Beta stage

The www.decex.net site is now live and in beta stage while we find problems and try to iron them out. Feel free to post as you would expect and please report any issues that you see.

Temporary logo

Here's the new temporary logo

Server upload in progress

The forum software is being uploaded at the moment so we'll be taking a little time out to tweak and twiddle.

Delays, delays, delays, but we're nearly there

You will have been wondering why it's gone so quiet at DeCEx, and to be honest so were we.

The truth is that we've been delayed by some unforeseen internal technical issues with one of our forthcoming sponsors that meant we couldn't move as fast as we needed to. But, we're glad to say that we've decided to push forward regardless.

Joe is planning on uploading the bare bones into the servers early next week.

We'll be revving up the Mod Team over the next few days and putting some ab anitio training in place.

Add yourself to the Members Directory

If you would like to be added to the DeCEx Members Directory please drop us a line to admin@decex.net.

Some thoughts about software, vBulletin and the future

We have a two stage plan for DeCEx.

First and foremost we know that content is king of the hill. So we're not going to make it difficult for people to join and get discussions going. We've settled on the vBulletin forum software for a few reasons. First and foremost, it's the biggest and best. Obviously that isn't always the right choice but we wanted a stable forum that doesn't crash and one that has a familiar look and feel for users.

VB has been around for years and each iteration moves the goalposts slightly while leaving the user experience intact. As two out of three of us aren't hugely technical we like this!

The next stage is more complicated and to be honest we're still playing with the initial ideas. In brief we're looking at creating a portal style front end that the user can manipulate and customise but most importantly one that they can use to get content onto the site including multi-media and text from a whole variety of platforms. We have a vision of members reportage from the scene! This is all on the back-burner for now though so don't expect any updates on this for some time.

How many sections should a forum have?

One of the toughest jobs when creating a new forum is deciding on the different sections. It doesn't sound like much of a task does it? The trouble is that if you have too many sections everything looks lonely and unloved in the Laser levels and theodolites section but the Footie chatter is chocked full of non-core discussion. Past experience tells us that a bit of balance is needed.

So how did we arrive at a decision? In truth we haven't really because after a hot and sweaty meeting this morning we put down a simple structure that we hope won't be too confusing in the early days. It might change though!

DEVELOPMENT AND LAND

clients, legal, contracts, acquisition, investment, agents, project managers,

ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING, DESIGN AND ENGINEERING

architecture, civil, structures, environmental, geotechnical, transport, planning, services, highways,

CONSTRUCTION

main contractors, site work, subcontractor trades, materials, suppliers, merchants, tools, plant, machinery,

ENVIRONMENTAL

renewables, recycling, waste, remediation, pollution, contamination, carbon footprint, transport,

PROJECTS

project or location specific threads

LEARNING ZONE

students, new to industry, ask an expert, CPD

GENERAL CHAT

anything not related to the built environment

SPORT CHAT

COMPUTERS & TECH

IT, computers, mobile phones, cameras, surveying equipment, internet, social networking,

CLASSIFIED ADVERTS

• TENDERS
• JOBS
• VEHICLES & PLANT
• LAND & BUILDINGS
• MISCELLANEOUS

MEMBER DIRECTORY

List of members, their companies, blogs, Twitter, etc

You'll see that we've tried to keep it simple - big sections but ones that try to cover the major areas of interest in today's built environment. We'll keep it under review and will invite feedback and suggestions as time progresses so please let us know your thoughts.

The Learning Zone

Tony flies aeroplanes in his spare time* and uses the Flyer Forum where they came up with a great idea - a Student Pilot section. Student pilots come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and ages but learning to fly is a great leveller whether you are a thrusting captain of industry or have retired to the garden. So the Students Pilots section has one simple rule - ask anything you like and be nice and helpful in reply.

We're also keen to provide a place for those who are new such as students and apprentices or even home-builders and DIY'ers to find advice without worrying about sounding daft. We'll have a Learning Zone where everybody is expected to be respectful and no question is too crazy to ask. People love to share their hard won expertise so we're only too happy to provide a place to provide it.

* Old joke; Q: How do you know if there is a pilot in the room? A: They will tell you.

Rules, rules, rules

DeCEx will need some rules. Everything needs some sort of rules. The trouble is how to put together something that doesn't treat people like obnoxious teenagers but still keeps the general tone and feel of the place 'just so'.

So we're putting together some ideas for what that ethos should be.

The first thing that we believe in is that the forum should be family friendly. By that we mean that it could be left on a screen in the living room or workplace without worrying that the content would be embarrassing. That idea covers lots of bases for us in one go - swearing, racism, sexism, and other 'isms, inappropriate links and rude pictures!

