Please folks, post NO B.S. on this thread.

(I, leflaw, ShadowMom and any others "with the spooky admin power" WILL delete anything and everything that has nothing-to-do with what we are trying to talk about in this thread.)

HERE-IN we, the Boycott-Riaa community shall discuss the proposed upcomming RE-VAMP of the entire site. ONLY serious input, suggestions, communication, debate, (and etc.) on the subject will be allowed here in this thread!

================================

This is ADMINISTRATIVE/"BEHIND THE SCENES" stuff folks. If you are NEW to our site, you probably should IGNORE this particular thread and just skip down to the Welcome thread and things below!

(In other words:

"Kid's, Mommy and Daddy need to talk, you guys go outside and play. Mind your "P's" and "Q's"...)

:)

Ok folks, let's get down to business.

I want to start this thread off with a "brainstorming" session with those of you who are regulars & proponents of the Boycott-Riaa site and community.

But first, let me give you an idea of what leflaw and I have been thinking about/planning:

1. We all know that the site itself is OLD and very LIMITED in functionality. We are looking for a new CMS "infrastructure" and/or BBS system to replace what we have got. (We prefer something OPEN SOURCE.)

2. We want to be able to give KNOWN and TRUSTED members of Boycott-Riaa certain admin powers. (Such as the ability to instantly delete TRUE spam, and also any VILE postings, ...for example, recent crap by certain child-pornography advocates!
...but, at the same time, we do NOT want such "delete" powers abused in the "heat of the moment" between members having a "flame-war" with each other.)

Help us figure out how to accomplish this!

3. We need to figure out a way to back-up and archive EVERYTHING that has been written/posted at Boycott-Riaa over the past several years since our inception. (NO, we do NOT want to keep the threads open to further posting. We just need to ARCHIVE it all. As it is now, you can go to an article from 3 years or more ago and STILL post a comment. We feel it is A-OK to "turn-off" the ability to post to archived threads... but we do NOT want to loose what had already been said.)

4. YES, we would like to be able to give an "edit" button to individual users for their OWN posts to correct spelling and grammer and such. (Perhaps one that only works within a few hours of the time originally posted would be best. We do NOT want the ability to "alter history" after the fact, ...but
a reasonable manual "spell-check" should be allowed.)

5. We want to build a true TEAM out of the true die-hard regulars and participants of Boycott-Riaa. There would be no set demands of "time involved" nor any "workload/quotas" made upon those who choose to belong to such "TEAM" (unless some form of contract/payment thingy were worked out with leflaw directly between you and him) ...but there WOULD be expectations on the behaviour of those who did volunteer.

===================

Again, I must stress, this is ALL in the "brainstorming" stage right now. Boycott-Riaa has ALWAYS intended to be a PARTICIPATORY site/community. We have grown LARGE over the past few years and need now to improve in certain ways in order to "catch up" with how we have grown.

Those of you who have been here a while KNOW what some of the things are that need done. --It is time to "spill your guts."

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

Folks, this thread is "in the open" but
ANYTHING that needs to be said "in private" to me or leflaw (or to anyone else) can be said by sending us e-mails, Dnotes, and/or other means.

My personal e-mail is at Yahoo. I use the same username there as I do here. (But, better yet, you can just hit the "contact" button. Me, Myself, and I am normally the only one who reads/manages anything sent to that e-mail:

http://www.boycott-riaa.com/contact

(If you didn't know, it's what I have always refered to as the "INBOX".)

Well, I see this train of thought is moving right along...

Does anyone else here, but me, see a problem with any of us having "delete" powers? I mean, can you just see it now...or not? Like post here now, post now gone in a flash...like I post something now, and in a flash someone deletes it? Just for fun? That would be just a little weird.

Pepe...only a few people can actually delete anything. You don't have to worry about most posts just disappearing. You know how leflaw feels... only the most egregious offenses would ever be removed. But we don't need posts like that spammer here, either. Ever.

It would be nice if anyone could flag a post as being offensive. Then those who have the "delete powers" would be alerted right away and could make the decision to delete a post if they feel it is truly offensive (and not just sour grapes). We would need a button and some way of referencing a particular post (like post #247 contains offensive material, or whatever). Is this practical?

Well, I guess like everything else in the word, you got to give it the old college try..if it works, great, if not, then it gets changed again...

i think ifeelfree is on to something the reference idea...but first things first...change the background color to something easier on the eyes...i think im about to get snowblindness from staring at it...maybe a gray or black color would be good...

archiving...hmmm....save the pages and remove the ability to reply and set aside a certain part of the site for the archives for ppl to view...maybe a search feature to allow users to search for a specific topic

other than that its all good
keep up the good work

You can already do a search...look at the news tab at the top of the page.

What about a Wikipedia.org style? Or is that a little too open and friendly???

i think that a real forum would be good. i dont know anything about getting it done (i.e do you have to pay for one) but the format now is kind of annoying.

ummm...i did not know that....ummm....more user friendlyness maybe?

Using the same methodology as the buddy list on dmusic, each user could create an ignore list of other users they simply don't want to see comments from.

That would make for some strange comments, George, considering how many people seem to feel the need to respond. Seeing part of a conversation might be kind of confusing, don't you think?

another shmoo post from six weeks in the future.

how does he do that?

I was looking into nucleus and some others, but slashcode does seem like a good one to go with. You will have to have one of Dmusic techs do the install and set-up. (That part is beyond my limited skill, and I don't think I even have the level of permissions on our server to do it myself.) But once in place, it looks like we can customize it to our own settings. We don't even have to configure it exactly like slashdot's forum. (I think slashdot is a bit too user-complex for our needs. As you know, my philosophy on the matter is to keep things simple and straightforward as possible.)
=================

Folks, the Slash we are talking about is a fully customizable database-driven news and message board. The kinds of suggestions you all have been making here these past couple of days (and I hope you all keep making them) all appear to be technically do-able using it.

leflaw of course will be the one who finally decides on what system we use, but keep giving us input on how you want to see it configured.

"another shmoo post from six weeks in the future.

how does he do that?"

The "time-warp" trick is the only way I have to keep an article at the top of the page using our current system ...'tis yet another example of things needing fixed 'round here.

so no stock tips then

Well actually, after looking into my crystal ball and stepping out of my time-machine, I can advise you NOT to put any money into any of the RIAA companies.

Hi`m not much for chatting.I just wanted you to know that the riaa is on my boycott list.

There's a lot of shit that could be said by me, advice, dispelling myths of what can or can't be hoped or and a bunch of other stuff... and honestly I don't know when I can come back to this thread to answer questions to give little tid-bits of advice... so I'm gonna' leave you with something I'm sure most of the admins / owers / OGs haven't thought of...

