forum organisation feedback?

[Red Dog]

Gents,

I know this is not the right place to post this but unfortunately there is actually no specific room for forum feedback, so here it is and please move this to wherever you guys see fit

I feel the Viperpit needs a little bit of a structural overhaul. here are some suggestion for improvement, feel free to do whatever you want with it

- I see many inactive forum. Maybe these could be archived. We have forum with no post for the last 5 or 10 or even 15 years
    In the commercial section, many products are not available anymore...

- I think we could use at least a forum for every sim supporting a F-16. We have A Falcon BMS forum but I'd suggest a DCS forum and maybe an X-plane forum
    In these rooms, ppl might maybe ask specific questions about interfacing their cockpit with these software.
    I do have a question about how to interface the real throttle guide rail with DCS and nowhere to post it

- Adding a forum feedback is always IMHO a good idea

- Maybe the homepage could be updated a bit more often?

- Many listed moderators haven't been seen on this forum for decade

- In specific forums, we have sticky topic which are outdated. Some are apparently sticky for no apparent reason.

- The VP forum gravitates (according to my feeling) around two main thing: the WIP topic and the part exchange/sales/auctions.
   That's great but I feel the rest could use a bit more organisation to make life easier on VP users.
   It is IMHO much easier to interact in a forum (and keep it correctly organised) with a up to date forum and well structured.

- As a BMS forum admin, I get many request on BMS with guys who are left with no answer to their fresh account here. I suggest making the new member and anti bot procedure a bit easier for the new users
  Yes many of them don't read the announcement and the fact that they should send an email I agree, but let's face it that procedure is a bit archaic if you ask me

- I'm sure there is much more, maybe you guys can add your suggestion in this topic for the admin/mod consideration?

Of course I never suggest work on my pairs without volunteering, so if you feel I can be of any help feel free to ask.
If I was out of line suggesting the above, feel free to send me back in my cave
(But i'd really like to get these other sim forum at least )

[Marvin]

In addition we need to work on our registrations whoever is in charge of that.  I’m part of several DCS cockpit forums on Facebook and plenty of complaints from guys all stating they have tried to register but can’t.

To all the new generations from what I am reading VP has a very bad reputation as well.  I know we can take that with a grain of salt but maybe something we can do to change that?  I don’t know.

[Marvin]

Red Dog,

Maybe send Mike a message.  I know he asked me about a year ago to take over VP but I’m not interested.  You have a lot of experience with forums.  Perhaps you taking over for Mike could be a real positive change.

[Fhyndoh]

i agree, i think there is so much good info here we can share, particularly around the f4 to pokeys developments and some of the open 3d modelling stuff that Willy was starting before we lost him. opening up and improving access will push all our projects forward. i would be in favour of including any sim in which i can fly an F-16. (and am not sure we should limit ourselves to F-16...my first sim was "A-10 silent thunder" and the hog is also dear to my heart.

i think there is a perception that VP is a bit of a closed club because of the difficulty in registration, and the fairly chaotic organisational structure - i wonder if that and the occasional massive fallings out (Hempstead and Viper 44 spring to mind) are responsible for an (in my opinion) unjustified poor reputation. i have always been well supported and treated here, and that goes back to when i joined as a 15 year old. i suspect if this was widely known with a bit of work we would be able to improve this perception.

M

[Kukki]

Great post RD and I agree total.

For the intake to VP, I will now talk with Romanski to hear what is going on, if its to hard the way we do it now.

Basic all are welcome as lomg they can behave, just my 2 cents.

For the maintaince of the forum, I agree we run on an ols system, but it works, but I would love to see more modern system here.

Mike is the head admin, then me and sandman, Romanski, and some old moderator, but they rarely chk in, so yes I could use some help here.

Lets see what Mike have time for, or else we might think of the next step here in 2021.

What I really like is the head/owner/builder of the forun is active.  As it is now I think basic im the only one who is online almost every day, but time is limited to chk. all.

So Gents im open for everything.

[Red Dog]

Thanks K

I can offer my help in managing the forum if you want.

