Turning on new features

[Radio]

I have been poking around in the control panel and have made a few simple changes to how threads are displayed.

There is now a forum descriptor at the top of each thread page.

You can change the way a thread is displayed (Linear, threaded or hybrid) to your own liking by using the "Display Mode" button. Play with it and see what you like.

At the bottom of the thread page I have added "social media book marks". The ones that are there, Google, StumbleUpon, Digg are generic and sort of came with the vBulletin software. I'll try to figure out how to add Facebook and Twitter.

More later.

[Radio]

We have completed all the major cosmetic changes for ORR.net. Hopefully you will not find the ads to intrusive. There are a few that I find obnoxious, that are trying to sell mortgages and school loans, but they go away after a day or two.

Please report any ad you find offensive to me QUICKLY by PM. Remember there is a difference between tacky, annoying and offensive. I have some control over what Google puts up, and so far they have tried real hard to limit ads to stuff related to site content.

What we are doing now is mostly behind the scenes, back office sort of stuff. Trying to get the major search engines to pay us some attention and send us new members and traffic. That will make things more fun (new people are always fun) and help pay the bills.

Let me know what you think so far. There is a delicate balance between making ORR.net pay for itself and messing it up.

[Radio]

One of the new features we will have in the next few weeks is a "favorite links" page.

There will be banners for our paid advertisers, a section for reciprocal links, and section for stuff that we just think people would like.

If your radio or RV club would like to have reciprocal links with ORR.net, or if there is a link you'd like for us to have up, you can reply to this post or PM me with the URL. If there is a banner image you can email me [email protected].

[KF5BET]

I think the site looks good Wade! I fully understand the ads to pay for the site. No worries here.

[Radio]

OK we have taken steps to improve spammer protection without blocking huge chunks of innocent IP addresses. And we tinkered with forum names (which are actually links) so that search engines will like them better.

We'll start on the link page this week. If you have suggestions for sites that may want reciprocal links with ORR.net, such as your local RV or ham radio club, please suggest via PM to me.

And if you know someone that would like to place an ad, then let us know.