So what's the deal on this eplaya summit?

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:54 pm

aforceforgood wrote:
Last Real Burner wrote:
PJ wrote: Seems it's turned into a discussion of embedded quotes.
I like unleaded gases it makes my car run smoother in my opinion.
I like cheeseburgers. Sunspots give me headaches.

dj big e says: were r da guillemets?

DE FACTO · Post by **DE FACTO** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 10:28 pm

Bob wrote:
aforceforgood wrote:
Last Real Burner wrote: I like unleaded gases it makes my car run smoother in my opinion.
I like cheeseburgers. Sunspots give me headaches.
dj big e says: were r da guillemets?

Jeezz, those beans gave me enough gas to fly from here to Italy and back! (ok this is as far as this can go.)

Kinetic II · Post by **Kinetic II** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 10:33 pm

DE FACTO wrote:
Bob wrote:
aforceforgood wrote: I like cheeseburgers. Sunspots give me headaches.
dj big e says: were r da guillemets?
Jeezz, those beans gave me enough gas to fly from here to Italy and back! (ok this is as far as this can go.)

Hey wait just a minute. PJ gets quoted twice? I'm taking equal time here. And these quotes are starting to look kinda pretty at least how they appear on screen. I'm sure some of the "purists" are having a cow over the quotes though.

III · Post by **III** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 10:39 pm

i'm noty having a cow, i'm just wondering if we're done getting useful information. looking at that list of quotes, i'm beginning to see why the admin team was frustrated with the old eplaya...

Kinetic II · Post by **Kinetic II** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 10:46 pm

III wrote:i'm noty having a cow, i'm just wondering if we're done getting useful information. looking at that list of quotes, i'm beginning to see why the admin team was frustrated with the old eplaya...

Trey, quite a few of the offenders are on your board too. It's interesting to see the differences in behavior and expectations here vs. H's board and your board. Anyone that says interface design has nothing to do with it is fooling themselves. There are lessons to be learned here if people are interested enough to notice the details.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 2:38 am

At the very least it's a test of how readable the quoting is on the current software setup.

I give it an F.

DE FACTO · Post by **DE FACTO** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 2:45 am

So Bob? you got the google API going in your site. was it tough to work with?

stuart · Post by **stuart** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 11:48 am

I think there is an NEA grant proposal lurking in there somewhere.

technopatra · Post by **technopatra** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 12:10 pm

Back on topic...

OK guys, here's the report I compiled from the eplaya summit meeting. It's about 8 pages long, therefore too much to post here, but one of the attendees was kind enough to post the pdf:

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/digicastipv7 ... update.pdf

There is a lot of info here. I had you guys, as well as the LLC, in mind as the audience. I tried to give some history about the events leading up to now, and then crafted the brainstorming we did in the meeting to an actionable plan for further development of the eplaya going forward.

You will probably notice a conspicuous lack of dates & deadlines in the plan. I want to give the curretn volunteers - including our eplayan contingent, yay! - the freedom of exploring the depths of the tasks ahead of us first, so as not to create unreasonable expectations. But to be sure, some of what's covered is happening immediately.

If at any time you want to get in on the discussions or working meetings (next one is tbd) beyond this board, please let me know. We'started an email list for ongoing discussion.

If you were at the meeting and have anything to add, elaborate, or refute, please feel free to do so.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 2:34 pm

Tx, but again, this is General Discussion, where Feedback issues are likely to get lost, by design.

> So Bob? you got the google API going in your site. was it tough to work with?

I just hacked at the code in a text editor. Trial and error, no big deal.

DE FACTO · Post by **DE FACTO** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 11:24 pm

Eplaya is going to be a success.

the meeting again went a-o-k.

give everybody a little bit of time and the results will be seen.

ok?

technopatra · Post by **technopatra** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 5:45 pm

Bob wrote:Tx, but again, this is General Discussion, where Feedback issues are likely to get lost, by design..

Bob, I understand your concern, but there's no need to worry. I posted here as a courtesy for folks who may not be reading the "Communication from eplaya technical team to user community" thread in the Feedback section.
( http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?t=2226 ).

I'm continuing to monitor this thread, but the only ones we can commit to responding to consistently (and yes, we're still working on the "consistent" part") are the Feedback forums.

We're working on a global messaging solution, so that we can make announcements that we know everybody will see, but the current tool is limited to mass emailing, and many folks did not provide their email addys in their profiles. We may have to hack in messagin in the header for a short term solution.

What would work best, IMO, would be a mass PM from the admin with announcements, but we need to see if that's possible.

Once that's up we can more easily direct people to the Feedback forums.

