Gather around me my children I wish to speak

[GT98]

I can give up a couple hours a week if need....I got time to kill at work

Scott

[DuRaNgO]

Paddy's got the ticket

Maybe nominate one or two people with quality writing skills to accept e-mails from the MUrcers about Matrox and other hardware news/products then edit for human consumption to then be posted on the all mighty front page

This would keep the theme Matrox based with some other much needed hardware info, eh?
jim

[ZokesPro]

I got lots of free time on my hands, I'm also reliable, but how much work does this all consume?

By lots of free time: take 24 hours from a day minus the hours I work minus sleep (and other stuff like personal hygene and TV) equals about 6 hours left to do anything.

[Belwarrior]

The forums drive the site but the news and file archives have always been a major part of the site as well. Should I just can that side of things, try and find someone reliable to help out

Ant,
That would be the way to go. I see a few MURCers ready to help out and anyway, the forums as you say drive the site and any news worthwhile turn up in them. In fact for me The General Hardware/Software forum serves as a news site (there are more news there as well). I would be very sad if MURC is put down as by far this has the most wonderful (if a bit cranky) bunch of people i ever see on the net (They remind me of the old BBS days).

My 2 cents worth,
Ragu

[Tempest]

It's not like the front page requires much of one's attention nowadays. But what about the file archives etc ? Do they require a lot of fixing? I must confess that although I'm something of a pessimist I don't have a clue of what scale of work goes into a site like this.

Sorry, this may sound vague but I'm too busy at the moment. I have a tendency to focus on the thing I am most interested in at 100%, but then everything else suffers. That means that while I could take the responsibility, my studies would suffer even more than they do now, and I know a bunch of people who pay me for what I do and wouldn't like that very much. So I'm out except for maybe some occasional graphics making and such, sorry.

I suggest that if there's not enough interest to keep the front page alive (which would be a shame) we focus on the forums. Also I think that there should be more than one, preferably two persons mainly responsible for the site. This is to a) avoid a shaking and crying piece of human flesh in the corner when the forums break down for the 1st time after they have been reassigned and b) to balance the workload to avoid burn-out and outages due to things such as Ant's a while ago. The only doubt in my mind is: Will the front page ever come back after it's gone? (pessimism alert)

The forums are where all the action is at the moment. Things might change in the future, Matrox might release a new consumer card and there could be thousands of new participants. But for now, we should run low profile and focus on keeping the community alive.

Edit: But... without the files, what kind of Matrox Users Resource Centre would this be? The forums would have to be renamed to MatroxUsers forums...

[Fat Tone]

Don't let it (news, files) die! I always check there before hopping to the forums. I've been a part of this community since the original Mystique days, and don't want to see it dwindle. Sure, M has been quiet lately, but it won't always be that way.

I have the time to help out, and would do so willingly. Maybe the front page remit could be expanded a little? Perhaps include major graphics announcements, and links to the more thought provoking topics in the forums?

Tony.

[Maggi]

what they sad ...

keep it up and running, let yourself be helped by the peeps that offered themselves and let it live !



I for myself am too busy and don't have any decent internet connection at home, hence all I could contribute is sending in news to a pool that could be used to fill your mainpage.

Cheers,
Maggi

PS: how could you dare asking for closing down the main page ???

[Electric Amish]

You can coount me in!

I'm willing to help where I can. I generally have some time at work with a frame relay connection and I have 1.5mbps/128kbps cable at home.

amish

[Bohrn]

What Tony said! Long live this site! I have been coming here for a long time! More recently I signed up for the forums, but I have been here since my first Matrox card. I had a Mystique 170, a 220 an M3D, G200 and now a G400.

I will be replacing the G400 with a Raedon 8500 on monday, but I will still come here as it is a great technical resourse and a problem solving godsend. Also a good sounding board for what ever decisions I need help making.

Also, I can say ROTFLMAO alot here,specially in the soap box. And mostly the people who come here are more mature and fun people than you meet elsewhere.

I can't really help that much, but if there is something small I can do, I will. If you need some small amount of web storage, I have 7 accounts with my cable provider that I don't use.

[Helevitia]

Ant,

I think it would be unfortunate to let the news portion of the site die. In my opinion, I think you should find some reliable helpers that could post some news. Also, you may want to expand on the news a bit(if you get the help) to other interests the MURC community may have. Maybe take a vote on what interests everyone. I too chekc the news page everydya before reading the forums. I remember when the G400 rumours were going around and I would wait in anticipation for any piece of news you would post on your site. I am starting to get that same feeling now with so many new rumours going around.
I hope things work out for you as I too would hate to see anything happen to this site. I would gladly donate money for such a great cause. Let me know and I'll be ther first to send money.

Dave

[MK]

Ant,

it would be really sad to see the main page and the file section die. It´s like a visiting card to the MURC and usually the first thing I check before hopping over to the forums. As there are enough news in the General Hardware/Software Section, I would like to see only Matrox related news and rumours published on the main page.

MK

[SteveC]

I think Matrox might get in a bad mood if any of us betaboiz wrote anything.... I was once warned back in the gtech days... sorry Ant!

But - there's a load of people on this forum, there's got to be a couple of folks out there who'll help

[Helevitia]

Why would Matrox get upset? They have nothing to do with this sight nor do they have anything to do with your opinion. AS a matter of fact, from what I've read over the years, they have basically forgotten about Ant(officially) but I have this feeling that Haig is a good guy Sounds like Ant is getting tired of running the site as well. Probably if there was more interesting info coming out of Matrox then he would be more inclined to run the site. Anyway, I'm just guessing at this point

Dave

[SteveC]

Originally posted by Helevitia
Why would Matrox get upset? They have nothing to do with this sight nor do they have anything to do with your opinion. AS a matter of fact, from what I've read over the years, they have basically forgotten about Ant(officially) but I have this feeling that Haig is a good guy Sounds like Ant is getting tired of running the site as well. Probably if there was more interesting info coming out of Matrox then he would be more inclined to run the site. Anyway, I'm just guessing at this point

Dave

We (Maggi and I) were told, it must be a couple of years back now, that we cannot be 'online editors' and beta test at the same time - it was one or the other...

[Ees]

It would be sad to see the news page disappear. However, I'm not entirely sure that having multiple editors would be the immediate solution.

First, Ant's style of news reporting is what gives www.murc.ws its first distinctive edge. Second, I don't think the online community needs YACNS (yet another computer news site); the focus on Matrox news is www.murc's second distinctive edge, but alas, Matrox news is seldom of the "Wow" variety. Third, contributing to a site like this means work, often of the hard and boring kind; I don't immediately see a group of on-and-off volunteers providing a long term solution to the site's problems.

Just have a look at some of the more obscure computer news sites, and be depressed...

That being said, would I be willing to help? Well, yes. Not as a news contributor though, since I would be a complete disaster at that...

I would be willing to help:
- Financially. If Ant is still spending more than he's earning on this, I suggest he gets something like a Paypal account, and I *would* make a donation. Or maybe he could think of a CD/game/whatever wishlist, so we can send him something for Christmas...
- "Infrastructurally". Write some scripts (to automate the File Archives/Latest Releases perhaps), do some system administration if relevant. Things like that. The seti.matroxusers.com site is basically taking care of itself (haven't touched anything in months, and it runs like a charm except for the problems on the hosting provider's side), so I could possibly make some time for that.

In summary: Ant, I see your problems, and I would be willing to help if I can (though not where I can't...).

Good luck,
Martin