26 Responses to “Switching servers”

1. 

   CJ Holden

   March 25th, 2010 at 1:32 pm

   I’m no computer expert, but if the server on the photo is your new one, I’m not sure if it’s really an improvement. I love the orange keyboard, though.

2. 

   Mr. Majestyk

   March 25th, 2010 at 1:33 pm

   Will the new server feature more she-male and she-male-related posts? Because that’s really what I’m in it for.

3. 

   Brendan

   March 25th, 2010 at 3:00 pm

   Are you sure that’s not Chris? That looks like a Chris to me.

4. 

   RRA

   March 25th, 2010 at 5:14 pm

   Vern – You need message boards. There is enough Awesome to spread around.

5. 

   Gwai Lo

   March 25th, 2010 at 10:57 pm

   You’ve changed, Vern. La di da, look who’s too good for Geocities, suddenly mr. bigshot is “switching servers”. Get a load of this guy.

   ps. who needs message boards when you got one of the internet’s most insightful film communities right here in the comments section? For serious this time I love this place.

6. 

   clubside

   March 26th, 2010 at 12:25 am

   If you have a specific WordPress plug-in or WordPress compatible board to recommend RRA please do. The usual issues apply: don’t want to introduce something that would require multiple registrations for all functionality existing or added in the future to outlawvern.com, don’t want to add any spam-catching burden, don’t want to make the site too complicated. If something looks good I’d be happy to go over the pros and cons with Vern to see what he wants to do. Right now the focus is on removing the occassional Server Not Available issues (mostly caused by CPU throttling of the current shared hosting account) and making sure existing and future plug-ins have more memory (the reason for the current failures of the alphabetical and yearly all reviews lists) and ensuring the site can handle more traffic. I’m still behind on updating a few things and still need to write a plug-in to deal with the multiple-film reviews (so each title can stand alone for searching/browsing), but any recommendations or requests are welcome, I just need to see how they fit and then let Vern decide if it’s something he’d like to add.

7. 

   Jot

   March 26th, 2010 at 3:29 am

   In Vern we trust (sometimes). It would be good to get the older reviews back though.

8. 

   Griff

   March 26th, 2010 at 7:53 am

   who is this mysterious Chris?

   also, I guess I’m an idiot, because I thought wordpress was it’s own site with it’s own severs, I don’t understand why vern needs his own servers

   forums would be really cool though

9. 

   clubside

   March 26th, 2010 at 9:32 am

   Can you point to any particular old review I missed Jot? I tried to be thorough working from Vern’s original alphabetic lists (still available through the classic site).

   WordPress offers their own hosting Griff, but unless you pay you don’t have a lot of control over the site, and even if you do it’s not the same as just hosting WordPress using your own hosting service. I’m sure their options have changed over the years, I’m just used to picking a hosting service and loading up the software, as that means you still have a regular host to load other applications or sites on depending on the plan.

10. 

    Mr. Majestyk

    March 26th, 2010 at 10:26 am

    So clubside, you’re the one responsible for setting up the new-and-improved sight? I want to thank you for giving all of us reasonable motherfuckers a place to congregate and share our badass philosophies and hypotheses without any poo-flinging talkbackers accusing us of living in our moms’ basements or countering our meticulously worded arguments with similes concerning animal genitalia. You, sir, are a hero.

11. 

    AsimovLives

    March 26th, 2010 at 11:07 am

    I lime the girl in the picture. She could change my server anyday.

12. 

    AsimovLives

    March 26th, 2010 at 11:07 am

    lime = like

13. 

    Jot

    March 26th, 2010 at 12:06 pm

    Chris, the one i have tried today seem to be working again, so thanks for the efforts. If i find any i’ll post.

    Cheers

    J

14. 

    CJ Holden

    March 26th, 2010 at 1:04 pm

    I like the new shop banner, btw. I’m thinking of purchasing a T-shirt or two for a while now.

15. 

    dan

    March 26th, 2010 at 1:16 pm

    i’m gonna agree with RRA about the message board idea.
    take this site for example: http://infini-tropolis.com/
    simple layout, good reviews, thriving message board.

16. 

    clubside

    March 26th, 2010 at 2:34 pm

    They’re using vBulletin, dan, which would have been a fine solution in place of WordPress except that its blog/static pages are much more difficult to manage than WordPress, it costs money, and has far fewer developers (plug-ins can be really helpful, and it’s much easier to write them in WordPress as well). There are a variety of plug-in forums for WordPress including the “official” bbPress and Simple:Press Forum. They are fairly easy to integrate, I’m just curious as to which features the most usability people like (and none come close to vBulletin with its awards, ranking, user pages and other features) so I can explore the customization aspects. It took a while to emulate Vern’s GeoCities style in WordPress so I can only imagine a similar challenge awaits for styling a forum add-on.

