Tech Forum

The test of vBulletin on this instance has been great for the FamilySearch Wiki community. The Research Support team has tested the vBulletin software as moderators and really like the tool. We're now ready to begin the next phase of FamilySearch Wiki -- to offer forums that are integrated with the wiki.

Integration is important. First, the forum and even the forum instance have to be welcoming to genealogists for them to want to participate. Although technically-inclined folks and previous members of LDS Tech Forums have participated on this instance, not many of our genealogically-inclined users are doing so. When we asked them why, we received the following answers:

1. "When I follow the link from FamilySearch Wiki to the forum, I see a site that is titled 'LDS Tech Forums.' I'm not a techie or a programmer. It feels like this is not the place to leave my feedback on how genealogical information on FamilySearch Wiki should be organized/built/displayed."
2. "It seems like a lot of the discussions on the FamilySearch Wiki forum are really technical. I don't feel like these discussions are for a genealogist like me."
3. "The forum requires me to create another account before I can post. Then when I join, I have to wait for the system to send me an e-mail so I can verify my address. Then even after I do that, there is a long delay before I can post to a forum. By then I've forgotten what I was going to suggest. If you really want my feedback, make it easy for me -- don't make me have to register."
4. "I thought the wiki was about research advice? Why don't you have any forums where I can ask a research question?"

For all these reasons, we are going to change the link that leads from the wiki to this forum so that it leads instead to a new instance of vBulletin at http://forums.familysearchsupport.org/index.php. That instance has the following advantages:

1. It is skinned like FamilySearch Wiki. Users who follow the link from the wiki to the forums will feel like they are still in the same environment run by the same people.
2. Its title doesn't contain the word "Tech," so it'll tend not to scare off genealogists.
3. On the new instance, we can add forums about how to do genealogy. That subject is outside the scope of LDS Tech Forums.
4. We are working on single sign on between the wiki and the forums so people won't have to double-register or login twice.
5. We have total control over admin settings, which will help us alter forum names, categories, and many other elements to suit our users.

Thanks to all who have contributed to the FamilySearch Wiki forum on this instance. We hope to see you in the new instance!

Michael Ritchey
Manager, Research Support
Worldwide Support Division
Family History Dept.

I took a quick look and I have to say nice job. It makes a lot of sense to have a forum jet for the family search wiki.

That is going to work much better for the casual wiki user. Is this one going to be renamed so that it more accurately reflects the technical side of things so those who use that one don't get snarled up here and vice versa?

I feel like a dad that has just seen his child grow up and leave home to strike out on their own.

Nice work! I'm glad that tech.lds.org could be a spring board to bigger and better things.

Tom

Tom, it's really going to work out nicely. As of 10am today (now), 70 users have signed up. Although it might not look like much now, I anticipate this becoming a major center for questions and answers regarding research questions that people have.

I even see someone at the FHL getting a question and not quite having an answer, and he/she going into the forum, putting something up, and someone else halfway around the world putting in an answer. This will be a very significant collaborative question and answer forum about family history.

There have been few if any glitches, given the experience with the vBulletin software so far, and there are already some good posts.

Hey, are any of you out there experiencing delays on the new FamilySearch Wiki forums at http://forums.familysearchsupport.org/index.php ? At Church Headquarters we're experiencing big delays in posting and in reading threads. I'd love some feedback about the experience of people in the field.

Thanks,

Michael

ritcheymt wrote:Hey, are any of you out there experiencing delays on the new FamilySearch Wiki forums at http://forums.familysearchsupport.org/index.php ? At Church Headquarters we're experiencing big delays in posting and in reading threads. I'd love some feedback about the experience of people in the field.

Thanks,

Michael

I just spent abput 5 min. in the forum and had no problems at all. No sign of any lag or loading problems.

Have seen no problems reading or posting at all or otherwise accessing the site.

However, when did you see the problems. There were 81 guests online during roughly the noon hour today, that's more than the total number of members at this moment. Could this have slowed it down, or is there also the possibility of the gateway server used at CHQ having been hit by alot of traffic at once at the time or times you experienced the problem described?

Maybe it's the corporate firewall. Keep the feedback coming, gang! We really need to know how widespread this problem is.

Michael

You may be right on the 'corporate firewall', or the actual box that the site is loaded onto may have had a throughput problem or bandwidth problem.

But 83 people trying to view a largely textual page or group of pages may not have been it, I've seen slow responses online caused by other things, and sometimes it is the firewall.