View Full Version : Latest Club News from Bootie
Hi Guys
As you can see I have done a bit of pruning around the site. Like a tree over time it grows branches and like a tree some branches flourish whilst others wither and die. I have taken a step back and had a look at the site and felt it was getting 'over branchy' :) With that I cut away some areas and amalgamated them into existing sections. Not one post has been deleted as most of the work was introducing the current threads and topics into different sections. If you cant find a specific post use the search bar on the site to have a look for it.... most of the threads got amalgamated into the General Post section so there is a starter for 10 if your missing a post.
I have also decided that non-active members will be pruned... now since starting the FGM I have always swithered over what to do with the silent minority. I finally came to a decision today. if they don't log on at anytime over a 90 day (3 month) period they are dead wood and I just clip them of the site. That applies for all of us.. ok well not me so.... if you are of for an extended period at least log in once every 3 months to keep your account active.
POS is in the process of gathering up members pics from around the forums and posting them to the Members Gallery...
Ive also been thinking a lot lately about the tournaments and campaigns we are holding at FGM. I think we have diluted their strength by running too many.. it is a fine line to hold and I think we have over stepped on tournaments running... as such I have decided to cull one of mine which I didnt think was running as good as originally intended. When we dilute the competitions in my opinion it makes members pick and choose which ones they decide to interact with. I think I will hold of on allowing new campaigns just now because I feel ideally we would be best running Domination, 1 Campaign and however many small fun competitions such as Grid Wars, POS' shows, King of the Castle and such like. This will give the campaign the undivided attention of the players making them more likely to grasp the concept and become involved rather than them thinking Im doing rubbish in that campaign I will concentrate my efforts on this one.
We will see how this shapes up over time but that is my intentions for the way forward for the club. Comments, suggestions and feedback welcome.
It's when admen and spammers start sending their robots in that you know you've got a successful website ;)
Bootie -- good and valid points, especially keeping the membership trimmed to the proven active members.
On tourneys and campaigns -- I understand your concerns and disagree a little.
Domination has been FGM's greatest success so far, undoubtably.
On the other hand, the FGM has also been a really fun laboratory for tourney and campaign development and the BBB and Tag Team tourneys over last few years and POS's "quickie" tourneys now, have been very successful (if sometimes slowed down by the dead hand of "real life" and work...LOL) That said, campaigns are often rather experimental and after running their course for a while, either work or a better, improved version is developed (like NAC and Domination)
The Ardennes Campaign concept worked really well -- from all aspects such as command decisions with very challenging FOW conditions, simultaneous action/movements and battle group commanders maintaining units in the face of possibly crippling casualties while still achieving their objectives -- this tourney works in all aspect except it demands a HUGE workload and intense attention to detail from the TM.
I've had to put Ardennes on hold as life and work at the moment allows me to engage with CM and FGM in small time snippets -- usually on the side while doing other stuff :-(
I would not cut campaigns too far back, as for instance in NAC, at any point not all the players are active -- sometimes even as few as two out of a roster of over a dozen, who have to sit out for as long as a month at a time, even longer.
Ok gotta go -- more thoughts on this later :-)
Guys
Today I added an 'Add This' button to the bottom of all the pages. This will help spread the word of the FGM.
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/greershane/The%20FGM/Capture-29.jpg
Help your users share your content everywhere. Generate traffic back to your site and increase your site's search engine ranking.
AddThis helps website publishers and bloggers spread their content across the web by making it easy for visitors to bookmark and share content to their favorite social destinations. AddThis is served 30 billion times a month to 500 million people in over 50 languages, and can be found on hundreds of thousands of websites.
<object width="873" height="525"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6UF76D9h8sQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6UF76D9h8sQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="873" height="525"></embed></object>
We I believe out do Gamesquad in style and professionalism. Looks like they finally took me off of being a moderator...LOL
ACSpectre
02-19-2010, 03:11
I only went to Gamesquad to find CM opponents. Of the two I found there, neither one finished the game we started. I never went there for any social interaction and I haven't logged in for well over a year. The first real PBEM I got was with Ratzki at the Blitz.
Ok another update added to the site is the option to invite your friends.
There is now an invite friends link under the main navbar tabs.
Click that and you will come to this screen. Straightforward from there.
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/greershane/The%20FGM/Capture-35.jpg
Top of the heap at Battlefront. :)
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/greershane/The%20FGM/Capture-65.jpg
I love this new thing : )
Great work bootie
http://i670.photobucket.com/albums/vv64/jonnydood/fgm.jpg
PoorOldSpike
07-02-2010, 02:16
..With all due respect Spike, you will always win because you play the most games..
I posted saying much the same thing on two separate occasions over the past 6 months and suggested changes to the ladder system to make it fairer for those who don't have time to play as many games, but Bootie and the rest of the club seemed to think it's fine just as it, their consensus of opinion seems to be that if somebody plays loads of games, he deserves to top the ladder, so I shut up and just got on with it.
I took a terrible hammering by losing 42 games this past ladder season (that's a loss rate of almost 2 games per week for 25 weeks) but I just kept punching like a beat boxer who don't know when to stay down and I ended up somehow winning 74, so maybe they think I deserved the overall ladder win, i dunno..
Anyway I'm taking a layoff for some R & R when the last Ardennes Firefight tourney game is finished soon, no more ladders for me for a spell..;)
"I'm a little wounded, but I am not slain,
I will lay me down to bleed a while,
Then I'll rise and fight again"
-John Dryden 1631-1700
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8n0mgkaEGQc&hl=en_GB&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8n0mgkaEGQc&hl=en_GB&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
PoorOldSpike
07-10-2010, 02:27
Yeah difficult decision for Bootie, maybe it should go to a poll.
The gents pic captures the warm cosy 'gentlemens club' atmosphere of FGM perfectly and has always been popular with members whenever it's put in appearances over the past year or so.
Having it permanently in place like a flag at the masthead gives a feelgood factor because people can arrive home tired from work and log in, knowing it'll always be there for them, rock-solid, dependable, comforting.
