Read Me Two new additions to Code Forum! Shop & Status page

🛒 Meet the new Code Forum Shop! 🎉​

I'm really excited to announce the launch of our new shop. You can get merch ranging from T's and Hoodies to phone cases and my personal favourite, the coffee mug! The Code Forum shop is excellent for getting high-quality Code Forum merch in exchange for helping us maintain our growing infrastructure. That's right, all the funds we receive from merch sales will be used to help maintain and improve our community here.


We currently have a select few products in the shop. We have T-shirts, hoodies, toques (hat), phone cases, long sleeves and a coffee cup. But fear not, more are coming soon. (feel free to suggest your ideas for new merch!) I, myself, have the coffee mug. The mug came pretty quickly, and I thought it was packaged well. Although my version was a sample and wasn't 100%, it gave me a clear idea of what the product was like and what you would be receiving when you order. And to me, I think it's a great product, washes well and holds liquids. 😝

All orders will be processed through the shop (Shopify) and fulfilled by our supplier (Printful). Printful has a fulfillment time average of 2-5 business days for non-apparel and 2-7 business days for apparel products, and then shipping is an average of 5 business days.

If you do not receive your order after 20 business days, please reach out to [email protected] or starting a personal conversation with me.

And a big shout out to @Cam, who became our first customer! 🎉

You can check out our shop by going to shop.codeforum.org or clicking the shop tab.

🚨 Now meet the Code Forum Status Page! 🚨​

So have you ever visited Code Forum and couldn't see anything or saw your generic 500 Internal Error and wondered what was going on? Well, meet the new status page. I thought this would be a great addition to the Code Forum community as it would give you an idea of when we are experiencing downtime. In addition, the status page will keep you updated on technical events happening in and around the community. You can also find information related to when maintenance breaks occur and to let you know if we are experiencing email delivery issues. The status page will also be hosted off the server so that the status page will still be available even when we are not.

You can visit the status page by going to status.codeforum.org or by 🔗 clicking here.

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If you have any questions, feel free to ask below.

 

[BorkedSystem32]

Interesting update.

A status page is definitely a good addition. I remember a couple of months ago when I was trying to browse CF, the site began taking its time with rendering dropdown-menus, loading pages, etc.; so, it's definitely great to have this(provided the status page itself doesn't take a century to load). The last time I used a status page it was either for GitHub or Reddit, as I found either one of the sites to be acting slow that day(I can't remember precisely, but I have a good feeling it was GitHub).

The shop, well...I'm not so sure about it. While CF does have a sizeable userbase at this point, I would have held off a bit longer for a shop: maybe around ~2500 members, ~3000, ~4750, etc. I still think with the current size of the userbase and taking into account the overall time spent by users on the site(and even how many of the 1500+ are actually active), keeping the shop idea on hold would have been better. But that's my belief and if you feel that the site is ready to have a shop, go ahead with it. It may proof to be successful, it may not - experiments don't hurt. I'm wondering as well if the site/manufacturer keeps a bunch of merchandise available in storage(i.e. I order a mug, they get the receipt, then they deliver it, and the site pays to have refills done every so often); or do they do it on a commission basis?(i.e. I order a mug, they get the receipt, it gets made, then delivered). This is just a curiosity of mine.

As with all updates, however, I still the wish CF the best of luck. Remember though, there's still plenty of pieces that still need working on, so I ask that the site do its best to not distract itself with minor things like a shop.

 

[Malcolm]

Hey @Hassapiko!

Thank you for your feedback! So in regards to the shop, the shop isn't meant to be a new main service. It's simply just meant to be for if you want to support Code Forum + want some cool merch then go to the shop. But that doesn't mean it will be like that all the time - just the other day I thought of some great uses for it e,g, buying ads, scripts, perhaps even start a CF blog on it. Now these are just ideas but I hope it gives you an idea of the direction I may take with it.

