In an effort to encourage more discussion on the issues, we've added a vbulletin forum to our site. The vbulletin forum will replace the old reader comments section for new articles published from this date forward by Walt Thiessen
(libertarian)
Sunday, April 25, 2010
In an effort to encourage more interaction between columnists and readers on this site, as well as to encourage debate of the issues between readers, we have purchased vbulletin forum software for this website. The new vbulletin forum will replace the old reader comments module for articles published after today (with the possible exception of a few articles that might already be under development by our columnists).
This change will require that all readers who wish to comment on articles appearing on the site will need to re-establish their email address with the vbulletin login system. Users who have Facebook accounts will have the option to associate their Facebook account with their Nolan Chart reader's account, for easy access, although having a Facebook account is not a requirement for registering here at the 'Chart.
Vbulletin forum software is the most popular forum software in the world, and its interface is familiar to anyone who has spent any time in an online forum. It gives us a significant increase in features for our readers to use in posting their reactions to articles published here at the website. One of the most exciting new tools we are making available is a blogging module which allows users to create their own blogs here on the 'Chart. The forum software also includes a content management system, which will allow us at a future date to tie the columnist accounts directly in as well, thus providing a single-login option for columnists as both columnist and reader. Once we implement this feature, columnists and readers will also be able to interact directly via the vbulletin private messaging system.
Vbulletin also provides extensive options for privacy protection for registered members. Additionally, it has a moderator system that we will use to help insure that discussions of the issues remain relatively respectful and clean. Anyone wishing to become a moderator should contact us.
We have also combined this new forum with our PHPBB forum that was previously set up to provide a venue for discussion about the merits of the Nolan Chart's 10 question survey. That forum was established recently when our survey received extensive attention due to its use by Glenn Beck on his television show on February 26, 2010. Readers who signed up for that forum will find that they already have accounts in the new vbulletin forum, after we migrated those accounts to the new system. Over 200,000 people have taken the survey here at the 'Chart since the Beck broadcast, and in the past couple of weeks over 15,000 people have shared their survey results with friends on their Facebook accounts.
One of the reasons we decided to implement this change is to encourage people who visit the site via the survey to stick around and participate in the discussions of the issues. The old reader comments section had extremely few features and was largely unsuited for discussion. Despite that fact, it's remarkable how much discussion actually took place. We believe that the new forum should dramatically increase the amount of discussion of the issues by readers from all camps of the Nolan Chart.
Some will wonder why email accounts under the old reader comments system have not been migrated to vbulletin as well. The reason is that the old system did not require password access, whereas the new system does require a password, so there was no good way to transfer the old accounts over without verifying that the proper user was adding his/her own password. Since new account registration requires such a verification anyway, it made sense to simply ask our readers to create a new account.
Columnists currently all have password access, so their accounts have been migrated successfully to the forums. If you are a columnist, and you find that your email address is already taken, try logging in with your control panel password, and you will probably find that your account is already created and ready to go!
Creating a new account is simple and takes only a minute or two. Once created, you'll have full user access to the system.
Did you like this article? If you did, Thumb It! 9
thumbs so far
The views expressed
in this article are those of Walt Thiessen only and
do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates.
Walt Thiessen is solely responsible for the contents
of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated
with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
I'd forgotten to code the comments on the main article pages to read BBCode, which is used by vbulletin to display messages in the forum. If you see any more formatting problems like the one you saw here, post me a reply so I can get on it!
Posted By: Gary Trieste
Date: September 5, 2010 11:51:01 PM
In an effort to encourage more discussion on the issues, we've added a vbulletin forum to our site. The vbulletin forum will replace the old reader comments section for new articles published from this date forward
I don't know about the "new and improved" blogging software module - mostly because it requires people to both register and to log in; this will cut down on on casual or impassioned responses that reflect the immediacy of the commenter who would have just read the article and has all his points, pro or con, lined up in a row, ready to vent.
By the time a commenter now gets to the place where he can post his comment, and chew through all the confusing "quote" "reply" "url" prefaces, he will be both lost and devoid of his original points to post.
I think this change definitely goes under the heading, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"
(Just check it out, already there is a dearth of posts in response to articles. Not something you want when you are trying to have people interact with your website and articles)
Posted By: Raven West
Date: April 27, 2011 03:16:58 PM
It's a bit more difficult to navigate, but I guess it works. Is there anyway to delete a post that someone might put up with spam, or a unwanted link or photo?
It's a bit more difficult to navigate, but I guess it works. Is there anyway to delete a post that someone might put up with spam, or a unwanted link or photo?
Yes. Just click the Report Violation link and tell us what you found to be wrong with the post. We'll review it.
