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Mike_Boxall

  • Posts: 1394
How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« on: November 11, 2011, 07:01:58 pm »
Hi everyone

We're currently looking to put more resources into developing the forum and adding new features to it.

As part of this process we wanted to get some initial feedback on the sort of things you think would make Cleanitup an even more useful resource and thought that a new section would help facilitate that.

So, over to you, what do you think we could do to improve it?

Regards

Mike

Mike Halliday

  • Posts: 11581
Re: How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« Reply #1 on: November 11, 2011, 07:34:15 pm »
EDUCATION!!!! we need to make CIU a place people look when they have a question about cleaning.

i would like to see CIU the same as Cleanfax with a huge resource of articles collected from the leading people in the world of cleaning.

a photo gallery of generic, high quality  photos that CIU admin & members post which can be used by any member, if someone wants a photo of a wand, mop, a pressure washer, a waterfed pole etc etc etc they can get it from CIU Maybe the photos can be sold by members...... eg; i have a great photo of a before & after carpet clean....... I post it on CIU and any one who wants to use it pays me or we could have a nominated charity where any one can buy the photo for a £1 which is given to cancer research

a direct link to a video channel on You tube where members can post videos


just a few thoughts :)


Mike Halliday.  www.henryhalliday.co.uk

Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)

  • Posts: 1834
Re: How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« Reply #2 on: November 11, 2011, 09:15:57 pm »
Real names, real profile photos - the site would be a much better place immediately

AshWhite

  • Posts: 3427
Re: How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2011, 12:34:06 am »
When I view the site on my phone, there's a link I can follow that shows all the unread replies to threads I have commented on, but it's not on the main site?
Carpet Cleaning http://www.floors2show.co.uk
Google Adwords Management http://www.pagecrest.co.uk

Mike_Boxall

  • Posts: 1394
Re: How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2011, 02:01:13 pm »
EDUCATION!!!! we need to make CIU a place people look when they have a question about cleaning.

i would like to see CIU the same as Cleanfax with a huge resource of articles collected from the leading people in the world of cleaning.

a photo gallery of generic, high quality  photos that CIU admin & members post which can be used by any member, if someone wants a photo of a wand, mop, a pressure washer, a waterfed pole etc etc etc they can get it from CIU Maybe the photos can be sold by members...... eg; i have a great photo of a before & after carpet clean....... I post it on CIU and any one who wants to use it pays me or we could have a nominated charity where any one can buy the photo for a £1 which is given to cancer research

a direct link to a video channel on You tube where members can post videos

just a few thoughts :)


Thanks Mike

I absolutely agree that we want CIU to be the first place people think of when they want an answer to a question. One of the problems I think is that it can be difficult to find things and I'm keen to try and organise things better. I like the ideas of the photos and it sort of ties into an idea I had some time ago (in fact I'm sure Mitch did start to develop it) whereby we create a database of all the different types of surfaces that could need to be cleaned and a database of all the different types of soiling that might need to be removed from them. Each one would have key features and would ultimately lead to the appropriate product to deal with it. Having someone, maybe like Doug  ;) , who could explain exactly why limescale needs to be removed with an acid or why certain stain removers work on oil based stains and others don't I'm sure would be a useful resource. I'll look into the photos idea and we'll may try to tie the two together

Regards

Mike

Mike_Boxall

  • Posts: 1394
Re: How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2011, 02:07:05 pm »
Real names, real profile photos - the site would be a much better place immediately

Hi Steve

I think this is a progressive thing that needs to start with a clamp-down on out and out 'stupid' usernames (which shouldn't actually get through as new members now in any case) In hindsight we probably wouldn't have been so relaxed about it in the past but making it more professional is certainly a priority for us.

Thanks

Mike

Mike_Boxall

  • Posts: 1394
Re: How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« Reply #6 on: November 12, 2011, 02:09:11 pm »
When I view the site on my phone, there's a link I can follow that shows all the unread replies to threads I have commented on, but it's not on the main site?