17. 

    GoodBadGroovy

    March 26th, 2010 at 6:18 pm

    I think the popularity of the potpouri comments section definitely shows that there’d be a lot to gain from a forum section for full/diversive discussion. Although a lot of the fun of reading through the comments comes from the tangents they often go off on, I wonder if that would still happen when people have somewhere else to discuss them. However as you pointout clubside it’s not just a case of picking one and plugging it in, there’s a crap load of stuff to sort out and it essentially means more work/more things to manage. Also I understand that Vern likes to keep a certain level of mystique, I dunno how keen he would be on a full on Vern sponsered forum. Although it could quickly and easily become the internets central point for badass Seagal discussion, and help to promote his book/s.

18. 

    Jareth Cutestory

    March 27th, 2010 at 7:47 am

    I looked at the format that dan linked to and it kind of made my head swim. I guess it’s nice that those sorts of boards allow users to start their own subject threads, but I can imagine them petering out from having too many options to choose from. You’d have hundreds of topics, each with only one or two responses; it can separate a small community more than it unites them.

    I also don’t like it when a comments section is formatted on numerous pages, rather than one long endless string of comments. Maybe I’m old, but I prefer the current version we’re using now.

    I agree with GoodBadGroovy about the potpouri threads, but I think those great free-for-alls could be provided easily by Vern posting a weekly story in the current format with a title like: “Okay, you screwheads, what’s on your warped little minds?” or “Talk about anything except THE WIRE, you fuckers.”

19. 

    Jareth Cutestory

    March 27th, 2010 at 7:51 am

    Also: That picture of Bronson, Grier and McQueen wearing Vern-approved clothing is awesome.

20. 

    clubside

    March 27th, 2010 at 8:07 am

    Well the site move is complete and all the new posts seem to be showing up here.

    As for forums, Jareth talks about some of the negative issues related to their use beyond implementation. If anyone is curious check out bbPress, the official forum plug-in, or http://simple-press.com/ for the popular Simple:Press to see how the features stack up, or suggest something else and I’ll run it by Vern. I’m also exploring Facebook connect for commenting and sharing, should have a title-only search implemented soon and a few other things.

    I also prefer the single long scroll for comments, not a fan of paging or nested replies, but we’ll adapt as Vern sees fit. There’s always the option of Disqus or Intense Debate, two alternative commenting systems, though they still don’t fit the general discussion needs of a forum.

    Feel free to make suggestions here until the post scrolls into oblivion, and report any problems you might run into that have cropped up since the move, though hopefully there aren’t any. This new hosting plan is upgradable (but no yearly discount, waaaah) so I can react to usage changes unlike before.

21. 

    Mouth

    March 27th, 2010 at 9:04 am

    While I got the web guru here, can I ask how I might go about applying a snazzy picture to my profile, clubside?
    Usually I visit this site on my iPhone between training events at Bragg, so I don’t bother to log in every time. Now I’m exploring my profile/login options, and I’ll be damned if I can figure out how to show the world a 1″ x 1″ inoffensive visual representation of Mouth. Perhaps I’m damaged in the mindbrainmedulla-oblangata.

    Help me. I want a picture next to my name. What do I click on to make this happen?

22. 

    clubside

    March 27th, 2010 at 9:33 am

    Sorry about that Mouth, I’ve been meaning to install another plug-in to help with that. WordPress supports Gravatars, http://gravatar.com/, which is a global avatar system supported by lots of sites. Basically you register your email address (or multiples if you want to share the same avatar between multiple accounts) and whenever you post at a Gravatar-supporting site like this using a registered email address Gravatar serves up your image. Fast, free and easy! And I gotta remember that plug-in…

23. 

    Mouth

    March 27th, 2010 at 10:33 am

    Great success.
    Not the most intuitive method of doing things, but now we’re golden.
    I’m already dissatisfied with my picture. Changes will be made regularly to that thing.

24. 

    Stu

    March 27th, 2010 at 2:47 pm

    Thanks for the info, Clubside. I remember trying to set up a gravatar before and it being even more complex for some reason. I’ll second the love for the image linking to the clothing store, which I’ve only just recently perused properly. The names he’s given for things are hilarious like “Vern Bib (for babies only, please)”.

25. 

    Jareth Cutestory

    March 27th, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    Stu: My favorites are “A Green T-shirt???” and “Holy Crap It’s A Mousepad For Your Mouse To Be On.”

26. 

    Stu

    March 27th, 2010 at 4:01 pm

    Not to mention the descriptions when you click on them:
    The Mouse: “For computer users ONLY. Sorry for the inconvenience.”