BIG CHANGES - Forum + Marketplace decision finalized

[Roy Hersh]

Good morning FTLOPers,

As you can see, while you were asleep the elves snuck in and stole our Forum. After listening to your requests and suggestions, we proactively moved back to a retro Forum appearance and style. The new look blends the best features of the 2 previous versions of the Forum, with enhanced functionality and in days-to-come, (this week!) a significant package of anti-spam software.

This new blended style of Forum, integrates the website's header onto a wider page with larger type face and ... NO MORE double scroll bars! We hear the applause as you are reading this. We heard you loud and clear and STEWART gets all the credit for making this happen. But this ain't your grandfather's Forum. We are doing some modifications to add functionality to this one, which will enable RSS/Atom feeds as well as some of the other upgraded features from the software we were just using.

In addition, within the next couple of days, we'll have the registration process, profiles etc. all up to speed, which will then provide us with the ability to "lock the backdoor" which enabled some SPAMBOTS to rain on our parade with spam/porn. We can't guarantee we'll never get hit after this week, but we can say that it will be much harder for these critters to get in here!

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And now for the moment you have been waiting for: the FINAL decision on the future of the FTLOP Marketplace Forum and its effect on the FTLOP Partnership Program will be spelled out below:

The best news, is that the current Marketplace Forum as it exists today, will continue to thrive as is and will not be turned into a "member's only" area of the overall FORUM.

In order to live up to my committment to provide added value for the members of the FTLOP Partnership Program ... there will be a "MEMBER'S ONLY FORUM" which will appear on the homepage of the website. This new area will offer basic Forum software which will not have the bells and whistles that this one will. However, it will serve the purpose for which it is intended.

This NEW area will include:

a. special buying opportunities that members want to share with one another, which no longer will have to get the widespread viewing audience, especially the lurkers who do not participate ... but do take advantage of the Marketplace, while doing so surreptitiously. This will not necessarily impact the normal Marketplace Forum at all, where most buying and trading will continue to take place; along with providing FTLOPers a heads up about Port/Madeira and Douro wines that are being offered by retailers.

b. Unique opportunities for discounts, advance notice and rare offerings of Port/Madeira/Douro wines, that I personally will bring to the table. These may be wines and/or other related accoutrements.

c. In the future, there will be interviews of Port trade personalities and these will be part of the FTLOP PP and provided in the new Forum area.

d. I reserve the right to create other NEW areas of opportunity to include in this location.

Speaking of location, the new FTLOP PP FORUM will be up and running well before the end of the week and Stewart will flip the switch before you know it. Only members will see this new Forum as it will show up in the same location as you now find the TASTING NOTES and .PDF copies of the newsletter. Keep your eyes open for the announcement by Stewart that it is up and running, which will appear in THIS thread.

For those that have already participated in making a donation to the FTLOP PP, once again, please accept my genuine gratitude for your supPORT. I will continue to look for ways to create value for you in the coming months and years!

I hope that those who have seen the flexibility with MY compromise here, appreciate it. It was not an easy decision on how to go about pleasing the greatest number of participants and I have learned once again, that it is truly IMPOSSIBLE to satisfy every individual's needs/likes/dislikes.

Moving forward, I believe that with the dramatic increase in volume on the website, significant uptick in newsletter recipients and 30% growth in the number of FTLOP Forumites in the past 6 weeks, we will continue to thrive and improve in the future. Thank you for your participation in the #1 Port website on planet earth! (also including Madeira of course and the wines of the Douro).

[Al B.]

Although I liked the format of the new forum, I'm very comfortable to go back to the old appearance - especially if it is backed up by lots of improved infrastructure.

I also appreciate the decision on keeping a marketplace forum open for all members of FTLOP .... and even more delight to know that there will be lots of other goodies for FTLOP PP's.

Thanks to both Stewart and Roy for all the work that is going into FTLOP, this is a very specialised niche site and (I hope) it is viewed by others around the world as an example of how to create a forum for people with a common interest.

Alex

[Andy Velebil]

Roy and Stewart,

Thanks for all the hard work in keeping this the premeir Port/Madeira website

[Derek T.]

A very good decision on the Marketplace, Roy. It always pays to listen to what your supporters are saying 8)

Good work on the presentation of the site, Stewart

Thanks guys

Derek

[Julian D. A. Wiseman]

A great decision to keep the marketplace open to all. Those seeking a bottle of X will now have the largest possible audience: great decision.

Partners can post in the partners-only area anything that they want to be seen only by partners. If the posting partner wants it to have a wider audience, it can be posted in the ‘public’ area. The choice lies, as it should, with the partner.

[Michael Ferrier]

Thanks Roy and Stewart for getting rid of the double scroll bars.