AC Owners Club Forum
AC Owners Club Forum => ACOC News and Events => Topic started by: administrator on July 04, 2017, 10:57:56
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There are numerous press reports that Photobucket is stopping the hosting and sharing of photos to 3rd party sites (like ours) unless users pay a $400/year subscription.
I investigated the options last year and a possible way forward is that:
- this Forum will be locked as an archive
- a new Forum will be started using software that allows direct hosting
All Forum users would have to re-register for the new Forum.
Another option is to use a different hosting service (Flickr?) - does anyone have experience of these? It would probably be an interim solution.
Don't expect any changes until the autumn as I am away for most of the summer.
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I think the idea of new forum software with our own hosting of pictures is a great idea. Any other solution leaves us at the mercy of the third-party hosting. We would also benefit from additional forum facilities, as this one is based on fifteen-year-old software and design.
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My humble opinion is that it should be the aim of the club to encourage as many members as possible to have access to, and to use, the club's forum. With our monthly magazine appearing to constantly being out of date, the forum is perfect for 'last minute' notifications etc. As many members are of an era of the printed word, word of mouth, picking up the telephone, and, god forbid - actually talking face to face, making the loading of photos onto the forum should be made as simple as possible. To some club members the word Photobucket only mean a bucket where one puts photographs!! As the club forum is financed by club members, I think it only reasonable to put a full page 'what do the members think?' in ACtion. As our Administrator has mentioned, nothing will be done, if anything, until the end of the summer, so there should be time for this to happen and the outcome taken into consideration by those who govern our club.
What percentage of the club members use the forum? does anybody know?
What percentage of forum users are club members?
What percentage of the club's finances are used to maintain this forum which is open to anyone who cares to register, member or not?
Do all members of the club's committee regularly access the forum?
Food for thought.
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As discussed in Devon with our Web Administrator, I am a strong advocate of direct hosting for the sake of ease and simplicity, therebey rendering our Forum more attractive and spurring its activity.
My views on this have already been expressed in this thread hereunder (see my posts of 5 and 6 October 2016):
http://www.acownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4432&SearchTerms=direct+hosting
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quote:
Originally posted by Pedant
In answer to AE 512 and from what can be found out, virtually nobody looks at the forum but some odd believers honk it is well used. It is by non members.
As an (overseas) ACOC member who reads the forum everyday I am well pleased to see there seems enough people able to offer sound advice on many technical questions, and this adds significant value to the ownership experience of a (mostly) hands-on owner like me.
I am regularly able to find relevant information on many different topics searching through older posts, some of them even dating back a good 10 years ago, for what it's worth.
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I too use the forum on a regular basis. Action is so out of date and often late anyway it should be scrapped and the money saved put to making the forum the way to go.
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quote:
Originally posted by GSouthee
I too use the forum on a regular basis. Action is so out of date and often late anyway it should be scrapped and the money saved put to making the forum the way to go.
Cannot agree.
ACtion should keep its place in the communication means of the ACOC:
- as not all members can or want to use the Forum
- as it is more perennial than any digital means
- ACtion is not out of date, it bears only a time lag in relation to some events.
ACtion cannot be replaced by the Forum, at best it could have a duplication on the ACOC members restricted part of the website.
In any case, content still needs to be written, corrected, edited and published in a structured form, the latter two tasks incumbing to the editor. And all the tasks mentioned hereabove are not done by three or four clicks on a button.
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quote:
Originally posted by Pedant
....virtually nobody looks at the forum but some odd believers honk it is well used. It is by non members....
Well, it is an open forum, for members and non-members alike. Many other car club forums are the same (e.g. Lagonda, Riley, Austin Seven, Aston Martin – all are open for non-members’ postings) so help may be on hand ‘immediately’ for technical and historical questions rather than waiting months through publication of ACtion. After all, the very first line on the homepage of this website says ‘The ACOC exists to promote the preservation and enjoyment of all the different models built by the AC company’, so I hope the forum doesn't become for members only. If a change is to be made I hope the pages of this forum can be kept as an online archive; there’s a lot of information contained herein.