I think moderators should be active at all times. An inactive mod should not be a mod
I think the priority is to make access to VP easier for everyone. It is not a question of ppl behaving or not as the registration process is way too archaic and not followed by admin resulting in new guys unable to post here.
That said, the more ppl we get, the more problems we will have as well, hence the need for an active moderator team.

Kukki, question, can you add or archive forums?

[Kukki]

Super RD.

Yes I can do everything, and add you as moderator, or Admin if you want to have more free hands, just let me know.

Kukki

[Cupra]

That is a point I hear also very often... access to VP is ways too complicate. And if someone notices to send an email they do not get any response again....

[Kukki]

That is a point I hear also very often... access to VP is ways too complicate. And if someone notices to send an email they do not get any response again....

Agree, and we will make it different, and automate the process.

Kukki

[Red Dog]

Super RD.

Yes I can do everything, and add you as moderator, or Admin if you want to have more free hands, just let me know.

Kukki

Admin would be better Kukki, if that's OK with the team already in place

[Romanski]

Happy new Year guys!

I am doing the user registrations for about 9 years now. After the forum was hacked form the inside by a user. Just to let you know i am deleting daily about 10 Spam users, most of them coming from Russia. I would change the way of registering , make it mot re difficult if possible. I also have users from Pakistan and Whatever countries which provided also fake email address, fake names and totally have nothing to do with building an F16 cockpit.

@ Marvin.  As Nigel mentioned : Words deleted , better for everyone.

There is information on the first page about the registration. A few months ago someone took that out and It was quite difficult getting that back where it was. But of course you have to read that and you will only send an simple email asking to be approved. This is how we keep it clean guys.

@RD : If you want to take steps and modify please first discuss them and let us know what you want to do before so we can all agree to it.

We need in the future to get VP moved to another provider because how it looks now is that all the traffic points to China and Russia. I know this because my colleagues did some scan and I saw the results.

Good ideas are welcome , but let's discuss it first guys.

Cheers,
Romanski

[Snoopy]

There is nobody which has an F16 cockpit and fly DCS. All those DCS guys have desktop pits. Correct me if I am wrong.

Sounds quite condescending! As if you are not good enough for this forum unless you epnd multi K euro on a simpit. Not everybody has the time, space and money to do built an entire cockpit. Some people also would rather spend it on their family then on a hobby just for their won.

There is a very limited number of people building an entire F16 cockpit and they are probably already a member here. BMs might be nicer to interface, but DCS look SO much better.  I wyould really welcome it if both sides (BMS and DCS) were on this forum, helping each other with their experience.

[tiger-31]

I agree that we can welcome users regardless of whether they use BMS, DCS, or even Flightsim if you like. Or whether they build a high fidelity or desktop setup.

However I do agree with @Romanski that the safety and integrity of the forum needs to be protected. Just letting everybody in is asking for trouble. I also know this from other forums.

Just my 2

[tiger-31]

Another something I want to add. I must be getting too old for this, but these days newbies come on board, and their first post is, 'I need this' , or 'I'm looking for that' without making a minimum of effort to try introduce their project. Only what they want. Then some are surprised no-one answers. Sometimes people do give an answer and there is not even any sign of appreciation. Sorry for ranting, but the more people we get, the more of this we will also get. People just want things the easy way.

[Red Dog]

I am doing the user registrations for about 9 years now. After the forum was hacked form the inside by a user. Just to let you know i am deleting daily about 10 Spam users, most of them coming from Russia. I would change the way of registering , make it mot re difficult if possible. I also have users from Pakistan and Whatever countries which provided also fake email address, fake names and totally have nothing to do with building an F16 cockpit.

Hello Romanski,
I know these are really an annoyance and I know they must be avoided at all costs. But IMHO this is a consequence of a too old forum engine. Modern forum don't suffer from that because these are directly and automatically deleted. I run two other forum as admin and they don't face these problems => but that's because the forum engine and security are well maintained.

The best antivirus is shutting down your computer, that way there is no virus that can be installed. 100% efficiency. Sure but you can't use your computer either
Doing the registration by hand put pressure on you and the medication we are taking is far worse than the symptoms we have IMHO.
Ppl can't get into our forum and that's a real shame. Ppl complain all over the web because of the way one has to register on VP
We HAVE to address this one way or another - by letting legit users register and filtering spammers, bots and all know what. But ina  more efficient way than relying on email coms, which is very archaic IMHO

@RD : If you want to take steps and modify please first discuss them and let us know what you want to do before so we can all agree to it.

