Team Meeting? + a slight concern... :)

Site Discussion Team Discussion
1

Hey guys,

I hope I don’t offend anyone with this thread, but, I was basically wondering whether anyone else agrees with me that it might be a good idea to try and arrange a Team Meeting for sometime soon? :slight_smile: Believe it or not (and it’s as much a shock to me as anybody!), it’s been almost 6 months since the last one took place (end of January), and if I’m honest I’m beginning to think that we might benefit from one… :slight_smile:

The reason why I say this is because, well, lately the only project we seem motivated on as a team and that seems to be making any headway is ThunderCast - which would appear to be a roaring success! On the flipside of that, this may just be the way I see things, but I feel that TCL itself is falling behind a bit. Now, I’m categorically not pointing fingers with that - in fact, I actually take a good 90% of the blame myself, as the biggest areas of the site that need completing are areas that I’m in charge or at least co-charge of. And, with the crazy year I’ve had, half the time I just haven’t been able to face sitting down and struggling with HTML all day!

There have been lots of excellent points and suggestions raised dotted over various threads on these Boards, and why I think a Team Meeting would be good is because we could use that as a means of tying together all these thoughts into a plan of action - plus, I think some goal-setting and even (much as I hate to say it) deadline-setting could be good! :slight_smile:

To this end, my proposal would be a Team Meeting to discuss the following issues:

  • Goal-setting - What’s ready to be added to the site, what we’d like to be part of the next update, when it’s going to be and who’s going to be doing it

  • Team roles - To be honest this probably doesn’t need much talking about as I don’t think there’s any real need for change, the only issue is MannyC recently mentioned some kind of shake-up re: Moderatorss on these Boards and I think these might be good ideas to hear in detail

  • Google rankings and other TCL promotion - There’s been a lot of talk about promoting TCL and how we can increase the site’s Google ranking, and I also know that Mark has a lot of ideas worth discussing on this point. If we could come up with a plan of action in that regard, that would be great!

…These are the only things I can think of at the moment, but as you guys can see they’re far-reaching in scope! I think it would be great to have a focussed environment and a dedicated timeslot to talk about these things, so I hope nobody minds my call for a Team Meeting! :slight_smile:

I’d also add that I’ve no ideas as to what times and dates would be good - is anybody (perhaps Neil, who seems good at this stuff!) able to suggest some?

One final, slightly off-topic, note, and on this one I know I’m likely to cause offence, for which I apologise unreservedly because I promise that none is meant - but, with regards to this thread:

http://www.thundercatslair.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2110

…I can’t help wondering, should we as TCL Team Members really be talking openly about our use of torrents and such? I know that they don’t have to be used for license-breaching purposes, but most of the folks I know who use them use them either to download expensive software or download movies/TV episode/etc. Heck, if I could figure how to use them I’d probably use them myself, LOL! :wink: But, given that we want to make a good impression on WB with this site, should we really be talking about them publicly?

I’ll admit I’m very nervous about mentioning this because I’m anxious not to upset MannyC, who I value greatly as a friend - but, I didn’t feel I could hold off mentioning it. Again, I very much hope I haven’t caused any offence. :frowning:

Take care, and thanks for listening! :slight_smile:

2

No offense taken Chris. I actually thought about that thread and that is why i placed it in the Void so it is not fully visible by the general forum. I would welcome any points as to not discuss this even in the Void. It was only placed as a discussiion starter but if it is not of benefit then it could be taken down :slight_smile:

As far as a Team Meeting goes im open to any times within the next 3 weeks. I just had surgery and so i am confined to being home. There’s not much of updates that will come from my side of things except the addition of the Glasslite dealer catalogs. Unfortunately I wont be of much help for the upcoming weeks due to me being on painkillers and unable to concentrate much. However once im thru with recovering i should be back on track

3

Ok guys I am with Chris On this one, I think it is time for One Of Our legendary team meetings.. As Chris mentions I think it is important to find out where everybody is at and what they plan to do for a future update and when we think this update should be.. Just so that everybody is aware I am currently working on the encyclopedia illustrations with my new piece of kit.. ( will explain at a later date ).. My times of avaliability are different at the moment depending on the day.. so if people would like to choose a day and time we can begin negotiations.