Two domain names, yet only ONE domain name actually works for logging in. boycott-riaa.com works fine for logging in... but go to boycottriaa.com and try logging in, or try clicking a news story and try logging it. It isn't until you click on of the top nav buttons that is encoded with "www.boycotti-riaa.com" that you can then log in, being at boycott-riaa.com instead of boycottriaa.com.

Here's the skinny... most systems support... or, at least you'd think would supporter, multiple domain names. Instead of encoding “www.boycott-riaa.com/php.crap.%ect” it would just encode “[sitename]/php.crap.%ect” to work with whatever site name was typed in. supportUG’s got motha’ ‘freakin’ 6 domain names it goes by, with the two that are used the most… http://www.supportUG.com and http://www.supportTHEunderground.com . Anywhere you click in sUG, it keeps you in those domain names, unless you click on the flash navigation bar at the top (the “music”, “artists”, “school”, ect) and then you’re taken to http://www.supportUG.com , and the only reason for that is so that incase people come in from a domain name we don’t really want them to use mainly, at some point they’ll go back to supportUG.com.

If you jack in as a supporter on any different domain name, you can jack in... but if you load sUG on a different domain name, you won’t be considered jacked in because the cookie goes by that domain name, but you can still of course jack in, and you remain jacked in for each domain name. BC-R doesn’t work with boycottriaa.com simply because the system wasn’t designed to work with it.

So I leave you with this advice… try to make sure whatever system you go to will support this kind of domain name logging in. (which none of the BC-R team will be building, they’ll be installing a pre-made one) But in case this is an issue, let me bring you with something very important… which domain name is more important? boycottriaa.com or boycott-riaa.com?? I for one HATE typing in anything that has a dash, nor for Wal-mart or anything else… so I always go to boycottriaa.com, and I may not be the only one.

You guys, the heads, of BC-R / BCR, outta’ conduct a poll to ask your visitors which domain name they prefer to use… and yes, you have logos with “Boycott-RIAA”, but you may really consider if you wanna’ be glued to the dash domain name, or no dash. To show the level of unimportance that has been places on non-dash domain names here… we all know of www.boycott-mpaa.com . Well if you’re really a fan (or enemy) of the site, you outta’ jump on the chance to register http://www.boycottmpaa.com because it’s completely free to register.

I would consider making boycottRIAA.com the primary domain name and losing the “dash” in the official name, and make it “Boycott RIAA”… and also to make it seem less like you’re a PART of the RIAA. “Boycott-RIAA: Music Division of Boycott, NY.” But that’s up to you guys… hope this info helps.

Oh yeah... keeping the dash domain name... for all the old timers up in here who hate change... but making boycottRIAA.com the offical domain name displayed and promoted. But it's just my two (very valuable) cents...

Only one person has mentioned the look of this site. We need to focus on appearance and usability. The color needs to change, the layout needs to be more practical. The graphics need to be updated. New news needs to be up front, not buried beneath sticky posts. It needs to be aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate. It would be nice if it conformed to strict xhtml standards too.

Invision Power Board? Not free, but not that expensive. I have little doubt that the archives could be ported over by someone who had the skills. Makes a nice looking site, with all kinds of control for admins.

http://www.invisionpower.com/ip.dynamic/products/board/index.html

I think the change is for the best, and applaud Leflaw and Shmoo for it.

That's all for now.

"So it goes."
~ K. Vonnegut

Slashcode (of Slashdot fame) is one solution, but I think it is kind of an ugly solution personally. I've used Invision power board, PhBBB, and a lot of them, and if you just need a bulletin board for back and forth chatter, it's fine. I tend to side with Tomsong on wanting something more appealing to the eyes and more flexible. Security of course has to be important as well.

There are a lot of online content management software programs, some are free and some cost (I tend to toward using free).

PhP Nuke is too easily hacked in some respects .

Anyone really buying this crap? you really think 15 rear old girls are going to stop buying riaa artists because you people say so? put the efforts into somethin better. cure cancer. stop aids. whatever.

Thanks for the kind, articulate advice.
We needed that ... like cotton plants need boll weevils.

Maybe the sites name should change to Boycott-Riaa and Other Pertinent Social Issues....

It's just gadfly.
Same troll, many names.

No matter how many times he changes his name, very easy to spot.

I agree about changing the look of the site.

site design
The white background is annoying. I'm up for a new posting format as well. Maybe change the direction of the slash in the No/Prohibition Symbol to the official top-left-to-bottom-right orientation? Of course you'd have to print new merchandise...

post editing
Being able to edit the spelling and such of my own posts would be nice. Unfortunately, I'm certain that some people either don't care about communicating well or else don't know any better. I'm not saying that to be mean - it just seems to be true. I doubt everyone would edit their posts even if they saw typing or spelling errors, but it'd be nice to have the option to do so. If we're afraid of people trying to lie about what they said in the past by editing a post after the fact, we could have a wikipedia-like feature where you can still go back and read old versions of the post, but I can see this feature taking up too much time and space.

offensive message flagging
I think it's a good idea to be able to flag a post as offensive in order to notify an admin to examine and delete it if it is in fact offensive. I also think however that there should be a link next to the 'notify admin' button that maybe pops up/opens a new window with guidelines for what is considered offensive. I think some people would want to report posts as offensive that merely disagree with their own opinions. I recall it being mentioned that we want to encourage even dissenting opinions here and I'm afraid admins might get too bogged down with examining every post of a controversial thread for offensive posts. Guidelines could be stuff like "advocacy for child pornography," "unwarranted personal attacks," etc. Although I could see this feature might be too excessive and bureaucratic.

archives/references
If we're going to get fancy with the articles/threads, we could have a box specific for referenced webpages, like news articles, so that it's set aside from the text itself and not lost amidst the text or taking up article space.

Another idea for referencing would be the ability to have a box where an article poster could cite previous articles on related matters. For instance, on the article for the Sony-BMG settlement, you could reference all previous articles about the rootkit, from the first mention of it to the further posts about how to fix it and rumors about what Sony had said about it, etc - so that a reader can trace the history of the news topic. It would get easier to reference previous articles every time a new article on the same matter was posted because the most recent previous article would already have references for all the previous related articles.

login
I'm not sure how people around here feel about ip logging, but having a system where a troll couldn't simply sign up for a new screenname and post offensive material under a different login would be nice.

My heart is warmed that BollWeevil is so concerned about the aids epidemic and cancer. Of course, if he sees our particular interest in this matter to be wasted effort, would his effort spent dissenting against a supposedly worthless endeavour not be considered even more wasted? I'm not science-oriented, so I can't do much to cure aids or cancer. Not to say I can't give money to those causes, but there's nothing to say I couldn't multitask my interests either.

On a side note, the boll weevil might not have been good for cotton plants, but farmers in south Alabama celebrate the boll weevil because it garnered a change to other, sometimes more profitable crops. In the same respect, a dissenting opinion can be refreshing sometimes and lead to growth. Of course constructive criticism goes farther than random derisive comments.

