For Lowell... an idea...

[Fury13]

I propose that a new heading [[on the top bar where "Discuss Detroit," "Connect," "Sports," "Non Detroit," etc., are located) be created to contain all the threads about neighborhood memories, old-time acquaintances, or other thoughts about Detroit in days gone by. It could be called "Nostalgia" or "Memories," and that way those threads/topics wouldn't be mixed in with current issues or events that now fall under the "Discuss Detroit" umbrella.

[Ragtoplover59]

I like that idea Fury13

I wonder if it would also be possible to enlarge the attachment allowance, so older images wouldn't need to be deleted as soon, if a thread filled up with photos?

[Bearinabox]

I propose that a new heading [[on the top bar where "Discuss Detroit," "Connect," "Sports," "Non Detroit," etc., are located) be created to contain all the threads about neighborhood memories, old-time acquaintances, or other thoughts about Detroit in days gone by. It could be called "Nostalgia" or "Memories," and that way those threads/topics wouldn't be mixed in with current issues or events that now fall under the "Discuss Detroit" umbrella.

I completely, emphatically agree. I'm pretty sure I've suggested this on here more than once, actually.

[East Detroit]

I don't agree.

Although I like the nostalgia threads and especially the imagery from our history, I think many of those heavy into nostalgia see historic Detroit as good and current Detroit as bad. So, the nostalgia section would become "DetroitYES" and the Discuss Detroit section would become even more "DetroitNO" than it is. Seems that its better to mix them so that we can see our past alongside of our current and future and not sequester "days gone by" to a section that many would not visit, resulting in a maelstrom of even more negativity in the Discuss Detroit area.

That said, it would be nice to copy the hall of fame threads, of which these nostalgia ones would certainly be a part, to a hall of fame section once they have fallen to low activity rather than deleting them [[if they are in fact being deleted).

[Bearinabox]

I don't agree.

Although I like the nostalgia threads and especially the imagery from our history, I think many of those heavy into nostalgia see historic Detroit as good and current Detroit as bad. So, the nostalgia section would become "DetroitYES" and the Discuss Detroit section would become even more "DetroitNO" than it is. Seems that its better to mix them so that we can see our past alongside of our current and future and not sequester "days gone by" to a section that many would not visit, resulting in a maelstrom of even more negativity in the Discuss Detroit area.

To me, there's a distinction to be made between "historic" threads, which are interesting and informative and show how the city developed, and "nostalgia" threads, which are nothing more than people who all grew up in a certain neighborhood during the 60s sharing poorly-written, uninteresting memories that nobody who wasn't there can relate to.

[Retroit]

I support the idea of more "sub-categories", if it is not too difficult. Some suggestions:

• General History
• Building Information and Identification
• Neighborhood Memories
• Politics
• Entertainment
• Restaurants/Food
• Civic Planning/Transportation
• Bitching & Complaining
• etc.

[smudge pot]

... nothing more than people who all grew up in a certain neighborhood during the 60s sharing poorly-written, uninteresting memories that nobody who wasn't there can relate to.

Lowell, listen to me, I think the kid's onto something. A thread called "Poorly-written, uninteresting memories that nobody who wasn't there can relate to". It's perfect. And the next time Bear veers off and shears a fire-hydrant, it will be because he'll have been determinedly trying to tease-out every last cosmic nuance of some gripping account of the elevators going TU at some downtown flea-bag. I'm in.

[Bearinabox]

Lowell, listen to me, I think the kid's onto something. A thread called "Poorly-written, uninteresting memories that nobody who wasn't there can relate to". It's perfect. And the next time Bear veers off and shears a fire-hydrant, it will be because he'll have been determinedly trying to tease-out every last cosmic nuance of some gripping account of the elevators going TU at some downtown flea-bag. I'm in.

I wouldn't mind if DetroitDad got his own subsection either, but I don't think he'd use it.

[Retroit]

I don't mind reading DetroitDad's experiences living in downtown Detroit. It is a lifestyle that I am unfamiliar with and find quite interesting, actually. I do think his condescending attitude toward suburbia is blatantly contrived, though.

[Toolbox]

I don't mind reading DetroitDad's experiences living in downtown Detroit. It is a lifestyle that I am unfamiliar with and find quite interesting, actually. I do think his condescending attitude toward suburbia is blatantly contrived, though.

I think it is a lifestyle Sean of Detroit Dad is unfamiliar with too.

[Retroit]

But there's the fun. Like a smooth-headed turkey vulture, picking at the carcass of the once-great-city, these DYes'ers preach to us that we "don't know what we're missing". Except we knew the carcass before it became a carcass, before the vultures began to circle. And when the spirit flew from the carcass, it became the Diaspora, the True Detroit, Suburbia [[I'm deliberately asking for it here ).

I'm interested in hearing about your experiences in better times, as well, since I never lived in Detroit. And I'm interested in reading about what Detroit was like before it became the great city that you grew up in. And I hope to live long enough to experience what Detroit will be like if and when it becomes a great city once again.

If Detroit is to be revived, I think it will largely be due to the "yuppie" factor. Their experiences will be beneficial to those that follow them. Repopulating Detroit is the goal after all, isn't it?