In fact it's almost like a club trademark logo and focal point giving a sense of stability and permanence to the club.
My only dislike of it is that the rectangular black border is a bit too thick and heavy, there's a young woman in Lloyds Bank who cakes her eyes with mascara like that.
The switching banners were good too, but always took about 3 seconds to display on my screen, by which time I'd scrolled down to the forum and I never saw them fully anyway..;)
But even if there was no display delay, I'd still vote for the gents pic to be permanently nailed to the masthead in a poll..:)
Hedgehog
07-11-2010, 11:20
Yeah difficult decision for Bootie, maybe it should go to a poll.
The gents pic captures the warm cosy 'gentlemens club' atmosphere of FGM perfectly and has always been popular with members whenever it's put in appearances over the past year or so.
Having it permanently in place like a flag at the masthead gives a feelgood factor because people can arrive home tired from work and log in, knowing it'll always be there for them, rock-solid, dependable, comforting.
In fact it's almost like a club trademark logo and focal point giving a sense of stability and permanence to the club.
My only dislike of it is that the rectangular black border is a bit too thick and heavy, there's a young woman in Lloyds Bank who cakes her eyes with mascara like that.
The switching banners were good too, but always took about 3 seconds to display on my screen, by which time I'd scrolled down to the forum and I never saw them fully anyway..;)
But even if there was no display delay, I'd still vote for the gents pic to be permanently nailed to the masthead in a poll..:)
Yes you know my feeling's on the Old Gentlemen, Good posting POS
Hey Rico, you developed those cartoon avatars? If so then, holy crap man, they are awesome!
...well, they are awesome anyway. ;)
Yes, I drew the cartoon avatars -- I do that kind of thing for a living :)
You're a legend Rico :thumb:
You're a legend Rico :thumb:
I thought you might use that one :)
Thanks to Rico for the FGM shield icons.
Thanks to Rico for the FGM shield icons.
Cool -- I had forgotten about those. :)
Hi Ho all ...green is easier on the eyes
Nice job on the FGM shields Rico.
Some updates on stats.
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/greershane/4.jpg http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/greershane/3.jpg http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/greershane/2-4.jpg http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/greershane/1-7.jpg
At least NZ ain't white, we just feature, Yah for McIVAN and WiGAM. lol
Earl of Grey
11-19-2010, 14:11
Who's living in Africa and browsing our site? Any troops curently deployed there?
I wonder who's browsing from Lybia and Iran?
Earl of Grey
11-19-2010, 15:06
I wonder who's browsing from Lybia and Iran?
Probably the Arabic Secret Service (tm) checking if we a) portray the Iranian Army in an unbecoming way in our ArmA2 campaign and b) if we're planning and training for the invasion of Syria (or the general Middle East) with CMSF. :biggrin1:
Silverfox
11-30-2010, 04:33
Hi Bootie,
Interesting satistics. What's next ? A break down by States ??
Silverfox
Nathangun
11-30-2010, 08:39
I must be the only one from the republic of Ireland logging on.
PoorOldSpike
11-30-2010, 09:46
Hi Bootie,
Interesting satistics. What's next ? A break down by States ??
Silverfox
I compiled this list some time ago- http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/showthread.php?8-FGM-Members-Gallery
but it's difficult to keep it updated because new members sometimes don't specify what state (or even country) they're in.
So if anybody who's not on the list wants to be on it, mail me your screenname, your location and any other details you feel like giving, and i'll edit you into the list..:)- pooroldspike-at-aol-dotcom
I must be the only one from the republic of Ireland logging on.
If you are the only ... So I? :doh:
Guys..... Im sad to announce our downloads section has had to be removed. The guy who was doing all the work on the product sadly passed away in April and despite the product working fine until this time it has now come to a point where the new site software does not integrate with the Links Download Manager programme. Sorry to all you guys who used it. From now on we will not have a download section here at the FGM.
No other DL experts at FGM to step in?
Who passed? I don't seem to recall the announcement. :tsk:
It was a guy from vbulletin.org. He passed away from cancer in April. He had devoted so much time to this download programme and keeping it updated all the time that no one noticed for a while until it stopped working... so goes the way of internet communication. I will be adding a link to the top menu taking you to the mods warehouse in time.... we will have no upload section of our own but for scenarios you can add them to a post as an attachment and for mods you can post a link to the mod warehouse where you upload it. :)
Hedgehog
12-05-2010, 23:04
Yes sad new's about the Guy as well.....Such a terrible illness
Hmmm... did a bit of fickering and we have the Links and Downloads working again. :)
We never doubted you for a minute.
PoorOldSpike
12-14-2010, 22:07
Incidentally when Bootie's not here, he asks me to keep an eye on the shop (put the cat out, run the mop over the floor, flick a duster over the mantelpiece etc) and do general FGM housekeeping duties such as moving old irrelevant posts to the Storage Section out of sight in the FGM back room so they don't clutter the forums up.
For example if Charlie or Harry posted asking for opponents weeks ago and got some replies, i storage the posts because they've now become dead wood and there's no reason for them to stay up.
I also storage potentially explosive posts about religion, politics and member disputes etc to keep the peace; heck I even sometimes storage my own posts because I've been as guilty as anybody in the past!
We don't totally ban all mention of religion and politics, we can't do that because we're a military discussion club, and as religion and politics are often closely bound up with wars and conflicts we can't just airbrush them out and pretend they don't exist, but what Bootie and me can do is Storage such posts if they might start trouble, and not let them run on out of control as we've done in the past.
2011 is therefore going to be a lot more peaceful..:)
Incidentally, Storaging a post doesn't mean it's deleted, your post count won't drop and it will still count towards promotion.
Also, if at any time you notice a post of yours has vanished and you can't understand why, just contact me (or go over my head to Bootie, I don't mind) and we'll explain.
And if you don't agree with it being storaged, just lodge an appeal and if we change our minds we'll re-post it back in the forum for you.
