Other forums

[Siobhan (Forum Plant)]

Suddenly as if by magic there are dance chat forums popping up all over the joint! There's one at dancers.org, and one at www.ceroclondon.com and several jive sites down south: they've all appeared since the success of ceroc scotland. There is also a swing one- www.swingchatter.com which is fairly recent, and a couple of others I have seen whilst surfing!
:devil: :devil:

[Gadget]

But they are just forums - this is more of a Community. :waycool: :wink:

[DavidB]

Originally posted by Siobhan
There's one at dancers.org, and one at www.ceroclondon.com and several jive sites down south: they've all appeared since the success of ceroc scotland. The dancers.org one has been going since December 2000.

There are several others that predate the Ceroc Scotland forum:
rec.arts.dance (http://groups.google.com/groups?as_q=rec.arts.dance&lr=lang_en&num=100&as_scoring=d&hl=en) has been going on usenet since April 1990.
uk.rec.dancing (http://groups.google.com/groups?as_ugroup=uk.rec.dancing&lr=lang_en&num=100&as_scoring=d) started in July 1999
Jive Party (http://www.jiveparty.com) started their discussion board in March 2000.

Ceroc Scotland is nowhere near the first, but it is the only Modern Jive discussion board that has achieved any critical mass. (I'm not sure exactly when the Ceroc Scotland forum started - I can remember an earlier version of the forum before this one...)

Other groups include Swingland (http://www.swingland.com) and SalsaJive (http://www.salsajive.co.uk/jive-chat/default.shtm), but I don't know when they started. And there is also
Leroc Bristol (http://www.leroc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/zisp/discussion) and Jiveoholics (http://www.jiveoholic.org.uk/Discussiongroup/default.htm), and LeBop Melbourne (http://www.thespace.com.au/cgi-bin/ikonboard//ikonboard.cgi).

David

[Franck]

Originally posted by DavidB
The dancers.org one has been going since December 2000.

There are several others that predate the Ceroc Scotland forum: Yes, the Ceroc Scotland Forum is by no means the first, and in truth never meant to be a replacement for some of the UK / worldwide discussion groups, as Gadget says, it was more to create a community of dancers in Scotland... Which I think we have succeeded in doing.
The current forum started in January 2002, and the previous one had been running for less than a year before that, so about May 2001...

I am a big fan of usenet, but the rec. arts.dance one is full of American dances that I know nothing about, so it is very hard to filter the useful stuff, and the uk one is dead... :sad:

I took a look at the newer forums out there, and most of them suffer from doing it on the cheap... including the London one unfortunately... The software is crucial, as well as a good community to start with...

Franck.

[Basil Brush (Forum Plant)]

Just been to swing site, and found this:-


Sweeping statement coming up:
Lindy Hop takes up a tad more dance space than modern jive, but lindy hoppers are relatively more considerate when they dance. Modern jivers don't look about, bump into you and the leaders especially can become quite aggressive on a busy floor.
Not sure I agree on that one.

This is by far THE BEST forum Franck, rest assured!

[Graham W]

..the Bristol forum is 'rank' compared with this...
FACT
G:cool:

[Basil Brush (Forum Plant)]

Not seen the Bristol one-:confused: where's that?

[frodo]

Originally posted by Basil Brush
Not seen the Bristol one-:confused: where's that?

The Bristol one can be found at http://www.leroc-in-bristol.co.uk

The "Let's Talk" section has a link to the discussion forum.


It is basic, but still useful.

I believe it uses built in service provider software, which is not really comparable to the major PHP based forum software packages, such as the one this forum uses.

[Graham W]

ey?re the software thing -

I am sure some people like riding the Penny Farthing rather than riding a motorbike

G

well I know what I mean!!

