Hyphen Curator Group January 2021 meeting minutes

[Chariotoflove]

1. Hosted on Zoom and called to order by Chariotoflove at 6:05 CST on Friday January 8, 2021.

Attended by:

CarsofFortLangley
Chariotoflove
ClassicDatsunDebate
davesaddiction
ITA97
jminer
MM54
RallyDarkstrike
Snakesm13

The group welcomed davesaddiction as the newest curator and noted the departure of founding curator Rusty Vandura, who devoted enormous effort toward creating the group as it now stands.

2. Discussed ownership of Oppo logo as prelude to selling branded merchandise to support forum hosting and operations. davesaddiction renewed the question of whether Jason Torchinsky was the original logo creator and offered to try again to contact Torch about this. UPDATE: Torch confirmed that he indeed made the original Oppo logo for free use.

3. Creation of a category for selling cars and similar between members (e.g: “Swappo” or “Hyphen’s List”) was discussed. The idea was generally affirmed as a good one, and one we want to implement. However, it was also recognized that such a page would have to be regularly curated and kept up to date. It was also generally recognized that curation would have to include measures to keep non-Oppo parties from creating accounts merely to sell their stuff on the site. Implementation was tabled pending further discussion of these details.

4. Forum update and improvements. jminer announced site maintenance to be done at 10:00 CST on Saturday, 1/9/21. New site features will include changed layout of font and thumbnail images, implementation of a form of nested commenting in topics, addition of new theme (skin) choices, revamped experience on mobile, including increased usability of the chat function, and other stability improvements and bug fixes. Note was made by Rallydarkstrike that the User Guide will need to be updated to incorporate all the new format and usability changes. UPDATE: RDS's changes to the User Guide went live as of 1/10/21.

5. Discussion of a formal mechanism for reporting bug reports, tech issues, and user suggestions was held. The general consensus was that no specific category should be established for such at this time. The group generally agreed that, at this time, posting issues to the main forum, sending chat messages to @curators, or emailing to curators@oposite-lock.com were all sufficient to take care of tech issues. Agreement was reached that further formal mechanisms could be addressed in the future if conditions warrant.

6. jminer proposed that Google Analytics be implemented on the forum to better track usage data. This will not be done in connection with any advertising or for tracking of individuals, but rather to improve technical development of forum features. It was noted that the Analytics tools are commonly implemented on virtually all commercial internet sites, and do not constitute any exposure of our users to privacy concerns. The proposal was unanimously accepted.

7. Discussion of the “front page” concept under development by jminer, jb boin, and NickhasanExocet revealed that there are technical issues delaying its creation. The concept is to create an initial landing page for the opposite-lock.com domain that displays a rotating selection of featured user content, links to all-time “best of” content, and connection to the forum proper. Technical problems center around the fact that NodeBB does not seem to have well-developed and bug-free tools for integrating a “wordpress-esque” website presentation into the multi-author forum machinery. Discussion was made of the possibility of creating the FP with other tools and linking to the NodeBB-based forum, but this would create a cumbersome situation that would be more difficult to curate and administer. For now, attempts to develop the integrated solution will continue.

8. The group discussed the proposal that there be a category for car care posts. This dovetailed with the general discussion of topic-specific category creation. The group generally agreed that creating too many categories fragments the forum and can serve to sideline content rather than promote it. Several alternatives for promoting car care content were discussed:

• Featuring svending posts on the FP would be ideal, when the concept is implemented.

• Until the FP is ready, one intermediate measure could be to temporarily pin svending instructional posts on the main forum (as has been done so far for featuring content).

• Creation of a “Best of Hyphen” category where such featured content could be moved after a time pinned on the main forum.

The decision was made to encourage svending and other feature-able content creation on the main forum and to continue to earmark such posts for pinning and “best-of” distinction using currently available mechanisms rather than create unique topical categories.

9. Brief review of forum moderation procedures was addressed. It was generally agreed that the current methods, which revolve around direct communication with parties involved in moderation incidents, is working well. Members are generally self-moderating and are working collaboratively with the curators when issues arise. It was also generally agreed that acknowledgment of receipt of a flag to the flagging member be added to our procedures.

10. The next curator meeting was scheduled for 6:00 pm CST on Friday, February 5, 2021.

11. Meeting adjourned at 7:07 CST.

[Just Jeepin']

I’m impressed with the quality of the discussions and the wisdom of the decisions. I’m not thrilled by having more GA in my life but it’s not as if I could reasonable escape them anywhere else.

Thanks to all curators, and now that @Rusty-Vandura is stepping back from his noble duties does that mean he can spend more time looking at new Jeeps for me?

[Chariotoflove]

@just-jeepin said in Hyphen Curator Group January meeting minutes:

I’m impressed with the quality of the discussions and the wisdom of the decisions. I’m not thrilled by having more GA in my life but it’s not as if I could reasonable escape them anywhere else.

