About the Site Feedback category

Site Feedback
1

Discussion about this site, its organization, how it works, and how we can improve it.

2

Hey Davy,

I tested a couple of things quickly, and I’ll share some thoughts to get you started.

The most important thing you want to do is require manual approval of all comments for new members; otherwise, you’ll wake up every morning to spam or unwanted comments in the forum.

I used to require manual approval of 10 comments before they became automatically approved. By then, spammers were long gone, and you know who someone is and whether you can trust them.

If I didn’t trust them or lost trust in someone, their comments would revert to manual approval.

That one change almost eliminated all spammers or troublemakers in the forum. It took me a while to figure that out. The early days were quite bumpy, and people wreaked havoc on us. Once I locked down that system, we were good to go from there.

The other thing I noticed is that I can edit and delete my comments. I don’t know if there’s a setting to change that or not. I didn’t allow that at TT because it can make things very confusing. People will say something, then others will respond, and then the original person will edit or delete their post, which throws off the entire conversation. People are responding to an edited or deleted comment, and nothing makes sense.

I could edit or delete anyone’s posts, and I would sometimes if people had unusual typos or other issues. Occasionally, I would receive an email requesting that I delete a comment for some reason, and I would typically do that. So I would consider changing that, or you can let it play out and see what happens.

I belong to Nostr, a new type of social network, and you can not edit or delete posts. It’s the first time I was on the other side of that situation, and I must admit it makes me think very carefully about what I want to say. Once it’s up, it’s there forever. I deleted several comments before posting them for this reason. I think that’s a good thing. People will be much more thoughtful about what they say. I know I am.

I tested nested comments, similar to those found on Reddit, where you can either respond to the original post in the topic or start a new thread within it. I never liked Reddit-style nested comments, and this forum doesn’t seem to support that right now, which is good. This appears to be set up like TT, where every response is listed in chronological order.

So if you see a setting for nested comments or something similar, that’s what that is. It will fork a topic into mini-topics.

Finally, private messaging. I had that at first, but it was filled with spam, harassment, and people contradicting everything we were trying to teach. It quickly devolved into a chaotic mess, and I removed it.

You can’t believe how many people will go behind your back to say, “Don’t listen to that a-hole, just do what you want to do.” :flushed_face:

Additionally, people sometimes offered valuable advice behind the scenes, but it goes unnoticed by the rest of the community. That was a shame. People can email each other if they want private conversations. They don’t need your forum for that.

If you have DMs and this forum system doesn’t allow you to read them, you’re gonna have a mess behind the scenes, and you won’t even know it. If they do allow you to read them, you’re gonna spend as much time there putting out fires as you will in here.

In summary:

  • Require manual approval for new members’ comments (huge spam deterrent).

  • Don’t allow users to edit or delete posts — it confuses conversations.

  • Avoid Reddit-style nested comments; chronological flow works best.

  • Think twice about private messaging — it usually creates hidden chaos and more work for you.

Set those foundations early, and you’ll avoid 90% of the headaches I ran into. I had many sleepless nights trying to put out fires before I figured it out.

3

My name is Jesse sir I am a felon for dui I got hit by girl text driving it tore my right foot off they saved it but it happened dec8th 21 I just now last week took first step out boot on foot I’ve lost everything I ever worked for owned but thankfully to good lord I owned piece property with old mobile home on it currently live here and I literally have nothing else I’m desperately seeking a way get cdl

4

Hey Davy,

I tested a couple of things quickly, and I’ll share some thoughts to get you started.

The most important thing you want to do is require manual approval of all comments for new members; otherwise, you’ll wake up every morning to spam or unwanted comments in the forum.

I used to require manual approval of 10 comments before they became automatically approved. By then, spammers were long gone, and you know who someone is and whether you can trust them.

If I didn’t trust them or lost trust in someone, their comments would revert to manual approval.

That one change almost eliminated all spammers or troublemakers in the forum. It took me a while to figure that out. The early days were quite bumpy, and people wreaked havoc on us. Once I locked down that system, we were good to go from there.

The other thing I noticed is that I can edit and delete my comments. I don’t know if there’s a setting to change that or not. I didn’t allow that at TT because it can make things very confusing. People will say something, then others will respond, and then the original person will edit or delete their post, which throws off the entire conversation. People are responding to an edited or deleted comment, and nothing makes sense.

I could edit or delete anyone’s posts, and I would sometimes if people had unusual typos or other issues. Occasionally, I would receive an email requesting that I delete a comment for some reason, and I would typically do that. So I would consider changing that, or you can let it play out and see what happens.

