Suggested improvements to the forum

[Lisachromis]

After reading Thomas' post in the Sanddwelling Tang cichlid section, it got me thinking. Is there something we can do to make this forum better?

Do any members have any suggestions for improvement? We'll take any and all ideas under advisement and see what's doable.

[James Shingler]

I wondered if you had a special location for whole tank shots and video weather that would get some interesting posts and discussion?

Say an area called cichlid communitys?
Or whatever?

And another for good places to get cichlids?
That one may be a bit more risky but worth the aggro?

[Alex Calder]

Keep in mind when reading this I am not a graphic artist, meddlesome hobbyist may be more accurate.

I might just be seeing this due to my own skinning project, but the old logo is looking a little rough.
It is likely due to it being over the blue gradient. Has who ever is in charge of the technical stuff
thought about skipping the gif format and going with a ping with the gradient in the background?
This way you could use lay effects to minimize the jagged edges.

I know that the most important part is the information, however little things can be nice too.

Well here is what boredom does.

[PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn]

http://www.cichlidae.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2783
http://www.cichlidae.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2817

basicly, please go back to the black forum styling

[Dan Woodland]

Fix the automatic login and change the color scheme, please.

[Dave Schumacher]

I've gotten so used to it this way, I think I'd have to readjust if we went back to the black color! The information is all the same, so I'm happy either way.

[Thomas Andersen]

Yes, it could be nice if the auto-login got fixed. I usually jump back and forth between the mainpage and the forum - as it is now I have to login again each time I've visited the mainpage.

Also I miss the old link back to the mainpage on the Cichla image. There are several ways to get to the forum-index, but no link back to the mainpage. It was a good way to, litterally, link the two together

All the best, Thomas

[Ken Boorman]

I have no problem with being recognized when signing in. I'm always signed in. I do miss the black background though.

Ken

[Darrell Ullisch]

I must admit, having the link back to the main page would be extremely useful. While reading threads in the forums, I often find myself wanting to check something in the catalogue, and have to go through either my browser favorites list or history to access it. There used to be a link at the bottom of the old forum that actually took me directly to the catalogue, if I remember correctly.

[Juan Artigas]

Clicking on the the Cichldi Room Companion logo (upper left corner) now takes you back to the main page. I will look to implement a more complete version of the menu in the coming days.

[Marko Lenac]

I can't scroll the pm window. must go down with pg dn.

[fishyj]

I haven't found a diy section. Am I just in the wrong area or what?

[Lisachromis]

There is no section for it at the moment. If this is something that would be of interest, we can certainly look into adding it.

[Bas Pels]

Nothing wong with a DIY section, but as this forum is used by people all over the world, it might be a bit difficult to help each other.

What is easily available here, might be ipossible to get elsewhere, but could be replaced by something else. For instance, many brands of powerheads sold in the USA are unknown here - and the other way around. Not to mention other parts of the world.

However, if we all realize names for products are to be used with care such a subforum can be very helpfull indeed

[Philippe Burnel]

Is there something we can do to make this forum better?

yes, come back to the phpbb2 instead of phpbb3
here is an exemple of what phpbb3 is very bad :

[Juan Artigas]

That problem has nothing to do with the forum software the pictures are cropped in their source location, i have removed them from the post where they are presented.

Now to solve that particular problem when pictures are very large I think it would be easier if people were more cooperative and pay attention to the several times we have asked to please use attachments instead of links for adding pictures to their posts, that way pictures are correctly handled and the width of the post are kept uniform and easier to read (unlike in phpbb2).

There are certainly some small problems with phpBB3 but I think very rarely a software (particularly an open source one) can be bullet proof and there will always be small annoyances that have to be solved in future versions. phpbb3 brings many new valuable features (particularly administration and security) over phpbb2 I think is worth to have.

[Hudson Ensz]

ok im going back to the original question i went on one forum and it had a section called "my tanks where you post pictures of your tanks, list all the lighting, filter, substrate, fish, ph, plants ect. and a detailed description of the tank. also people may reply and so on. not like this forum isnt the best but some things can be added i think to make it even better.

[Juan Artigas]

Not bad idea at all, in fact the blogs section has somewhat of the same intention, that a person can tell us his experiences with one of his/her tanks, something like what Willem Heijns told us about his Nicaraguan fish tank in the Central American section, except that an author can choose if people can reply or not to his posts. Nobody has requested a personal BLOG section so far. I see no problem if Lisa agrees to add a second section for general tank descriptions.

[Lisachromis]

I don't have a problem with a section like this if people will actually use it. Maybe I'll start a post with a poll to see.

[Hudson Ensz]

One other thing i think it would be neat to have, is if people could send photos of one of there fish to an administor and if the picture was good enough then it could be posted in the profiles instead of having a couple of peaple posting all of them. to me the more photos the better also cichlids vary somewhat from individual to individual so you could see many people's fish, that could help identify your own. also i think the profiles could be a lot more detailed in water composition habitat, care and breeding and stuff. however i know these thing are very hard to do so they may not be a possibility.