Do you want to relocate SSP Ottawa to another site?

[BGO]

I love SSP because of the very active forum. I visit it almost every days. I dont post nothing by the fact its not user friendly.

I bet there's a lot of people like me that are not active on the forum for the same issue.

The move would make me more active for sure.

[Ed007Toronto]

Cons
Nowhere near the same historical engagement as SSP - I could see this being harder in the short term, but once projects are up and running it might be less of an issue. As a parallel, this has already happened to some extent for the transit projects - much of the conversation has moved over to the rail fans discord and there isn't nearly as much activity on the transit threads here.
Migrating projects - certainly would be no small feat, but if a few people are willing to help with this, it might not be too bad.
The interactive map view of projects doesn't seem to work for me - maybe Edward can speak to this

Historical - indeed you'll lose the historical data. Not sure there's a way to solve that. That would be a problem for me as well.

Migrating - we would help with that. Specifically in creating databases for all the projects with accompanying threads.

Map - the map for Ottawa isn't really set up yet. We would need to do a few things from our end first. That would include setting up the database, the map and activating https://ottawa.skyrisecities.com. If we go ahead with this then that url would link to a page like this with all of the same sections: https://calgary.skyrisecities.com. We wouldn't have news initially but maybe over time.

Before we vote, I would like to hear more from people with experience on skyrise, and if the grass is truly greener, or if we would just exchange some familiar problems with new problems.

UrbanToronto.ca (20+ years now) is the same everything including backend. Any of you that have used UT (or SRC Calgary/Edmonton) might pipe in with your experiences. We get a ton of traffic on UT and I think most are quite happy. https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/forums/buildings.5/

[Norman Bates]

I see no evidence that the proprietors of SSP have any intentions of improving or modernizing their platform. Even basic maintenance is deferred and then deferred, again.

For me this means that SSP will one day self-destruct and everything we value about it today will be lost forever.

When will SSP grenade? I don’t know. But we all know that it could happen tomorrow.

I feel that a proactive migration is in the best interests of our community. At least we can save what we can as we gain experience with the new platform.

A reactive posture risks the permanent loss of our entire community.

I vote oui.

[Dzingle Bells]

Originally Posted by Ed007Toronto

Any of you that have used UT (or SRC Calgary/Edmonton) might pipe in with your experiences. We get a ton of traffic on UT and I think most are quite happy. https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/forums/buildings.5/

I use UrbanToronto quite regularly and it is much easier and more convenient to use than SSP.

I won't repeat what @UrbOttawa has summarized below but they have done a great job at listing the benefits of Skyrise.

Regarding the issue of losing historical data, SSP does have all the data but I find it quite difficult to find when I actually need it. A few examples of SSP having the data but not being able to find it:

1. Finding Photos - Let's say I want to find a specific photo that I know was posted in the Claridge Icon thread. The only way to find it is to click and scroll through all 116 pages until I see it. On Skyrise, there is a central database page where you can see an album of all images that have been posted in the forum section about that project.

2. Searching - I don't know if I'm doing it wrong, but I have never had luck with the search function on this site. For example, when searching for the Claridge Icon thread to see how many pages there are on it, I searched "claridge icon" and it didn't come up (see below snip). That seems like a pretty glaring issue for finding historical data on SSP.


3. Lack of a Map Let's say I know roughly where a project is in the city but I don't know the name or address, or as I showed above, the search function doesn't work. Edward mentioned we could get the map set up which I feel is one of the most useful parts of UrbanToronto.

[Harley613]

I voted yes. https://ottawa.skyrisecities.com has a really nice ring to it. I would rather be on an actively maintained platform with easy image upload.

[btap]

Yesterday I uploaded a couple pictures to skyrise from my phone, which was incredibly easy. I understand why longtime users want to stick with what they know but I think it’s kind of crazy to keep using this archaic software when a much better version is available. The transition would be difficult but ultimately it would increase engagement due to how much easier it is to use.

[Harley613]

I have begun creating threads for projects and uploading images, but I am just continuing where we left off here. I can't imagine creating a new synopsis for each project yet at this point, it would be very labour intensive. I also missed some formatting that will need to be changed once mods are in place.

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by Harley613

I have begun creating threads for projects and uploading images, but I am just continuing where we left off here. I can't imagine creating a new synopsis for each project yet at this point, it would be very labour intensive. I also missed some formatting that will need to be changed once mods are in place.

I've noticed that, Mr. Hoggytime

[rocketphish]

Given that a workable solution that provides project continuity is important to me, I experimented by creating a couple of new threads over at SkyriseCities. In the initial post, which summarizes the project (basically a copy of the project summary post from the SSP thread), I've displayed a Discussion History link back to the originating SSP thread, so that it is as easy as possible to go back and find the original information if needed. Does this work for you folks?

https://skyrisecities.com/forum/thre...roposed.37205/

https://skyrisecities.com/forum/thre...roposed.37203/

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Given that a workable solution that provides project continuity is important to me, I experimented by creating a couple of new threads over at SkyriseCities. In the initial post, which summarizes the project (basically a copy of the project summary post from the SSP thread), I've displayed a Discussion History link back to the originating SSP thread, so that it is as easy as possible to go back and find the original information if needed. Does this work for you folks?

https://skyrisecities.com/forum/thre...roposed.37205/

https://skyrisecities.com/forum/thre...roposed.37203/

That's a fantastic way of doing it, and far more elegant than 'just continuing the conversation' as I was starting the threads.