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/Competitons/Storage.gif
Yeah... good post POS. As an aside... Italian Ranks are now available.
Yeah... good post POS. As an aside... Italian Ranks are now available.
How do I look? :yo:
AirborneBob
12-19-2010, 01:19
looks good pisaino
http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/showthread.php?3093-How-to-change-FGM-Ranks-group
Kewl flag Louis
Sergente Louis VR. :)
Hi Guys
Time for another one of my 'Where we stand' posts.
Im happy to say the forum software is working fine and it certainly appears a lot more stable than it once was. In relation to the site we are actually quite a busy little site now with each week or two a thousand new posts being put on the boards. I think this is the most 'lucrative' we have ever been. The domain has been paid up for another year (gets renewed in October) and although the price of hosting is going up slightly in January it is not a problem as donations and my personal input more than covers costs so thanks to those who have helped out.
Another thanks goes out to the competition designers out there. It is your hard work and passion that keeps guys coming back here. Keep it up.
Regarding the current CM ladder I have been working with Christian Soldier in the background to make a fully automated ladder which basically mirrors that adopted by the Blitz. We are still fine tuning it but once we have it fully tested I will put it to you guys whether you want a change or not. Zarazas ladder is fine by all accounts but I have absolutely no input in it and Im a bit of a control freak and start to stress when people mail me asking questions about the ladder and I have to refer them to Zaraza. The ladder I am working on has me currently inputting all scenario size and information into the database and by god there are a lot of scenarios out there!!
If it works AND you want it we will push it out across the board and incorporate the style into other ladders. CS etc.
As the FGM grows I may look to set up a management section with interested members being given exclusive rights and roles within the club to aide me and POS. We have coped well up to now but we've been holding it up for a long time and if we spread the workload it'll give me and POS more time to post and game. Its just an idea at the minute.
Regarding membership we have been implementing the post within 90 days or get booted / no post in 3 months get you cut and it has kept us at a level of about 80+ members at any one time. It would be nice to have a bigger membership but we more than hold our own against the bigger sites. The Blitz for example has 8,000 members... I doubt if there members are as active as ours.
Be sure to invite your friends and opponents to the FGM as we always make them more than welcome.
Well enough for now... I got work to do on the site. :)
I wish I could help somewhat, but the language is a problem for me ... :noidea:
No worries at all Louis... your interesting posts and discussion are more than helping us out.
AirborneBob
12-24-2010, 00:58
If you need any help on the scale modeling threads let me know..I would be honored to help! (its my other passion/vice)
Will bear that in mind thankyou.
Time for another one of my 'Where we stand' posts....
It's good to hear everything is working ok :) I wish i knew about new ladder, so i don't have to plan what to do with current one, but that;s the life...
PoorOldSpike
12-24-2010, 10:35
The domain has been paid up for another year (gets renewed in October) and although the price of hosting is going up slightly in January it is not a problem as donations and my personal input more than covers costs so thanks to those who have helped out... :)
If I understand that right mate, you have to make a once-a-year payment to VBully every October.
How much is it?
Here's an idea- On the Home Page include a couple of sentences near the 'click to donate' button saying-
Current domain fees (due every October)- £XXX
Current amount donated- £XXX
You can update the 'donated' figure every month or so.
That way, members will be able to see at a glance how much cash you still need to make the October deadline, and dip in their pockets to help.
At the moment we're completely in the dark all the time and don't know whether to donate, because for all we know you might have enough already..:)
It's good to hear everything is working ok :) I wish i knew about new ladder, so i don't have to plan what to do with current one, but that;s the life...
What plans do you have with the current one?
If I understand that right mate, you have to make a once-a-year payment to VBully every October.
How much is it?
Here's an idea- On the Home Page include a couple of sentences near the 'click to donate' button saying-
Current domain fees (due every October)- £XXX
Current amount donated- £XXX
You can update the 'donated' figure every month or so.
That way, members will be able to see at a glance how much cash you still need to make the October deadline, and dip in their pockets to help.
At the moment we're completely in the dark all the time and don't know whether to donate, because for all we know you might have enough already..:)
The domain fee isnt expensive but its important to renew or someone could step in and nick it if we didnt renew. :(
PoorOldSpike
12-24-2010, 11:34
The domain fee isnt expensive but its important to renew or someone could step in and nick it if we didnt renew. :(
'Hosting' and 'Domains' or whatever its called is all a mystery to me mate, all I know is that members would like to be kept in the picture about how much cash you need to keep the FGM show on the road.
Dont worry... if I sense a derailment coming on I will shout. We are good at present though. :)
'Hosting' and 'Domains' or whatever its called is all a mystery to me mate, all I know is that members would like to be kept in the picture about how much cash you need to keep the FGM show on the road.
To answer your question properly is quite hard. The costs of running a site day to day is minimal. The hosting comes in at about £20+ per month. Not sure what its going up to in January so your looking at about £200-300 a year to host. The vbulletin software so far has cost me upwards of £300. This is the software that runs the forum and site. Other costs incurred by my running the FGM are things like paying for a yearly Photobucket account, costs of postage and packaging for all games awarded to members, trinkets to keep my wife of my back etc. So quite hard to put a finger on an exact price. Also the more funds we have the more professional FGM will look and become. In the next year or so vbulletin will be updating all their forum packages with a new version so Im looking at a bill of £200 plus to pay for that. A member injected a bit of cash recently which has basically gone into a war fund for future software upgrades etc. I hope this explains a bit of what goes in to keep FGM ticking along.
It's good to hear everything is working ok :) I wish i knew about new ladder, so i don't have to plan what to do with current one, but that;s the life...
Zaraza, nothing is set in stone its just Im always looking for ways to improve upon what we have. The improvements I would like to see in the ladder area are...
1 - The ability for me to be able to interact with the members in relation to queries etc.
2 - The ladder to be hosted locally.
3 - The cross platform viability of the ladder.
4 - A new scoring system which reflects the Blitz ladder which I believe is one of the best out there.
