Overhaul/Update of the BOS resource pages (1 Viewer)

[juggernaut]

Though i love this site very very much and its been such an invaluable asset, im still amazed that since 2001 they havent changed the way the resource system works


few suggestions;
- in the table, have date of material AND date added. reason: if a 2001 exam was added in march 2008, in the current system it goes into the 2001 date area (naturally), however, that sucks if youve been doing all the past exam papers and are waiting for new ones to arrive. doing them as they are added is pretty much impossible as they get added into there relative years and makes keeping track of what youve done on the site/havent done very hard

-add download amount in table
i know this isnt a popularity contest to see whos got the most dld resource, but it would be interesting to see what others have used the most, and thus what is most likely to be most valuable to utilise as a resource

-add a rating system
surely this isnt hard to code? doesnt vbulletin come with a thing where you can rate things simply (im recalling the 5 star system used on many sites where you simply click a star to rate something youve downloaded). again this would be SO useful in determining the quality of resources. for eg if you go into chemistry, there is SO many summaries that it gets pretty overwhelming in determining whats good/whats not that great. would definately be helpful if users on the site can rate resources

-general clean up
its so messy. i often see 1st module hsc stuff in prelim area, and vice versa. Or the other day i went into chemistry and noticed that the prelim and 1st modules are completely joined together (think thats a coding error on the page). but in general alot of stuff is just everywhere.
an awesome system would be sorting it such as, for example

***Chemistry***
--Exams
All exams/tests here (half yearlies, trials, practice papers only)
--Summaries
All summaries here (complete yearly or half yearly summaries only)
--Module 1 - Acidic Environent
All module 1 stuff here, resources, topic tests.
--Module 2
All Module 2 stuff here
--Module 3
All stuff here

etc
then at VERY bottom of page have
--Prelim
and sort accordingly


im sure this would take alot of hard work but surely you have an army of mods who could work on this?

 

[juggernaut]

whipped up quick 2min pdf of what it could look like

 

[michael1990]

whipped up quick 2min pdf of what it could look like

MAN I SO SO SO AGREE!

its so painful, trying to sift through all the crap!

We should make sure when we are submitting our own notes that we name them correctly as well.

 

[AsyLum]

The biggest problem is that there really isn't anyone looking after those functions these days, the original owners are fairly busy with their own work.

Perhaps we could get someone who wants to volunteer and talk to the admins who would be able to do this?

 

[lyounamu]

The biggest problem is that there really isn't anyone looking after those functions these days, the original owners are fairly busy with their own work.

Perhaps we could get someone who wants to volunteer and talk to the admins who would be able to do this?

Nice suggestion!!!

 

[michael1990]

The biggest problem is that there really isn't anyone looking after those functions these days, the original owners are fairly busy with their own work.

Perhaps we could get someone who wants to volunteer and talk to the admins who would be able to do this?

Would they then be classed as a Mod?

But really who would want to do that?

it would be a hard task to do.

Anyone wanna do it?

 

[A High Way Man]

Would they then be classed as a Mod?

But really who would want to do that?

it would be a hard task to do.

Anyone wanna do it?

u do it, ur a genius

 

[AsyLum]

Would they then be classed as a Mod?

But really who would want to do that?

it would be a hard task to do.

Anyone wanna do it?

Well no, they wouldn't they'd be looking at infrastructure rather than forum management.

And your response typifies why this problem is there. I mean, you gotta remember the admins of this place graduated and are in full time jobs and have been for a few years now, this place is secondary on their agendas. The problem has been finding people who want to take up the mantle, and when we see how thankless a job it is from people having a go but not doing too much in terms of fixing up their complaints, then the reality is its a lose-lose situation and we're stuck in the stagnant mess we're in atm.

 

[me121]

thanks for your comments, they have been noted. also if anyone else has comments related to the resources system please post them. they are very much welcomed.

 

[michael1990]

patience my friend, in time, you will see.

PS. thanks for your comments, they have been noted. also if anyone else has comments related to the resources system please post them. they are very much welcomed.

Patience?

Is this a subtle sign the resource pages is getting changed?

 

[blue_chameleon]

Patience?

Is this a subtle sign the resource pages is getting changed?

More like a false sense of hope, me thinks.

Asylum hit it on the head though, pretty much everyone that built this forum up to its heights have inevitably become constrained by other higher priorities, and nobody has been able to step up. Who would you get that would provide serious commitment?

For a while now, there's been a lot of day-to-day management of the site, but not much in the way of forward thinking.

 

[me121]

Patience?

Is this a subtle sign the resource pages is getting changed?

I'm not sure. But it is on the agenda.

 

[michael1990]

Obviously I don't want to give anyone a false sense of hope so as I said above, it's not something the admin are currently working on.

But if someone made the layout. Could it just be done by members submitting their resources?

 

[AsyLum]

But if someone made the layout. Could it just be done by members submitting their resources?

I'm not sure how the whole site is integrated, but I'm assuming you're suggesting building a file manager, a database editor, a frontend for mods to use as well as users, session designs, etc. You're looking at essentially a full blown CMS if you want to do it right, and they take a while and even then people would probably only be willing to do it if they get paid.

But if by all means you've got some time on hand, again build it, write up a presentation and implementation plan, submit it to BoS admins via email or set up a meeting if you're close to the city, and see what you can do.

Otherwise the response will unfortunately be: Yeah thanks we've known for the past few years.

 

[juggernaut]

the best example i can give of an awesome system would be http://www.ozfortress.com/media/videos/list/

its basically user submitted. gets entered in as so. when you click on the title of the item it takes you to what is a forum post, with extra info about the item, whatever the author wants to say. other members can then leave comments via there forum user name. as you can see its pretty much a forum post so im guessing the system has something to do with vbulletin and is integrated with the forum.

i know the guy who owns the site so ill ask how its all done and the work behind it.

i understand that the original creators are all busy, for some reason i always thought responsibility was handed down to someone and there was a team of admins around. is bos profit or not for profit ?

 

[AsyLum]

The backend is actually quite messy, you'd need a bit of work to fix it up.

 

[juggernaut]

i know someone whod do it/has the ability to do such a thing, but as you said, would most likely cost.

 

[michael1990]

i understand that the original creators are all busy, for some reason i always thought responsibility was handed down to someone and there was a team of admins around. is bos profit or not for profit ?

I would of thought it is NON-Profit. Because how many Prenium Members are there?

I would say a small percentage?

Please MODs please correct me if i am incorrect.

 

[michael1990]

i know someone whod do it/has the ability to do such a thing, but as you said, would most likely cost.

Would BOS be willing to spend a minimal amount of money?

What if we approached a business and asked them to do and they could have advertising on the website of their business?

I am sure they might consider it as this is a NON-Profit organisation helping students across Australia.

 

[blue_chameleon]

Would BOS be willing to spend a minimal amount of money?

What if we approached a business and asked them to do and they could have advertising on the website of their business?

I am sure they might consider it as this is a NON-Profit organisation helping students across Australia.

Um, yeah buddy thats kind of being done. Have a look around at the "sponsored links".