The New Site

The New Site

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42 Responses

  1. Ian Topham says:

    Map Ideas

    Essentially we are compiling a large database concerning hauntings, legends, folklore, UFO’s, ancient sites etc and this is only useful if the users can interrogate it in such a way that they get the maximum benefit.  One way I thought of trying this was to introduce maps for each topic, therefore if you wanted to see how the screaming skulls or giant legends are distributed around the country, there could be a map.

    This could be quite useful.  It would probably show most Green Ladies are found in Scotland.  But what about Mermaids?  Are they mostly on the West Coast and if so, why?  Same with Black Dogs and Road Ghosts.  It could be there is no pattern, where for others there could be a cultural or reason behind it.

    Maps like these can be pulled together from the data we have and the more we obtain the bigger picture we will see.  So if you know of anything in your local area that we haven’t covered, please let us know about it.

  2. Agricola says:

    GIS software could be useful
    GIS software could be useful for this. I’m not too up on GIS though so could be wrong.

  3. Lee Waterhouse says:

    More of a general site request
    Theres possibly one thing that could be added, when you are looking at the forum pages there is a "you are here" bit at the top of the page, can one be added at the bottom too ? The reason is, if you have a long string of postings you have to back to the top to click back in to the previous page, obviously a person can click the back arrow but this makes the thread look unread.

  4. Neil Boothman says:

    Good idea, squire
    That’s a good point, Lee. I’ll look into doing that tomorrow. I’d been meaning to look at the You Are Here breadcrumb at some point.. The forum one is good but, the one appearing on top of articles doesn’t always work logically, at least from a human point of view.

  5. Red Don says:

    A Blog Or Two
    Why not have a few blogs each wrote by people with differant interests and points of view?

  6. Daniel Parkinson says:

    Blogs
    Blogs could work, but due to the nature of the subjects on the site would probably be more suited to specific site visits, tours or investigations. As some of the subjects would be difficult to blog – any suggestions welcome however.

  7. Ian Topham says:

    Blogs
    I think a few small infrequent blogs on differant subjects would be a good idea, each written by someone passionate about that topic.  Any volunteers?

  8. Neil Boothman says:

    An investigator’s blog would
    An investigator’s blog would make interesting reading. Though care would have to be taken to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the site being investigated was protected.

  9. Ian Topham says:

    Podcasts
    In theory we could do podcasts as well :).

  10. Red Don says:

    I am really impressed with
    I am really impressed with the new site, but the new forum is taking some getting used to.  If you can put up podcasts then I take it you could host music.  I’m not really into folklore that much but I suppose you could relevant folk tunes and the stories behind them.  Just a thought.

    • Daniel Parkinson says:

      Folk Tunes

      Probably a good idea but folk music is a vast subject and individual songs will have undergone a lot of changes as they were – and still are open to interpretation, and the songs themselves can exist in many variations.
       


      We could however put some examples of traditional  songs as I know a few musicians – that is if there is interest, these again would be interpretations of older songs rather than examples of how they were played in the past, but then folk music (and folklore to some extent) is a living tradition.

  11. Mysteryshopper says:

    Forum
    The forum seems to have a mind of its own when it comes to flagging updated threads. Sometimes it flags all sorts of things I’ve already read while, other times, it doesn’t flag new stuff so I need to check all the dates. I stay logged in all the time – is that the problem?

    • Ian Topham says:

      I have noticed it too
      I have noticed it too Mysteryshopper.  Once you go into a topic it flags them up fine though.   I’ll see what we can do.

      • SJMcKenzie says:

        Ian Topham wrote:
        I have

        [quote=Ian Topham]I have noticed it too Mysteryshopper.  Once you go into a topic it flags them up fine though.   I’ll see what we can do.[/quote]
         

        It’s still doing this. Mauros post on the Min Min Light has been flagged as new for the last week or so….  

        http://celtlore.wordpress.com

    • Neil Boothman says:

      Thanks for your kind words,
      Thanks for your kind words, Mauro. Also, credit due to yourself and the rest of the forum users for keeping the community aspect of the site going. 🙂

      [quote=Mysteryshopper]The forum seems to have a mind of its own when it comes to flagging updated threads..[/quote]

      I’ve now got into the habit of navigating the forum using the ‘You Are Here’ breadcrumb trail near the top of the page. I was using my browser back button which loads up the previous, cached version of the thread list, thus appearing as though the thread is unread. Hope that helps.

