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Some ehMac.ca changes / improvements coming! Feedback / Suggestions wanted!

25K views 146 replies 51 participants last post by  groovetube 
#1 ·
Hi folks. Well, I just gave the verbal go ahead to a contract to have some exciting improvements done to ehMac.ca!

Its a fairly big project, so when the changes are implemented, I'm going to ask now, well ahead of time for everyone's patience as the pieces get put in place and tested.

Here are the things currently on the drawing board coming to ehMac.ca:

1. ehMac.ca Store
- Here you'll have a chance to own official ehMac.ca Swag like limited edition T-Shirts, hats, toques, stickers and other fun items. (And support ehMac.ca!)
- I've also already inadvertently acquired over 100 Mac T-Shirts from the now defunct MacSurfshop. I've got quite a few different styles of shirts like, "Steve is my homeboy" and "I'm not a Windows user, I only play one at work" and others in various sizes.

2. Product Review Section!
- There will be a dedicated section for Mac and iPod product reviews. We'll be getting a hold of the *hottest* Mac & iPod related products, and running them through their paces with highres photos and video. ehMac.ca members can than discuss, give their experience of the product, let fellow ehMac.ca members know where they are available. Who knows, maybe there might be a few giveaways as well!

3. News Section
There will be three types of news items in the new ehMac.ca news section:
1. Mac or iPod related News
2. Canadian News
3. (Bonus points for this news) Canadian Mac or iPod Related news.
You won't need to scour the internet yourself for Mac news. ehMac.ca will be your one-stop portal for all the info you need!

4. New ehMac.ca Wiki
This project will be spear-headed by Chealion. We will have a section on our site that with lots of great information that will be run by Wiki Software..
The ehMac.ca Wiki.. or ehWiki, or Library (Haven't picked a name yet), will be a great place to find information. What kind of info? Well, tons of great info and answers get posted on ehMac.ca to some great questions. But, those questions and answers aren't laid out so well, for someone looking for them. The Wiki will be a great place to nicely organize the huge amounts of good info that gets posted on ehMac.ca. What kind of digital camera should you buy? Check the Wiki. How do you post a picture in a thread on ehMac.ca? Check with Wiki.

I also hope to make a permanent "virtual memorial" for our dear friend MacNutt who recently passed away. Either in the Wiki, or on some other appropriate place on ehMac.ca

Who knows where the Wiki will go. We can also post info about all the Canadian Mac Resellers and Apple Stores for a reference. We can put information about Canadian Mac related companies. Who knows... ehMac.ca members will be able to contribute to the library and we can make it what we want to make of it. :)

5. Updated Design of ehMac.ca
- Your truly, ehMax will be getting some nip and tucks done. It's about high time I threw away that old ADB keyboard I'm holding and get a nice MacBook or something. :)



- We'll also be seeing some minor design tweaks around the site to hopefully make it easier for newcomers to the neighbourhood to know where to click to register, to post a new topic and place an ad etc...
- Maybe we'll see another colour in addition to red. :)
- Maybe we'll see a nice new, clean navigation bar for the different sections of ehMac.ca.
One thing for sure is, ehMac.ca will remain a brightly lit place for all to visit.

6. All of this will remain free!
None of the new features will cost anybody anything should you not wish to pay a penny (Besides buying stuff in the Swag Shop of course). All of this new stuff, and existing hosting etc... does cost money, so there will be some new fun and exciting ways to support ehMac.ca:

A. *New* Become an ehMac.ca Member Sponsor! (Thanks Macspectrum for idea)
ehMac.ca sponsorship will include:
- An ehMac.ca email address with the amazing RoundCube interface! (Currently still in beta) The email address will include virus protection, online address book, generous storage and bandwidth. Having an ehMac.ca email address will also go great with buying and selling through the ehMac.ca Classified. (To be re-named back to the "Trading Post.") If you have an ehMac.ca email address, you have paid money to be an ehMac.ca member, and will have done so through Paypal, greatly reducing the likelyhood that your a scammer.
- $$$ off and special deals on ehMac.ca Swag in the ehMac.ca Store
- Reduced advertising on the ehMac.ca site. (Non Sponsors *might* see a few more ads)
- More bandwidth on ehMac.ca! As a sponsor, you get more storage for larger and more private messages, more bandwidth for attachments and thumbnail sizes, more bandwidth for pictures in the gallery (To be slightly improved).
- And more!
ehMac.ca Member Sponsorship will cost.................................................
$36.50 a year. That's just a dime a day. (Thanks SINC for the idea!!!)
And good news. For those of you who donated to help ehMac.ca obtain a new server... (Who donated any amount) you're welcome to join for the first 6 months, for free! :)

B. Buy from the ehMac.ca Swag Shop!
- Want to support ehMac.ca? Buy from the ehMac.ca store! We'll be offering special, limited edition items. Many item will be added by popular demand.
- The online store will be world class, integrated with your existing ehMac.ca community name, running off of X-Cart software, with integrated payments via Paypal (Just Paypal at first), and integrated shipping via CanadaPost (With more shipping options in the future).

C. Voluntary donations for successful transactions in the classifieds
- Placing a basic ad and buying in the Trading Post will still be free. There will be an opportunity to donate for successful transactions plus improved ways to highlight your ads with bold, highlight, and featured ad on the main page.

*Phew*

I've been meaning to take on this project for awhile now, and hopefully now its going forward. Some of the above plans might slightly change, but for the most part, that's what should be happening.

