Welcome to the very first OptiBoard Newsletter!
I thought this would be a good time to give you an update on what's happened over the last few weeks and to tell you about some of the future enhancements we'll be working on over the next few months.
As most of you know, the new Forum underwent testing for over two months before being launched on May 7th. The reaction has been much better than I had hoped. The comments I've received and read on the Board have been overwhelmingly positive. You can read some of these at:
Here's a few interesting OptiBoard statistics since the switch to the new forum.
Part of this increase is due to the many new features and enhancements. The most popular of these have been:
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Here's a few of the many hot topics currently being discussed on the Board:
The Future of Independent Wholesale Labs?
Tips on Dispensing
Contact Lens Research
What is your typical work day like?
Refracting Opticians
Refractive Surgery
National Boards/National Licensure
Base Curves
Ray Tracing Basics Site
Popular Lens Materials
===================
So what will the future bring? Among the new features planned are:
Dedicated Server: Next weekend we'll be moving OptiBoard over to its very own dedicated server. This is an important milestone in the evolution of the Board. It means we'll have the ability to deliver better performance, faster access and more new features in the future. It'll also give us the opportunity to develop companion sites that will compliment and improve the OptiBoard Community. Although the dedicated server costs 10 times what we currently pay for web hosting, it's my hope that the increased performance and future enhancements will make OptiBoard an even better resource for eyecare professionals worldwide.
Sponsored Forums: One of the new features we'll be bringing online are 'Sponsored Forums'. These forums will allow key optical companies and organizations a convenient method of communicating important product information, announcements, seminar schedules, event information, promotions and other key information of interest to the eyecare community. This'll give you one convenient location for finding important information regarding the companies and organizations you work with.
Premium Members Program: In the near future, we'll be offering a 'Premium Members Program' that will bring enhanced value and features for those willing to donate to OptiBoard. OptiBoard will continue remain free, however. But we will develop features that will be available to our Premium Members. The final details haven't been worked out yet, so if you have ideas about what you'd like to have as a Premium Member, please let me know.
Ophthalmic Texts Purchasing: We've set up an affiliation with Amazon.com that will allow Members to easily search for and order ophthalmic texts through a link on OptiBoard. Look for this announcement in the near future.
===================
The Next Newsletter:
In the next OptiBoard Newsletter, we'll give you an in-depth description of the different OptiBoard Forums as well as some background info on our Moderators.
Thanks to all of you for your support and for making OptiBoard truly the Premier Online Community of Eyecare Professionals!
I thought this would be a good time to give you an update on what's happened over the last few weeks and to tell you about some of the future enhancements we'll be working on over the next few months.
As most of you know, the new Forum underwent testing for over two months before being launched on May 7th. The reaction has been much better than I had hoped. The comments I've received and read on the Board have been overwhelmingly positive. You can read some of these at:
Here's a few interesting OptiBoard statistics since the switch to the new forum.
- There have been 159 new Members (over 3.2 per day, over twice the previous average!)
- 3704 new Messages
- Average daily posts have increased from less than 39 to over 74 per day.
- Hits per hour: 904
- Hits per day: 21707
- Files downloaded per day: 10865
- Unique pages visited per day: 1143
- Total MBytes downloaded per day: 50.1MB
Part of this increase is due to the many new features and enhancements. The most popular of these have been:
- Private Messaging
- Members have a choice in OptiBoard 'Styles' to change the color and look of the Board
- OptiBoard Community Calendar for both public and private events
- Opinion Polls
- Avatars and Custom User Titles
- Birthday List
- Ability to attach files
- Vastly improved search engine
- and many more!
===================
Here's a few of the many hot topics currently being discussed on the Board:
The Future of Independent Wholesale Labs?
Tips on Dispensing
Contact Lens Research
What is your typical work day like?
Refracting Opticians
Refractive Surgery
National Boards/National Licensure
Base Curves
Ray Tracing Basics Site
Popular Lens Materials
===================
So what will the future bring? Among the new features planned are:
Dedicated Server: Next weekend we'll be moving OptiBoard over to its very own dedicated server. This is an important milestone in the evolution of the Board. It means we'll have the ability to deliver better performance, faster access and more new features in the future. It'll also give us the opportunity to develop companion sites that will compliment and improve the OptiBoard Community. Although the dedicated server costs 10 times what we currently pay for web hosting, it's my hope that the increased performance and future enhancements will make OptiBoard an even better resource for eyecare professionals worldwide.
Sponsored Forums: One of the new features we'll be bringing online are 'Sponsored Forums'. These forums will allow key optical companies and organizations a convenient method of communicating important product information, announcements, seminar schedules, event information, promotions and other key information of interest to the eyecare community. This'll give you one convenient location for finding important information regarding the companies and organizations you work with.
Premium Members Program: In the near future, we'll be offering a 'Premium Members Program' that will bring enhanced value and features for those willing to donate to OptiBoard. OptiBoard will continue remain free, however. But we will develop features that will be available to our Premium Members. The final details haven't been worked out yet, so if you have ideas about what you'd like to have as a Premium Member, please let me know.
Ophthalmic Texts Purchasing: We've set up an affiliation with Amazon.com that will allow Members to easily search for and order ophthalmic texts through a link on OptiBoard. Look for this announcement in the near future.
===================
The Next Newsletter:
In the next OptiBoard Newsletter, we'll give you an in-depth description of the different OptiBoard Forums as well as some background info on our Moderators.
Thanks to all of you for your support and for making OptiBoard truly the Premier Online Community of Eyecare Professionals!
