Over the last few weeks I've been working on fixing bugs and adding various new features to the site. I think now, we're definitely past the "beta" stage on the 3.0 functionality, and indeed probably at something like "3.1". Today I've launched a couple things of interest:

- Totally redone image gallery. We used to have one, but I removed the links to it when 3.0beta was released... it was just really shabby. The new one is pretty neat. Contribute some images if you'd like! One really interesting feature is that you can upload to the gallery, then use the code it'll show you for your uploaded images, in new posts. It's much easier than long "img" tags with complex URLs... for example:

Notice that a small version of the image will be placed in your post, but readers can click the image to get a pop-up window with the original version. I think it's pretty nifty.

- Mirroring of alt.music.prince messages. I guess a lot of people don't even know what alt.music.prince (or "AMP") is, but it's a discussion group ("newsgroup") on Usenet (another part of the internet, sort of like email is separate from the web). It's been around for a looooong time (pre-web), and normally you need some special software and server information to get access to it. I wanted to allow orgers who might not normally be exposed to the sometimes incredibly insightful (and sometimes incredibly useless or flammable) discussions, have a chance to be. So, you can check that out in the "alt.music.prince" forum. You can even reply to topics, and they will be posted back to the real newsgroup (and eventually show up on the topic here too.)

Try out the features. I know there's going to be some rough edges on them, so feel free to send feedback in this thread, to me via email, orgnote, etc.

sweeeeet!!!! awesome job, ben!!!

i stumbled across the gallery today. awesome! great job.

Incredibly cool stuff, Ben. Thanks for all your hard work!

That is awesome!! Thanks Ben

Thanks Ben it looks great

Thanks so much for all of your work!

ben said:

Excellent!

Your kung fu is very impressive.

All we need is some porn and I'd never leave this site!

Or a trampoline.

doctormcmeekle said:

How about porn AND a trampoline?
[This message was edited Fri May 14 14:50:59 2004 by bananacologne]

Cool! Thanks Ben for all of your hard work!

Verrrry nice.

Now if you'd only cut down on all these fancy additions and give us all the raise we've been asking for!!!

amp - very, very cool.

bananacologne said:

Let's start a petition.

ben said:

i'm sorry, but this is a horrible idea.

GrayKing said:

why, grayking?

Natsume said:

considering the brouhaha over moderation around here, i think the inherent problems are evident. the org has gone to the trouble of installing a slew of new moderators to address many of the issues that have arisen in the past few years, and almost immediately (relatively immediately anyway), it's introduced, as a regular forum, a newsgroup that it has absolutely no control over, in content. what happens when there are threads there about where to find bootlegs, or people offering to buy/sell them, considering the org's own policy on the subject?

AMP is widely regarded as the flamepit of the Prince-online community. and after much of the ugliness of the last year here or so, I don't see how it's productive to assimilate a very controversial and no-holds-barred newsgroup into a site that often has to rise to the challenge of catering to the needs of its more sensitive members.


on top of that, did anyone ask the people at AMP? people go to the org to be on the org. people go to AMP to be on AMP. a large number of AMPers dislike the org, and vice versa. i don't think this was taken into account when it was decided to add it as a feature here.

it would be very similar to Princefams.com suddenly assimilating the org's forums into its own, without the users of either site having any say in the matter.

plus, AMP is easily accessible through google as its own thing. you can even post that way.

additionally, AMP has pretty much died as a great Prince online resource since about the time Org 2.0 debuted, so unless the archives going back to the early to mid-90's are going to be included here, i don't see how it's something that ben thinks orgers need to be exposed to. it appears that only recent AMP material is going to be included, so really, what's the point?


those are my thoughts on the matter....

GrayKing said:

and thanks for sharing them.. :thumsup:

hey ben, im curious about something..are we only able to view the amp stuff? or are we allowed to post on it via the org?

cause as a "view" tool only I dont see the problem of having a portal to it..

GrayKing said:

Good comments.

I like how Ben is handling the backlash from AMP...AMP is a totally unregulated, full-o-spam, unmoderated mess that any person can access through Google groups. An org interface is nothing new in the grand scheme.

Ya know, it reminds me of the 90's, when everyone bitched about "those stupid AOL-ers" that were spoiling the Internet for the "old school."

Even so...the AMP forum is crippled because of different standards between Usenet and the Org...this alone will discourage a certain amount of activity. The mainstream org won't use it as much, I expect. I do like the feature, though.

sosgemini said:

ben said "You can even reply to topics, and they will be posted back to the real newsgroup (and eventually show up on the topic here too.)"

kee!!!

and btw... thanks for sharing your thoughts, grayking... I was pleasantly surprised... I'd like to hear what ben has to say in response...

Natsume said:

i was drunk...and his post was too long... you know you cant read a long thread drunk..you end up getting dizzy and throwing up...

now excuse me while i head over to the moderator portal and have a lil discussion with ben....

sosgemini said:

like always! I think that's part of the reason we get along so well... we are both lushes!

Ive been reading the alt.music.prince, interesting reading.