How come this doesn't even exits?
I'll get acquainted first with the forum software but I think the first urgent need is to create a moderator forum where admin and mods can discuss these issues and help one another.
So i'll definitely discuss before doing anything. On the other hand a moderator/admin should be active daily and questions should not be left open during a week waiting for someone to show up.
Running a forum requires teamwork and efficiency IMHO.

I'll recommend that we start looking for better forum software, because these one here is old unsafe and clearly unpratcical.

Another something I want to add. I must be getting too old for this, but these days newbies come on board, and their first post is, 'I need this' , or 'I'm looking for that' without making a minimum of effort to try introduce their project. Only what they want. Then some are surprised no-one answers. Sometimes people do give an answer and there is not even any sign of appreciation. Sorry for ranting, but the more people we get, the more of this we will also get. People just want things the easy way.

Again, running a forum means managing users and educating users. There are always good and bad users. but we can't cut the forum from good users because we can't manage the bad ones.
A good moderation team, working alongside common guidelines and view, dedication and activity is what it requires.

Nobody ever said it was easy
I feel there is a great community here. And like Tiger I feel it was much better 15 years ago when I joined
Let's try to work all together to make this place even better than it is/was

[Nikolas_A]

What would it take to upgrade the forum engine?

I also think the structure needs some work, there's info all over the place. Similar sections with confusing titles. I often find myself puzzled as to which section I should post in.

IMHO there should be general posts (Electronics, visuals, pc-related, chit-chat etc), sim related (BMS, DCS, X-Plane FSX), and F-16 specific. For the latter, I think the way Martin (Pegasus) arranged the info in his site is best, that's what I use to keep my hard disk folders organized (Left Console, Left Aux etc)

[tiger-31]

The admins and mod also need a kind of backoffice forum where they can discuss matters that do not need to be in the open.

[Kukki]

RD, Tiger1 and Nicolas, I total agree here.

We need to have a place were moderators and admins can talk and descuss how we continue here on VP, because our Forun engine is so outdated and unsecure.

Im willing to do what ever it takes to make this place better and have as many pitbuilders inhere as possible (the good once) but like RD state, we cant close the doors just because there ar bad once out there, if so we will die for sure.

And we need active moderators and admins to be online all the time, so we need more of each so we can support eachother.
And to be honest it cant be worse than it is now. 
Im pretty much the only one there is administrating/and moderating this site.
Romanski have done a great work with tools we have here on VP, but we need new and more mordern forun for sure.

And im sure when we get a new engine wecan easy migrate the DB to the new system with all the new more upto date rooms/foras.

RD is the one who have a lot experience with good forums and know what it takes, so lets see if we can get a skype meeting or some other place and date were we can talk about it.

And no offence to Mike Kabar, he have provided a great place and platfor so far, but he is never around anymore, so it might be time to get a new host too.

Kukki

[Marvin]

@ Marvin. If you think you wanna take over and let all the Russians inside VP , you can do it . Then I will step out and let you do the job.
There is nobody which has an F16 cockpit and fly DCS. All those DCS guys have desktop pits. Correct me if I am wrong.

Romanski, how about you read my fucking post before you start speculating.  I CLEARLY wrote that I have no interest in dealing with this bullshit when Mike asked me.  Clearly Mike was looking for new guys which is why he asked me, so I am just passing this on to RD that he could most likely get access if he wanted to.

[Nigel]

You guys calm DOWN!!! I am sick of this shit on another forum I am heavily involved in and it is causing members to leave. Grow some thicker skin. Romanski, I dont think Jody was trying to offend you. You over-reacted. Jody, no need to elevate it from there. I love you but drop the F-bombs. Please. It doesn't help at all. I have very little time as it is, and I dont have time or patience to MODERATE FIGHTS!!!
 I am going to propose a a self-imposed rule here, and it's this:
After you type a reply, and before you post it, read it again. If you find you are replying to a perceived insult or sarcasm, HIT DELETE. Man up. Guys we are supposed to be adults here, act like one. I will use Kukki as an example. When I first joined, I was clueless and asked some what I think now are some pretty dumb questions. Kukki always was patient and calm and answered in depth to what I know were the same old newbie questions. Always a gentleman. If anyone could be angry at the world it's him. Guys, he's in a chair and cant do half the things we take for granted. No complaints, no self pity, no whining, no taking it out on other people. He knows a LOT about pitbuilding but never gets arrogant or condescending or says . Some guys dont know how to even ask the right questions or where to start looking. So take him as an example of how to behave on this and any other forum. Make it fun and exciting, not dark and ugly. Rule: CHECK YOURSELF.