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quote:
Originally posted by Pedant
...... but hardly any body else I ask does. Find out the facts.
Facts can only be established by means of the software that manages access to the website and Forum, i.e. and put the data into a simple speadsheet giving:
A) Total # website accesses repectively Forum access and geographical origins
B) Traffic by ACOC members:
- ACOC member ident & corresponding Forum member ident / # website accesses / # member's area accesses (after login) / # Forum accesses / # Forum views / # Forum posts (after login)
C) Traffic by NON ACOC members:
- Forum member ident / # website accesses / # website views / # Forum accesses / # Forum views / # Forum posts (after login)
As you can see, under each Forum user name the # of posts of that Forum member is displayed. Also in the # of views of a specific thread and the # of replies to that thread is displaid; I assume hence that it should not be too difficult to collect the above mentioned data from the website administration.
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If anyone's interested, quite happy to build the framework obviously not the content of a new forum using the same hosts and general format as on the Frua Register ?
Probably take a week or two....
http://acfrua428.activeboard.com/
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quote:
Traffic by ACOC members:
- ACOC member ident & corresponding Forum member ident / # website accesses / # member's area accesses / # Forum accesses / # Forum views / # Forum posts
C) Traffic by NON ACOC members:
- Forum member ident / # website accesses / # website views / # Forum accesses / # Forum views / # Forum posts
Surely that would mean you would have to sign in to access the forum? You couldn't view, or read, without signing in?
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This thread is slowly taking the same shape as the "3 questions" thread. Different people with different expectations, etc. Let's keep the consensus everybody got used to instead of risking satisfying a few just to get more moaners :)
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quote:
Originally posted by Old Crock
quote:
Traffic by ACOC members:
- ACOC member ident & corresponding Forum member ident / # website accesses / # member's area accesses / # Forum accesses / # Forum views / # Forum posts
C) Traffic by NON ACOC members:
- Forum member ident / # website accesses / # website views / # Forum accesses / # Forum views / # Forum posts
Surely that would mean you would have to sign in to access the forum? You couldn't view, or read, without signing in?
No anyone can read it without signing in same as the Frua register. If however you want to post you have to join same as in this forum.
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To give an idea of the Host's forum in action, Sparklit/ Activeboard, the link below is a typical one of many others by them, whereas I adapted the Frua forum for viewing only.
Btw there is an option for a member's forum which is hidden from the general public....
http://britishtennis.activeboard.com/
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quote:
Originally posted by Old Crock
quote:
Traffic by ACOC members:
- ACOC member ident & corresponding Forum member ident / # website accesses / # member's area accesses / # Forum accesses / # Forum views / # Forum posts
C) Traffic by NON ACOC members:
- Forum member ident / # website accesses / # website views / # Forum accesses / # Forum views / # Forum posts
Surely that would mean you would have to sign in to access the forum? You couldn't view, or read, without signing in?
No. My post of 7:44:22 today simply descibes the statistical data required to establish the facts about who does what on our website as it is shaped today. These data should be available in the web administration/hosting. The post in no way implies what and how we should do it in future.
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quote:
Originally posted by TTM
This thread is slowly taking the same shape as the "3 questions" thread. Different people with different expectations, etc. Let's keep the consensus everybody got used to instead of risking satisfying a few just to get more moaners :)
the thread's title is: "Photobucket Photo Hosting", with the underlying message of the Administrator's first post, as I read it, being:
- if we want to continue using photo documentation in our Forum in the future, we have to consider alternatives
- so the discussion is open and any suggestions are welcome
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Pedant still makes a good point about how many ACOC members actually "use" the forum, whether they post messages more or less actively or remain quiet and just read what is posted by ACOC members and non-members alike.