III · Post by **III** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 5:50 pm

>We may have to hack in messagin in the header for a short term solution.

i believe there is a mechanism for keeping some threads at the top of the list, intended for exactly that sort of system information. make the thread only postable my admins, and it'll be low enough traffic that it shouldn't bother the regular readers.

precipitate · Post by **precipitate** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 11:37 am

> i believe there is a mechanism for keeping some threads at the top of
> the list, intended for exactly that sort of system information.

There is. You can use Announcements or Sticky Topics, depending on how
you want things to appear.

Post by **spanky** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 12:27 pm

hey everyone!

Once again, I aplogize for being absent, but I just _had_ to prepare for my month long trip to the Caribbean, paid for by Larry Harvey of course (KIDDING). Regardless, I will be "working" while I'm away and this is one of the areas I care most about. I haven't finished reading all of the threads here, but I have a few comments:

1. My webcam sucks and doesn't have a microphone. So I bought a new one. Next meeting will be webcast with Video/Audio.

2. Yes, our conference phone sucks, but it's full duplex and the best we can do. The biggest problem with it (IMHO) is the sqeaky chairs in the room (and those who can't sit still in them). I've noticed these chairs totally kill the conversation. I'll get some DW-40 (seriously) and spray all the springs.

3. "You're welcome" to all those who threw big thanks our way about this meeting. Afterwards I went out to the Odeon w/Technopatra and felt very good about life. This, I needed, so thank YOU for making me feel better.

4. Britton has been rocking and rolling already, building new templates, flows and well, a ton of other things.

5. Next meeting. I will be out until December 4, so I would like to have the meeting as soon as possible after I return. Let's start discussing the date and who wants to attend. I'd LOVE to see more people's faces, people in the Chat Room and people on Cam.

6. I've drunk two beers in the process of this post and forgot the rest of my ideas.

7. Is there anyone out there who wants to be on the ETF? We're debating how to get this group patched into the Burning Man extranet sow e can collaborate on things there, stay tuned.

X. For those who insist on calling me "the Man", the man is actually a giant figure made of wood and neon, which I will never match up to, but I appreciate the intended praise.

Take care! I send my love from a very hot and sunny Caribbean island.

Post by **spanky** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 12:29 pm

Hey again!

Now I remeber one - can we end this thread and bust out the subtopics into different threads? The ePlaya Summit is over and I think we could best start a few subtopics to discuss matters. Like, "plonking" and such. Just an idea.

Post by **spanky** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 12:41 pm

Two more things:

1. Regarding COPPA: This site already has a COPPA agreement on it when you sign up for an account. Debate may rage on whether it will ever be enforced, if it's useful, etc.

2. I am on a less-than-56K-dailup here and browsing the boards is totally acceptable. The pages come in fast, the graphics do not slow me down one bit. What I did for this thread is, click Next Next Next over and over again, then I signed off and went Back Back Back to review it all offline. Feedback on the speed of the boards appreciated. My experiences here over a slow-ass connection is just fine.

3. How did I drink all my beer? And how am I going to get to town to buy more?? I guess I'll have to hitch a ride

OH - and I "aplogize" (ah - ploh' - jyze) for spelling. I'm typing as fast as I can! Usually I'm very picky about posting things w/errors.

Anyhow, bye again! I promise to wait for some replies before posting again!!!

DE FACTO · Post by **DE FACTO** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 1:29 pm

Hey Spanky, you da man.

I just had to do that.

III · Post by **III** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 3:27 pm

> What I did for this thread is, click Next Next Next over and over again, then I signed off and went Back Back Back to review it all offline.

i certainly hope that you are not suggesting that this is the preferred way to read these boards. (it may be acceptable for someone who reads them every couple of weeks, but that sort of contact is not how one maintains a community).

i'm getting about a 2 second load time per page. i suppose that's acceptable. it was up about 5-7 seconds at peak loads before. the old eplaya had load times up to 15 or 20 seconds, so this is an improvement.

DE FACTO · Post by **DE FACTO** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 3:34 pm

So what are the new threads going to be and where should they be?
General discussion seems not to be the place if these new threads are to be.

technopatra · Post by **technopatra** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 10:46 am

DE FACTO wrote:So what are the new threads going to be and where should they be?
General discussion seems not to be the place if these new threads are to be.

Please move these convos to "Feedback>Feature Requests".

technopatra · Post by **technopatra** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 10:51 am

III wrote:> What I did for this thread is, click Next Next Next over and over again, then I signed off and went Back Back Back to review it all offline.

i certainly hope that you are not suggesting that this is the preferred way to read these boards. (it may be acceptable for someone who reads them every couple of weeks, but that sort of contact is not how one maintains a community).

I'm with III, that is sub-optimal interaction, and many folks won't be able to figure it out as a solution, anyway. (However I do think that those only connecting every couple of weeks can at least _help_ maintain a community).

III wrote:> i'm getting about a 2 second load time per page. i suppose that's acceptable. it was up about 5-7 seconds at peak loads before. the old eplaya had load times up to 15 or 20 seconds, so this is an improvement.