[Taipan]

You guys calm DOWN!!! I am sick of this shit on another forum I am heavily involved in and it is causing members to leave. Grow some thicker skin. Romanski, I dont think Jody was trying to offend you. You over-reacted. Jody, no need to elevate it from there. I love you but drop the F-bombs. Please. It doesn't help at all. I have very little time as it is, and I dont have time or patience to MODERATE FIGHTS!!!
 I am going to propose a a self-imposed rule here, and it's this:
After you type a reply, and before you post it, read it again. If you find you are replying to a perceived insult or sarcasm, HIT DELETE. Man up. Guys we are supposed to be adults here, act like one. I will use Kukki as an example. When I first joined, I was clueless and asked some what I think now are some pretty dumb questions. Kukki always was patient and calm and answered in depth to what I know were the same old newbie questions. Always a gentleman. If anyone could be angry at the world it's him. Guys, he's in a chair and cant do half the things we take for granted. No complaints, no self pity, no whining, no taking it out on other people. He knows a LOT about pitbuilding but never gets arrogant or condescending or says . Some guys dont know how to even ask the right questions or where to start looking. So take him as an example of how to behave on this and any other forum. Make it fun and exciting, not dark and ugly. Rule: CHECK YOURSELF.

Bravo.
Thanks Dave.

[warbirdguy1]

"- Maybe the homepage could be updated a bit more often?"

Absolutely.  I think there should be a monthly rotating "featured projects" and news on some of the notable progresses of peoples pits.

In addition maybe a "news" section that gets updated every week or two with recent product releases or BMS updates.

[warbirdguy1]

You guys calm DOWN!!! I am sick of this shit on another forum I am heavily involved in and it is causing members to leave. Grow some thicker skin. Romanski, I dont think Jody was trying to offend you. You over-reacted. Jody, no need to elevate it from there. I love you but drop the F-bombs. Please. It doesn't help at all. I have very little time as it is, and I dont have time or patience to MODERATE FIGHTS!!!
 I am going to propose a a self-imposed rule here, and it's this:
After you type a reply, and before you post it, read it again. If you find you are replying to a perceived insult or sarcasm, HIT DELETE. Man up. Guys we are supposed to be adults here, act like one. I will use Kukki as an example. When I first joined, I was clueless and asked some what I think now are some pretty dumb questions. Kukki always was patient and calm and answered in depth to what I know were the same old newbie questions. Always a gentleman. If anyone could be angry at the world it's him. Guys, he's in a chair and cant do half the things we take for granted. No complaints, no self pity, no whining, no taking it out on other people. He knows a LOT about pitbuilding but never gets arrogant or condescending or says . Some guys dont know how to even ask the right questions or where to start looking. So take him as an example of how to behave on this and any other forum. Make it fun and exciting, not dark and ugly. Rule: CHECK YOURSELF.

^^^ This guy gets it.  Most people I see asking questions do not even know enough to search for the answer themselves.  It is amazing what learning just a few keywords does.

Also I love "" because most of the time I ever get hit with that [not specifically here] I already did and the manual fails to clearly communicate what I am looking for.

[Snoopy]

Maybe it could be a good idea to have some polls (if that is technically possible with this forum software) to get a sense of what people would want or like in such a forum. We have heard several opinions now but that might not be what the majority wants as some members seem to be more vocal than others. A kind of survey might provide objective data on what forum members are looking for.

[Kukki]

@Snoopy   that might be a good idea, and we are open for all suggestions to meke VP better, but I also think we have all we need/want inhere, all is pretty much covered, we just need to structure it way better so we can find all the gold nuggets here and its more eassy to navigate.

