FerrariChat.com Community Improvement Plan... | Page 5 | FerrariChat

FerrariChat.com Community Improvement Plan...

Discussion in 'Ferrari Discussion (not model specific)' started by rob lay, Feb 9, 2004.

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  1. alx355gt

    alx355gt F1 Veteran

    Feb 3, 2004
    9,524
    Belgium
    Full Name:
    Alexander
    #101 alx355gt, Feb 18, 2004
    You're probably right.
    Maybe it could make the site even better.
    And maybe I'll subscribe anyway :)

    After all, the fee itself isn't really the problem. This site is totally worth it.
    Like I said before, I just had bad experiences with online paying.
    Now I'm a bit sceptical about that.

    Greets, Alex.
     
  2. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
    Staff Member Admin Miami 2018 Owner

    Dec 1, 2000
    59,611
    Southlake, TX
    Full Name:
    Rob Lay
    #102 rob lay, Feb 18, 2004
    Yes, that's why I will allow checks to be sent to me. Thanks.
     
  3. Schatten

    Schatten F1 World Champ
    Owner

    Apr 3, 2001
    11,237
    Austin, TX
    Full Name:
    Randy
    #103 Schatten, Feb 18, 2004
    over at another site (pm me if you want an example of this implimentation)...

    there are a few items that bring in revenue.

    1) 10 bucks gets you in the forums and the ability to post. otherwise you can browse only a few forums and only see non-attatched to thread pictures (i.e. img tags are ok since they are not hosted on that forum) and that's it.

    2) 5 bucks you can change your title.

    3) 5 bucks you can change someone else's title

    4) 5 bucks you can change your avatar (instead of a default)

    5) 10 bucks gets you a better account, which only includes the following features: ability to search, ability to send/receive PM's, and ability to attach a pitcure to a thread (this last item is most wise! that will eat up your bandwidth if you just let anyone post and anyone view no matter what limitations you set).

    this is something to consider when coming up with your pricing structure. I'd definately be in for a membership fee - it restricts the # of bogus new users and AE's (alter-egos) that people create in other places.

    /my two cents.
     
  4. sparetireless

    sparetireless Formula 3

    Nov 2, 2003
    1,538
    #104 sparetireless, Feb 19, 2004
    Allow no more than 1 post per day
     
  5. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
    Staff Member Admin Miami 2018 Owner

    Dec 1, 2000
    59,611
    Southlake, TX
    Full Name:
    Rob Lay
    #105 rob lay, Feb 20, 2004
    As another part of our improvement plan we have just installed some advanced PHP Accelerator software. We're just testing it out now, but this may improve speeds anywhere from 25% to over 10 times. I'll let you know the actual improvements as the software has an interface to monitor. This software was written in a scripting language called PHP. PHP was developed by a company called Zend and this accelerator is directly from them.

    This also explains why some weird things were happening and our software was down about 15 minutes ago. Everything should be working fine now, let me know if not.

    We had caching turned on, which would improve the speeds even more, but for an undetermined reason the board wouldn't work right with it on, so I've turned it back off for the time being.

    Thanks,
    rob
     
  6. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
    Staff Member Admin Miami 2018 Owner

    Dec 1, 2000
    59,611
    Southlake, TX
    Full Name:
    Rob Lay
    #106 rob lay, Feb 20, 2004
    We'll need to have it longer to get accurate test results, but so far looks good...

    Acceleration improved performance: x2.07
    Dynamic Caching improved performance: N/A
     
  7. jimpo1

    jimpo1 Two Time F1 World Champ
    Owner Silver Subscribed

    Jul 30, 2001
    24,520
    Dallas, TX
    Full Name:
    Jim E
    #107 jimpo1, Feb 20, 2004
    Yeah, whatever it was, it was screwing up fast! :)
     
  8. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
    Staff Member Admin Miami 2018 Owner

    Dec 1, 2000
    59,611
    Southlake, TX
    Full Name:
    Rob Lay
    #108 rob lay, Feb 20, 2004
    Yep, not much I can do when I bounce the server or install something like this. With anywhere from 125 to 225 users always on FerrariChat.com at a time, I'll hear multiple times about even the small hick ups. :)
     
  9. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
    Staff Member Admin Miami 2018 Owner

    Dec 1, 2000
    59,611
    Southlake, TX
    Full Name:
    Rob Lay
    #109 rob lay, Feb 20, 2004
    Now that we have enough valid data on the new software, these test results are more accurate...

    Download time improvement: 72.90%

    That's still a very nice improvement for $700 software. Actually, there's some freeware that's very similar to the Zend product, but I would rather pay for the 100% stability and support.

    The largest determination of your individual speeds is on your client/network end. However, I'm still doing what I can to make my side as quick as possible. This summer we're going to a very nice multi CPU with special fast hard drive server.
     