I'm wondering as well if the site/manufacturer keeps a bunch of merchandise available in storage(i.e. I order a mug, they get the receipt, then they deliver it, and the site pays to have refills done every so often); or do they do it on a commission basis?(i.e. I order a mug, they get the receipt, it gets made, then delivered). This is just a curiosity of mine.

So it's more commission based, so when you order a mug and the order is confirmed as paid, a fulfillment request is sent to the supplier than they make it and ship it. The funds are then used to cover the product and shipping and the remainder goes to Code Forum's infrastructure.

 

[BorkedSystem32]

Hey @Hassapiko!

Thank you for your feedback! So in regards to the shop, the shop isn't meant to be a new main service. It's simply just meant to be for if you want to support Code Forum + want some cool merch then go to the shop. But that doesn't mean it will be like that all the time - just the other day I thought of some great uses for it e,g, buying ads, scripts, perhaps even start a CF blog on it. Now these are just ideas but I hope it gives you an idea of the direction I may take with it.

(Sorry for late response).
You're welcome. I guess I'm just to used to the idea of shops being part of the main services offered on a site - forum or not; for supporting sites, I typically think of donations and that, but merchandise works too.

I'm also wondering what will happen with digital goods. The ToS states that digital goods cannot be refunded, however, let's imagine that the CF community developed a really great piece of software, and wanted to earn money in exchange for the hard work they've done. If I were to order that piece of software, get the file(s) for it, open it up, and the program doesn't execute, what then? Faulty products do have to be refunded - software included. I don't really see the shop offering software anytime soon, but rather what you suggested(ads, scripts(which will almost certainly work 100% of the time), etc). Just a hypothetical scenario that's been on my mind ever since I read through the ToS.

In regards to a CF blog, you already have the Announcements board, so I don't really see the need for a blog, unless you moved the contents of the board to a separate blog-site or you dedicate the blog to other stuff(e.g. new products in the shop, interviews, etc) and just keep the Announcements board purely for technical announcements.

I hope this feedback is helpful.

 

[skifli]

Hi!

Nice update. Just saying, you wrote 'announce the lunch' instead of' announce the launch' in the first line.

 

[Malcolm]

(Sorry for late response).
You're welcome. I guess I'm just to used to the idea of shops being part of the main services offered on a site - forum or not; for supporting sites, I typically think of donations and that, but merchandise works too.

That's a very good point - but we are trying to be different! So expect some unusual things in the future haha!

I'm also wondering what will happen with digital goods. The ToS states that digital goods cannot be refunded, however, let's imagine that the CF community developed a really great piece of software, and wanted to earn money in exchange for the hard work they've done. If I were to order that piece of software, get the file(s) for it, open it up, and the program doesn't execute, what then? Faulty products do have to be refunded - software included. I don't really see the shop offering software anytime soon, but rather what you suggested(ads, scripts(which will almost certainly work 100% of the time), etc). Just a hypothetical scenario that's been on my mind ever since I read through the ToS.

We won't have any paid software that was created from community projects, it will always be 100% free and open source. The digital goods that I'm referring to would be like small things like email templates, static websites, scripts etc. Anything that you can really just copy the code and use it as yours, if you need help, you will be encouraged to get the support from here but won't get a refund as you can't truly return the item.

But let's say Code Forum does eventually come out with software that wasn't a community project, and it won't work without logging into your account with an active subscription. Then that's a completely different scenario, then you may be able to request a refund.

In regards to a CF blog, you already have the Announcements board, so I don't really see the need for a blog, unless you moved the contents of the board to a separate blog-site or you dedicate the blog to other stuff(e.g. new products in the shop, interviews, etc) and just keep the Announcements board purely for technical announcements.

To be honest, I thought of a blog as an idea but I don't really see a future with Code Forum having a blog, as you said about the announcements anything major, new products or story-related will be posted there.

Hi!

Nice update. Just saying, you wrote 'announce the lunch' instead of' announce the launch' in the first line.

Fixed, thank you!