Resurrection

[Shimatoree]

Everyone..........and that is NOT to be-little anyone by not addressing then as individuals !

The idea is simple.

1.We should have this forum as a DISCUSSION and COMMENT place and the idea of CATEGORIZATION in UMPTEEN topics is gone.

2. To protect and RETAIN the old DATA as ARCHIVES.

3. I have spoken with Pros about this web site and they agreed with the idea of FOCUS being the central theme required.

4. Problem is TIME. It is going to take TIME to FIX the problem. To design a new FACE by using Adobe Photo shop and then making it functional. I know TEMPLATES can be used but my thought is to come up with something original even though it might not be smashingly great.

5. To..............UN-DO the PTI label is also going to take time as a REPUTATION once established is difficult to ERASE. On top of that it would require DISCIPLINE on the part of the current participators to hold their FIRE....at least for sometime. It would also require ACTIVE LOBBYING by the same to somehow figure out how to attract.." OTHERS " to the site. Diplomacy is not my own FORTE' so someone with a sweet tongue will have to do that.

6. In short the structural changes are going to be done but to make it functional and attractive to others is something someone else has to figure out.

7. The basic model is a WEB PAGE connected to Youtube videos and hopefully that will work in steering traffic.

I am thinking it would take around 3 months to get things rolling but a " TRAILER" will be there soon.

I am waiting for ideas from everyone.........so we do not have to do it over again.

[Mirza Ghalib]

I for one am in all in favour of the changes to the blog you've described. More I can't say since I'm totally computer illiterate. The main thing though is to get SEM's views on what is being planned. As for hiding our PTI credentials, that's not difficult to do. The years have trained us to be discreet. Last but not least, we'll certainly do our best to promote the new blog through Twitter, etc. Patience and energy, Friends and the blog will have turned the corner. That's a given.

[Shimatoree]

Mg

it has taken 3 days plus to get one response !

If we are to get things going....people have to make their suggestions and recommendations so we can get started.

Computer literate or not........I need some sort of ideas........and I am trying to get that done before going ahead.

So GUYS....let us make all suggestions that are needed.

[Mirza Ghalib]

OK, Shim. I'll try and get someone who knows more technical matters than I do and will be back with
some suggestions later today.

[Musician]

I had posted 10 suggestions but my post has disappeared in thin air despite being told that message has been posted.
Will do it again tomorrow

Musician

[semirza]

I will post some ideas for you to consider this evening InshaAllah,

[Shimatoree]

Specific question that need to be answered soon.

[Musician]

1. Latest post should appear on top irrespective of the Topic.
2. Each page should be restricted to 20 threads.
3. The colours need to change as these are dull at the moment. The text in the posts should stand out with the mixture of colours and the contrast ratio.
4. To attract quality writers a recognition system consisting of “Post of the day”, Topic of the month should be introduced.
5. Members should be graded, not by the number of the posts but by the quality of writing.
6. Forum Rules should be formulated and should be made accessible on the Front Page by just a click on a Tab.
7. Although the main communication medium should be encouraged but allowance should be for Urdu as some quality writers can only write in Urdu.
8. Most serious writers/readers do not approve of frivolous post/comments. A stict Moderation will be needed to monitor this.
9. Moderators should not be allowed to participate in a discussion as Moderators. If they must, they should do so with a different ID.
10. Moderators should not be identified on the Forum as they are at present.

I will come back with more if something comes to mind

[Shimatoree]

Musician:

here is my 2 cents worth:

Great idea and makes sense

2. Front page ought to be restricted to 5 threads. The rest should go in archives but the only exception would be the ones which have lots of traffic.

3. Yes Colors do need to change and perhaps a new color for each important thread.

4. Post of the day is also a great idea but if past is prologue then on this type of blog, traffic is slow and perhaps post of the week would be better.

5. At this stage there are so few people here that grading is not needed

6. English must remain the language. If introducing Urdu, then what about Pashto and Sindhi etc etc.

7. Moderation has sto be a MUST. In the past though people were labelled as moderators- NO MODERATION happened in practice.

The rest delineated is fine.

[Musician]

When an external news/article is copy/pasted, the poster must do so with an introductory few lines stating why the the news/article is being posted and what are poster's own views about the contents. Without this no discussion will ensue.

[Mirza Ghalib]

Happy New Year to you all, Friends. I liked Musician's latest suggestion. When we post someone else's piece, we introduce it be giving our own views as to why it retained our attention. Whatever, what we all need above all is hope and perseverance. Multiplying do's and dont's will not be helpful in the long run. And simpicity is key to it all.

By the way, why do I keep getting EMails asking me to confirm the status of various new members wishing to log in? I'm going to collect them all and send them onto SEM.

I am growing weary of all this chatter and little achieved. No good sign that.

[Musician]

Shimatoree did say in his post of 26 December that it will take approx 3 months before the Blog is functional. But we have not been helpful to Shimatoree. SEM promised on 29 Dec that he will post some proposals that evening. Nothing has been posted by him so far!

[Mirza Ghalib]

Right, Musician. Very good suggestions you have made and I hope many of them will be retained. As for SEM, he's so taken up with his activities on Danishgardi, he seems to have none to spare to keep an eye on us. Whatever, we'll struggle along, hoping our luck will turn.

[Shimatoree]

MG, Musician

I have received technical information from SEM about the web site management etc.
I am in contact with STING and then the excellent suggestions made here by Musician.

