"Business Model"

My "Business Model" for Random Topics has always been a small "tight" group of posters. My initial thought was about 50 members, but it could be double that or more. A group of people who know each other to some extent. A core of posters who post most days (nucleus), as well as others who perhaps post less frequently but are still regular posters.
I do not want a large (or even medium) place with hundreds of largely anonymous members, nor members who require constant baby sitting/discipline from an army of Moderators.
I do want to "Administer" and "Moderate" the forum topics etc... but not so much the actual Members. It's not my job to try and modify people's personality and behaviour, but I would like to keep a few (serious) threads on topic, and keep all posting in defined areas where we can all find stuff. Some threads where people ramble on about any old thing may be required, but stuff gets quickly lost at a site that is all like that.

I am HAPPY for the public to just read at RT... this sort of "Forum" is partially about publishing information, thoughts and opinions to the world.
(Hiding away in shame makes no sense).

Members too are free to read the public areas on a casual basis... but those registered can logon and post if and when they are inspired. Many members read and post now-and-then on a casual basis... hit-and-run post on a specific case. That is quite OK too.

There is still a small private "Members Area" for chat, forum issues etc. Access will remain for more involved members only.
The "Members Area" is a place for chat and "socializing"... so I do not expect it to be of interest to all anyway.


I am still very HAPPY to sign up new members as well, so please spread the word and invite people to look and to email me if they wish to register.

Email me: rumpole@randomtopics.org

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

An Observation.

I regularly see a LOT of "guests" reading. You are all most welcome to do that. MOST of the place is open and public.

However, if a topic and the discussion interests you, please feel free to email me and register if you want to join in

Email: rumpole@randomtopics.org

I also see Members who just read.. again you are most welcome to just do that, but we would welcome YOU joining in as well.

The place can only thrive when people post.

The Who - Join Together

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Scheduled Outage

There is a scheduled outage at the Server that hosts Random Topics. They are a bit vague about the exact timing...

That translates for MOST RT members (EST) to be...between TODAY 10PM and TOMORROW 7AM

The site will be unavailable for a period. Length of time 30mins to 2 hours.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

So with no precise time known...... "The Sword of Damocles" is hanging over our heads

The Sword of Damocles

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

The Server outage came about 3AM EST... online again before 4AM... but then off again soon after and the site remained down at about 6AM (your time) when I went to bed, but........



All seems OK now?

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

A Note aimed at some of the "Guests" who read here

You are most welcome to read as guests...

One of the functions of a forum is to post information for the public to read and the discussion is intentionally public too. The whole POINT of a Forum is that it is a place where people can "publish" for public scrutiny, information and their comments on it.... so please continue to enjoy the place as guests.

It is nuts to have a forum hidden away from the public... even to hide just some cases away seems bizarre to me. Why do that? It seems as if people are hiding in shame?

However.... you are also more than welcome to register and join in the conversation, or simply continue to just read, but while logged on. As a member you do have the advantage of better access... lists of current active topics, and a SEARCH function make navigation much easier when you are logged on.
And of course you can then comment yourself, if and when you feel inspired to do so.

Although "registration" is disabled, I enable it for people to register when I get an email request...

email: rumpole@randomtopics.org

I am happy to approve all registrations - membership at other forums is not an issue.

You should notice that at this site pages load quickly, unlike at some (second rate) places

It must be VERY FRUSTRATING to be trying to just read, let alone post, at a site that continually has page loading problems.
Problems that have persisted for years (since 2008) and most likely will reoccur in the future

It must be very hard to follow and post about a live event like a hearing or trial

On the very RARE occasions that there has been a technical problem with the "Server" that hosts Random Topics it has been resolved quickly.
I deal with a great company (in California) that maintains their service and "help" 24/7

Note also that Random Topics is a "Donation Free Zone"... no begging for money for upkeep (and profit) here, and there never will be

More about my views on "donations"....
viewtopic.php?f=85&t=853

And... there are no (slow loading) ads and stuff to slow page loading down

No pointless and silly "Forum Bling"... buttons and mood settings etc

No Data Base crashes



If you find yourself "Off The Island".........

Just paddle over here to "The Mainland"

(Watch out for nasty bitey (inconsistent) Mods)

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Daylight Saving (USA) has ended

The majority of members here are from USA and by now would have adjusted clocks FALL BACK 1 hour.

The default setting at Random Topics is USA Eastern (EST) which will show correctly if you are not logged on.

However, each member can set a preferred time zone and you may want to adjust that now via "User Control Panel" (Top right)

User Control Panel/ Board preferences/ Summer Time-DST is in effect YES/ NO

At the moment it is NO

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

There may be a 1 or 2 rational people left at JQ? If anybody has contacts tell them to swim over to RT

Rather than leave the "Titanic" as it sinks only to take refuge on the Iceberg (Island)... swim across to the Mainland



If you find yourself "Off The Island".........