[SidetrackedSue]

I've joined skyrisecities.com and taken a look around.

I won't be able to help until January but given how much you folks have given me, I'd like to give back to the community. If there can be a 'training' thread on how to start and upload stuff, I could start work on Westboro (if it isn't already finished by the time I come up for air.)

In response to the question: I find the link back to the discussion in SSP is an elegant solution.

And I agree the search function here has been awkward. On the other hand, to be fair, that's because this is such an engaged (and verbose!) community.

[Ed007Toronto]

As I indicated previously there would be some work from our end to make sure the site is fully activated. The forum is working but we would need to do some work on the database and map to fully activate them. Then there would issue of moderators and so forth.

We are ready to do so but want to ensure that the general consensus is to do the move. Any guidance would be helpful.

[Harley613]

I have asked Ed to be a moderator in addition to J.OT13 and Rocketphish. I hope you all would be amenable to that. I dump so much media on here and I have been maintaining the Ottawa wiki for so long... I feel I'm ready to give more.

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by Ed007Toronto

As I indicated previously there would be some work from our end to make sure the site is fully activated. The forum is working but we would need to do some work on the database and map to fully activate them. Then there would issue of moderators and so forth.

We are ready to do so but want to ensure that the general consensus is to do the move. Any guidance would be helpful.

Thus far, based on the poll results, it seems to be the consensus of a relatively small percentage of regular SSP contributors that moving to SkyriseCities would provide a more modern, mobile-friendly experience with various additional features not available at SSP. But of course we can't force people to "move", or to not continue posting at SSP. It would likely take some time before a critical mass of contributors migrates and the SSP Ottawa subforum withers.

If you're willing to make the necessary changes to activate a dedicated Ottawa forum then that would likely sweeten the offer for others who may have yet to offer an opinion.


And on the subject of making changes, I've noticed a really annoying shortcoming. When I'm reading a thread at SRC, the title of the thread isn't displayed anywhere, so I forget what thread I'm in. It isn't even clear that I am in the Ottawa subforum. Could the breadcrumb be updated to display this info? (something like: Forums > Buildings > Ottawa > <thread_title>


What thread am I reading?

Originally Posted by Harley613

I have asked Ed to be a moderator in addition to J.OT13 and Rocketphish. I hope you all would be amenable to that. I dump so much media on here and I have been maintaining the Ottawa wiki for so long... I feel I'm ready to give more.

That's fine with me, but we do have other Ottawa Mods at SSP who could be migrated as well.

[UrbOttawa]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

And on the subject of making changes, I've noticed a really annoying shortcoming. When I'm reading a thread at SRC, the title of the thread isn't displayed anywhere, so I forget what thread I'm in. It isn't even clear that I am in the Ottawa subforum. Could the breadcrumb be updated to display this info? (something like: Forums > Buildings > Ottawa > <thread_title>

It looks like once projects are added to the database and linked to a forum thread, there will be a synopsis added to the top of the thread. I think you ran into that problem since a lot of the newer threads haven't been linked yet.

The new Library thread, for example, shows the synopsis at the top.

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by UrbOttawa

It looks like once projects are added to the database and linked to a forum thread, there will be a synopsis added to the top of the thread. I think you ran into that problem since a lot of the newer threads haven't been linked yet.

The new Library thread, for example, shows the synopsis at the top.

Ah, OK. That makes sense

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Harley613

I have asked Ed to be a moderator in addition to J.OT13 and Rocketphish. I hope you all would be amenable to that. I dump so much media on here and I have been maintaining the Ottawa wiki for so long... I feel I'm ready to give more.

Originally Posted by rocketphish

What thread am I reading?




That's fine with me, but we do have other Ottawa Mods at SSP who could be migrated as well.

Curious to hear if Harls and Waterloowarrior have any thoughts on this, and if they are willing to create accounts on skyrise. They've both been on SSP even longer than us.

As for me, I just registered my account. Though I wouldn't staying here, I can see the benefit of the move. Skyrise seems far more modern and includes interesting features.

[SidetrackedSue]

It might be worthwhile to create a new post specifically polling membership and with a clearer title.

When I first clicked on this post, I thought it was to do with emergency planning in the city. I had not fully parsed the title.

And, if possible, sending a notification to each member so they'll see they should be looking at their SSP in-box when they pop in next.

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by SidetrackedSue

It might be worthwhile to create a new post specifically polling membership and with a clearer title.

When I first clicked on this post, I thought it was to do with emergency planning in the city. I had not fully parsed the title.

And, if possible, sending a notification to each member so they'll see they should be looking at their SSP in-box when they pop in next.

Good observation, Sue. I've renamed this thread to make it more obvious what this thread is about.

[J.OT13]

If we're building a new forum, should we consider how we'll divide it up? We've been talking for years about separating projects as Ottawa Inner Greenbelt, Ottawa Outer Greenbelt, Gatineau...

BTW, I had set the poll to be open for 7 days. Should be enough, right? I think we have what we need.