78 replies to this topic

[Austin55]

John, hope you get to feeling better soon.

[John T Roberts]

Thanks.  I'm sure I will start to feel better soon.  It may be slow.

[Dylan]

We missed you at the walking tour Saturday morning. Hopefully it doesn't take as long as you predict to fully recover.

[John T Roberts]

Even though I was feeling a little better by the weekend.  I had no voice on Saturday or Sunday.  I'm still very hoarse.

 

Also, since I didn't know I was exposed to this on Friday at the Forum Meeting, I'm hoping that I didn't contaminate anyone who attended.  The next day on Saturday, I woke up with terrible congestion in my chest and I was coughing constantly.

[CFerguson]

I was sitting next to you JTR - no problems for me.

[roverone]

I was there at lunch and no problems in the time between.

 

Now, the 245 people I was around over the weekend and my high school reunion with their out-of-state germs might get me, but I'm fine for now.

 

I hope you get to feeling better soon.

[JBB]

Get to feeling better.  Summer colds are the worst.  My daughter had a viral cold when we were on vacation 2 years ago and ended up in the ER for dehydration.

[John T Roberts]

It makes me feel better that I did not make anyone sick due to my attendance.  Dylan, several people have told me that I was missed on the walking tour, but I had to stay home because I was still feeling bad and I couldn't talk.  I am getting better.  Today, I actually felt almost OK.  I still have a lot of lingering effects, but they will disappear.

[johnfwd]

Just an observation:  Before posting what I thought was a new thread about the Farmers and Mechanics National Bank Building in the Historic Buildings and Preservation category, I did a cursory search using the Forum's website search inquiry for that purpose.  I saw nothing come up related to this particular building.  Then I find out there has been a long-running thread on the building.

 

I try to be careful about not creating such redundancies but this has happened to me more than once.  It is a little annoying to be shown to be in error, but I'm not terribly upset (being an attorney is not for the thin-skinned).  Not sure anything can be done in the way of improving the website search software.  I know I should avidly follow the threads but don't always have time to visit this website.

[JBB]

Part of what got you on that one has nothing to do with the search function or not following the thread.  The author of the FWBP article referred to the original name of the building.  The thread here has the current name (714 Main) in the title and there have been 3 other names in between, Transport Life being the one that it had prior to the current one. 

[John T Roberts]

Johnfwd, I appreciate your diligence in trying not to duplicate threads.  I also think that the duplication of the thread was inevitable, mainly due to what JBB described above. The article referring to the original name of the building did not help.  I have also seen this as a trend with building owners.  Many are reverting back to the original names of the buildings.  I don't know if anyone has done any research on this, but the last time the Farmers & Mechanics National Bank name was on the building was in 1927.  After that the name was changed.  1927 was the year that F&M merged with Fort Worth National and the latter name was adopted by the bank.  Fort Worth National vacated their building at 512 Main and moved into the larger F&M facility.  Shortly thereafter, the Fort Worth National Bank Building (1904) was demolished to build the Sinclair Building. 

 

The forum software is outdated due to the fact that my hosting site would not allow the new coding for the latest forum upgrade.  I should have switched hosts, but I never did.  Also, my former forum administrators have moved on to other things, so it makes it harder for me to maintain the forum and the website.  It also seems as if I don't have as much time to devote to it as I used to do.  I still receive a lot of pleasure from the site and the forum, so I have not lost interest.

 

Also, I never really carried through with one of my original ideas on the forum and that was when a new project was completed, the thread would be moved to the appropriate category, mainly the "Fort Worth Architecture" heading.  That's why I moved this over to "Historic Buildings and Preservation".  That category may have been where it should have originally been placed. 

 

Johnfwd, I'm glad that you are not too upset by some of the comments.  I don't think that anyone is trying to be negative.  Fixing these redundancies is a part of my job as administrator and some of the fixes are quite easy.  I do remember that I have commented in the past on this, but there was a time when nearly every new thread was redundant with one posted only a few days before. 

