Bill does not feel like hes done enough here to ask for donations. I disagree. I see an awfull lot of time and effort to get this site set up for us Cougar lovers. I think he should add a donate button and we can all help get this site rolling. Just like MC Net used to be as far as donations go, voluntary, pay what you can. I am not giving up on MC but there is allready stuff here that is way cool and having three great Cougar sites up and running appeals to me. The Curb being the third.
Old Wood, I have been thinking about this. Maybe I am making the wrong decision. If I did open it up to donations, then there would be money to do several things: buy the same software that every one is used to seeing at MC.Net, and to pay for some professional help in getting this set up and working as well as is possible. It might also be a way to set the precedent for NOT selling out the site in the future to be able to keep up with the costs. I would like to get some feedback. Probably the best course is to see how many people migrate over here over the next few weeks…
The mcnet forum a while ago, was based on this http://www.vbulletin.com/ type of forum program I think.
The $195.00 price for the program dosen’t seem too bad. If you open up a donation button with pay pal I’m sure some of us would help out.
Myself I happen to like the V-bulletin type of forum program as it is nice and simple to use.
Jim, I agree with you. I think V bulletin would be a big improvement for most of the users. I will check and see if it works on our shared server that is running linux.
I own an older version of vBulletin we used to run a User Group with until it disbanded. I’ll see if it is transferable and if there is an upgrade path. It’s pretty easy stuff to use once you get it up and going. Not sure about the unix version though. This free version of software you’re using now doesn’t look so bad to me.
I guess you guys wore Bill down. He asked me to add a Donate button, so I have added the infamous PayPal Golden Suppository on both this forum and the main Classic Cougar Community web site. On the forum, you can find it at the top right of a tool bar that also includes a link back to the Classic Cougar Community home page.
You can donate with or without a PayPal account, though PayPal makes the process of doing so without a PayPal account a little obscure. When you click on the “Donate” button, you’ll be taken to PayPal’s site as shown below. First, fill out the amount of the donation and click “Update Total.” If you want to pay with a credit card and not a PayPal account–even if you have a PayPal account and it’s begging you to log into it–look down the page where it says “Don’t have a PayPal Account” and icons of the various credit cards are displayed and click “Continue.” The steps are labeled in the image below:
After that, it’s pretty straightforward.
IMHO, you guys will be making a mistake if you invest in vBulletin. I recommend using your money for things you can’t get for free. It’s not that vBulletin isn’t great software, the problem is that you don’t just pay that $195 one time. You have to keep paying over the years to get the new versions as software evolves, new features are added, security is improved, etc. Even if you don’t want to upgrade for the features, as the web host where the forum runs upgrades their server software, you’re forced to upgrade everything else so it will be compatible. Not only that, but vBulletin is based on phpBB3, the software that this forum runs on, which is free. The trend over the years has been that popular features on vBulletin are implemented in future releases of phpBB3, so the patient are rewarded. The cost of supporting commercial software like vBulletin is the reason so many forums that run it are eyeballs-deep in ads.
JAYS,
Thanks for the Donation button. I will use it shortly.
“Quote”
“IMHO, you guys will be making a mistake if you invest in vBulletin. I recommend using your money for things you can’t get for free. It’s not that vBulletin isn’t great software, the problem is that you don’t just pay that $195 one time. You have to keep paying over the years to get the new versions as software evolves, new features are added, security is improved, etc. Even if you don’t want to upgrade for the features, as the web host where the forum runs upgrades their server software, you’re forced to upgrade everything else so it will be compatible. Not only that, but vBulletin is based on phpBB3, the software that this forum runs on, which is free. The trend over the years has been that popular features on vBulletin are implemented in future releases of phpBB3, so the patient are rewarded. The cost of supporting commercial software like vBulletin is the reason so many forums that run it are eyeballs-deep in ads.”
And thank you for this info, as I was one of the uninformed about the subject of forum programs that work good. I can now understand that just because a forum looks good and works nice for a user, it dose not mean it is user friendly for the person running the forum. With that in mind I will leave it to the more informed to decide on the forum program Type. The present forum program seems ok to me, although I have not tried to use picture posting or search features here yet. Do they work good?
Picture posting is kind of a pain in most forums, though once you know how it’s done, it’s very easy. I guess it would be helpful if I post a HOWTO article that walks you through the process. I’ll do that and sticky it.
The search is as good as vBulletin in my opinion, but that’s not saying much. The success of search really depends on the keywords in the posts and the ones you search with. It’s a true art. It helps if the original poster (OP) used keywords in the Subject line that people are likely to use to search for the topic.
I think Bill was trying to shelter me a bit after I put this forum up because he has me busy with some paying jobs elsewhere. I didn’t realize you guys were having so many issues acclimating to this new board. I’ve moved the user profiles to the left as requested and am doing some other tweaks to (hopefully) remove confusion like clarifying the registration form on the main site to make it clear forum registration is separate, etc.
I think with a little work, we can make this forum what you guys want it to be and not end up bleeding you over the years with commercial software. I’ve subscribed to the forums where you’re likely to leave comments about the functioning of the site so I can be responsive to constructive requests about how the site works without Bill having to feel guilty about asking me to do something. 
Why not go with a “if it ain’t broke… don’t fix it” approach, and so far, il seems already based on open source.
This would mean staying independant while waiting for assessment from the members.
Jean
The donate button is very strategically placed: It is just below where I need to authorize xp pro to let the page reopen…
is it possible to slide it left a bit?
thanks
Jean
It is open source and GPL licensed, but what I’ve done is create a custom theme for CCC so that I can make some programmatic and cosmetic changes without making it more difficult to keep the software updated. I’m going to be steering you guys away from doing any core hacks that would make upgrading an issue.
That seems like a pretty strategic location, then. 
Sure. I slid it to the left 100 pixels. Does that get it out of the way?
Yup!
Thanks,
Jean
Johnboy, Could you do a “print screen” so we can see what you are seeing? I am not sure what it even means to authorize xp pro to let the page reopen? Since we don’t have anything running xp pro we need a little help in understanding what needs to be done. You can email it to billb[@]classiccougarcommunity.com (remove [ ])
Ops! Looks like that one is solved already! Johnboy, ignore that request. I need to refresh the page before I reply. Thanks Jay!
Guys its easy, just hit the button and fill in the amount and confirm it with your code. Great for someone to give us a back up for information and questions to be answered.Thanks again.
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