3 questions

[MkIV Lux]

to give you an example on my latter statement regarding the link to a remote hosting facility, take at look here:
   http://www.acownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=306
   
   the photos of this post have disappeared;
   reason is that whereas I am still unsing Photobucket today, at some point in time I had rearranged subfolders of the storage, so these photos were moved like from first floor in room A to second floor room B; hence the link that I had created while they were on first floor in room A now does not find them anymore! The link is a historic copy of an address; it does not update when the address moves;
   
   There are numerous examples like this in our Forum; text remains, but the documenting photos are no longer existent for the reader.

[MkIV Lux]

A little nostalgic side-note: I realize that in that Topic #306 the late John Owen, chief technical officer at AC while they were at Malta, had answered to my query. Not sure if he was a member of the ACOC at the time. If he wasn't, this would be a good example of Bryan's second statement above!
   Meanwhile, as most of you know, helpful John has disappeard forever, and with him a valuable source of information.

[MkIV Lux]

Some more statistics: on the subject of "public" vs "members only" Forum as discussed in this Topic.
   
   Reading through all posts so far in this Topic and categorizing my interpreting of what they were expressing, the following appears:
   
   - 14 Forum users have expressed an opinion; given that we have 1091 Forum members, and even only considering the 684 members having posted on the Forum, I doubt that the 14 (= only 2% of the active population) are a statistically meaningful sample;
   
   - 2 are in favour of a mixed Forum: part public, part members only
   - 1 is in favour of a members only Forum
   - 11 are in favour of an open Forum
   
   definitely not conclusive enough to modify anything on this subject

[Classicus]

If it's any help I've never once had a problem in all this time using Activeboard which hosts the AC 428 Register and Archive....
   
   http://www.activeboard.com/
   
   Just my pennorth...[]

[TTM]

quote:Originally posted by MkIV Luxdefinitely not conclusive enough to modify anything on this subject

   
   Couldn't we equally say it is not conclusive enough not to modifty anything on the subject? Not sure why changing a few bits would matter to the majority who does not seem to care anyway but may matter to a minority willing to be more active if a few modifications were made?
   
   Like with many other public forums, the reason why the majority of forum users may not "care" is because they most likely consist of profiles that are barely used or even not used at all. Keeping such profiles is irrelevant as we do not know what the actual majority consists in, and is a flaw of keeping a forum completely public. User profiles that have not been active (at least one connection) for say 6 months should be erased, for example.
   Keeping all those profiles is a bit like getting hundreds of people confirming an invitation to a social event while only a few folks actually turn up, yet all those others who had confirmed they'd come just lurk from afar, and the forum being publically readable without any kind of registration obligation makes this is even worse.

[MkIV Lux]

Well TTM, in my quick conclusion on "non-conclusiveness" I have only considered active Forum members (i.e. those with at least 1 post, irrespective of time-line).
   
   What we ignore is how many of the "inactive" have been totally inactive over say the last 12 months, and how many use the forum as "viewers only". Maybe the Administrator has such info readily available.
   
   Our particular topic here (#4432) todate has had 50 replies by 16 different users; however it was read a total of 1495 times. Of course there are a number of people reading (=opening) the topic more than once (even more than 5 times), but in the 1495 there must be quite a number of silent viewers.

[nikbj68]

quote:Originally posted by TTM...Not sure why changing a few bits would matter to the majority who does not seem to care anyway but may matter to a minority willing to be more active if a few modifications were made?

   Minor tweeks would balls up the entire forum for everyone, as I highlighted previously with the Cobra/428 split.
   Bryan does a fabulous job of keeping this place on an even keel, bearing in mind he has a dayjob so can`t be expected to devote more than 'spare' time to looking after us!
   If, one day, it is decided to migrate to a new forum engine, that might be the time to consider reformatting, but for now, 'if it ain`t broke, don`t BREAK it!

[TTM]

How can you feel concerned with breaking something that has never really worked from the start? [)]
   
   Joking aside, what kind of issues did the Cobra/428 split raise?
   
   I was a forum admin for about 10 years and I would agree that it represents a lot of spare time... when you get between about 100 and 300 posts per day, which is not really the case on here. Perhaps I am giving here another one-sided view, so please bear with me.

[MkIV Lux]

quote:Originally posted by nikbj68
   

   Bryan does a fabulous job of keeping this place on an even keel, bearing in mind he has a dayjob so can`t be expected to devote more than 'spare' time to looking after us!
   ...

   
   [][] this is absolutely true and I can only support this statement []

[nikbj68]

quote:Originally posted by nikbj68...Re-jigging the existing Forum categories now would be chaos.
   Example: the Cobra and 428 models shared a forum until '11, when the Thames Ditton section was born, consequently pre-2011 Cobra posts are in the 428 forum...

   If you look from HERE Backwards, you will find Cobra & 428 threads, but forwards, it`s only 428.
   
   Add to the existing forum, maybe, but don`t alter the existing categories please.

[TTM]

I went through the same issue with the forum I used to administer, and I spent 4 whole days re classifying the existing forum into ... 6 different sub forums.
   As as I have expressed in this very topic specific requests (privacy + two separate public/private sections) I am happy to volunteer if any task is required to do any reshaping work, as fastidious as it may get.

[SJ351]

I find posting photographs very difficult and migrate to the Team AC Facebook page on a daily basis where there is always a new AC related topic or gallery every few days. Steve Gray seems to dig up some amazing stuff from his archive and ex factory employees network.
   
   Facebook does seem to be a much easier way of doing things and gives wider exposure.

[nikbj68]

Unfortunately, Facebook is blocked from my work server, so I can't view it (or YouTube, or Instagram... But I can Tweet!) during my teabreaks, which is the only time I use my works computer for looking at forums, eBay...etc! []
   But yes, Steve keeps finding fab stuff.

[SJ351]

Apparently the Team AC Facebook page has over 2000 followers from all over the world - amazing when you think about it and probably the easiest way to achieve coverage and publicity.
   
   Just type Team AC Facebook and you are there., for those that have never visited the site.

[Muffin]

What is Facebook?