Forum Replies Created

  • Mike Baker
    Keymaster

    Video 4 of 4

    Mike Baker
    Keymaster

    Video 3 of 4

    Mike Baker
    Keymaster

    Video 2 of 4

    Mike Baker
    Keymaster

    This is a great series about how to build a PC by Kingston Technology (RAM), and the girl is cute af

    Mike Baker
    Keymaster

    Another amazing resource:
    https://code.org

    In reply to: Our profiles are boring

    March 13, 2018 at 11:29 am #995
    Mike Baker
    Keymaster

    [quote quote=993]

    I hope this is useful, and a fair reflection of the spirit in which Apache opened the discussion.[/quote]

    Yes it is I will get it there! Also note this is the original reason for the topic and is the “Profile” engine: https://buddypress.org

    If you want to begin a topic and call it feature or style requests, I’ll be able to work down the list

    In reply to: Future of VR?

    March 13, 2018 at 1:16 am #992
    Mike Baker
    Keymaster

    This looks fun:

    In reply to: Our profiles are boring

    March 13, 2018 at 1:02 am #991
    Mike Baker
    Keymaster

    [quote quote=989]

    Is there some functionality you feel is missing? Please let me know. My goal here is simplicity. I find most forum software to be bloated. I want fast, simple conversations. Profile enhancements aside is there core functionality missing?

    I hope you know me well enough by now to know that I mean no offence when I say it’s not so much a matter of core functionality, as it is a matter of general “bleh”. It’s said that a stairwell whose steps are “off” by just a few millimetres here and there is almost useless to people trying to use it. That can be analogously true of websites as well. If I can speak frankly, for the first time ever in talking with Bakermedia veterans (I only registered in 2003), I’m left with the feeling that I’ve just entered a post in the “Comments” section of a baking enthusiasts’ web-page. I don’t know what it is – I think it’s a lot of little things – like, no-one at a glance can can see my join date, or how many posts I’ve made, or my last activity, stuff like that. At a glance I’m indistinguishable from someone who joined yesterday. Everything on the forum is in bright, light colours. It’s like there’s no intimacy or atmosphere. Imagine chatting with a friend, or watching a film, with every single light source in the room switched on; it would affect the experience. It would be oppressive, the glare would be off-putting. Why? Christ knows, it just would. The information density on the site doesn’t seem to be very high, either, meaning I have to scroll a lot to follow the gist of a thread, or even an individual post. The avatar on display also seems too small, like it’s an after-thought, and not a pivotal part of our self-presentation. You said that you find most forum software to be bloated, and you want fast, simple conversations. Great! But the “bloated” side of forum software was something that was completely invisible to schlubs like me, who just benefited from enjoying using the end result. And I don’t notice any increase in how fast or how simple discussions are in this new format. Basically, there’s something that the old forum software used to to deliver and provide that this new format doesn’t seem to support. Even though you know I’m willing and eager to throw stuff out there with chop wars, welcoming behaviour, and topical discussions (and support the community in other ways), something doesn’t quite “ring” about this new format, and I was hoping that you would tell ME what the cause of it was.[/quote]

    I will work on the styling. I get what you are saying about the brightness. One thing I think that may be weird for you but is actually logical is the size of everything. Old forums were clogged with 100’s of tiny text options. This forum is built on bbpress https://bbpress.org/ which is powered by WordPress. Ultimately this forum will be the comments engine for a  news and video”Channel”. The veterans will all have a space to create as well if they want one. I just decided to put the forum aspect of it all out there first, to generate some conversation and start to reconnect and make new connections with an audience. To develop a community from scratch is my goal – and I appreciate and will consider ALL  feedback from it and never get offended.

    What you are used to is vbulletin or other vbulletin clones. Vbulletin is a nightmare to maintain and host. WordPress is easy to maintain and host. bbPress can be built on to in any way so we’ll get there!

    In reply to: Our profiles are boring

    March 12, 2018 at 10:21 pm #988
    Mike Baker
    Keymaster

    [quote quote=987]It’s like Mike said earlier, this package isn’t optimised to what it’s being used for. I’m no expert, so from my position of ignorance I’d love to know why a move to traditional forum software wouldn’t be the best the way to go. There’s got to be plenty of packages out there with the amount of functionality and customisation we plainly need. My $0.02[/quote]

    Is there some functionality you feel is missing? Please let me know. My goal here is simplicity. I find most forum software to be bloated. I want fast, simple conversations. Profile enhancements aside is there core functionality missing?

    In reply to: Future of VR?

    March 12, 2018 at 8:10 pm #983
    Mike Baker
    Keymaster

    [quote quote=969]

    Here’s a good link inside of Microsoft.com about various “Mixed Reality” projects:

    Thanks, that link offers insights into some interesting projects.

    Mixed reality is a funny way to put it as I feel it’s where most people reside naturally on social media/the Internet.

    For me, yes and no. YES, because cyberpsace and social media have ALWAYS been part of this sort of “dimension” into which we could extend ourselves, to give and receive vivid impressions. NO, because in VR we’re not just looking at exchanged messages on a flat screen, when we can tell “reality” is within our line of sight. VR bumps it up a notch and actually keeps us totally immersed; it gets our vestibular system involved, and presents us with experiences so that no matter where we invest our attention, we only get more of the same environment. And in very striking ways, that is the difference between “seeing” there and “being” there.[/quote]

    The Move “Ready Player One” looks like it’s making a decent attempt at showcasing a lot of the swirling thoughts of VR:
    https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ready_player_one

    I expect it to be kind of a corny kid/tween movie, I hope it’s better than that

    Mike Baker
    Keymaster

    [quote quote=912]We have PS View. It’s about $60/Mo and we use our Amazon Fire TV/Firesticks. It’s not bad. We liked DirecTVs service but if you have any kinks, they do not have support yet to work them out.[/quote]

    So many options now. The cable companies are dying dinosaurs

    Mike Baker
    Keymaster

    [quote quote=965]This is a pretty good site for young children to learn coding by playing games
    https://codecombat.com[/quote]

    Awesome – so many new free resources popping up. I had paid for a few of these courses over the last year but have enough free resources lined up I don’t think I’ll ever have to again

    In reply to: What’s your current PC / Mac power?

    March 11, 2018 at 2:50 pm #963
    Mike Baker
    Keymaster

    The future of my lab:

    In reply to: Future of VR?

    March 11, 2018 at 1:59 pm #960
    Mike Baker
    Keymaster

    Here’s a good link inside of Microsoft.com about various “Mixed Reality” projects: Link Here

    Mixed reality is a funny way to put it as I feel it’s where most people reside naturally on social media/the Internet.

    Mike Baker
    Keymaster

    I like it! I will add one:
    https://www.khanacademy.org

    I have my kid learning to code here. It’s a great free place for adults and kids too

    He’s actually on it as I type this!