I belong to Nostr, a new type of social network, and you can not edit or delete posts. It’s the first time I was on the other side of that situation, and I must admit it makes me think very carefully about what I want to say. Once it’s up, it’s there forever. I deleted several comments before posting them for this reason. I think that’s a good thing. People will be much more thoughtful about what they say. I know I am.

I tested nested comments, similar to those found on Reddit, where you can either respond to the original post in the topic or start a new thread within it. I never liked Reddit-style nested comments, and this forum doesn’t seem to support that right now, which is good. This appears to be set up like TT, where every response is listed in chronological order.

So if you see a setting for nested comments or something similar, that’s what that is. It will fork a topic into mini-topics.

Finally, private messaging. I had that at first, but it was filled with spam, harassment, and people contradicting everything we were trying to teach. It quickly devolved into a chaotic mess, and I removed it.

You can’t believe how many people will go behind your back to say, “Don’t listen to that a-hole, just do what you want to do.” :flushed_face:

Additionally, people sometimes offered valuable advice behind the scenes, but it goes unnoticed by the rest of the community. That was a shame. People can email each other if they want private conversations. They don’t need your forum for that.

If you have DMs and this forum system doesn’t allow you to read them, you’re gonna have a mess behind the scenes, and you won’t even know it. If they do allow you to read them, you’re gonna spend as much time there putting out fires as you will in here.

In summary:

  • Require manual approval for new members’ comments (huge spam deterrent).

  • Don’t allow users to edit or delete posts — it confuses conversations.

  • Avoid Reddit-style nested comments; chronological flow works best.

  • Think twice about private messaging — it usually creates hidden chaos and more work for you.

Set those foundations early, and you’ll avoid 90% of the headaches I ran into. I had many sleepless nights trying to put out fires before I figured it out.

5

Thank you. I just saw this now. I’ll hop on those suggestions.

1 Like
6

Hi, welcome. Im trying to get your post moved to the general category. For the time being, I’d recommend reposting this in the general category and we’ll get you some feedback on your questions.

7

It’s your site, so do your thing anyway you like. I won’t be offended in the least if you want to do things differently than I did. I’m just throwing the major pain points and philosophies at you so you have good information for making decisions.

One other thing to think about. I purposely didn’t create a ‘like’ button because we were a community of experienced mentors advising inexperienced newbies. It wasn’t a popularity contest, and as you know, I was one of the least popular mentors because of my blunt style, but my advice was always honest and accurate. It wasn’t always what the person wanted to hear, or it wasn’t in their preferred style, but it was valuable. So, I didn’t much care if anyone liked what the moderators said. We said what needed to be said. That’s what made us so effective. We weren’t chasing the approval of our students to see who is the most likable.

So, for a pure teacher-student type of forum, ‘like’ buttons probably do more harm than good. They’ll promote feel-good posts and not the hard truths.

However, this may become a forum where experienced drivers spend a lot of time talking to each other. In that case, it’s nice to acknowledge what someone else said, because it’s a conversation among peers, a totally different relationship. But I’d rather see people post responses than click a ‘like’ button, but that’s just me.

That being said, when I’m on Nostr, which is an entirely different platform, the ‘like’ button is a major part of the game, and many of us use it fairly regularly. It helps the search engine find content that people are reacting to. However, you won’t see the volume they get over there, so it’s hard to say if a ‘like’ button will play a positive role here or not. You may need to give it a try and see what happens.

So, it’s just something else to consider. There is no universally correct or incorrect way to configure this. It’s just about finding what works for you and your group.

8

Definitely makes sense. Ive been known to have some polarizing opinions as well. Im soaking in the information and will make changes. Its fairly straight forward to set up, I just haven’t dived into it much. Currently sitting at my second Costco store delivery with a total of 1 hour of sleep.

9

Damn! That’s rough.

Yeah, if you’re open to it, I’ll throw ideas your way so you can make informed decisions about managing all this. I have no preferences at all for how you do things. This is your baby all the way. But, man, I learned some tough lessons over the years running TT, and I’m more than happy to help you avoid the big pitfalls. I’d hate to see you learn the same lessons the hard way.

1 Like
10

Hey Brett hows are you? So TT is long gone? :scream::sob:

I just found out. Anyway, I see there are lots of us guys still wanting to keep the community going.

I used to do web development before I became a trucker, maybe I can help get the community going?

Like build a total fresh one with xenforo?

I can do it on the side since I only work M-F?

Let me know :blush: