Thread: Ziroc
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Old 08-29-2004, 02:51 AM   #23
LennonCook
Jack Burton
 

Join Date: November 10, 2001
Location: Bathurst & Orange, in constant flux
Age: 37
Posts: 5,452
The following are my longwinded suggestions:

1. Redesign www.tgeweb.com so that it uses dyanmically generated pages like the forum, instead of the static pages it uses now. This would reduce the amount stored on the tgeweb server, and possibly it's bandwidth, aswell as making it an easier site to maintain.

2. Move the forums onto the tgeweb server, as www.tgeweb.com/ironworks/forums , or similar. This would cut the cost of having two domain names (and Ziroc has atleast three registered, maybe more), two ISPs, and two servers.
It could also mean more people would see the TGEWeb site who know only of the forums, and that more people would visit the forums who only know of the TGEWeb site.

If the two-URL system is preferable for whatever reason, then I would suggest splitting it up into a more logical system than what we have at the moment (one site that is only a site, and one site that is it's complimentary forums):
Have the tgeweb domain as what it is now if you ignore the Ironworks section of it: if you look at it all in context, the Ironworks section doesn't realy fit as part of the same site.
For the Ironworks section, and the forums, use the www.ironworksgaming.com domain, which at the moment redirects to www.tgeweb.com/ironworks . Have it set up as the main site at www.ironworksgaming.com , and the forums at ironworksgaming.com/forum or forums.ironworksgaming.com .
This approach has already been succesfully used in a number of places - see www.pocketplane.net & forums.pocketplane.net , www.forgottenwars.net & forums.forgottenwars.net , www.gibberlings3.net & forums.gibberlings3.net , www.mozillazine.org & forums.mozillazine.org , www.the-silver-river.com & www.the-silver-river.com/Forum , etc.
Even with the two domains, if item 1. , above, is implemented, it should be possible to host the two sites on one server.

On the note of site maintanance, it may also be benificial for some members (say, the moderators) to be able to add information to what is currently www.tgeweb.com/ironworks . Alot of the information there is incomplete or outdated, and it seems mainly due to the fact that it is too big a site for one person to try to maintain by themself.

Combine these ideas with the Google text adds, and it should, in theory, be possible to reduce the costs to such a point that member donations could be a welcome finance for improving the site or the server, rather than being necesary to keep it up. It would also, as jaradu, HiveTyrant, and Ilander all said, help people who can't donate feel that they are still contributing to the community as much as anyone else.

[ 08-29-2004, 02:52 AM: Message edited by: LennonCook ]
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