To this end I have been dabbling with Google Docs. I didnt realise it before but it suits all our needs perfectly.
It is still a work in progress but the advantage of Google Docs is it lets you place there documents within web pages. The form for submitting results auto updates the spreadsheet which in turn is updated on the website.
These are all drafts.
The result submission form.
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/greershane/Capture-28.jpg
Which will auto transfer into this on our spreadsheet.
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/greershane/3-2.jpg
Which in turn transfers it to the ladder.
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/greershane/2-6.jpg
And it also saves details to our scenario database.
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/greershane/4-1.jpg
This type of ladder is easily transferrable to other genres so we can have a ladder system that covers various games here. None of them manual and all very easy to manipulate.
I thought i could use holidays to introduce some changes when season 3 begins.
But, if this suits your needs, that's ok with me :)
Your as much to blame as me then... if only you could have advised me of these changes. What did you have in mind?
PoorOldSpike
12-24-2010, 16:29
...The improvements I would like to see in the ladder area are...
....A new scoring system which reflects the Blitz ladder which I believe is one of the best out there....
Hmm...last time i played on the Blitz ladder their system penalised the loser.
The FGM ladder doesn't penalise losers, in fact it gives them a point, so in that respect it's better than Blitz because here the only way is up, NEVER down..:)
However, now that the FGM ladder's been running for a full year and we've had plenty of time to see its 5 pts win/2pts draw/1pt lose system in action, I personally think giving losers a point is maybe being too generous.
I mean, suppose somebody plays 20 games in a 6-month FGM season and wins them all, he'll score 100 points.
And suppose somebody plays 100 games and loses them all, he'll score 100 too!
So how about this for an idea- modify the FGM scoring so that the loser gets 0 pts.
That'll mean he still won't drop, but at the same time he won't go up either, which seems a fair and sensible compromise..:)
I still post results at the Blitz. The ladder there does not penalize the loser. It just gives the winner more ladder points than the loser. Seems fair to me.
Cant actually remember what me and CS figured out for the trial ladder. Dont know if we awarded points or awarded none... will need to run it by him.
PoorOldSpike
12-24-2010, 17:19
As I recall, the Blitz ladder uses different systems, for example there's a chess-type system operating on percentages and there's another that uses points etc, and people choose which system to stick with.
As a result, there can never be a clear answer to the question "Who is the Blitz ladder leader" because there are different leaders in different sub-ladders, all further sub-divided into past 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, All-time etc, which further adds to the confusion.
The great strength of the FGM ladder is the simplicity of its 5/2/1 scoring system, and a simple glance shows us that Cargol is the one and only leader around here.
PS- My suggestion of changing it to 5/2/0 will also help those who don't have time to play lots of games because they've got families and jobs to attend to.
In other words, people who have time to play lots of games would no longer get a point for losing, which would put a brake on them running away from the rest of us.
Of course, they could still play as many games as they liked, but they'd now have to win or draw to get points and not have points for losing handed to them on a plate..:)
(Incidentally the 5/2/1 system was my idea in the first place, so by suggesting we change it to 5/2/0 doesn't mean I'm stepping on anybody elses toes)
Your as much to blame as me then... if only you could have advised me of these changes. What did you have in mind?
Just didn;t want to talk ahead :)
I'm thinking on something we already talked about: adding few admins which can delete games or add users, reset button for seasons etc...
However, if you feel more comfortable with this one, tat's cool. I'll try to finish this one anyway, who knows when and how it will be used.
Ok we can have a dual approach... you run those updates and I will work on this with CS and then we can ask the members which they want.
Yeah we have a simple ladder here. The only thing we have adopted from the Blitz is the 'idea' that bigger sized battles award more points. I think we can still offer members a point for playing even if they lose.
What we need to ask ourselves are we happy with the simple ladder.
Im easy either way because we can use that to run different ladders for different games a lot easier.
We will not be running an ETO system here... I think it is deeply flawed personally.
PoorOldSpike
12-26-2010, 12:56
..What we need to ask ourselves are we happy with the simple ladder..
As a simplicity freak, I like it..:)
The 5/2/1 scoring system been running almost a year now and we've therefore all had time to thoroughly see how it works, and nearly everybody seems to like it.
However, if tweaks are being considered I'd suggest just two-
1- Make the system 5/2/0, so that the loser doesn't get a freebie point handed to him on a plate. He still won't lose any points and will go neither up nor down which seems a fair compromise.
In other words, if you want to go up, you must earn it by getting wins and draws.
It'd also be fairer on people who don't have time to play many games, because they'll no longer have to watch people going up the ladder and leaving them behind by getting truckloads of points from losing lots of games.
2- Award size bonuses for bigger games (to both winner and loser).
I suggest-
5000 size and over- 2 pts
3000 to 4999 size- 1 pt
Up to 2999 size- 0 pts
That would mean players of bigger slower games would feel more comfortable knowing there's a bonus at the end of it for their time and trouble.
The only thing that would be nice would be a year's end tourny with say, the top 8 places playing like a winner takes all thing.
Hey POS, I love the "Crescendo of Doom" avatar.
PoorOldSpike
12-26-2010, 20:44
Yes mate I had the game 25 years ago and remember the write-up went something like- "The British in 1940 were the first troops met by the Germans on the continent of Europe who were able to stand toe-to-toe with them and give as good as they got"
The only thing that would be nice would be a year's end tourny with say, the top 8 places playing like a winner takes all thing.
Nice idea. I dont think a winner takes all thing is fair but an end of year knockout comp for the top 8 could be fun. :) It would mean during the year people would tussle for places in the top 8.
I have set the FGM... (green style) to auto detect where your ip is from and to display the site in your native language... can any of our foreign speaking members please change to the green style... exit then re-enter the site to see if it works?
How do I change style to green? :noidea:
Down the bottom on the left hand side. Little drop down menu. On the same line as
Contact Us (http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/sendmessage.php)
The FGM Wargaming and Military Discussion Club (http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/)
Admin (http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/admincp/index.php)
Mod (http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/modcp/index.php)
Archive (http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/archive/index.php)
Top (http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/showthread.php?2350-Latest-Club-News-from-Bootie&p=44267#top)
What happened to the color theme choices? You working on them?
