I have learned to detest Chatrooms. Every one I have been to (rugby league and astronomy) has had about 20 to 200 people in there chatting about irrelevant dribble to what the room is dedicated to. (a bit like a conversation between me, tony and david) and the conversation pace is hard to keep up with, Conversations overlapping etc. If a chatroom could be made where MEMBERS ONLY could get access then that would be brilliant. (and as long as it doesn't stop us talking in the threads)
Last edited by ballaratdragons; 01-04-2005 at 06:06 PM.
Rowena,
You can have group conversations without going to any chat rooms simply by inviting a person from your contacts list. (Go to menu....Actions then select Invite someone into this conversation) Easy..... Actually I don't use MSN messenger; its too cluttered, I just use windows messenger, the facilities are the same just no kids stuff.
Last edited by acropolite; 01-04-2005 at 07:43 PM.
Originally posted by rowena 1. type faster. i have gone from 32wpm to around 65 wpm
2. read faster.. and ignore the dribble
your right it can get very confusing with multiple people talking... but it takes a bit of practice and patience to perfect it!
Each time I go into these rooms, not one person NOT ONE! was talking about the room subject! I attempt to start conversations on topic and get told to #@*# off! Why learn to type and read faster? So I can talk faster about cats, drugs, cars, and who is doing who - in an astronomy chat room?
If there are proper astronomy chat rooms out there, I never found them!
If a chat room was started in here it would have to be members only or the same thing will happen.
And who is ballet?
Last edited by ballaratdragons; 02-04-2005 at 01:00 AM.
The trouble with chat rooms, is that it degrades to either people talking about anything but astronomy, in this case.
Or, you'll have people logged in for days and every now and then they might say something useful, but usually not.
From an IceInSpace point-of-view, it doesn't really add to the information database. Once you say something in the chat room, it's gone. People wanting an answer to a question can't search the chat room from three years ago - they'll find it on the forums or the website.
So if someone wants to start a chat room, knock yourself out, but it wont be endorsed.
Enough already with the chat room idea. Think harder people! What do YOU want to make your astronomy life easier or better or more interesting...
I agree with placing the site address on Bintel newsletter.
Also, I would like to see the site receive a 'Griffith Observatory Award' (I think that's what it's called). How does one go about nominating the site for it?
To get back on track,(away from chatrooms) the IIS homepage needs to be more interactive and have up to date content to attract people there.
The list Mike provided at the start of the thread is exactly what is needed.
My opinion........A 'what's to view' section would be at the top of the list,maybe monthly, with a special events for the week. Add a new forum for people to discuss that section. How many people checked out trapezium after Vin666 made that post. Or jupiter after Aus' post. You can have a nights viewing then discuss with others the same. Consideration would be needed for all sizes of equipment. (eyes, binos or big eyed newts).
There's a lot of knowledgeable people on this site surely someone could address this.
There's a lot of buried information in the threads that could be condensed for howto's and reviews. Example.. EP case. Good thread for making your own ep case and storage of ep's. Full of tips. Everyone with a scope has ep's that need maintaining.
Ving made a good point of having more material available onsite.
Having that information 1 click away would be easier than scrounging through folders for a link or going hunting offsite.
As for reviews.
An unbiassed 'shootout' would give more credence to an equipments worth.
There's a lot of friendly banter over eps, so come on guys , line them up
We've been deprived of a online resource centre for Australasian amateur astronomers for so long. A few people have laid the foundations for something long needed here. Mike & Mojo are looking for some direction to improve this site for our benefit.
Have your say and throw some ideas/thoughts/opinions at them.
Help the site advance.
ballarat ... hrm ok... i didn't mention my accuracy had improved! lol..
sorry for the mistyping there
I'll blame the keyboard.. yeah.. it was the keyboard!
as for more idea's.....
I think a What's happening, as to astronomical events would be very beneficial.
another idea maybe a "checklist" of objects to check out (include a pic (which is what it would look like through the scope type) and description of the object) and do a seperate checklist for binoculars, smaller scopes, and larger scopes. I think a lot of people get disheartend looking through a smaller scope trying to find something that they cant see, or not recognise from photos which were taken from larger scopes. '
Wow this going to be a kick a.. web site if all these ideas get put into play.
I like the idea of the Members ONLY chat room, however someon would have to be able to post any "revelations" bought up in the room (ROOM not rooms) to a ....chat forum revelation.... section.
Quote:
I think a What's happening, as to astronomical events would be very beneficial.
another idea maybe a "checklist" of objects to check out (include a pic (which is what it would look like through the scope type) and description of the object)
on some sort of printer friendly page so it can be printed and bought to OUR STAR NIGHTS... that sounds good
I like the idea of having a section for Hardware. itemised for each type of scope/EP/????kit???
Members only section for MSN,ICQ whatever..... would like to be able to ask people then and there, how when and what the ____ was that.
HEY big thought how bout contacting the big mobs (andrews bintel maybe suppliers direct) and organising some sort of ...whats the word for it..... advertising/sponsorship/review thing.
