Help / Suggestions

[The Reefuge]

Hi everyone,

I would like to ask you all for a bit of hand. I would like to know what your thoughts are on the site so far, and also what direction you would like to see it head in. When I say direction, I mean what sort of site would you like to visit for your information. How would you like it to work? What features would you like to see implemented?

Currently, the site is just forums with a few bits and pieces making it look and function differently to other marine sites, in a sense making it unique in this field. But there is so much more we can do with it.

What do you want to get out of this site?

Thanks.

 

[MTG]

Im here for the forum side of it. i like to be able to chat to my friends and like to see what people are interested in to do with the hobby.

 

[The Reefuge]

Okay cool. This is good information as it shows what needs to be worked on / improved. Thanks for that Matt.

Who else has a suggestion?

 

[slin1977]

Was thinking about a coral /fish identification / fact /care sheet data base. Somewhere to check out if they are easy or difficult to keep. Say min tank size recomended for fish, lighting requirements for corals.....recomendations ,tips..

 

[The Reefuge]

Was thinking about a coral /fish identification / fact /care sheet data base. Somewhere to check out if they are easy or difficult to keep. Say min tank size recomended for fish, lighting requirements for corals.....recomendations ,tips..

Hi there,

This is already in the process of being implemented. Sheets like this will be found in the wiki once it is available to the public. This is a very good idea though. If you have anymore please post :)

Thanks.

 

[Agent M]

I like the atmosphere amongst the members on this site, and also their helpful responses. Rewarding members for participating is a really innovative and effective idea and its good having a goal/s to work towards. I'm also liking the lack of restrictions on marine businesses and never understood the need for this on other forums. I would really like to see a big focus on selling and trading amongst aquarists as I think there is a lot of room for improvement in this area of the hobby, particularly to assist new ones - and it looks like you guys on your way to doing that with the points system and the opportunity to provide feedback on transactions between members.

A reef calculator would be handy?

 

[MagicJ]

Megan, a Reef Calculator for what?

 

['vspec']

Realisticly once the chips are lined up and organised, I'd like to see small groups of capable members team up monthly/ bi monthly, with the aim to do segment based vidcasts. Concurrently branch even further into the info domain by digitally profiling species, that displays only the Reefuge look.

Vidcast inspiration.......

"Reef Streets" ~ Supply chain exposures, latest /recent industry happenings, innovative designs and concepts, system set-ups, backstage passes.

"Salt Mine" ~ Personal showcases, instructionals, fabrication works.

"If you build it, they will come!"

 

[The Reefuge]

Hi guys,

Megan, what sort of calculators would you like to see here? As far as the advertising goes, later on down the line the businesses will have a free set amount they can advertise per month in a select forum, then if they would like more will need to purchase an advertising plan. This is because this site also needs to make enough money to pay the server bills (which are very high). However, it will not just be advertising they will be purchasing, but a full service provided by us that ties in with their advertising.

'vspec', The videos are a good idea, the problem is I am not sure who here would be interested in making videos for this site. It is a lot of work, but it is a great idea. The "Reef Streets" and "Salt Mine" will be implemented in project UZIPP.

Any more everyone?

 

[Agent M]

Where you can input data relating to your tank and it will calculate things such as 'turnover rate' or other commonly used phrases in the hobby. Or for eg. you input your tank volume, kg's of rock, and the calculator tells you how much water is in your system. Or a reef chemistry calculator etc. Do you want me to find some examples?

 

[brendore]

The Reefuge - When I logged on last night I had a message on the notifications banner at the top of the page saying something about a blog? I quite like that idea, whens it gonna become official?

 

[The Reefuge]

Where you can input data relating to your tank and it will calculate things such as 'turnover rate' or other commonly used phrases in the hobby. Or for eg. you input your tank volume, kg's of rock, and the calculator tells you how much water is in your system. Or a reef chemistry calculator etc. Do you want me to find some examples?

Hi Megan, I will look into this for you. It sounds like a really good idea. Thanks for sharing it :D

The Reefuge - When I logged on last night I had a message on the notifications banner at the top of the page saying something about a blog? I quite like that idea, whens it gonna become official?

Hi brendore,

I had added blogs to the forums for peoples tank journals. However, the module is missing a feature that I really think will be the make or break of it, and after configuring it, decided against it. I think it will be better if we just wait until the feature is implemented rather than install it now.

Having said that, the blogs will be the new tank journals. Each user will have their blog, to keep as a page for their tank journals. They can make categories (a different category for each tank), and then post updates within the categories. This will keep the tank journals very neat, with the users posts always showing one after the other so readers can easily see the tank grow. Comments will be available as a reply to each post. For example, it will look like this

The Reefuge 50l Tank​

Update 23/9/2011​

Today I added my fake sump to my aquarium. It is doing a really great job and looks amazing. Some more text will go in here, I hope you like the example of the blog. The sump is smaller than my display tank, but much larger than my nano tank. It is made of ice, so keeping temperatures stable is going to prove tricky... More updates to come.

Comments:

Fake User 1: Wow! A sump made of ice!?!? That is amazing!

Fake User 2: I don't believe you!

Update 12/11/2011​

This is another update. Again, this is only a very BASIC layout of the blog, it will actually look like the forums, with all the good stuff such as images, video, attachments, etc.

Comments:

Fake User 1: Oh I see!

Fake User 2: Move along people, nothing to see here...



As you can imagine, it will look like the forums (blog entries and comments), however each update made on the blog will stay in it's designated category. This means that if you want to see a members tank, you don't need to go through 200 pages of replies looking for their updates. You can now simply click on their tank, and each post will be an update. When you click the post, you will see the entire post along with comments users have left them. This is a much better way of doing things as it keeps comments relevant to that single update, makes viewing a journal MUCH easier, and just looks so much better.

Thanks.

 

[brendore]

Is it also possible to create a personal blog too? I think it would allow users to get to know each other better, and since we're such a personal forum site I think it may be a benefit to users??

 

[The Reefuge]

Hi brendore,

Yes, each category is it's own journal. So you can have, as an example.

My blog
My big tank
My small tank
Things I find funny
Something else here

Within those categories, you can post updates. Within those updates, users can post comments.

Thanks.

 

[brendore]

Cool man sounds good! :D

 

[Agent M]

Blogs.... HELL. YES.

 

[Luke]

Not another facebook , I'm not a fan of anything even similar to it really , But a lot of people are

 

[DavidS]

Blogs.... HELL. YES.

Someone likes her blogging them? :)

 

[brendore]

Not another facebook , I'm not a fan of anything even similar to it really , But a lot of people are

I don't think it would be anything like Facebook, more like blogspot of any other blog website, not a social media website

 

[The Reefuge]

I don't think it would be anything like Facebook, more like blogspot of any other blog website, not a social media website

It will work almost like a separate forum. Think of the users blog as the users own forum. Each post within that "forum" (blog) is a thread. Each comment on the "Thread" (Blog Entry), is a post.

Thanks.