What new things would you like to see here?

[Ben Ruset]

I know I've been the world's worst website owner and the best absentee landlord in history. Today as I was driving I got to thinking about what could be done to breathe some new life into the site - or if that's something we even need. I feel like we're on a solid footing for 2016, but since it's nearing the fall of 2023 I thought I'd try to solicit some feedback from everyone here.

Some things I've thought of:

1. Writing new articles for the "front page" of the site, www.njpinebarrens.com. The last article I wrote was about Buzby's shutting down in 2017. Before that it was me raging about version 1.0 of the MAP plan, which really took a lot out of me. Would you like to see new content? Maybe descriptions of more of the trails in the Parker Preserve like the one I did on the red trail?

2. Modernizing the forums a bit. I'm not really sure what could be done here. Web forums like these have kind of gone the way of the Dodo. I know I do most of my communication with people online at Reddit. I really haven't been looking much at what web forum software is like these days. Are there any community sites similar to this that you like? Would you like to see some features that social media sites have here? (I like the idea of an up/down vote system like Reddit has.)

3. With the existence of Boyds Maps is there any need to keep the NJPB Maps around? If people are using it still then of course I'll keep it.

4. Way back in the day we had image galleries that people could use to post pictures of their explorations in the woods. Is that something that people would like to see come back?

Or is there something else you'd like to see?

Oh, and to be clear, I'm not considering adding any advertising to the site or adding anything that costs money to use, so the site will remain completely free to use. And while I do collect people's information like their IP address as part of the normal website logs, that info doesn't ever get sold. I make absolutely no money on this website and I'm not looking to change that.

 

[Boyd]

Well, I like the site just the way it is. Only thing I'd like to see is the ability to choose a "dark" theme, but that might require a paid plug-in.

I think the site design is fine. Over at MacRumors they use the same Xenforo software with a style that's very similar. They do have a nice image gallery however, where you can search, browse recently-posted pictures, find all the images a user has posted, etc. The forum integration is nice. When we talked about this before, you found it was paid plug-in however. But maybe there are some free alternatives?

I know we have at least a few users who like Google maps and would be upset if NJPB maps went away. I have HERE maps on my site, but am probably going to drop them soon. They're changing the terms of their free plan (which may or may not affect me) but this may be a good time to bail and concentrate on locally-hosted content. I'll always have plenty of maps of the Pines however (more coming soon).

 

[bobpbx]

Yes, though I use Boyds map mostly, I hope you keep yours as backup in case his goes down.

 

[Teegate]

I use NJPB maps all the time and removing them would alter everything I do. I am for keeping them.

 

[Pinesbucks]

Ben odd you asked that cause I was just thinking of something as I went thru posts before I got to this one. A very minor tweak. Can you add the buttons on the bottom of a page that will take you to the end of the thread at the top as well? I would also vote to keep pine Barrens maps.

 

[this_is_nascar]

Not sure what, if any changes to make, but please tread lightly. Although my participation is light, as far as posting, I read the new post at least once a day. I've been here for sometime now and this board has always been my most relaxing, most drama free, most educational site that I visit.

I trust that you'll do the right thing and carefully consider anything major being done which may negatively alter what you've built here.

 

[noboat]

Keep NJPB maps

 

[NJChileHead]

Not sure what, if any changes to make, but please tread lightly. Although my participation is light, as far as posting, I read the new post at least once a day. I've been here for sometime now and this board has always been my most relaxing, most drama free, most educational site that I visit.

I trust that you'll do the right thing and carefully consider anything major being done which may negatively alter what you've built here.

I could not have said it better myself. I really like the community here and wouldn't want to see changes. Even if we do get a number of new members, I'd like to keep the culture here as it is. I wouldn't want to see upvote or downvote buttons (I'll elaborate more if you want), and frankly, if we do get a lot of new people, I wouldn't want them to bring the crappy culture of some other forums or some social media platforms here. Most people here probably know about the Pine Barrens Facebook page. Often, people who post photos or an educational blurb are left alone, but if anyone brings up a topic that could possibly foster open discussion, there are usually a few nasty, condescending commenters that come out of the woodwork. People in general seem to be much more openly adversarial on the web than they were a decade ago, and think nothing about taking their bad day out on others. If that happened here with new members, I'd hope that the community and moderators would lean on those people to behave or see themselves out.

 

[Ben Ruset]

Ben odd you asked that cause I was just thinking of something as I went thru posts before I got to this one. A very minor tweak. Can you add the buttons on the bottom of a page that will take you to the end of the thread at the top as well? I would also vote to keep pine Barrens maps.

I'll see if that's something that I can add.

 

[Ben Ruset]

So for sure I don't intend to try to change the culture or how the site is run at all. Honestly, of all of the things that I'm most proud of by making NJPB is the civility here. I know we all come from all kinds of backgrounds and ideas but it's nice to have a space where we can all talk about our shared interests.

Also my goal isn't to try to attract new users so much. It really doesn't matter since there's no monetization going on. I'd rather have one high quality new user who posts and is an active member of the community a year than 100 low effort signups that will forget about the site after a week. All that does is inflate registration numbers and add noise and chaos. Everyone is welcome but I'd like to see people adding something positive to the place.

 

[Scroggy]

Having lurked here for 20 years before registering, I generally like it here (I would say that, wouldn't I?). I agree the atmosphere is generally good, albeit the last "Where should we be allowed to drive" thread got a bit overripe. I'm glad that didn't cost us anyone permanently. (But I looked at the archives and I realized that the back-and-forth on that topic actually predates the original MAP, so I guess we'll be debating the issue until the glaciers come back...)