Just paddle over here to "The Mainland"

(Watch out for nasty bitey (inconsistent) Mods)

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

SERVER MIGRATION

The site host server company is migrating accounts from the server that hosts "Random Topics" to a bigger, better, faster server.

So yet another server migration.

I'll spare you the technical details, but over next few days there could be some disruption, error message when trying to access.

I have no control over this, but it should be rare.

If you experience problems, please be patient and retry in a few minutes.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Daylight Saving Time - USA

THX Molly for reminder.. US Clock change "tonight" at 2:00AM

You guys "spring forward" an hour

I will adjust default time at RT (I keep it at US Eastern Time)

This what you will see if not logged on

Individuals can still adjust personal time zone in "User Control Panel"

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Nighthawk Down!

Scheduled maintenance by server (Nighthawk)



Start MidnightMonday 23rd Sunday 22nd(PST)

US EDST 3:00 AM Monday morning

(Which is NZ DST Monday 8:00 PM)

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

I got the day WRONG

In my defense.. "12am Monday" is meaningless at best ambiguous

Anyway.. the planned maintenance shut-down happened. Apparently no problems?

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

A Tip for New Members (and old).

To get the most out of the site and quickly see what is happening...

Look to the row of links at the top of the page when you log on.

Click "View active topics" That will show you a list of active topics.








YOU CAN NOT SEE WHAT IS GOING ON IF YOU ONLY LOOK AT INDEX PAGE

(Or WORSE - just logon at same old same old single topic EVERY TIME!!)

The Index page gives you an over-view only.... it is handy if you have something to contribute and want to find a suitable area and/or existing thread.

If you have any questions please post in the "new members say hello" thread...
http://randomtopics.org/viewtopic.php?f=93&t=878

OR send me a Private Message (PM)

There is a PM link bottom left of every post.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

I welcome people just reading as guests.. using any case info and discussion here even. It is posted publicly for public use, but......... if some dope complains about what he reads here it stuffs things up for everybody.. Gnomeasyin?

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Daylight Saving Time - USA

THX Molly for reminder... AGAIN!

US Clock change ... You guys "fall back" an hour

I will adjust my own personal setting to keep time shown as US EST for me as well as default time at RT (I keep it at US Eastern Time) This is what you will see if not logged on.

Individuals can still adjust personal time zone in "User Control Panel"/Board Preferences ( Top Right of page)

To adjust select "No" for "Enable Summer Time/DST:"

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Reset Time at RT

Molly reminded me that US clocks change this weekend... "Spring forward" 1 hour

I'll adust default time at RT (seen before you logon), but individuals are advised to reset time via "User Control panel" (top right)

Just FYI (FWIW)
NZ clocks also change in a few weeks.. first Sunday in April.. we "Fall back" an hour.

The upshot of all that is my time relative to USA changes by two hours eventually.

eg I will have to add 8 hours rather than 6 to my time to calculate EST (date day before mine)

(I add 7 hours to calculate "Texas Time")

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

SERVER MIGRATION......AGAIN!!

The site host server company is migrating accounts from the server that hosts "Random Topics" to a bigger, better, faster server.

So yet another server migration.


It is due to take place on 9-11

I'll spare you the technical details, there could be some disruption on or around 9-11, error message when trying to access.

I have no control over this, but it should be rare.

If you experience problems, please be patient and retry in a few minutes.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

US Clocks Change - Reset Time at RT

US clocks change this weekend... "fall back" 1 hour

I'll adjust default time at RT (seen before you logon) I have it set to US EST, but individuals are advised to reset time via "User Control panel" (top right).

This now DONE for the site default

IF you are in USA and want to correct for daylight saving, go to top right: "User Control Panel"/Board Preferences/

All you need change is: Summer Time/DST is in effect: Yes/ No SELECT "NO"

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

US Clocks Change...AGAIN!! - Reset Time at RT

US clocks change this weekend... "spring forward" 1 hour

I'll adjust default time at RT (seen before you logon) I have it set to US EST, but individuals are advised to reset time via "User Control panel" (top right).

Heads up/FYI.... NZ clocks change next month (fall back 1 hour) - Sunday, 2 April 2017
(No need for most people to worry their pretty little heads. It just means that people who interact with me will be an hour later... or I will be an hour earlier, depending how you look at it)



This now DONE for the site default

IF you are in USA and want to correct for daylight saving, go to top right: "User Control Panel"/Board Preferences/

All you need change is: Summer Time/DST is in effect: Yes/ No SELECT "YES"

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

FWIW ..... FYI.....

NZ Daylight saving time ends tonight (Saturday)/early Sunday morning.

We "Fall back" 1 hour

Of course, this makes no difference to USA time, or the default time (US ET) set here at Random Topics.

The difference for me is I have to add an extra hour to my local time to convert to US time.


US EST will be NZ time plus 8 hours.
Texas Time will be NZ time plus 7 hours

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light