Possible Improvement to the Announcement System

This is posted in part due to the database transfer that happened last night.

I believe that the announcement system that we have right now is not the best it could be. Now, announcements are simply posted at the top of each forum. Many announcements are lost on many people, if the # of times viewed is any indicator. The announcements now are quiet and as Bigfoot3814 states, easy to miss.

Bigfoot3814 said:

Well to be fair it[The announcement] isn't exactly IN YOUR FACE. Anybody could have missed it.

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What I propose is that for every announcement, a PM is sent to every forum member, or maybe every forum member that has posted/logged on in the last month or so. A PM is much harder to miss than a little thread at the very top like we have now. This way, CFC in general would be more informed about the unavailability of the forum or the various contests that happen every so often. I don't know if this would cause a lot of extra work or even if this is possible with vbulletin, but I think it would be an improvement.

Is my idea a good one or just unnecessary work? Am I the only one that missed the thing about CFC being gone for a while?

My own noticing of it was pretty much coincidental.

There should be some forum addons out there that make the announcement more visible. I will have a look.

My humble suggestion for pm or posting or whatever:

Alert! Alert! A clarion call--
This message is from Thunderfall.

Note the day and note the time
Found at the end of this rhyme;
Work is planned and change is due,
All to bring you something new;
Your valued access may be denied
At you home or perhaps worldwide,
In any case, note the time and note the day,
And then come back to have your say.

Added an announcement box at the forum home page, under the logo.

I will use that box to announce things like server maintenance info and other global announcements.

Thank you That box seems a lot more visible than what we have now.

A PM would be super-irritating. As long as the announcement box is above the forum, I'm cool. Maybe an animated icon next to brandy-new announcements?

Personally, I just about never visit the forum home page.

LucyDuke: that's my problem, as well. I almost *never* visit the forum home page except when I first log in. Still, I noticed the box right away when I got here this morning.

I think it's a definite improvement.

LucyDuke said:

A PM would be super-irritating. As long as the announcement box is above the forum, I'm cool. Maybe an animated icon next to brandy-new announcements?

Personally, I just about never visit the forum home page.

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Thunderfall said:

TheLastOne36 said:

i like this one!

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heh, if you like that one, you may like the new image as well.

I guess we could add them for convenience...

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What about the New and Updated images for that?

btw TF you haven't added the two images yet.

Perhaps there could an option to opt-out of the PMs, if its gonna be used.

VBulletin already has a mass-email feature, and members have the choice of whether or not to receive email from the forum admin. It's less intrusive than a PM, which wouldn't be of any use if the forum is already down anyway.