3 questions

[MkIV Lux]

quote:Originally posted by nikbj68
   
Nice one, Constant.
   If you add a " between the = http, and another one before the last ] that whole line of text will disappear:
   [URL="http;//website/album/picture.html"]
   

   
   that would then add another 2 steps to the process (see above) making it 14 steps to post this photo

[TTM]

My comment regarding professionals comes from my experience in another club where a few privateers, who had built significant knowledge working themselves on their own cars and who offered disinterested support to other members who were a bit less handy, found out later that some other members would use what they had learned to sell it as a service to third party owners. Now while that kind of practice has never been unheard of in the whole hobby itself, I see no reason not trying to control it within a certain extent through the forum. It remains to members’ discretion to proceed with their interest in the hobby however they feel like but I do not see why members should indirectly support possibly ill behaviours through a paid membership. To me it’s a matter of principle, regardless of the values of the cars.
   
   As for outings, may I need to mention about some classics (not necessarily ACs) getting spotted at public events to later get stolen? The first time I heard of this I could not believe it but reading later again about it – and in the current edition of ACtion – I thought this point needs to be brought forward. I do hope that members who post pictures of their cars on the www blank their registration plates. Yes it’s a sad world we live in and the www has become a useful tool for everyone, including organized crime.
   
   Nik, I appreciate your enthusiasm and even if I am only a fresh member I have had strong emotional link with ACs for several decades, but that should not prevent us to keep a cold-blooded approach and apply some common good sense considering the information the forum should or should not be displayed publically.
   In any case there should be enough technical solutions to satisfy everyone’s needs with regards to the format of the forum, but as in the real world it should be shaped flexibly enough to satisfy the wide range of people on board, without necessarily feeling offended by the sometimes different expectations of its different members.

[nikbj68]

I note that Simon has deleted his post, making some of my comments look like answers to unasked questions!
   I don`t really see how cars spotted at events being stolen relates to photos on forums; I get "We are in Jamaica for the next 2 weeks!" on Farcebook resulting in burglary, but after-the-event show photos, which have no direct track-back to a car`s home location, hmmmm...
   
   Hopefully we can take this forward without too much disruption to the status quo...

[TTM]

quote:Originally posted by nikbj68
   I don`t really see how cars spotted at events being stolen relates to photos on forums

   
   They don't, but promoting a forthcoming event publically can attract unwanted attention. This is not saying we should hide in bunkers, but using a public area to promote a club event is I think not ideal.

[MkIV Lux]

For the sole sake of underlying what I mentioned in my earlier message on "direct upload", I have just been looking at my account in Photobucket which I use exclusively for the ACOC Forum:
   - I have 209 photos stored for a total of 0.3 GB out of 2.0 GB which are free of charge; so the approximate free capacity is for some 1,130 photos.
   The next capacity level is for adding 20 GB so allowing for a total of some 12,430 photos to be hosted. Cost herefore is 29.99 €/year.
   
   In comparison: on the Club Lotus France Forum on which I am active since 10.5 years now and I have posted todate 10.324 messages with over 30.000 photos uploaded by me(none of which has been deleted due to capacity limits); had I done so through Photobucket, I would have spent some 300 $ over that period just to keep the photos alive!
   
   And to give you an idea of the size of that Forum (restricted to club members), todate:
   - it has 1,648 users
   - is structured in 9 sections containing a total of 44 subsections
   - contains 298,066 messages on 16,693 subjects
   - unnumerable photos (guess there must be over a million)
   
   If anyone wants to see what a totally userfriendly Forum looks like, send me a PM and I'll arrange for a live full view.
   
   This in no way is a critique to what we have in place at the ACOC, for which I am thankful to the volonteers who manage it, it is simply an example of how members could get en even better system.

[Exowner]

Well, well, questions 1 & 2 certainly prompted some comments!
   What about question 3 - Keith?

[nikbj68]

quote:Originally posted by MkIV Lux...In comparison: on the Club Lotus France Forum on which I am active since 10.5 years now and I have posted to date 10,324 messages with over 30,000 photos...

And only 508 posts here in almost the same 10 years... you have some catching up to do! (And my missus thinks I post too much on here!!!)[]
   Obviously a much more active forum than ours, but a well-made point, I have 1,367 photos in my Photobucket, (35% of my 'free' space) and also have a Flickr account, so I should be okay for a few more years.

[MkIV Lux]

quote:Originally posted by nikbj68
   ....And only 508 posts here in almost the same 10 years... you have some catching up to do! (And my missus thinks I post too much on here!!!)[]
   Obviously a much more active forum than ours, but a well-made point, I have 1,367 photos in my Photobucket, (35% of my 'free' space) and also have a Flickr account, so I should be okay for a few more years.
   

   
   Indeed, I could have been more active here: three elements have been working against this:
   - the fact that our Forum here is public hinders me to post photos and voice my opinion
   - the "cumbersome" way to upload photos (I am spoiled by the CLF Forum)
   - the relative inactivity on our Forum: the more active a Forum is, the more opportunities you have to respond to posts and get involved; otherwise you end up monologuing and that is no fun; this may have to do with the age distribution of the membership: in CLF I am part of the older generation, the majority of the members being in the 30-40 range, in the ACOC I am more in the lower middle of the distribution I guess. The younger generation is much more active in all things electronic communication and almost permanently "connected".