I've got a bright white background and have gone temporarily blind.
Im only gonna have one colour available and that being the green one. Reason being having multiple themes/colours means the workload multiplies also. Choosing one theme colour and working at it and it alone means I can better spend my time sorting things out.
I changed to green ...
And now?
Go here... http://www.thefewgoodmen.com
Tell me does the site display in your native language
No permanent .-
I choose to Spanish every time I change the thread ...
But if I write in Spanish, you read English?
Go and try writing in Spanish.
Excelente el estilo en verde...
(escrito en español)
No it didnt work... back to the drawing board.
Do not worry, Bootie .-
The green style is great and does not worry me translate ... :RpS_cool:
I miss the old FGM shield. I think it was the old theme 2.
Yeah I can pop it back into the green theme. Is that the one with the Gothic writing and its black?
Ok point taken... I will make various styles available again and just have to put up with the added workload.
Yeah I can pop it back into the green theme. Is that the one with the Gothic writing and its black?
That's the one. Thanks. I am a happy camper.
Bootie, nah, not necessary. I'm a loyal FGMer and as far as I'm concerned whatever you want to do is right. Really.
If it lightens the load a bit I'm all for it.
Too late...been working on styles all day.... 3 to choose from at the minute.
Also cleaned up your profile areas... should look a lot better now.
Right... of to bed. :)
We love to help you out when we can, but we want you to be able to enjoy the place with a little less work, make it one choice mate, more dictatorship.
Ok as part of the recent work on FGM I have totally redone the profile section. It should look a lot clearer now with no dodgy tabs scattered about. The profiles were corrupt for a while with code out of place but it is looking good IMO now.
I will also be giving all tournament designers mod status for their own areas. It is up to YOU to keep it clean. :)
Do not delete posts or threads though... they are to be moved to the storage section. If help is need in doing this just ask.
All tournament designers are now moderators of their own tournament section. Im here if any assistance is needed but its YOUR area.
Bert Blitzkrieg
12-28-2010, 15:30
I like the new look a lot ! It is easy on the old eyes !
Ok, you may notice a Tweets bar anchored at the side of the site. This will be used by me to let you guys know what Ive been up to on the fly so to say. It is up and running but will take 24 hours to start bringing in new tweets.
If you have no interest simply go into your setting, General settings and down the bottom you can disable the tweetboard.
Tweet, tweet! Good idea.
Thanks for giving me my black back.
No worries... I like the grey but Im sure the font is too small for a lot of guys... but its my personal one to use so there. :)
PoorOldSpike
12-28-2010, 19:20
I don't know what default style surfers see when they come into FGM, but if they don't like the default colour or small font size, they might surf straight back out..
The default is green. :)
And besides if they are going to be that shallow and leave a site because of the colour of it then Im afraid they probably arent FGM material.
Bootie, for your "Tweet" tab is there anything you can add that would tells us there is a new "tweet" to be viewed?
Yes it will turn red.... I have to wait 24 hours for it to activate and start pulling tweets.
AirborneBob
12-29-2010, 16:59
Im loving the black...looks slick and professional!!
Thankyou... at present I have removed the CM Ladder link from the navbar. there is method in the madness... I am looking into a few things at present in regards to it.
And secondly the tweets button is there but no new tweets have gone on yet... apparently it takes 24-48 hours to activate. I will give it that long before contacting the guys who make it and demand an explanation. :)
Bootie, you just doubled the amount of FGM black users! LOL!
It looks very good "FGM Latest News" on the portal home .- :RpS_thumbsup:
I like the Black, but it is too much on my eyes. Grey seems to be under construction, but can I please suggest that it has the same "softness" on the eyes that the green has?
The Gray theme has been set up as my personal theme.... it is the one I use and have set up to MY preferences. I will make another grey theme for you and other users and it isnt under construction it is fully complete like the other styles.
Added a 'Total websites who have referred visitor today' tab at the bottom of the forums.. nice to see where our visits originate from. As an aside this gives us the impetus to go out and about and advertise the FGM on other boards you use and we can see if anyone refers from it!!
Yes?
Im gonna make that available for no one as it is my personal preferences. I will set up a grey one for you in time. I can only do so much at once. :)
Bootie, never liked the locators of visits, as Feedjit o Geovisite, for example?
Do you want me to remove it...?
Bootie Sorry, I do not understand your question ...
Do you wish me to take that section of the site... what I can do is restrict it to the last 10 sites who visited instead of ALL sites in the last 24 hours
.
I mentioned only if you liked Geovisite o Feedjit
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/8086/60657792.jpg
There are several alternatives, analyze it well
There are several alternatives, analyze it well
Have checked them out and ran them on the boards... they are not accurate and you cant use them without having a link back to their website. No good Im afraid.
You're the one who knows about this, Boot .- :RpS_thumbup:
Earl of Grey
01-01-2011, 11:37
Is it possible that something with the personal albums went wrong during the last update? The "Upload Files" button doesn't work for me (again), no matter what I do... :sad:
Guys Ive been beavering away on the homepage the last few days. I purchased software for the homepage slideshow. It works quite well now and is a good overview for those popping in for the first time... how can someone interested in CM not be enticed by the tournies etc we have on offer.... still a lot more slides to put in but will do it over my days off.
Ah thats where the problem lies though.
This program can be set to pull images from any forum.... but it only pulls images that are added as attachments and not {IMG} tagged. So what I have done is set up a secret area of the forum that houses the posts I do with the relevant attachment.... this then gets dragged ot the home page and the link fires back to the post I created. If we had been uploading images as attachments this would have pulled random images from the forums but we dont so it cant. This is the workaround. :)
As for the lower middle I still have to work on that your correct.
A few new ribbons have been added to the awards area. If elgible go in and request the ribbon.
