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    Nick

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    Blog Entries posted by Nick

    1. Nick

      Membership Levels & Images

      By Nick,

      Membership Levels

      I am currently in the process of reviewing all of the membership levels at GMIC and what each level will offer. This includes subscribing membership as well as the incremental membership based on participation in the community. This will include:
      Changes in image uploads (detailed below) Offering more incentives to subscribing members including an enamel membership badge, and the ability to use images in signatures. Icons to support membership level


      Image Uploads

      This has been a difficult area to resolve and has caused much angst over the years. Following a recent discussion amongst the moderators over lost images in older topics, where the image has been hosted elsewhere, I have reviewed how we manage uploads.

      The simple fact is that images, if not handled correctly can unecessarily take up a lot of server space. Modern digital camera and phones can create image files that are HUGE and if not edited or compressed prior to uploading, a single image can unecessarily take up lots of expensive server space.

      I have tried over time to increase the allowance for all membership levels, to make posting images a lot easier to manage. A good image quality on screen can easily be managed well under 200kb. However this method of restriction has always put the onus on the member to edit the image prior to posting. This has ensured that the image fits the criteria for membership and can be uploaded to the GMIC server. I am more than aware of the problems this can cause some members, both in terms of time and lack of IT skills and as an alternative some members find it easier to host their images on their own websites or servers. This is fine in the short term, but over time I have found that links to images are lost and that topics can become almost irrelevant without the image to support it.

      I have therefore been looking at other ways to upload images to give incentive to posting on the GMIC server. What I would like to achieve is similar to ebay where a member can upload (within reason) any size file and the software automatically reduces and compresses the image to a more manageable size. This in turn will hopefully induce more members to post images here at GMIC than host them elsewhere.

      But this is not as straightforward as it sounds as there are limitations to the software, which I am still working on getting around. After several weeks of trial and error I am nearly there and you may have seen over the last week that images that are uploaded now display at a max of 300 X 300 px thumbnail, click on the image in a post and it will open to its full size. Hopefully this will be resolved by the time I announce the new membership levels next week.
    2. Nick
      I am working hard to fix an issue with the gallery. There still seems to be an ongoing issue with the photo gallery which was caused by the migration to the new server. As a consequence some members have had difficulty posting images for the 2012 Photographic Competition.

      I have therefore suspended the gallery while I work on the problem. I apologise for this, as I thought the problem was fixed, but it seems not to have been fully resolved.

      The competition will be slightly extended to compensate for this.
    3. Nick

      GMIC 2013 Calendar for Sale

      By Nick,

      To support the server upgrade and to acknowledge some of the great photos that were submitted in both the 2011 and 2012 photography competitions, I have commissioned a limited edition 2013 GMIC Calendar.

      It is a spiral wire bound A4 size wall Calendar. This is a first for GMIC and I hope that many of you support the forum and grab an edition quickly as it is a limited print run.

      My thanks to the members that contributed their photos, making this all possible.

      I have previewed some of the pages to give you an idea of the content. Price will be £8 for a Calendar plus postage costs which will be dependent on location.

      Ordering for the calendar will go live this weekend in the members store and through an updated link which will appear on this page.



    4. Nick
      I am glad to say that the server errors of Monday are resolved and that the Gallery is now functioning correctly. I apologise for the inconvenience to those members trying to post images for the competition and I would ask that you repost any that are missing. The competition will close Midnight on Sunday (18th November) US Pacific Time to allow as many members to catch up as possible. Don't forget there are great prizes and a chance for your photo to feature on the 2013 GMIC calendar.
    5. Nick

      Forum Home Page Changing

      By Nick,

      I have been working this evening on bringing a new home page to GMIC. Essentially, in the not too distant future the home page of www.gmic.co.uk will change to a portal type page. The portal will have a selection of highlights displaying recent topics, blog pages,articles and links. The forum index page as you know it will still exist, but will be moved to a new URL. That way if you do not like the portal page to launch your daily dose of GMIC, you can still access the old forum index as it looks today.

      The new portal will give a fresh overview for the forum and allow new members and guests to quickly see what we are about. It will also be a good way of playing catch up with whats new at a glance.
    6. Nick

      The Nook. Chat Room

      By Nick,

      I have just opened a Live Chat Room for all members. Access can be gained from the Tab marked 'Chat' on the Forum index page or from the redirect above the lounge.

