An idea for a dynamic front page of this website.

[AKcoyote]

Background:

The front page of this site (and a few other areas) use WordPress software which allows more flexibility than the forum software (phpBB) for basic mostly text pages. Our current front page (http://thefurden.com/tfd) is rather basic and probably should be more dynamic and offer fur related news and/or info that may be difficult to find in the forums.

 

Proposal:

I would like to see our front page be somewhat similar to what the tech news site Slashdot (https://slashdot.org/) does where they post short summaries of stories with acknowledgement of the submitter & embedded links to the source. I think we could do that with fur related news, blog posts, and other fur information. We might even have a summary and link to a topic in one of our forums that is generating an interesting discussion.

 

This would need members who regularly dredge the internet for anything fur related to provide links to, and optionally a short summary of, any interesting news, blog post, or other fur info article for consideration of inclusion on a new front page.

 

Comments:

The above is a rough draft proposal and we need to know if you think it worth the effort or not. Also any ideas for improvement of it are welcome.

 

One minor initial hassle is it would require submitters to register in the WordPress portion of the site using the same user-name as they use in the forums before submitting something for the front page. Unfortunately there is no reasonable way at this time to link the existing phpBB user table to the WordPress login facility.

 

Items submitted would be held for review by the staff before being published to eliminate spam.

 

The editor in WordPress is considerably different than the one in phpBB, but is not hard to use and has been enhanced via a plugin to make it more flexible.

[maktak]

I feel like the forums are already a pretty quiet place, so I don't think there will be a lot of activity on the front page. It's a nice idea, but given the frequency of posts in this forum, I don't know that it's worth your time.

[AKcoyote]

I would not expect "a lot of activity" on the front page, but an occasional reference to some article about fur on another website would indicate that this site is about fur information as well as discussion.

[Fox]

I kinda' have to agree with what maktak said. As quiet as the current fora are, I feel it effectively wouldn't be that "dynamic". I think maybe something like what FFG did with an informational front page may be of more use.

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20130430025714/http://furfashionguide.com/

[furrybob]

Hi,

One suggestion I would like to make is to make the entries in the subjects in reverse order.

This would meant that the newest entry is at the top of the list, (as per emails).

Regards

Bob

[AKcoyote]

Furrybob,

I was already thinking along the same lines. That would be easy to implement in WordPress.

 

 

Fox & All,

As stated previously, I agree there would not be much activity on a revised front page - the forums are the main "activity center" of this site. But even so I think it might be better than the current static front page.

 

Yes, a more informational front page is my goal. And I want the members to determine what goes there via their posts to the front page. While I referenced Slashdot.org in the proposal as a model, what fourrureclub.com has for a front page was my initial inspiration.

 

While I think what FFG had for a front page was a bit too busy, neoJaguar & I are open to any suggestions & proposals for a better and more informational front page.

 

I should also mention that as WordPress is basically designed as blogging software, any member who wants to write an article about some aspect of fur be it fashion, care, differences between types of fur, etc, they should contact neoJaguar or myself so we can get you setup to write your article for the site.

[Fox]

Hmmmmm. Forum members often ask about furriers in particular areas (e.g. New York, Montreal, Greece, etc). Maybe something listing furriers in more well-known areas?

[samurman]

What constitutes "dynamic" and what does not is also dependent on the context, or the way in which content is presented. People have been using and interacting with forums and web pages for quite a long time, and this has created a set of expectations. If there are five posts a day in a forum, it might look like a quiet place but the same number of entries in a web page or blog would look as if it is bursting with activity. It all depends on how you present content.

[fourrureclub]

Hi friends

I'm Glad that FourrureClub inspired you !

Well, I try to post articles as complete and informative as can be. But, to share my experience, you have to be conscient that leading a forum and leading an informative blog are not quite the same jobs. On one side you have to make a whole community to participate, read and write posts, on the other hand you have to "push" informations after writting full articles... In this case, readers are more in a passive position, more than on a forum. Anyway it's very pleasant to write articles for the blog, and with my wife we are now just beginning to open a new way to share experiences about fur, so a new type of articles will soon arrive

 

Hope my english is not too rusty, feel free to ask for any questions !

 

A bientot,

 

Matt

[AKcoyote]

Samurman,

My definition of dynamic is simply "not static". A new post every month or two is about the best I could hope for. What I am hoping to accomplish is to make the front page more of a fur information source.

 

As to a list of known furriers, that could easily be accommodated via a page linked to from the front page; -- A good suggestion, thanks for posting it.

 

 

Matt (fourrureclub),

Thanks. I am well aware that getting forum members to post articles or summaries of fur articles on other websites will not be easy, but I think it is worth the effort.