With regards to the torrents discussion, I am undecided Whether it is Ok Or not.. I think we should discuss this at the meeting and see what every body thinks..

Bring it On

4

I personally don’t share the concern about discussing torrent downloads, so long as we’re not encouraging people to do so… I think we’d be over censoring discussion if we start shutting down those kinds of threads.

I’m in for a team meeting though I prefer that we do it on a weekend afternoon (Sundays are best for me). Anytime from 1PM - 6PM Eastern Standard Time is ideal.

Could I propose that we start a thread where we can “pre-discuss” some of the items that will be on the meeting agenda? I find that it takes WAY too long to get through discussions while we’re live and am suggesting that we put our cards on the table at a high level about the main agenda items so that we can each read up on that before the meeting kicks off. That way I expect we can get to decision / consensus sooner.

Also, perhaps somebody could refer us to the threads where some of the discussion has already happened so we can get the background / context of how the items came up?

Thanks,
Mark

5

Oh goodie, my first team meeting :slight_smile:

I started working part time, so the weekends are best for me at the moment - what Mark suggested for a day and time works for me, too.

newbie question: what do you use to have the discussions on…Skype?

6

Yeah we have them on Skype, but don’t worry if you don’t have an headset as they are done by text chat (we find it’s easier that way for everyone to get their points across and we also have a text record of what was said incase we need to make some ‘Meeting minutes’

As for the time, sunday is also best for me and that time Mark suggested is also good for me too!

1pm - 6pm ET time
6pm - 11pm UK time
10am - 3pm PT time

Personally, I’d prefer to begin at 6pm UK time (earliest time Mark suggested) as I’m sat at the computer every sunday at that time listening to the radio :slight_smile:

Re: the torrent thread, I share Chris concerns and to be honest find the thread inconsequential. My main concern is the posting of the names and urls of these torrent sites that may potentially contain downloads for Thundercats episodes. Now if the thread was say a poll thread asking if folks use torrent sites and to a an extent what they use them for that’s fine. It’s just general consensus and opinion.

However links and naming of these sites on the forum can be seen as endorsing them to some people so that’s where you have to be careful. I think it’s a very borderline subject so I can definately see the arguments for and against it for sure.

But usually I like to play safe so that’s why I lean towards it being a bad thing. Maybe we could reach a compromise and slightly edit the thread a bit?

and finally, I can tell you that Warner Bros (well UK at least) do visit this site! That is a FACT!

Simple reason being they have used some of mine and Chris information concerning the episode The Transfer not being broadcast in the UK and the fact that the S1V2 DVD’s will be the first time a UK audience has gotten to see it! We came up with the observation that it was due to Panthro nunchuk scenes in this episode and it seems Warner agree with us!

To quote the description on the HMV site found here:

http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;-1;-1;-1&sku=657872

The fantastic six-disc box contains 33 episodes including ‘The Transfer’ an exclusive episode which has never been seen in the UK due to the Panthro nunchukus action scenes.

Ignore the ‘33 episodes’ part as that is a mistake as it’s actually 32 episodes.

7

I dont know but I highly doubt WB reads any threads that are posted on The Great Void as it is only visible to approved members. As far as being a public topic I would say a resounding NO but being that its a private topic in which only certain individuals can partake in then there really is not much harm being done.

8

Chris here…

First of all, can I say I’m glad (or should I say “greatly relieved”, LOL!) I didn’t offend you, Manny my friend, with my comments - that’s the last thing I would want to do! :slight_smile:

In terms of the argument for or against the thread and the topic, Neil’s thoughts mirror my own almost perfectly - I can definitely understand your point, Mark, about over-censorship, and God knows the last thing I want is for us to get like Val Staples over at He-Man.Org where there’s practically a rule on which forums you are and aren’t allowed to breathe whilst posting on, LOL! :wink:

