The Future of WashingtonLakes.com

[Bigbass Dez]

I wouldn't put too much time and energy into the "Speel Chick"....(Spell Check) option, after all, we all talk the same and I don't see a lot of people caring about spelling on a fishing website....see below example of how our brains work and why spell check isn't needed.

Ohr mynds ahtayatilly oyyy reid tme fooat avd loiot lqqtwrs of eeeh wpod, tpqts wiy seeel ciopk izz't nqqdqd.

Huh?:-k

Jon you are too funny , and lil wierd .. i guess we have alot in common .. NUH WZT EM ZYNNG...BBD

[dilbert]

I wouldn't put too much time and energy into the "Speel Chick"....(Spell Check) option, after all, we all talk the same and I don't see a lot of people caring about spelling on a fishing website....see below example of how our brains work and why spell check isn't needed.

Ohr mynds ahtayatilly oyyy reid tme fooat avd loiot lqqtwrs of eeeh wpod, tpqts wiy seeel ciopk izz't nqqdqd.

Huh?:-k

He said, our minds automatically only read the first and last letters of each word, that’s why spell check isn’t needed.

But, the rest of the letters should be the letters from the word.

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

[MikeFishes]

Guys,
Looks good!

RE: Fishing Portal. I'll definately use that. Cool idea! Kind of like a "Trophy Room" that you don't have to clean.

RE: Blog. Some of us may already have blogs so having another "Fishing" blog probably won't be very popular. Then again, if you don't have a blog, this would be a good way to get started. I guess it doesn't have to be just for fishing. I'm not sure about the functionality of blogs, but do you think there's a way to have a blog posting from one site be reflected here? You know, so if I write a post about my fishing on my blog, it can be picked up here without having to enter it in twice. I do know that some blogs let you email an entry and it gets posted. Perhaps that's a good way.

RE: Detailed Lake Reports. Mapping too? :cyclopsan I personally like Local.live.com for mapping, mainly because it has "collections". You've seen my collection (which just grows and grows). But any mapping solution would be cool!

As for Price of Premium Membership. That's tough to say right off the bat, but something along the lines of bassackwards and Sean suggested would be great. At least I know I'll be saving up a little for the lifetime membership.

Oh, and here's a suggestion for the both of you. Maybe you guys need a little help with the site. There's definately some type of administrative type of tasks that some of us can do, such as reviewing the reports, monitoring the forum, etc. Lot's of sites have "moderators" that can do this type of stuff and they do it for free because it's all for the community.

[MikeFishes]

I wouldn't put too much time and energy into the "Speel Chick"....(Spell Check) option, after all, we all talk the same and I don't see a lot of people caring about spelling on a fishing website....see below example of how our brains work and why spell check isn't needed.

Ohr mynds ahtayatilly oyyy reid tme fooat avd loiot lqqtwrs of eeeh wpod, tpqts wiy seeel ciopk izz't nqqdqd.

Huh?:-k

He said, our minds automatically only read the first and last letters of each word, that’s why spell check isn’t needed.

But, the rest of the letters should be the letters from the word.

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

That's actually a method of memorization. Read the passage, then remove all the letters but the first one and read. Then remove sections of the first letters. It works quite well.

[bassackwards]

I wouldn't put too much time and energy into the "Speel Chick"....(Spell Check) option, after all, we all talk the same and I don't see a lot of people caring about spelling on a fishing website....see below example of how our brains work and why spell check isn't needed.

Ohr mynds ahtayatilly oyyy reid tme fooat avd loiot lqqtwrs of eeeh wpod, tpqts wiy seeel ciopk izz't nqqdqd.

Huh?:-k

He said, our minds automatically only read the first and last letters of each word, that’s why spell check isn’t needed.

But, the rest of the letters should be the letters from the word.

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Sorry guys...shows you how smart I am, I even misspelled the misspelled words....

[cavdad45]

Dudes, that's just too fnuny. LOL:cheers:

[bigastrout]

Every thing sounds great. I am really excited about the GPS and report generating.:bounce:

[Marc Martyn]

Ohr mynds ahtayatilly oyyy reid tme fooat avd loiot lqqtwrs of eeeh wpod, tpqts wiy seeel ciopk izz't nqqdqd.

So, does this study at Cambridge give us the go ahead to get lazy and stop learning language skills? Our society is already fast becoming the most obese in the world. We cud al beecum fat and stewped:cheers:

A spell check is helpful

[dilbert]

When I use Firefox as my browser, there is spell check on this site. It automatically underlines words in red and if you right click it gives you several choices. Just not with IE.

