Big Changes (Possibly) Coming

First Stop Announcements
#1

Hey guys,
As always when things change with this place I like to make sure you’re all informed and get your feedback.

I was contacted by a fellow named John Shury today. He has part of a group that runs www.compositestoday.com. He approached me with the idea of integrating this site with www.compositestoday.com, the idea being one side can be the expository side where you read about composites, and the other can be discussion about articles.

We’re in the early stages of discussion but the big benefits to this forum are big updates to the codebase by people who are a lot better at it than me and additional content of interest to all of you. The forum would look a lot better, be better for mobile devices, and be better website overall. The site would remain free of ads and free in general.

The only cons I see is a possible change of culture. Right now the forum is fairly small but everyone is helpful and there aren’t very many trolls (people making other people angry for fun).

What do you guys think? I would love to hear your feedback

#2

Sounds like it could be a good idea - more carbon fiber info/articles is never a bad thing!
Be nice if this forum side of things kept it’s helpfulness/decent people as that’s one quality that sets it apart from a lot of other places!
As for the trolls, the forum could sell carbon fiber bats with which to hit them with.

#3

Hi,

Everyone here at Composites Today has been long time stalkers of this forum, and In our quick email conversations with @canyon wanted to offer our help in anyway we could by giving the site a new coat of digital epoxy and maybe adding new features for the community, as well as making the site more secure and mobile friendly.

Would be great to see if their is any new features people would like to see added to composites central, if you guys choose to go ahead with it.

Cheers

#4

^I thought clubs were used on trolls.

But on topic, the idea of increased traffic and users could be quite useful. I click over there from time to time, so, it would actually save some clicks.

#5

This is a good group but increased traffic would be welcome

#6

I’m a newbie on this site, and may not know all the potential issues for the “merger” being suggested. And some of the potential issues I see may be no concern to others. With that caveat, I’ll offer the following considerations:

[ol]
[li]What I’ve seen of Composites Today shows an emphasis on a lot more large to midsized businesses and not so much on small business and the individual garage workshop guys. I’d not be as interested if the smaller end of the spectrum were to be squeezed into some remote corner, whether immediately or over time.[/li][li]The news orientation of Composites Today gives a lot of emphasis to the leading edge of technology while there is a lot of participation here at a much less advanced level, right down to hand layups. Those who are beginners in composites aren’t going to be of much interest to the guys at Boeing or McLauren or Hexcel etc. who are the focus of Composites Today. And those beginners and developing individuals are looking for more basic things they aren’t going to get as readily from the big guys. For sure, the helpful and knowledgeable folks already here don’t automatically go away, but the logistics may become far more complex and difficult.[/li][/ol]
Compared to managing trolls, these issues are potentially more difficult to manage. Trolls can be dealt with by firm handed moderators; these matters are potentially systemic. I’d say some careful consideration and planning are in order.

#7

@jumpingjax you made me think again. Very valid points that I agree with

#8

I just realized I have the Composites Android App, and I think forum access via the app would be great, like how I use Tapatalk on some others.

#9

@JumpingJax

Maybe their is some confusion here.

A merger is not what we are offering, the site will be on the same domain name and totally separate from Composites Today, the potential changes will be on a more secure platform with a new look, more features and a mobile friendly version, with possible integration into our free smart phone app.

The integrations we speak of, would be to provide related forum content based on the type of news article on CT not here.

With regards to our news orientation of CT if you or anyone wants to contribute or have something to say about our industry then you can send us guest posts and we will publish, for more information vist http://www.compositestoday.com/contribute

#10

Where there are now two sites/forums, there will be one? Two? Do I miss something here? Maybe I don’t get what you actually mean by “integration.”

I’m all for having good friends. I’m all for working together and helping one another with issues and learning and experimentation. And at least you’re not from the Government, even if you are here to help. :wink:

A better platform, better software and infrastructure would be a good thing for us. All your staff and subscribers joining our forum and participating and contributing their knowledge and experience - and news - would be a good thing for us and hopefully for them, too. All that seems something short of what I consider “integration.” All that seems like a contribution in kind to the forum.

Maybe a bit more detail of what you’re proposing would be helpful. It’s not that I’m against your proposal, it’s more that I don’t understand what it amounts to.

#11

Sorry i had to edit myself… new edit is below.

I came here in 2006 or 07 and learned alot. What makes this forum so great is it helps hobbyists and small business owners. Please don’t change what has made this the most helpful composite forum online.

I’m not trying to be rude or mean to CompT… please do not change how our site communicates and our methods of communication with each other; speaking in laymans user terms. I’ve gained friends from here, swapped work. I like being able to “PM” other forum members to ask questions or see how they are doing in general. I think a site member list for PM’ing would be good if not in place already. Small changes have occurred with this forum so I don’t know if a member PM contact list is still available.

Canyon… go with your gut.

#12

Thanks guys,
Right now John and the others at Composites Today have been very nice and prompt with my replies. The confusion as to what exactly is going to happen largely is my fault, as I haven’t had the time to talk to John about the details yet, although again he’s been very nice.

Fastrr
As to your comments, the culture here is something I’d like to preserve but as anything else the site at the very least needs to be updated. No matter what everyone here has been fantastic and I we definitely all help each other out and I really really appreciate that.

As for a PM list, there’s a userlist you can browse although most users are now inactive. PM’s are limited for new users because spammers were using it behind my back to bother you guys. But if you’re active on here for a little bit you’ll get PM privileges pretty fast.

In general I’ll continue trying to be as open as possible with you guys! Thank you everyone for sharing!

#13

We all know you’re busy, Canyon, but it’s almost a month with no news on this front. Anything you can share?

#14

Hey JumpingJax,
Contacted John again and were planning our first Skype meeting. Nothing to report just yet.

#15

… Change as in talk composites kind of change? Hope not. I thought I had first dibs. Lol

#16

Best of luck, it’s always exciting when someone else wants to be a part of what your doing.

#17

Quick update
John’s been sick so we still haven’t talked. Hopefully we’ll get a chance sometime in the future and I’ll definitely post results when I know more.

#18

So, I’m late to jump in on this, but after a quick look at Composites Today (sorry, never saw this site before, I have little time to explore new sites at work), it looks like a news site with a lot of information of current events, and not what we do. To combine both would be an interesting idea. We have the forum discussion of hands on stuff (mostly hobby stuff mind you), and CT has a lot of news of current events and topics. As long as we can have both, I’m all for it. I like the look of CTs site for that, and i notice there are comment areas for each. I’m not sure how you can combine both as ONE, but it might work if someone has a good idea (I’m not creative really…tons of materials here, and i still find it hard to make new things on my own)

#19

Still haven’t heard anything yet. Hopefully John isn’t still sick, but again I’ll keep you guys updated as I am!

#20

wow,I found you guys again,why did I keep trying to find racingcomposites? did we get renamed?? anyway,i’m glad as i there is a huge amount of info on here and i hope to shortly get back into this maybe as a business after 10 years of playing :slight_smile: would be overlays cause i’m good at them…