Should Danny's Toyota Hybrid Boards Be Combined?

yes and yes

The 2nd yes - www.hihychat.com and while I'm at it escapehybridchat.com and camrychat.com rxhybridchat.com is up but dead.

The first yes:

I think Danny should combine the boards. This way, we don't have to register multiple times and I don't have to leave the site. I can go to.. say hybridchat.com and then click the Prius subforum or the Camry subforum.

Also, it's easier to post news since I don't have to post multiple times or if I don't, then people might miss something. In addition, hybrid meets will be easier to organise, esp. with this new rsvp system.

 

***Caution - free flowing thought ahead. Could make no sense whatsoever***

This is an interesting idea, and frankly it's one I've been thinking about for a while. As the site admin and owner, I can see both sides of the argument. It would be much easier for me to provide a top-notch website if it were on one domain because it would be easier to roll out new features easier and more efficiently. It would be also a lot easier for me to manage - you have no idea the # of various emails I get everyday about simple things like passwords needing to be reset, or validating new accounts that take up a ton of time.

On the other hand, there's something to be said for having the boards be unique. Yes, the Prius is the hybrid powerhouse right now, so I spent 85% of my time here on PC. I think it creates a sense of loyalty and ownership for Prius owners here at PC, or HiHy owners at HiHyChat.

I do own several domains that I've bought for future expansion or future consolidation. For instance, the Lexus hybrid individual board doesn't seem to be active at all, so I purchased www.lexushybriddrive.com and have been thinking about grouping all of the Lexus Hybrid discussion over there. I like the Invision Power Board software that PC uses - so much that I've bought lifetime licenses for all of the existing boards. IPB is soon coming out with a software solution that will allow members to go from one site to another without having to re-register. So, basically if you're a member of PC you can go to CamryChat.com and log in without re-registering.

Here's what I've been thinking about doing with that software ability:

• Use 1 domain - www.hybridchat.com (I own it already, so don't even try )
• Set up a couple of generic forums such as FHOP or whatever that the whole community could be involved in regardless of car model
• Have redirecting forums for each car model like one that says "Toyota Prius" and have that link to htt://prius.hybridchat.com, and the one for the civic would go to <a href=\"http://civic.hybridchat.com\" target=\"_blank\">http://civic.hybridchat.com</a>.
• Why do it this way? This keeps the "View New Posts" databases seperate and allows for you when you come to the site to only see Prius-related posts. If you want to check out what's going on with the camry - go to camry.hybridchat.com and click on View New Posts, etc.

What do you guys think of an idea like that? We could still banner the sites as we do today with each subdomain having it's own logo and identity.

Danny

 

Yeah, I remember brainstorming this idea with Danny a few months ago. He really has been thinking about this for quite a while. It seemed that for every good idea there was at least one counterargument. For most of us, the "View New Posts" is the biggy. As Danny said, combining all the boards into one database would mean that when you hit VNP you would get every new post from every board forum on every board. Just this morning, after 12 hours of being away I had three pages just on Prius alone. When the other boards pick up, it would be a dozen every twelve hours.
Also, we discussed catastrohpic server crashes. Hate to have to think about it, but they are the occasional reality. Keeping them physically seperate and backing them up individually would help limit the amount of lost data should something go horribly horribly wrong. Or if one site goes down for whatever reason, we can now go to the others to bide the time and see what's going on with the HyCams.

Wow, Danny warned of stream-of-consciousness writing but I think I inadvertantly one-upped him.

Gotta run now, Google Sidebar just presented a news article "Toyota, Honda gain as May sales sink for Detroit." I think I want to read that.

 

sounds like what I had in mine but better lol. FHOP as a general forum is probably best. That way, when we go into the subforums and click VNP, FHOP won't be there for those people who dislike it.