[Mike]

As you may have guessed we are really pushing to make SlateDroid big. And also you may have guessed that not everything we do makes you guys happy (in fact it's probably the minority of things that we do that have that effect, but hey ho).We want to change SlateDroid to encompass all Android tablets, currently it has more of a reputation as a specialist forum for the Eken and aPad. So the question is, how would you guys be most comfortable with the change? Keep it as is but add more devices and have specialist sections within those devices? Or perhaps have just one section for each device and dedicate the rest of the boards to generalized android discussion?We can't do anything effective unless we have some user input so please reply with your suggestions. The main feature of the change is to implement a CMS system where we can post news, reviews and features. The partnership with Merimobiles means that we'll be putting out a lot of reviews in the future so having a good CMS is essential.There aren't going to be any major changes without careful consideration (we have been doing lots of testing - again, as you may have noticed) and the server should be up for a time to come.Possible options are:Wordpress Frontend + SMF BridgevBulletin Suite + SMF ImportI am personally in favour of the vBulletin Suite as we are a large-ish forum now and we need some reliable forum software to ensure that we don't have any issues handling all the activity. Obviously the new theme didn't go down well (giving it a social look) so we'll be using default in whatever it is we decide to use for a while. What sort of look would you guys like? (Same goes for this thread, gripe about the Cielo theme and I'll be pissed.)I apologize for the downtime we've had over the past week - we're just trying to making SlateDroid as good as it can be.Regards,Mike

 

[Smog]

[quote author=Mike link=topic=771.msg6117#msg6117 date=1275996116]Possible options are:Wordpress Frontend + SMF BridgevBulletin Suite + SMF Import[/quote]first: THANK YOU for slatedroid.comsecond: my choice is vBulletin as it's a very proven forum softwarethird : I apologize for the negative post about the default theme; went back to vBulletin default and I'm now a happy camper.As soon as I receive my M001 and apad, I will put all efforts to do something nice with it and share with other members (I really want debian and lxde or ICEwm on the tablet like I had on the Nokia N800/810 internet tablet)

 

[xaueious]

If you are doing tests, you can just do a test forum and then implement it when it is ready. This downtime has really been unnecessary, and the board has changed more than 3 times over the last 24 hours and is very confusing.

 

[Mike]

[quote author=xaueious link=topic=771.msg6129#msg6129 date=1275997939]If you are doing tests, you can just do a test forum and then implement it when it is ready. This downtime has really been unnecessary, and the board has changed more than 3 times over the last 24 hours and is very confusing.[/quote]For your information a vB test forum had been up for some time prior to the change as all testing had been completed. The reason it was changed over is because the one thing we couldn't test was user feedback.

 

[dsf767]

I for one like the setup we have. I think we should have specific forums for each device as as the device grows setup sub forums for custom firmware and such.

 

[aetaylor47]

I have an M001 and it is getting very difficult to find specific information as the user group explodes. With this explosion there has been many diversions from the initial core. I don't have time to look at all the devices and wishlists but want to concentrate on exploiting what I have. This board seems to be diverging from my needs and over the last few days it has been difficult to justify my time on it for what I have been able to learn. I am grateful for your efforts though and am prepared to invest another week or so.

 

[testdroid]

I more or less agree with aetaylor47. It's still ok to find M001 stuff but I can see that it will get more difficult over time. People start to mix up discussions already. I guess that most of us only own/play with one device at a time and want to find out as much as possible about that one.In the next months there will be an explosion of new devices. All major brands (Dell, HP, Samsung, Google, ...) are launching a series of android tablets (5'', 7'', 10'', etc.) and there will be many more lesser known devices like the M001. It will probably become impossible to maintain one forum for all possible slates and the focus as we have (had) now on M001 use/development will get lost I'm afraid.Maybe we need multiple forums with a common parent (=slatedroid) that links to all others (but separate forums) with separate admins to maintain or a different setup of slatedroid where each device has one main board with a number of child boards?

 

[404]

I'm a web developer by trade. I have been working with all sorts of scripts for well over 10 years. I encouraged all of my customers to use Vbulletin until just a few weeks ago. A client of mine who i had worked with for over 5 years was forced to upgrade his vbulletin leased license to a vb4 license. His forum has thousands of threads and nearly 100,000 registered users. Quite a big site. Not two days after i helped him with the upgrade and created a custom vb4 theme for him, the site was hacked. Never in the entire history of the site have we ever had any security issues until we moved to vb4. Doing a quick search on vbulletin's forums you will see that there are many with the same issue. They tend to quickly blame it on godaddy, regardless of whether the site is hosted by them or not. In this case, my client's site wasn't hosted on godaddy. They never offered any help, explanation etc. They told us to just reinstall the software. We ended up converting the site to IPB. Never was an IPB fan until i tried 3.05 (the latest is now 3.1) and was the best investment we could have made for the site. While their their portal is rather weak, it is a bit cheaper than vbulletin. If you search the official IPB boards, you will see a staggering amount of former vbulletin users making the switch.I'm a big proponent of wordpress. Unfortunately some of the bridges and their native bbpress are either a pain to configure correctly or simply do not have enough features. Same goes with Joomla and their forum plugins.

