Does Somersoft need a botox injection?
- Thread starter reeco
- Start date
Sim
Administrator
I think the StackOverflow model suggested earlier in this thread has a lot of merit for this type of thing. It is more suited for the "I have a specific question" type posts as opposed to the open ended type discussions, but I think there is room for both on a site like this.
Rather than being just a stream of discussion, the site becomes more of a knowledgebase. At least that's the theory.
There is literally a wealth of knowledge in this site. Finding it and mining it can be made far easier - and that will be part of what I'm working towards for the new version. Search is a very important first step towards this.
did I hear that botox gives the injectee wrinkles ?
ta
rolf
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rolf
Whizzed through the stackoverflow blurb, and yup, they've got it.
Critical mass of engaged human consciousness is a lot of potential power.
The internet so needs to become more efficient at turning information into knowledge into intelligence into wisdom.
A good search function and an ordered database would be like a brain getting itself sorted.
Maybe a function could be made for users to "categorize" and rate a post, rather than relying on an algorithm alone....This would be more meaningful than the current feel good kudos thing....which I think you were inferring Sim.
Anyway, I am all for the passing on of knowledge/wisdom in a more time efficient manner. Can only help the evolution of our species.
Critical mass of engaged human consciousness is a lot of potential power.
The internet so needs to become more efficient at turning information into knowledge into intelligence into wisdom.
A good search function and an ordered database would be like a brain getting itself sorted.
Maybe a function could be made for users to "categorize" and rate a post, rather than relying on an algorithm alone....This would be more meaningful than the current feel good kudos thing....which I think you were inferring Sim.
Anyway, I am all for the passing on of knowledge/wisdom in a more time efficient manner. Can only help the evolution of our species.
Sim
Administrator
We already have a tagging function (which hasn't ever really been explained to users) ... that's a useful tool for user-driven categorisation. Not the only way, but it's there and it's easy and it's a start. We also have thread ratings.
We don't currently have particularly good ways of presenting highly rated or well-categorised threads to users - that needs to be worked on.
Always happy to hear suggestions of other things you think would be worthwhile - or information on things you think other sites do particularly well.
No, kudos is only there for private user-to-user feedback and encouragement. Not really a knowledgebase function.
Hey Sim, while you are all ears. Some time ago, I thought of starting a website that was content rich, little to no dialogue, just charts of economic stats/data meaningful to the end user....in this case a property investor.
I originally was thinking of one structured dashboard for a pi end user, with all the stuff pertinent to helping pi's make pi decisions - macro economic risk for dev'ts, purchases, fixing rates, throttling down LVRs etc.
Some of the charts I had in mind are on Winston's Charts thread but anything significant to helping pi'ers allocate capital more efficiently via better demand/supply matching, is the end goal:
macro climate:
- interbank cash rate futures implied yield curve to give us an idea of where interest rates are going and when and how long to fix for.
- aussie govt bills notes, and bond yields to create a yield curve
- net foreign debt (maybe with a short blurb on how this effects medium/long term property/economic growth)
- current account (similar blurb)
- retail sales
- leading and coincident indicator stuff.
- Broad money and credit supply/growth.
- build costs estimates /m2.
property supply/demand:
- population growth
- interstate migration and hot spots
- rental vacancies
- loan approvals
- building approvals
- building commencements
prices:
- residex, abs, rismark/rpdata, etc price action for capitals and selected
- regionals.
- formal repeat sales data.
- auction clearance rates
Presume you get my drift.
Last year I was messing with this stuff, getting xls to auto update from ABS and RBA xls....and the intent was to convert this eventually into a website as described above. However, the RBA changed the folder structure of some of their xls, and seemed to have enforced rules to stop auto access of xls on their servers.
Anyway, I reckon creating a web page on Somersoft that updated key data in an intuitive dashboard format, specific for property investor interest would be a great value add for the site......
I reckon this would pull a lot of traffic to the Somersoft brand/forum.
Some form of hot/cold PI indicator might even be developed.
I got what you were trying to do with Invested and think that was a big step towards a quality content site....but the model seems to need to improve traffic flow.
I thought the concept could be expanded on, by generating decision making aids (dashboards and trees) for a diverse range of commercial endeavors, not only pi's .... i.e.
- those self managing SMSFs - increase emerging market exposure, decrease gold.
- various retail sectors - is it a good time to start a restaurant/cafe,
- clothing store, etc?
