# Newsgroups: Keep it or get rid of it?



## Joe (Apr 9, 2005)

Hi all, this poll is to find out if you are happy or not with newsgroups integrated to this forum.

Please vote and leave messages.

Depending on the result I will either keep these newsgroups or get rid of them.

PS. Newsgroups are the last 6 topics on the main page, where new threads are taken from usenet newsgroups and are not posted by registered members of goldenretrieverforum.com

Joe


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## shaneamber (Apr 20, 2005)

THANK YOU Joe.I hadn't seen that poll,thanks again,
Shane


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## Joe (Apr 9, 2005)

Please everyone who voted, let me know why you voted as you did.
I've got two private messages which were strongly against it, so I created this poll, just because I want to listen to members of this forum and decide based on the general opinion.
So if most of you decide against it, I will delete the newsgroup threads without any regrets.
Thanks.


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## abzndbonnie (Jun 8, 2005)

I think you should have one section for newsgroups, there are too many there , it just takes up excess space
just my oppinion


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## Meggies Mum (Apr 28, 2005)

I am against it for the simple reason that I cannot see the relevance of having them. I have read a few of them and find the ones I did read to be not much more than troll feeding.


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## Dilligas (Jun 17, 2005)

Against.

It might be better to have a pinned topic saying "oh hey, newsgroups are a great resource. You can find them at (link to Google Groups) if you're interested". As it is, I think they clutter, and are filled more with unsolicited "information" and "advice" than the forums, which seem to be filled with nice people and real opinions.


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## Joe (Apr 9, 2005)

Advantage of having them is more of a technical issue as search engines are adding bigger relevancy to those sites with lot of information and content. 
So to have lot of posts will result in pushing our site to the top in Yahoo, Msn or Google searches.
That brings more people interested in sites like this to our website, creates bigger community and so...
This wouldn't be a problem, as I know we would eventually get there ourselfs, you are all great guys, but advertising cost for Golden Retriever Forum is right now approx. 600$/month and this is very hard to affors, so newsgroup integration is one of the ways out to cut this expenses out.
It might not be necessary in the future, but in the site's beginnings it would help very much. I hope you guys understand.
Joe


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## timberwolfe (Apr 15, 2005)

I voted to keep it, but people should know that the newsgroups will have various opinions, a lot of which I personally don't agree with. They are a source of information, but always consider your sources when on line.


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## Joe (Apr 9, 2005)

Timberwolfe, I completely agree with you, newsgroups would be just the bottom part of this site and should affect anyone. If you don't want to visit it, just don't click on it.
Sometimes there are really good posts to read, sometimes, not. It's all matter of opinion I guess.
Joe


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## Ty's Marty (Apr 19, 2005)

*Joe, I understand your reasoning for wanting to keep these news groups....money, is always the "bottom line"!!.....*

*Maybe I don't like it is because when I come onto this site the first thing I do is click on the New Posts ....and the news groups over run the "Site Members".....I have a difficult time weeding through alot of the so-called "informational news groups" (which in what I have read so far, are pretty rude and vulger and very opinionated) I never seem to know who is "one of us" and who is not:doh: ...so I end up spending alot of valuable time "clicking" on the stuff I don't want to read. *

*I guess I could just go to the main forum page and click on the topics that show that they have a new post!!*

*I just hope you don't lose as many members as you attract because of the clutter.....the other golden retriever sites I'm on, do not allow news groups. But also you might gain more then you lose????:crossfing So I guess the finally decision will be yours! :banghead: *


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## Joe (Apr 9, 2005)

Yeah you're right, the part where it mixes up with new post posted by our members is very confusing. I understand that too.
Well, we'll see. I'll let this poll running for two weeks and depending on the result I will either keep it or cancel it.
Regarding: "*money, is always the "bottom line"!!.....*", well when $600 a month is significant part of your income (which would almost cover my rent) it pretty much comes to it, believe me 
Joe


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## Bonni (Apr 12, 2005)

Hi everyone.

I must agree with the majority in this case. I do find the newsgroups to be confusing. When I was on the website on the weekend, I didn't realize what was going on and thought that this site had been overrun with "trolls". Now that I realize that it's just all the newsgroups, I guess I can live with it, but I'd rather not.

I guess it's your decision Joe. I'm just giving you my 2 cents! 

Toodles,
Bonni


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## Joe (Apr 9, 2005)

*"and thought that this site had been overrun with "trolls".* " haha... that's funny... well we'll see. As I mentioned it's not such a big trouble to get rid of them. It's just that it would help to keep them. That's all.
Joe


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## mojosmum (May 20, 2005)

Joe: I don't like them....I found the ones I read to be vulgar and crude so I will just NOT click on them.. If you need them to build this site, then by all means do what has to be done. I have a choice and I like that.


