Retirement
  • Young Dreamers
• Investment Strategies
  • SWR

EDIT: Perhaps Costs can go under Lifestyle as a child board, too. That would make 6 boards (including Old Boards) listed in the main index yet preserve some divisions that I think make sense.

EDIT 2: Maybe Young Dreamers would fit better under Other Topics. Then again maybe using child boards for live forums is unecessarily complex. I'm just throwing around ideas because I think 8 - 10 boards is about right for our subject matter. There were 14 before.

What do others think? Less? More? What's your personal favorite board? A-ha, time for a poll....

 

[REWahoo]

dory 36 & BigMoneyJim,

Great job on the new set-up. Your efforts are much appreciated!

REW

 

[ER@40]

As a dreamer would like to thank everyone concerned for an outstanding site.
Lets hope we all make it to ER, except for the site itself - may it never retire!!
Seeing the outpouring of contributions and the excellent facelift it seems an appropriate time to ask the forum leaders (from the stats: th to BigMoneyJim), how do they see its history, philosophy and future?

It seems like the site exists solely because of dory36's philanthropic generosity, is there a consensus as to how the hosting servers be funded long term, including associated costs like comms and admin? For instance are there any redundancy plans or options should dory36 want or have to bow out? It will take dreamers many years to reach ER and it would be interesting to track peoples progress, and share lessons learned. Equally those already ER'd will have a wealth or knowledge on ER lifestyle strategy. It would be tremendous to see a multi-generation ER site for the people by the people . . .

Following the stats, suggest simpler top level categories to encourage newcomers :-
1. Investment Strategies
2. Other Topics
3. Intro
FAQ (including Help & News)
Hi, I am... (here because its not always updated daily)
Young Dreamers (as it and 'Hi, I am' often overlap FAQ style content.)

4. Lifestyle
Lifestyles in Retirement
Travel
SWR (as it and Costs overlap - lifestyle strategy vs 'investment strategy')
Costs of Retirement Life

 

[Marshac]

Love the new server, it's so zippy!

 

[laurence]

Fantastic Job, BMJ!!! I like the format you suggested in reply #10.

ER@40, perhaps for funding we could have people become paid members like your local public radio station, and to make that attractive, add some sort of denotation next to their name when they post, so new members inquire why, and want to donate, too! I know I saw somewhere on this board something about donating the price of a beer, but as well intentioned as I've been, haven't gotten around to it. But vanity (even in cyberspace) is a great motivator!

 

[preben]

Many good suggestions and Ii have commented in other thread - but let us not keep the young dreamers board - it fits fine in the other catagories.
Something along the lines of below was suggested by other poster(s):

The boards+admin
Intro
FIRE and money (invest both before and after FIRE+SWRs Etc.)
FIRE and lifestyle (LBYM+travel+hobbies+how we handle daily life Etc.)
Other

I am not a big fan of doing sub-boards, that will just mean one more click to read the posts... Rahter have fewer and concentrated boards with more activity.

Cheers!

 

[unclemick]

Dory

Solicite opinions and then do it your own way. You da leader!

Besides I've been known to cross-thread a topic - can't help myself sometimes.

Great work guys! I like it - any way you end up. Fast, zippy, and powerful.

 

[MJ]

Terrific job.Thanks Dory & BMJ.
I know I'll be pleased no matter which way you decide to organize the topics.

MJ

 

[omni550]

A great big THANK YOU!!! to dory 36 and BigMoneyJim for getting this new site up-and-running.

I almost panicked when I got on the internet today and this board was nowhere to be found. Thansk for leaving the instructions on how to get here fromthe old server.

I've spent about 10 minutes checking out this new site and love it!

Great job, guys!!!

omni

 

[arrete]

I love this.  I'm with ben - the fewer boards the better.  SWR is just part of investing for FIRE so I don't think it needs a separate category.  After all, most of us old FIREd farts think about it once a year (let's see - how much did I spend?).  And bet there is stuff I might have wanted to read but didn't because my clicker was tired.  When you open a board, you get to see the names of all the threads, and that makes it easier to choose.

Now I need to find the bunny and the pancake poll.

Anyway - YAY!

arrete

 

[deserat]

Hear, hear to BigMoneyJim and all for the switch to the new board and format - it is beautiful. Thanks!

Bridget