- mortgage brokers
- real estate agents
- law firms
etc
With the right data mining and web interface, this could develop into a serious value add.....all aimed at helping capital be allocated more efficiently.....and eventually a buyout target for google, microsoft, rupert
Several threats to this business model:
1. The ABS are continuing to make their data more user friendly... but slowly....
2. Low barriers to entry. A group of gun programmers could replicate the model quickly and better if they saw the potential. So anyone who attempted this would have to do it quick and good, and capture the lion's market share and make them stick.
Anyway, all big dreamy stuff, but there's no shortage of uncertainty out there, and the hunger for quality data to help the investment decision making process, is palpable. Bloomberg, Yahoo, Google, Finviz are all trying to this for the markets.
AIG, WBC and Melbourne Institute, ANZ, NAB, CBA.....they all produce economic data/surveys to aid the decision making process, but no one collates, filters, and distributes relative to specific end user group needs.
Maybe Somersoft can do it for property investing.....and then expand on that into other commercial sectors.
edit: btw, something like this would quickly gain favor with the media. They love their data accessible, up to date ,compressed, and educational (because most haven't studied economics). There'd be no shortage of editorial mentions if you get the product right.
I realize the RBA already publish a chart pack.....with excellent info....but not many know how to interpret the significance of the charts for their investment decisions. The right approach would guide and educate in understanding this stuff, concisely.
I originally was thinking of one structured dashboard for a pi end user, with all the stuff pertinent to helping pi's make pi decisions - macro economic risk for dev'ts, purchases, fixing rates, throttling down LVRs etc.
Some of the charts I had in mind are on Winston's Charts thread but anything significant to helping pi'ers allocate capital more efficiently via better demand/supply matching, is the end goal:
macro climate:
- interbank cash rate futures implied yield curve to give us an idea of where interest rates are going and when and how long to fix for.
- aussie govt bills notes, and bond yields to create a yield curve
- net foreign debt (maybe with a short blurb on how this effects medium/long term property/economic growth)
- current account (similar blurb)
- retail sales
- leading and coincident indicator stuff.
- Broad money and credit supply/growth.
- build costs estimates /m2.
property supply/demand:
- population growth
- interstate migration and hot spots
- rental vacancies
- loan approvals
- building approvals
- building commencements
prices:
- residex, abs, rismark/rpdata, etc price action for capitals and selected
- regionals.
- formal repeat sales data.
- auction clearance rates
Presume you get my drift.
Last year I was messing with this stuff, getting xls to auto update from ABS and RBA xls....and the intent was to convert this eventually into a website as described above. However, the RBA changed the folder structure of some of their xls, and seemed to have enforced rules to stop auto access of xls on their servers.
Anyway, I reckon creating a web page on Somersoft that updated key data in an intuitive dashboard format, specific for property investor interest would be a great value add for the site......
I reckon this would pull a lot of traffic to the Somersoft brand/forum.
Some form of hot/cold PI indicator might even be developed.
I got what you were trying to do with Invested and think that was a big step towards a quality content site....but the model seems to need to improve traffic flow.
I thought the concept could be expanded on, by generating decision making aids (dashboards and trees) for a diverse range of commercial endeavors, not only pi's .... i.e.
- those self managing SMSFs - increase emerging market exposure, decrease gold.
- various retail sectors - is it a good time to start a restaurant/cafe,
- clothing store, etc?
- mortgage brokers
- real estate agents
- law firms
etc
With the right data mining and web interface, this could develop into a serious value add.....all aimed at helping capital be allocated more efficiently.....and eventually a buyout target for google, microsoft, rupert
Several threats to this business model:
1. The ABS are continuing to make their data more user friendly... but slowly....
2. Low barriers to entry. A group of gun programmers could replicate the model quickly and better if they saw the potential. So anyone who attempted this would have to do it quick and good, and capture the lion's market share and make them stick.
Anyway, all big dreamy stuff, but there's no shortage of uncertainty out there, and the hunger for quality data to help the investment decision making process, is palpable. Bloomberg, Yahoo, Google, Finviz are all trying to this for the markets.
AIG, WBC and Melbourne Institute, ANZ, NAB, CBA.....they all produce economic data/surveys to aid the decision making process, but no one collates, filters, and distributes relative to specific end user group needs.
Maybe Somersoft can do it for property investing.....and then expand on that into other commercial sectors.
edit: btw, something like this would quickly gain favor with the media. They love their data accessible, up to date ,compressed, and educational (because most haven't studied economics). There'd be no shortage of editorial mentions if you get the product right.
I realize the RBA already publish a chart pack.....with excellent info....but not many know how to interpret the significance of the charts for their investment decisions. The right approach would guide and educate in understanding this stuff, concisely.