If a survey is organised and emitted in the next edition of ACtion to reach the highest numbers of members, how to make sure ACOC members who will anyway never ever touch a computer will even be bothered returning their opinion? Every contributing ACOC member should have a word on the subject, even if it may go above the heads of many who are happy to live without a computer.
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The Forum was created to complement ACtion not replace it, The Forum
serves its purpose by answering questions and informing / confirming dates, invites and current activities to club members.
Whereas ACtion magazine is distributed to all members worldwide on a monthly basis, many of whom rarely use the forum, maybe they still live in the 20th Century,
Reading the Old Testiment and not yet opened the New. ( Not all members have access to the internet, or simply do not wish to partake).
Seriously, If one scrolls down and reads the Statistics at the bottom
of the page you will read that :-
706 of 1137 members have made 26,891 posts in 11 Forums.
Currently 3719 Topics..[;)]
Conclusion.. .. the ACOC Forum serves it's purpose, can be / must be continually improved to meet new demands and criteria...
Keith
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quote:
Originally posted by AC Ace Bristol
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.....706 of 1137 members have made 26,891 posts in 11 Forums.
Currently 3719 Topics..[;)]
Conclusion.. .. the ACOC Forum serves it's purpose, can be / must be continually improved to meet new demands and criteria...
Keith
Hi Keith,
Fully agree with you on the purpose of Action and Forum.
I understand that the statistics at the bottom of the page refer to Forum Members.
Forum Members are not necessarily ACOC members. And ACOC membership does not necessarily imply Forum membership.
The website structure has 3 different clusters:
1) General info including Forum view
2) Forum posting
3) ACOC Members Area
There are 3 types of Players:
A) ACOC members - membership grants a Username(A) and a personal PW(A)
B) Other General Public (non-ACOC members)
C) Forum Members - membership by registering online through website => selfdefined username(F) amd personal PW(F);
Players C are part of A or B
Cluster 1 can be accessed by A & B
Cluster 2 can be accessed by C
Cluster 3 can be accessed by A
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w34/MkIVLux/ACOC%20Website%20access%20structure_zpsbngpb7mx.jpg)
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Whatever happens, I think it is important that the members of the ACOC, not the majority of the forum users dictate what path the forum takes. Regardless of who actually uses the forum, it is paid for by membership of the ACOC. What percentage of club members use it is neither here nor there. If those users who are not members have such strong feeling about the future direction of our AC forum, perhaps they should all get together and finance one of their own. All this talk of current ACOC members not using the internet/accessing the forum can only, in the future, swing toward 100%, as computer literacy will become an essential part of everyone life -like it or not.
Back to the point - I repeat - whatever the committee decide, I think that being able to add photos to a thread should be made as simple as attaching a photo to a an email.
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Quite right. In this day and age it should be simple browse, point, click and photo there.
I wonder what the age profile of the membership really is, if as suggested most don't use computers, pads, smart phones etc etc. I am an anti tecno guy and even I use a laptop, in this world even now you cant by with out it. (unfortunately)
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The forum may not be the most user friendly & up to date model, but that is not the point.
I'm BLOODY FURIOUS about this change to Photobucket.
To suddenly impose a $399 per annum charge to be able to show your photos, be it 20 or 2,000(as I have uploaded for myself and many others to this forum Over many years) is no worse than Ransomware attacks! Blackmail, pure & simple!!! They can go to Hell if they think I can afford that.
You can't even view the photo by clicking the 'missing' picture.
Greedy bastards.
To migrate all of the photos I have uploaded to another free host and subsequently edit every post I've made with photos in would take months!
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People may want to check what is included in their contract with their Internet provider, but I believe some webspace for hosting data is fairly standard these days?
Alternatively I will be happy to host pictures ACOC members may want to post on here. I can host them graciously on my own webspace for as long as they wish. Could be a temporary solution until the forum can "host" pictures itself.
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Thought it might help clarify things along a bit so out of personal interest had a go at a new forum based on this current one, but of course most definitely not intended for future use.