At the same time, I think Neil is correct when he identifies that the problem is not the discussion of whether or not folks use torrents (because, let’s face it, at some point in our lives we’ve all done something that breaches copyright - I’ve got over a couple of hundred CDs that are actually CD-R bootleg copies for example!), but the fact that we are kind-of endorsing them by freely swapping notes about which ones we use, etc. Bear in mind that, as well as ThunderCats, WB have their fingers in some pretty big pies, including some highly lucrative movies, all of which I guarantee you will be able to be downloaded via torrents shortly after their release. You’ve quite rightly spoken, Mark, about this site developing its ties with WB, and if we are going to go down that route then a regretful side effect of that is that, at least IMO, we do have to be careful about what we personally (“we” as in “the team responsible for this site”) post up on the Boards - hence, we don’t have full episode downloads available on this site, ditto I think that we should have a rule preventing posters on these Boards from linking to the many dozens of full ThunderCats episodes that are available to view on YouTube. Anyways, I’m rambling now, LOL! :wink:

At the end of the day I don’t think it’s a major issue at all, it was just something that I felt ought to be raised and discussed - again, can I say I’m really glad that I didn’t offend you, MannyC! :slight_smile:

Hey MannyC, I hope the surgery went OK for you - my bad, I should have e-mailed or PMed you to ask how it had gone! :frowning: Like I say, I hope it went OK.

All of that sounds fine to me, and I believe Kyle has already opened up a thread as per your suggestion, Mark - I’ll post the info requested in there! :slight_smile:

Unfortunately, although I might be able to make a meeting this Sunday evening I’m 99.9% certain that I won’t be about that early in the evening, as I’m going to a musical garden party that’s not likely to finish until a bit later on (maybe about 8pm - 9pm type time). I would say that when I get back I will be absolutely knackered, but if you guys wanted to schedule a meeting for then I will happily log on and participate to the best of my remaining ability, LOL! :slight_smile:

If we’re talking this week, looking in my diary without question the best day for me would be this Saturday (7th July), as at the moment I have nothing on that day whatsoever. However, as I say I can probably do the Sunday, but it’s highly unlikely I’d be at home at 6pm. :frowning:

Take care… :slight_smile:

9

If I’m honest it would have been more offensive not to raise your concerns Chris and perhaps a bit insulting towards MannyC at the same time. So you definately did the right thing bringing it up for sure! :slight_smile:

You have to stop walking around on egg shells! :wink: I’d love to see/hear you get mad at someone and yell at them. Reason being, I just can’t imagine you ever doing it! lol

[QUOTE=He-Fan]
Unfortunately, although I might be able to make a meeting this Sunday evening I’m 99.9% certain that I won’t be about that early in the evening, as I’m going to a musical garden party that’s not likely to finish until a bit later on (maybe about 8pm - 9pm type time). I would say that when I get back I will be absolutely knackered, but if you guys wanted to schedule a meeting for then I will happily log on and participate to the best of my remaining ability, LOL! :slight_smile:
[/QUOTE]

I’m easy sunday. I’ll be online on and off probably from around 3pm when I get up! lol

So I can be around from 6pm until about 1.30am no problem. Hopefully that works for you Chris and anyone else who might stuggle to attend from 6pm :slight_smile:

10

Unless its disrespectful I doubt I will ever be overly upset about something. I’m a straightforward person and in turn I expect the same from others even if it means i may not like what i hear but ultimately being truthful and straight towards people is something i admire and like. Everybody’s entitled to their views and Im always interested to hear the other side of the coin. Plus I like reading long posts :slight_smile:

11

Chris here…

Believe it or not, Neil, it has actually been known to happen, although it’s rare! I generally need to be provoked, and the beauty of posting on an Internet message board is that I can actually physically walk away from something and come back to it - whilst there’s a certain ThunderCats artist who would probably tell you I’m a complete arsehole, generally speaking I try and think before I hit “Submit Reply”! :wink: Nonetheless, believe it or not I am very firey and hot-tempered and am generally regarded by my family as someone who burns on a short fuse - I just tend to be terrified of conflict, which makes me feel ill. I am truly the human contradiction! :smiley:

Yep, that sounds good to me - a good time for me would probably be about 10:00pm UK time, as I would almost certainly be home by then. Plus, if I’m tired it would mean that the meeting should be over by 1:00am at the absolute latest, after which I can slope off to bed, LOL! How does that sound to you guys? :slight_smile:

LOL, in that case, having Angie and myself on the team must be a dream come true for you, Manny! :smiley: Again, I’m glad I didn’t offend you with my comments. :slight_smile:

Take care… :slight_smile:

12

Did someone mention long posts? :evil:

I’ll try to keep this one short.