Sim
Administrator
Sounds like a great idea. I've been doing a lot of charting integration on some of my sites - I'm currently rebuilding my Compare Funds site to make it more mobile friendly and adding a lot more capability into the analysis. I've also been developing more of a dashboard style interface for some of the information on ZooChat. No reason we couldn't do the same on Somersoft.
Just point me to the data and tell me how you think it should be presented - happy to write the code to grab the data, crunch it and generate the charts and dashboard info - I love doing that kind of thing.
When I get a chance I'll look back through your charts thread and have a closer look at the info your generating and investigate your sources.
Will put some thought into it over next few days, and give you a short list to see how feasible it is.
I imagine ABS data should be easy enough to generate auto updating web charts from and maybe you can get a work around the RBA, or just automate downloading full xls when they have a scheduled new data release.
Last year, I was linking a local xls to ABS, which auto pulled the last remote worksheet row when I opend my xls. Same with RBA until they changed their stats folder traits.
I imagine ABS data should be easy enough to generate auto updating web charts from and maybe you can get a work around the RBA, or just automate downloading full xls when they have a scheduled new data release.
Last year, I was linking a local xls to ABS, which auto pulled the last remote worksheet row when I opend my xls. Same with RBA until they changed their stats folder traits.
Sim
Administrator
The whole Facebook thing is a bit of a double-edged sword. I was going to head down the integration path with one of my other sites, but I'm beginning to think that there are some serious downsides to doing so. Many of the ongoing issues relating to user data privacy and the abuse of trust issues are causing some serious user backlash on Facebook. I've recently seen survey data suggesting that as many as 60% of current users are considering ditching their Facebook accounts due to the privacy issues - although I've no doubt that would be rather over-stated. Either way, there are a lot of challenges ahead for the site if the current management don't stop screwing around with things.
I'm much more likely to consider some more open standards based approach to integration such as OAuth, which I don't think can be used directly with Facebook (they have their own proprietary authentication interface). But that's probably a far more technical discussion than is necessary on this site.
That being said, there are plenty of things that can be done with Facebook without too much difficulty - I've already done a lot of stuff on ZooChat, and have been looking at a few other things as well which don't really impact on the issues I alluded to above.
Mobile is an interesting challenge. Based on the way mobile technology is going, my general approach is to just build a site that is fully standards compliant (and avoids technology such as Flash), and if necessary, offer a simplified version of the UI to those users who are limited in their screen real-estate and capabilities of their device. Most devices should have half-decent web browser access these days - so doing a lightweight web version of a site should be pretty straight forward. That's definitely on my plan for the new site.
Nope, I'm quite happy with vB, will be sticking with it, despite the recent furore about the licensing changes - which I think were largely an over-reaction (although I understand why some people were upset). I hope to have all seven of my vB sites migrated to vB4 by the end of the year.
Sim
Administrator
I've done a lot of work on Compare Funds scraping data off remote websites, including downloading and processing XLS files and PDF files and such (providing the format of the data doesn't change between releases). If I can get to the data, and it is in a logical (and consistent) format, then I can most likely extract that data in an automated fashion and stick it up on the site.
Sim, how about these to test your data scraping.
There's a syntax breakdown for always linking to the latest ABS xls in a series, and a specific named range....but can't find it just now.....links below don't update to latest.
Bit of a ABS blurb here on how to link to latest release. Let me know if you want anything else. I know how much time it takes to get things set up properly, but once auto update charts can be achieved, it's a worthy cause.
1. ASX 30 DAY INTERBANK CASH RATE FUTURES IMPLIED YIELD CURVE
http://www.asx.com.au/data/trt/ib_expectation_curve_graph.pdf
a daily file is generated but there's an inconsistent lag in uploading 3-48hours.
my series of progressions
Value to investors : helps to determine future direction of interest rates, and thus when and how long to fix rates.
2. Bank accepted bills and govt bond yields
30 and 90 day babs
named ranges FIRMMBAB30D, FIRMMBAB90D
2,5,10 year govt bond yields
named ranges FCMYGBAG2D, FCMYGBAG5D, FCMYGBAG10D
my yield curve
Value to investors: when short term risk is high, shorter term yields can rise above longer term = inverted yield curve. Bond yields inverted mid 06, thus highlighting impending sub prime related risk.
3. Building approvals versus estimated resident population change.
building approvals
8731006.xls
A422064L_Data
est. resident population
A2133251W_Data
These are annual figures. Monthly estimates have to be derived with ABS methodology and converted to monthly change.
my chart (uses qtrly dwelling commencements, but build approvals is more timely monthly data)
4. FHB versus non FHB
FHB av. loan size A2412825X versus non FHB av loan size A2412826A
FHB loans financed A2412824W versus non fhb loans financed A2412827C
FHB % of all dwellings financed. A2416246C
5. Bank Lending : % Owner Occupiers versus Investors
OOs DBLSLPHO
Investors DBLSLPHI
These numbers need to be totalled and expressed as a % of total.