  12. Mauro says:

    I just wanted to thank

    I just wanted to thank everybody for the hard work in bringing this new wonderful site to life.

  13. Agricola says:

    I’d volunteer to do a blog,
    I’d volunteer to do a blog, but I’ve far too much trouble trying to remember to update my own. However, if and when I get to do an investigation I’d really like to put pen to paper about it.

    • Ian Topham says:

      Agricola wrote:
      I’d

      [quote=Agricola]I’d volunteer to do a blog, but I’ve far too much trouble trying to remember to update my own. However, if and when I get to do an investigation I’d really like to put pen to paper about it.[/quote]

      Thanks for the offer Agricola 🙂  Looks like your book review idea may be taking off as well.

    • Mysteryshopper says:

      Agricola wrote:
      I’d

      [quote=Agricola]I’d volunteer to do a blog, but I’ve far too much trouble trying to remember to update my own. However, if and when I get to do an investigation I’d really like to put pen to paper about it.[/quote]

      Agricola, can we have a link to your blog, please? I’ve looked around but I can’t find it – probably missing the obvious …

  14. Urisk says:

    It’s very swish looking now
    It’s very swish looking now 😀

    Just a question though; is there any way to bring the old threads over from the previous forum?

    • Ian Topham says:

      Urisk wrote:
      It’s very

      [quote=Urisk]It’s very swish looking now 😀
      Just a question though; is there any way to bring the old threads over from the previous forum?[/quote]

      Manually, post by post we can.  So we’ll jst bring some of the most popular, entertaining and detailed ones over during the coming months.

  15. Neil Boothman says:

    Normally
    Normally I’d have just interrogated the database of the original forum and merged it with this one. But as the original is hosted and owned by Forumotion, they restrict access to the forum database.

    Ian has done a lot of copying and pasting.

  16. Urisk says:

    Ah.
    Oh right, I didn’t realise it would have to be done manually. Sorry about that.

  17. Mysteryshopper says:

    Confused
    It seems a shame to comment in someone’s hard work but all these threads appearing from the old forum is confusing the hell out of me!

    • Ian Topham says:

      Mysteryshopper wrote:
      It

      [quote=Mysteryshopper]It seems a shame to comment in someone’s hard work but all these threads appearing from the old forum is confusing the hell out of me![/quote]

      I know what you mean:).  I am trying to limit it to just a few a week.  But it is good to see the old conversations getting a new breath of life as many are being added to.  It’s worth keeping an eye on them Mysteryshopper 🙂

  18. Agricola says:

    Not sure I’m allowed to do
    Not sure I’m allowed to do shameless self promotion here.

    • Mysteryshopper says:

      Agricola wrote:
      Not sure

      [quote=Agricola]Not sure I’m allowed to do shameless self promotion here.[/quote]

      That’s what some people use forums for … 🙂

      I’m really interested, if you can put the libk here please. I promise not to promote it … 🙂

    • Ian Topham says:

      Agricola wrote:
      Not sure

      [quote=Agricola]Not sure I’m allowed to do shameless self promotion here.[/quote]

      Don’t worry about that.  We’ll just ban you if we don’t like it lol 🙂

  19. Agricola says:

    Haven’t been banned from
    Haven’t been banned from anywhere for a while. In fact almost 10 years ago, but less said about that story, the better.

  20. SJMcKenzie says:

    Blogs, schmogs

    You folks already have forum topics which can be updated, and ‘thematic posts’ which can be updated, and in both cases the activity gets displayed on the recent comments board on the front page.

    I’m not sure what a blog would look like other than one of those things. All it would do is seperate some people’s stuff from the main site.

    I guess, as has been suggested, if someone was actually on an investigation they could run a diary of their activities. That would be a different kind of content.

    But if it’s just the usual maunderings, then having blogs is just another way of listing the same type of content, and that gets confusing. I’ve seen other sites with ‘forum’, ‘content’ and ‘blogs’, and there’s usually little difference.
     
    How about website reviews? Book reviews? There’s so much stuff out there…

     

    • Ian Topham says:

      SJMcKenzie wrote:
      You folks

      [quote=SJMcKenzie]

      You folks already have forum topics which can be updated, and ‘thematic posts’ which can be updated, and in both cases the activity gets displayed on the recent comments board on the front page.