There is no doubt about we need a new and more modern forum engine with the level of security here.  And we will also see if we can find a better auction engine to implement.

Kukki

[Red Dog]

Also I love "" because most of the time I ever get hit with that [not specifically here] I already did and the manual fails to clearly communicate what I am looking for.

I have a particular opposite experience
All the ppl I RTFMed stated that they checked the manuals and I proof them they did not because I quote the manual bit that answer their initial question.
PPL don't search forums, ppl don't search manual either
Not saying this for you, it's a general statement and I do have quite a bit of experience on that managing the BMS public forum and having written most of the 2000 pages of BMS documentation

[Romanski]

Guys ,

If it possible I would like to involve also Auke , as he is the one who helped us fix the forum all the times we had issues. He is very familiar with what we have here.

Maybe also organizing an Ms Teams or Skype meeting at least once a month to discuss stuff we can do , and also to get to know each other better.

Romanski

[Tulkas]

You guys calm DOWN!!! I am sick of this shit on another forum I am heavily involved in and it is causing members to leave. Grow some thicker skin. Romanski, I dont think Jody was trying to offend you. You over-reacted. Jody, no need to elevate it from there. I love you but drop the F-bombs. Please. It doesn't help at all. I have very little time as it is, and I dont have time or patience to MODERATE FIGHTS!!!
 I am going to propose a a self-imposed rule here, and it's this:
After you type a reply, and before you post it, read it again. If you find you are replying to a perceived insult or sarcasm, HIT DELETE. Man up. Guys we are supposed to be adults here, act like one. I will use Kukki as an example. When I first joined, I was clueless and asked some what I think now are some pretty dumb questions. Kukki always was patient and calm and answered in depth to what I know were the same old newbie questions. Always a gentleman. If anyone could be angry at the world it's him. Guys, he's in a chair and cant do half the things we take for granted. No complaints, no self pity, no whining, no taking it out on other people. He knows a LOT about pitbuilding but never gets arrogant or condescending or says . Some guys dont know how to even ask the right questions or where to start looking. So take him as an example of how to behave on this and any other forum. Make it fun and exciting, not dark and ugly. Rule: CHECK YOURSELF.

I agree fully with Nigel here. Those who have been around for a while have bookmarked threads, memory of who does what, who to ask, experience succeeding and failing buildings, a "pit builder vocabulary" already learned...we can navigate this monster forum. But entering here for the first time must be incredibly overwhelming, the amount of subforums, the amount of ideas, systems, buildings, offers, some up to date, many fased out, some successful, others not, accumulated for almost 20 years... must be even scary. New guys have to be nurse and  treated with patient if, as Kukki said, we want VP to survive. We are now an old community and we are losing important members, some because they disengage from the hobby, others because regretfully the course of live claims its toll. VP cannot afford to look with disdain the newcomers just because they are new, any of them could bring the next great system  for our pits, for example. 

That said, I have to say that this one is one of the best forums/internet communities I have ever been part of. 99% of the time I see polite exchanges and a sincere desire of helping each other to advance on the different projects. It is no so common on the internet.

Regarding the restructuration  of the forums. It's a daunting and kind of risky task. Of course it is important to update the system so it is safe against hacking and other threats, but I wouldn't like to risk to lose any information, even if considered outdated. I have so many links and bookmarks that loosing them would be like burning my particular Alexandria's library (cockpit building edition).

Regards

Tulkas   

[Kukki]

Tulkas good words 

What I can say for sure when we migrate to a new system, is that we will proberly loose something I guess, might be the different user settings like bookmarks etc.

Some post and forums will be scrabbed, but all the knowledge we have build up inhere the last almost 20 years we will ofcause keep, but structure it in a better way.

But from my experience there are always something in an old system we cant automate to get into the new system, but the people there will do this will do the best they can to keep everything, and we will setup an test site and make all there and only when we are sas sure as we can be we migrate, but we can still have the old site as backup till we are satisified with the new site/forum.

[Kukki]

Guys ,

If it possible I would like to involve also Auke , as he is the one who helped us fix the forum all the times we had issues. He is very familiar with what we have here.

