Modification postings

[Crikey]

Not long ago a member (Masreb, I think) mentioned the desirability of a better enabled area for us to post and search our 'Mods'. I have to agree with a desire for this to happen and are wondering what some of you might also have to say on this matter...
Some of my thoughts:

Move beyond the three picture limit.
Selectable areas of boat changed by any modifications.
Better range of mod category's.
On line tools for drawings and captioning pictures, for those not high on computer skills.
Some form of peer evaluation attached to every mod.

Of course someone has to approve and do this, and there I'm totally drawing a blank, but if enough 'others' besides my humble self chime in maybe our great site can grow a little for the better.

Ross

[Divecoz]

Crickey.... I believe much of what you desire cost money ?? This site is Financially supported, primarily by vendor.. / Advertisers..
Heath owns the site and I doubt if its a big money maker for him.. no doubt a few bucks .. But he sails an X...

Not long ago a member (Mastreb, I think) mentioned the desirability of a better enabled area for us to post and search our 'Mods'. I have to agree with a desire for this to happen and are wondering what some of you might also have to say on this matter...
Some of my thoughts:

Move beyond the three picture limit.
Selectable areas of boat changed by any modifications.
Better range of mod category's.
On line tools for drawings and captioning pictures, for those not high on computer skills.
Some form of peer evaluation attached to every mod.

Of course someone has to approve and do this, and there I'm totally drawing a blank, but if enough 'others' besides my humble self chime in maybe our great site can grow a little for the better.

Ross

[Crikey]

No problem with agreeing that everything costs money these days! Being freshly retired I'm staring everything in the face with much greater respect, and not to forego anyone's right to profit (large or small), I do see a large captive audience viewing a happy subset of connected advertisers. My own recent background is computer related and hence my view that most of the tools are already in place on this site, and that small additions can be added from the public domain at no cost other than the webmasters time spent in configuring some things more effectively.
If I'm barking up a dead tree - fine - I'll still stay with the best Macgregor site on the planet (IMHO!). But collectively we're a pretty large global group, and too many times I've heard comments and experienced difficulties with searching mods. Reconfiguring a relational database is not exactly rocket science and I would be the first to donate a buck for some modernization in this area, if required.

Ross

[Divecoz]

Hi Crickey I too am retired as are a few others here.. So your a Computer geek then? ( humm I see theres a court room battle $$$$ over the use of that word going on right now hahahahah) anyway.. Yes the search engine seems to many of us, to be ...a fickle pickle.. maybe you could help? Heck maybe if one or more of the moderators reads this and I am sure 2 will they might even ask Heath to add you to that panel.. 2 mods who are still listed here, haven't been seen or heard from, in a long time.. Free Help ?? You'd think that would interest someone???
Yes I agree this board is a great resource . Its greatness depends on contributing members.. Even bad ideas, can be beneficial to members as we use our collective knowledge and resources to turn them into good ideas.. Sailing knowledge here is pretty bountiful.. I know I , sure have learned a lot of useful information on here.. One of the things that makes this board stand out, is that its Manufacturer Specific.. MacGregor ( Venture) Trailer Sailors..
Sorry Got off topic here for a minute..
I thought the issue with 3 photos was band width? I Never really understood that, because I thought that all pictures are hosted.. ????

[Crikey]

Divecoz, I'm glad you responded positively - thought I was getting scolded for a minute! Not really wanting to get back into coding at this point in my declining years. Man, I'm so dated that Fortran was considered 'state of the art' in my early days!
No - stuff like this lies squarely in the domain of the current generation, which I presume the current 'geeks' running this site are, and It would be interesting to hear from Heath on his take of the difficulties, and obstacles connected with improving some of these user tools.
Of course if there's only one voice singing this song (mine) then there is not going to be a whole lot of motivation to change or improve anything. People who do this stuff need very specific directions and are basically helpless without feedback - positive or otherwise - so c'mon folks put your two cents worth in and get it out there!

Ross .....