There's a syntax breakdown for always linking to the latest ABS xls in a series, and a specific named range....but can't find it just now.....links below don't update to latest.
Bit of a ABS blurb here on how to link to latest release. Let me know if you want anything else. I know how much time it takes to get things set up properly, but once auto update charts can be achieved, it's a worthy cause.
1. ASX 30 DAY INTERBANK CASH RATE FUTURES IMPLIED YIELD CURVE
http://www.asx.com.au/data/trt/ib_expectation_curve_graph.pdf
a daily file is generated but there's an inconsistent lag in uploading 3-48hours.
my series of progressions
Value to investors : helps to determine future direction of interest rates, and thus when and how long to fix rates.
2. Bank accepted bills and govt bond yields
30 and 90 day babs
named ranges FIRMMBAB30D, FIRMMBAB90D
2,5,10 year govt bond yields
named ranges FCMYGBAG2D, FCMYGBAG5D, FCMYGBAG10D
my yield curve
Value to investors: when short term risk is high, shorter term yields can rise above longer term = inverted yield curve. Bond yields inverted mid 06, thus highlighting impending sub prime related risk.
3. Building approvals versus estimated resident population change.
building approvals
8731006.xls
A422064L_Data
est. resident population
A2133251W_Data
These are annual figures. Monthly estimates have to be derived with ABS methodology and converted to monthly change.
my chart (uses qtrly dwelling commencements, but build approvals is more timely monthly data)
4. FHB versus non FHB
FHB av. loan size A2412825X versus non FHB av loan size A2412826A
FHB loans financed A2412824W versus non fhb loans financed A2412827C
FHB % of all dwellings financed. A2416246C
5. Bank Lending : % Owner Occupiers versus Investors
OOs DBLSLPHO
Investors DBLSLPHI
These numbers need to be totalled and expressed as a % of total.
Last edited:
Sim
Administrator
After closely watching the developments with vBulletin after v4 was released, I decided I didn't want to go down that path - I don't like the direction they are taking the product.
There would be significant work involved in upgrading (v4 changed a lot of the core functionality which required substantial re-writes to plugins and custom themes) ... and as such, it would be just as much work to change to a different platform.
Now that XenForo is out and proving to be very popular and looking like a powerful and flexible platform for developing on, I'm looking to move the forum over to that once a few more key features are released in the coming months.
I'm starting to move some of my other sites across to XenForo so that once it's time to move Somersoft, I will have a wealth of experience on how to do things smoothly - and will also have my custom plugins re-written to work on the new platform.
I've been using XenForo for some time on other sites and I'm very impressed with the usability improvements over vB - I'm sure our members will really enjoy using it once we migrate.
I plan on running a beta-test for our members to become familiar with the new layout and functionality and to give feedback on the design.
Sim
Administrator
Difficult to give you much indication about how the site will look since I haven't started on the new design yet.
For now, here are some examples of some other sites using XenForo:
http://www.striderlife.com/ (I'm a member here!)
http://slruser.com/
http://forums.kayako.com/
http://www.husky-owners.com/forum/
http://www.webdesignforums.net/
Sim
Administrator
I did a test migration to XenForo a couple of weeks back and it worked well.
I just need to do a bit of work on some themes and then put together a heap of documentation for the moderation team (and possibly some for the users) to help smooth the migration.
I also have a couple of plugins I'm finalising at the moment to help with administration.
So, the answer is: soon I hope!
Cool.
Been looking forward to the change for near on 2 years. Guess its gonna be hard for some folk out there to adjust. But im sure will get over it quickly and appreciate the new things that come with it.
Cant wait. Since the worlds gone mobile and tablets are now a proven force...Does the new design take the mobile space into account? Fingers crossed. It would add a interesting dynamic to Somersoft if you could be apart of the forum on the go. In any case...bring on the new design what ever it maybe!
Reeco
Been looking forward to the change for near on 2 years. Guess its gonna be hard for some folk out there to adjust. But im sure will get over it quickly and appreciate the new things that come with it.
Cant wait. Since the worlds gone mobile and tablets are now a proven force...Does the new design take the mobile space into account? Fingers crossed. It would add a interesting dynamic to Somersoft if you could be apart of the forum on the go. In any case...bring on the new design what ever it maybe!
Reeco
