Quoted from "SwingKitten"
Many blogs nowadays have "connect via Facebook" links for commenting purposes; maybe that's something that could be integrated?

I thought about mentioning Facebook Connect in my earlier post, but didn't, since I've tried to work with that code and it can be a bitch. In fact, the main reason I use Disqus for comments on my blog was it was easier than trying to get Facebook Connect to work. But as a feature, I think it would be a GREAT addition (the main point is to use Facebook for single-signon, so if you don't WANT to have to have a separate Yehoodi login, for example, you don't have to. This is an example of "exploiting" the Facebook platform).

Quoted from "SwingKitten"
Good to know, Rik. Ravelry is the bomb.

Women that knit are hot!

Quoted from "rikomatic"
SwingKitten, the yehoodi dev team are big fans of Ravelry! We've stolen lots of their code already. 8)

I don't usually chime in, but Rik, c'mon. We haven't stolen any code from Ravelry (their site is written in Ruby for gods sake). We have stolen ideas! (I'm just giving you crap, dude). Thanks to Tomobeans for giving us that tour of the site years ago.

On the FB Connect issue, it's a great idea, and we've already thought of implementing it. But as Mugsy says, it can be a real bitch to work with (we were successful on gamespot, but it wasn't fun).

• Spuds

Quoted from "rikomatic"

Quoted from "Zev"

Quoted from "tol"
... the comments here are heavily skewed to those of us who are logged in frequently to yehoodi...

do not overlook this important point. There's a big crowd of NYU & Columbia kids that pack into Fram every week. I have no idea if they lurk here but either way you should make a double effort to get their opinion.

I'm Facebook friends with a few of the NYU and Columbia dancers. I've posted this to my Facebook feed, so hopefully some of them will see it there and respond.

I'm one of those "Columbia kids" but, very few of us have a Yehoodi account (probably 2 others and they rarely use it). I was on here a lot more over summer but really, it breaks down to we have less time to write stuff (I still read Yehoodi all the time). Also, we already have the habit of using FB all the time just to check up on people. I always tell anyone that asks me for swing information to go onto Yehoodi, but most students probably just don't post anything.

In addition, most of the college kids tend to seclude themselves into the "college corner" and they think that they can't leave that area. Maybe if more people would try to bring them into the crowd at large, they would be on yehoodi more often. Most college kids do not see themselves as part of the larger NY swing scene, rather as simply part of a college club. I've been trying hard to break this boundary for them, but they could use encouragement from others. Years down the road, we will all benefit from more dancers.

Quoted from "FancyDancy"
I'm one of those "Columbia kids" but, very few of us have a Yehoodi account (probably 2 others and they rarely use it). I was on here a lot more over summer but really, it breaks down to we have less time to write stuff (I still read Yehoodi all the time). Also, we already have the habit of using FB all the time just to check up on people. I always tell anyone that asks me for swing information to go onto Yehoodi, but most students probably just don't post anything. In addition, most of the college kids tend to seclude themselves into the "college corner" and they think that they can't leave that area. Maybe if more people would try to bring them into the crowd at large, they would be on yehoodi more often. Most college kids do not see themselves as part of the larger NY swing scene, rather as simply part of a college club. I've been trying hard to break this boundary for them, but they could use encouragement from others. Years down the road, we will all benefit from more dancers.

Thanks Fancy, good to know. The college crowd at fram during the school year is great, and yeah, the faces turn over quickly from year to year as they come and go. I've always wondered if they keep dancing after they leave school and move to another area (and would feeling connected to the community via yehoodi help as well)?

I was thinking about this and am late to the table - Fictional inclusions of a "Share this on facebook" would be swell for bringing Y! discussions to FB.

I don't know if y'all ever checked out the Blues dance message board Gargleblasterblues.com but IIRC they went from having a phpBB message board like ours to doing a complete facebook integration a while back. Anyone a user there with feedback? Keither? site seems to be down at the moment.

What would be AWESOME would be a bookmarklet that would allow me to take a URL of an open browser window and open a new Yehoodi thread - I use bookmarkelts all the time for emailing pages to folks or posting to my tumblr all the time. If only I could hit a button and have a new Yehoodi message/thread pop up! Fictionware, but it'd be a killer feature for me as an end user. Right now, I have to get to Y!, open up a new message, and then copy and paste. I can handle it, but have a persistant 1-button solution in my toolbar is the reason I'm more apt to "share" things on my tumblr then remember to post them on Yehoodi.

I really would like to see Yehoodi become a more centralized event server for different swing scenes. Why would no one from Chicago come here? Because Chicago events are not at the moment posted. The same way that there was a debate over adding an NYC-specific forum out of the carved niche of the northeast, I'd like to see more region-specific areas with some cities [NO, Seattle, DC, Chicago, Denver, SF, LA] broken out so lurkers could find things more easily.

-2c, --R

Quoted from "TheRiz"
Why would no one from Chicago come here? Because Chicago events are not at the moment posted.

Maybe, but I think that no one bothers to post Chicago events because no one from Chicago looks for them here. That used to be because everyone used windyhop. When windyhop went down, we posted things here, but what really took off were the FB events. Now that windyhop is back, even though it never really recovered (there's pretty much no discusion there, although most of the same events are posted), I think it would be politically bad news to try to shift the windyhop stuff over here, even if we could get them to do it.