That's great to know, thanks.

Post by **spanky** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 11:09 am

To be clear here:

No, you boneheads (

), I wasn't suggesting people use the board this way. It was a good way for ME to review all of the threads OFFLINE! I'm still not sure if FrenchTelcom changes a per minute usage fee for local calls (!!) so I'm trying to be offline as much as possible.

What would make you think *anyone* would view threads in that manner?! LoL! What I was getting at with my post is that over my flaky <48.8 dialup here, these pages are loading just fine...and I'm used to T1's and 786Kbps DSL. I have no complaints about the speed of the pages. Yes, I understand that there were times post-event that the speed was a problem, and we are looking at moving various services around to lighten the load on our server, but on average, my loadtimes have been just fine...and that's over dialup.

I understand that some other folks' boards run lightning fast, but personally I'm one for trying to keep things unified, and not divvying the community (or what's left of it) up any more. I think if people have enough time and energy to build their own boards, their energies would be better spent helping us run our boards better and make improvements (hell, offer to run it on YOUR equipment over YOUR connection, for free, TYVM), rather than trying to "take over" the community. All it's really accomplishing is creating confusion, lack of interest, focus and frankly, lack of community. Community/Commune = to come together...not split apart. But really, that's just my personal feeling. More power to 'em.

DE FACTO · Post by **DE FACTO** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 11:23 am

PJ · Post by PJ » Mon Nov 03, 2003 12:01 pm

spanky wrote:...if people have enough time and energy to build their own boards, their energies would be better spent helping us run our boards better and make improvements...

Not to belabor a point, rather to make a different one: Many otherwise-worthwhile people aren't natural "team players." While they have excellent skills and intelligence, a project's size or lines of communications can evolve such that they feel that they can no longer make significant contributions to the overall form of the end product. Or they simply feel that things just aren't progressing as rapidly as they could if they were working alone. So they shrug and go do something by themselves. This should not be confused with "taking my ball and going home" because they're not getting their way. It's frustration, not petulance.

(Note: oops, I accidentally erased my earlier post. This was meant to be a new post not an edit of my earlier statement, which unfortunately is lost in the ether now. I forget what, exactly, I said earlier but it was to the effect that the creators of the alternative BBSs did not set out to rob members from the official E-Playa. And that it's counter-productive to blame your customers for disliking your product. When the continually-evolving official E-Playa meets their desires, in all likelihood they'll return.)

III · Post by **III** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 1:21 pm

>do think that those only connecting every couple of weeks can at least _help_ maintain a community

agreed - i was not trying to suggest that those who only visit infrequently could not contribute positively. i was only suggesting that a community requires more frequent contributers in order to create a flow, not that it should exclusively consist of them.

DE FACTO · Post by **DE FACTO** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 1:41 pm

technopatra wrote:
DE FACTO wrote:So what are the new threads going to be and where should they be?
General discussion seems not to be the place if these new threads are to be.
Please move these convos to "Feedback>Feature Requests".

I think a name for the thread there is in order. what shall I look for under
"Feedback>Feature Requests"?

Is: http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?t=2226
a good place to start?

technopatra · Post by **technopatra** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 2:45 pm

III wrote:>do think that those only connecting every couple of weeks can at least _help_ maintain a community

agreed - i was not trying to suggest that those who only visit infrequently could not contribute positively. i was only suggesting that a community requires more frequent contributers in order to create a flow, not that it should exclusively consist of them.

I didn't mean to suggest that you meant to suggest that. I suggest that my understanding of your suggestion suggests that we are in agreement.

gone a little loopy today...yer indulgence is appreciated...

technopatra · Post by **technopatra** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 2:53 pm

DE FACTO wrote:
technopatra wrote:
DE FACTO wrote:So what are the new threads going to be and where should they be?
General discussion seems not to be the place if these new threads are to be.
Please move these convos to "Feedback>Feature Requests".
I think a name for the thread there is in order. what shall I look for under
"Feedback>Feature Requests"?

Is: http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?t=2226
a good place to start?

Sorry, I meant that you should find a thread in http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewforum.php?f=52 that fits the convo you're having, or create a new releveant thread there. the link you gave "Communication from eplaya technical team to user community" should be kept as the place where you guys check in for our responses/announcements/updates. Feel free to commnet on them or clarify there, but we should move them into their own threads if they get real specific.

III · Post by **III** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 4:36 pm

>yer indulgence is appreciated

sweeet!

cause you know, i'm off to indulge this very minute.

(yeah, i know. thread drift).

So what's the deal on this eplaya summit?

Re: Hey, don't run with those sissors... Here's a knife...

Re: Hey, don't run with those sissors... Here's a knife...

Re: Hey, don't run with those sissors... Here's a knife...

eplaya summit report