Administrators Ferrariman Posted June 14, 2010 Administrators Report Share Posted June 14, 2010 As many of you know (or perhaps you didn't ) our site, .ws, is a spin off of the German Vice site .info. Both of these sites exist on the same server and kaeptnCaipi is an administrator over there as well as here. Recently Caipi, Timm525 and myself have been discussing the possibility of merging the 2 sites. Everyone would have the option to view the site in English or German, whatever you prefer and each site would gain from the other. Both sites would benefit from the increase in members (many members are already registered on both sites) and we would truly become the largest Vice site in the world! I for one like the sound of that! The admin teams on both sites are pretty excited about the whole deal but we also want to know what the members think. I admit that I was quite skeptical of the idea at first but the more I learn about it, the more I believe the merger will benefit everyone!Please give us your input and we will try to answer any questions you may have.Thanks!Ferrariman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators KaeptnCaipi Posted June 14, 2010 Administrators Report Share Posted June 14, 2010 I just want to add some things. Merging our boards would also lower costs as we don't have to pay for software licenses twice. Every software we purchase is for one domain only. And maybe we could cancel domains, too.And with a merged community we would have more traffic which leads to better Google page ranks. And we would be the largest Vice community on earth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators timm525 Posted June 14, 2010 Administrators Report Share Posted June 14, 2010 ...And we would be the largest Vice community on earth.That sounds great in it's self! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyn Posted June 14, 2010 Report Share Posted June 14, 2010 I would say: the more the merrier! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miamijimf Posted June 14, 2010 Report Share Posted June 14, 2010 Go for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie Rich Posted June 15, 2010 Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 Sorry, I am not in favor of this change.I prefer to have the board have a more American flavor, with a large number of American members. I am not in favor of a board where the European members far outnumber the American members. It will be far more difficult to find like subjects to discuss, and if I find myself frequently being asked "what did you mean by that", when using an American colloquial term, that will get trying.The status quo is working just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators timm525 Posted June 15, 2010 Administrators Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 Hi Rich,The boards will be combined together but each will have their own section. One will be in English just as .ws is and the other in German just as .info is.The threads and posts will not be commingled together in a hodgepodge of German and English writing.Caipi, Ferrariman and I discussed this at length and decided that in order for this to work correctly, the languages and boards have to be separated.As far as the European members out weighting the American members, that really doesn't matter with the separation of the boards. Also just as an FYI, there are about 100 active .info members compared to almost 500 active .ws members. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frey Posted June 15, 2010 Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 Sounds good to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COOPER&BURNETT Posted June 15, 2010 Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 Will we still be .WS, or will we have a different name?Will it now be a longer web address to type in? I've heard a lot of good stuff so far! Any disadvantages seen for merging sites? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators timm525 Posted June 15, 2010 Administrators Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 The domain name for both will be miamiviceonline.comThat is the domain name we are under now. If you type in miami-vice.ws it automatically takes you to miamiviceonline.com where we are now.One of the reasons for this is so that we could have a .com address which will give us higher ranking on Google and other searches than the .ws domain.I'm not sure of the disadvantages but the advantages so far sound really great!More members on one board. Higher traffic equaling more hits on Google. Less costs for us to pay. One board for Caipi to have to admin the software for... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonny-Burnett Posted June 15, 2010 Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 Hi Rich' date='The boards will be combined together but each will have their own section. One will be in English just as .ws is and the other in German just as .info is.The threads and posts will not be commingled together in a hodgepodge of German and English writing.Caipi, Ferrariman and I discussed this at length and decided that in order for this to work correctly, the languages and boards have to be separated.As far as the European members out weighting the American members, that really doesn't matter with the separation of the boards. Also just as an FYI, there are about 100 active .info members compared to almost 500 active .ws members.