  10. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
    Staff Member Admin Miami 2018 Owner

    Dec 1, 2000
    59,611
    Southlake, TX
    Full Name:
    Rob Lay
    #110 rob lay, Feb 23, 2004
    Check out these performance numbers since the new accelerator software...

    0.52 0.69 0.78 | 186 Users Online (141 members and 45 guests)

    Those are the best load numbers I've ever seen with 186 users on at once.

    Last Performance Test Results
    Acceleration improved performance: x1.81
    Dynamic Caching improved performance: N/A
    23-Feb-04, 11:52 Overall performance improvement: x1.81

    Last Compression Test Results
    Download time improvement: 70.97%
    23-Feb-04, 11:52
     
  11. chasking

    chasking Formula Junior

    Nov 27, 2003
    317
    Chicago, IL
    Full Name:
    Chuck King
    #111 chasking, Feb 23, 2004
    I for one will happily pay a registration fee for this board. I look at it this way: there is no book or magazine I could buy that provides the wealth of information and entertainment that fchat does---certainly not for $15 per year.

    Furthermore, fchat is more than just a message board, which could be easily replaced by another board on another site; it is an honest-to-God on-line community, and I can't imagine that there are very many people who don't value this community enough to pay the all-too-reasonable registration fee you propose.

    I intend to get another sports car sometime in probably the next year or so, and I discovered fchat during my investigation into various brands. After seeing the wealth of information available here, and the helpfulness and friendliness of fcar owners (at least, most of the ones who hang out here), and discovering a vibrant subset of this community active in my hometown, I am fairly certain that that next car will be a Ferrari. If I hadn't found this community, I don't think I would have considered one. So, it may well turn out that fchat will end up changing my life. $15 is a small price to pay.

    Chuck King
     
  12. Sin

    Sin Karting

    Nov 28, 2003
    151
    WA
    Full Name:
    Mark
    #112 Sin, Feb 23, 2004
    Hey Rob,

    A 'value adding' idea to paid subscribers could be to give them a @ferrarichat.com POP email and say limit attachments to 2meg (if you are concerned about bandwidth)
     
  13. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
    Staff Member Admin Miami 2018 Owner

    Dec 1, 2000
    59,611
    Southlake, TX
    Full Name:
    Rob Lay
    #113 rob lay, Mar 1, 2004
    Latest improvement. I changed the titles and some pages under "Resources" to better represent where the site is headed.

    Newsletters - Will be renamed to whatever comes out of the naming contest. This will contain a link to the current and previous "monthly’s".

    Consultants - Will contain the list of FerrariChat.com Consultants with their profiles, what they're experts at, and their commercial blurb if they wish. This is the program that will reward those true experts in various areas from technical, racing, driving, design, finance, law, and etc. Anything is game.

    Registry - Will be a complete online registry for all Ferraris.

    Other - Contains everything else, like Parts & Service articles, Research, and Links. Although I have removed the links page, except for internal links.
     
  14. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
    Staff Member Admin Miami 2018 Owner

    Dec 1, 2000
    59,611
    Southlake, TX
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    Rob Lay
    #114 rob lay, Mar 1, 2004
    Dang, I just can't get over what a performance difference some $700 software makes.

    0.47 0.79 0.89 | 194 Users Online (137 members and 57 guests)
     
  15. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
    Staff Member Admin Miami 2018 Owner

    Dec 1, 2000
    59,611
    Southlake, TX
    Full Name:
    Rob Lay
    #115 rob lay, Mar 1, 2004
    This was posted by me earlier in February and I just wanted to give you a status.

    Here are the current moderator assignments. All moderators of a forum are listed at the bottom of the thread list. Reported posts go to the moderators of that forum.

    GFD - MarkPDX, Wayne Ausbrooks, Auraraptor, Brian C. Stradale.
    Tech - Ron.
    Racing - Tifosi12, Brian C. Stradale.
    Collectables, Literature, & Models - Tifosi12.
    Other Italian - Boudewijn
    OT - MarkPDX, Wayne Ausbrooks, Auraraptor.
    Vintage - Wayne Ausbrooks, Boudewijn.
    New England - Dan360.
    So. Cal - Ron.
    Texas - Brian C. Stradale.
    Chicago - Tifosi12.

    I know there were several others that were interested in moderating. I accidentally deleted several PM's and lost a few names. For now I'm just looking for some moderators in Showroom and the heavy traffic International regions. Please contact me if you are interested and your name isn't above.

    The only other thing I need to do is clearly define the forum rules, make them easily accessible, and list the expected punishments as we will be using temporary bans more often.

    Feedback welcome. Here's to the best online Ferrari community in the world!

    Thank you,
    rob
     
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