Hi Mark,

Hope you had a great time away (by the time you read this).

I've had a good look at the site and it's great. As far as colourschemes go I'd say it's simple and clear, which is what I look for. Fast to navigate too. Haven't seen any other church sites this good. Registration was easy enough too- though a bit slower than for Martin.

Anyway, keep up the good work, all the team!

Simon.

There's no question of removing existing members as we already know them, allbeit in an on-line way . I would like to stress that these are ways of tackling the problem if it becomes a problem, plan for the worst, hope for the best. The invitation method would be used as a shortcut to registration. New members could still join via registration but would need approval by a human being and would not be automatic as it is now. Don't worry we will still be welcoming all comers who are people

Mark...

What would happen to those who are already members?



It's difficult to imagine them being switched to a state of 'dis-invitedness', and then awaiting their 're-invitation'. I came along and joined without having been invited by one who was already a member...I'm a Bebington dweller who simply found the web site and liked it.

But, it's true: a disturbingly large element of our 'Information Superhighway' is shot-through with everything...from advertising maelstroms and inter-Faith grudges, to mindless hackerism and out-and-out cyber-vandalism. Having an ongoing defence system built in to prevent the web site (and its forum members) becoming victims is naturally an invaluable measure.

I suppose that the trick is to engineer a workable balance between extremes: adequate, rolling defences, at best - and, the unfortunate development of a sternly defensive face that leaves newcomers feeling unwelcome, at worst.

The moderators may, alone, be enough - they frequently are, on new boards...it's hard to say: every new web site and discussion board is a gamble.

But, how would stand the existing memberships of newcomers at Def.Com 4 time?

(I love the "Def.Com 4" thing, by the way! )

Ian.

Thanks for your kind words regarding our site. Much appreciated.

You're quite right about the security issues. I have my finger poised over a check box which states 'Administrator approval required' which adds in the very step you speak of. The plan is not to use it until the first signs of trouble.

Currently we have a team of highly trained and dedicated moderators poised to delete any naughty words after they are posted. I am hoping this will be sufficient, at least for the initial registration wave, which is admittedly more of a trickle at the moment.

Another way of tackling this issue is to have registration by invitation only where any registered user can fill in a form which will send an email to a person inviting them to register. Therefore to register you would need to be known by someone else who is already.

All these things are ready to be put into effect once Def.com 4 is reached!

Part of my job means visiting LOTS of churches. The first place I always look after an invite is the website. What are these folks up to; what do they belive; why do they exist.

This is without doubt one of the best; its not just the info (lots of churches have info sites although seldom as good as this) its the fact that I can be part of it. I'm impressed.

Often somethings greatest strength can be its weekness - I signed up, logged in, and began to type here within two mins - this is awesome but... had my intentions been different you could have anything posted here now and some very bizzare prayer responses. Could an adminstrator play midddle man in the process and check potential members before they are allowed to contribute and what would the time implications be for that middle man or woman? Its unlikely that somebody would bother doing anything off having said that.


Hey isnt Mark W amazing folks! He drills, he fills, he's got some IT skills!

Martin

Thanks for the encouragement Angela, keep the feedback coming it's what enables us to grow and evolve... well really it enables me to make my design more intelligent I guess appearance is always a matter of opinion, being a boy I prefer the new layout with it's simple elegance and minimalist approach, but then I would else I wouldn't have redesigned it this way lol. Hope you continue to enjoy and gain fellowship from our website.

Every blessing,
Mark

I think the new web site is an improvement. It is probably not as pleasing to the eye, but it is definitely set out in a much more user friendly way. I reckon it is probably going to be much easier for people who don't use computers much to be able to navigate around the site and so will be less intimidating for them.
I am glad that names have been added to the prayer page, and nice to see that a request was promptly attended to.
I hope that the discussion forum takes off too because there is definitely an avenue to explore increasing the internet community.
I am a member of another internet community which covers young people with heart defects and we found it useful in the beginning to make a pre-arranged time where we could all plan to be in the discussion forum at the same time.
So, it would be something you could think about in the future to jump start the discussion area if it were needed.
The other thing that is useful is setting a topic or theme just to get the ball rolling with the discussion.
Finally to Mark, thanks for offering your time and knowledge updating the new web site.

Thanks, I hadn't noticed that. Have added it to list of things done.

Seems to be working fine with Firefox. One little thing I have found, the dates in the Prayer requests section are appearing in US format (ie mm/dd/yy), which is slightly off putting. Nothing major, but could be added to your list of things to do?

Keep up the good work.
Debbi

Thanks Debbi, it's always great to get encouragement. I think I've fixed most bugs now but do feel free to let me know if you find any. I'm almost sure it works with Firefox properly now too