The Future of TWW

submitted by qntmfred on Wednesday, December 9 at 11:49 PM

Dear fellow tdubbers,

The Wolf Web is nearing 10 years old. That's a pretty remarkable achievement in the internet age and I think it would be pretty amazing if tww were around in another 10 years. To help make that happen, we're giving the community the opportunity to make this site whatever we want to.

A lot of you already know me, but for those who don't, I'm qntmfred and when I arrived at NC State in 2000, thewolfweb was already a well-known fixture on campus, and has been ever since. Since the original creator, CrazyJ, moved on the site has continued to survive, but has been desperately lacking some care and attention. I've been working with the new owners for a few months and they are fully on board with letting the community lead the way forward. I'll be working on rejuvenating the code that runs the site, and also helping to get involved anybody who wants to help out.

If you've been around here at all the last few years, you know tww occassionally has "technical difficulties." I've been working on putting an end to the constant Oh Shit! errors and soon we'll be back to a reliably browsable site.

Next, the School Tool is one of the most useful features tww has and it's a shame it's been out of service for so long. Well, starting for next semester, you'll once again be able to find useful information about classes and professors at NC State.

The Textbook Exchange is another great idea that we've all been missing out on. We're revamping textbook exchange to not only allow you to buy and sell books from other students, but also to use a new price comparison engine, so you get the best deal available, whether it's local or online.

I mentioned earlier we want the community to take charge, so what does that mean? For one, let us know what you think about the site. What's awesome about it, what's not awesome, and how could we make it awesomer? Have technical skills? We want more people involved in the coding and development. Sick of stupid ads? So are we. Help us find local advertisers that have something interesting to offer our users. If you're interested in being involved in these or any other way, let me know!

Another way to help is to become a premium member. Premium members get to browse tww ad-free and get access to a bunch of other special features. Premium members will also get first access to all new features in the future. It's a cheap, easy way to help keep tww running and includes many HIGHLY DESIRABLE benefits. Sign up now! Just want to make a donation to let us know you are glad somebody is finally doing something about this place? Buy an ad with your own personal message of support.

I'm looking forward to some great changes for the New Year at The Wolf Web! Thanks for being a loyal member.

<3,
qntmfred

posted by qntmfred on Wednesday, December 9 at 11:54 PM

first!

12/9/2009 11:54:56 PM

w00t

12/9/2009 11:57:44 PM

all hail qntmfred

12/10/2009 12:04:37 AM

4st

12/10/2009 12:05:37 AM

in on page 1

12/10/2009 12:10:36 AM

i support this.

12/10/2009 12:17:13 AM

For those about to QFRED, we salute you.

12/10/2009 12:17:25 AM

all hail qntmfred

12/10/2009 4:17:41 AM

in before Sweden

12/10/2009 4:46:45 AM

Yo qntmfred, I'mma let you finish, but Nael had the best post about improving TWW and then not following through of ALL TIME

[Edited on December 10, 2009 at 5:45 AM. Reason : asdf]

12/10/2009 5:44:57 AM

In qntmfred we trust.

12/10/2009 7:32:59 AM

^^^ LOL

pwnt

12/10/2009 8:22:11 AM

Nice, thanks for all the hard work.

12/10/2009 8:35:46 AM

Quote :

"Premium members will also get first access to all new features in the future"

woot

12/10/2009 9:16:18 AM

any way to become a premium member without using paypal? I absolutely hate that site after they stole my money

12/10/2009 9:28:52 AM

that's a good point. i'll check

12/10/2009 9:30:37 AM

look at qtnmken all making shit better and what not.

12/10/2009 10:53:22 AM

12/10/2009 10:56:32 AM

I will volunteer to help improve the User Experience!!!11

12/10/2009 11:05:13 AM

You have my sword, qntmfred

12/10/2009 11:07:57 AM

Quote :

"BUY AN AD"

12/10/2009 11:12:00 AM

more like

I
<3
qntmfred

(and punchmonk)

12/10/2009 11:48:09 AM

yeh, get another method to pay other than paypal and I'll contribute money.

12/10/2009 12:20:26 PM

CHANGE TO POLL

12/10/2009 1:27:26 PM

awesome

12/10/2009 1:27:57 PM

12/10/2009 3:29:18 PM

i, for one, welcome our new qntm overlord

12/10/2009 4:24:40 PM

and my bow...

