Ideas to Improve VJ? Outside of the forums :).

[photomile 101]

You always have the option not to read his posts.

Isn't there a user ignore button somewhere buried within the IPB settings pane? This idea is good, si man

[Pooky 3,784]

Isn't there a user ignore button somewhere buried within the IPB settings pane? This idea is good, si man

Ah, but ignorance is not bliss, no man

[TBoneTX 45,288]

You always have the option not to read his posts.

Duh, and si, man.

[MyLittlePony 340]

Can we do a x-rated thread in a small corner maybe lose up TOS rules little bit in special thread? that if anyone can handle it?

[Ron-Tanya 23]

Hi I am new to the site, and find it very informative. But it is very hard to navigate and find things when there is so much chatter. It seems to jump for place to place but its possible I haven't learned how to use the site yet. Its just seems to me it rambles on and on. Thanks for your hard work, I would just like to be able to go in and find what I am looking for and not have to seach thru all the chatter.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Is there something in particular you're having problems finding? What kind of information are you looking for that is lost in the clutter? Just curious.

[Darnell 8,478]

Hi I am new to the site, and find it very informative. But it is very hard to navigate and find things when there is so much chatter. It seems to jump for place to place but its possible I haven't learned how to use the site yet. Its just seems to me it rambles on and on. Thanks for your hard work, I would just like to be able to go in and find what I am looking for and not have to seach thru all the chatter.

please log in from a PC or laptop, and try again?

[PolinaSas 0]

Dear Admin, have you thought about e-mailing to the members of VJ and and them to Update their Timelines.

I think then we could improve this timelines more than 70-80% as it's now. Pleeeeeeeese.

You write under Percentage data """"The percent of approved petitions will likely not equal 100% due to members that have not updated their timeline or if there are very long delays for their case."""""

[photomile 101]

Dear Admin, have you thought about e-mailing to the members of VJ and and them to Update their Timelines.

I think then we could improve this timelines more than 70-80% as it's now. Pleeeeeeeese.

You write under Percentage data """"The percent of approved petitions will likely not equal 100% due to members that have not updated their timeline or if there are very long delays for their case."""""

They do. If you haven't updated by your estimated adjudication date, you get a little email reminder. That being said, we will never hit 100%

[Mark + Melissa 49]

OOOOk... I hit page 4 with all the 'si man' and counter-complaints and stopped reading so I have no idea if this was ever suggested at all.

A moderated IRC chat room, perhaps even with different "channels". IRC Scripts would be bannable offense however.. I can just see scrolls of country flags and pictures *shudders in horror*.

Only the mods should be permitted to run scripts, perhaps even an occassional IRC game for stress relief

Edited August 23, 2012 by mseifman

[Darnell 8,478]

this portal software DOES have a chat feature. It's turned off, however.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Chat when it was operational was one of two things:

1) one person yelling in an empty room, "where is everybodeeeeeeeeeeee"

2) a class-A sh!tstorm

[Captain Ewok 1,891]

*This is not about FB linking*

I find the state department reciprocity table very useful on how to obtain police clearances but the link for it on this site can be difficult to find for newer users and sometimes the information on the table isn't helpful or accurate for figuring out how to get the harder to obtain clearances especially when you no longer reside in the country. For example the reciprocity table for Jordan says certificates are available but gives no information on how to obtain them if you live outside the country - only that they are not available at embassies. Malaysia seems to be a huge hassle to get and involves a lot of patience and phone calls even when you follow the procedure. Singapore also seems to have very specific details or quirks to obtaining the clearance that are not found in the table but some vj members have started threads on the tricks they used to obtain them.

So my question is, would it be possible to have a "Review" type section like we do for the embassies and POEs for getting police clearances?

It would put the collective knowledge of vj members in obtaining police clearances in one place and would hopefully also help to track changes in procedures. Again using Singapore as an example the reciprocity table used to claim that a clearance was not required but that changed sometime towards the end of last year. This was inconsistently enforced at the embassy in Manila and some people were waived the requirement and others were not. Since the new year it seems they have cracked down on this and are now requiring all applicants in Manila to have the COC from Singapore but you will still get people who went through the process not needing the clearance that will tell others they do not need it. If all this information was contained in one place it would be very easy to see this trend and learn how to get the clearance.

That's my suggestion Thanks!

<eom>

What if I added something here (a new line for this)?

[Captain Ewok 1,891]

New suggestion - Dedicated "Si Man" language pack. Bit like facebook pirate only less useful. Hey I like it, at least I know it's not an act!

---

Anyway! Site suggestions - On the mobile site, getting to the forums is pretty hard from the front page. Can we have a bigger button near the top? All I got is a text link in the middle of the page and that is "hard" to find right now!

I like the portals idea but I think it could be reapplied to a micro site for particular visa types. Sort of a culmination of the guides, pinned threads and latest news feeds (Stick an RSS link in and filter by form type, shouldn't be too hard)

It would make it more centralised - (We already have this, but perhaps it could be tweaked?)

I hate to say this, but can we have a maximum signature length? it's HORRIBLE sometimes seeing youtube videos, massive pictures etc. I know this isn't going to be all that popular but on a smaller screen, or even a mobile device it makes navigating the forum a real chore. (sorry, you DID say other than the forums)

The processing times page is great, but I'd love to see a lot more data from those nmap graphs. Average times etc. I'd love to be able to take some data and create my own graphs as well but that's damn near impossible. I would like to see some more data flexibility though.

That brings me on to something bigger....

The graph range and the averages

Presumably, the graphs have been counting for years and years. Statistically, the average dates might not be all that good because of the years where 90 days was the defacto standard for an I-129F or 1 year for an N-400.... These kinds of figures will really really sway the graphs.

What I'd like to see is two sets of figures. One "All time averages" as we have now, and another which is based on data submitted over perhaps the last three years only. I have a feeling the last three years set would be more accurately and more helpful to VJ members in the future since that data won't have a heavy bias on processing changes.

I agree with the suggestion of content admins. Updating the forms needs to be done. Again I'll repeat my suggestion that the Wiki gets a clear out or a massive overhaul. It has the potential to be much more powerful and useful than it is now!

The processing graphs (example: http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/images/129fcomparison.gif) have processing date from the recent history not all time. Lots of outlier filtering, etc.. Some stats pages may show all time and short history depending on the dates selected.

On the wiki, what were you thinking?

We can definitely update forms. I can try or if someone wants to take a swing at it please let me know. I don't think they are out of date (still valid per USCIS) but may not be the latest print forms.

[beejay 123]

What if I added something here (a new line for this)?

Thanks for the response about adding a line for police clearances in the embassy info section.

I think that seems like a good solution and is something that could be very helpful to members. (I've already seen a few threads in the past few weeks about trying to get bank drafts in Hong Kong dollars for the clearance from outside of Hong Kong and threads about requesting a letter from NVC/US embassy for the Singapore clearance - it would be great to have all the current country specific information in one place). Maybe something like 'is police clearance considered obtainable?' 'How to obtain outside of country-'

Thanks!!