 

To everyone, please keep posting.  This website and forum have been a real pleasure for me to provide to the community for the last 22 years for the site and nearly 20 years for the forum.

[roverone]

This kind of thing has tripped me up also (trying to find an existing thread) -- even once when I knew I had read it.  In no small part this is due to the large amount of content that has been created here by members.  That's exactly what makes the site as interesting as it is.

 

One could imagine a vision of a future version of the site that included the ability to geocode the subject matter on a map where applicable.  This would also be a great way to find content about nearby projects.  I know that is not something for now.  And so we rely on the combined community memory to guide us to the right place for a post.

 

Thank you for having and maintaining the site.  It enriches us all.

[John T Roberts]

The search feature of this version of the software is not great.  I'm wondering if the newer versions are better.  The new format of the website has the capabilities of the geocoding, but in order for it to work, I really have to upgrade all of the pages.  I'm working on that as I can.  It also probably wouldn't hurt if I went back and edited all of the tags on buildings to be more comprehensive.  However, I can only do so much and really focus on one task at a time. 

 

Overall, I think this is still a good discussion board, and even though they are outdated with more people going to social media, the topics are still kept in a closer relationship here than they are with social media.  Roverone, I appreciate your comments about having and maintaining the site.  I do this out of love for my hometown. 

[Doohickie]

Just an observation:  Before posting what I thought was a new thread about the Farmers and Mechanics National Bank Building in the Historic Buildings and Preservation category, I did a cursory search using the Forum's website search inquiry for that purpose.  I saw nothing come up related to this particular building.  Then I find out there has been a long-running thread on the building.
 
I try to be careful about not creating such redundancies but this has happened to me more than once.  It is a little annoying to be shown to be in error, but I'm not terribly upset (being an attorney is not for the thin-skinned).  Not sure anything can be done in the way of improving the website search software.  I know I should avidly follow the threads but don't always have time to visit this website.

This. I've used search terms for threads I KNOW exist, and the search doesn't find them. Sometimes I go into the forum where I thought the thread was, and sure enough I find it, and the search term I used is RIGHT IN THE TITLE.  Not sure what can be done about this, John, but your search engine is broken.

[John T Roberts]

The forum's search engine or the website's?

[Doohickie]

The one at the upper right of this page.  For instance a couple weeks ago I posted to the McMansion Hell thread.  I searched on McMansion and it didn't find it.  I finally went into the Residential forum and found it a couple pages in.  The search engine returned a lot of results, none of which had McMansion in them.  (If you search on McMansion now, it finds the thread, but probably because I recently posted to it.)

 

And yes, I was searching forum-wide.

[JBB]

One trick that I've discovered that helps with searching is going to the Advanced Search page and looking for titles only.  Another trick is to use Google to search for the topic.  Again, neither is perfect, but I've had a little more success doing that than just using the dialogue box at the top right.

[John T Roberts]

Has anyone tried to use the internal search engine on the main part of the site?  You can search on this page: http://www.fortworth...e.com/about.htm and you can search on any area page like Downtown, Cultural District, Northside, etc.  The only page linked by the navigation bar that will not allow a search is the Jack White Collection.  That is an old page that hasn't been converted.  Jack White's photographs are very difficult to search and that page will probably be the last page I update.

 

I was also going to suggest searching the entire web through Google.

[renamerusk]

This has been long running effort of where to post that I am particularly keen upon.

 

I have found it to be easy to find threads that generally fall into a topic that I want to make a new post to.  The problem that makes finding a topic. thread or post is that posts are routinely made without consideration whether the post is relevant to a current topic.  It created a lot of clutter within the Forum.

 

Example:  Dickies Arena Thread has recently been the recipient of ticketing issues (Ticketmaster) which actually is a general topic that is not relevant to whether Dickies Arena existed or did not.  Several posts were made that in 2 weeks will become impossible to search for. To help in deterring a thread from being derailed, I will make a reply by "multi quote" to what I think is a logical thread to continue the discussion; sometimes it has worked and other times that effort goes ignored.