Maybe also organizing an Ms Teams or Skype meeting at least once a month to discuss stuff we can do , and also to get to know each other better.

Romanski

you got the ball here to contact Auke and hear if he have time and want to join here.  We need all the expertise we can get.  And we have a very good and trusted bunch of great people inheree. 

[Marvin]

The biggest complaint I read from the DCS builders (as they are the new ones to this community) is the registration on this forum.  So I suggest using a person that is more active and hasn't made a cockpit project post since 2015.  I get it people's interest come and go in this group.  The progress threads are proof of that.  And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that as it is JUST a hobby.  But if you are going to assign the registration to someone; assign it to someone who is willing to take on the responsibility to manage registrations regardless of their current interest level is with their own project.

And I am speaking from experience.  When I came back to this forum in 2015, I waited several weeks with no reply.  Finally I contacted Jay to get back in here who was not the registration guy.  That shit is unacceptable. 

[Rebel]

Just a suggestion but perhaps a "master" directory with verified info/reference for each panel?  I know when I was building up panels the needed info was spread throughout the site in various threads and you have to search multiple to come up with all of the accurate info.  Realizing 100% accuracy may not be available for all panels but we could start at the cockpit level and drill down to separate threads for each panel and in that thread have the best drawing/model available, best reference pics, best list of flight switches etc. and a moderator could maintain the configuration control.  I also realize that would be a big task but once you get it potted down, it's a great place to send new folks that are looking for the info to get their projects started.  I'd be willing to help as needed.

[Nikolas_A]

Just a suggestion but perhaps a "master" directory with verified info/reference for each panel?  I know when I was building up panels the needed info was spread throughout the site in various threads and you have to search multiple to come up with all of the accurate info. 

For that a Wiki would be better. Normal post would just get buried under tons of off-topic chit-chat

[jjbravo]

Just a suggestion but perhaps a "master" directory with verified info/reference for each panel?  I know when I was building up panels the needed info was spread throughout the site in various threads and you have to search multiple to come up with all of the accurate info. 

For that a Wiki would be better. Normal post would just get buried under tons of off-topic chit-chat

I agree a Wiki would be great to gather all the amazing information from this forum.

[Nomad]

I agree with using Wiki. When you join VP you have to be willing to read and do research. There’s a ton of knowledge and experience based documentation on VP. But there is also a lot of off topic posts intermixed which makes sorting through posts a lot more time consuming. A master list would also help with that. Bickering between members should be done by PM and not on the forum. Just my two cents.

[Red Dog]

Often attempted, hardly realised, never maintained
unfortunately

[Tulkas]

 I think something like that was done by Flareless, but all the links got broken on the last migration if I rememeber right? It is a huge task.

http://www.viperpits.org/smf/index.php?topic=2145.0

[Nikolas_A]

That's why I'm talking about a real Wiki, not a forum post with links. Any solid info we have, 3d file, mil-spec, part nr, it goes there

[Sandman]

Hi Guys-

I've been busy with the holidays, and just getting caught up on forum discussions....  Maintaining this forum takes a big commitment of personal time.  Many of us have busy personal lives that limit how much time we can invest here, so having more people involved will surely help.

Need for better indexing / organization of information
The forum has grown dramatically, and information is now scattered throughout various topics.  Some is only posted in individual build threads, while other information is under topics.  We have tried to better index topics so information is easier to find, but it does tend to get out of control quickly.  Older members will remember attempts by Flareless and others to provide cross-references to common information.  There were also attempts to form groups / discussions around certain interfaces.  As Tulkas posted, most veterans can still navigate the forum find particular posts / information, and we don't want to lose anything in an effort to re-organize things. 

Making it easier for new members to join
Prior to Romanski screening new members, we had several hackers that disrupted Viperpits with SPAM.  There were several major crashes, that resulted in loss of many photos and postings.  Auke was critical in restoring and backing up our forum files when this happened.  New members are always wanted, but we do need to maintain some security to protect the integrity of the database.

More frequent updates of home page
I had attempted to create a "What's New?" portion on our home page, but didn't have the time to maintain it.  As I near retirement from professional work, I may have more time.  I'd welcome help in this area.

