Universe Today is really good

AstroStart.nl · #1 (**permalink**) 05-September-2003, 06:51 PM

Wel, I have a Dutch astronomy site. And I search for news on American-sites, like SpaceDaily.com, Space.com, Cnn.com, Nasa.gov, etc. But my favourite is still Universe Today. Clear and direct news. I want to thank the webmaster and I hope he will continue forever.
But also I have a question. A year ago, the site was not so up-to-date. Why was that? :unsure:

Fraser · #2 (**permalink**) 05-September-2003, 07:23 PM

Thanks a lot. :-)

Yeah, the site wasn't quite so up to date last year for several reasons. We had a young baby that still wasn't quite sleeping through the night; I was working a full-time job at the same time; and frankly, I was a little burned out from maintaining the site for four years.

Back in late May all that cleared up at the same time. My wife's busy season started up (she's a tour guide) which meant I could work less at my regular job. The baby got a lot easier to take care of, and I stopped being burnt out. :-) I've been working pretty hard to get the site back into shape and prepare for our next baby which is going to show up late December.

One commitment I'm going to make is to accept people's help more. :-) I get offers from people all the time to help out with the website, but I haven't really felt that I had things figured out enough to take advantage of other people's assistance. Probably my biggest objective before December is to get that resolved so that the site will keep going, even if I'm feeling overwhelmed. Stay tuned on that front.

Thanks again, it's this kind of feedback that really helps make the whole thing worthwhile.

AstroStart.nl · #3 (**permalink**) 07-September-2003, 12:51 PM

You're welcome. If you ever need my help, you can count on it. But I don't think its a good idea, because my English is not that good <_< .

zephyr46 · #4 (**permalink**) 22-October-2003, 03:19 AM

Quote:

like SpaceDaily.com, Space.com, Cnn.com, Nasa.gov, etc. But my favourite is still Universe Today. Clear and direct news

same here

Quote:

I want to thank the webmaster and I hope he will continue forever.

Hear hear!!

In case you hadn't noticed, I love the forums as well.

Quote:

If you ever need my help, you can count on it

Me too, my english is OK, my spelling is S**t though

Fraser, in regards to an online chat, isn't that what the ICQ and MSN etc are all about, or is it your intention to add a chat room?

Fraser · #5 (**permalink**) 22-October-2003, 06:00 AM

Well, it's not really my intention to add a chatroom any time soon. I think I mentioned this in another forum thread that there's a certain amount of moderation overhead that I'm not really prepared to invest right now to manage a chat area.

I've had a few people suggest it, so I'll continue to mull over a good solution for it.

Regarding helping Universe Today, the best way to do that is to participate in the forums - welcome newcomers to the forum, answer people's questions, and generally make this a place that space enthusiasts can call home. If you're willing to do that, I'm grateful.

zephyr46 · #6 (**permalink**) 26-October-2003, 11:54 PM

Have you considered a collaboration with spacedaily on a chat room?

Fraser · #7 (**permalink**) 27-October-2003, 02:36 AM

The root problem with setting up a chat forum is that it opens you up to liability. The law has shown that the host website can be liable for the things that get said in a forum or in chat software.

I can't afford the time to police it all the time, so it's not really worth the potential headaches right now.

Matthew · #8 (**permalink**) 27-October-2003, 08:01 AM

A forum is easier to manage than a chat room, a forum allows people to look at what everyone else has said on the subject. For a science site a forum should be enough. Many people need to write paragraphs of info down to explain everything. If people began to do that on a chat room, it would become too slow, defeating the whole purpose of a chat room.

Fraser to let people help you with the site you could open up a new forum where people could post links to new space/astrophysics news. So you wouldn't have to go searching for news all over the net, people would get you the links onto the forum.

Fraser · #9 (**permalink**) 27-October-2003, 03:11 PM

That's why I added that "Did Universe Today miss a story" forum, so people could post links to other stories they find interesting. It's still the website and newsletter that drives traffic to the forum, not the other way around. Eventually the website might be like Slashdot, but that'll still be years away.

zephyr46 · #10 (**permalink**) 30-October-2003, 12:01 AM

Cygos Asteroid Mining (Chat Rooms)

Chook · #11 (**permalink**) 30-October-2003, 02:52 AM

Fraser - we love your web site and suffer "withdrawal" if we don't catch up every day.

Regarding the Forum - great stuff, but I DO wish contributors would be more considerate of other people's feelings and not get personal.

Thanks a million for all the work you have put in; and congrats with the "nippers". Nothing better than a baby sucking away at your thumb!

Cheers,
CHOOK
Australia

Fraser · #12 (**permalink**) 30-October-2003, 03:48 AM

If someone gets personal, let me know and I'll yank their post. I've got little tolerance for that kind of thing. I've got some official rules typed up that I'm going to be posting shortly, but it's all common sense.

zephyr46 · #13 (**permalink**) 03-November-2003, 12:05 AM

Re: Chat room
If anyone has the urge to use a chat room I recommend Cygo's and have been recommending it. There are two rooms and mostly no one there. I think thats sad. SO if you have the urge or curiosity, you have the address

catfish · #14 (**permalink**) 07-November-2003, 01:38 AM

I want to thank you for the work you do running this site and for the daily email you send out. This is the best site on the net for astronomers looking for whats happening in our world!!!

You da man!!!

Fraser · #15 (**permalink**) 07-November-2003, 04:21 AM

Thanks. :-)

larko_L · #16 (**permalink**) 08-November-2003, 11:01 PM

universe today is going in the right direction! great work fraser

larko_L · #17 (**permalink**) 08-November-2003, 11:21 PM

just wanted to let everyone know i'm having a great view of the eclipse. here in southwestern ,pennsylvania. it's 7:21 p.m. here

damienpaul · #18 (**permalink**) 19-December-2003, 02:53 PM

I agree, Fraser and the Moderators (sounds like a rock band!) are doing a great job!

Chook · #19 (**permalink**) 14-January-2004, 02:54 AM

Ahh come on, Alice - you'll give'em swollen heads!

damienpaul · #20 (**permalink**) 15-January-2004, 09:09 AM

and then we'll have a model for gravitational fields and van allen belts

Tiny · #21 (**permalink**) 06-February-2004, 10:42 PM

Is that ok to put this forum or this website on the astronomy message board (public board) in my school?