Just for clarification purposes only nevertheless good fun....[:)]
http://acoclub.activeboard.com/
Paul
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Well now its happened, photobucket wants payment to host pictures.
I am trying 'tinypic', a free site which is working, see 'car no 6199 1921' thread on the 'Vintage PVT' page, procedure is the same as it was for photobucket.
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My only reservation is that all hosting providers will start charging, now that the big players have introduced it.
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It would obviously need to be confirmed first, but if anyone's interested as far as I know these would be the current pricing and features packages for yesterday's demo forum....
http://www.activeboard.com/pricing.spark
http://acoclub.activeboard.com/
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There seems to be a lot of 'goings on' related to this theme.
From what I can gather (being a strictly non iT person), the most recent talk is about a new type of forum, which would be the same as this one as far as attaching photos is concerned? or have I misunderstood?????????
For the sake of clarity - is attaching photos to a thread on a forum in the same way as one would attach a photo to an email -
A/ not possible
B/ just matter of cost
Can someone out there with a knowledge of these things give an easy to understand answer???
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quote:
Originally posted by AE512
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For the sake of clarity - is attaching photos to a thread on a forum in the same way as one would attach a photo to an email -
A/ not possible
B/ just matter of cost
Can someone out there with a knowledge of these things give an easy to understand answer???
Hi Glenn,
The simple answer is B: cost as a function of the storage capacity the Club will contract on the hosting platform.
It takes 3 clicks to attach a photo to an e-mail.
Please read my posts of 6 October 2016 at 7:23:01 and 11:26:05 on your thread about: "3-questions" and you can understand what I talk about.
While we were on the International in Devon I gave our webmaster a demonstration of the site I refer to.
http://www.acownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4432
Cheers
Constant
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Constant, thanks for that. Things are somewhat clearer now.
It's frustrating knowing that simplicity of operation is what I want, but not knowing enough about the subject to make any realistic judgement! Hopefully a simple way forward will be agreed upon.
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It is not possible to directly attach photos using our current Forum software - they have to be hosted on a separate site.
More modern software does allow direct hosting, so opening a new Forum with direct photo hosting and locking this one as an archive is the probable way forward.
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Whereas storage capacity and related cost is one issue to address, another important issue is perennity of the picture posted:
- when using direct upload, pics are glued to the Forum and remain there; they can be removed by the poster himself if he so decides;
- when using remote hosting, pics are put into a box that is located offsite and we use the address of the box to link the pic to the Forum; each photo has its own particular address, so there is one pic per box;
if for whatever reason, the poster moves the pic out of that particular box (because he deletes it or simply rearranges his boxes, the link remains in place on the Forum but the box is empty and the poster would have to recreate a new link and replace the old one in his post, for the pic to remain active on the Forum.
Unfortunately there are many instances in our Forum where pics have been moved and hence can no longer be seen.
In the tables below you see how that works. When the pic is moved into another box, the intitial box which carries the link remains empty. Moving may be done intentionally but also inadvertently (for instance when you reorganize your folders and boxes on Photobucket or thelike.
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w34/MkIVLux/ACOC%20Forum%20structure%20foto%20hosting_zpspxlycuu8.jpg)
This brings up the difficulty to convert the current Forum into an archive including pics, unless the archive would be like a PDF by scanning all pages of the Forum as they are viewed.
I am not an IT specialist, there may be ways to do this.
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Constant.
You have hit the nail on the head.
I started a thread " Racing History of BEX333 (1957 - 1964) on 9th January 2009.........
Generated a comprehensive history file, with 184 replies and read 46,720 times.
Instead of learning to post pictures on the Forum, I used the skills of Nik Bagshaw who posted some 66 pictures on my thread on my behalf.using his personal photobucket account. ( who are demanding $399.00 in order that he can share and keep his archive.).[V]
All can longer be opened, I really would like to download a copy of the complete file inclusive of pictures as I haven't copy of all content.[;)]
Any IT Expert out there b] [?]
Is there any way this can be achieved and if so
Is there any way it could be reposted on the new proposed Forum.[?]