Obviously as one of the last remaining survivors of the vast web forums ecosystem, this site needs conservation protection. I don't really think that's a disadvantage. I understand the appeal of moving those communities onto Facebook, Reddit, Discord, or whatever the kids use these days and leaving software maintenance in the hands of the platform, but I think in retrospect that's created a lot more social single points of failure than people anticipated. (e.g., the recent Reddit moderation kerfuffle--now when things like that happen, they affect an enormous number of communities at once) I also like that it's possible to go in and search old conversations for some piece of esoterica, which isn't as easy with some forms of social media--one of the big losses of the old web forums culture is that it used to be possible to pull that sort of specialized and technical content up in search engines, which isn't the case for things behind the wall at Facebook.

Like this_is_nascar, I read what others have to say pretty closely even when I don't have a lot to say myself, not having the time to get into the Pines as frequently as some of the regulars.

As far as content, I think some sort of gazetteering effort might be interesting. It can take some effort to follow the place references in some of the Trip Reports and Ghost Towns threads, although that always has to be balanced against the danger of sending human gophers directly to a sensitive site (cf. Brooksbrae, Harrisville).

I'm a bit snowed in with existing commitments right now, but I might be interested in writing some short botany articles in the future, if there's any interest in that as a form of content.

Finally, I'd like to express my appreciation to both Ben and Boyd for the trouble and expense of self-hosting to keep this community and its key resources going.

 

[66C10]

As a new member here I am always searching old threads to find info about historical areas but I notice I’m unable to search for a word or a name less than 4 letters long. Would it be possible to tweak that? For example if I wanted to search threads for the name Eli Bud (correctly spelled Budd) I’m unable because of the 4 letter minimum. Someone could have written valuable info on his furnace or forge but accidentally misspelled Budd or have a map with different spelling

 

[Boyd]

The Xenforo search is pretty terrible. Just had a quick look and don't see any setting for what you want. One thing that sometimes helps is to use quotes when it complains about a word being "too common" but that won't help here. For your example, I'd forget about NJPB search and just go to Google with a query like

site: forums.njpinebarrens.com Bud

Of course, that will probably find a lot of stuff you don't want, but that's what you get when searching for three letters. But the principle is to just begin the Google search with site: forums.njpinebarrens.com and then follow it with whatever you're searching for.

[edit]Using his full name provides better results...

 

[66C10]

The Xenforo search is pretty terrible. Just had a quick look and don't see any setting for what you want. One thing that sometimes helps is to use quotes when it complains about a word being "too common" but that won't help here. For your example, I'd forget about NJPB search and just go to Google with a query like

site: forums.njpinebarrens.com Bud

Of course, that will probably find a lot of stuff you don't want, but that's what you get when searching for three letters. But the principle is to just begin the Google search with site: forums.njpinebarrens.com and then follow it with whatever you're searching for.

View attachment 20785

[edit]Using his full name provides better results...

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The google method is a great idea thanks Boyd

 

[SuperChooch]

This is probably waaay beyond the scope of what you are asking, maybe this could be for the 2026 update I’ve been meaning to mention this for years, but you know, life. There is sooo much content buried in this forum on every conceivable PB topic. It would be interesting to point AI at the forum and ask it to organize the content. My profession is IT, but not AI/ML, but I know quite a few that dabble in this who actually might like a challenge like this. I started this post yesterday and since I started it, I see someone posted about searching, which something like this could address. Anyway, like I said, probably way beyond the scope of your question, but something that has been in my head for a while.

 

[SuperChooch]

Besides that, additional articles might a good add. Would happy to volunteer my services if we came some up with some topics.

 

[Ben Ruset]

Finally, I'd like to express my appreciation to both Ben and Boyd for the trouble and expense of self-hosting to keep this community and its key resources going.

There absolutely is interest!!!

 

[Ben Ruset]

Besides that, additional articles might a good add. Would happy to volunteer my services if we came some up with some topics.

Pretty much anything Pine Barrens related is welcome!

 

[Pinesbucks]

I'll see if that's something that I can add.

Thanks Ben.

 

[M1 Abrams]

Ben, if the NJPB Forums are a reflection of you being "the world's worst website owner," well then, keep up the bad work! In their way, the forums mirror the Pine Barrens themselves in comprising a unique outpost of singular value. When it comes to making changes to them, I would echo the thoughts of this_is_nascar and others who advise treading lightly, as well as Scroggy's comment on the site's "conservation protection" status not being a disadvantage.

Putting some new material on the front page would seem to be the only glaring need. I imagine there are many folks who come to the front page of the website by way of a search engine, see that it hasn't been updated in years, and leave without ever seeing the forums.

Unfortunately, unlike many folks here, I don't have sufficient Pine Barrens chops to write an article from my own personal experience. I'd probably need to get a topic that would require some research (and likely also some help) to craft an article.

Back in the day, I worked outside the farm at a job doing proofreading, editing, and occasionally also some writing. Once it gets closer to winter, I should be available if anyone wanted a draft article proofed or modified. It would be an honor to help give something back for all of the enjoyment I've gotten out of the forums in the last four months.

Thanks again to you, Ben, as well as Boyd, Teegate, bobpbx, and the NJPB membership as a whole, for this "most relaxing, most drama free, most educational site" (©2023 this_is_nascar), as well as one that's also a whole lot of fun!