If Facebook - the CIA conspiracy, then wither Yehoodi?

Quoted from "Atalanta"
For dance-related discussions, I don't think there's any question Yehoodi is preferable. My larger circles of friends would not be interested in seeing some lindygeekage on my newsfeed, but I know I can come here and ask/comment whatever I like as much as I like and the audience is like-minded. Also, Yehoodi allows users to write as much as their hearts desire. FB limits posts by character counts. (Please interpret this to be negative or a positive as you wish. ) The return to a more limited scope (not limited in the negative sense, but in the focus sense) might actually strengthen the site... how many times have we heard that newbies are intimidated by all the stuff to read here, and that they don't know where to start and when they can comfortably jump into discussions? If, by attrition and evolution there was less nonsense -- miscellany possibly more appropriate on FB -- on Yehoodi, wouldn't that make it actually more user-friendly for dance chat?

I don't know. Should we try to personally welcome newbies when they post and build a Yehoodi that makes it easy to find dance information? Absolutely. But beyond that, I think each newbie needs to decide whether the "public square" of Yehoodi - the in-jokes, flame wars, political discussions, random discourse, strong peronalities - is their cup of tea or not. It is what it is. The community is made up entirely of the content users choose to post, which is all stripes of naughty, nice, dance-related, and otherwise. As with all social institutions, visitors and newbies need to decide whether or not to hang with that.

If the Yehoodistrators wanted to codify what makes a discussion board welcoming and more focused, they should have moderated everything more heavily from the get-go and not built a kitchen sink or politics forum. But they didn't, and now these two forums (for example) are unquestionably very important aspects of Yehoodi's personality, for better or for worse.

I'm all for making the place more hospitable for newbies, but not at the expense of the site's personality and identity.

Quoted from "David_D"
The Yehoodi community seems to think that most interesting technique and scene discussions on Yehoodi have run their course. We have plenty of old threads picking apart details of the swingout and other technique, what qualifies as appropriate music, and the sad state of elements of the scene. Those were a lot of the conversations that I used to love reading, and posting to. Now, when new threads are created to discuss these things, they get shut down with a list of Yehoodi search results. IMO, things change over a couple of years, so it's worth reopening discussions without just having them shouted down as "been-there, done-that".

Very off putting if you're a newb.

I should make it clear that my potential vision that Yehoodi would get more dance-specific is through attrition (Facebook or natural evolution) not yehoodistrators' design.

Quoted from "Emmysue4you"

Quoted from "pill_popper"

Quoted from "David_D"
The Yehoodi community seems to think that most interesting technique and scene discussions on Yehoodi have run their course. We have plenty of old threads picking apart details of the swingout and other technique, what qualifies as appropriate music, and the sad state of elements of the scene. Those were a lot of the conversations that I used to love reading, and posting to. Now, when new threads are created to discuss these things, they get shut down with a list of Yehoodi search results. IMO, things change over a couple of years, so it's worth reopening discussions without just having them shouted down as "been-there, done-that".

Very off putting if you're a newb.

Agreed. In fact, I wonder if the Yehoodistrators have considered not shutting down new threads about old dance topics when Yehoodi 3.0 goes live. Everything old is new again, to newer dancers. Don't they deserve the chance to discover, discuss, and hash out the minutae of the dance with other learners like the rest of us did? I think many might find that more valuable than only reading a prior generation's hashing of the same topic. Could 3.0 be the place for newer dancers to do that and not get the search-result shutdown? The oldbies can suck it up and ignore the topic if it pains them so much to see a long-ago discussed topic.

Interesting thought. Now that you (all) mention it, that would be sort of like a newbie going to Fram and asking someone, "Whoa, how'd you do that move?" and being handed a DVD of some past Fram 3 years ago where that exact question had been discussed by a bunch of people, some of whom aren't even in the scene any more.

There are not stickies in 'Swing Talk' or 'Swing Music/Bands'. Or substickie catagories for that matter. These, the most apropos subjects I would think.

Quoted from "r_c_s"

Quoted from "pill_popper"

Quoted from "David_D"
The Yehoodi community seems to think that most interesting technique and scene discussions on Yehoodi have run their course. We have plenty of old threads picking apart details of the swingout and other technique, what qualifies as appropriate music, and the sad state of elements of the scene. Those were a lot of the conversations that I used to love reading, and posting to. Now, when new threads are created to discuss these things, they get shut down with a list of Yehoodi search results. IMO, things change over a couple of years, so it's worth reopening discussions without just having them shouted down as "been-there, done-that".

Very off putting if you're a newb.

Well, if someone just says, "Use the search function, Dude!", that's rude. And if putting links actually shut down discussion, yes, that would be off-putting. But most of these threads I've seen, someone mentioned the search function, someone linked to old threads, and others contribute to new discussion. Links to related old threads, along with the new discussion can be helpful, and I don't think they're off-putting at all. Maybe there are a few old timers who post with an attitude on those threads, but most of the people who bother to read them don't. And if you can't handle the fact that old-timers sometime post with attitude, then maybe discussion boards don't work for you.

You're misreading my comment, darling. What I meant by that was a newb could be made to feel put off if the only response to their question would sound something along the lines of 'don't you know how to use boolean logic, dumbass?'

That is friggin' awesome dude. The first one is tops. I think they call this "learning by f***ing up."