[warbirdguy1]

Hi Guys-

I've been busy with the holidays, and just getting caught up on forum discussions....  Maintaining this forum takes a big commitment of personal time.  Many of us have busy personal lives that limit how much time we can invest here, so having more people involved will surely help.

Need for better indexing / organization of information
The forum has grown dramatically, and information is now scattered throughout various topics.  Some is only posted in individual build threads, while other information is under topics.  We have tried to better index topics so information is easier to find, but it does tend to get out of control quickly.  Older members will remember attempts by Flareless and others to provide cross-references to common information.  There were also attempts to form groups / discussions around certain interfaces.  As Tulkas posted, most veterans can still navigate the forum find particular posts / information, and we don't want to lose anything in an effort to re-organize things. 

  THIS THIS THIS 

Searching this site for even the most basic information feels like using a comb to sift thousands golf ball sized rocks.

So much incredible information out there but you need to sort through dozens of replies or happen to catch it in a inconspicuous spot.

A general Wiki would be incredible for the high level details and guides.

[jjbravo]

Hi Guys-

I've been busy with the holidays, and just getting caught up on forum discussions....  Maintaining this forum takes a big commitment of personal time.  Many of us have busy personal lives that limit how much time we can invest here, so having more people involved will surely help.

Need for better indexing / organization of information
The forum has grown dramatically, and information is now scattered throughout various topics.  Some is only posted in individual build threads, while other information is under topics.  We have tried to better index topics so information is easier to find, but it does tend to get out of control quickly.  Older members will remember attempts by Flareless and others to provide cross-references to common information.  There were also attempts to form groups / discussions around certain interfaces.  As Tulkas posted, most veterans can still navigate the forum find particular posts / information, and we don't want to lose anything in an effort to re-organize things. 

  THIS THIS THIS 

Searching this site for even the most basic information feels like using a comb to sift thousands golf ball sized rocks.

So much incredible information out there but you need to sort through dozens of replies or happen to catch it in a inconspicuous spot.

A general Wiki would be incredible for the high level details and guides.

I wonder if we could use AI to get the data organized. Would be interesting to try and use some of the Microsoft Cognitive services to do that.

[Marvin]

And it still goes on.

[Romanski]

And it still goes on.

Here is the screenshot of the guy you are pointing to. And screening of the newbies is not done while I am sleeping. So please stop complaining about this , because is going how is going till we have another solution. Many thanks.

[Marvin]

I’m not complaining.  I’m just reinforcing that this is the most common issue I’ve read or seen.

[Romanski]

I’m not complaining.  I’m just reinforcing that this is the most common issue I’ve read or seen.

As i see from the group where the discussion has been started by this new guy last evening , just before he registered, nobody has negative feedback.

[Kukki]

@Marvin please stop this, its pointless, we have had our way to comit to VP for many years and its not perfect but we have done what we could, and yes it have taken to long, but that is because people dont read how to do it.

our system have been overloaded with shitty emails, Romanski is doint it by hand, and doing his best. But we are getting that handled now, so please stop flaming on this and change your focus onto something else.

Kukki

[tiger-31]

Ok, guys some feedback about the registration process.

I just looked at our start page, without logging in.  On top of the page you get the info about how to register. So potential members can see it almost immediately. How clear can you be?

Some remarks/suggestions though. At some point it says hit the registration button, but in order to do that you need to go to the top of the page and click register. A button in the actual text with hyperlink would be easier.

Second, you could explain also in the first text, that as all applications are checked before being approved, it may take some time before a new user is granted access. In this way the candidate knows it is not an automatic process and that he needs to have some patience.

[Marvin]

@Marvin please stop this, its pointless, we have had our way to comit to VP for many years and its not perfect but we have done what we could, and yes it have taken to long, but that is because people dont read how to do it.

our system have been overloaded with shitty emails, Romanski is doint it by hand, and doing his best. But we are getting that handled now, so please stop flaming on this and change your focus onto something else.

Kukki

You guys are unbelievable.  Talk about getting butt hurt over trivial posts.  Relax already.  There are points brought up in this thread multiple times.  I brought it up twice.  Take it fucking easy guys.  Get a little thicker skin.  Lol

[Kukki]

No Marvin
But having you coming with the same over and over again while we are doing something about it is kind if trivial.
Thats all.

