MC Clients...

We have planned to overhaul the forums to enhance usability and to better organize the content.

Please post ideas for forum improvement, features you like and items within the forums you dislike.

Thanks for your input!

I like the forum!

I do recall a thread from a while back where someone suggested that there be a place for store owners only to post messages. I think this would be great place to post discounts for other store owners.

This is from a post I made yesterday:

I would like to take part in discussions about features planned for version 4.1. It seems like most of the discussions in these forums focus on specific details that get to one or more of us ie. adding a packing list option, or fixing bugs in DataPort.

I’d like to see discussions of broader topics. In terms of customer satisfaction we could be addressing potential problems with v4.1 before they become problems, and hopefully giving development some good ideas along the way.

Some areas I would like to discuss are:
-ways to improve the functionality of Basic and Advanced Search
-ways to improve the functionality and layout of the Shopping Cart
-ways to make Admin more user-friendly.
-ways to improve FTP access.

Maybe we could use the list in the KB Development Cycle post as a structure for the discussions. I’ll even go so far as to suggest a new section in the forums be added where the plans for various aspects of v4.1 can be easily followed and discussed by users.

These are all very good ideas... I agree 100% that search needs to be enhanced. I will check with Rick to see when the new version of search will be released.

I also like the idea of having a private area for MC Merchants to discuss private issues such as SEO and other misc issues.

Lastly, I really like the idea of adding a 4.1 discuss area.

I will make sure these 3 ideas are added to the development list. Keep the ideas coming.

Thanks.

How about a general "wish list" area that isn't necessarily next release specific? Just a place to post ideas for improvement.

Have to disagree with you, Wizard. Yes I have noticed that people get a little steamed in their posts, but you will have this kind of thing no matter how great your service is... you just can't please everyone all the time

I am not a merchant yet, but I like to be able to participate in discussion about it and learn more in-depth, not only about itself, but about all the issues related to being in ebusiness. In response to Captain's recent post, I have been reading these boards now for 6 months, and had I not read some topics, inlcuding those on SEO, I would have to wait until I become a member to pass that learning curve... That's not beneficial at all and will just add to my timeline toward success. If one has all this knowledge when embarking with , then the journey is easier and faster. (as I'm sure other prospects would agree)

I agree with CedarMusic...
Their should also be a thread dedicated to version development.
I guess that would be the developers' corner, but there isn't really a centralized place to discuss upcoming features and their expected implementation date, which would be very nice to know.
I have heard feature requests mentioned and in all honesty I want to hold out on starting my store until v4.1 is installed. I seem to remember a 4/1/04 completion date somewhere, but another post mentions a time frame of 'sometime this summer'. The Development Cycle page says 6/1/04... Is that the official date?

A thread specifically for Network Status, Bugs, Resolution ETAs, and workarounds is needed. I see people having this problem or that... and if it's a problem that affects everyone's store than there needs to be a central place for these topics. If finds that the problem is an isolated incident or the result of user error, the post could be archived if it's not really relevant for all merchants. If it's a -wide problem, then we NEED to know about it. This would also be a prime spot to post "Network Status" reports, or when x sites will be done for maintenance, are down because of a hardware failure, etc. People could also subscribe to the Network Status thread so they'd get an email if there was a problem or announcement in that regard.

Also, my little gripe about creating a post...
When I click a smilie or the link button, it's always pasted at the bottom of my message, instead of where the cursor is in the text box. Does this happen to everyone? I'm on a Mac using Safari so it's quite possible it's my problem.

Other than that, I love the forums.
All I can think of for now, and I love the 'crack the whip' smilie by the way!

In regards to the forum search abilities...

I personally have not had any problem with the search functionality on this board, but this may be in part that I know the software inside and out. However, this doesn't mean it's working as efficiently as it should or could be. The search doesn't seem to be that user friendly now that I look at it.

Lets get the bad news out of the way first. There's nothing I can do about it now because there is nothing available to enhance the current search function. If the next version of the software were in the distant future I would certainly consider writing my own alterations to try and enhance it.

And now lets get straight to the good news. As I had discussed in this topic:
http://forums.monstersmallbusiness.com/ind...?showtopic=1341
When we upgrade the software in the upcoming months the search function will be tweaked, optimized and greatly enhanced. What does this mean? Well, lets consider this.