[Lou]

Originally posted by Graham W
I am sure some people like riding the Penny Farthing rather than riding a motorbike *lol* Well John likes his bulletin board style, and as he's kind enough to run it, I've always thought it's up to him. :grin: It gets some quite heated debate, even if I find it harder to follow on there than here... :yum:

[frodo]

Originally posted by Graham W
ey?re the software thing -

I am sure some people like riding the Penny Farthing rather than riding a motorbike

A Penny Farthing costs less to acquire and maintain than a motorbike ... (I give up).



Originally posted by Lou
*lol* Well John likes his bulletin board style

It does have:-
Unrestricted threading with sub threads.
Smaller less image heavy pages (load faster).
Less to learn about.

[frodo]

Originally posted by DavidB
There are several others that predate the Ceroc Scotland forum:
rec.arts.dance has been going on usenet since April 1990.
uk.rec.dancing started in July 1999
Jive Party started their discussion board in March 2000.
Following on.

Dancetalk ( http://dancetalk.infopop.net ) has a first post dated Sept 1999.


In common with the Ceroc Scotland forum it:-

is pretty much flame free
has built up a valuable archive of posts ( around 5000 ).
has benefited from a number of experienced and thoughtful
posters contributing their expertise.


It does however tend towards Ballroom & Latin.




Originally posted by DavidB
Leroc Bristol (http://www.leroc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/zisp/discussion) I missed this already supplied, convenient, direct link to the "Leroc in Bristol" forum.

[Graham W]

Re - Bristol forum - I cant imagine that it would be too much trouble to sort it so that it was possible to access different theads clearly - its like a game of spillikins
It is voluntarily run thu -

Think I'll retire to DJ booth ...

[Siobhan (Forum Plant)]

I have been to all the discussion forums you guys mention, and they're all pants, but the www.swingchatter.com (http://www.swingchatter.com) one is a bit of a faff to log in (it directs you elsewhere and you have to come back yourself) but is good once you're in! But if you're not into swing then it's not for you :D No one will who I am :wink:

[John Gimber]

Hi all,

John here, the webmaster for www.leroc-in-bristol.co.uk. Yes, I quite agree that the forum on my site is very basic indeed. I'm stuck with using the forum that came with the website (blueyonder use the ZISP web tools). I've been nagging blueyonder to improve it, but basically I'll need to cough up dosh for that, every month.

I could upgrade to the PHP version of the website, but there are a lot of other things that I could be spending the money on - one of which is (come the 9th June) loads of nappies! :grin:

I am looking at YABB at the moment - I run another site too, www.elmgrove-leroc.co.uk which does allow PHP, so I'll try to use the YABB board on that site and just make it look like it's part of the Bristol site.

Getting confused yet? Good. So am I.

John.

[Franck]

Originally posted by John Gimber
John here, the webmaster for www.leroc-in-bristol.co.uk. Yes, I quite agree that the forum on my site is very basic indeed. I'm stuck with using the forum that came with the website Hi John and welcome to the Ceroc Scotland Forum :nice:

I would agree that the options available can be quite confusing, and this Forum also started with the free software provided by my webhosts... I have to say that the software made a huge difference and certainly helped in creating a sense of community, though of course as you'll know, the software is not everything :wink:

The PHP based Bulletin Boards tend to be the best ones out there, but there are variations, especially in terms of support for bugs / problems... I really like vBulletin (the one used here) as they are used by some of the largest communities out there and they listen to all feedback, usually responding very fast. The only problem, as you've noticed, is cost... buying the license is only the start, hosting (in web space, but especially bandwidth) is the real cost... It looks like being a victim of our own success, I will have to upgrade to a yet more expensive deal... :nice:

As you say, it is all a matter of priorities, and what you want to do... If you are about to have a baby, then your time and money will be better spent there :cheers:

In any event, all the members of your discussion board are very welcome over here... we won't bite :D you can ask Lou, as I believe she posts on both.

Cheers,

Franck.

[TheTramp]

Originally posted by Franck
In any event, all the members of your discussion board are very welcome over here... we won't bite :D you can ask Lou, as I believe she posts on both.It's not true.

