How else to get the word out!

Talk about anything that doesn't fit in a topic below - Also used for board announcements.
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Alex
Site Administrator
Posts: 178
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2002 8:00 pm

Post by Alex »

I'd like to get the word out about the board, and that there is one here. I know I can post on Batlabs, and a lot of you guys who visit there often will check in here, however, I want to get the word out to others...

I'll make a post at some point to trunkedradio.net, unless someone else would like to do that.

I don't know to many other good sites that are good for posting.

Also, if you know a lot about a subject, and would like the opertunity to moderate a forum, please let me know - either email or private message is fine.

Thanks!

-Alex
Alex
Site Administrator
Posts: 178
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Post by Alex »

Ideas? anyone?
Medic-10
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Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2002 8:00 pm

Post by Medic-10 »

Put it on qth.com, usedradio.net, and twowayshopper.com. Earl aka Medic-10
Medic-10
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Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2002 8:00 pm

Post by Medic-10 »

Put it on qth.com, usedradio.net, and twowayshopper.com. Earl aka Medic-10
Alex
Site Administrator
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Post by Alex »

Done! Thanks for the advice!
Bob
Moderator
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Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2002 8:00 pm

Post by Bob »

How about putting a section at the bottom of the main page with a bunch of keywords to search on, and registering with a couple of the search engines? You can make the keywords the same color as the background so they aren't immediately distinguishable. May be cheesy, but it'll work.
Alex
Site Administrator
Posts: 178
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2002 8:00 pm

Post by Alex »

Bob wrote: How about putting a section at the bottom of the main page with a bunch of keywords to search on, and registering with a couple of the search engines? You can make the keywords the same color as the background so they aren't immediately distinguishable. May be cheesy, but it'll work.
Actually, I was going to be doing some reading up on writing a robots.txt file that is requested by google and other bots that do web crawling. That would take the place of hiding the keywords. I did enter this as one of the site for the googlebot to crawl, i'm working on others. Also, I'm thinking about purchasing a domain for this site, and if I do, that'll get searched automaticly.

Thanks for the input!

-Alex
HumHead
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Feb 16, 2002 5:06 pm

Post by HumHead »

Maybe you can get Bat to post a pointer on the BatLabs main site on his next update. I had to do some digging to figure out where I put this URL after the Batboard went down.
Alex
Site Administrator
Posts: 178
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Post by Alex »

I sent Batwing another e-mail today...

This is pretty much the gist of it:
I wrote you an email a while ago about the board.

Over the past few months that you have been running it, it has brought a
community of people together who spend most of their time helping others
out and giving advice. At the beginning of the month, the server that it
was hosted on went down, and I don't know if a time has been determined
for it to go back up when or where.

I understand that you have worked hard to make this community happen and spent both time and money doing it. I would like to help sustain it for a while until your able to get it going again. I have been able to contact
a few people for which I have contact information, but there are many
others I don't. I would make you an administrator of the board, or
whatever you felt you wanted to get it back online, and for you to feel
that it is a secure place.

I'm willing to donate time, space, internet connection etc. IF you would
like your own account on my machine, and setup and maintain the board
yourself off my server, that's fine as well.

Please let me know. I have spent a lot of time contributing to the board,
as well as others, and we'd like to keep doing so.

Let me know what it would take.

Thanks
I'm hoping I can get a response out of him, I have a very limited amout of contacts with folks, and I'm glad to see some of them coming here. - Please keep spreading the word.

-Alex
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Monty
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2002 2:37 pm
Location: San Diego, California

Update

Post by Monty »

HI:

I have made a inquiry as to when the Batlab Site will return.

I have been informed, it will return ! As to when?, that's anyones
guess. 72 hrs? ....Well, its been weeks

If you want to get the word out, it would be BEST to notify groups
( not the CB type ) that there is another professional board being
supported.

If you get too many Atypical " Non-Sense" persons on a board, it
can / does cause professional persons to go elsewhere. But
given enough time, the professionals will find you anyway; otherwise
they may not be too professional

It has only been through the use of these boards that now 1000's
of Hams/Two-Way/Professionals can have a place to voice their
opinions to perhpas make a dent in these companies that hire un-qualified
CEO's that make decissions that impact all of us. ( many times in a poor
way ), Not to say they are all bad, its just when 50,000 professional persons @ Motorola have been laid off, it seemed to have laid off on the
Quality of their products ( but not the price )

But I will add the link to my Web Site ( as its still under construction ) and
we have a good client list....Several 1000, so as I deal with some of them
on a daily basis, I will foward your link onto them, much the same way
I have ( as with others ) did with Batlabs.

Rest assured, plan to have a Major increase in USERS, and once you
start supporting them, make plans for the extra space required....Such
as what happened with Bat, I made many donations to keep the baord
alive, and once your board has been established, then you might consider
the Donation route as well....

As with everyone else, I have tagged your baord, others will too.