[/quote'] Seems like this makes sense though not sure what the downsides would be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicechic84 Posted June 15, 2010 Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 Sounds good to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators KaeptnCaipi Posted June 15, 2010 Administrators Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 We are doing several tests on a test forum. So we can try different things without destroying our live forums.As soon as we have implemented some ideas you can take a look, so you can get an idea how a merged forum would look like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex2b Posted June 15, 2010 Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 I speak for myself but I agree ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Ferrariman Posted June 15, 2010 Author Administrators Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 I would just like to add for those afraid of change (me included) that I have seen the test forum. It's exactly as planned. You click one spot for .info and another for .ws No confusion and everything looks the same as it is now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COOPER&BURNETT Posted June 15, 2010 Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 In that case, it sounds great. Perhaps we should do this.Is this reversable if it doesn't go as planned?If so, I see no reason not to try it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted June 15, 2010 Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 I agreed because I think that it´s a good idea to bring our communities together and lower the costs. We can become the worldwide biggest Miami Vice community!!! What a great thought! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Ferrariman Posted June 15, 2010 Author Administrators Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 Oh it's gonna work, count on it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie Rich Posted June 15, 2010 Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 Hi Rich' date='The boards will be combined together but each will have their own section. One will be in English just as .ws is and the other in German just as .info is.The threads and posts will not be commingled together in a hodgepodge of German and English writing.Caipi, Ferrariman and I discussed this at length and decided that in order for this to work correctly, the languages and boards have to be separated.As far as the European members out weighting the American members, that really doesn't matter with the separation of the boards. Also just as an FYI, there are about 100 active .info members compared to almost 500 active .ws members.[/quote']I appreciate your explanation, and I believe that does alleviate my current fears. I did imagine a mixture of languages, and the ensuing confusion, as that was not explained previously.Thanks, Tim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Ferrariman Posted June 15, 2010 Author Administrators Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 Rich, I was very skeptical of the whole idea at first but trust us on this one. We would never do anything to alienate our members. Everything we do, we do to improve the site. That's why I love being associated with Chris and his team. I get an idea, I ask if it can be done and it happens! No bashing intended here, but we don't take over 2 years to fix "service unavailable" Everyone involved here is dedicated to the max! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie Rich Posted June 15, 2010 Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 Rich' date=' I was very skeptical of the whole idea at first but trust us on this one. We would never do anything to alienate our members. Everything we do, we do to improve the site. That's why I love being associated with Chris and his team. I get an idea, I ask if it can be done and it happens! No bashing intended here, but we don't take over 2 years to fix "service unavailable" Everyone involved here is dedicated to the max! [/quote']I appreciate that, Lou.If I play the role of "the hardest one to convince", then maybe that isn't a bad thing. I am glad that my concerns brought out the more detailed explanation that all the members needed. The two sites blended into one, with all languages mish-mashed together would have made the Gulf oil spill look like a minor mess in comparison. Some day, maybe I will post something with 57 different smilies, and pictures of adorable puppies and baby seals, and glowing praise for everybody involved with the website, and congratulations on the greatest achievement in the history of mankind. Then again, maybe not ...I think I'll just continue to be me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Ferrariman Posted June 15, 2010 Author Administrators Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 Some day' date=' maybe I will post something with 57 different smilies, and pictures of adorable puppies and baby seals, and glowing praise for everybody involved with the website, and congratulations on the greatest achievement in the history of mankind. [/quote']and I can guarantee you that we will keep working towards that day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavinsky Posted June 15, 2010 Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 It sounds like a good idea but I think we need to wait a little while longer to work out the current layout and bugs problems.I'm having trouble finding the glossary in particular. I have to search around to find it now, can it be modded so its a tab on the upper part of the page along with "Homepage Forum Downloads" and that lot?and I do have any idea how to deal with the language barrier: wouldnt it be possibile to rig it up for our german users that a built in translator translates everything to german for them and the other way around for the english ones?althought it sounds like an expensive proposition so it might not be such a good idea, just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators KaeptnCaipi Posted June 16, 2010 Administrators Report Share Posted June 16, 2010 There will be no language barrier in the forum. One thing you can check out right here on .wsDid you notice the pull down menu in the lower left corner of our yellow footer? Actually it says "English (US)". This is the default forum language. You can choose between "english" and "german". So if you click on "german" the forum (NOT the threads, posts, comments PMs...) will appear in german. So every user can choose if he wants a german or an english forum. Just try yourself. As the threads and posts will be in separated forums (english and german) there will be no mix between the two languages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie Rich Posted June 16, 2010 Report Share Posted June 16, 2010 One of the hardest tasks of leadership is understanding that you are not what you are, but what you're perceived to be by others.Edward L. Flom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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