Search bars will now be located on virtually every page you visit where you can search from within that area. For instance:

Searching from the main forum:


Searching from within a forum:


And searching from within a topic:


These searches will produce a search result that looks like this:


Cool? Well it gets better. the stuff above is handy, but the developer of the software has also gone a step further with the main search, making it more comprehensive and reliable:

Here's our current search result for "idea":


Here's what search result will look like in the future:


Of course you still have your advanced search (what I use) and you can alter your default search to sort by most relevant or by most recent (which you can do already).

Also, don't forget that if you have the Google Toolbar installed you can use that to search this site.

Captain and myself will be meeting later this week to discuss changes, additions and modifications to the forum. The search will certainly be a feature that is discussed in depth. Please continue to provide feedback such as this to help better our community. Thanks.

Can we please have an archive section for all important and very helpful info .

I agree with all said above but would definitely like to see all scripts and code in one place.

I don't think I saw this idea in the recent posts.

But I would like to see an area that woould include all the custom or editied html or java script information.

A SELF-HELP AREA!

I just wanted to point out this previous discussion to everyone as I think there were alot of good points made.

http://forums.monstersmallbusiness.com/ind...?showtopic=1341

Maybe you could make up a summarized list of what you have so far Captain so we don't keep complaining about the same things.

Will do David... I will have an MC team member summarize past and present suggestions and post them by the end of the week.

I agree that the search funciton could be a little better.

I had no idea that we had forum users who don't even have stores/accounts. Seems a bit odd that one would be looking at this forum for six months and has still not signed up. Come on man, get off the fence. If you are waiting for perfection, I'm afraid you will not find it!

I vote for a private forum also.

The other thing I'd like to see is less personal chatting in the boards. It seems that some comments should be made into personal messages. Let me tell you why I say this. I was trying to find technical info on ccs, custom html function calls, etc. and following 7 pages of comments takes a bit of time to go through. When you are trying to learn something, you don't want to miss anyones comments because they may have discussed something that you need to learn. I am guilty of this myself.

Maybe there should be a "self-help" area where we can find specific topics on learning more advanced things or maybe this should be a section that you should only be able to view???

The use of more poles/surveys might be a better way for to solicit certain types of feedback from us.

I like the idea of being emailed when important or time sensitive information needs to be conveyed. I think this is the one area that could do a better job at. The forum is great but sometimes an immediate email is better.
We use 's software, so I know they have the capability to set up a mailing list

I'd also like to see a way to track topics within the Forum. So instead of getting an eMail everytime there is a new post, we could have a way to mark threads we want to follow, then click a link to pull up that list when we sign in.

When I'm looking for a response in a forum thread (like today), I check the forums more than I check email.

Any other suggestions...? We are going to begin scoping the forum revamp with the items listed in this thread. Any last minute suggestions?

As I suggested here http://forums.monstersmallbusiness.com/ind...?showtopic=1341 I think that it would be useful to break up the forums into more sections. The how to section alone could definately have some subsections, course this would take alot of work sorting out all the posts. Maybe just some new sections?

Other new ideas might include
1. New emoticons (smilies) with which we can show our effection for .
2. The ability to delete your own posts? (I know alot of us have said things we wished we could take back)
3. An option in the search to search for all unanswered posts. (This was discussed in the above thread and turned down as a unrealistic option to all but maybe some way to seach for those poor posts that never got an answer?)

All in all a very tight system . Way to keep up the good work.
Here have one on me.

I would like to see a search function that would return all of YOUR OWN posts in all cats to check up on replies etc..

This is currently possible. Follow the steps below

1. Click Search
2. Click More options (bottom)
3. On the right is a field "Filter by Member Name (optional)" Put your screenname here
4. Then just select the specific forum spot or leave it on all and click search
5. This will return every post you have made

You can also view all subscribed topics by clicking on My Controls and then on View Topics in the left menu bar. I offer this as an option since I usually subscribe to the posts I post in.

Thanks Ultra... that's a very useful feature.

Nifty Suggestion. This is not a feature of Invisionboard software and I know it's something that will not be made available anytime soon in their software. However, there currently are and soon will be alternatives.

If you scroll down to the bottom of each forum there are numerous ways to manipulate how your results are displayed.

Collapsable categories will be available so you can collapse and pretty much ignore any category you wish.

Has it been considered to add a chat feature within the forums? Many times threads get cluttered with chit chat that doesn't need to be kept as permanent record. Perhaps live chat between members and guests could be used for quick questions and gossip leaving true posts for meatier discussions.

One other point on this for you Wizard,
Sometimes you may not need or be interested in a feature or product. But they also are always improving.

Sometimes reading the posts do help you learn the capabilities of these software products and later when you need that capability youll know where to get it.

I read all the posts, and learn things where you arent expecting to.