12/10/2009 6:18:49 PM

vbulletin

12/10/2009 6:33:19 PM

these all sound like terrible ideas.

12/10/2009 6:55:14 PM

If you have premium access, you can do cool stuff like this!!1

12/10/2009 7:20:53 PM

If you want the site to blow up in popularity again, bring back all the suspended users. Drama brings page clicks, amirite?

12/10/2009 8:00:10 PM

School Tool seriously dosent work?!!! I used to use it every semester. It was awesome!

12/10/2009 8:51:39 PM

qntmfred

12/10/2009 10:15:14 PM

can we please adjust flood control

I'M ALREADY FLOOD CONTROLLED. I DIDN'T PAD, I'M JUST A QUICK POSTER.

12/10/2009 10:47:01 PM

12/10/2009 11:28:01 PM

I feel a woot coming on.

12/10/2009 11:43:26 PM

woot

12/11/2009 2:22:59 AM

Quote :

"<3, qntmfred"

[Edited on December 11, 2009 at 1:03 PM. Reason : my fav. part ]

12/11/2009 1:03:06 PM

the textbook exchange should be the #1 focus of the site.
if that was done in a thoughtful manner in which students can efficiently and easily buy and sell books then you would have thousands of students coming here first before they go to any book store. That could be the driver for a lot of traffic which the site needs for revenue.


but there are many things that make the tool not very user friendly, for example contacting many people to buy books only to find out they have already sold it.
you should know when a book was posted, perhaps there should be a two semester limit on a posted book,
also automatic email contact with the person who posts a book will make them update their book status if they sell it or to change price.

and im sure there are many more suggestions.

12/11/2009 8:06:56 PM

Can we have a private section where we can all drop the n-bomb til the cows come home without worrying about WRAL coming to get us?

12/11/2009 9:16:35 PM

you're welcome to shoot your mouth off in premium palace

12/11/2009 9:51:10 PM

Quote :

"all hail qntmfred"

12/12/2009 12:00:37 AM

As long as you keep the same classic look I'm cool with updating the site

gg quantumken!

12/12/2009 11:36:19 AM

make this site better, faster, and stronger!

<3 and sugar for qntmfred

12/13/2009 10:27:45 AM

hows about we just free trjnfag and go from there

12/13/2009 5:11:08 PM

whoa hadnt read this til now i was wonderin what all the buzzin was about

awesomeness

12/15/2009 4:24:16 PM

yea keep the classic look, and give another option than paypal and I'll premium as well.

12/15/2009 5:01:05 PM

I wanna know how many female twwers, besides punchmonk, are lined up at qntfred's door to bwn because of this announcement
??

12/15/2009 11:30:52 PM

when is school tool gonna be back up?

12/16/2009 1:04:13 PM

this year

12/16/2009 7:01:32 PM

payment method....revolution money?

12/17/2009 8:51:19 PM

and my axe...

12/20/2009 10:43:14 AM

I, too, support our new qntm overlord

I'd buy premie or support the future of tww before I'd even give money to the alumni association at this point

this drivel has kept me sane and given me a welcome distraction for four or five years now

12/21/2009 11:57:10 PM

I'd be a lot more inclined to buy ads if the next paragraph wasn't about going premium so you don't have to see ads.

Just sayin'

12/23/2009 1:02:58 PM

I <3 T-dub

12/27/2009 4:43:21 AM

use either vBulletin or phpBB... this home grown shit sucks

12/31/2009 2:18:12 PM

false

12/31/2009 6:14:51 PM

How do i make my words bigger?

1/6/2010 2:17:16 PM

Quote :

"qntmfred 2010 vision 27816 Posts user info edit comment this year "

moar lies

1/8/2010 4:06:18 PM

Wait, you can post in these things?

[Edited on January 8, 2010 at 11:36 PM. Reason : l]

1/8/2010 11:36:43 PM

over a month and a half later...and no change

1/21/2010 7:27:54 PM

still...no change

1/29/2010 8:18:29 PM

message_topic.aspx?topic=524803

1/31/2010 11:51:24 AM

I have noticed minor, positive changes

2/5/2010 1:01:48 PM

so if school tool works... how do you upload/input your schedule?

2/15/2010 1:42:32 PM

there's no mass upload feature (yet)

but you can go to your class page, for instance school_class.aspx?class=121067 and click the button

2/15/2010 9:24:06 PM