Sunday still looks good for me, although hubby dropped an inpromptu mini-vacation on me for the weekend, but from the looks of it we’re only going to be gone for the day on Saturday. I should still be able to make a Sunday afternoon chat.

The team here at TCL.org seems mature enough to handle reasoned discussion on a variety of topics, so I’m not sure why Chris is so ultra-careful either. I mean, nobody likes conflict especially amongst friends, but from what I’ve seen he’s always been polite and considerate. I’d say, anyone taking offense to his posts is the one that has the issue of the day :lol:

At any rate, looking forward to chatting with the team in real time.

13

I dont know if I’ll be able to make it. I have to ref a soccer game that I have to be at around 6 and its 1/2 hour away. If we shoot for the earlier time i can come and leave early. So are we starting around 1 et

14

I can do Sunday at or before 3PM (PST)…which means that would be 11PM UK and 6PM EST…if I read correctly :wink:

I’ll only have 2 hours if we start at 3PM though so hopefully we can get through the important stuff…If I had it my way, I would stay longer, but Chris and Neil know where I have to go (they successfully bribed me out of going last time!).

As for topics that I want to discuss…everything seems to be listed already. There are some minor questions I have, but other than that, I don’t have anything else to bring up…unless I think of something between now and Sunday.

15

Chris here…

Seems like Sunday is the best day for everyone, as it’s the day when most if not all of us are around at some point, LOL! :wink: So, can we pin down a concrete time for this? As I say, I probably won’t be able to be there much before 10:00pm UK time, but obviously if you guys want to start without me that’s cool - maybe now would be a good time to pin down a concrete time…? :slight_smile:

Take care… :slight_smile:

16

10pm UK is fine for me… even if its from an Apple store..(gotta love night shifts) :slight_smile:

17

I think that works out to 5pm Eastern time for me, which is fine. I think He-Fan and MannyC already have me friended on skype, but for everyone else, I’m purrsiakat on there. Friend at will.

18

Chris here…

I do indeed have you as a friend on Skype, although somehow we never seem to run into each other! :smiley: It’ll be good to chat in “real time”! :slight_smile:

Looks like 10:00pm UK time will work well, as Kyle, Angie, myself and (based on his comments earlier in this thread) Neil all seem able to do it, with MannyF joining us a bit later! :slight_smile:

Sounds as though the timing will be a bit rough for Matt though! :frowning: How’s about the rest of you guys (Mark, Martin, MannyC), how do the times mentioned above work for you? :slight_smile:

Take care… :slight_smile:

19

I’ll be there!

Angie, I resent a request to share contact details on Skype. I already had you added to my Skype contacts, but not sure if you added me or not?

20

I do indeed have you as a friend on Skype, although somehow we never seem to run into each other! It’ll be good to chat in “real time”!

Heh heh, that’s because I usually run Trillian if I run a chat program, which runs MSN, yahoo messenger and AIM at the same time. But even then, I don’t log on that terribly much. I get sidetracked bad enough by message boards - if I started chatting regularly too I’d really never get anything else done :wink:

Skype, I rarely put on until recently when I bought credit so I can make calls. Since the move, we can’t find decent land line service out this way that doesn’t cost a mint, so skype it is. If I’m logged in, I’m usually on the phone, lately. However, on Sunday I’ll be logged in to chat with all of you. Looking forward to it :slight_smile:

Neil, sorry. I must not have gotten the first request. Saw the new one pop up today and accepted it though, so now I see you on my list of contacts as well. Thanks!