"Same troll, many names."

You know, I had a feeling two weeks ago that even if Gadfly/Sweetie's ISP number were blocked, he/she/it would find a way to eventually return (using a computer in a library or somewhere). That person is possessed to persevere in causing trouble for this site in general and the owner in particular.


"Maybe our site's name should change to ..."

Boycott RIAA & Trolls Who Post Impertinent Remarks.

i'm liking all of mechanismatics suggestions except ....

Ditching the white background.

Because of the white background, this is one the the EASIEST sites for me to read ( really really bad eyeballs ).

WWDN:X has a white background, looks nice to me and is easily readable.
Google has a white background and is also easily readable ( to me, anyway ).

I have always been partial to a very minimalist layout, you know .. KISS.

I don't think it's gotten to the point that it's necessary, but if trolls became too common, there's always the option of having people register and have to wait for admin approval before being able to post. Of course this might discourage new readers from posting and it's troublesome, so I don't think it should be implemented unless absolutely necessary.

I agree with dredd that simplicity and minimalism is better than clogging the screen with too many features so that you miss the trees for the forest.

ack, the typos!

No matter what changes we make, I intend for the bare-bones simplicity to remain. (Hell, even as things are now I stay busy as a beaver simply managing the threads... nevermind all the other things I/we admin try to do "behind the scenes.")

Plus, we need to keep a general focus. Too many bells and whistles would be a distraction IMHO.

Folks, you are giving excellent suggestions ! Please keep it up. leflaw and I really appreciate the quality of you, the Boycott-Riaa readers and participants!

mechanismatic's "trees for the forest" comment is hitting the nail on the head of what I am talking about.

--------

hmm, I can see that the "white background or other color" arguement is going to be something hard for all of us to agree on.

How about a soft-to mid-tone grey with bigger text/letters?

(Of course, everything like that will depend upon the flexibility and features of whatever BBS/system we end up using. ...and I have a feeling leflaw wants to use something "open-source and/or free".)

========

What system do we use now? Hell if I know. (I suspect it is a one-of-a-kind code specifically writen by a Dmusic technician for leflaw several years ago based upon some old html web-publishing thingy or something. Don't ask me about how it works, lol, 'cause all that sorta stuff is way beyond my own skill anyways. I just try to do the best with it that I can.)

I'm only a musician/writer trying to do a good job as a forum administrator/moderator,

...but NOT an html guru nor a computer hacker/geek. (I Wish I could snap my fingers and have those kinda skill tho.)

...it would be AWFULLY damn useful.

Only gripe I have is inability to correct posting
mistakes (by the original poster obviously, say within an hour) for those D'OH ! moments.

Since my webmaking skills capped out circa 1999, I'm not sure what new tricks are available, but I recall it wasn't difficult to code a page in order to have the option of changing the background color. How difficult would that be? Then everyone could have their preference. Of course the text would remain the same color, but if you chose a text color compatible with a few background colors like white and gray and something else, it might still work.

An edit function for posts would definitely be a plus.

Most sites don't have articles that can be commented on in the article section but have separate forums for that. Here, there are both forums and postings in the news area. I know this site doesn't subscribe to newsfeeds ($$$$) so that makes things different.

I can provide javascript I wrote which allows readers to set their own background. Their preferences are stored in a cookie.

Fobix,
That's real interesting to me.
Will that work for ANY website ?

Hey, Jaëxx again... (finally got some time to check back) One thing that everyone needs to realize is that these aren’t “posts”, their “comments”. OK? “Comments”. As in… this is a “news story” and these are “comments”. Not “replies” or “threads” or “posts”, but “comments”. No, I’m not talkin’ about semantics, I’m talkin’ technical. You guys gotta’ understand the difference.

People seem to think this is (technically) a forum… it’s not. It’s a news commenting system. Boycott-RIAA has a forum… it’s here; http://www.boycott-riaa.com/forums/index.php Now you can start critiquing that and compare it to other forums out there… but if you’re going to critique the news commenting system, critique it to OTHER news commenting systems.

Yo, here’s the fuckin’ down-low… 90% of FORUM systems are editable, 90% of NEWS COMMENTS systems are not. There isn’t anybody who’s gonna’ actually BUILT a entire new system from scratch, just for boycott-riaa.com. It’s gonna’ be from an EXISTING system out there. I bet most you guys HATE Internet Explorer… but did you go out and invent your own browser? No, you simply use Firefox or some other lesser known crap. So why on Earth do you think leflaw or Shmoo will built their own Content Management System (CMS)?? These people are here to contribute content, not to play “geek squad”.

So understand a little about just how things work because they have a lot of choices for CMS’s out there, and they need your help to decide which CMS would be right, but not advice for individually coding stuff. Go look at other web sites out there (like Slashdot.com or whatever) and before requesting things you’ve never seen out there… find out what’s out there yourself, or comment on why some of your favorite web sites are your favorite.

And as far as editing news comments… I don’t know who said it (credit goes to whoever did say it), but somebody here mentioned that fact that trolls or haters or whatever the ‘freak you wanna’ call’em cause problems on the site and being able to edit what has already been said would be a bad idea, as far as record keeping. You know, that person’s right, as far as BC-R’s concerned.

But yo… to anyone who thinks BC-R shouldn’t be controlled by the “trolls” or whatever… just look at the other news commenting systems. Thousands of news web sites with comments DON’T allow you to edit your shit. Why? Well, I think the inventors of these content management systems know more about web visitor society than ANY of us… think they “forgot” to add an “edit” button?? I don’t think so…

To the BC-R crew; if you guys wanna’ go with an editable news system of BC-R… you’re gonna’ be hard pressed to find many “news” systems out there that will give your visitors all the bells and whistles they’re asking for… so you may consider using an actual FORUM system to display your news. You should be able to find a forum system (like PHP-BB or whatever the ‘freak it’s called) that can make it where only certain people can create topics in a “news” section of the forum, but then allow members to comment on them. But then you sorta’ lose the whole “submit news” or “send news story to friend” or the most valued, “printer friendly”. Just know this shit before you let most of the members of BC-R (“Let’s get edit cwwwazy!!”) change into something that may not suit you guys in the long term. Just my two cents.

Oh… and to CodeWarrior… “PhP Nuke is too easily hacked in some respects .” He’s talking about some piece of **** Turkish hacker hacking his forum (I feel for ya man), which his site was using a completely stock version of PHP-Nuke. Code, I hate’ta tell ya… but PHP-Nuke wasn’t hacked… your phpBB was hacked; the reason the hacker DIDN’T get into your ENTIRE web site, and only your forum… and I’m sure it was hacked because you weren’t running the free patches to phpBB. (Over 70% of the world’s forums are some form of phpBB, and they all seem to be running fine.)

