What improvements do you think should be made to the EBS website?

Thanks to those who have posted ideas about improvements to the Forums. As you will have now noticed, the Forums have been opened up beyond the Ecology member community. We will of course keep an eye on content, and respond accordingly, but would appreciate if you the members watch out for inappropriate postings.

The forums have been initiated after member requests. Ultimately, it is for Forum users to make use of this tool via member debate. At the Ecology, we believe that they can evolve into a useful tool, but must be as much about building the Ecology community rather than just another avenue to direct questions to the management body as inevitably we have other issues to deal with!

On that note, apologies if there appears to have a been a hiatus in terms of management interest - maternity leave and illness amongst our marketing resource have meant credit crunch related issues inevitably took more of our attention.

And finally, those who attend AGMs know that we answer to names such as Paul and Jenny rather than Messrs Ellis and Irwin. We also respond to e-mails and phone calls!

Best wishes to all.

Ok. Just joined so this is my first post. I'd like to second what others have said:

(1) ordering of posts. This is the most confusing forum I've come across. I'd like to be able to have posts in date order with newer posts after older posts. Is there a preferences setting for that?

(2) purpose of forums. I think the forum needs to decide whether it wants to be about the EBS and EBS products or about ecology/ecological building in general. For the former, it may make sense to require membership to browse etc. The latter raises other issues:

(3) forums depend on 'liquidity' just like banks. they need to attract members, so non-members need to be able to browse. More importantly, search engines need to be able to browse!

(4) there's a lot of competition from other forums about renewable energy, green building etc. EBS needs to think hard about whether it wants to become *THE* forum for some aspect. If so, it needs sharp focus. If not, it would probably be preferable to direct people to other forums.

JMHO

Not enough users? Lower the barriers to entry.

Ensure anyone can browse the forums without registering, and allow anyone to that wants to, to register.

At the moment, you have to be signed in even to read the forums. We have nothing to hide, so why?

Similarly, and particularly in the current climate, I'm sure there are many potential members that would like to browe and ask questions.

I agree with Graham Nichols. These forums have the potential to be much more useful and popular. I suspect that information technology (is that the correct expression?) is not the strong point of many "green" people and that may be one reason why the forum hasn't taken off.
I really popped in here to see if I could find out if my savings were safe. The dearth of information about that has not reassured me.

OK it's been a while since my last post in Feb. Thanks to Peter for his message of support. My response to Mr? O'Reilly is simply this.
Whether we like it or not things have to move forward, if they're not working and this forum clearly isn't fulfilling it's potential as a resource to Society members, then something needs to be done. I'm fully endorse the view that if it ain't broke don't fix it but I'm also a pragmatist and a realist; this forum and the website could be a much better resource for customers with not much in the way of change. What it needs is commitment from the Chair and Directors of this society to realise the potential and if they don't currently have the resources on the staff then when not get input from members. There's lots of knowledge & expertise out there amongst us so why not tap into it.
One final note to perhaps reassure O'Reilly of the intention behind my post in Feb. Its purpose was merely to provoke a reaction both at the Society and among members. I have a few suggestions that might help and I'm happy to offer them. I'm an ordinary computer user, not a system designer or any kind computer whizz kid. I just feel that if you're going to do something it might as well be the worthwhile and add value. If not, why bother.
I am disappointed that I have had absolutely no reponse from the Society so clearly there is no will to move things on.
A plea then to Messrs Ellis & Irwin if the Society has no interest in making the best use of the website and this forum then keep on doing exactly what you are doing. I will sign off for the very last time and you will hear nothing from me again. Goodbye & Good Luck.

I've just seen Graham Nichols' post of Feb this year (yes I'm an infrequent user). I agree with him that the discussion list should be opened up to the public in general.

I have never found this discussion list particularly user friendly either. I have used discussion lists before which are extremely straightforward, and for instance where the various postings on a particular topic are in date order.

Hope this is not seen just as a whinge, but I do strongly identify with what Graham has said.

I agree that it's disappointing that the Forum isn't more frequently used, but this seems to be the way with some Forums - for example CAT's is similar.
I disagree that the website needs a new look. On the whole I find the Ecology's website informative and well-organised. Frankly I get tired of organisations revamping their websites every few years just when I've understood how to find my way around them. The change often appears to be an ego-trip for some new Director or system designer. Of course that wouldn't apply to Graham Nichols... would it?

I see that since my last post in December 2006 ABSOLUTELY NOTHING has changed with this forum. If there is no will within EBS to promote it and get members using it, then the whole thing should be scrapped. At the very least this needs to be on the Agenda at this year's AGM.
A few questions need to be asked -
Who's idea was the forum in the first place and what was their vision for it?
Where was the follow through - who's responsible for it now?
What are they doing to make it a better resource for the Society? etc

If it was an informative, well used forum it could do much to attract new investors to EBS. It should be open to non members so potential new investors can see that being part of EBS is not only about cash in the bank but more about a holistic approach to sustainable living. By all means have a members only forum as well but quite frankly with the current take up from members, what's the point!

The whole website's a little bit uninspiring generally - let's get some new ideas, new features and maybe even a new look. At least canvass the members to find out what they want from the website - but don't do it via the forum, nobody uses it! Put something in the next Newsletter or send something out with members interest statements. You've just missed a perfect opportunity with the recent rate change notification.
For goodness sake - DO SOMETHING!

By the way - I'm not just having a winge here, I'll gladly come up to Silsden and sit down with you to help you come up with some ideas.

quote:

Originally posted by Graham Nichols:
There are simply not enough registered users to make the forums a valuable resource for users. EBS needs to do much, much more in the way of promotion of the forum to get people on to it sharing their experience and knowledge so that there are new contributions on a daily basis [...] Come on EBS let's get this forum off the ground!

I agree. I've just read the article about the 10,000 savings account milestone being reached. I also see that about 40 members are registered on this forum Much more needs to be done to promote this facility otherwise it may as well not exist.

There are simply not enough registered users to make the forums a valuable resource for users. EBS needs to do much, much more in the way of promotion of the forum to get people on to it sharing their experience and knowledge so that there are new contributions on a daily basis. There must be such a great wealth of knowledge out there amongst members and it would great if it could be shared around. I for one would like to hear from members who have installed solar panels, mini domestic wind turbines, etc to hear about pro and cons, pitfalls, recommended suppliers/fitters, etc. Come on EBS let's get this forum off the ground!