[ronacarme]

I would favor being able to post mods sketches/drawings easily.
Also, adding to the site a permanent page devoted to step by step instructions for posting photos and sketches, in the discussion areas or mods area, for those of us that are computer dummies.
Ron (also retired)

[trdprotruck]

I don't think that money is that big of an issue. There is a lot of free open source code that could fit the bill and it is just a matter of getting some volunteers together to glue it all together. I'm pretty busy at the moment, but I could take a look if there is enough interest.

-Randy

[Phil M]

Some form of peer evaluation attached to every mod.

Ross

That certainly would be very useful. You could add in small suggestions to improve a mod, or how to perform the mod.

Phil M

[mastreb]

This board is run on a standard blogging engine called phpBB, on a version that is a few years out of date (and frankly has some exploitable security holes). phpBB is specifically for forums and doesn't do much else.

Much better content engines exist, such as Plone and Drupal, but they require a bit more attention than phpBB.

Heath set this board up, but he has clearly checked out of this hobby, and he hasn't exploited this site to generate enough revenue to warrant putting any time or effort into it.

I run an IT services company, and as such, I own all the hosting infrastructure required to deliver a site like this. I also work with all of these blogging engines for a living and could relatively easily port the content into any new system that met the community's needs.

Were I setting this site up from scratch, I would fund it with an automated marketplace for equipment, classifieds, and mods: Think of it as a custom EBay specifically for Macs. Larger providers like BWY and KH could setup permanent catalogs, I'd encourage the factory to sell repair parts via it, and it would have a 1-off area for selling mod kits up to used boats for the members. The site would be funded by taking a relatively small percentage, similar to eBay, for items sold "through" the site, and by fees paid for classifieds for items advertised on the site but not transacted through it (such as used boats).

But it would be pointless to try to compete by setting up a new site. This site is valuable because of its content and its active members, not because it has a good storefront engine or even a good search engine. Unless Heath wants to sell the domain name, you can't buy the good will he has grooved into google, and you wouldn't want to split the community anyway.

So I'd propose that some of moderators speak with Heath about how he intends to move forward with the site, given that there are many members with resources like Crikey's and mine who would be willing to put forth the effort and even the infrastructure in a major upgrade so long as it's an update to _this_ site that reflects the needs and desires of the community and respects the existing members, traditions, and moderators.

Matt

[Hamin' X]

Much of what Matt says is true. Heath has a young, growing family and a job that takes much of his time. The site could use modernization and expanding, but as Matt has indicated, it would be like reinventing the wheel to start a new one. To take us to the next level would entail dedicated effort.

I do not pretend to know what Heath's intentions are for the future of the site and I will not speak for him. But, if it were mine, I would expect that the current content would have to be maintained in searchable form and that the demeanor of the site not be changed. There are many other sites that drive members away with attitude and that is what makes this the best Macgregor site on the web.

If there are any serious offers for the domain names (there are more than one) and content, I would be willing to pass them along to Heath. Please put them in a PM, or email me and do not post them on the forum.

~Rich

[c130king]

If the issue is better interaction with the posting and reviewing of mods could a separate mod site be set-up that would allow links to it to be posted on this site? People could post all the pics they wanted (whatever this "new" mod site would allow). Then they could post a "link" to it on the mod pages here along with the basic description and maybe the three pics that this site allows.

I am not a big user of the mod site...hardly ever look at it. I get the info I need through the regular forum posts and all the GREAT MAC OWNERS that willingly participate and help each other out. So I don't really care...but I don't want to impact the usefulness of the regular forum.

Just my $0.02 worth.

Thanks,
Jim

[kmclemore]

Rich, I pinged Heath on this one, and I cc'd your private mail.

[Hamin' X]

K

[Crikey]

In closing this thread (In part, due to an underwhelming response) I'd like to make clear my lack of desire to dictate to Heath, or anyone else for that matter, any need to usurp control or structure of our popular common forum on my part. In retrospect, I have regrets that my wishing out loud seems to result in not only very little reinforcement, but has allowed some aspersions to be cast about somewhat insensitively.

Ross

[Hamin' X]

Actually, I think that the discussion has been a healthy one and quite civil. Many good points have been brought up, so why don't we wait for Heath to check in with comments?

~Rich