      I’m not sure what a blog would look like other than one of those things. All it would do is seperate some people’s stuff from the main site.

      I guess, as has been suggested, if someone was actually on an investigation they could run a diary of their activities. That would be a different kind of content.

      But if it’s just the usual maunderings, then having blogs is just another way of listing the same type of content, and that gets confusing. I’ve seen other sites with ‘forum’, ‘content’ and ‘blogs’, and there’s usually little difference.
       
      How about website reviews? Book reviews? There’s so much stuff out there… 

      [/quote]
      Excellent point there.  By the way, our first book review will be put up shortly 🙂

  21. Mysteryshopper says:

    Blogs are great! Well, most
    Blogs are great! Well, most blogs are tedious – someone’s unoriginal ideas about a subject they know little about. But good blogs – an expert with original ideas – are fantastic! There are a few around if you look very, very hard ….

  22. Waxwing says:

    Ahoy DannyLiking the new
    Ahoy Danny

    Liking the new layout and all that – looking good

    Hope all is well with you and family and your keeping busy – all is good here in Northern Ireland – working away etc

    Got a bit of a local news story for you to put up if you want to – local sighting about 1 mile from where I live – I have checked it out but have seen nothing as yet – check out the link –

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7811761.stm

    Speak soon

    Cheers

    Griggsy

  23. Daniel Parkinson says:

    Hi Griggsy
    All is good, busy

    Hi Griggsy

    All is good, busy Christmas with family, just getting back to the computer.
    Any stuff on Ireland would be great. Hope all is well

     

  24. Agricola says:

     How about a thingy on
     How about a thingy on Twitter? Could be a good way to promote the site, and can be linked in with Facebook apparently.

    Just started on twitter myself, so word of warning, it can be very good for procastinating… 

  25. Ian Topham says:

    It could be a good way of
    It could be a good way of promoting the site.  I don’t know much about it apart from the fact my wife likes keeping an eye on what Stephen Fry is upto.   It would be good to prompt people to grab pictures for us if they go anywhere interesting I suppose:).  I’m not sure my life is worth twittering about though.  "Stuck in a cave".  "Lost in a cave…again".  "About to re-inact Perfect Storm in my Dinghy" lol.  Aren’t you limited to the amount of characters you can use per message?

  26. Agricola says:

     Yes it’s 140 characters.
     Yes it’s 140 characters. It’s not a bad way of raising awareness, getting people to the site, etc. Could be useful on an investigation.

    Have a wee squint http://twitter.com/andrewtibbs 
    Steven Fry has thousands of followers. Other celbs include Philip Schofield, Andi Peters and even Wesley Crusher from Star Trek TNG!!!

  27. Ian Topham says:

    The site has been having a
    The site has been having a few varying speed issues lately and we have been taking steps to optimize the database, which keeps growing.

    One long term idea we are considering is replacing the integral forum we have now with a plug on forum like vBulletin which would also have lots of other cool features which this one cannot offer.  It would have a seperate database so it may help speed some things up a bit more.

    Any thoughts?

  28. Agricola says:

    Can you point us in the
    Can you point us in the direction of a vBulletin example as I’m not really aware of what one is?

    • Ian Topham says:

      Agricola wrote:
      Can you

      [quote=Agricola]Can you point us in the direction of a vBulletin example as I’m not really aware of what one is?[/quote]

      Sorry, I missed this posting Agricola.  vBulletin is similar to phpbb and an exampe can be found here http://www.vbulletin-fans.com/.

      I don’t tend to have speed issues with this website very often and most of the time the problrm is with the machine I am using.  We are debating whether to include some social network type features, where members can create their own groups, invite friends, have a message wall etc, but this would depend upon the overall affect on the website.

  29. Seannachaidh says:

    Is vBulletin like php

    Is vBulletin like php forums where you can email alerts when topics you are watching get new posts, and you can click one button and it shows you all the new posts since you last visited, or active topics in the last 7, 14, 21, days… etc.  They are good if you have eyesight problems, as you can choose a look from several choices.   I am on several of these and they work very well, and look a lot like what is here now.  I do find the speed a problem with wireless connection, I write a long post but get booted off when I hit submit.