Batlabs out of date.... (not BATBOARD)

[Hightower]

Just wondering if batlabs.com is ever going to be updated with more up-to-date information?

Numerous new radios have been released since 2004

[escomm]

Probably not, everytime this comes up Alex says there ain't much that can be done

[alex]

Probably not, everytime this comes up Alex says there ain't much that can be done

True to a point. I have some better communications these days with Bat, and if you have a change that you want made, I would just say, redo the page, and then contact me, and I'll forward it on. I do not have access to change the stuff myself, but if you want to do a full update on a section, or give a "replacement page", I could probably see the change being made.

However, If the little bit and pieces are nitpicked, it gets to the point where it does take a lot of time for someone to go through and edit.

I can certainly try, and do not object, but again, change the full page, or edit the full page, don't just say sub paragraph 4, line 5, word 6. It just takes too long, and it won't happen.

-Alex

EDIT: You know, thinking about it - people complain about it not being up to date, but I'm not really convinced that even the offer above is really enough to motivate folks... So I challenge you to prove me wrong, update a couple of pages, and send them to me.

[dirtrat]

Yeah I understand what you are saying. The link on top that lets you located a MSS is not accurate at all. It in no way list all of the MSS shops! Our company has 4 shops and we are the only MSS in a pretty big city and have been since Motorola sold all of there shops years ago and we aren't even listed.

[ericw]

I have attempted to contact the sysops 3 times with detailed information that I have compiled related to 9100 type MDTs. I have not been able to wrestle up a response. I would love to submit this information to help others with this none existent information, but can't find a live person there who monitors the email. I would be interested in how to help keep this very worthwhile site living.

Eric
WD8LEI
mdtinfo (a) willmantech with com at the end.

[DPL]

wiki



...sorry, had to say it

[Hightower]

All good points guys, I have sent in a few additions, but they never made to the website.

Alex makes a good point, download the page needing updating, change it , and see if the sysops (after validating) will put it up. That seems like the best/easiest way to help out the sysop. It's apparent the sysop probably doesn't have the time to update little stuff on this page or that page.....

[alex]

I have attempted to contact the sysops 3 times with detailed information that I have compiled related to 9100 type MDTs. I have not been able to wrestle up a response. I would love to submit this information to help others with this none existent information, but can't find a live person there who monitors the email. I would be interested in how to help keep this very worthwhile site living.

Eric
WD8LEI
mdtinfo (a) willmantech with com at the end.

Eric -- If you have that information in a presentable form, which follows the design (It's somewhat old school and quite easy), forward them to alex a t batlabs dot com and I'll see about getting them posted. Maybe one or two of these small changes will get people going on changing some other stuff.

I'll do me best, and that's all I can offer.

-Alex

[Conundrum]

wiki



...sorry, had to say it

hey, I know if there was a batlabs wiki, there would be tons of people contributing, just lock it down to registered members with x number of posts. on top of that I know if there was a batlabs wiki, I would spend time transferring information over to it.

[alex]

I tossed around the idea of it a while ago, actually made one, and got a few people who were interested in doing it that I asked individually, and it flopped... I don't know if I didn't ask the right people, or people just had too much other stuff going on. I was hoping to get all the main site stuff transfered to the WIKI, and then just open it up and see what happened.

That's why I installed knowledge base on the old forum, and I've very slowly begun to get the permissions in line on a group of sub forums which can support the transfer of data from the old KB system to the new one. Once that's done and online, there will be a place for it. When the knowledge base was there, there was some stuff put in it, but for the most part, it was pretty quiet... PJ moved a lot of the price / sale info sheets over to it, but there wasn't anyone except for a couple of the centracom guys contributing stuff.

Here is the problem - I put some cheese on a string, and dangle it before people. Everyone sits around and stares at the cheese, and no one goes for it and makes it happen. So, lets start small, and see what happens...

Let's start with my original suggestion - submit some pages of info if you'd like to update them, and I'll do what I can to see about
getting them online. IF that seems to pick up a bit, we can move on from there with other ideas and suggestions...

-Alex

[ericw]

Thanks Alex for your work in this area. As promised, I have sent you a WORD (.doc) file with all my MDT info. As you suggested, I included the original information from BatLabs in similar format to make it smooth for cut and paste into the site. This represents 5 pages of info that I have compiled over the past few months. I have spent a lot of time working through this little cutie and I couldn't find much of anything out on the web about it. I am eager to share this info to others.

Let me know if there is anything that I can do to help the process. Of course you already have my permission to include the document submitted to the BatLabs site.

Respectully,
Eric
WD8LEI

[alex]

Thanks Alex for your work in this area. As promised, I have sent you a WORD (.doc) file with all my MDT info. As you suggested, I included the original information from BatLabs in similar format to make it smooth for cut and paste into the site. This represents 5 pages of info that I have compiled over the past few months. I have spent a lot of time working through this little cutie and I couldn't find much of anything out on the web about it. I am eager to share this info to others.