This subject will be discussed in depth at the next ACOC Council Meeting.... Will keep you posted.[:)]
Keith
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If the pictures are not visible because their host demands a financial contribution, there is no other free way to make them visible again than rehosting them elsewhere, regardless where that would be, and editing each post where they were linked. That is bothersome.
Alternatively, all the pictures posted in a particular thread can be hosted altogether on a virgin page and the link to this page can be mentioned in the latest message posted in the aforementioned thread.
As said earlier I can provide either solutions for free. Anyone willing to e-mail me a few pictures and we can give it a try.
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quote:
Originally posted by AC Ace Bristol
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I really would like to download a copy of the complete file inclusive of pictures as I haven't copy of all content.[;)]
...Keith
Hi Keith,
One way to take a copy of your thread is to do a copy-paste exercise on each page, successively copying content including the pics as you can see them, into a Word document. I sometimes do this of interesting content I find on the internet to allow me to analyse it later.
You go onto the first page of your thread, position the curser in top left corner and do a click-hold; you will see a number of lines being marked in blue or other colour; holding the click you drag it down to the buttom right hand corner of the page, then click right button of the mouse to select copy and then paste the copied content onto a Word sheet.
The set-up of the Word document will not be ideal, pictures will not be aligned in the way you see on the Forum, but it allows you to save the content.
Then repeat the same process on evey page of your thread and past the content in the same way each page underneath the previous. Easy but cumbersome.
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Constant.
Thank you for your instruction, I carried out this procedure yesterday, but it will not copy the pictures.
I will have to try and copy each picture from other files, unfortunately some were on my company laptop which was wiped clean when I returned it along with Company mobile when I retired last December.[V]
I will speak to Nik on the off chance he can either download all 66 pictures or possibly email me the ones I lost last year.
Thank you for your help, appreciated.[;)]
Keith
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As is clearly the concensus, can somebody please be paid if necessary out of the clubs reserves, to archive this site and move forward worth a site that allows posting of photos. For goodness sake, these templates exist and surely the message couldn't be clearer
A website without pictures is plain dull and it beyond doubt, which is the way forward. And while we are at it an email message, if somebody replies to your post, or quotes your response, would vastly increase activity.
I'd support extra subscription for one or more years. Who has to make the decision ?
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Keith
If you've got Windows try "Wordpad" which should already be on your computer or do a Search.
When it opens, on the centre of the top bar you'll see "Picture".
Click on that which will take you into your files. Select the picture(s) you want and click "Open" when the pics will appear.
You can then type in ordinary text or copy and paste text from elsewhere below the pic....
Paul
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I have to agree with AC Ventura. According to the most recent(!!!) ACtion, there is £85K cash in the club's (our) coffers. If the the most important issue for the the club's future is attracting young blood, an easy to use, up to date forum is essential in the drive to enrol the next generation into the club. Surely a new forum would not put too big a dent in the club funds? (net running cost of £876??) A small increase in advertisers rates (both website & Action) could help as there might not be a club mag for them to advertise in in the future!
£85k not being used to go some way to help ensure the club's future might as well not be there.
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quote:
Originally posted by AC Ace Bristol
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...
All can longer be opened, I really would like to download a copy of the complete file inclusive of pictures as I haven't copy of all content.[;)]
Any IT Expert out there [?]
depends on what you call an 'expert' [:)]
quote:
Originally posted by AC Ace Bristol
Is there any way this can be achieved and if so
Is there any way it could be reposted on the new proposed Forum.[?]
Yes, there is a possibility but it is not so easy since photobucket has changed the picture access over night.
Normally, you could download a lot of complete web site with tools like HTTrack https://www.httrack.com/. But this will not work in this case since photobucket would replace every link to each picture Nik posted for you by this nice picture you can see now everywhere in your thread like this: (http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r138/dkp_cobra/BE%20646/IMGP4841.jpg)
So the way to get the old status is:
- Nik, I and everyone who has used photobucket has to log in into photobucket and download the albumns
- We have to find a new place to store the albums. It is quite important that the (sub-)struture is preserved, i.e. is a album 'a' has a sub-album 'b' containing a picture 'p.jpg' it must be uploaded on a new place 'a/b/p.jpg'.