Now why you decided to TEAR DOWN your entire web site is beyond me… it looked like, besides for messing up the forum, you had the web site goin’ good. Now I think BC-R needs a more news driven CMS than PHP-Nuke (too much for BC-R), but don’t even start talkin’ about how PHP-Nuke is easily hacked, when your PHP-Nuke didn’t even GET hacked… and also, don’t even start bashin’ phpBB because yours got hacked because you can’t blame anyone else for not patching phpBB but for yourself. (the odds of BC-R getting phpBB are high, because it is the best forum out there.)

We could take a poll to see if enough of us would like an edit button that would be active for, say one-half hour after posting . . .OOPS, I mean COMMENTING . . . on a news article.
I'm going to guess that a majority would be in favor of it.

We could use a forum system (like PHP-BB, or whatever-it's-called) for creating news topics and commenting on them.

BTW, Jaëxx, I don't see why the word "post" isn't a proper use as in "posting a comment."

Slang habits will be hard to break.
I also take note that, Carla notwithstanding, we're going to just have to put up with errors of grammar usage, syntax, and spelling. Goes with the terrority of public-oriented forums . . . OOPS, I mean WEBSITES.

Thanks for the input.

(I mean, the good suggestions.)

Seriously, they were helpful.

There have been quite a few ideas given in this thread . . . er, I mean, in this group of comments.

(Change is tough, sometimes. Cognitive dissonance and all.)

Oh no dude... you're not wrong, the term "post" is just fine... it's all the same "post", "comment", "thought"... but when talking about the system, and then saying "make the posts editable"... I mean, that's when shit becomes technical... the difference between a "post" and a "comment" on something. Look at that damn myspace crap... you know how you add "comments" to people's profiles, or add "comments" to pictures... those can't be edited. That’s because they’re “comments”. But your words are fine in everyday use.

And BC-R admins can hold a poll... not a bad idea... but I think personally it's a decision they need to make. People don’t always know what’s best for them (like the whole “Let’s make the posts editable!! Weeee!!”). Something like this needs to be their decision alone. You know what’s gonna’ happen if you run a poll? It’s gonna’ come up 90% saying “Editable”. Does the public always know what’s best for them? Well let’s see… if the government held a poll and asked all Americans “Would you like your social security retirement nest egg cashed in full on your next tax return?” 95% would be “yes”… and tha’d be a wonderful situation years down the road.

But you know what… let’s do the poll right now.

Do you want to be able to edit your comments on news stories?
Yes. :: No. :: Undecided.

Wow… 83% for yes, 10% for no and 7% for undecided. Ok, thanX for your input on the poll everyone… Now, to everyone’s surprise who took the poll… the “parents” (admins) of BC-R are going to make decisions for the “children” (visitors) of BC-R based on what’s best for the “children”. To all y’all old fart parents out there… how many of you let your children vote on how best you should raise them? (“Do you want to do your homework? Yes or no?”) To those who do; how well’s that shit workin’ out for ya? It’d be nice if this were the Kid’s Choice Awards, but it ain’t… it’s the Admin’s Choice Awards and it’s something we don’t dictate.

(Just for the record... I agree with you OldCodger that it would be nice to edit stuff.)

This is for Carla and all those who think we need a spellcheck...

Olny srmat poelpe cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at
Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are,the
olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by
istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

if you can raed tihs psas it on !!

Pepe, that only works if all the right letters are there to start with. And spellcheck is not the answer...education is.

Yeah, amzanig.

Took me 4x longer to read.

Read it without any problem pepe, but ....

I'm dyslexic

Not only that,
I read in paragraph size "blocks". ( I can finish an average length novel in a day ). Can't read paperback or hardcover text very well anymore though. All my reading is done on my Axim, or my computer screen on a ...
white background, with black text

I heard that the older one is, the more one can read scrambled text easily...not sure why that is, perhaps our brains have had more years to absorb the words?

ShadowMom, I'm not even sure if education is the right answer.(Not at my age anyway I know how to spell..it was my best subject in school...I need a keyboard with automatic fingers that type for me...don't they have automated voice controlled keyboards..must look into that

"I heard that the older one is, the more one can read scrambled text easily...not sure why that is, perhaps our brains have had more years to absorb the words? "

What are you trying to say, pepe ??
That I'm old ??
How rude !!!

LOL

Not at all Dreddsnik, not at all. That was really for me..I had no trouble reading that glibberish which I thought was pretty scary

OT ...ShadowMom for President!
She has my vote!

I agree that the look needs to be changed...nothing drastic, but something a little easier to look at.

I had a thought for the archives. Maybe you could organize everything into a giant list with all the articles from a certain month grouped together. kinda like this:

Month Month Month
article article article
article article article

etc... You could put it all on one page(or multiple pages for each year?) and hit CTRL+F and find a certain word in the title. Kinda eliminates the search function too. I think there needs to be a more efficient way of viewing the archives.

Yo pepe512000, 'yer right on the money. I read the same article like that on Wired a few years ago... Amazingly I read your shit just fine.

Steering the topic back on track… as far as looks go… I cast my vote for sleek and sexy. Who says shit’s gotta’ look boring? Just because you’re posting stuffy old law statuettes and other boring crap doesn’t mean the site needs to look boring like a term paper itself. Hehehehe… the site does have a very old person friendly feel to it… all you need is a handicap parking space graphic and you guys will corner the senior citizen’s market. (I can just hear it now… “What? We’re bad to the bones rockers… The Stones and Jefferson Starship rock…”)

*grin* If ‘yer tryin’ to attract MORE q-tips, keep your current look, feel and interaction game plan… but if you wanna’ get more of the NeoGen’s up in here, I think the golden-oldie feel needs to change while at the same time keepin’ on the professional tip. supportUG’s got a real bad ass image http://www.supportTHEunderground.com (designed by yours truly) but we’ve got just as many 11-15 years old visitors as we do 51-60 visitors… and there is no one age range dominating, they’re all about equal.

Yo, we ain’t draggin’ bird sh*t from older people for our design (no “Ohh it’s too scary” or any crap), so I really don’t think BC-R will pull any either. It’s up to you guys, but I advice switching from Diet Coke to something else… I mean, you ain’t gonna’ lose your current “I’ve been on boycott-riaa.com for 25 od years… before the internet existed!” crowd of diehards, but you may not attract new ones catering to the congregation you ALREADY have.

Code, only if I can remain anonymous while doing it!

An anonymous candidate... (What a concept! lol)

========

All this "correct terminology" hub-bub is a sticky wicket. Maybe someone needs to come up with a list of definitions of the terms to be used.

(mixerjaexx, I suppose I am as much at fault, or more-so, than anyone else in regards to what is considered a "post" a "thread" and etc.)

I tend to speak in non-techie terms (since I am not a guru and not proficient in "geek-speak" ...most of our readers aren't either.)

