STF Users Meeting - arranged 1pm Sunday (NOT 12 noon)

[admin]

This is going to be held on Sunday lunchtime - from 1pm - in the Golden Lion - not 12 (my bad - apologies)

[Homecroft]

Will see what I am doing around that time. Could be interesting, and hopefully productive.

[Robin Orton]

I shall be there in spirit, and I hope there is a constructive outcome. (I'm afraid I'm feeling too old, deaf and set in my ways to venture forth in person at Sunday lunchtime to a meeting in what will no doubt be a noisy and crowded pub at the other end of Sydenham!)

[Dom Johnston]

I will be taking notes along the way and posting all information that I manage to get down on here after the meeting.

I realise that 1pm on a Sunday in a pub that serves roasts probably isn't the best time to do it, but it does seem like the one that is most suitable for people.

Apologies if you can't make it, but I will try to keep people informed as much as possible

[michael]

Apologies from me. Hope it goes well.

[Sydenham]

Should be there - mine is the H2SO4.

[JGD]

How acidic.

[JRW]

Do not accept a drink from sydenham.....

[Sydenham]

Got myself out of buying a round for STF Users then - what an unforeseen consequence.

[Pally]

I can't make it but will be interested to hear outcomes.

[Dom Johnston]

Running a few minutes late. On my way. Will be there in 5ish. Apologies

[Robin Orton]

How did it go?

[vbsydenham]

Was all going well until the punch up - Not really sure how it started but can't really say anymore as it's now the subject of a Police enquiry. Admin should probably lock the thread just incase.

[Robin Orton]

Oh dear. I hope this is a joke.

[Tim Lund]

Oh dear. I hope this is a joke.

I believe so

[Dom Johnston]

All went very well and some very good ideas were raised.

I have sent them over to Admin first before I put them on here for all to see.

Patience is appreciated. I'm sure that I'll be able to disclose all ideas soon for people to comment on.

Dom

[JGD]

You can never get a police enquiry to be complete at the Golden Lion.

In line with the wish not to reveal too much before admin gets to review items, there were a few juicy details revealed about the UK’s longest unsolved case.

Attendees are sworn to secrecy ‘pon death by dismemberment and other nasty stuff.

[Dom Johnston]

So, these are some of the points that were brought up on Sunday.

Please note that these are not concrete changes, but feedback is very welcome!

So, there was 4 of us at the meeting yesterday. Which isn't bad for a starter meeting

So a couple of points to try and spruce up the forum:
1 - Colour change. The grey, it was agreed, is uninspiring. Blue was the overall favourite colour to switch to. Maybe pale blue with dark blue for the titles would be best.

2 - Heading changes. It was discussed that the current headers (hall, cafe, pub etc) aren't really all that clear if you want to post something quickly. We went to the East Dulwich forum where their titles are clear (general issues, family things for sale, what's on etc.) So to change the titles to something clearer and easier to follow would potentially bring in more posters. Some other new individual pages that came about were possibly - Councillors - where people can ask questions directly (although we would need to try and get councillors on board for this though). Society (communications with the Sydenham Society). Admin - a page where people can ask questions directly to Admin without a private message. It is appreciated that this could potentially be abused but it's more for questions regarding the forum (i.e. setting up a meeting with other users to discuss the forum and potential improvements).

3 - Tips. For things like the blocking foe and viewing just unread posts, it isn't the easiest to find out all of these little quirks, so if there was a tips thread, maybe from the home page, it would help people navigate around the site a bit easier.

4 - Unread Posts. Again, we had a look at the EDF where it tells you how many new threads and posts have been made since you last logged in. We found that on here, with the slightly different shade of red, it wasn't the easiest to see from the outset what posts you have or haven't seen. A counter type (as per EDF) would be great.

It was unanimously voted that Admin should remain anonymous to the forum and any identity reveal wouldn't serve to benefit anybody.

Sydenham Society. There used to be a relationship between the society and the forum but this seems to have deteriorated over time. Looking at how well everybody worked together for The Greyhound, we really think that bridges should be built again.

Links to Facebook/Twitter/ Other Sydenham forums. An RSS feed if possible or just a Sydenham news where we can link other pages and try and bring all of the sites together. I know that other site admins may not wish this, but Admin here would have overall control on this site and would be the authority on what is allowed.

The Pub page. It was discussed that this page could almost be Admin free where people can post whatever they like. Granted Admin would have to keep an eye on it for racist, homophobic posts etc. but anything that wasn't breaking the law should be allowed to go crazy.

For those posters who do overstep the mark, possible sanctions. A 3 tier warning system like in any job. Polite warning, stronger warning, then a suspension (day, week etc.) then final action is to remove their account.

We also decided to hold meetings every quarter. This is to hope that over time we can encourage more people to come along and express their views.

I look forward to hearing people's feedback on this and hopefully we can get a few new faces at the next meeting too!

I really think that this forum could be a great community hub and I've already seen an increase in activity over the last couple of weeks. Hopefully we can keep it going!


Cheers,

Dom

[vbsydenham]

Great work Dom - All sounds pretty sensible so you can count on my support for any changes along those lines.

So, there was 4 of us at the meeting yesterday. It was quite tricky to try and keep things focussed with one of the attendees constantly talking about people who post unpopular opinions etc. shouldn't be able to remain anonymous... Needless to say, they were alone in their thinking...

I suppose, in the spirit of that person's complaints, they should be identified so the rest of us know what we're dealing with?

[Dom Johnston]

Great work Dom - All sounds pretty sensible so you can count on my support for any changes along those lines.

So, there was 4 of us at the meeting yesterday. It was quite tricky to try and keep things focussed with one of the attendees constantly talking about people who post unpopular opinions etc. shouldn't be able to remain anonymous... Needless to say, they were alone in their thinking...

I suppose, in the spirit of that person's complaints, they should be identified so the rest of us know what we're dealing with?

Haha. Yea, I can totally understand why they thought that way for people to be held accountable, however, it was 3 to 1 in favour of keeping names anonymous. So in the spirit of democracy, they can keep their name hidden.