- The forum administrator has to adopt the old threads by a global-search-and-replace. If in one thread there is a string like
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r138/dkp_cobra/BE%20646/IMGP4841.jpg
and the new storage place is
http://my_happy_place_to_save_pictures.com/never_again_dkp_cobra/BE%20646/IMGP4841.jpg
all threads must be searched by i143.photobucket.com/albums/r138/dkp_cobra and replaced by my_happy_place_to_save_pictures.com/never_again_dkp_cobra.
This must be done for all users using photobucket, but not for all pictures.
If we find a new place where all photobucket user would store there pictures (new forum???) the administrator has to do this only once during the migration phase.
I hope this makes things a little bit more clear. Comments and questions are welcome.
quote:
Originally posted by AC Ace Bristol
This subject will be discussed in depth at the next ACOC Council Meeting.... Will keep you posted.[:)]
Keith
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I managed to download my files from photobucket, downloads should work as I think they are just asking for payment for hosting, not for your storage, a backup is a good idea, P cloud is a free cloud storage site.
Just a thought, it my be less trouble, and less costly, for the admin to support a dedicated picture hosting site, rather than replacing the whole board software.
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quote:
Originally posted by jonto
I managed to download my files from photobucket, downloads should work as I think they are just asking for payment for hosting, not for your storage, a backup is a good idea, P cloud is a free cloud storage site.
Just a thought, it my be less trouble, and less costly, for the admin to support a dedicated picture hosting site, rather than replacing the whole board software.
So far PHOTOBUCKET has granted a certain portion of storage space for free. This equals approximately the the capacity required to store 1000 pictures. Thereabove you start paying. Off record it was about 12 £/month. They changed their plans now. They are now detecting each creation of a link for using a stored picture on a third-party site and ask to upgrade to the +500 plan which allows (for how long?) third party hosting.
I wonder how often they will just warn me before they will force the matter and close my current account?
Guess everybody inserting a picture here from Photobucket storage gets the following message:
quote
WE NOTICED THAT YOU HAVE BEEN USING
PHOTOBUCKET FOR 3RD PARTY HOSTING*
PLEASE UPGRADE TO A PLUS 500 PLAN.
Our Terms of Service does not allow 3rd party hosting with your current account level.
UPGRADE NOW
________________________________________
*What is 3rd Party Hosting?
Photobucket defines 3rd party hosting as the action of embedding an image or photo onto another website. For example, using the <img> tag to embed or display a JPEG image from your Photobucket account on another website such as a forum, Etsy, eBay auction listings, a blog, etc. is definitively 3rd party hosting.
Why Photobucket?
Photobucket is the global destination for linking and 3rd party hosting. In Photobucket’s 14-year history, the Company amassed over 100 million registered users, over 15 billion images stored, 2 million daily uploads and 10 billion photos accessed monthly.
Easy to Use – Upload a photo from any device and copy the embed code with one click to host a photo with no development or technical knowledge required
Competitive, fixed pricing Offers the only unlimited 3rd party hosting plan (Commercial and Personal Use)
Are my pictures still safe?
Yes! All your photos are still available by logging into your Photobucket Account. Photobucket has only restricted the ability to view your photos on 3rd party sites.
Can I download my Photos?
Absolutely, at any time. It is an easy four step process:
Step 1. Login to your Photobucket Account
Step 2. Navigate to your library page
Step 3. View a photo and click the download button
Step 4. The picture will be saved to your computer
unquote
The +500 plan is 399 $/year and it will not take away the cumbersome way to upload a photo to here. And it does not solve the issue of the link to the box and not to the photo as described earlier on.
We need to find a way which is user friendly and cost efficient to make our site more attractive.