[SBB]

With reference to Nik Bagshaw's comment above on 6th October that I have deleted an earlier posting, I have not. I wouldn't know how to and I don't think one can once it's done. He is now posting on the wrong thread. The posting to which he refers was on a different thread.

[MkIV Lux]

quote:Originally posted by SBB
   
With reference to Nik Bagshaw's comment above on 6th October that I have deleted an earlier posting, I have not. I wouldn't know how to and I don't think one can once it's done. He is now posting on the wrong thread. The posting to which he refers was on a different thread.
   

   
   You can delete completely your own post; you just have to click the last of the 5 icons you see behind the timeline of your own post.

[TTM]

I would not see the "lack" of activity, at least relatively to some other car forums attracting a probably "younger" and wider audience, as a negative point per se.
   Not everyone from the older generation feels comfortable using the www yet, but those who do, especially on here I believe, seem to post messages to bring significant content and/or make a point. There is probably not enough cars in existence and not enough general public interest for the brand for the forum to generate a traffic that would make it a several hour daily time-eater like some others forums are, and I personally see this as a positive point.

[nikbj68]

quote:Originally posted by SBB
   
With reference to Nik Bagshaw's comment above on 6th October that I have deleted an earlier posting, I have not...He is now posting on the wrong thread. The posting to which he refers was on a different thread.
   

Sincere apologies, Simon; sloppy of me.
   I was posting on the right thread, but referencing This Thread, and this statement:
   

quote:Originally posted by SBB: ...The Forum is much inhabited by a peripheral fringe lurking on the sidelines who do not wish to subscribe financially to the Club's welfare and the services it offers but yet they may wish to obtain information from and use the Club's resources for their benefit or exchange views for free.

   There are many of this peripheral fringe who have taken the trouble to sign up to the forum specifically to impart knowledge, advice, history or otherwise be of service to Club members, which if the forum were 'Members Only' would not have done so, which would most certainly be our loss. []
   I know one (non-ACOC member) Forum user who is a highly-respected authority on AC who we have probably lost from the site for good since this line of thought was aired, which is a terrible shame, but I can`t honestly say I blame them. [B)]

[jrlucke]

I'm one of those lurking in the weeds. I'm been a fan(atic) of AC cars for 60 years since I first saw a road test in Sports Car Graphic. I worked on a friend's badly wrecked BEX in the mid 1960's and in the early 1970's owned RS5024 and was a member (and didn't particularly have a welcoming experience with the US arm of the club (AND "why do you want to be a member?")). I post periodically when I think I have something of interest to contribute. I have every book on AC's I can find and have contributed to one. One of the reasons I follow the forum is in hope of sometime seeing that 5024 has re-appeared. If I were blocked from the forum I would lose the primary source of information on these terrific and interesting cars (and while I prefer the 1955-64 cars, I refer to ALL models). I would dearly miss hearing from all of you!
   John

[Hobo]

Dear all,
   
   a friend of mine gave attention to me about the ongoing discussion.
   Taking notice of this discussion I would like to express my personal opinion:
   As owner of two MkIV (AKL 1411, AK 1073) I am happy to participate in the open forum.
   Yes, I have been ACOC-member also for a while. However difficulties in the payment for membership renewal and difficulties in having access to the ACOC members area (password) frustrated me and finally I ended up automatically as a non-ACOC-member.
   For me it is o.k. so far as the forum for me is the most important feature.
   
   Sitting on the continent  – lack of time and because of distance to UK -  in any case I can not participate in most of (social) ACOC events which – by nature – are focused to the UK.
   So what really than is the advantage? Yes, access to the registry is a real value, the Action-publication is nice, but what else is left? For me personally little.
   
   I am also participant in other open forums as well (Cobra-Germany and Sailing)
   Looking to the costs of a non-commercial forum in general with such a traffic on a lower level, we are taking about cost of 50 – max. 300 pound a year to operate a forum …………not too much and shouldn’t be a real issue.
   The sailing forum is established by a few enthusiasts and they do not ask for any financing, the German Cobra forum is also free of charge, however you can provide donations (4 to 40 pounds a year) on a volunteer basis – and from time to time I do so.
   Out of my view forum-financing is not a criteria to create a closed shop or not.
   
   However, if you create a closed forum what will be the effect?
   You loose much more traffic – which currently isn’t high anyway.
   You loose tipps, tricks, generell interesting informations like supply sources for sought parts and market informations from a wider community of experienced AC owners/enthusiasts which are – for what reason ever – non ACOC members.
   Out of my view a closed Forum for ACOC-members only will be simply much poorer than an open (minded) forum.
   Last not least:
   You loose a marketing instrument to attract AC-enthusiasts to enter in an ACOC membership.
   
   Just my 5 ct.
   
   Martin

[Classicus]

Although not being a member of the Club not having a 428, how I wish it wasn't 3 inches long, I really appreciate it also being open to non-members offering the opportunity to showcase Derek Hurlock's lovely creation in perpetuity worldwide, otherwise it would have sadly soon been forgotten anywhere else.
   
   Once again my grateful thanks to everyone in the Club….
   
   Paul []