Hi

Not sure about that one (sounds like a browser issue to me but I'm not an expert)

Will ask someone to check to see if it's something we have any control over

Many thanks

Mike


wfp master

  • Posts: 2549
Re: How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« Reply #7 on: November 12, 2011, 07:44:57 pm »
ban all the people who come on just to advertise there products some do it very sneakely others just highjack a thread & say have you tried the bla bla then post a link.

Alex Gardiner

  • Posts: 7740
Re: How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« Reply #8 on: November 12, 2011, 07:58:58 pm »
Cleanitup is certainly an amazingly successful information resource already and credit to those who have worked hard maintaining and growing it.

I would agree that real names are vital to its future credibility. This would take some work , but would need an initial check before allowing a new user to make any posts. Perhaps the need to provide an address which can be third party verified. This would set cleanitup apart from most other forums - it has now got to the size where you can set your own rules rather than following the 'pack' as it were. This would instantly stop some of the rubbish posts and would help prevent deceptive posting.

Any users with a supplier affiliation could be indentified with a symbol in the left hand panel. This would automatically help other users to interpret any comments made by suppliers - such as this chap knows what he is talking about as he has had 10 years experience selling them or if promoting one item over another everyone knows the leanings that a supplier may have. This is done on many other forums and is not linked to advertising just for other users information. Something like a simple 'supplier' logo. If the supplier paid they could then have this as a link to their site.

Perhaps a section in the profile page where you can list years experience in your trade or various trades.

It would also be great to have a section guru who could provide authoritative information. This would be great for protecting those newcomers who need an answer being inadvertently mislead by other newcomers postings about subjects they know little about. For instance an RO guru, a chemical guru etc - this would help prevent expensive mistakes and would raise the credibility of the forum. This is similar to what Wikipedia has had to do in order to be able to be relied upon and taken seriously.

You could even have an ask the guru section for each subject. How you choose the gurus would be tricky though and why would they want to be a guru? Not sure how this could be done.

Obviously some threads are for fun and are not to be taken seriously, but others are dealing with product usage and would benefit from the credibility factor.

Another idea is to have an ask a supplier feature for those suppliers who pay for this. Users could post a question about products, technical issues, etc. and the supplier could interface directly with the other users - obviously as this is my idea you would be happy to waive the usual supplier fee  ;D

www.com

  • Posts: 101
Re: How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« Reply #9 on: November 12, 2011, 11:27:21 pm »
A supplier section/affiliation will never work, all suppliers work from their own agenda. If a product comes out better than their own, would they openly admit it? no chance. Any 'advice' offered is without doubt tainted at the very least.

Guru's would also not work as there are no real gurus on clean it up. 99% of members are small time operaters (less than 10 employees) and one man bands. Bigger more experienced company heads simply do not go on forums, they are already successful doing what they do. What an earth could a faceless keyboard warrior have in advice?? If in any doubt ask any sizeable company boss on his view on forums, unless they are trying to sell you something (products, services, etc), they don't waste their time.

A Facebookesq login is the only way to go for credibility, if someone refuses to login without that type of account it throws their status/account into question automatically because of lack of transparency. The web is heading this way across the board.

Apart from that, just leave it as it is and stop trying to make it something it s not. An enjoyable bit of banter between window and carpet cleaners.

H S and Son

Re: How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« Reply #10 on: November 13, 2011, 12:26:39 am »
Loose anonymous user names, such as Mr Industry.

www.com

  • Posts: 101
Re: How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« Reply #11 on: November 13, 2011, 01:57:58 am »
Why? The majority of users on here are anonymous. I didn't see a requirement to show my passport and driving license when registering.

GoodFella2006

  • Posts: 413
Re: How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« Reply #12 on: November 13, 2011, 08:21:56 am »
I was going to say move the forum to a dedicated server but RDNS shows it already is on a dedicated or VPS but few more web sites are being hosted,therefore mysql server is probably overloaded.

