Encouraging DBTC participation

[JVU]

The Board agrees with the comments that a great way of tracking DBTC chains would be worth pursuing, and we’ve discussed it many times. The points mentioned that it should be intuitive to use, helpful with reminders, tally successful vs unsuccessful participation, robust, etc are all points that we’ve raised before and agree with. It seems pretty clear that a software solution would be best. The problem is we don’t know how to do this, or even the best way to get started on it. The previous tracker didn’t really do any of these more substantive things, though it was DB driven it was basically just an image in the thread that could be updated. There are some constraints that may not be obvious upfront, like needing the solution to play well with our website and forum software, and avoiding having it be only decipherable/maintainable by one person who then leaves (like our prior solutions). No one on the Board has the background and expertise to lead this project. We are willing to spend money on the project implementation, but don’t know how to start.

So, since our membership includes quite a few people with expertise in this kind of thing, can we get a volunteer to champion this process? The idea would be the champion would come up with some specific project proposals and discuss with the Board. If the solution is straightforward, the champion could just implement it. If not, then he/she could supervise the implementation delegated as needed to a paid third party like we did with the website upgrade last year.

 

[Bruce Spiegelman]

Would it be easier to track chains on a separate (but linked) website? This way it might be more robust, and it could be opened up to other clubs.

 

[bluprntguy]

Would it be easier to track chains on a separate (but linked) website? This way it might be more robust, and it could be opened up to other clubs.

When Denzil and I worked on this back in 2014, xenforo (our current forum software) was definitely hindering the efforts. I think moving DBTC outside xenforo would be far easier and it would help with finding both volunteer and hired help as they wouldn’t need to know xenforo. Ideally, DBTC would be able to pull usernames from the main BAR site, but that’s probably all the interface that’s really needed.

 

[rygh]

When Denzil and I worked on this back in 2014, xenforo (our current forum software) was definitely hindering the efforts. I think moving DBTC outside xenforo would be far easier and it would help with finding both volunteer and hired help as they wouldn’t need to know xenforo. Ideally, DBTC would be able to pull usernames from the main BAR site, but that’s probably all the interface that’s really needed.

That makes sense. I can definitely understand that hassle with xenforo.
A script to pull names should be easy.

FYI: We do still own another domain: dontbreakthechain.org

We have a fairly standard linux server for our website now, so easy to add other programs.
I can also easily add another separate instance.

One key requirement I would like to add: It somehow needs to be maintainable long term!
Denzil wrote some fun code. But then he dropped off of BAR, and that was it.
No new features, impossible to keep going long term, so we lost it.
That can easily happen again if we are not careful.

To me, that maintainability aspect means we should not be using custom code.

Is there some sort of standard asset tracking software that might work? Or some other similar business application that we can leverage?
If we have a standard tool, we should be able to hire a contractor now and long term, to tweak and support it.

 

[MolaMola]

We could also encourage members giving away frags or selling them to give first chances to members that have an active DBTC chain going.

We just would need to be mindful of newer tank owners who are trying to enter. I do think most of the time it would sort itself out since newer owners usually start out interested in more common and hardy corals, which would also be available.

 

[rygh]

We just would need to be mindful of newer tank owners who are trying to enter. I do think most of the time it would sort itself out since newer owners usually start out interested in more common and hardy corals, which would also be available.

Agree! I think having "easy" corals be part of DBTC is important.
Not because of the chain so much, but just to get people started in using DBTC.