Articles Section Closing

[Art Andrews]

We are going to be closing down the articles section of the site. There are only 7 existing articles there and none of them appear to be completely intact. We will do our best to salvage them if we can and once we have we will close that section of the site as vBulletin article system has never functioned very well...

 

[Dagger06]

Do you see a future for a sort of 405th article system or perhaps monthly newsletter of some sort? Or is this a permanent departure from this idea?

 

[Art Andrews]

I am never going to say never but it is a very low priority at the moment. Personally, I'd love to see a revival of the ezine that used to be produced, but as with so many things in this community, it will have to be community driven. So... if the community wants it and can supply the writers necessary for it... heck yeah! Now... would we use vBulletin's article system? Unlikely. It is just a terrible, terrible piece of software. Possible wordpress or something of the like.

 

[Dagger06]

Would love to see an ezine again someday. But yeah, lots of work and not a priority. Tried doing it for the Pacific and it was just too much. If you ever do decide to tackle it, hit me up

 

[Art Andrews]

Would love to see an ezine again someday. But yeah, lots of work and not a priority. Tried doing it for the Pacific and it was just too much. If you ever do decide to tackle it, hit me up

That is the thing with all of this. It take a community of people all willing to give of their time and effort. No single person or even small group of dedicated people can sustain it because the work load is simply too high. That is why I am working on the site and the club right now... with the mentality of "build it and they will come." I hope in the future that you have so many people offering to help you have to turn people away!

 

[GeekGuardianDee]

Would love to see an ezine again someday. But yeah, lots of work and not a priority. Tried doing it for the Pacific and it was just too much. If you ever do decide to tackle it, hit me up

I, also, would be willing to help write articles for something like this. I wrote up this article, Top-5-sites-for-halo-cosplay-resources for a Facebook page I admin. I used to write newsletters for various clubs I was a part of at various times in my life. I think a Quarterly would be a good starting point if it ever did get off the ground.

 

[WandererTJ]

We are going to be closing down the articles section of the site. There are only 7 existing articles there and none of them appear to be completely intact. We will do our best to salvage them if we can and once we have we will close that section of the site as vBulletin article system has never functioned very well...

Is there a place that they were moved to so we can still find them?

I agree with your decision of removing it since there were only 7 really old entries, and having a button that led to them was pretty much just clutter.


Now, at the same time, I do also see good reasons for having a section of the site like that, which is kept separate from the other Blogs.
Having a more official "Site News" kind of Blog section might be cool to have.
The reason I keep saying 'blog' is because of how the section is/was viewed. It wasn't the typical view where you only see the title of the thread, you also could see part of the body of the OP with the title.

I do think it would be pretty cool to have "Featured Member of the Month" or something and an interview with it.

It would also be cool to have a place where we can show where the 405th has been recognized whether it was members appearing in a video of some sort or even newspaper clippings.

 

[Art Andrews]

We still have them but they aren't currently public.

The thing is, vB's CMS is just terrible and very poorly conceived. I too see value in having something like this, but these things have to be supported from within the community, not from the administrators. It is very easy for any of us to say "we should have this" or "we should have that" but until someone steps up to maintain it and keep it going, there is no point in doing so as you will end up with another empty and dead part of the site. This is one of those situations in which the members have to ask themselves what they can do for the community instead of what the community can do for them.

If someone were to organize an effort to support an article system and was in a position to maintain it and keep it fresh, we would provide the infrastructure to make sure they had what they needed on the software side.

 

[WandererTJ]

I completely understand!

Maybe once the Regiments have all been figured out we'll be able to reach a point where it will not only desirable, but something that does stand a good chance to get used frequently.
The reason I think it will have to wait on the Regiments is because once we have them, we will know who the leaders are and which of the individuals are here to stay. Knowing that, we'll know which members might be able to maintain some sort of News Feed or something.

 

[Art Andrews]

I completely understand!

Maybe once the Regiments have all been figured out we'll be able to reach a point where it will not only desirable, but something that does stand a good chance to get used frequently.
The reason I think it will have to wait on the Regiments is because once we have them, we will know who the leaders are and which of the individuals are here to stay. Knowing that, we'll know which members might be able to maintain some sort of News Feed or something.

Very good call!

 

[23Magnum]

Is there a current application within vB that allows for news submissions to be submitted to general staff for approval and uploaded to something like the Activity Feed, but perhaps News Feed instead? I really like how this site ( www.trueachievements.com ) does their news and submissions. Everyday users have a way of submitting links and article ideas to their "newhounds" who compose and then post them on the home page. Perhaps this method could be adapted here?

 

[ColFork85]

It could be good for overall Division leadership and also Regimental leadership to be able to make "news" posts or announcements.

