MelonLand Surf Club (webring) - Now Live

[Melooon]

Idea: MelonLand Surf Club

This is an idea Iv been kicking around for a while; and I wanted to know peoples feelings about it!

The goal would be to create an easy to use directory of sites made by forum members! I think this would be fun for people to explore and also help new sites get some attention

Essentially the MelonLand Surf Club would be a JAUP style webring/site list; it would be connected to the forums profile system; everyone who has a website listed on their profile would be automatically included in the Surf Club; so in practicality, it would look like a webpage that lists all the homepages of members; you could update your URL anytime by changing your forum profile.

In terms of moderation; I tend to check the links people put on their profiles and it would benefit from that (although I also depend on you guys to let me know when I miss something!)

There would be an optional webring badge you can place on your site, this would link to the surf club page and have a button to take you to a random site (no next/forward buttons). People could opt out of the surf club by not having a site on their profile (they could still have one in their signature).

What do you think?

EDIT: Its done! https://melonland.net/surf-club.html

[JackFrost]

Good idea! I would definitely wanna be a part of it if it happens!

[sig]

Sounds like fun, definitely all for it!

[lime360]

looks epic

[TheFrugalGamer]

I'd actually considered bringing this idea up myself, so you know I'm all for it!

[DoctorDizzy]

This is a really good idea! You should totally go for it!!!

[dotmidi]

I really need webrings to join so this would be awesome!!
I love to check up on the melonland forums for help and conversation so I hope you do make a webring for it

[wodaro]

Oh wow! I just saw this now!

When I spotted the update in the banner announcing the webring, I thought "I'd better work hard on my site before I join it" and then discovered I was already in it lol. But it was so exciting to add the widget to my page! Gives me an incentive to finish the pages I'm working on (an e-shrine for the game We Know The Devil, and a page for art and info of all my D&:grin: characters!) so more people can see them.

I'm excited to browse through all the sites in the web ring!

[Melooon]

Im glad you like it, and its super cool to see someone using the badge for the first time

Obvs feedback from anyone is welcome; I did my best, but its still a first draft and I know there are plenty of ways the wring page and badge could be improved. At some point I'll add pages to the wring list because its VERY long.. possibly it could get a site of the day feature.

[TheFrugalGamer]

OH I'M SO EXCITED! I've already got the badge on my site, and now I have so many more sites to go visit! Thank you for putting this together!

BTW I love the styles you've used for the list page. Pulling the backgrounds from the sites was a good idea--it's simple but it personalizes the listings for each site in a great way.

[dotmidi]

  OH MY GOODNESS i just saw my site inside the webring im so excited!! im going to put the badge in my dusted off and unused webring collection
THIS IS MY FIRST WEBRING WAHOO

[ArtificialBroiler]

This is also my first webring! I think the widget fits nicely in my sidebar

[tarocchilla]

OHMYGOSH I LOVE THIS SO MUCH AAAA

I'm heavily redoing my homepage (it's spaghetti coded lol) but i can't wait to add this, the widget also looks so cuteee!!!

[Guest]

Super cool widget! Thank you for your time and effort on this project, in addition to also making it so welcoming. All the best! 🙏

[Melooon]

Surf Club Updates:

I just wanted to give a quick update on the Surf Club and how I plan to manage it as it grows!

Recently you'll have seen the club list has pages! Instead of a single list, there are now multiple pages with 64 sites per page. This should help it work better on lower-spec computers and be less visually overwhelming to scroll, so hopefully, that will make it more inviting to browse!

The screenshots are also bigger, per-site styling is improved, and the overall loading speed has been improved using the forum's image cache system. The server has been revamped and should automatically recover from crashes, and it has better filtering that will automatically hide offline sites.

As time goes on I'll be focusing on these features:

• Smarter site refreshing and displaying; which will allow the list to grow without causing issues!
• Add a Surf mode that lets you flip through sites in fullscreen
• Filters and categories that let you find sites via keywords (you'd be able to configure them for your site)
• Widget improvements and possibly add per-category widgets if those are added!

The Surf Club was designed to avoid the anonymity of scale that larger rings often suffer from, in particular, Em's comments about the LowTechWebring had a big impact on the club. My plan to avoid that is to continue to focus on new and recently active forum members, sub-divide and split sites up so that it's not overwhelming, and overall make the experience feel like a fun and approachable adventure