Please feel free to give me your thoughtful and sincere comments and suggestions. The project will take several weeks, and we're just in the very early stages so the clay is really soft so to speak.

Even with all these improvements, the main focus on ehMac.ca will still be the "community" or our forums, where we talk about the latest Steve Keynote, shoot the breeze and argue over politics and which digital camera is better.

It won't be perfect (But we'll strive to be), and not every single member will like every single feature but I hope overall it will be a really nice improvement to the site!

If all goes according to plan... I also have a top secret, brand new web site planned. Shhhhhh.......;)

- ehMax :)
 
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#8 ·
Macfury said:
These sound like good ideas. What is the purpose of the News section--will you be assembling this intramurally,or subscribing to a filtered feed?
Most of the news will be little summaries of news highlights and links to other established Mac news sites, with the intent of fostering conversation on ehMac.ca about the news.

Some news articles will be orginal news specific Mac related items. If it goes well, I may commision a real reporter to write articles for ehMac. (I've got a few people in mind)
 
#9 ·
RicktheChemist said:
Excellent news ehMax.. where do I sign up for the member sponsor? I can't wait to buy a little swag!

RtC
:clap: :clap: :clap:

A couple of the T-shirts I got are pretty funny. There's a few that will be on sale, that make reference to LongHorn. Once has a picture of a bull skull and says, "LongHorn... its what's for dinner" or something like that. :)
 
#11 ·
The Wiki sounds like it will be very useful. I've always wished there was an FAQ section on ehMac since some questions get repeated ad infinitum.
 
#13 ·
Cool news Mr Mayor. I look forward to seeing the changes as they come along. The sponsorship opportunities are interesting.
 
#14 ·
Mr. Mayor, a grand idea and great news. I may not be very active here between August and April '07, but I'll drop in as often as possible. Ditto on the "where do I sign up" query! $36.50/year is a good price point for member-sponsors.

The concept sounds very comprehensive. Racking my brain, I came up with only one possibility for enhancement: a tie-in with an ehMac Chat room. Perhaps something simple and innocuous, such as a little notification that "there are XX members in the ehMac iChat" - I know there's a bit of code that will let you do that for your personal machine... no doubt considerably more complicated than I would guess.

Looking forward to the new ehMac!

M
 
#17 ·
CubaMark said:
Mr. Mayor, a grand idea and great news. I may not be very active here between August and April '07, but I'll drop in as often as possible. Ditto on the "where do I sign up" query! $36.50/year is a good price point for member-sponsors.

The concept sounds very comprehensive. Racking my brain, I came up with only one possibility for enhancement: a tie-in with an ehMac Chat room. Perhaps something simple and innocuous, such as a little notification that "there are XX members in the ehMac iChat" - I know there's a bit of code that will let you do that for your personal machine... no doubt considerably more complicated than I would guess.

Looking forward to the new ehMac!

M
:cool:

I will investigate a tie-in to an ehMac chatroom.. especially during live events like Keynotes!
 
#22 ·
Wow

ehMax,

I have been here for quite some time (except for much of 2005 for personal reasons) and I have always been impressed with the amount of work and effort you put into this place.

Just a few comments:

1. "Maybe we'll see another colour in addition to red." I hope it's not blue!

2. I hope the site will continue to be accessible for those with slow computers and connections. This includes simple things such as not showing avatars and signatures to limiting large advertisements.

3. I can see the advantages of the "ehMac.ca Member Sponsor!" in terms of reducing scam the threat of scam artists, but I am concerned about how this may impact those who are legitimate traders, but just not sponsors. Perhaps a smaller 'Trader Only' membership fee?

4. I am also concerned about this sponsorship create a new 'class' of society here at ehMac. Something along the lines of people not wanting to help others or respond to others' posts because they do not help to 'pay' for ehMac (i.e., general snobbery).

5. $36.50 is a reasonable fee...will it be $36.60 for leap years?

6. I know how you have been dedicated to many causes such as MS. Will it be possible to pay the $36.50 fee to a charity rather than to yourself? Or, something like pay $50 where $40 goes to the charity and $10 goes to you? I am concerned about the perception of rent-seeking behaviour, although I am sure that this is not your motive.

7. I am pleased to see that the 'core' services will still be free.

I wish you the best of luck with this and other ventures you put forth in the future.

James

PS: I still take a look at that Joy of Tech book that I won a couple of years ago.
 
#23 ·
Wow. For free? Uh, where do I not have to sign up to get all this? :)

This sounds great and blends the best of the free discussion forum with some reasonable perks for paying. Great job!

Warning: the wiki thing (ehwiki) sounds very time-consuming. Please prepare a backup Chealion in case he gets lost in the process. ;)

Suggestion on clean navigation bar: Looking at how the complex G&M and CBC sites have gone, I think header tabs are a great way to quickly jump between forums and news-feeds (just like Safari ;) ), instead of the pull-down style menu.

Suggestion: I'm not sure what you had in mind but, if you're getting news-feeds, consider just one page with maybe two columns (Canadian, Mac, using highlighting to idenify simultaneous Cana-Mac news) instead of having to click on a Mac-news button, then a Cana-news button.
 
#24 ·
Sounds awesome – especially ehwiki, swag store & .ehmac email. All the beset with the development & changeover – please, don't go red, white & blue!!!!!!!
 
#26 ·
Well.. this definitely secures the idea that I need a PayPal account.. so I can send my $36.50 :D
 
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