Posted June 6, 200718 yr Have you seen this banner lately? To all, I haven't been to UrbanOhio in quite a while but it has had a long-lasting influence on me. I go by the name 'The Dayton Pundit' these days and I've started up a new blog to exercise my 1st Amendment rights on a regular basis. This metamorphosis has led me back here to ask some of you a favor. Let me provide some background first... Due to the steady degradation of my primary message board (the Dayton Daily News' 'Speak Up!' site) because of moderator neglect and anti-social behaviors among a small percentage of the total membership, I've taken it upon myself to provide other frustrated members another place where they can meet online without enduring the 'flame wars' and other dysfunctional behaviors. I called it 'The Dayton Stoop'--just like the step(s) out in front of your own house. Back in the day (well, before computers and cell phones), people used to 'network' via these architectural structures to talk about what interested them or to keep in touch with their neighbors or friends. T Although it started slowly, our numbers have steadily grown. After our first month, we currently have 41 members and that figure includes most of the more reliable 'Speak Up!' regulars (there are still some 'diehards' hanging on over at the other place). The problem I'm running into is that most of us know each other rather well and the interpersonal 'chemistry' is tantamount to one hand clapping. This has led me to look outward and take the next logical step of advertising the board here at UrbanOhio (look at the top and bottom banner ads to see the logo below) in order to increase our membership and provide some 'new blood' for the site. If you do come by and visit us, you'll notice that it has a familiar feel to it. The board runs SMF software (just like this site does). It is a very organized site and is centered primarily around Dayton-related issues (its suburbs are well represented, too) as well as all flavors of politics. There are also areas for hobbies, events, and a 'soap box' to allow folks to just get something off of their chests. It's still a work-in-progress so there may be changes in the months to come. I am not trying to 'steal' any of this board's members (y'all are doing very well and currently over 1350 strong)--I'd just like to 'borrow' some of you Daytonians from time to time (if that's OK with your admin staff). I'm guessing that many of you visit one or more message sites due to your individual interests and favorite topics. Your participation at 'The Dayton Stoop' would be a welcome addition to our current group and could help us grow into another UrbanOhio-like community. Come by and visit for a while...everyone's welcome! www.daytonstoop.com
June 6, 200718 yr Wonderful! Good luck! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
June 6, 200718 yr Yeah, way too many topics! Good luck with it. I'll try to stop in from time to time!
June 6, 200718 yr Have you and UncleRando been talking to Montecarloss??? That was his opinion as well...
June 6, 200718 yr Have you and UncleRando been talking to Montecarloss??? That was his opinion as well... I think they are talking just out of experience here at UO. Some people think that we have too many topics/sections. It took us a while to get where we are, so its just about right.
June 6, 200718 yr It seems as though there are just too many topics at the start of the forum. These topics may very well be of interest to a user, but they also may not be. You should leave it up to the users...let them create a discussion topic about reporter A or B instead of formally laying it all out there at the beginning. It can be somewhat intimidating...especially to new users/people new to forums/blogs. I would keep it simple and let it become more complex as the user-ship dictates. Those are just my thoughts...I found myself last night having difficulty understanding where to discuss certain things...and what the true focus of the forum is. Good luck, I'll be around.
June 6, 200718 yr To all current (and potential) 'Stoop' members, I have received various comments and feedback about the unwieldy structure of our board. I originally intended to have a very organized site with separate categories for easy categorization and recall; however, I might've gone a little overboard (there are currently 265 separate boards in 13 categories). What I intend to do is to take the board down at 4PM today for a short period (hoping no longer than 2-3 hours) and attempt to consolidate/rearrange what's already there into a more manageable system. I may make changes to some post titles (most of them are mine) but I will not alter any of their content. I will send you a follow-up message letting you know when I'm finished. Thanks for your patience. DP
June 7, 200718 yr The transformation is complete...come by and take a look at the new and improved 'Stoop'!
June 7, 200718 yr Much, much better! I just registered. I thought the old setup could be kind of intimidating, especially to people who don't frequent message boards. This interface looks much better for all levels of users. I hope it takes off.
June 7, 200718 yr Much, much better! I just registered. I thought the old setup could be kind of intimidating, especially to people who don't frequent message boards. This interface looks much better for all levels of users. I hope it takes off. Agreed...much improved!
June 7, 200718 yr Thanks for the feedback...and we now have polling! :clap: :clap: :clap: Should President Bush pardon 'Scooter' Libby due to his recent conviction and sentencing in the CIA leak investigation case? http://daytonpundit.com/forum/index.php?topic=675.0 Come by and cast your votes...
June 7, 200718 yr cool One thing - and this is a real sorta polite, PC, kiss ass, it's only an island from the water sort of thing: Under "Neighborhoods" you list autonomous cities that may not appreciate being labeled as a "Neighborhood of Dayton". "Communities" maybe ?
June 12, 200718 yr This will be MY last post in this topic...I posted this over at 'The Dayton Stoop' over on Sunday night but this board was down...BTW, we are now at 53 members--and still growing! Keep looking for the ad banners or click on the link below: www.daytonstoop.com Happy Month-iversary! To all, Today marks the one-month point in the short history of 'The Dayton Stoop'. On May 10th, I created this site as a place where I envisioned people coming together to connect and communicate. While it was supposed to be subordinate to my blogging passion, it quickly became my online 'raison d'être'. As I mentioned over at my blog (http://daytonpundit.com/site/?p=16), it took off a lot slower than I thought it would (we needed 5 days to get our first 10 members to sign up and another week to crack the 20 level). As of today, we are sitting at 49 and are continuing to grow as people tell other folks about our board (I'm also surmising that the cross posting over at 'Speak Up!' and the advertising at 'UrbanOhio' aren't hurting us, either). This site could not exist without the support of its members and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank each of you for believing enough in 'The Dayton Stoop' to sign up. I also realize that there are some 'lurkers' out there who peek in on us from time to time. My hope for that unknown constituency is to someday post something here that will cause them to finally feel compelled to register and express their opinions like the rest of us already do. If you glance at the board stats, you can see that I've been online here for over 6-1/2 DAYS out of these first 31! During that time, I've added the lion's share of posts and topics and I'm now looking at trying to slow my pace down a bit (however, breaking events can always change those plans). I do want to get back to a regular blogging schedule and have a few in the works--if I can just discipline myself to stop scanning the news sites! Again, thanks for your support! Long live 'The Dayton Stoop'! V/R, The Dayton Pundit
July 11, 200717 yr Tomorrow will be two months...we're going strong (now at 60 members) but another 'bump' may bring our site to the attention of a few more folks... Have you seen this banner lately?
July 27, 200717 yr Another update...as many of you here are probably well aware, 'UrbanOhio' recently migrated to a new web host because of timeout and accessibility problems with their former one...well, 'The Dayton Stoop' was in the same predicament (we had the same host) and recently took the same steps to mitigate them... As of today, our site is now on a LunarPages host server and appears to be experiencing NONE of the previous problems which plagued us over the past 5-6 weeks... Soooo...if you were not impressed with 'The Dayton Stoop' due to that issue, now would be the time to come back and take another look... Have you seen this banner lately?
July 27, 200717 yr We're always impressed! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
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