A few new ribbons have been added to the awards area. If elgible go in and request the ribbon.
Awesome ribbons. All we need now is a LMS 3 Participation Ribbon. I know, I know. Never satisfied. :wave:
Lighthorse
01-13-2011, 04:03
Awesome ribbons I like the Spanish Civil War my self..
:")
Lord Bane (FGM)
01-13-2011, 04:08
Von Reich,
Make a ribbon for the Kampfgruppe Tourney please.
Lord Bane
Lord Bane (FGM)
01-13-2011, 05:34
Thanks
Bane
I'll do the LMS 3 one as well. Was thinking about that one too....
We also require a Battles of WWII one as well.
Will do! :yo:
Thanks pal.
Just a quick update on a few things.
1 - Von Reich - as well as the 2 ribbons mentioned I also need another for Cargol (The league winner ribbon)
2 - FYI Corsair31 is my old friend Loic (CrazyHorse) - it was him and me that originally started the FGM (see The FGM Story)... in that I wrongly advised he went of to sell scooters when in actual fact he had gone to become head of sales in France. Regardless he has rejoined Appei Feu the French wargaming club and has also rejoined the FGM. Its good to come across old colleagues again. We are in the process of organising a cross club tournament.. see the forum for more details.
3 - Ladders - In relation to the club ladders Zaraza will remain in control of the CM ladder and I will be making small ladders for CS and PzCampaigns. We are still ont he look out for someone who has the knowledge to build a ladder that is hosted on FGM and easily integrated. Zaraza if you can help in that respect drop me a line.
Thats all for now.
Corsaire31
01-15-2011, 19:56
The facts about scooters were kind of a private joke between you and me LOL Didn't need an official announcement... And a scooter with 3 wheels (incl. 2 very large ones in the rear) and a 150 HP 2.0l engine is called a trike... More precisely for this model a Streetfighter.:cool:
Started adding icons to forum home but only had 3 hours sleep of night shift so am going to finish it tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience but I need sleep.
Bootie
Are wonderful, Boot .-!!! :RpS_thumbup:
Corsaire31
01-23-2011, 01:13
Nice work, man...
ACSpectre
01-23-2011, 02:34
Sleep comes first. Changes look great, boss.
Lighthorse
01-23-2011, 08:33
Nice work Bootie :")
:high5:
LH
Thanks guys.... starting to box and colourize them.
Finally finsihed. I need a lie down now. :)
Childish but this post right here is the 46000th. :)
Corsaire31
01-24-2011, 21:00
Congrats again, man, for the awesome job you've done...:thumb:
Loic despite it looking like Ive done it alone this truly is a community effort.
Corsaire31
01-24-2011, 21:15
Sure but you have been giving the impulse and bunching up the team, and I am sure you still use a lot of time to keep it running...
Nathangun
02-23-2011, 13:38
Bootie, the FGM site is looking Snazzy :drum:
Thanks NG... just making everything bigger for our older members. :)
Hi Bootster -- I noticed that after the last upgrade/update none of the imageshack linked pics show up in the threads anymore.
Like in Louis's Nazis in Argentina thread http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/showthread.php?7051-Nazis-in-Argentina&p=51283#post51283
They display fine on mine... what are yours showing and what style are you using.
I went through all styles and the images are displaying on them all.
I'm using the Green style ... shows me a placeholder image with a message: "Unregistered Domain. Go to http://imageshack.us to register"
Im honestly beat by that one... works fine here.
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/greershane/Capture11.jpg
Do you think it could be the country you are in?
Hmm... maybe it's a region thing... although never had prob seeing them before.
Question: Is it possible to post html into the posts... like a results table for a tourney -- was thinking for the FGM Cup proposal I emailed you about.
Yes you can post html in posts. :)
Have indeed but trying to rattle through this work on the website in the PM... havent even looked at any turns today. :) Make hay while the wife is at work. :)
Ok hopefully that is the board now functioning as an easier to use medium due to bigger font etc. Let me know any problems you guys experience so I can fix them.
Hedgehog
02-23-2011, 16:57
Don't want to be a pain but are we going to get a blue a nice Blue, If you are still working on this, apologies for jumping in
:typing::whistle:
Hedgehog
02-23-2011, 16:57
Don't want to be a pain but are we going to get a blue a nice Blue, If you are still working on this, apologies for jumping in
:typing::whistle:
Nice work by the way
Hedgehog
02-23-2011, 17:55
LOL.....Double LOL
Corsaire31
02-23-2011, 18:10
Good job, Boss, looks great !!
AirborneBob
02-23-2011, 18:15
Lookin gooood, hefe!
The text that appeared to Rico ("Unregistered Domain. Go to http://imageshack.us to register") is what I saw from yesterday .-
Today I realized that if I was not registered and if not logged in to Imageshack, there was no solution .-
That is, now I can see the images due to log in Imagechack .-
A quirk of them?
Thanks guys.. Ted I will have a look at getting you a blue style... describe what you want though as there are millions of variations I could come up with and I only intend doing it once. :)
Breaklight
02-23-2011, 20:15
Is it me, or are the letters very large these days? :)
Can i change it somewhere in my profile settings like i could choose for the green theme?
PoorOldSpike
02-23-2011, 20:45
..Today I realized that if I was not registered and if not logged in to Imageshack, there was no solution .-
That is, now I can see the images due to log in Imagechack .-
A quirk of them?
i've always found Imageshack to be quirky and glitchy, that's why I switched to Photobucket long ago..:)
Is it me, or are the letters very large these days? :)
Can i change it somewhere in my profile settings like i could choose for the green theme?
Folk were complaining they were too small. If you want it smaller just press left ctrl and + or - to make it bigger or smaller.
PoorOldSpike
02-23-2011, 22:17
We all use different size monitors and therefore see things differently on our screens, so like Bootie said we can use CTRL with plus/minus to enlarge or shrink our screen display (or CTRL with mousewheel) to get a picture that looks good to us.
