Talking Horses pending upgrades

MisterB

MisterB

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Hi all!

My apologies for not being more active here as an admin. I have been quite busy with a number of things over the past few months which unfortunately have not included Talking Horses. It's been nearly a year now since Colin has passed, and I feel that now more than ever it's important to honour his memory by getting this website and forum up to date with upgraded software.

Dave and I (webzcas) are planning to upgrade the forum in the next few days to a more modern version of vBulletin or possibly Xenforo. (Xenforo is what we use now at Casinomeister btw. From 2003 - 2017 we used vBulletin). For some of you oldtimers, it may take some getting used to. But we did this switch at CM in 2017 without much of a hassle - and the oldtimers didn't bail on us :p

Also, I will be looking for some assistance here from those of you who are quite boned up on horse racing. The only thing I know is that there is some betting involved with large animals who run really fast lol. So I might be looking for volunteers who would like to perhaps contribute some well written content for the rest of the site. That bridge we'll cross when we get there. :)

Once this has been accomplished (getting upgraded forum up and running) I think you wil lbe quite pleased with a site that is not only phone friendly, but will be getting a lot of new members since it'll have much more success in the SERPs. This is one of the the main goals. :)

If anyone has any questions or suggestions, please post them here in this thread. :)

Cheers!

Bryan
 
Looking at our software options, we will probably go with Xenforo - which is used at the Casinomeister site amongst others. still deciding. The blogs will have to be moved to the Word Press pages if that is the case. Still checking on this.
 
So the decision has been made, and we will be upgrading to Xenforo sometime this next week. That and revamping this site. This is already an awesome forum with a good amount of traffic, and with the proper amount of TLC, we can make this one THE best horse racing in the UK.
 
bbailey said:
So the decision has been made, and we will be upgrading to Xenforo sometime this next week. That and revamping this site. This is already an awesome forum with a good amount of traffic, and with the proper amount of TLC, we can make this one THE best horse racing in the UK.
Click to expand...


And Ireland :cool:
 
Wow, just visited that site listed for sale in the GPWA. It was like going in a time machine back to 1998!!

BTW I am working on backend of TH this morning, so if you notice a slow down, it is my fault! Hopefully won't be too long
 
webzcas said:
Wow, just visited that site listed for sale in the GPWA. It was like going in a time machine back to 1998!!
Click to expand...

Yeah, it looks hugely dated, Dave. You don't see too many like that any more! The OP there (Pendil) hasn't even set up https yet.....but it's still ranking top 10 (and some top 5's) for some reasonable (horse racing-related) search volume terms. The age will be helping a bit...but it's odd how old html/php pages still rank on various sites even when they clearly would appear to have a fight on their hands against the quality of other pages around them.


If anyone buys it, they'll get little to no juice from the domain/site itself, so it'll take some effort to build it up. The content, in general, is passably OK from a value perspective. Factually correct (well, the two or three pages I looked at), which does arguably offer some beginner-level value, but the overall scope and presentation are crying out for some pretty wild improvement/enhancement.


I guess it might suit someone who wants some ready-made content, is prepared to then rewrite/expand/enhance what's there significantly, perhaps change the structure and focus appropriately, and relishes the challenge of subsequently taking on some pretty heavy-weight competitors for the keywords (although even now for terms like 'today's TV racing' it's outranking sites like the RacingPost, SportingLife, Sky etc etc. Their SEO guys - assuming they have any - must be wondering how that's happening!!)
 
I think and I am hopeful you all will be pleasantly surprised with what Bryan and I have been working on in the background ;-)
 
Really interested to see what you have in mind, Dave. And plans for additional stuff/features etc will be just as interesting, too, I suspect.
 
Just to give you a teaser - we are reskinning the site to give it more eye appeal. Even with a new logo:

Screenshot 2023-03-24 100248.png

But before we flip the switch, I am going to need to organise the forum catagories here first to make the import much less painful.

We also need a solution for the Blogs since they just turn into separate threads. So I am still working on that.

The bottom line is I think you will enjoy the forum a bit more since the Xenforo version is supported and mobile friendly while the old vBulletin software is not.

I will also be looking for moderators to assist. Having Xenforo experience isn't necessary, but it would help :)
 
There are a few well-respected members here that use the blog feature regularly enough, so obviously will be good to maintain that capability for them (and their readers, plus those that comment on them). And, no doubt, that's precisely why you're seeking the solution, Bryan.

I have a fair bit of experience on static sites (WP pages/posts) but not forum software (but I'd expect current knowledge to be enough to handle it effectively with some education).

So, if it turns out there isn't an easy answer to maintaining them in the way they work now, I'd be happy to be a sort of 'blog coordinator' where, for example, 'bloggers' could send their work to me, I'd publish on some form of static page/post (maybe named under their user name??)...it would have a comments section for those that would want to comment.

Not ideal, I know, and it would have to be something that's pretty easy to do to avoid the timing (and associated time-sensitive) issues around it. Needs more thought around whether that's even practical, but something like that might be a solution if you don't find any other way (and, of course, if that alternative solution would be acceptable to the bloggers).

Keep it in your back pocket, Bryan/Dave.
 
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I'd be genuinely interested in understanding why some folk prefer a blog over a normal post? Interested because I can't see any additional benefit to it (and not having a go, just in case anyone thinks that!)
 
Dunno, really. Mainly because I do tend to run off at the mouth and can cover several thread topics in one, so don’t want to litter threads. Wouldn’t be fussed if they went.
 
I guess for me it's the value of having a blog without having to pay for the upkeep of a blog.

It was also useful when I applied for a job with the press association as something to refer them onto in terms of trying to show my passion for the sport, etc.

If it's easier for admin to run the site without the blog feature then that's their decision I guess.
 
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When vBulletin launched their version 4.x , one of their selling points was that you could give users the permissions to have their own blogs within the forum. We did this at Casinomeister allowing senior members and igaming representatives to have their own blogs. We encouraged iGaming representatives to engage the membership with interesting tidbits that were blog worthy about their establishments. Some actually did this.

The rest of the membership blogged about whatever - travel, their pets, kids, movies etc. Personally I think it's a great idea for outlets that are off topic from the website theme/mission.

Unfortunately things changed over the years - gone were the casino operators - replaced by marketing folks who didn't have much to do with anything casino oriented.

When we switched to Xenforo a few years ago, we lost the blogs. There wasn't an importer for that. :(

But here I might have a solution, I just haven't figured it out yet :)
 
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Just to chime in - we will probably doing this upgrade in the next week or so. It's taking some time since I have been quite busy, and now I am flying to the States tomorrow. I am hoping we can get this going sometime next week.

In the meantime, I wil lbe restructuring the forum a bit to make the forum sections a bit more user and SEO friendly. We need to do this before the switch to Xenforo so that the migration is easy. :D
 
If it helps with scheduling, I've heard a lot of members say that the best time to do this is at the start of the Guineas meeting at Newmarket. :thumbsup:

:ninja:

:lol:
 
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