Thanks! Yes, that was our thought on GA. It's pervasive everywhere you go anyway.

Thanks to all curators, and now that @Rusty-Vandura is stepping back from his noble duties does that mean he can spend more time looking at new Jeeps for me?

Yes, that is exactly what it means. Bake him a cake, and he'll pretty much do anything you need.

[ForSweden]

@chariotoflove name the classifieds section Swappo you cowards

[Rusty Vandura]

@just-jeepin I will look at Jeeps for you anytime, as long as they are painted white.

[WhoIsTheLeader]

@just-jeepin said in Hyphen Curator Group January meeting minutes:

I’m not thrilled by having more GA in my life

At first I thought I was being targeted as adding more "Georgia" in your life. Google Analytics, meh.

[Just Jeepin']

@rusty-vandura said in Hyphen Curator Group January meeting minutes:

@just-jeepin I will look at Jeeps for you anytime, as long as they are painted white.

Ouch. Cruel and unusual. It’s like @Manwich recommending Patriots for me all day long.

[Chariotoflove]

@forsweden said in Hyphen Curator Group January meeting minutes:

@chariotoflove name the classifieds section Swappo you cowards

Yeah, but Hyphen's List. C'mon, don't tell me that doesn't grab you. MM54 came up with that gem.

[Chariotoflove]

@just-jeepin said in Hyphen Curator Group January meeting minutes:

@rusty-vandura said in Hyphen Curator Group January meeting minutes:

@just-jeepin I will look at Jeeps for you anytime, as long as they are painted white.

Ouch. Cruel and unusual. It’s like @Manwich recommending Patriots for me all day long.

It's like he has no moral Compass.

[Just Jeepin']

@chariotoflove We really need to re-instate COTD

[Darkbrador]

@forsweden Let's say a guest wants to participate to Oppo, will he/she be called a guestappo ?

[jminer]

@just-jeepin I did struggle with the inclusion of Google Analytics. The built in analytics engine is just very basic and I want to track usage more in-depth to help make decisions moving forward.

I didn't want to do it, but anything else would have been a lot of work, so I gave in.

[ForSweden]

@darkbrador mein gott

[Chariotoflove]

@darkbrador said in Hyphen Curator Group January meeting minutes:

@forsweden Let's say a guest wants to participate to Oppo, will he/she be called a guestappo ?

Crap, I did Nazi that coming.*

*and yes, I am ashamed for typing that.

[MM54]

@whoistheleader said in Hyphen Curator Group January meeting minutes:

@just-jeepin said in Hyphen Curator Group January meeting minutes:

I’m not thrilled by having more GA in my life

At first I thought I was being targeted as adding more "Georgia" in your life. Google Analytics, meh.

Georgia on your mind?

[ST80MND]

@chariotoflove These are good minutes right here, great job guys. I couldn’t be more appreciative.

[A Former User]

@forsweden said in Hyphen Curator Group January meeting minutes:

@chariotoflove name the classifieds section Swappo you cowards

Sorry, Swappo is being reserved for a different kind of page, if you know what what I mean. wink, wink, nudge, nudge

[MM54]

@haveacarortwoorthree Goes along with our upcoming Misfired Connections page.

[Just Jeepin']

@mm54 @haveacarortwoorthree

[WhoIsTheLeader]

@mm54 As always, yes. That needs to make a comeback on license plates.

[Chariotoflove]

@haveacarortwoorthree said in Hyphen Curator Group January meeting minutes:

@forsweden said in Hyphen Curator Group January meeting minutes:

@chariotoflove name the classifieds section Swappo you cowards

Sorry, Swappo is being reserved for a different kind of page, if you know what what I mean. wink, wink, nudge, nudge

Um, that's not exactly what @jminer meant when he said you can swipe right on mobile. Or if he did, then this isn't the job I thought it was...

[Chariotoflove]

@st80mnd said in Hyphen Curator Group January meeting minutes:

@chariotoflove These are good minutes right here, great job guys. I couldn’t be more appreciative.

Thank you so much.

[Manwich]

@just-jeepin said in Hyphen Curator Group January meeting minutes:

Ouch. Cruel and unusual. It’s like @Manwich recommending Patriots for me all day long.

I believe you would have FEWER Jeep problems if you took my advice...

[Manwich]

@chariotoflove said in Hyphen Curator Group January meeting minutes:

It's like he has no moral Compass.

Of course not... I'm food! Meaty goodness like me has no moral COMPASS.

[Shop-Teacher]

@manwich said in Hyphen Curator Group January meeting minutes:

@chariotoflove said in Hyphen Curator Group January meeting minutes:

It's like he has no moral Compass.

Of course not... I'm food! Meaty goodness like me has no moral COMPASS.

I can't argue that logic.