...but when dealing with this "upgrade" and technical issues about the operating details of this site, I admit it would be nice for us all to be on the same page about definitions of key terms used.

(Damn, this job is hard sometimes...)

lol

Folks, again please remember that a LOT will depend on which CMS leflaw decides to go with.

Simple things (like choice of "background color & text styles" etc.) are most likely to be automatically built-in features. (Just tell us your preferences!)

Questions like "are we a BBS forum, or are we a news commenting system, a blog, ???" are a little harder to define.

IMHO, I think Boycott-Riaa has always been a little unique in that regard. (I think we operate sorta as a hybrid of those kinda things.)

...but folks, please KEEP giving us your thoughts on the matter. (And also on the "small" details too.)

We ARE paying attention. We want to be able to give you what you want (...as much-so as is possible and reasonable, and that will actually function/work efficiently to continue the overall Boycott-Riaa agenda.)

Anyone who (like mixerjaexx for example) has experience with site design, CMS, running BBS boards, blogging, etc. are GREATLY appreciated for providing us with insight and knowledge.

-------

Ultimately, I think we will end up tweaking some open-source BBS/CMS thingy to suit our own needs.

We want the site to LOOK good, (sure!) ...but even still, the "KISS" principle shall always apply!

Shmoo, "ltimately, I think we will end up tweaking some open-source BBS/CMS thingy to suit our own needs.", I agree completely. That's exactly what you're probably gonna' end up doin'.

Well, even tho I LOVE the look and feel of httpupporutUG.com

Your site is a slightly different kind of animal than Boycott-Riaa.

I guess we are trying to effectively "focus the hate" against the evil industry and you guys are tring to "spread the love" in SPITE of them.

(Different tactics and strategies apply.)

lol

=======

(But NEVER forget, in the long-run, we are on the SAME team!)

ANIMATION....the site needs more animation..not just commercials...neat stuff..I love animation.. Flash, lots of flash!...I love Flash..is that hard to deal with?

pepe,

you in the wrong place!!!

lol

:0(

Just kidding..gads, you're going to think I'm manic-depressive :0)

streamlined yet edgy...not a bad idea...we need to draw a bigger crowd in here without losing usability for the geezers...no offense to anyone...

ive been trying to promote us on myspace...but its so plain and the logo is a little ambiguous...hell...most ppl dont even know what the riaa is

"hell...most ppl dont even know what the riaa is"

isaacfeagin, please CONTINUE your efforts to teach the un-informed

...at myspace, and where-ever else you may find yourself. (Even "outer-space" if need be.)

isaccfeagin "streamlined yet edgy...not a bad idea...we need to draw a bigger crowd in here without losing usability for the geezers" Hey, that's a good point.

shmoo "I guess we are trying to effectively "focus the hate" against the evil industry and you guys are tring to "spread the love" in SPITE of them."

Yeah, never really thought about it quite like that, but it's true. Hmm... well, we've got a "hard edge" because we ourselves are hard... so our image is sorta' hard. I guess you guys could use a harder, more aggressive image too, based on your words.

Hey, wanna' know a bad ass idea? Take the look and design of riaa.com and like dirty it up and make it look old and decrepit, and where they have artists at the top... do some kinda' parody of them. I don’t know… it’s just an idea, but it sounds pretty good. Take downhillbattle’s spoof of iTunes with iTunes isBogus. Although, I hate to say it… but the RIAA’s web site is kinda’ hokey ‘n’ shit and I don’t think even a parody would look high-tech enough for BC-R. But, man… if you guys wanna’ real slap in the fact of the RIAA, fuckin’ spoof their design and feel.

"we need to draw a bigger crowd in here without losing usability for the geezers "

Git off ma lawn !!

CodeWarrior Wrote,

"PhP Nuke is too easily hacked in some respects ."

Only if you run it stock and don't apply patches. IE: the hackability problem is on you, not the software. Fixes exist, your supposed to apply them.

It's a bit unfair for you to critize the software when it's your fault it was hacked to begin with. Your an upstanding individual, but I think you leaped into it before looking.

"We need to draw a bigger crowd in here without losing usability for the geezers."

Agreed. I'm one of those geezers, and proud to be bearing that label!

a longer front page!

i just noticed that some of the threads still being commented on and such have been moved to the "archives" pages...you might want to add space for another say 5 or so threads in the upgrade

RaidHHI "It's a bit unfair for you to critize the software when it's your fault it was hacked to begin with. " Yep, I feel the same way.

isaacfeagin "you might want to add space for another say 5 or so threads in the upgrade" Yeah, that would be nice. Although I think they can do that now and it's just personal preference... but yo, Shmoo, if you can, you outta' try extending your date cap or whatever.

mixerjaexx,

I just get so tired of people posting here and others following them like lemmings. CodeWarrior obviously doesn't know the software too well, but he's quick to lay blame on it.

Just as they were quick to dismiss my claim that the sony rootkit isn't hard to remove....

It just gets old. On one hand they preach education, and on the other they do nothing to educate.

My mom got another virus.
I told her what a dumbass she was and she should be ashamed for being so stupid. I then beat her with a rubber hose.

That'll teach her for not being as brilliant as me.

Dreddsnik,

That's a bit off the mark don't ya think? Your mom getting a virus is hardly a comparison to codewarrior administrating an unpatched program....

When you learn the difference between the two scenarios, we'll discuss it further.

I reccomend that you add a "merge posts" button for those that like to post two or three messages in a row :V

RaidHHI, you are right that we should try to do a better job with education in these matters, but at the same time, we are NOT a computer programming tech forum. (I know that I certainly wouldn't be qualified to "educate" about some of these things.)

I'm sure Code didn't know that he was as vulnerable without the patches and whatnot. It sounds like he was using a tool that was flawed. Simply saying out of hand that it is his "own damn fault" would be a bit unfair IMHO.

But on the other-hand, I am glad you brought the subject up, giving us something we need to consider with the Boycott-Riaa rebuild. By doing so, you have participated in the "education" of the rest of us.

It takes a Village folks! (To borrow a phrase.)

How many villagers does it take to raise a child?

All except the village idiot. The child will discover soon enough how to do idiotic things on his own without any help whatsoever.

Independent,

"I'm sure Code didn't know that he was as vulnerable without the patches and whatnot. It sounds like he was using a tool that was flawed. Simply saying out of hand that it is his "own damn fault" would be a bit unfair IMHO."

That's something we disagree on. If Code were an end user of the site, like me, sure, I couldn't hold him responsible. However, Code took the role of an administrator, and that does include making sure your shit is patched and fully uptodate. When you take the administrator title, yes indeed you ARE responsible for the site, the software that runs it etc. If the site is hacked due to patches not being deployed, then yes the entire blame from a security standpoint lies with you. I would even go so far as to say he was incompetent and in direlection of his duties. Administrator means more then just having neat access.