Maybe make an item cheaper for purchase as a "door prize" for larger star events????? (member only draw)
i know i have repeated quite a bit of stuff already stated but i had to say something i was feeling left out !
Site is cool!! --- best of its kind this side of the planet. So my suggestion is to just keep it running and let members know if there are any difficulties with doing so.
A view of DSO's through the EP's of a cheapie Supermarket scope for a begginner would look something like these below.
Aren't they exciting!! Photos like these placed on the site might prevent some from buying Supermarket Junk and many ebay rip-offs. Then follow it up with good photos through the EP's of some better non-rip-off scopes.
We may just save some from hating this hobby!
Last edited by ballaratdragons; 04-04-2005 at 12:21 AM.
Regarding chat room, mojo echo'd my thoughts.. It was discussed quite a while ago in this thread, but at the time the decision was the same as now - while it's fine in theory, it's more of a "general chat" chat room where people could get to know each other, but from the IceInSpace side, any astronomy-related discussions are gone as soon as they leave the page. So I won't be creating one and/or linking it to IceInSpace.
SliceOfHeaven, amen brother that's the sort of feedback we're after. Thanks!
Quote:
A 'what's to view' section would be at the top of the list,maybe monthly, with a special events for the week. Add a new forum for people to discuss that section. How many people checked out trapezium after Vin666 made that post. Or jupiter after Aus' post.
Very true. I'll start working on a template for "what's to view this week/month" and try and rope in some volunteers to help in gathering the information.
Quote:
There's a lot of buried information in the threads that could be condensed for howto's and reviews. Example.. EP case. Good thread for making your own ep case and storage of ep's. Full of tips. Everyone with a scope has ep's that need maintaining
Good point. The How-To section on the website is designed for exactly that, smaller how-to guides that can either be written by someone or from a number of sources/threads and combined into a handy guide that can go on the site. Again though, I'm going to need help from you guys.
Hopefully Starkler will get some time to finish the GS Dob FAQ soon because that will be a great allround guide for dob owners.
Quote:
another idea maybe a "checklist" of objects to check out (include a pic (which is what it would look like through the scope type) and description of the object) and do a seperate checklist for binoculars, smaller scopes, and larger scopes. I think a lot of people get disheartend looking through a smaller scope trying to find something that they cant see, or not recognise from photos which were taken from larger scopes
Getting the pics will be difficult.. I might search around and see if there's something already available.. but a description would be good. And yes it can be confusing for newcomers who see full colour pics of a nebula or galaxy and then see it through their eyepiece and it's a small grey fuzzy blob.
Quote:
HEY big thought how bout contacting the big mobs (andrews bintel maybe suppliers direct) and organising some sort of ...whats the word for it..... advertising/sponsorship/review thing.
Maybe make an item cheaper for purchase as a "door prize" for larger star events????? (member only draw)
hmm not a bad idea for star parties.. i'll look into it for the May 7 star party.
Keep the momentum guys and gals.. what else would you like to see?
Also what about the forums? Is the current category/sub-forums structure to your liking? Are there any other categories/sub-forums that you think could be created?
We just have to be careful about creating too many small specialist forums if there's not going to be many posts in it, so there would have to be enough interest in it to keep it going.
I like the idea of a "What's good this month" section with some advice on what can be seen with different apertures. Some of this data is available on the web and in books. Another way to gather this data is to set certain test objects for the month, "Challenge Objects" if you like, that the keen people can go out and observe and then report back on in some detail. Better than a photo (which could be miss-leading and hard to match to the eyepice view) would be sketches of the objects noting the aperture and magnification used for the sketch and possibly the sky conditions (seeing, LVM, etc if appropriate). You don't have to be an artist to do this - its just dots and smudges. This sort of activity will hone our observing skills. The Challenge objects (I'm thinking of 3 to 5 objects here for the month) could also be the target for astrophotographers as well and results could be compared and questions could revolve around the differeing techniques and what works best. The 3 to 5 objects would have to be judiciously chosen to allow everyone to participate - for example at least 1 object taylored to (but not limited to) binocular views.
I don't see this as a specialised forum either, rather a thread in the "Space and Astronomy Talk" forum each month that lists the targets, gives some advice and then the replies can be observations and discussions targeted at the listed objects.
....and hey, if its not your cup of tea - don't worry...its not compulsary.
These are just some quick thoughts, though if you want I could put some more thought into this with a view of giving it a test run.
Last edited by astro_south; 04-04-2005 at 11:59 PM.
I like the Challenge Objects idea,it sounds like a really good way for new staters (and old starters )to widen their horizons and learn to find their way around the sky. Good idea Andrew
What a great idea Andrew, I love it. Would you be interested in helping to organise it and help choose the objects?
Are there any other experienced observers willing to put their hand up and participate in the organisation of this each month? I think a group of 2-3 people could bounce ideas off each other and come up with the list each month, broken down into telescope targets and binocular targets. There might need to be a 12+ inch aperture target list, as well as a 6-12inch aperture target, for those without the large scopes.
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