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- 28 May 2004
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Good evening all! 
In the very near future ASF is going to undergo some signficant changes, so I thought I should give you all some advance warning.
Quite soon I will be upgrading the forum software to a newer, more sophisticated version that offers more features that I am hoping many of you will find useful. I will also be introducing a brand new website design.
In brief, some of the additional features that the new forum software will offer are:
1. Groups
In the past, many ASF members have expressed a desire to organise groups of like minded individuals based on particular interests or geographical location. The current forum software does not really support this, but the new forum software will. Any ASF member will be able to start a group that can be public or invite only. There will be a special "Groups" area where people can browse existing public groups and an area devoted to each particular group where members can have discussions specific to their group and organise get togethers.
Individual groups will be moderated by the person who created it. The group creator will also be able to send out notifications to other group members, although like most options this can be turned off should you not wish to receive them.
2. Albums
ASF members will be able to create their own personal image collections in the form of albums.
These can be charts, photos or any other images you would like to build a collection of. They can either be public, private or accessed only by your friends (see Friends and Contacts below). Individual images can be captioned by the owner and others who have access to your album images can comment on them. The owner of the album can remove any inapproriate comments or report them if they are in violation of the site rules.
Images in your albums can be easily be added to forum posts by using the now familiar BB code.
3. Friends and Contacts
A friendship is a mutual, two-way relationship between two ASF members. It is initiated by one user and accepted by the other.
A contact is a one-way friendship. This could be where the other person does not accept the friendship, a friendship request is pending, or you do not wish to be friends at this time but want to show them as a contact only.
Your friends and contacts are displayed on the 'Contacts and Friends' page in your User CP. Your friends are also displayed in your profile page.
I will be trialling a Facebook style footer chat that will enable ASF members to chat directly with their ASF friends, either one on one or as a group, although this may not appear immediately.
4. Facebook integration
ASF will be introducing Facebook like buttons to individual threads so those who use Facebook can let their Facebook friends know about particular threads on ASF. Those who don't use Facebook can simply ignore these.
5. Support for iPhones and other mobile devices
At the moment, ASF is not easily navigated by those browsing the site with their iPhone or other mobile device. This is about to change. There is one existing app called Tapatalk that enables the easy browsing of forums using supported forum software. There is also a dedicated app on the way designed specifically for the forum software ASF will be using. More details on that as they come to hand.
6. Twitter integration
All new threads created on ASF will be published to ASF's Twitter page so those who use Twitter can follow us to keep up to date with new content. ASF members and visitors will also have the option to "tweet" ASF threads and posts to their own Twitter feed.
7. Tags
Tags are a useful way to search for threads with similar subject matter and content. This complements the normal search system, which searches only for certain words or phrases and/or posts by specific users.
To use tags, you add words or phrases to threads to help describe the content. For instance, if the subject matter is 'technical analysis' then you can add the tag 'technical analysis' to the tag list. But you could also add tags like 'support and resistance', and 'pivot point' (depending, of course, on
the nature of the thread).
This will categorize this thread with all other threads that have matching tags, whether or not they have the word 'technical analysis' in them.
As I mentioned above, this is just a brief overview of some the new features that ASF will be offering in the very near future. Once they are introduced you will be free to explore them at your leisure and I will be starting a new thread where I will be answering questions from those who have specific concerns or queries.
I expect there will be minor teething problems when the new forum software and website design is introduced and probably a transitional period of a week or two where minor tweaking and small adjustments will need to be made. I ask everyone to be patient during this time.
I imagine the new website design will also take a little getting used to, although I done my best to ensure that it is simple, clean and easy to navigate. There are, however, some significant differences from the forum as it currently exists.
In the very near future ASF is going to undergo some signficant changes, so I thought I should give you all some advance warning.
Quite soon I will be upgrading the forum software to a newer, more sophisticated version that offers more features that I am hoping many of you will find useful. I will also be introducing a brand new website design.
In brief, some of the additional features that the new forum software will offer are:
1. Groups
In the past, many ASF members have expressed a desire to organise groups of like minded individuals based on particular interests or geographical location. The current forum software does not really support this, but the new forum software will. Any ASF member will be able to start a group that can be public or invite only. There will be a special "Groups" area where people can browse existing public groups and an area devoted to each particular group where members can have discussions specific to their group and organise get togethers.
Individual groups will be moderated by the person who created it. The group creator will also be able to send out notifications to other group members, although like most options this can be turned off should you not wish to receive them.
2. Albums
ASF members will be able to create their own personal image collections in the form of albums.
These can be charts, photos or any other images you would like to build a collection of. They can either be public, private or accessed only by your friends (see Friends and Contacts below). Individual images can be captioned by the owner and others who have access to your album images can comment on them. The owner of the album can remove any inapproriate comments or report them if they are in violation of the site rules.
Images in your albums can be easily be added to forum posts by using the now familiar BB code.
3. Friends and Contacts
A friendship is a mutual, two-way relationship between two ASF members. It is initiated by one user and accepted by the other.
A contact is a one-way friendship. This could be where the other person does not accept the friendship, a friendship request is pending, or you do not wish to be friends at this time but want to show them as a contact only.
Your friends and contacts are displayed on the 'Contacts and Friends' page in your User CP. Your friends are also displayed in your profile page.
I will be trialling a Facebook style footer chat that will enable ASF members to chat directly with their ASF friends, either one on one or as a group, although this may not appear immediately.
4. Facebook integration
ASF will be introducing Facebook like buttons to individual threads so those who use Facebook can let their Facebook friends know about particular threads on ASF. Those who don't use Facebook can simply ignore these.
5. Support for iPhones and other mobile devices
At the moment, ASF is not easily navigated by those browsing the site with their iPhone or other mobile device. This is about to change. There is one existing app called Tapatalk that enables the easy browsing of forums using supported forum software. There is also a dedicated app on the way designed specifically for the forum software ASF will be using. More details on that as they come to hand.
6. Twitter integration
All new threads created on ASF will be published to ASF's Twitter page so those who use Twitter can follow us to keep up to date with new content. ASF members and visitors will also have the option to "tweet" ASF threads and posts to their own Twitter feed.
7. Tags
Tags are a useful way to search for threads with similar subject matter and content. This complements the normal search system, which searches only for certain words or phrases and/or posts by specific users.
To use tags, you add words or phrases to threads to help describe the content. For instance, if the subject matter is 'technical analysis' then you can add the tag 'technical analysis' to the tag list. But you could also add tags like 'support and resistance', and 'pivot point' (depending, of course, on
the nature of the thread).
This will categorize this thread with all other threads that have matching tags, whether or not they have the word 'technical analysis' in them.
As I mentioned above, this is just a brief overview of some the new features that ASF will be offering in the very near future. Once they are introduced you will be free to explore them at your leisure and I will be starting a new thread where I will be answering questions from those who have specific concerns or queries.
I expect there will be minor teething problems when the new forum software and website design is introduced and probably a transitional period of a week or two where minor tweaking and small adjustments will need to be made. I ask everyone to be patient during this time.
I imagine the new website design will also take a little getting used to, although I done my best to ensure that it is simple, clean and easy to navigate. There are, however, some significant differences from the forum as it currently exists.