My purpose has been explained and my approach will be methodical step by step.

Let us hope I can get something done that will meet with your approval.

Fundamental question that needs to be answered is-

1. Whether we RETAIN the name of this website or come up with completely different one.

2. If we go with a new one- then do we make the data from the old available through archives or do we just transfer the HITS to the new one.

3. My own view is that we should start from SCRATCH as the old military rule is NEVER re-inforce failure.Of course in the first 2 years or so this web site did OK........it could have done much better
if we had had brain storming sessions to come up with a sound plan. That did not take place and the new web site essentially became a CLONE of the old PKPOLITICS in a way.
All of us must bear the blame but let us try to do better.

I have spoken with the 3 programmers and they are sort of split. They want NOT TO LOSE the old web sites qualities completely but do advise that some form of NEW form and new image needs to be put in place. All of us have to come up with ideas and then I can sort them out and make what is possible.

s regards DANIGHGARDI.......well since I have problems with Urdu comprehension- I cannot say much about content there but the visual image is not something I would care to duplicate.

I need help from all of you--( assuming that YOU is more than MG and Musician etc)- where is Scandinavian, Asif, Life H2O etc ?

[semirza]

Some times back I had received an image of a web site from Shimatoree Jee and I did mailed my answer. Simple design is key to ease of navigation through a site or a blog. This is what I liked in that image and I had informed Mr. Shimatoree that particular site image had almost all what we were looking for.

Images, yes that is an issue. Graphics expert or one with a knowhow about graphics art would be the correct person to guide us through. I may have some images that might be of use and as I had bought them there should be no copyright issue. Only exactly what type of images are you looking for? Should they be scenic images of the Paki country side, backgrounds, GIFs etc What exactly is required? Here 'exactly' means the file format of the images. I may have images as Raster, and Some as vector graphics. Others might be a PNG,JPEG etc

I suggest special attention be given to 'Text Editor'. To write, edit, shape or decorate a post prior to an upload is of prime importance and should not be overlooked. The current editor here that we use is fine if feature like text alignment etc are added to it.

We have not yet decided what title we should have. A title is a first step and the first stone laid before any designer is able to proceed as a title is repeated many times in the code and code cannot be written and rewritten time and again.

Shimatoree Jee. This is still not accessable through: http://www.thepakpolitics.com while it should. I believe this url has been taken over and linked to other sites. One link leads to Mirza Ghalibs twitter account which us a good thing as a positive link back. I engaged a company for a face life and they did that using WPress, a hopeless job indeed. This site main page they have done is itself a problem. When ever our hosting company upgrades their software something happens and due to this I was the first one whose password has been disabled due to an upgrade. Both access to the front page and the forum happen to be accessed through two different passwords and this should not be the case. One password should be enough.

Lets decide first on the Name and then on Graphics so that designers have at some thing to begin with. What features the front page should have and how many total pages we should have is not an issues with any designers. Lots and lots of features have been standarised and are available as modules.

Coming back to the graphics I have to arrange for a File Zilla so that I am able to transfer these files to the designers and this takes no time. Files are heavy to an extent of 2Gb more or less and a peer to peer file transfer should be the best medium to do this transfer when required.

Thanks to Musician and Mirza Ghalib for a chance introduction to DanishGardi. I had never written in Urdu but there I do and I believe people like it. I am active there and I can be equally active here as well even if I have to work long hours. By the grace of Allah the Al Mighty I feel fit and healthy, and not as before.

I will be able to answer any one of you friends and from now I will keep my PC on for extended hours.

As for now I am in touch with you most of the time. Or +972 33804024 will do the job.

Regards to all
I am still looking for emails for Scandinavian, LifeH20 and others. I have doubts if the mails would be valid but I will contact them as soon as I find their mails. One easy way is through the Admin Panel that I am going to try now if I am able to access it.

[Musician]

[Musician]

Sorry Did not complete PDF..........Portable Document Format

[Mirza Ghalib]

Excellent post. Thanks a lot. My vote goes to PDF (Pakistan Discussion Forum), short, sweet and simple. I think some of you might really be divinely inspired. My view was that once we came to power, our input would be superfluous. Thinking it over, however, we might even be more necessary then as now so that we can keep a strict eye on things, ready to intervene if we feel we're going down the wrong path. So thank you once again for all for the hard work you're putting in while I, being computer illiterate, have nothing to add of any value apart from my moral support.

[Shimatoree]

Musician:

you have very expensive choices.

PDF is not available.

PINUP is not available

Keep your little grey cells working and come up some more good names though I think that the name of the web site really does not have to do much with Pakistan.
The graphics and content will be the MEAT that will get people's attention.

Its great that YOU are thinking, SN is thinking, MG is thinking and SEM inspire of his illness is thinking..we will come up with something real good soon.

This is a 1000 miles journey and we have taken the first few steps. Let us keep going.

[LifeH2O]

Its nice to see the site back up and Shimatoree and MG back here again.

My suggestion is to keep it as simple as pkpolitics once was.

1. Reduce and clean categories, current categories are a mess. With more trafic add more categories if required.
2. A section to show last 5-10 latest posts anywhere on this forum site, and a section to show 5-10 most active threads from anywhere on this forum.
3. Keep it simple, show off some stuff, for example a news panel on main page showing posts from current events, just saying.

Many things on this forum can be adjusted by changing some settings only, or simple configurations probably.

If you like a complete redesign, I looked up and found , and , but moving data to a new system will be difficult.