The New FishingMagic

[GrahamM]

Now's your chance to give us your feedback about FishingMagic - what you like and what you don't like.

And to tell us what you would like to see more of and less of when FM is built on a new platform. What works for you and what doesn't.

Think about the entire site - news, articles, reviews, gallery, forums, etc, etc - and let us know on this thread what improvements you would like to see.

Think about how you navigate the site, give us links to sites (not necessarily fishing sites) that you think are models of what you think are best.

All your opinions are valuable to us and now you have a chance to help change things for the better before the new site is designed and constructed.

Your views on the new FM onthis thread please.

Thanks for your help.

Theseare our sister sites Fish&Fly.comand Flyforums.co.uk

 

[Day Breamer]

I think this site is the best thing on the net and i spend hour upon hour browsing the forums/articles/reviews daily, its a second home, i love it.

If i could have just 2 wishes to add to the site they would be...

1. Small streaming video clips containing tips on various things from yourself and the many other great anglers here.

2. More tackle comparisons, like FM's opinion ontop 5 bite alarms to consider...that sort of thing... i read one such comparison regarding Barbel rods and it was a class read, really explained each rods good and bad points with pictures, i think we need more comparison articles like that.

Please keep up the good work, theres not enough words available to praise this place, ive never seen such enthusiasm in mass abundance as is present here.

Paul.

 

[Kevin Perkins]

A 'viewed' counter on articleswould help those paranoid writers amongst us who think that no one reads ourramblings......

 

[Fred Bonney]

Get rid of Bai............nah!( I had to put the i in just in case).

Oops too late/forum/smilies/big_smile_smiley.gif

I think this site has developed over the years to something that IS the best around.

We must find something to encourage the lurkers out though, and the completion of profiles.

Before somebody get's on their high horse, the completion of a profile, although some my think it's good to put false information on, is only to assist in helping to be more specific in location, and style of fishing. After all it's not asking for inside leg measurement, is it!

The abolition of pen names, may help in that respect.

 

[Fin the Fish]

I think Breamer's idea about streaming videos is spot on, this would really add a new dimension to the site and could be done without much hassle by hosting videos on a youtube channel and simply embedding the videos into FM the way many websites do.

Not only would you be able to have some nice guidance videos to accompany articles (which for some people that cant draw like myself im sure would be easier to create than a sketch for example /forum/smilies/tongue_out_smiley.gif), but you could also cover highlights from the fish ins etc which would be much viewed by regulars and hilarious im sure!

Also being able to upload larger pictures would be nice!

Other than that I have nothing much more to say, I'm a real newbie here but Ive got nothing but good words for what Ive seen of the site and community so far.

 

[Keith M]

<blockquote class=quoteheader>Fred Bonney wrote (see)</blockquote><blockquote class=quote>

The abolition of pen names, may help in that respect.
</blockquote>I personally don't see anything wrong with using pen names. Theres only so many times you can have the same names eg. theres always a chance that there is someone else on the forum with the same name so you would end up being called JohnSmith226 or something similarpeople would eventually still be non the wiser.You have the abilty to find out the persons real name from looking at his/her Details/profile so as long as the personfills inhis/her name on there you could find out what it is.
Denys Watkins-Pitchford wrote under the nom de plume of '"BB"', a name based on the size of lead shot he used to shoot geese. andI don't see anything wrong with that.

 

[Fred Bonney]

Ok, call yourself what you like on the forum, but fill in the profile.

 

[Deanos]

I can only echo Freds requests!

Make "Bait Box" the home page!

new feature no1. "Friday night with "Freds Barbel Bingo".

new feature no2. "Freds "Fat Wives Gallery".

And last but not least (AND your best choice if I may say so Fred!)

"Freds "Pick of the Pie Shops" in South Yorkshire!

And last...but not least...just for you Fred...

<u>TWO FAT LADIES! /forum/smilies/big_smile_smiley.gif</u>

 

[Keith M]

I also echo freds requests, maybe the user should be prevented from progressing with the forum Registration formwhile certain fields are still empty (eg. Location, Real Name etc).

I think the 'My Fishing Tackle'fields etc. shouldallow more than one item as most people use several different manufacturers etc. so it is not really accurate in its present form.

I think that the overall presentation of the site is the best I have seen.

The articles, Tackle reviews etc. are brilliant.

 

[Graham Whatmore]

I think it will be hard to improve the site as it isthough obviously there could be small additions but it certainly doesn't require anything major. The layout is good, the contents are better than any fishing site I have looked at and it is generally speaking a decent forum as well,like they say - if it ain't broke don't fix it!

 

[Richard Farrow]

Having looked at other sites, and that is far as I have gone, I think the biggest thing in FM's favour is the ease of navigation. I wouldn't be in any hurry to make any changes. The site has developed nicely over the nearly 7 years I have participated on it.

 

[trev (100M bronze)]

Why make changes at all. ?

 

[Mark Hewitt]

I'd like to see some kind of indication of who else is on line when you log in.

For example if you're reading though a post, and find a question or commentyou canreply to it would be helpful to know if that person is 'live', or for example, last logged in 'over six weeks ago'

 

[Colin North, the one and only]

I agree with Trev. It seems fine as it is. If anything were to change, it should be compulsory completion of personal profiles, before being allowed to post on the forum. People that don't want to complete their profile can still surf the site and read all the forums, but they won't be able to post on them.

The other thing that could be done would be to automatically engage the "mail me" option for anyone posting on the forums.

 

[Mark Hewitt]

Good idea Colin.

The site is fine as is, but some subtle improvements would be a good thing. Even better, is the message this thread sends, if it's come about because of our new ownership.

 

[Mr Cholmondeley-Corker (PaSC)]

The navigation is brilliant - especially since the new tweaks last year - don't change it.

I like the layout, it works for me.

I like Kev's idea of a view counter for articles etc.

Also, I think Wing Commander (Captain Trousers) Hewitt's idea of a 'who's online' indicator is great (like other social sites). Sometimes you wonder if you are talking to a blank wall.

I think it would be good to make it compulsary for readers to register to get beyond the home page. ie if someone stumbles upon the home page while browsing then let them see it (because this will create interest). However, if they click on an article, forum etc then they must register to read on. The exception is probably adverts - advertisers would like clicks no matter what.

I think it would be easier to submit articles via regular email (to editor@fishingmagic.com) instead of via the articles uploader thing, which has limitations. Similar for rigs etc.

Could the Review section be modified so that users can create products rather than waiting for FM to create them when they are not there?

I'll probably think of something else if I come across it, but to summarise DON'T CHANGE TOO MUCH - FM IS THE BEST ON THE WEB.

Matt

PS Ban Spiders from posting his useless advice.

 

[Mr Cholmondeley-Corker (PaSC)]

Ooo ooo

Bring back more competitions. I suppose the main issue here is sponsors for the prizes though.

I'm sure we could come up with new ideas for competitions between us. Why leave it all to the editor?

 

[Mark Hewitt]

(Captain Trousers)

??

 

[Mr Cholmondeley-Corker (PaSC)]

/forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif"AAAAghteeenshun!"

AND ANOTHER THING:

Bring back 2Bobs - I miss his lively debate.

 

[Deanos]

I do hope that GUDGEON fishing is not going to be ignored once again on the new site, perhaps a page just on this noble cousin of the MIGHTY MAHSEER would prove a great hit!