Don't forget to hit the 'Maximize' button at top right to expand the display to fill the whole screen, or bits might be cut off if you leave it minimized.
After Maximising your screen use the pic below to experiment with by using CTRL +/- to enlarge it to fill your screen. Get it as big as possible without cutting off the tips of the arrows. Your text size will vary at the same time, so try to find a balance that looks good for you.
If you don't want pics to fill your whole screen, simply don't enlarge them so much.
Like I said, everybody's got their own preferences to suit their own monitors, so there's no single global setting that'll suit everybody..:)
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/CMSF/POW-trenchB.gif
Hedgehog
02-23-2011, 22:29
Thanks guys.. Ted I will have a look at getting you a blue style... describe what you want though as there are millions of variations I could come up with and I only intend doing it once. :)
OK will send you some thing shortly by E-Mail.......BTW the backing behind the old Gentlemen is SUPERB
i've always found Imageshack to be quirky and glitchy, that's why I switched to Photobucket long ago..:)
POS believe me, I've registered yesterday at Photobucket but not yet used .-
Well done for cracking the 50'000 post mark on the forums guys. :)
50 000?... cool. Well done all!
Working on the scroller for above the forum home. Have run out of time and have to go to work. Please report any problems here and I will pick them up tomorrow.
Hedgehog
03-02-2011, 15:33
Gentlemen keep posting, we are on a winner
A few days ago I do not see the Tweets ...
We must adopt some style to them? I have black...
I sorta like the scroller, but it is a bit distracting.
Might be more appropriate for the Home Page?
A few days ago I do not see the Tweets ...
We must adopt some style to them? I have black...
I have to incorporate it to the new styles.
I sorta like the scroller, but it is a bit distracting.
Might be more appropriate for the Home Page?
Use the little arrow on the right to close it down.
:)
Guys Ive binned the twitter bit... dont really use it.
I have reinstated the multimedia marquee scroller. I dont notice an impact on speed. if you dont like it there is an arrow to close it down on the right hand side. I believe it adds an extra little visual treat to the forum page.
So, why did you ditch the random photos from the bottom of the screen?
After a while they were a bit repetitive, but mostly interesting.
Most people dont bother clicking into the pics. Instead of using photobucket you can add pics to album and use i m g tags to place in posts.
PoorOldSpike
03-10-2011, 18:37
I'm on AOL and it can be glitchy at times; for example it's very slow to display FGM and I always have to go through IE, so any streamlining Bootie does with FGM is fine by me..:)
PS- We had 50,000 posts a week or two ago but now it's dropped to 49,200.
That's spooky, let's call in Mulder and Scully to investigate..
We lost all vr's posts. But Will soon get back up.
Didnt take us long to get 50'000+ posts again.
After years of humming and hawwing about whether to have a Blog section at FGM I have finally decided to just go with it. Each member can set up their own Blog by going to Blog from the top menu and clicking Blog settings. Fill in the details and your of rolling.
Your Blog can be about anything that interests you and you feel like sharing. Its the soapbox of the FGM. Open your mouth and let your mind run free. :)
Good idea .-
Recently I hear.
2 days ago I could not connect to PC problems .-
Been working on the styles today since the upgrade.... Im gonna have to cut the black style out of FGM. Im finding it hard to balance the work of updating the light colours without affecting what is displayed in the dark and as they are all linked I have no real option.
Sorry to those of you who have been using the dark colour but I cant justify the workload it brings up.
I hope you find one of the new styles to your taste.
Partial to the Italian Dust style for the moment... good work. :wave:
I should time permitting get the rest of the styles complete today.
Still have to change the default size of picture display on all the new styles. Have also to add a dark style and waiting patiently on the consensus of where we go with theladders. Zaraza.. your opinions on that please.
Just a quick update on the FGM. I use google analytics to record data of visitors and members coming into the site. We are actually doing quite well.
Here are some stats concerning the FGM since last last April.
In the past year our website has basically doubled in popularity if we use site visits as a gauge.
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/greershane/2-9.png
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/greershane/Capture1-1.png
Our website has been viewed by people in 90% of the worlds countries.
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/greershane/4-3.png
In the last month we have had some amount of visitors!!
Well done to everyone concerned in making this small club the best we can!!
And as an aside.... in the last 12 months we have had nearly 1.5 million page views. :)
time to add some commercials :)
Many users of Alaska?
Less then Argentina....it is dark because it is part of the USA. I could be wrong and that would not be the first time.:madgrin:
I dont want to sound like i m praising my own house but definitely FGM is the hotspot of wargaming community.
Less then Argentina....it is dark because it is part of the USA. I could be wrong and that would not be the first time.:madgrin:
No your correct Numbers. :)
I dont want to sound like i m praising my own house but definitely FGM is the hotspot of wargaming community.
Why not ...if you don't crow for yourself , no one will crow for you. So they say.:grouphug:
This is a great place and I see it going no where but up. The guys are fun, fair, honest, considerate, easy going if that does not make a good place to be, and play wargames...then I don't know where the other place is.
Ok gentlemen.... just a quick heads up on the situation.
As you may have noticed from the top navbar we now have a quick access point for tournaments and (still to be linked in) ladders.
Our ladders will all start afresh.
The seasonal ladder will finish as of well.... now.... and a winner will be declared.
Im asking for all members to post in the correct threads in the ladder section advising if you wish to be added. This is because I will manually enter you to the ladder thus allowing you to report games.
The ladders will be released in the near future and will be given more importance than they previously had... they will now be a lot easier to use and also more easy on the eye.
Keep an eye on the boards for the release of said ladders and I would like to thank Zaraza for assisting me (he did all the programming) in this project!!
Here is link for old ladder: http://www.iqpixel.com/fgm/table.php
It will be online few more days - to see your scores and whatever you like.
Then it will be deleted forever :)
Indeed... and by looking at that we can see Cargol is the seasonal ladder champion... I best get in touch with the royal ribbon makers and get a new champions one minted. :)
Hiram Sedai
06-03-2011, 22:04
Indeed... and by looking at that we can see Cargol is the seasonal ladder champion... I best get in touch with the royal ribbon makers and get a new champions one minted. :)
kudos to Cargol!