OldCodger,

You've been posting alot recently, but you would probably do well to do your own research on occasion. You reak of being an administration kiss ass from my POV. I'm unsure what research it was you claimed to have done with regard to the sony rootkit, but those people should be ashamed of themselves for being so .. ignorant regarding it. I'm not getting on a high horse here or anything, but from a technical standpoint, the software really isn't that bothersome, if you know it's present on the machine.

You make comments like above, but sir, with all due respect, I'm wondering if you wouldn't qualify for being the village idiot?

Regards,
Raid/HHI

RaidHHI, you know that I respect you (despite the fact that many of our participants do not) ..and I think you are smart as hell

...and you also know that I have always thought you are a bit too "elite" in you views.
I guess we once again must agree to disagree.

I myself am the "Admin" of the Boycott-Riaa website, yet if Code's site were MY site and I had used the same CMS/system to build it on, I probably would have been hacked/attacked just as swifty and/or even faster.

We can't ALL be "tech-gods" like you.

Are you trying to suggest that if a site admin isn't as "up to snuff" as a trained and computer saavy, ex-hacker like yourself that we shouldn't be able to use the Internet to diseminate information?

I don't believe you really MEAN that sorta thing, but you always sure as hell SOUND and SEEM like that is what you are saying.
(No wonder you have so many detractors here...)

(Maybe I am wrong. Maybe you ARE "better" than the rest of us.)

Yup, that "elite" attitude makes ME defensive too! (Regardless of how much I value your opinions.)

Independent,

"Are you trying to suggest that if a site admin isn't as "up to snuff" as a trained and computer saavy, ex-hacker like yourself that we shouldn't be able to use the Internet to diseminate information?"

That isn't what I said. Anytime you or anyone else takes on the roll of site administrator, it's a higher responsibility then remembering which login goes to what. You don't have to be all that computer savvy to run some sites, but... If your going to bring a site live on the internet, then you must make damn sure it's as protected as it can be. Despite many people thinking so, the internet isn't family friendly. It's more like the wild west out here.

Think of it like this, when you admin a site, it's like a bank. Would be bank robbers if you will, would like nothing more then access to that bank. As administrator (God of the site if you will), it's your job to keep those pesky people out, as best you can. Bringing a site live on software your not familiar with and haven't patched is dangerous. In this day and age, would you allow a virgin installation of windows XP to go on the internet without a firewall, and or service pack 1 (or 2) first? Of course not, administering a site is the same thing.

"I myself am the "Admin" of the Boycott-Riaa website, yet if Code's site were MY site and I had used the same CMS/system to build it on, I probably would have been hacked/attacked just as swifty and/or even faster."

Nah. I would have sent you an email, with examples of how to exploit it so you could see for yourself, and I'd be on your ass until you fixed it.

"RaidHHI, you know that I respect you (despite the fact that many of our participants do not) ..and I think you are smart as hell"

The respect is a non sequiter (sp?) issue for me. Hackers are respected by others in the same category, it's quiet common for end users to dislike or even hate us. Keep in mind tho, these same end users come to people like me for help when they get in a bind. So it's a two way street. As much as the end users like to play the hate the hacker game, they need us.

The elitest attitude I have comes from administering alot of sites, and bbses (way back when, before the net basically killed the scene)... It was hack or be hacked back then. you didn't dare bring a board live until you patched the software. The same goes with ftp, email, web servers, etc. Patch patch patch!

The internet is an invaluable tool for diseminating information, and I see nothing wrong with that. But, you don't want your disemination tool to be taken over and information not in agreement with your views spread instead right? Hence the need to administrate seriously.

"(Maybe I am wrong. Maybe you ARE "better" than the rest of us.)"

It really has nothing to do with who's better then who here. Security is everyones responsibility. DRM is an excellent example. It's security gone over to the darkside.

RaidHHI,

Speaking of patches, have you seen this one from TechWeb?

http://www.techweb.com/wire/security/183702818;jsessionid=I2DNXJBXKH23AQSNDBECKH0CJUMEKJVN

Neat site. Easy on the eye.

"You make comments like above, but sir, with all due respect, I'm wondering if you wouldn't qualify for being the village idiot?"
Regards,
Raid/HHI

And that comment is supposed to anger me, perhaps?
(Especially since my silly joke was not directed at you.)
Or, maybe I should let discretion be the better part of valor and just consider the source. Hmm.
On the other hand, I could choose to concur with you, throw my graduate degree away, and change my username to IdiotCodger. . . and knight you as God's gift to technology.

With respect to "the sony rootkit" issue you referred to, I'll just defer to leflaw's past criticisms of you. And yes, I agree with the reasons he called you out on it.
But that doesn't mean I agree with him or with any other person on everything. I can think for myself.

BTW, TrueAudio once called you out for grandstanding, and he was right. (Do you want that archived thread dug up for verification?)

" and change my username to IdiotCodger. . . and knight you as God's gift to technology."

I don't know if you caught the pathos (humor) there: Only an idiot would toast anyone as God's gift to technology . . .and most certainly no one but an idiot would toast themselves as one, either. I know you wouldn't, as well, so that's why it was a joke all the way.

Hmm. Maybe I'd best not crack any jokes. That's twice I've taken a chance on being misunderstood.

OldCodger, STOP right there!

(Do NOT use this thread to drag out something to fight RaidHHI with.)

...as part of the "rebuild" of this site, I am pushing STRONGLY for a chat or other feature where we can in a timely manor get "detailed" (and if need be,) "personal" with each other in our arguements.

I don't want the "ugly" nitty-gritty on our front pages any more than nesessary.

================

RaidHHI, are you suggesting that we should just stick with what we already have instead of trying one of the freebie open-source CMS/BBS systems?

I don't ever recall Boycott-Riaa ever having been "hacked or hi-jacked" ...so, hmm... maybe the "features" just need tweeking instead of replacing the whole framework?

...could you/would you be willing to HELP in that regard? (Could we TRUST you?)

Mike,

I wanted to reply to OldCodger. There used to be a thread to talk in a more or less open thread. Can't find one. Where did it go?
Is this your way to be able to delete replys because they are in the wrong thread?
I'm sorry but I don't understand what is going on at this site anymore!

No cobrastrike, that is NOT what I and leflaw are trying to achieve.

I will start a TRUELY open thread right now.

(You guys and gals go beat yourselves up with glee!)

...hell, I'm human too. I might jump in and wrestle with ya too!)

cobra (and everyone)

I do want to find a way where each of us can instantly and automatically talk to one another when the need arises.

...yet ANOTHER of the things that this whole "upgrade" is all about.

OldCodger,

"With respect to "the sony rootkit" issue you referred to, I'll just defer to leflaw's past criticisms of you. And yes, I agree with the reasons he called you out on it."