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## Joe (Apr 9, 2005)

I wonder guys. If I rewrote the script so these newsgroups would not be a part of "New Posts" list, would that solve major problem you are experiencing with it?
That way these newsgroups would be a bottom part of the website, but unless you clicked on them you would never even know about them.
Joe


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## shaneamber (Apr 20, 2005)

Hello Joe,I have voted against them,BUT if you need them to help keep this forum up,Please change my vote.

"I wonder guys. If I rewrote the script so these newsgroups would not be a part of "New Posts" list, would that solve major problem you are experiencing with it?
That way these newsgroups would be a bottom part of the website, but unless you clicked on them you would never even know about them.
Joe"
I think this is a good idea,it would up the posting numbers and not offend those of us who not interested in that garbage.
Shane


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## Dilligas (Jun 17, 2005)

Joe said:


> If I rewrote the script so these newsgroups would not be a part of "New Posts" list, would that solve major problem you are experiencing with it?


I think this is a good meet-halfway solution. I'd change my vote if you could do this!


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## timberwolfe (Apr 15, 2005)

I always go to the home page and go through each topic looking for new posts so I never even see the newsgroups. So they don't bother me at all.


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## Ty's Marty (Apr 19, 2005)

"I wonder guys. If I rewrote the script so these newsgroups would not be a part of "New Posts" list, would that solve major problem you are experiencing with it?
That way these newsgroups would be a bottom part of the website, but unless you clicked on them you would never even know about them.
Joe"
I think this is a good idea,it would up the posting numbers and not offend those of us who not interested in that garbage.
Shane[/QUOTE]

:dblthumb2 *Yes! Joe that would work for me.....that was my only "gripe " was them being mixed in with our " New Post" page!!!:You_Rock_I was going to suggested that but I didn't know if it was "doable"!!*


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## Joe (Apr 9, 2005)

Ok Great, so I would look into that. It shouldn't be all that hard to do, I hope.
Well, that would be the best I guess.
Joe


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## Coopersmum (Apr 13, 2005)

I went for the I dont care option because i only click on what i want to read, so if i didnt want to read them, i would not bother clicking on them


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## mstew77 (Jun 3, 2005)

I do not read them but they do not bother me at all. If it helps the site it then there is no harm.


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## Joe (Apr 9, 2005)

Ok guys,
I know it took a while, but I finally made the script so that these newsgroup topics are now not a part of "New Posts" and "Today's Posts" list.
Looks like, this should solve the major problem you were experiencing with it. :bowl:
So from now on, these newsgroups would be a bottom part of the website, but unless you clicked on them you would never know about them. They won't show up in your searches.
Joe"


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## Dilligas (Jun 17, 2005)

Awesome, thanks!

As a sidenote, how hard was that to do? I'm sort of a programming geek and so these things interest me


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## Joe (Apr 9, 2005)

Hi Dilligas, I spent a while trying to amend the php scripts and also consulted this with vbulletin.com, but no one was sure on how to do this.
Eventually, I found that there are permission scripts in settings of the forum which lets me change search permissions for a group of users. 
Anyways, important thing is that it works like a charm now


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## mstew77 (Jun 3, 2005)

thanks Joe, while you are working on the site is there any way to get the quick reply box at the bottom of the posts to work?


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## Joe (Apr 9, 2005)

It works fine for me. Also works fine on my computer at work, my laptop and my wife's machine at work.
What seems to be the problem?


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## mstew77 (Jun 3, 2005)

I can highlight the text in the box to type over but I can not type anything in the box. Whne I click Quick Reply I get an error message that tells me to click on the reply box above. Maybe it is something on my end?


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## Joe (Apr 9, 2005)

Very weird. Do you have any other computer you could try this on? So far I never had a problem like this or no one else mentioned it.
Even now, I am replying using quick reply box.


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## monomer (Apr 21, 2005)

mstew77 said:


> I can highlight the text in the box to type over but I can not type anything in the box. Whne I click Quick Reply I get an error message that tells me to click on the reply box above. Maybe it is something on my end?


Works for me just as you have described above... so I just do what it says to do... I click "...one of the Quick Reply icons in the posts above..." and it opens a Quick Reply box that I fill-in and Submit. (Though that really sort of defeats the purpose of a "QUICK" reply doesn't it?)


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## Joe (Apr 9, 2005)

Monomer,
hm, that seems to make sense. I will see if there is a way to make the box enabled without that additional click.
Joe


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