1 Topic by Darwyn Sumner

  • Darwyn Sumner
  • Darwyn Sumner
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  • From: Dipterists Forum
  • Registered: 10-05-2006
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Topic: Bulletin boards - alternatives?

Has anyone given any thought to the range of Bulletin Boards available?
I know ALERC did and went for something entirely different, KnowledgeHub, after archiving their old bulletin board which uses the same BB as this one, punBB.
There are a number of other bulletin boards however. There's a nice list at https://www.quertime.com/article/15-bes … -and-paid/ and a means of comparing features at https://www.forummatrix.org/wizard.php
The two I see regularly are punBB (of course) and SMF which photools.com uses to support iMatch, the Digital Asset Manager which many of use use to organise photographs (try https://www.photools.com/community/index.php)
They vary a lot in terms of features presentation and security which might be factors that have affected the extent to which they are used or lost their popularity.
Their value is considerable however and some have a great deal to offer, even to the extent of being able to support an entire Help Menu structure.
I'd like to find a good one that doesn't force the user to leave the parent website (like this one does - you're not in the main NBN website now). Something that seamlessly integrates within an existing website and is better than the awful minimum feature thing you get with basic website construction toolkits (would that be Drupal? - I don't use that stuff).
Any ideas?

2 Reply by Matt Smith

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Re: Bulletin boards - alternatives?

A bulletin board for what?

3 Reply by Darwyn Sumner (edited by Darwyn Sumner 11-08-2018 06:36:51)

  • Darwyn Sumner
  • Darwyn Sumner
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Re: Bulletin boards - alternatives?

Schemes and Societies
We do communicate with one another regarding our specialist interests. We also use this bulletin board.
For examples see http://www.dipteristsforum.org.uk/forums.php where there is a huge amount of identification from pictures going on, as well as lots of other stuff. In Europe there's https://diptera.info/news.php
Popular in other areas too, like GIS forums.
Surely other NSSs have such things.
Social media platforms may be popular but they are totally unstructured, about as easy to consult as last week's binned newspapers.
There are probably crude systems within some NSS websites too.

4 Reply by Matt Smith (edited by Matt Smith 11-08-2018 14:28:20)

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Re: Bulletin boards - alternatives?

I think the basic problem is there are far too many "forums / pages / groups" out there already for me to look at any more.  I spend nearly all my "free" time on the BWARS managed "UK Bees, Wasps and Ants" facebook page as an Admin and identifier, the BWARS facebook page or iRecord doing verifications.  We have a "standard" forum on the BWARS website but there is almost no traffic on it it as we find facebook much faster and easier to use and it does not require participants to set up yet another account elsewhere.  We don't promote our website forum, which was initially there for our 250 members to use.  However,  we do have over 7500 members on the BWARS facebook pages from purely organic growth.  BWARS had/has a Yahoo Group, but again traffic has fallen off to such an extent over the past few years it is virtually moribund.  These days, I don't get onto iSpot, Dipterists Forum or various other pages because I just don't have time.  Having said that, there are a number of people who will only communicate by e-mail or e-mail based mail server systems.

So, back to my original question - a bulletin board for what?  If it is for insect id's an the like I'd have to say Facebook works much better than php type forums, but if you are looking to develop a knowledge base of searchable posts on thinks like rearing etc then a php based forum works much better.  If you are just looking for some sort of "overall NNS get-together" site, then perhaps this is something the NFBR might be the perople to talk to, they already have a couple of Facebook pages.  Then again, unless it is an e-mail based system, some people are never going to be involved and their own particualr Recording Scheme will carry on "as usual" with very little or no interaction with other NSS.