Search function on the forum takes ages.And we sometimes get the no service error.

Are you planning to upgrade to the latest SMF yet?

Auto embedder mod like Aeva will be a spot on so we can actually show/play youtube like videos on our messages,no need to go to that video site.

Private messaging (PM) should be reconsidered with a poll.They are littering our forum.

Get those two links on my siggy on the forum so everyone can follow the topics they posted.

Pretty please  :)

Simon Gerrard

  • Posts: 4405
Re: How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« Reply #13 on: November 13, 2011, 10:28:59 am »
I don't think CIU will ever be taken as seriously as it deserves because it allows people to join and post and false names and identities and this damages the credibility of the site enormously and turn is into a bit of a bear pit. Proper names and photos would make an enormous difference and encourage people to conduct themselves in a more professional manner.
Problem is CIU is a business and therefore will sacrifice quality for quantity to keep the figures up.
Simon

AuRavelling79

  • Posts: 25188
Re: How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« Reply #14 on: November 13, 2011, 11:21:19 am »
Replace absent moderators.
It's a game of three halves!

Pope vader

  • Posts: 1944
Re: How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« Reply #15 on: November 13, 2011, 02:57:01 pm »
you can have peoples real names and pic, but it wont stop the bs getting said,  give it a few weeks and the ones who are making thousands a week, will be moaning after 2 days of snow, that they are skint

i agree that suppliers should easily be identififed,  the likes of alex gardiner who comes on here, he answers questions that are put to him and dosent directly promote his stuff, he is always saying contact him away from the forum, which i dont see a problem with,  then we have ionics staff coming on here pretending to be wc  saying how great there stuff is, then panic when found out,  if  a business wants to promote there stuff then they should use there company name

Catherine10

Re: How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« Reply #16 on: November 13, 2011, 04:18:39 pm »
Pictures are a great idea, but they have to be in the proper resolution to use for print, media.  Snap shots I dont think will work.   They need to be structured and light on the day etc. DPI  comes into it, depending on what you want to use photos for, snappys wont produce well - other half is a photographer - pics need to be set up and of high quality lot comes down to reproduction, lot of snap shots wont come up to specs with reagards to what you want to use them for. There has to be specifications in place as to what the guys need to need the images for.  If you want a nice leaflet/brochure think it might prove a little difficult.

Doug Holloway

  • Posts: 3917
Re: How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« Reply #17 on: November 13, 2011, 05:55:50 pm »
Hi Guys

I would definitely say get rid of the silly names or at least make people have their real identity, it's not so much the silly name it's the confidence it gives to some idiots to cause trouble.

Otherwise I wouldn't change too much as it works at present, we wouldn't want to be too boring, people like the more contentious topics!

The move allowing moderators to ban/suspend has seen a big improvement in general quality as problem posters know they cannot get away with it now.

We could have a technical section but it would have to be strictly controlled as otherwise the gems will be obscured by general posts.

Cheers

Doug

Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)

  • Posts: 1834
Re: How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« Reply #18 on: November 13, 2011, 07:13:01 pm »
Doug

I don't have a problem with contentious subjects or even the occasional row - it would just be nice to know who you are having a row with.

This is probably the only forum I am a member of where people can register under a false name (or names) - the only reason for that is so they can cause trouble without comeback.

Mike Halliday

  • Posts: 11581
Re: How can we make Cleanitup even better?
« Reply #19 on: November 13, 2011, 09:03:38 pm »
Steve as  moderators we can see at the top how many people are waiting approval to become members( this is hidden to everyone slse)

at the moment 10 new members are awaiting approval, often i will log on and 10-15 new people are awaiting approval....... every day!!

its hard to keep a check on this amount of new members,  I think this is why they get through it would be a full time job to check out everyone.

other forums don't have this amount of new members joining so can keep a tighter control
Mike Halliday.  www.henryhalliday.co.uk