Only the RM currently has access to the list of pending sites. By letting everyone see the list, pending members could see they are in the queue and ring surfers could see what sites haven't yet been accepted.

Second Opinion (29JAN02: andreasrings)

While pending members can see their status on the site list at My Rings, making this unnecessary for them, I can see an advantage to allowing all to view the pending list. It would show if the ring is being actively or properly managed and help potential applicants see if submitting to the ring would be a waste of time.

After rings reach a certain size, manual rearrangement is disabled, while all automated reordering options are active. Can it be implemented for any size ring?

Followup (04NOV01: andreasrings)

Once a ring reaches 250 members, the manual reordering option is shut down by the system. It's due to the maximum load the CGI can handle, and is not something WebRing can control or adjust. Unfortunately, larger rings are inadvertantly and unintentionally 'punished' for achieving larger membership.

This may help 'cyrcom' with part of the problem of manually reordering larger rings. Currently, newly approved sites are defaulted to the top of the list. Why not include a checkbox on the approval page that will override the default and place new sites at the end of the list. It will save the time of having to do it manually with each approval in rings where you can still manually reorder. Plus, it's more handy than the "chronoligical, new sites at end" command for managers who have a certain order, not necessarily chronological, who definitely want newer sites at the bottom of the list to allow older sites the more 'prime' positioning.

Followup (21MAR02: andreasrings)

WISH GRANTED

HTML provided to those choosing not to use the JavaScript is not XHTML 1.0 compliant.

Followup (29JAN02: andreasrings)

There are several site tests that WebRing codes fail, both HTML and JavaScript. Unfortunately, I don't see it being possible to make the coding compliant with them all, especially since RMs can tweak the HTML themselves and may not know or care about the various compliance tests. It would be best to display ring HTML on a page that is not being tested by that software.

Please return the ability for managers to approve other members as ring helpers, to assist with various management duties of the ring. It's especially useful when the manager plans to be offline for a period of time, then the ring can continue to be managed.

Followup (27FEB02: andreasrings)

WISH GRANTED More information here

The option to have a copy of any email sent by the system also sent to the manager to facilitate general record keeping, tracking, and follow up with members. Currently it's a manual effort for the manager.

Second Opinion (30JAN02: andreasrings)

At very least, how about that option for automated management actions, including but not limited to suspension (to allow us to follow up) and reactivation (to allow us to reorder the ring list).

Many management operations return me to the hub page after saving changes. In many of these cases, it would save the manager time if saving changes returned us to the page we were working on originally.

List most-recently suspended sites first, as they often are the ones that are being reactivated the soonest. The longer a site is suspended, the less likely it is to be reactivated. Or give the option to the RM to choose the order in which suspended, active sites are listed, like we can for pending applications.

Second Opinion (30JAN02: andreasrings)

This wish wouldn't be so important except that clicking around in suspended or active sites frequently expands the list of sites displayed ("passed" often times lists with "actives" as soon as you try to navigate through multiple pages of actives and "broken" pairs with "suspended"). Perhaps if the listings were 'fixed', this wish may be a bit less important. Although it certainly has merit, especially in larger rings or those where managers don't believe in deleting suspended sites.

How about the ability to edit letters independently of any management activity? Currently, in order to edit, for example, the "approval" letter, we must have a site to approve.
In addition, it would be nice to have the option to send a test copy of that letter to myself to ensure it is constructed properly (as in "did the tag replacements resolve?") and will convey the intended point to the member.

Followup (27FEB02: andreasrings)

WISH GRANTED More information here

Ring transfers take up to ten days, which is too long when transferring between friends or to a new ID.

Followup (30JAN02: andreasrings)

To speed this up, transfer the ring to only ONE ID. When only one ID is chosen, the system automatically, usually within 24 hours, completes the transfer since that is the only chosen ID. However, when multiple IDs are targeted, the system has to ensure that all invited IDs get fair chance to make a bid for the ring, thus it's very unlikely the time frame will be shrunk.

Sometimes troubleshooting a membership requires multiple suspensions/reactivations. This would prevent the member from being bombarded with multiple, often times confusing, emails. Also, in the case of bogus applications, managers could quietly deny the prankster.

This was inspired by witezarabs mention of bogus applications....an option to block specific IDs from making future applications to a certain ring. If offending that member is a concern, have the 'sorry, no new sites are being accepted' message appear to the banned IDs. This could also deter them from creating additional IDs with which to continue to submit subsequent bogus applicants.

Second Opinion (01FEB02: cubsfreak2001)

How about IP banning, then the member can't create new IDs to harass a manager. Or maybe software to check the validity of a URL before accepting it.

The terms and explanations used throughout My Rings and management pages are terse and cryptic. How about an easier way for newer users or those with little understanding of English to comprehend terms such as U# or SSNB, to name a few.

Yahoo! had the invite mail include a link which goes directly to the addform. That URL is still included (http://*.webring.com/wrman?ring=--ringid--&addsite) in WebRing invites and circumvents the join page or ring homepage, which could cause them to miss important information that the manager has placed there for applicants. This tweaking would cause either the join page or homepage (as designated in the 'join settings' by the manager) to appear in place of the join form URL within the invitation message.

Allow the managers to specify certain elements, beyond the system minimums, which must be present for native HTML to qualify for Pass/Fail

Followup (15MAR02: andreasrings)

I think this idea would help in the fight against members who strip the code to a bare minimum, without management consent, for their own purposes. I would utilize it immediately!

Conditional Approval would be more accurate if the system forced a test at time of approval. Another option would be a "test all" button.

No matter what, a TEST ALL button, as suggested by James above, would be ideal. It's easier than trying to test each site individually, especially where there is a large number of suspended sites (ie: newly-adopted rings).

Make it possible to have checker result details available on the management page for each member, even if only as an option. The manager can decide if it's easier for him to view results on the management page or on the edit page.