      There are limits to the amount of members that can use it at one time, but IF that because a regular issue, I can upgrade the licence to resolve that.

      The usual rules around posting apply in the Chat room so please keep the conversations appropriate.

      Enjoy !
    7. Nick

      Blog Skin

      By Nick,

      I am still working on the final skin (the appearance and colour scheme) for the blog area. It may take a few days to tweak it so don't worry if things don't look quite right just yet !
    8. Nick
      I am currently working on adding a new modification to support the sales section which should make selling militaria and browsing what is for sale a better experience.

      A little while back I tested a modification which had a number of issues around its performance, especially with Microsoft Internet Explorer. (Microsoft Internet Explorer is worthy of a entry on its own, the number of issues that this browser since IE7 has caused me over the years I have lost count with). Since that time the modification has been updated significantly. However one area which need more work on is whether to advertise in a single currency and then in the text of the advert specify prices in different currency and specify what currency is preferred payment. I.e. advertise all sales in GBP but in the text show Euro and or Dollar price and preferred method of payment. Th alternative which I am not sure is feasible yet is to advertise all sales in the preferred choice of payment out of Euro GBP or US Dollar.
    9. Nick

      Tags & Prefixes

      By Nick,

      Many of you may have noticed the Tags box (and in some areas a prefix box) on the posting form which has replaced the sub title area. Sub Titles in topics are no longer supported and I therefore have added a Tags and Prefixes module. At the current time I am starting to test this within certain areas of the forum.

      For members information this is work in progress and unless there is a requirement to enter pre configured tags or prefixes then please for the moment ignore the boxes as you can't create or input tags or prefixes unless they are pre configured.

      For those of you who use the Imperial German Section you may find that you are required to input a prefix or tags. In the case of prefixes there can only be one choice and you should choose the most relevant prefix for the topic being posted. As for tags you can add multiple tags but a minimum of one is required and again these should be keywords which highlight the topic content.

      The purpose of tags and prefixes is to categories topics by the use of keywords which then enables you as members to quickly and easily search for other related material which also has the same tags or prefixes. For example in Imperial German Medals, the Prefixes categories the topic into States or Duchies. In the Imperial Uniforms and Equipment forum the tags categories the content further i.e. uniform, helmet, insignia etc. If you then click on a prefix or tag it should automatically sort and list topics with the same prefix this can then be further sorted by clicking on tags.

      Any questions just ask.
    10. Nick

      Event & Show Calendar

      By Nick,

      I have upgraded and developed the Members Calendar to allow members to post any forthcoming events which may be of interest to collectors and members. This is to be used for promoting Events such as Collectors Fairs, Shows and Exhibitions. Anything is allowed as long as it is related to Militaria. Can members put as much detail in the event and start the entry with the Country holding the event:

      i.e. UK: War & Peace Show
    11. Nick
      As part of the ongoing work to upgrade GMIC and a decision take it to a new level, I have incorporated the ability for members to start their own personal blogs. The theme for a blog must be around medals, militaria or general military history. I will be using my blog to regularly update members on any ongoing issues, upgrades or general forum information. More details to follow....
    12. Nick
      I have been working with IPB to fix the following issues which have recently come to light:

      Signatures not aligning properly within posts with images. I have rebuilt the skin and all is now fixed.

      Blog images not showing in blog posts. This is still work in progress.

      The following error was appearing if an URL was posted in a post or message relating to the gallery:
      Fatal error: Call to undefined method skin_gallery_global_23::bbCode() in /home/macmedal/public_html/admin/applications_addon/ips/gallery/extensions/bbcode/gallery.php on line 298
      This has now also fixed.

      Any further ongoing issues please report them in the software errors and troubleshooting forum.


    13. Nick

      Updated Chat Room

      By Nick,

      The Chat room can now be accessed by all members from the Tab marked Chat on the index page. It also can be accessed by the redirect next to the lounge. When people are in the Chat room the tab on the index page will have a red box with a number in it indicating the number of members currently in the Chat Room. Also on the bottom of the index page under members currently online it will show the members who are actually in the Live Chat room so you can see who is chatting and decide if you want to join them.
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