I find it acceptable. I'm in the majority of the security persons when I say the program isn't all it's cracked up to be, Whether or not you and leflaw agree with that assesment doesn't change the facts. That's the cool aspect of computer software, it either is something or it's not. Personal opinions of it don't mean anything at the end of the day. To myself and many others, the sony rootkit is just business as usual. In all fairness, some coolwebsearch varients are harder to remove, for those of us technically inclined.

With regard to being a virus writer, Technically I'm an ex virus writer. I've retired almost 7 years ago now. And you don't have to take my word alone for trust issue, I've been well known in various security/warez/piracy circles for a very very long time, I come from a long line of old school hackers... Old rules, the old way of doing things. I'm probably more for your side of things then you might think. I too hate the riaa, I just won't cut all of their music out of my life.


"BTW, TrueAudio once called you out for grandstanding, and he was right. (Do you want that archived thread dug up for verification?)"

Grandstanding... Hmm, that's a political term, and i'm not a politician. I call things as I see them, and I'm more then able to backup any claims I might have made with regard to software and computers in general (atleast on the ibm pc platform); mac users among you would easily best me.



But that doesn't mean I agree with him or with any other person on everything. I can think for myself."

"Speaking of patches, have you seen this one from TechWeb?"

Yes, I've seen this exploit in the wild already too. It's installing a new varient of the spyaxe desktop hijacker. Fun Fun.

If anyone wants to take "pot-shots" at RaidHHI (and or vice/versa) the OPEN THREAD is up and running for that very purpose.

Folks, all you gotta do is to point at the person you want to personally insult and have them meet you in the OPEN THREAD.

KEEP the stuff in this and other Boycott-Riaa threads ON-TOPIC!

PERSONAL INSULTS/FLAMEWARS BELONG ELSEWHERE! (And we GAVE you all that "OPEN THREAD" too!)

=================

I must grab a few winks. I have once again burned myself out by staying up too long. (But leflaw and ShadowMom and others are STILL watching the proceedings folks.)

Behave yourselves!

Folks, some background information is almost a prerequisite at this point for many of the readers. Here are a few exerpted reasons why leflaw called RaidHHI out on the Sony rootkit issue; but for the full impact, read the whole article 19453:

RaidHHI:

"The term rootkit doesn't really apply... but whatever. Since when are you concerned with technical things?

That drm program isn't complex, and it is easy enough to remove for anyone but a newbie..."


IndependentMusician:

"Please get off your elite high-horse once in a while. Even I wouldn't know how to easily get rid of the infection Sony and EMI have been spreading."


RaidHHI:

"You don't even know how to do html; did I say I thought you knew how to deal with memory-resident executables?"


leflaw:

"Consumer protection laws protect your average consumer. Only an idiot would argue that an average consumer ought to be able to remove malware.

Registry editor or vbs script for a novice? You might as well have them do brain surgery.

Move on. You're wasting our time.


Next lesson:

The difference between forests and trees."

OldCodger, that belongs in the OPEN THREAD

(or simply forgotten/forgiven)

"Background" and explinations of dead-horse beatings are NOT needed nor wanted for ANY old arguement.

STAY ON TOPIC FOLKS!

(If you NEED to fight old fights, GO TO THE OPEN THREAD ...or better yet, trade e-mail addys and beat your brains out!)

=======

RaidHHI, do you not SEE what you have caused???

Jimmy Crickets! Play Ball sometimes!

(Why do I have to beat-up on some of our best/most vocal members in order to "take-up" for your ass ...which I don't even AGREE with half the time???)

AAAUGGGGGHHH!

Regarding the "grandstanding" incident:
In a different thread, TrueAudio chastised Raid for coming on too elitist, and the former went into detail about his criticism. Raid had no ultimate rebuttal.

"Background and explanations" are not needed?

The past is prologue.
Seldom will you be able to take a course and not have to initially focus on the history of it.

OldCodger, I love you... (I really do!)

but THIS thread is for things concerning the proposed UPDATE to the site

...PERSONAL "dirt" at/for/from/against/and or about ANYONE does NOT belong here!

If it is not ON TOPIC, put it in the OFF TOPIC thread!!!

(Somebody PLEASE find/create/draw me a .jpg of a shepherd trying to herd a flock of cats.)

how about a poop hat?

http://www.jlist.com/PRODUCT/MAR028/TEXT/WACKY/TREN/

"RaidHHI, do you not SEE what you have caused??? "

Yes he does.
That is precisely why he did it.

Dreddsnik,

I can speak for myself, thanks all the same.

Independent,

Actually; I hadn't planned on a thread hijacking, no. Sorry...

OldCodger,

I do have a response to your excerpts you've posted, but they won't be necessary. Based on the emails I've gotten (hehe... geeze), Several people have read the thread you suggested (thanks!) and uhh, aside from some things, pretty much agree with me.

The elitest attitude some of you seem to think I have is in responses I make to people who do not understand what it is they post about, yet come off as someone who does. I call them on it, and many otherwise nice fellows/ladies who mean well jump into the fray... It doesn't really do anyone any good to do this...

I do the computer thing if you will professionally for a living, and they've been my only real hobby since I was a little kid... I'm not some fresh out of college educated little brat trying to be a pain in the older persons asses, no.

My viewpoints will certainly not always agree with many of you, That almost goes without saying. I'm not arguing for the riaa, I like many of you do not agree with the lawsuits. At the same time tho, I'm not completely sympathetic to those who are sued.

I see many machines where I work with limewire, kazaa etc. I even leave them a little note about the possible illegality involved with using the software to acquire copyrighted files, namely music and video games. I do this with the assumption that the parents have kids at home who are using the tools. Most of the time however, the parents are the ones using them, they are aware of the risk but really don't care.

I can have no sympathy for individuals like that. If you know the risk and you do it anyway, you have to accept the consequences should you be caught. I don't have any hard figures with regard to the amount of people sued who did know, vs the ones sued who really had no clue. I don't however think for one second nobody sued knew it was illegal, or even had a suspicision.

From a technology standpoint, I'm in 100% disagreement with the riaa/mpaa's interest in trying to lockdown hardware. As a software developer, I refuse to use closed proprietary technology, and i won't implement drm based technology. I've been against copy protection crap since the 80s. It served no useful purpose then anymore so then it does now. All copyprotection does is inconvenience the legit users.

If it's your interest in dirt on me, usenet would be a better place to find it. You'll find tho, I am what I said I was in the beginning, a hacker who's an ex virus writer who runs a ripping group. I haven't decieved any of you. I do no t work for the riaa, to finally clear that crock of shit up, And aside from Majortreat ever accusing me of it. Nobody else has.

If you wish to send private responses, you can email me. I don't care if the address is public. I've never gone out of my way to be unreachable. I have little to hide... bughunter.dustin@gmail.com Emails are not published, email addresses are not shared, and no unless you specifically request a response, one will not be sent.