[John T Roberts]

This is really getting into a deep discussion.  First of all, I don't want to be a super strict forum policeman.  Yes, the Ticketmaster issue is a general topic that did not relate to whether the Dickies Arena existed or not.  However, it does relate to the arena and the fact they are requiring a ticket to tour the arena.  If I was super strict on these matter, I would probably have to delete a lot of posts that branch off of the main topic.  If I did that, I would have to spend all of my time monitoring the forum.  I want us to have healthy discussions on all topics and I'm also guilty of derailing threads.  I don't know if there is a perfect solution.  Maybe it would be better to just keep the discussions as they are and let me handle forum management as I can.  If you all find duplicate threads, then maybe you could PM me and then I will fix it.  Another solution might be to just say, I think there is a duplicate thread, and then I will find it an merge them together.  Also, if you find the duplicate you could post it or PM me. 

 

Another option would be for me to spend some time shifting things on the forum to try to clean it up.  If I did that, there would be a good chance that threads would be moved to a different forum category.  I could leave a link at the old location to the new one, but that would also start to clutter up the board.

[John T Roberts]

I was thinking again and I'm dangerous when I think.  Maybe there should be a major forum overhaul?  Maybe each project should have its own thread?  Or should each building that is posted have their own threads?

[renamerusk]

I wouldn't want that for you.  I think we should make our posts as topic specific as possible and when the topic drifts to non related remarks, find a way to direct the non related remarks to the appropriate thread.

[John T Roberts]

I have been real busy at work this last week.  Starting on Thursday, I put in quite a few extra hours working on a proposal.  We worked in the office all during the pandemic, but on Friday, I had a chance to take part of this proposal home to work on it there.  I left the office at noon, and then went home to eat lunch.  Then I started work on the proposal.  I took a break for dinner, to feed the dogs, and to take a shower.  I resumed work, and then continued until I finished up at midnight.  I stayed up another hour until 1 to relax before I went to bed, and then I led the Downtown tour at 9:00 AM, when ran long with my group.  Instead of finishing at 11, we finished at noon.  Then, I went into the office to drop off my work, and I stayed to proof the written parts of the proposal. 

 

Basically until today, I have not had time to post or read the forum.  I want to say thank you to everyone for making quite a few postings over the last few days.  Keep up the discussions!

[Stadtplan]

I have been real busy at work this last week.  Starting on Thursday, I put in quite a few extra hours working on a proposal.  We worked in the office all during the pandemic, but on Friday, I had a chance to take part of this proposal home to work on it there.  I left the office at noon, and then went home to eat lunch.  Then I started work on the proposal.  I took a break for dinner, to feed the dogs, and to take a shower.  I resumed work, and then continued until I finished up at midnight.  I stayed up another hour until 1 to relax before I went to bed, and then I led the Downtown tour at 9:00 AM, when ran long with my group.  Instead of finishing at 11, we finished at noon.  Then, I went into the office to drop off my work, and I stayed to proof the written parts of the proposal. 

 

Basically until today, I have not had time to post or read the forum.  I want to say thank you to everyone for making quite a few postings over the last few days.  Keep up the discussions!

 

Glad to hear you're staying busy at work sir.  That's good for the mind and the pocketbook.  I was getting a little worried we hadn't heard from you on the board but then I saw your post to another section and felt everything was all good.

[John T Roberts]

Yes, all has been good, we have just been very busy, and now I'm behind on my other projects.  I had to drop what I was doing to help out on this proposal.

[JBB]

Being busy is always a good thing.  There's been a lot of lively discussion here lately.

[John T Roberts]

I'm very glad to see this lively discussion.  Please keep it up. 

[renamerusk]

Yes, it had been missing a "straw to mix the drink".

[John T Roberts]

We finished the proposal on Tuesday.  Last night, I was absent because I went to dinner with a friend and I didn't get home until about 10 PM.  I'm still behind at work, but I took this evening a little bit easy and I just relaxed a little bit.