Keep up the good work, and it does look good....I have no problems
with it loading on AOL, and with Cable it works even faster.

Monty
Alex
Site Administrator
Posts: 178
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2002 8:00 pm

Post by Alex »

Thanks Monty.

There are a couple of features I can turn on with the board to do what I can to keep the rif-raf out - like requiring valid email addresses - which I don't right now. I ask that if your not going to use a valid e-mail, to at least turn the notify me by e-mail features off in your profile so I don't have to read 100000 messages a day worth of bounced mail.

The system I have now runs FreeBSD 4.4, with Apache, Mysql, and PHP4. It's a Celeron 766, 256mb of ram, and 20gb worth of storage. The company I work for is kind enough to allow me to run a system off their T1, and since this board could be considered educational in some senses, the college I goto probably wouldn't have an issue if I needed to go about moving it to another machine at home where the connection is an OC3.

Right now, besides time, the board costs me $0.00 to run. If I have to move it to somewhere it does cost money, i'll ask for donations at that point. For now, it's costing me nothing, so your cost to use is free :-D

I'm planning on buying a domain name for the board, I don't know what it will be, but hopefully will aid people in finding it better.

With that, I'm hungry, and it's past lunch time.

Thanks again Monty,

-Alex
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Monty
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2002 2:37 pm
Location: San Diego, California

Follow Up

Post by Monty »

<b>Hi Alex:

First I am one to acknowledge your efforts, as many may not
realize what is required to support a site such as this. It mabe " Free"
of money Costs, but " Time and Effort" should be worth something !

Also, I do have some pretty strong views ( which others may not share )
but I do base them on years of experience and found most of them are
very sound.

Professionals tend to look for other professionals in their field, and many
times the "rif-raft" as you call it will infect most groups sooner or later and
cause them to go else where.

I made this recommendation to Bat and although the board was new at
first, many times I saw where some ( reasons unknown ) started showing
their adolescent side if they disagree with someones point of view.

Hence, the need for Valid Email Address / Password Requirements. This
is REQUIRED if you wish to keep your investment sound and the " rif-raft"
out.

Scammers are growing at a alarming rate, so beware !

A list of operating parameters would not be a bad idea either....If persons
violate the rules, then one can chose to eliminate that account. ( forever )

Unfortunately, I have even encountered a fellow ( recent ) on the Batlab Site that advertised some material for sale, only to sell it off at a Swap Feast after making a deal with me ( and perhaps others ) ...After seeing the negative posts about him on Ebay, I was glad I did not get screwed.

Persons like these can / and do destroy the integrity of a well maintain
board..... A board " open " to anyone will make it tough for persons to
trust others. I was truly surprised to find a real flake selling on
the batlab Site.

I also would use " Radio Discussion" in place of General Chatter

I will try and follow up with some more examples as time permits.

Monty
Alex
Site Administrator
Posts: 178
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2002 8:00 pm

Post by Alex »

Thanks much for the feedback. While you do have to "register" for the board, it's not as open as the origional batboard, so while someone can post what they want, the'll still have to get a valid username, which if I really felt up to it, or found reason to, I could track them down based on logs.

I'll consider the vaild email thing. I think there are some people who don't want to be known, and if that's the case, I respect that, and would deal with it on a case by case basis. I do have the ability to approve people as they register as well as do a confirm by e-mail. However, if I don't know someone, how can I approve them. I also don't want to create an environment where if somone has something to contribute, that they don't because they need to wait for me to approve them. For now, I plan on keeping an eye on it, and if it gets carried away, then I'll do something about it.

If you think it would help, I can create a "title" based on how many posts people have... like if you have 10000 posts, you could be considered a techhead or something... I'm not the most creative person when it comes to coming up with stuff...

Interms of people selling stuff, I'll stay away from getting in the middle of conflicts. I personally like to talk to someone breifly on the phone so I know I have valid contact information, and usually ask for a reference or two before making a trade, and if I'm iffy about someone, I'll use USPS money orders. That's me of course, everyone has their own way.

Interms of general chatter - I thought i'd leave it open for now. We'll see if it goes a bit out of wack.

Thanks again for the feedback Monty,

Alex
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MicorRT
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Mar 16, 2002 2:28 pm
Location: Maryland

Keywords...

Post by MicorRT »

The only radio support board that I knew of was Batlabs but that is only for Motorola equipment... I service anything and everything. If there was away to get search engines to pick up on names like Kenwood, E.F. Johnson, Tait, Trident and the like. I like the board and think it's a nice layout.
MicorRT
Alex
Site Administrator
Posts: 178
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2002 8:00 pm

Post by Alex »

If you do search for some of those terms, this board will show up usually in page two of google. I'd like to get a domain for it at some point. Look for another thread looking for suggestions.

I did see your post on batlabs this morning too, most of my interest lies in Motorola gear, but I saw the opertunity for something like this, and jumped on it :)

-Alex
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