- This topic has 12 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 8 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
I’ll be honest.
The forums and the site in general have languished for the past few years. The original focus of the site was instant messaging, and that’s evolved into something entirely different than what it was back in 2001. And frankly, it’s not that interesting to me.
What hasn’t changed is my passion to find ways to help us collaborate and communicate better. My belief that we can improve our own lives, and those around us by helping each other, by smartly leveraging technology, and building a better future.
And this is one of the things that I love about BigBlueBall. There has always been a community behind The Ball. People who connected and made a difference. We’ve all changed over the years, but we still share that connection.
Now, I’m taking The Ball in a new direction. The new focus will move away from strictly technology. It will be less about solving any and all problems, and more about making smart choices — about technology and our lives.
Got a question about the change? Shoot. I’ll answer.
Yes, I tend to agree with you, Jeff. When I first joined as a staff member the focus was on what I could help members with on Windows Live Messenger (WLM). That program has been retired by Microsoft and now we have Skype instead (love it or loathe it). I’m all for a change in direction for BBB, many uncharted waters to explore as the world changes.
Yep, times have changed, Philip. I still interact with people online but not typically through chat per se. Usually it’s via Facebook posts and comments, Google+ or Twitter.
I use Skype, but mainly for phone calls for work or video calls with my kids (and grandkids!). Oh how times have changed…
Just posted yesterday: Changes at BigBlueBall — an overview of what’s coming.
S-u-c-c-e-s-s
Time has passed and things have definitely changed. It’s the wonder of technology how it is ever evolving. Social networking issues triumph messenger issues so it seems. I myself find myself sending someone a Facebook message instead of a text message at times.
*pokes head in and takes a gander around*
Looking exciting so far, Jeff! Your observation over the state of the forums and site are nothing but accurate and I’m excited to see what you plan to do with it next. You’re an idea man, my friend. And I have the utmost confidence that your new direction is going to be fantastic.I too have lost my connection with Instant messaging. What I once used to spend all my time on, I don’t even have on my computer anymore. I solely use Skype now (which you should include a place for in our profiles 😉 ). Social Networking has indeed evolved. It’s great to see BBB working to become relevant again. This was my first forum I ever joined. I don’t want to leave!
I’ll have to take some time to meander through the newer BBB. I am looking forward to it. I feel like I did a-way back in 2003 or 4 when I first joined. I can’t even remember what year haha!Yep, yep, and yep! What hasn’t changed though… the friendships forged here at the ball way back when… good to see y’all 🙂
Thanks for helping test. As an FYI, IF your username has been changed to imported_PolarBearNPR (for example) I can fix this. There’s not a blanket fix, so I’ll do it on a case by case basis.
Second, the avatars are now configured using Gravatar, according to the email address associated with your account: http://en.gravatar.com/
Gravatar stands for “Globally Recognized Avatar” and sites that use this make it easy for you to control and update your avatar across ALL sites from one place.
Currently the forums are locked down to no new user registrations, mainly because of the bot registrations I was getting. I’m going to be testing an alternate authentication method probably on Sunday.
Cheers, and thanks SO much for everyone who’s helped test this. Really means a lot to me.
I like that you have to login to post on the forums, but now have the flexibility to login as a registered user OR use Facebook, Twitter or Google accounts. Nice touch.
Have you also changed server?
It takes almost 2-3 minutes to process a page on here at this very moment.
And yes it’s only this site, rest are lightening quick, on fiber connection.
using cloudfront or cloudflare?
Dermot, I moved to WPEngine for hosting and I’m using Cloudflare for the CDN. I ran a test on this very URL using http://tools.pingdom.com and got a page load time of 2.02 SECONDS.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.