Regards,
Raid

DRM will suffer the dongles death.

Wish I could post an old jpg of 4 of the bloody things hanging off the parallel port (from the 80s)

There's a suggestion Mike. The ability to embed a small picture into posts.
Probably tough to do and no dought a major resource hog but sure would make things more entertaining.

Here's a new forum by the same guy who runs LimeLight Radio (linked in our "Picks" over on the left.)

http://www.unsignedmusicforum.com/

Maybe vBadvanced CMPS would be worth taking a look at as a possibility?

Oh shit... I leave for the weekend to get some much needed action from my girl and all hell breaks loose. What's the deal? I’m gonna’ help Independentmusician out here and steer this train wreck back on track... (FYI, I agree with a lot of what Raid and Independentmusician said; they’re both on the same track but drivin’ different trains.)

That unsigned musician forum web site looks like it would work for ya. It’s sorta’ a forum web site, where everything is driven around the forum system… a content management system made from a forum. It’s pretty much the same exact thing as phpbb (but called CMPS or whatever that is)… I’ve used web sites that had it before and was really pleased. Somethin’ like that would do you well… but, take a point from both Raid “Install your patches” and CodeWarrior “I gots hacked” and make sure to keep up on those motha’ ‘freakin’ patches… ‘cuz if your “forum” system gets hacked, everything gets hacked. (unfortunately, BC-R attracts a lotta’ haters so you guys are a big target)

Just one last thing… plan your shit out for the future; like 5 years in the future. If it seems like a system you can live with for 5 years, then it should be good enough to last you until your next major change or whatever. (don’t gotta’ use it for 5 years)

Shmoo, I suggest you register an account on this web site and interact the f*ck outta’ the site and see what’cha think of it. And if you find any other web sites, interact with them too. Interact with enough of them until you start to say to yourself “Hey, I realize this is the same system as that one web site…” and you’ll start to realize, for yourself, what driving force (CMS) is behind the web site. Always check the footers at the bottom of the page to see what CMS runs it. You outta’ have Raid give some recommendations too on what CMS’s he recommends or enjoys using. (one CMS I recommend AGAINST using is whatever shit that slashdot web site uses)

‘Ight, I’m off to go bury my nose in Reason and try finishin’ some dirty beats…

Thanks for the pointers and tips mixerjaexx. You rock!

BTW folks, let's keep this thread growing (staying with the on-topic stuff of course.)

I don't know when leflaw will be ready to decide on what (if any) "system" we ultimately switch over to when we do the site make-over, but ALL serious suggestions will be considered. If you think of anything, just let us know right here!

some sort of membership list maybe?

not one that publicly lists peoples names or info or anything...but something that will enable you to keep tabs on how many people are signed up, actively participate, etc...

itll help ya know how "big" we really are and how many people we reach

Yeah, a "members list". That will be a feature that'll be on like 90% of all CMS's out there, so you can look forward to that (most-likely) isaccfasf-or whatever the rest of your name is.

a Pm private message sytem would be nice for ppl wanting to talk to other members privatly

Yeah, it would be. If BC-R goes with a forum system like phpBB, it'll have it. The CMS's that the heads of BC-R are thinkin' about goin' with or considerting... over 50% of them have'em, so that'll most-likely be a feature we can look forward to goat.

You could try checking out this info.
http://linuxreviews.org/webdesign/01a_A_Web_Design_Guide_For_Beginners-CMS_guide/

I don't know if mambo is what ya looking for or Plone both are pretty good programs as far as open source CMS's go.

As for this site itself it could use alittle darker shade of color, and maybe a edit feature as well as smileys.

I like joomla

What's joomla?

Never heard of joomla what is it?

Hey leflaw, check out:

http://www.getmeaband.com/musiclinks.asp?cat=32

(Maybe something like that?)

Doesn't look too bad.

So, when is this upgrade scheduled/projected/guessed to happen?

Probably after Dmusic get's done with it's own upgrade Jefrystube.

(But it's up to leflaw as to when.)

BTW, leflaw and everybody...

If we go with joomla (or whatever is decided...)

I personally would like to avoid having to use ANY java or other such scripts if possible.

(Let's keep the whole site in plain old "vanilla" html that works QUICKLY with virtually any browser in any configuration.)

There is no reason why being that basic and simple should hamper our ability to use whatever graphics/background colors/overall "look"/needed functions and etc.

Boycott-Riaa is (and should remain) MAINLY a "text forum" anyways, with the focus on serious on-topic communication of ideas between each of the participants.

YES, we could certainly use improved features and functionality, but at the same time, let's NOT give folks too many "toys" that would only divert attention in too many directions.

"Bare-bones" doesn't have to mean "boring" and/or "passe" ...we absolutely can make the place look/feel better.

A huge part of what changes I personally want to occur is the ability to MANAGE the whole she-bang more efficiently. (We simply have too many side-links that are old/out of date that I don't have the ability to fix and/or keep updated.)

To leflaw:

I really like mixerjaexx's idea of putting the NEW upgraded site at "boycottriaa.com" (or whatever is available for the domain name) instead of trying to subplant the old hyphenated "boycott-riaa.com" with the new data.
(Let's just turn OFF the ability to post and/or muck around on the old site/version once the switch-over occurs.)

I know, I know,

Everything and All depends on which CMS we choose to use.

(And leflaw, that is obviously going to be YOUR choice.)

YOU are the landlord, I am just the tenant

...just make sure you don't forget to hand me a set of keys that work on the doors of all the rooms of our new house once the contractor's build our new home.

Let's have an "upscale mansion" and/or respectable "tidy residence" instead of a run-down aged "shanty" (or, god forbid, a "crack-house" hovel ...lol.)

Yeah, that Joomla or whatever it's called looks really nice. A perfect blend between text and interactive... er, you know. In fact, I think the stock version would look good for BC-R as it is.

And using "boycottriaa.com" I don't think should be any problem on any CMS you choose schmoo, so that's a good thing.

Well, that's up to leflaw if he wants to "cybersquat" the url (if what you are saying is that it is available.)

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...Folks, I only Administrate and Moderate this site/community on the behalf...

..."legal schmegal" web-stuff, the ownership, assets, domain-name, and other "such-and-so" all belongs to Dmusic Networks LLC (primarily meaning leflaw, I guess.)

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Consider me as a "true-believing hired-gun" who RUNS the office, but DOES NOT own the company.

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(Just being honest.)

hey mike/leflaw/whoever

i think theres something wrong...i posted some comments earlier today and theyre not showing up...also, i just logged in and it said i was, when i clicked over to this page i wasnt logged in...weird aint it....anywho

i dont know if this has been mentioned before...but a system to where you have to have an email address to have a username and each email address can only be used once...i know easy to get around...but it will stop some "trolls" from repeated offenses because they will be to lazy to make another email

i think whatever the problem was...its fixed now