don't be in the dark (7/3/08)

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chaos

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Here's what's been going on lately:

I've been writing a new ORM for the site. It's 90% done. It's pretty awesome. The SCMS currently works with it, and the Dex mostly works with it. Once the Dex works with it, I'll upload my changes to the site (which are rather large...) I'm shooting for this weekend. There is still some work to be done on the ORM, but it's stable enough to work with the site as-is.

The Wi-Fi center will most likely stay disabled on the site, which isn't a big deal since I'll be working on it soon anyway.

When the SCMS is back up, I'd like to focus on the tiers document... I'll be brainstorming ways to link to the generation-neutral articles on the site.

Expected date for stuff to get setup is this weekend, assuming something doesnt go catastrophically wrong. I've been testing this on my machine quite a bit, so I think we're good. I want to do some benchmarks of my ORM vs SQLAlchemy's as well; I'm pretty sure mine blows it out of the water since it's several thousand lines shorter...

-------------------------------------

I'd like to do more postings on the front page. I have trouble remembering to update - and nobody reminds me on IRC anymore like I asked ;) Can we start updating the front page for every "major" event that happens? The DX-S/Wobbuffet vote and results would have been great to chronicle.

Here's some stuff I'd like to update about:

- Every article that gets put on the site
- Major changes to the site (I've got that covered)
- Important stuff that happens in Stark Mountain (Shoddy server, DX-S/Wobb vote, etc. I can't do this, can someone volunteer (and remember?))
- CAP (Doug is pretty awesome about this)
- Tutor rounds starting and ending a few days before they actually do...
- Tournament results
- Other ideas?

Updating more makes our site seem much more "lively" to passerbys, which leads to them returning... any questions or comments about this?
 

Jumpman16

np: Michael Jackson - "Mon in the Mirror" (DW mix)
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For one, I am actually curious about how many people visit the main site in a given day vs the forums. Do you have data regarding that? I ask because people may just be more inclined to see a "front page update" if it's referenced on the forums in some way, assuming people are more inclined to view the forums than click on the crest to get to the main page.
 
read. all the best to you on the ORM front :)

i've been trying to contact people via PM regarding the articles they have taken for revampment (matty, darkie, GP BK etc) in order to streamline work which has slackened a bit lately. i think we will have some more articles ready to go on the site by the time the ORM is up!

speaking of which, there are some articles that are pending approval in the HTMLization subforum. since you're busy, is it okay if i green-flag the pending ones after looking over them? and if so, are there any particular things that you stress looking over?
 

chaos

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For one, I am actually curious about how many people visit the main site in a given day vs the forums. Do you have data regarding that? I ask because people may just be more inclined to see a "front page update" if it's referenced on the forums in some way, assuming people are more inclined to view the forums than click on the crest to get to the main page.
I have two answers to this - one is a bitchy one, and the other actually answering your question.

First the bitchy one. I don't want there to be over reliance on the forums. Just like I don't want our Dex as a series of threads, our articles to be in an unorganized mess with a shitty "numbers" URL in C&C... I don't want the news to be on the forums. The news goes on the front page, and will eventually have its own dedicated section of the site with archives. I want to encourage people to view the front page, I want people to use the site, I don't want this to just be a forum. The forum is not the primary focus of this site. (It'll end up being less-so once the tournaments and WFTC sections are created)

In addition, part of the reason for "front page" updates is because I'm not catering to the "hardcore forum goer", who most likely reads enough threads to understand what is going on. I'm catering to the casual person who comes to the site for movesets or doesn't even know what the site is yet (surprisingly, there are quite a number of the latter still around...). Active updates on the front page encourage those users to come back, and it helps our Google ratings too because the front page has the highest pagerank.

Now, to answer your question. The front page is the second most visited page on the site, the #1 page being /dp/pokemon/.
 

X-Act

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I fully agree that updating the front page often with news makes the site look more lively.

I volunteer to update the front page with Stark Mountain happenings.
 

evan

I did my best -- I have no regrets
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chaos last update you mentioned wanting to update the google results blurbs that show up. Have you decided this is a low priority? If so, that's fine, but if you still want this done I feel like it's one of the few things I can contribute on to make my ladybug not just extraneous.
 

chaos

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chaos last update you mentioned wanting to update the google results blurbs that show up. Have you decided this is a low priority? If so, that's fine, but if you still want this done I feel like it's one of the few things I can contribute on to make my ladybug not just extraneous.
Yep. When the SCMS is back up this weekend I'll get this together.
 

DougJustDoug

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The front page should be the home of Smogon. I remember an earlier post by chaos in "What they are saying..." that categorized Smogon as a "forum-based website" or something like that. Obviously forums are a big part of Smogon. But, Smogon has so much more to offer -- information resources, the IRC channel, soon-to-be Shoddy server, etc. The Smogon home page needs to be the nexus for all that.

Active members of the community should have www.smogon.com bookmarked and visited regularly. Unfortunately, many people bookmark www.smogon.com/forums/blah/blah..... The only way people will visit the "Smogon Hub" is if it provides something that they can't get elsewhere. I think a compact listing of the latest happenings is the perfect driver for the Smogon home page to be a solid "web destination".

But that requires good news items updated on a regular basis. I'll do my part, I promise.
 

Aeolus

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I've got three people helping with the tutor program now, so one of us can definitely handle making announcements on the front page. Very good stuff :)
 

makiri

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Read, I had a few things I wanted to update for the SCMS (some RBY, GSC, and ADV articles had a few minor things that I think need attending to). Should the need arise, I can help with front page Stark stuff.
 

Blue Kirby

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I had earlier volunteered to take charge of the tutor pages on the SCMS, and I'm still willing to do so (I had wanted to do a writeup on the Battling 101 tournament at any rate!) As Aeolus said, between those of us helping to run the program, it shouldn't be a problem.

I can also help with the Stark Mountain stuff if needed too.
 

Sonuis

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Made mention on IRC earlier that I'd update tournament statuses and then begin a big tedious project of archiving all of the tournaments I can find on Smogon Forums. Not as bad as the shorthand stuff though.
 

Shiv

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read, good luck with the ORM :)

If Sonuis/G80 want, I could help them with archiving the tournaments.
 

Max

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Read.

Also, can we get people to finish up/help revise those old articles? We would have more to put on the main site if we could get those articles up. :)
 
Great news! Good luck on the ORM, I eagerly await the return of the SCMS there's a couple of things I've seen that I'd like to fix(on the analysis). I can help a bit on the Stark Mountain stuff just let me know(to those who'll be doing the Stark Mountain stuff as well).
 
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