Loaches Online Community Edition

[shafer]

Moderators, please head over to the new Loaches Online Community Edition ( http://community.loaches.com/ )and create an account for yourself. I'll upgrade all of you to Manager status in the morning and let you start editing pages!

As I see it, the order of business is:

1.) Create account (aka "join" the site)
2.) Jeff upgrades you to Manager status
3.) Read through all of the super-secret information in the Moderator section of the site
4.) Build a few test pages and upload a few images in the "My Folder" section of the site so you don't have to worry about hurting anything.
5.) Build a new species index page to get a feel for how they go
6.) Ask lots of questions in this thread and give lots of feedback!

I've still got plenty of behind-the scenes work to do on items such as:
1.) automating backups properly
2.) Installing a cache server (right now, the site is kinda slow because it generates each page from scratch. It should be better once I get this additional software installed)
3.) Creating an automatic site map so Google can easily find all of the great pages at our site and put us high on the search results!
4.) Make a loach-styled theme for the site. Right now the site is purely functional.

Jeff

[Martin Thoene]

Jeff, it won't let me register because it says my username is already in use.

Martin.

[shafer]

Jeff, it won't let me register because it says my username is already in use.

Martin.

Hmmn, what username were you trying to use? Your username can't have spaces or special characters in it. (But your name can).

Anyway, I registered you with a username of "martin" and had no problems. You should get the email shortly to confirm.

[Martin Thoene]

I was using my name, so theoretically it wouldn't have liked the space. But it said it was already in use as though it recognized it? Oh well, I'm in now and the Forum registration isn't linked right?

Martin.

[Mark in Vancouver]

Worked for me. Don't rely on your existing user name - just a first name should do it.

[shafer]

Well, the space was not allowed in the username, but it sure gave you a misleading error message for it!

Anyway, the username can be one word, whatever you want. For the full name field when you register, it's nice to have your full name (e.g "Jeff Shafer") so that shows up on all articles you write. The username and full name do not have to be related, but it sure makes more sense if they are!

Right, the registration is not linked to the forum. Too much effort would be required...

[shafer]

Martin and Mark, I've given you Manager access and created a Member Folder for each of you. (A member folder is your own private area where you can create pages)

Let me know if the Member Folder link gives an error. I can't test it since I can't log in as you, and I'm just following notes I took on the process yesterday.

[Martin Thoene]

It's a beautiful thing I uploaded that new banner design as a test. Like falling off a bike

Now I really am going to bed. I'll be busy for a fair bit of today, but I'll come out to play later

Martin.

[shafer]

It's a beautiful thing I uploaded that new banner design as a test. Like falling off a bike

Now I really am going to bed. I'll be busy for a fair bit of today, but I'll come out to play later

Haha, those bikes are tricky! Anyway, the first time is always the hardest, and it looks like you figured it out!

[shafer]

Here's some comments I sent to Martin via email:

Yes, the random image feature links to the larger image. Note that I put the image credits in the description field of the image when I uploaded it, and the caption usually went in the image title unless it was too long to be reasonable.

Did you notice that when you pick the random photo from the box and you're at the image page, you can use the "Related Content" section below it to either view the species index page, or search for more images on the same species? Cool! (The tips in the private moderator section tell how to set this up for new images)

[Graeme Robson]

I've logged in (i think). I'll come back later to experiment.

[shari2]

I'm registered.
Now to play around a bit...

[shafer]

Ok, Shari, Graeme, Mark, and Martin, you all have Member Folders and Manager-level access now...

[shari2]

Do you ever sleep Jeff?

[shafer]

Do you ever sleep Jeff?

No, never!!