iSoaker.net :: Soaking the world!

"The only thing constant is change, itself."

With the hopeful revitalization of WaterWarfare.com and the re-development of a new hub for online water blaster and water warfare discussions, iSoaker.net, too, will undergo some transformations to better work alongside a central community hub. Fact is, my own free time is getting less and less and my ability to run the forums they way I prefer to may soon not be so feasible. As well, since the overall present size of the online water warfare community is not particularly large, needs of the online membership are likely better served by having a single, multi-faceted forum.

For now, iSoaker.net will function normally, though I'm debating about creating some of the eventual new sub-forums. "Hold on, I thought you wanted to scale back things," you may be thinking. My plan entails the following: the majority of the existing forums will be placed into "Archive"-mode, meaning they will be read-only with no replying permitted. However, iSoaker.net will still be up and accessible and I have plans for iSoaker.com-specific forum(s) only. These forum(s) would be "reply-only" so typical members would not be able to create new threads. Threads would primarily revolve solely around iSoaker.com-specific developments. iSoaker.net is also being kept running just in case the new community hub ends up having server problems, thus news and info regarding server trouble-shooting can be relayed through this site.

The bulk of water blaster and water warfare discussions would be pushed to the overall community forum. That way, there would be no need for having to check multiple boards regarding most common discussions as well as no need to create parallel postings. As well, hopefully the combined discussions as members join will spark even more threads and activity.

My current timeline is to run iSoaker.net as is for now, but when "off-season" starts, the main transformation to a refocussed iSoaker.net will begin. Old and new members will be encouraged to join the WaterWarfare.com Forums and, as that place takes shape, will hopefully find it to be an even better resource than this place alone is. Overall, I hope for an even stronger online water warfare community through the changes planned and am eagerly looking forward to seeing what the future shall bring!

Any other questions, concerns, and/or comments, feel free to post 'em below.

As always, soak on!



Sidenote: I only have plans for scaling back and reducing functionality here at iSoaker.net (though actually ending up just tying it even closer knit with iSoaker.com). iSoaker.com, itself, will continue to be developed as much as I can, as always.

If the communities don't merge into WWc, iSn may be best kept as is, but it seems that Ben has a similar plan with SSC as you do here. In the event that communities don't merge into WWc, perhaps both forums (iSn and SSC) can be scaled down so iSn more strictly accomodates to stock and warfare, and SSC to tech (just for example), otherwise all discussions would have to move to WWc. However, WWc is not currently setup to accept tech discussions. It is also lacking many subforums, such as teams, tactics, and war reports for the water warfare section, so that'll have to change in time.

Well, I didn't want to bring this up so soon, but if WWc doesn't end up panning out as planned, I still intend on scaling back iSoaker.net and designating SSC as the main central community. SSC has come a long way since its early days and I have no reservations about also giving it the thumbs up as a becoming *the* main community forum, particularly since it is managed by a number of Admins and has been stable for a long time now. There are only two reasons I would leave iSoaker.net fully running: either if SSC and WWc were all shutting down and there were no other individuals willing to keep a water warfare community running or if the online water warfare community grew so large (I'm talking >10000 active members) that a single community forum could no longer contain all the discussions going on.

My intent and desire to scale back/convert iSoaker.net stems both from my desire to see a united online water warfare community and the fact that I foresee my own time availability becoming less in the future.

Yeah, it does seem that most iSn members who used to only be here have also started over at SSC. I followed this pattern in 2006 as well, finding iSc (before iSn was started) first because of all the stock blaster documentation. (then needing SSC when I had to deal with my first repair, a broken 2100)

So with that said, a migration to WWc would be ideal. I posted a suggestion at SSC to how the forums could be setup (since currently they cannot accomodate all discussion) to cover as much topics as possible. However, since it doesn't see like you have administration at WWc (nor would be interested), I'll leave it there. Basically, I suggested dividing those forums to warfare, stock, tech/DIY (DIY to include stuff like fear's tank, equipment, etc.), and misc. sections.

Good plan.

For those who don't know, here is the WWc development thread at SSC.

Of course, now that WWc is open again for posting and has undergone its first re-organization in awhile, perhaps WWc's own forums should be used for its own development?

While I'll wait until the start of "off-season" to do some of the larger changes, as I want to make the most use of what free time I do find, I'll be making some change/re-arrangements sooner rather than later. Of course, once WWc is sorted out, I would feel more comfortable putting more planned changes in place.

While working on aspects of the upcoming iSoaker.net conversion, I stumbled across a number of errors on iSoaker.com as well. Some products, while existing in the database, were not being displayed by the query pages. Things appear to be fixed now, but am keeping my eye out for other missing items.

In terms of conversion plans, all appears to be moving in the right direction in terms of what I plan to do here. The newly created "iSoaker.net Forums .:" category will be the one that contains the forums that will still be active after the conversion. The remainder of the forums will be pushed into the "Archive" for reference, but otherwise locked. Once archived, forums/threads that are only accessible to registered members shall remain so while forums that are publically viewable will remain publically viewable.

A few more tweaks made; more-or-less ready for converting the forums when "off-season" starts, just needing to Archive particular forums and threads.

Based on a number of factors, I'm pushing up the conversion of iSoaker.net to Sept. 1, 2009. Most of the preparations for the conversion are ready. Just need to do a few more things before the final thread migration and archiving.

As for where should members go for general water warfare discussions after the conversions? Well, we'll see what options there are when the time comes.

Whoa, whoa, does this mean WWc will be ready by the first? If not, we see a serious gap here.

steelboot. wrote:Whoa, whoa, does this mean WWc will be ready by the first? If not, we see a serious gap here.

Yup, might be a gap if WWc isn't fixed by Sept 1st, but I'm not too worried. SSC can be the transitional forum while WWc prepares itself or those who wish can still post here in the new set-up, though general topics will be rather discouraged as will become clear once the conversion has been completed.

T-minus 1 week and counting...