On top of that we need to believe that content is relevant. So we'll try to keep on-topic with threads being in the appropriate sections. Who wants Sport cluttered up with chat about red diesel in JCB's?

We'll expect everyone to play nice so that covers bullying, flaming, abuse and a few other things.

Anonymity can be total or non-existent. It's the individual members choice. But we'll take a dim view of people who register more than one account without telling is, especially if they do it for reasons that we don't like.

Advertising is a tricky one. We don't mind discreet promotion in signatures, the Members Directory or even in offers to help out with work. But if we get the impression that somebody is using DeCEx for blatant advertising then we'll stop it, especially if they aren't putting much back into the online community. Obviously we hope to have a little paid advertising and sponsorship so we will need to ensure that their commercial interests are looked after professionally.

You'll notice that a lot of this is for interpretation and you would be right. The Mod Team will be the main line of defence for keeping things tickity boo but we'll enable members to 'report posts' if they think that something needs attention. Admin will be the final arbiters if the Mod Team can't find a resolution that suits each party.

There will be a written terms of use statement drawn up in due course but if you want to have some input then please contact admin@decex.net.

Mod Team invites

We've made a few tentative invitations for people to join us on the Mod Team. We won't embarrass them yet - and they might say no - so we'll report back as and when in the future.

Just what is a Mod Team?

Every forum needs moderating. It's a fact of life that in a largely anonymous environment that some people won't understand how to use site properly, will make mistakes or they simply won't know how to behave themselves.

So that's where the Mod Team comes in. A small group of volunteers invited by the Admins look after the day to day housekeeping of the site. That's it really. We'll have a set of members guidelines / terms of use / rules (call then what you will) that set the tone for DeCEx and the Mod Team will have the tools and authority to keep things bubbling along nicely.

Briefly those tools include the ability to re-title, edit or even remove threads, impose sanctions on unruly members and generally help set the tone of the DeCEx forum to make it a nice place for members.

It isn't an appointment for life and there is no minimum time commitment so the Mod Team might change over time depending on their situation and the forum's needs.

Pipe Ten are the hosting sponsor for DeCEx

After a cheeky request Jonny Hudson at Ask4 has very kindly agreed to sponsor us by hosting DeCEx with their newly acquired web hosting company Pipe Ten.

This is a major step for us as we'll now have access to servers that we can drive by right here in Sheffield, England rather than in an unknown data centre in the dusty California hills.

Pipe Ten are in the middle of some technical reorganisation after the acquisition so we'll have a couple of weeks before we get a clear run but the horizon is moving closer.

Who is DeCEx aimed at?

Anyone. Obviously if you are engaged with the built environment in some way you'll find the chat about foundations, land values, AutoCAD and diggers more interesting than if you expected to talk about needlepoint.

So it's for everyone with any interest in buildings, cities, the processes of design, construction, development and even investment.

Two becomes three

After a little schmoozing at Cafe Moco and quite a bit of arm twisting there are now three members of the DeCEx team.

Joe Pritchard has joined us, and he's the real brains behind the technical stuff. Due to a short attention span Tony and Andrew tend to glaze over at the mention of code, scripting and servers but Joe is one of the top men at this stuff and frankly we're amazed that he said yes! Joe and Tony were last involved together in the online local community forum so they have learned to tolerate each others foibles.

Who's paying for all this?

What a good question. We're still not entirely sure yet because it's funded from our own pockets at the moment.

There are few offers of sponsorship which we will be following up. Also we'll have a couple of banner ad's and maybe some discreet Google ad's. We know one thing though - we're not keen on plastering flashing adverts or pop-ups all over the site. They irritate us as much as they irritate you so we're determined to keep it simple while making it pay its way.

On top of that we have an idea for classified and trade advertising but to be honest that is at the back of our minds right now.

Who is behind DeCEx?

The idea came about following work done by Andrew McCormick and Tony Carroll on the H & P Share collaboration project for Andrew's company. They couldn't find anything online that brought together all sectors of the built environment from clients and end users to architect, builders, designers, engineers, tradesmen etc. Sure, there were lots of forums that had their own angles but nothing independant and nothing with any critical mass of topics.

So the idea was born and we're busy putting it together.

Tony has been involved in putting up buildings all his working life , originally in architecture with well respected practices in Sheffield and later as a developer and development and property consultant in his own right. He was also involved as admin in an online local community forum that grew from around a thousand members when he joined to nearly 60,000 when he finally retired so he probably knows a thing or two about online networks.

Andrew is a marketing man through and through, but in a very modern sense. In his position as Business Development Manager at Hobson and Porter he looks after everything from client liason through to creating and structiring bids for major work packages like YORbuild. Turnover at Hobson and Porter has tripled since he joined them so he must be doing something right.