[Marc Martyn]

Having the ability to add attachments to Personal Messages and E-mails through the site would be a great feature.

[Bigbass Dez]

Ohr mynds ahtayatilly oyyy reid tme fooat avd loiot lqqtwrs of eeeh wpod, tpqts wiy seeel ciopk izz't nqqdqd.

So, does this study at Cambridge give us the go ahead to get lazy and stop learning language skills? Our society is already fast becoming the most obese in the world. We cud al beecum fat and stewped:cheers:

A spell check is helpful

I would relate lazyness to technology , with tools like spell check totaly takes away from the good ol webster book..search engines , internet , etc .all replace picking up a book and taking to time to read and truly research .. however when it comes updating and current info being presented , we cant compete against the web .. times are just changing ...

[fishnislife]

This is an idea that may be a little much for this website but I feel it will come around in the near future and be used in emails.
Have a voice message icon or in this case, a voice post icon on each post that someone has the ability to record, and those reading the post can click on it and here audio commentary. Someone types a message just like normal and if one has a microphone you can record a message reading the post. That way everyone can click on the voice post and hear that person saying the post. No problems trying to interpret ones feeling or emotions in a post. It would be as simple as the downloading of a picture attachment and very innovative. I don't know anyone who has done it and I was just sitting here thinking about how neat the idea would be. Maybe a little much for you guys but it would be ground breaking and a very neat feature.


fishnislife

[Aaron]

When I can sensor a .wav file as easily as text, I'll think about it.

Just think what technology like that would do for a flame war... without a censoring ability. Ouch. There goes the G rating.

[EastsideRedneck]

Having gone through this transition with another group we need to take a few things into consideration:
>Is WL.com going to be a not-for-profit organzation?
>Are we prepared to select officers (Not-for-profits require them for accountability) I think it is quite obvious who they'd be...
I have seen this step implemented poorly in the past. In some groups it causes a huge rift... I am confident the maturity level of this group should render this a non-issue, but thought I should mention it.

A great plug-in is available to permit real-time online meetings to meet the above ends since the membership is geographically challenged. The latter issue is what nearly tore another group apart once money got involved. It was percieved that members in one area got "more" for their dollar and a vast majority of the meetings were held in that area. The online meeting helped to alleviate that problem and enabled greater levels of participation.

Sorry for rambling...

[Aaron]

>Is WL.com going to be a not-for-profit organzation?
>Are we prepared to select officers (Not-for-profits require them for accountability) I think it is quite obvious who they'd be...

WL.com has never been a not-for-profit organization. The majority of generated funds go towards keeping the site running and growing. We're at a very tricky point in our growth right now. When we launched the new WL.com last April, we almost maxed out our hosting limits. I'm pretty sure that when next April rolls around we will be forced to move into a higher priced package. In order to afford this increase, we need to generate more funds. The unfortunate part in all of this is that more than 50% of our hosting limits go wasted during 8 months of the year. Sometimes as much as 90% during January. It's April-July that we have to worry about. Let's let Mike worry about all this. You guys worry about catching more fish.

[Aaron]

About the Weather:

I've managed to create a couple of different weather pages than deal with weather in different ways. What I need is a clear direction on what users really want/need in a weather page designed for fishermen.

I've thrown a few google map ideas together and interfaced them with the National Weather Service, similar to what you might find on the Personal Weather Stations area at wundergound.com. After playing with these for awhile, I had to ask myslef exactly WHY I was mixing this data with a map.... It's much more difficult, and MUCH slower then just getting relevant weather data for a given area.

Tell me what you want to see as far as weather forcasts are concerned.

What data is important?

How will you use it?

Does the map even matter?

[Anonymous]

Aaron, I feel that the map would be a bonus but not necessary. As far as weather data, I always look at:
Wind speed and direction
Temperature - Highs and Lows
Barometric Pressure
Percipitation

Also,
Moon Phase
Sunrise/Sunset times

I think a cool feature would be to add optimal fishing times and days like you'd find in a Game and Fish Magazine. Rating the days by poor, fair, good, and great. Just a thought.

I also believe that the premium membership should be affordable for all. That way more people would be interested in it and pay the fee. Something like $5.99 a month, $9.99 for two and $29.99 a year. As far as lifetime, $49.99.


fishnislife

[iPodrodder]

How about what bassackwards said, but with a mini sign with mini black text on the front page saying the normal new reports and news, and gargantuan below it saying DONATIONS (VERY) WELCOME!!!!!(AHEM. AHEM.) It sorta bullies people into obeying their conscience.