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Please can we migrate to a new forum with direct hosting [:)]
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Maybe the council should listen to the members. After we are paying the fees which are sitting in a kitty doing nothing. A new forum must be they way forward for the club!
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We will be getting quotes for this option, agreed at the last Council meeeting. Don't expect anything until the autumn - I am away until September and do have a life outside the ACOC.
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The Council agreeing to get quotes on direct posting forum software is a step in the right direction! It is a real shame to see posts that have recorded significant pieces of AC history with their posted pictures now lost because of the actions of a third party photo hosting service. It will be next to impossible to re-establish those links unless the original poster takes a huge amount of time to relink all those photos. We still have the written words in the posts, but losing the pictures is distressing.
The only way to go for the future is direct hosting, as many other organizations do. Thanks
Bert
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quote:
Originally posted by administrator
We will be getting quotes for this option, agreed at the last Council meeeting. Don't expect anything until the autumn - I am away until September and do have a life outside the ACOC.
Thanks, Bryan, and to the Council, for having taken this up. Quite a project ahead!
[:)]
Constant
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I second that. And thanks to those original posters who have been updating their posts to replace the ransomed pictures.
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Thirded! Having hosted'n'posted for dozens of people over the years, there are far too many photos for me to start updating, only to find that we migrate to an 'inclusive' forum, fingers crossed we can transition without too much drama .
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Fab news. I feel sure this innitiative will be a cornerstone that will help ensure the future of the AC marque in the years to come.
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This is great news. Suspect I will be posting quite a few pics in the future and huge thanks to Nik for being my go-between up till now.
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I see we needed to wait till autumn for a response to the council meeting and agreeing to possibly update our forum to take images.
Not heard anything yet, not seen any minutes with this matter being raised since?
Has it been forgotten or ignored?
Come on use some of the kitty and get this done.
Gary
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Gary,
A more user friendly forum is discussed at the council meetings, and our Webmaster has received tenders to convert from the current software to one which accepts downloads. As I am sure you will know, it is not as simple as sticking a new disc in a server. The same goes for publishing the ACtion on the ACOC Website. It is already possible to publish both past and future issues, but there is a major problem with copyright on articles and particularly photos. Many contributions are conditional on the photo remaining in the printed medium, and reproduction on the internet is expressly forbidden. It would certainly be an advantage to be able to reference previous articles from an electronic library, but we need to be careful not to invite litigation over copyright. Hopefully there will be some news on the new Forum software in the near future. Andy.
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Andy has answered this one for me, but details are that there is forum software available which allows direct photo hosting and claims to include a migration routine to go from Snitz. Our provider (racecar) has given an indicative quote for the work but it appears that the migration process can throw up a lot of snags which can be time-consuming to overcome, so the next steps are to ask the Council on Thursday for formal permission to go ahead and then for racecar to put in the time to check out the potential issues in detail and confirm their quote is in the right area. Assuming all still looks OK we will then proceed.
There will be a photo size limit, probably 512 kb, to stop the server getting clogged up. This size is plenty big enough for good screen resolution but does mean that larger photos will have to be resized before posting.
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Excellent news! Thanks.
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Ditto, a move in the right direction at last.Fingers crossed.
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quote:
Originally posted by administrator
There will be a photo size limit, probably 512 kb, to stop the server getting clogged up. This size is plenty big enough for good screen resolution but does mean that larger photos will have to be resized before posting.
Resizing can (should) be done automatically.
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512kb is a bit stingy in this day & age, even a couple of meg shouldn't clog up a server at the rate we post.
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Well at least we will be able to post pics and 512kb is more than big enough for screen images, your not posting wall art. Lets be thankful.
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[;)]
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The Council approved the migration project yesterday.
I'm not going to put a timescale on this as unexpected issues could crop up: if it proves impractical, we will go to Plan B which is to lock the existing Forum as an archive and start a new one.
I'll post again when there is some definite news, one way or the other.
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Good news and moving forward.