webring
As of 2/26/06 we are implementing a new restriction on Ring Adoptions. It is totally absurd how "managers" have abused the concept of a Ring of topically related web sites. The two sites new managers MAY NOT submit to a Ring they take over management for are:
1. A "here's my homepage" site. If the homepage is not highly focused on the topic of the Ring, NOT the interests of the page owner, then it does NOT belong in the Ring.
2. Absolutely NO "here's all the Rings I manage" site. It has no value in ANY Ring.
Further, we reserve the right to remove "here's all my webrings" pages from existing Rings as well. They are simply polluting the system and wasting resources.
timkilleen
There is going to be a change in policy to see if we can get managers to manage ALL their rings more "promptly". This mainly affects managers that manage many Rings. We're finding that sending out warnings and otherwise trying cajole managers into keeping Rings current - and ALIVE - is only partially succeeding. We'll be adding notation to members My Rings page indicating which Rings are in need of management. As a further cue the sponsor link will appear on all Rings a member manages if any of their Rings is found wanting.
Frankly we'd like to set as policy an upper limit of Rings any "person" can manage. A number small, like 20-30. It is not possible to properly manage more Rings than that - even if it is done as a job. That is our belief. With more Rings than this management becomes a passive activity rather than an active one. New members are not sought out and invited, sites not reviewed for topical content after they're approved, often not reviewed well before approval. They managed like the Ring is being babysat.
We want to know what more we can do to help managers "cultivate" the (few) Rings they manage. Instead we're spending development time and money dealing with problems resulting from having too many Rings managed by "ring managers" not individuals not fully committed to the topic of the Rings. Since we're spending the time and money we need to find a way to recoup some of it.
webring
As noted in the prior post, there were some emails being sent out for pending submissions that did not have the coding on their pages.
The system will now only consider PASSing pendings when looking at whether a Ring needs managing. Those RingMasters that let FAILing pending submissions auto-expire will not be penalized.
WebRing
webring
We've recently revised the system checker on pending submissions and suspended members. Once a particular submission or member PASSed the checker, the system would stop testing. This meant that a member could remove the coding from their page before the RingMaster had a chance to review that page fully and in some instances the RingMaster would approve/reactivate that membership based on the initial PASS result.
It also meant that where a member had removed the coding, the system would send out a warning email to the RingMaster telling them to manage their Rings and would not expire the site (where the RingMaster has the Ring configured to do this).
This has been fixed. The checker has been reset to test PASSing sites just the same as FAILing while in pending or suspended mode.
WebRing
webring
We've introduced changes to eligibility requirements for creating Rings.
1. If you have any FAILing memberships, you'll only be able to create a new Ring when those memberships are testing as PASSing or you remove those memberships from your account.
2. If you have more than 1 ring with 3 or fewer active sites you won't be able to create any new rings.
WebRing
timkilleen
As posted, we've undertaken a significant server upgrade both hardware and software. Because of the extent of the upgrade we expect to have anomalies for a period of time despite our efforts to test and prepare ahead of time. if you notice a problem that has not already been posted to a forum, please post AND report to support. if the problem has already been posted please give us some time to correct the problem before re-posting.
Thanks for your patience. Once complete this upgrade will enable substantial growth without a performance degredation.
webring
The site management screen has been split into two. This was done to avoid a lot of confusion - especially for new users. The site promotion boxes and site transfer box have been placed on a separate edit screen - Site Promotion and Extra - leaving the main site management screen for just editing site information.
webring
The previous limitation on the number of Rings an individual could join was 20 in one day. That has been revised to limit a member to 20 pending submissions total. If they can be approved quickly you can join as many in a day as you wish. Otherwise, you cannot join the 21st until at least one of the first 20 has been approved or denied.
webring
external links are no longer allowed due to the proliferation of ADS on navbars. This is inconvenient for some who used links for fairly legitimate reasons (i.e., to link to a webring "join" page). But, there are ways to accomplish this within the acceptable customization limits. SPecifically, sites you link to should be sites in Rings and those sites should have navigation code on them. The whole idea of a Ring, after all, is to SHARE traffic, not divert traffic.
timkilleen
In an effort to increase the visibility of Rings and the relevance of the title and description in particular we've altered hub page layouts:
logo and description have been moved up out of the left column and placed along with the title.
title has been ENLAGED a bit
We've added a "join instruction" section to the left column. If you previously had *anything* other than a description of what the Ring is all about get it out of the description and place it in the "join instructions" field. You will find this field on the (oddly enough) Join Settings page. It replaces/enhances the "close message" field. These join instructions will ALSO show to members who attempt to join a closed ring.
timkilleen
We've removed the top line above navbar stacks altogether. It appears to have outlived any useful value at this point in time.