 

[KingDani]

i would say vBulletin , and i would say bring on all androids to one place ( Slatedroid that place is )

 

[zba78]

I also agree vbulletin and a theme similar to the current scheme would be fine.As for the board structure I think for now we should continue the way it has been so far. As a device becomes more popular it can have it?s own section (as in the Moonse e7001 apad) and others can be clubbed together in sections under ?Other Devices?.Once more and more tablets hit the market this might have to change. Perhaps split the board into 5?, 7? and 10?+ main sections and sub-sections under them for each device

 

[lawman]

I feel somewhat responsible for potentially creating a monster... If you end up needing people to take free slates off your hands to review... Ahem.I think you can go partway - not one forum for each device, but maybe one for each manufacturer, and then split out the most popular devices (M001) to have their own as they get huge. You could also lump together clones of a given device (Irobot), and maybe purpose driven devices (ereaders, phones, etc).

 

[Mp4]

1st thank you all for sticking with us Our goal was not to upset members but to bring you a better, faster and safer forum. Vb is supposed to be one of the best out their and we wanted the best for this site. We realize we only have 1200 hundred members but we are thinking long term . We are nearing a month old and we have exploded with membership growth. If we stick with these numbers by August we should be closer to 3000 and out of box forum software will probably start to feel the strain. Also Mike has done a outstanding job setting these all up and keeping the forum going we are giving you all 110% percent and we hope you realize that.not quit staring and post something ;Dps: hmm guest tablet reviewers , not a bad idea lawman

 

[lawman]

[quote author=Mp4doggie link=topic=771.msg6279#msg6279 date=1276017995]ps: hmm guest tablet reviewers , not a bad idea lawman[/quote]"Guest reviewers?" "Guest"...? I prefer to think of myself as crass, opinionated, offensive, loudmouthed furniture...

 

[speedfreak]

i think it's best to continue like we are now; a subsection for each (major) device. the best example is xda developpers: every major device has it's own section with lot of activity (mainly from a few people cooking roms for the devices they have).if we are going to split into multiple forums, there will be less activity and a small forum isn't as attractive as a big one with lots of members!and like lawman said: if we are going to get big, maybe some manufacturers are going to give test devices to the forum to gain publicity. i'm willing to test those free slates ps: i really can't say it enough: i think it's a bad idea to split the forum into multiple forums, just maintain one forum for all the devices!

 

[mogrith]

Hi Mike, Thanks a lot for this place. I'm new to this place and Android.I would to find both general Android info in a main area and specific details in a forum for my device. So info on SlideMe would be in the main area. Tweaks to get to run on x would be in the x Forum.

 

[Mike]

[quote author=mogrith link=topic=771.msg6329#msg6329 date=1276023525]Hi Mike, Thanks a lot for this place. I'm new to this place and Android.I would to find both general Android info in a main area and specific details in a forum for my device. So info on SlideMe would be in the main area. Tweaks to get to run on x would be in the x Forum.[/quote]The hardest part is ensuring that all device specific posts go in such a forum and the general ones go in another forum, there will be quite a lot of overlap.

 

[mogrith]

[quote author=Mike link=topic=771.msg6353#msg6353 date=1276025779]The hardest part is ensuring that all device specific posts go in such a forum and the general ones go in another forum, there will be quite a lot of overlap.[/quote]I can see that. It will take the moderator(s) reminding posters what should go where and user willing to do it.

 

[dsf767]

I for one have been pointing a lot of people to this fourm as I feel like this place is going to be huge. I am glad that I can bring more members here. I just think there needs to be more moderators so you guys are not so strained. I for one would be happy to throw my hat into that ring to become a moderator. I am glad I have been here from the beginning so something big here.

 

[lawman]

How gracious of you Senator Palpatine...

 

[Labovski]

[quote name='Mike;6243][quote author=mogrith link=topic=771.msg6329#msg6329 date=1276023525]The hardest part is ensuring that all device specific posts go in such a forum and the general ones go in another forum' date=' there will be quite a lot of overlap.[/QUOTE'] I'll volonteer as moderator for the Orphan M7003 section, at least for some time, in order to get the right posts there and also change the name to M70003.

Or mabye there are two models: the M7003 and the M70003? The Android tablet market is a jungle...