[Marvin]

No Marvin
But having you coming with the same over and over again while we are doing something about it is kind if trivial.
Thats all.

[Marvin]

You actually have more repetitive posts complaining about my two posts. 

[Kukki]

  lets leave it here and good sunday 

[Marvin]

There’s the spirit!  Lol

[Ka-Bar03]

I spoke with Mark (Sandman) this evening and we will be expanding the storage, SMF is many versions behind current. Perhaps the security features are available in the new updates for registrations/security. Perhaps there are new tools to help in organizing posts and topics. Oliver is correct, some of the older topics can be archived or even deleted if no activity and or not relevant today. Agree new tree structure for various sims should be made and organized. We discussed perhaps using a tagging system in post so they would show up in search much easier and could be edited in with those with rights to each posts. ie... (#POKEYS) or (#Interfacing) as an example. Let's see what the new updates to SMF offer, It's a very active forum engine that is continually worked on and may have the features needed. We will need a backup before updating so we have a parachute. Also the host will kick the forum offline if they find a vulnerability in older versions of SMF, so the update will need to be done regardless sooner rather than later.

[dkm]

Hey Mike,

Good to see you still around. 

If any  is required, make a shout out, happy to make a donation to keep this awesome site up to date.

David

[Sandman]

If any  is required, make a shout out, happy to make a donation to keep this awesome site up to date.

CONSIDER MAKING A SMALL DONATION TO MAINTAIN VIPERPITS

Mike (Ka-Bar03) has always been reluctant to ask for donations to offset the costs of hosting and maintaining the Viperpits Site.  This site has always been free to members, but we do request donations from time to time to pay for additional storage, more bandwidth, or software upgrades.

Viperpits does not have any paid staff- all Moderators and Administrators freely volunteer their time to make Viperpits an awesome hobby site, but it does cost money to pay for the host server.

Donations are used to cover hosting costs and service upgrades.  To make a donation, click on the DONATE button on the home page (see sample screenshot below).  Even small $5 - $20 donations are appreciated.

[jjbravo]

Thanks for pointing that out Sandman!
I hardly ever actually go on the Home page, so I never saw this. 

[henkie]

I did a donation , but afterwards PayPal redirects me back to Viperpits, but the URL (www. viperpanels. com or something like that) is invalid 

[Romanski]

I did a donation too! I dont think the url has effect on it, just hope that the money goes in the right wallet.

[Ka-Bar03]

Hi Henkie, the donation came through along with a several others, thank you everyone. That address is my old webstore.. Also there was a donation from a few weeks back that I had missed from Jeffery Bleiweiss.

[Doc]

Thanks for pointing that out Sandman!
I hardly ever actually go on the Home page, so I never saw this. 

+1 

[Peten]

Good to see you Mike 
( I also made a donation)

Asi

[Ka-Bar03]

Good to see you Mike 
( I also made a donation)

Asi

Thanks Asi!

[Ka-Bar03]

I did a donation too! I dont think the url has effect on it, just hope that the money goes in the right wallet.

Thanks Romanski and everyone!

[Blue Leader]

I did see the donation link but was unsure where it went. With the information above I see where it goes and what its used for.
With the information I have gained from this site I would not hesitate to make a donation now. I suppose its a way for me to give back.
Thank you all for making this a great site
I have now donated and intend to periodically

regards to all
Richo

[Kukki]

Donated too 

[Nomad]

Donated

[clauridsen]

Donated too

[Snoopy]

Me too

[MrWell]

Done!, glad to help and thanks for reminding us 

[Romanski]

I did a donation too! I dont think the url has effect on it, just hope that the money goes in the right wallet.

Thanks Romanski and everyone!

Always a pleasure! Good to see you back online here Mike!

[Lento]

I also made a small donation, I don't think there were any problems, please check.

Max

[Kukki]

Think I fixed the anoying issue when you get email notifications from VP and the link you got wan not HTTPS, only HTTP and you would go via the link to anwser the pm or reply to the post just to discover you got a failuer.

Think I sorted that now.

FUUUCK still problems with that email notofication settings.  will look more into it

Kukki

[Foxy]

Donated ... and many thanks to all who run this site.