Some of them bite....

You do have to ask nicely though!!! :D

Steve

[Lou]

Originally posted by TheTramp
It's not true.

Some of them bite....

You do have to ask nicely though!!! :D Oi! :reallymad

(oops! I did bite there, didn't I?)

Heya John - there's a few familiar faces over here. :grin: And the rest of them are OK once you get to know them... :wink: :devil: But I know nothing of this strange "Ceroc" thing of which they speak...

[frodo]

Another major dance forum is the one at http://www.dancescape.com/mydancefriends/

It has around 50,000 posts which is the most I have seen outside rec.arts.dance (http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=rec.arts.dance).

There are a wide range of sections including fashion, music etc. One section I have not seen elsewhere is titled 'Health, Fitness & Safety'.

However the ad's (on a small screen you could quite easily miss the forum and only see the ad's), frames, Flash and the non-sponsor reference policy really make you appreciate this forum.

Still content is king ...



http://www.dance-forums.com is another discussion site, which is quite pleasant.

[SwingSwingSwing]

Originally posted by frodo
Another major dance forum is the one at http://www.dancescape.com/mydancefriends/

It has around 50,000 posts which is the most I have seen outside rec.arts.dance (http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=rec.arts.dance).


There's a Lindy Hop board, Yehoodi (http://www.yehoodi.com), which has over 300000 posts and 5000 registered users.

Quite a talkative bunch!

SwingSwingSwing

[John Gimber]

Well, back again (Hi Franck!).

I remembered this conversation from a while back, and I do now have YaBB installed on the LeRoc In Bristol site.

It's still very much in it's fledgeling state though! Only about 56 users so far.

It's also using the more basic YaBB (ie not database driven) as opposed to the YaBB SE which is, and offers far more functionality. But it's a start.

I must admit this forum's software does look good though...

John.

[Pammy]

I can't even find the one on the ceroclondon site :what: - but can now confirm I think it's about the worst designed website I've seen in a long time :tears:

Pamkinite
x

[John Gimber]

Web site designing isn't easy in the slightest - I would imagine with a site like the CeRoc one that it has "grown organically" as we would say in the computer industry. There comes a time though when you have to kick up and start again.

I've done that several times on my own site - it's hard work, and takes time, but can be worth it in the end. Each time I've made a significant change to my site the hits have gone up markedly.

Maybe it's worth suggesting to them that a change is in order? Ideally you should be able to get to any part of a site that you want within two mouse clicks...

John.

[azande]

I don't know much about Forum software but people I know that run forums suggested these two PHP:

http://www.readybb.com/
http://www.phpbb.com/

They might be worth a look.

[Gareth]

Hi John,
Your a little far from home :D


This Forum is so far North, the first time I logged on in here I got altitude sickness and hypothermia in one go. :rofl:

The good news is that most of the residents are friendly enough. Its just the weird ones you have to be careful of :eek:

[Graham W]

Glad u listened to the feedback, John (eg - earlier post ;-))..
Lets hope the forum continues to grow & we can get some support like Scotland did at Blackpool (thu there might not be a corrleation between having a forum & cheer power! ?, its a nice thought)


G

[Peter]

Originally posted by Pammy
I can't even find the one on the ceroclondon site :what: - but can now confirm I think it's about the worst designed website I've seen in a long time :tears:

Pamkinite
x

I think the CerocLondon forum was binned after Mike Ellard bought Ceroc ...

[Lynn]

There is a NI salsa & jive forum now – Talk Salsa (http://www.talksalsa.co.uk) (it has a jive corner) but its only been going a couple of months. Sadly not too many folk are posting yet, and it is more of a ‘noticeboard’ – no real discussions going, which is useful for info but nowhere near as much fun! Uses the same software as this site which is good. Hopefully it will pick up as it would be nice to be on a forum where I had actually met some of the other forum members (though that will hopefully change after Southport!).