 

[WandererTJ]

Is there a current application within vB that allows for news submissions to be submitted to general staff for approval and uploaded to something like the Activity Feed, but perhaps News Feed instead? I really like how this site ( www.trueachievements.com ) does their news and submissions. Everyday users have a way of submitting links and article ideas to their "newhounds" who compose and then post them on the home page. Perhaps this method could be adapted here?

Hahaha, Trueachievements has definitely been what I've had in my mind as I've been thinking of some things that we might be able to incorporate here.
I also like how Trueachievements does Site News with a notification that doesn't go away until you click it.
Of course, we probably wouldn't have anything posted in there unless it was from Art-- informing us of Server changes or maintenance or whatnot.
But I do like the way the Site News page is laid out.

Having a News Feed like TA would be pretty cool too.

The Newshounds could post:
• Sign-Ups for Conventions
• Member Interviews
• Polls
• 405th Member Sightings (or even sightings of non 405th Halo Cosplayers)
• Sales on Materials/Supplies for Building (and maybe even Coupons)
• New Pre-Game Details that come out in regards to Halo and Bungie games

...it wouldn't necessarily be the Newshounds going out and finding all the information. Like you said, general members would make a submission, and then the Newshounds would format it so it is easy to read and they would make sure the links work and whatnot, and then they post it to the feed.


But like I said earlier, I think we have some time to work on Regiments and figure them out before we work on trying to get a News Feed going. That doesn't mean we can't sit here and come up with ideas for the News Feed and what kind of content could be posted in it though!

---

And like ColFork85 said, and I've been thinking about it too, it would be nice if Division/Regiment Leaders could post updates and whatnot.
I would say that we could definitely use a place to notify members easily (without having to hunt through the forums) for things like when you are at a convention, and someone is able to get a hold of free entrance/VIP passes, but you need to show up at a certain spot. Being able to check the 405th and being able to find something like that easily would be great, but perhaps I am getting away from the whole News Feed idea with this....

As another idea, completely aside from the News Feed, Trueachievements has a section (you have to sign up on the site to use it) for Gaming Sessions.
Now, Gaming Sessions would be cool here, but honestly, in terms of that, I think it might just be better for those who are interested to join TA or otherwise just post a thread.

Instead of Gaming Sessions, but similar to how they function on Trueachievements, it would really be cool if there was a section that had all the Upcoming Conventions.
As an added bonus, being able to Sign Up that you will be attending one of the Conventions would be really cool.

Now, signing up on the 405th wouldn't be the same as registering/paying to go to the convention, instead, what it does is that it will allow all of us to see a list of who all is going, or we could even attach details when we sign up such as "Trying to go, but I need a ride" or things like that. On top of that, being signed up for a convention would mean that you would receive notifications about updates in regards to that convention. If we could find a way to receive notifications on our phones, that would just be icing on the cake...

Loving this idea!

 

[tomboy]

...Instead of Gaming Sessions, but similar to how they function on Trueachievements, it would really be cool if there was a section that had all the Upcoming Conventions.
As an added bonus, being able to Sign Up that you will be attending one of the Conventions would be really cool.

Now, signing up on the 405th wouldn't be the same as registering/paying to go to the convention, instead, what it does is that it will allow all of us to see a list of who all is going, or we could even attach details when we sign up such as "Trying to go, but I need a ride" or things like that. On top of that, being signed up for a convention would mean that you would receive notifications about updates in regards to that convention...

I really like that idea. Being able to communicate and coordinate to help other 405th members reach convention destination would be a great way to help bring us closer together. Also, there's always plenty of people trying to get together to split hotel costs (cons are expensive). I've seen many of them try, and fail on other website forums. I'm in the Dallas area with room to house 1, maybe 2, people if they wanted to go to A-kon or SGC. It'd be nice if there was an easier way to work together and communicate that.

 

[SPARTAN II]

I am never going to say never but it is a very low priority at the moment. Personally, I'd love to see a revival of the ezine that used to be produced, but as with so many things in this community, it will have to be community driven. So... if the community wants it and can supply the writers necessary for it... heck yeah! Now... would we use vBulletin's article system? Unlikely. It is just a terrible, terrible piece of software. Possible wordpress or something of the like.

I remember the few "405th Source" issues the previous 405th staff put together. I made sure to print out hard copies and put them away in a binder somewhere. Not sure if I still have them saved on my computer, I'll have to check. They were a really great read. I'd like to see something like that come back, but I agree with WandererTJ any such considerations should wait until the regiments and other aspects of the site have been worked out. I also agree with Art that such an undertaking would have to be regularly and efficiently maintained by the membership.