Toolbox, I don't believe they are the same person and I don't think that either one was making up their stories. Although, like I said, I think that part of their motivation for staying in Detroit was based on an unrealistically negative assessment of suburbia.

[smudge pot]

Sorry about the thread-jack, folks. Here's an innocent appeal with Lowell's name on it, no less, and soon it acquires obvious references to two of the greatest thread disasters in history. Retroit, I'm just a suburban guy, but was in Detroit or Dearborn several times a month to visit grandparents. But that's outside the scope of this thread.

[Lowell]

Sorry for the late reply, just got back from business in Jamaica [hey somebody has to do it.]

I will consider your requests but I lean against it for now. New forums tend to get marginalized and fade, witness sports. For the amount of traffic and posts we currently have the simplicity of an all things Detroit forum seems to be the best solution for the time being.

Regarding increasing image space limits we have said before, and will say again here, if your image space allocation runs out, please contact us and we will increase it on a one-by-one basis. The reason for limitations is to defend against an attacker dumping huge images into a post in attempt to overload the server processes and disk space, thus slowing or shutting down the forum. We get frequent attempts by spammers, primarily from China and South Asia, to register -- this is the primary reason we review new registrations.

Another way to handle images is to use the "insert image from another website" . For instance this image is called in from Flickr.



Here is how it is done.
1- Right click on an image on any website to bring up your context menu.

2-Select "Copy Link Location" [Firefox] or "Properties" [Internet Explorer]. If they latter, copy the address [url] from the little window that pops up.

3- In the posting box, click the "Insert Image from another location" icon.

4- Paste the copied url into the little window that pops up and click OK.

BTW the little icon I inserted in step 3 was done by this process.

[Fury13]

I understand what you are saying about new forums getting marginalized, but it's sometimes difficult wading through all the nostalgia threads while looking for current, relevant Detroit discussion. I think that all the memory-mongers would keep a "Detroit of Old" heading pretty active.

[Ragtoplover59]

Lowell, Thanks for the Info about image space allocation, I guess I missed that class before!

[Jimaz]

I've found it useful to differentiate between short-term and long-term image value to the reader. Use your quota for the short-term images so you can purge them as they become obsolete. For the long-term images, use an external host like Flickr, etc. for a more nearly permanent retention.

Purging uploaded images linked to a URL will break the link so it's important to always also include URL-linked textual captions with uploaded images. The caption will retain the link after the image is purged.

[Ragtoplover59]

Thanks Jimaz,
I haven't starting storing any photo's anywhere outside my laptop or back-up drives, I guess I need to look into that ?
Well , I may be wrong about that, I do use Picasa web albums to sent photos to family, I'm not sure if it works like Flicker as far as hosting photos for use here?
Do you have any idea if it would work? For all my years playing on a computer..I still have so many things to learn!

[Jimaz]

Thanks Jimaz,
I haven't starting storing any photo's anywhere outside my laptop or back-up drives, I guess I need to look into that ?
Well , I may be wrong about that, I do use Picasa web albums to sent photos to family, I'm not sure if it works like Flicker as far as hosting photos for use here?
Do you have any idea if it would work? For all my years playing on a computer..I still have so many things to learn!

Let's try it. There's a photo on Picasa at http://lh3.ggpht.com/_174Spztk5TI/St...0/IMG_4220.jpg. If I put the [img] tag before that URL and the [/img] tag after it, I get this:



[[That's Horse Shoe Bend, Grand Canyon)

It seems to work well.

[Ragtoplover59]

lets see if I understand it with this little test.

wow , Thanks Jimaz, I'll need to do this a bit more before it's natural to me, but very cool to know!

[Ragtoplover59]

Ok, I think I may have it, this one was using the "Insert Image from another location" icon. ...not as hard as I would have thought! Thanks!

[Jimaz]

You're most welcome, Ragtoplover59. It's fun to explore!

[sumas]

Personally, I like Fury's idea. I love when people recount historic events and even nostalgia. The old photos are way interesting too.

As a Detroit resident, past, present and future I see no issues with recounting the Detroit that was. I am a founding member of a Detroit based historical society. As a current resident, I hope in some small part to be part of a Detroit renaissance. I like the theme song for the late night talk show, Craig Ferguson, "Tomorrows Just A Future Yesterday".

Right now Detroit is like a hugh blank book. Always looking for people who want to fill those pages with new and uplifting stories.

[Pam]

To me, there's a distinction to be made between "historic" threads, which are interesting and informative and show how the city developed, and "nostalgia" threads, which are nothing more than people who all grew up in a certain neighborhood during the 60s sharing poorly-written, uninteresting memories that nobody who wasn't there can relate to.

Personally, I'm baffled by all the restaurant nostalgia threads. I wouldn't mind if those went away somewhere.

[gnome]

thanx for that photo tip lowell, much easier than seeing a pic somewhere, loading it on the harddrive, naming it, etc etc

[Bearinabox]

Hey, Lowell, another idea: can we deep-six the ten-character minimum? You know what Bill Shakespeare used to say about brevity...