I have read all of the above posts with interest and have several comments. I have only been a member of the DLA site since January of this year. Over the last three years, I have been on many different sites for Christmas light animation. I have to say that this is the only site that I have any interest in at this time. I love the discussions and all of the dedicated work done by RJ, the others in “senior†roles, and the coop managers. I also want to mention the great responsiveness of people to questions and problems. It has been a long time since I have seen a group of people work together so well. This is the most useful site of its kind and I hope that the basic setup (rules/structure) never goes away and continues to expand and improve. With that said, I would like to respond to RJ’s initial post and some of the other posts that have come since.
First, I need to say that I love RJ’s question that started this thread: “What can we do to make DLA a better place for the users?â€. As I have said, I think that this is already a great place. There are always ways to improve. The following are not in any particular order.
I like the idea of a chat room of some kind. I was sorry to see the original one go. Of course, the money to get it is a problem. And, of course, someone has to moderate it and that is a major problem. If nothing else, it would be great to have more of the big moderated “webcasts†every once in a while. Maybe those could be recorded and placed on line so that others could hear them later - or not.
I do think that the wiki page needs work. For some reason, I find it hard to figure out all of the pieces to each puzzle. There is some over all information available, but it is hard to piece it all together. I do have some specific ideas on this one.
Also, in my humble opinion, I think that the manuals need to be a little more detailed. As an example, one complete manual for each piece of equipment that discusses everything from start to finish (what it does, how to build the hardware, how to program the hardware, how to set the settings (if applicable), how to set it up, how to test it, how to use it, how it fits into the rest of the system, etc.). This would really help the newer, non-technical people with the construction and use of each item. Right now, the information is somewhere on the site, but not in one location. I have wanted to help with something like this, but like Gary above, I was concerned about “stepping on someone’s toesâ€.
I like the idea of the wiki opening in a new tab. It only takes a very minor change to the html code to do that.
Concerning the coops: I just, by accident, got in on the Aether 2 coop. I am not sure that I can think of a good solution to this one. I agree with RJ that you can’t let the coops get to big or no one will want to run them. I think that all of the reasoning has already been discussed. In general, I think the current coop setup is well done.
I am concerned to read in some of the posts that members are sending RJ, the coop managers, and others, PMs because they are mad for one reason or another. All of the hardware, software, and information on this site is being provided by volunteers. No one has the right to complain (make positive suggestions - yes). This is supposed to be a group of people who get together because of a mutual interest, and work together for everyone’s benefit. And since this blinky flashy is centered around Christmas, we need to remember what this is all about and why we are doing it.
One possible partial solution to the coop concern, and possibly one other concern, is to let members sign up for certain e-mail alerts. The alerts could be for major areas of interest such as new coops, firmware changes, etc. I know this would be an added burden on the management side of things, but it might help.
I am really looking forward to our get together in Florida next year.
I am willing to volunteer to help out in the endeavors. About the only thing that I can’t help with is the board design or firmware development. Everything else, manual writing, picture taking, running a coop, working on the wiki, beta testing and any general help needed to help relieve some of the burden.
Sorry that this got so long.
Jim Wright
PS - Edit: One thing that I forgot last night. I think that it would be great to have the complete manuals in PDF format. It would make it much simpler to download and keep them on my local hard drive. Jim