[Marc Martyn]

About the Weather:

I've managed to create a couple of different weather pages than deal with weather in different ways. What I need is a clear direction on what users really want/need in a weather page designed for fishermen.

I've thrown a few google map ideas together and interfaced them with the National Weather Service, similar to what you might find on the Personal Weather Stations area at wundergound.com. After playing with these for awhile, I had to ask myslef exactly WHY I was mixing this data with a map.... It's much more difficult, and MUCH slower then just getting relevant weather data for a given area.

Tell me what you want to see as far as weather forcasts are concerned.

What data is important?

How will you use it?

Does the map even matter?

Aaron,

What you have been experimenting with is way too much work. There are too many areas for you to zero in on.
I am proposing a website link that someone on WL.com can click on to view the Personal Weather Stations for a general area. Here are a couple of links that I have selected for Spokane, Seattle, Yakima & Richland respectively:

http://www.wunderground.com/stationmaps ... &wmo=99999
http://www.wunderground.com/stationmaps ... &wmo=99999
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/fin ... kima%2C+WA
http://www.wunderground.com/stationmaps ... &wmo=99999

(Note:) When you click on the links above, scroll down to where it says Google Map of Personal Weather Stations and click on it.

Once a person clicks on that link, a google map will appear with the personal weather stations on them and you can navigate to the closest area you want info on. Click on a specific personal weather station and it will show the current data, plus the up to current data for wind, temperature., dewpoint, percip.

This recorded data is important because you can see a changing trend in the weather over a couple of hours. Is the wind picking up? Is the temperature dropping? Is the barometric pressure dropping, meaning a low is coming in?

The locations of the weather links could be based on the major cities and also based on were the majority of the readers are from. For instance, I don't think that there are many readers in the Pullman area, and I don't believe that there are many lakes in that area.

Basically, Aaron, just a link on the site to accurate information in a given area. I have used Weather Underground for several years and find it very valuable.

[Mike Carey]

>Is WL.com going to be a not-for-profit organzation?
>Are we prepared to select officers (Not-for-profits require them for accountability) I think it is quite obvious who they'd be...

WL.com has never been a not-for-profit organization. The majority of generated funds go towards keeping the site running and growing. We're at a very tricky point in our growth right now. When we launched the new WL.com last April, we almost maxed out our hosting limits. I'm pretty sure that when next April rolls around we will be forced to move into a higher priced package. In order to afford this increase, we need to generate more funds. The unfortunate part in all of this is that more than 50% of our hosting limits go wasted during 8 months of the year. Sometimes as much as 90% during January. It's April-July that we have to worry about. Let's let Mike worry about all this. You guys worry about catching more fish.

Thanks Aaron - only fair since you get the coding headaches. Here's the deal about non-profit. Aaron is correct, we are not and have never been non-profit. but, we have never made much money and the site was never started with that in mind. That said, after running WL.com for ten years (and Aaron for four) we are reaching the point where as Aaron mentioned, the site costs will keep rising. And also the time involved to do the site is growing more all the time. We could say the heck with it and leave things the way they are and never grow or impliment new stuff. Or, we could do what we are doing, which is to look at ways to enhance the site and make it more valuable to the guys and gals that enjoy the site. Since we are putting in a lot of time and effort, it seems fair to look at ways to cover expenses and be compensated for our efforts. Trust me, we aren't looking at quiting our day jobs any time soon. Both Aaron and I work fulltime + overtime (I'm heading off to work extra right now, as a matter of fact). The WL.com income left over is pretty small compared to the work put in to it. One of the reasons you no longer see the donation information up is that unlike last fall/winter we are now generating enough ad revenue to cover the bills. So we took down the donation information because we both felt it wasn't right to continue to ask for donations when the basic cost of running the site is covered. Aaron and I are very humbled and grateful to the people that stepped up last fall and helped us through a tight time. We know (as Aaron mentioned) that with continued growth comes more costs. So the idea of the paid membership area is one more way to provide added value to those that want it. Becoming a paid member then allows you to help support the site AND get back something extra that the casual users won't get. So we are trying to find a nice package of features that will entice people to join up.

BTW, as to the voice messages idea, I bet it would be very feasible but liek Aaron said, can you imagine the irritation of getting a rude voice message? .wav files aren't too hard to edit but it is time consuming, and besides once you hear it the damage is down. The new paid section will have live chart. Just hoope we get enough paying members to make it worthwhile! (I think we will when you see everthing available in one place)