Guys in relation to CMBN I have added an RSS feed to Battlefronts file repository which automatically alerts us in the form of a thread about newly released mods, maps and scenarios.
Ok guys we have lost the Pacific Green theme... no longer compatible with the new v4.1.4 software. Anyway... here is a little vid about a couple of new features in 4.1.4.
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JK4oDgDicW8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Bootie, beautiful job with the Afrika Korps!
Corsaire31
06-12-2011, 21:51
Nice planes on the Open Skies...
Hedgehog
06-13-2011, 17:11
Yes i like the the new ladder set up mate, do we have to apply to get on it again, if so could you please put me on the CM+1 Thank's mate
Von Reich
06-14-2011, 05:13
Bootie, I dont know how you do it, but many years of continuous improvement is remarkable. Great job!
VR, I was just thinking the same thing. You are absolutely right.
Just when you think it can't get any better...
Thats appreciated guys thanks.
Ok.... a couple of little updates. In addition to the thread rating and thanks button Ive removed Panzer Command Ostfront Ladder fromt he site for now as it seems that no one is really taking it on.... we had 4 people join up and since launch not one game posted.... it is toiling over at the Blitz too. For now I have removed it.
In the dropdown menu I have also added Sempai's CMAK-Mini-Battles-Campaign tab.
Ive categorised the avatars to make it easier to choose one you like instead of hunting through pages and pages.
Well hell........thats too bad about the PCO ladder
I know but we can reassess what happens once the new patch comes out. Hell even at the Blitz its struggling to make any kind of impact.
Von Reich
07-07-2011, 01:29
Yeah, happened with the Campaign Series ladder too. :(
No point in supporting ladders that are basically dead zones.
Dutch Grenadier
10-10-2011, 19:29
What happened to the new forum setup?
What happened to the new forum setup?
You mean the little pictures to show who posted?
Dutch Grenadier
10-11-2011, 16:17
No the whole background. I see the old "war-game" club picture is back in the top of the forum. I can't really explain since my English ain't that great to explain myself.
Nothing has actually changed except the logo. Folk wanted it back so I gave them it.
Dutch Grenadier
10-11-2011, 17:18
Nothing has actually changed except the logo. Folk wanted it back so I gave them it.
I guess I missed that part :noidea: thanks for clearing it up.
Just popping the member info to the left of posts to see what you guys think... if it sucks I will return it to where it was tomorrow.
Also trialling this out on the home page to see if it will boost our visitors -> members ratio.
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/greershane/Capture-157.jpg
I like the use of space better with this format.
I like this format too...
I don't care for it. Uses way to much space for a minimal txt message.
Lighthorse
10-12-2011, 05:40
I like the "new look" format.
Don't like the new format -- takes up too much vertical space for short posts -- lots more scrolling! :nerd:
Don't like the new format -- takes up too much vertical space for short posts -- lots more scrolling! :nerd:
HAHA too much work to use your mouse wheel to roll... think of the extra calories your burning. I'll have you guys fit for combat in no time. :)
Well ... my scrolling finger will be fit for combat ... or down with a repetitive strain injury :behindsofa:
Rico I will see if I can introduce a top and bottom button for instantly taking you to the top or bottom of the post... let me go see if I can sort that out.
Ok bottom right we now have two buttons one takes you straight to the top... the other straight to hell... ermmm.. the bottom.
It's all those bloody awards and ribbons everybody has under their avatar :behindsofa:
Doing something right - 6 new members in the last 2 days. :nerd:
Now as long as they post within the next 7 days to prove they aint spambots.
Corsaire31
10-12-2011, 22:21
Just dropping by to say hello to everyone... good weather is still here and therefore am still in summer mode spending a lot of time outside making pics for my blog and other groups on FlickR. Not a long time on the PC and most of this time is spent flying Rise of Flight with my squadron. As soon as winter settles in, I will have more time to play and who knows, I might even decide to buy CMBN... in the meantime, I hope you guys are having a good time !
Great to hear from you Loic.... look forward to getting you back on a regular basis.
Corsaire31
10-12-2011, 23:32
Thks Shane... me too ! in case some have interest, here the link to my FlickR gallery
http://www.flickr.com/photos/corsaire31/
(This is not a commercial, I win nothing...lol)
Good to see your about ...that's what they all say;)[about not making money]
Some stats
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/greershane/Capture-179.jpg
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/greershane/2-17.jpg
http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/greershane/1-33.jpg
Doing a little work round the site. Flags now added to the military music section....
Modern military given its own area and some renaming of sections.
Steam section integrated to Other Games Discussion.... the area hadn't taken of as hoped.
Dutch Grenadier
12-07-2011, 16:17
Indeed. I thought this would go active to.
It was worth a try... :calm:
Bootie, you say: This is the 3rd new member in the past week that doesnt know who or what we are. Perhaps I should make the writing on the homepage bigger.
Do you not think the old slogan was more explicit (Wargaming & Military Discussion club)?
Yes I may redo the logo to include both headings.
Some members complaining about slow site... Im working through things I have added to see which slow down the site... we may lose some of the eye candy but for speed I think it is better to have a fast site than one that is sweeter to look at but slower.
Ok certainly seems to be running a little smoother. Will be working on the site during the day so if something seems amiss sit tight.
Is the site running any faster for you guys?
Fredrocker
12-10-2011, 16:38
Yes... the last two loads at the home and the forum seem quicker...
I know the pic on the front page of the Tommy with enfield is only temp but it looks very good - we are after all getting a commonwealth module in the near future..nudge..nudge..
Ive been working ont he site all day trying to deal with the load time issue.
I have cut page size down from 1.4mb to 560kb. A load time of 10-20 seconds down to 3-5 seconds.
We have lost some little features but its decoration. All the nuts and bolts are still in place and the site is running a hell of a lot better.
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