Let me know if there is anything that I can do to help the process. Of course you already have my permission to include the document submitted to the BatLabs site.

Respectully,
Eric
WD8LEI

Eric -

I got your email, and I passed it along. I will do what I can.

-Alex

[alex]

http://www.batlabs.com/mdt.html

That happened a lot faster than even I imagined.

Anyone else wana play?

-Alex

[escomm]

http://www.batlabs.com/mdt.html

That happened a lot faster than even I imagined.

Anyone else wana play?

-Alex

The proof is in the pudding!!!

[videonerd]

It needs to be a Wiki. It's Web 2.0 now. The old way of doing things on the Internet is over. Static HTML pages especially for dynamic information sites like this is work-intensive, chances for missed links and such are high, and as we can see, all updates go through a central person who really slows things down.

Like I said before, I've done SOME legwork on a Wiki. I've made a demo on the RadioReference Wiki under Motorola radios.
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.ph ... ola_Radios
and click on the Genesis series, say, P200, the Astro Saber, and the XTS portables. You'll see how it looks.

[alex]

It needs to be a Wiki. It's Web 2.0 now. The old way of doing things on the Internet is over. Static HTML pages especially for dynamic information sites like this is work-intensive, chances for missed links and such are high, and as we can see, all updates go through a central person who really slows things down.

Like I said before, I've done SOME legwork on a Wiki. I've made a demo on the RadioReference Wiki under Motorola radios.
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.ph ... ola_Radios
and click on the Genesis series, say, P200, the Astro Saber, and the XTS portables. You'll see how it looks.

I'm not saying Wiki isn't a solution. However, right now, even getting 8-10 people to just lay the groundwork is a pain in the arse. Not to mention, i now have to teach all of these guys/gals how to actually update the wiki. How to deal with adding image, and making it so that they can do this easily. So it's not their fault, it's not mine - it's just that it requires a decent learning curve - and TIME.

All of this stuff is easier said than done. Right now, if you'd like to contribute something, make a change, etc, it seems like I have the attention of someone who doesn't mind flipping HTML pages around, lets take advantage of it.

I've gotten 1 page updated... in less than 12 hours, with a simple email to me.

I don't see how in almost 3 years of no updates, it can get any simpler.

Type it in word and email it to me... I could care less.

-Alex

[akardam]

It needs to be a Wiki. It's Web 2.0 now. The old way of doing things on the Internet is over.

Well first off, I never thought I'd see that retarded "web 2.0" buzzword here.

Since right now the control of the main site is under one person, they can manage the info as they damn well please. Also, I've seen a very low instance of bad links on Batlabs - less than some other large repositories of information.

We know how a Wiki works. Batlabs doesn't need to be a Wiki. It might be a nice alternative, but it doesn't need to be. There would be a non-trivial amount of effort involved in setting it up, configuring, setting up permissions, and then importing the existing information. We'd have to involve the main site administrator in the decision to implement a Wiki, anyway.

Anyway, as Alex says, there's been a decent jumpstart to the update process after a period of stagnation. Let's see how it goes.

[DPL]

I must have missed the first attempt at a Wiki. Either that or I wasn't around yet.

Anyway, if "bat" decides to let us put up a wiki on batlabs.com, add me to the list of people who can help transfer information. That would be the most time consuming process, and fortunately it's the part that the most people can help with, since it can all be done through the browser. As far as learning the formatting? Read the help page for a couple of minutes and you've got it.

Yeah, setting up a wiki *can* be a pain. I've done it several times, with different kinds of wiki software. If you use MediaWiki, it can (will) be a pain. If you use a simpler package like dokuwiki, it's not that hard at all. The pages are stored as text files, so there is no database to mess with, and making backups/archives is really easy.

If the existing site were converted to a wiki and the current information transferred, it wouldn't matter if editing it ever caught on with the general readership. It would at least make it so that changing something didn't require emailing and FTPing. But hey, if that's what turns out to work, I guess it ain't broke, so maybe we shouldn't fix it.

[ericw]

I had to restart Mozilla again today and when it reloaded all my pages, wha-la, I noticed that the MDT info I submitted was posted on BatLabs. I am really excited about that. THANKS ALEX FOR YOUR HARD WORK with getting that done. I am glad that I could share my research.

The new data with a 07/31/07 update date is http://www.batlabs.com/mdt.html

Keep up the great work and let me know if I can assist in the future.

Best regards,
Eric

[alex]

So it's been about 2 weeks or so now, and I have yet to get any new information, or anyone who is up for contributing to this stuff.

There's lots of great suggestions - but as I said, seeing how this will go gives me the best idea of what participation could be for a wiki or something like that.

Those of you who are complaining, and want something better -- get off your butts and work on some updates! I'll do my best as always - and in that case... 24 hour turn around on the site posting and updating on MDT information.

You all can be a part --- help out!