Forum upgrade ?

[JDP]

We've been having a discussion in the Stove Hugger's about potential forum improvements and enhancements. Basically, most feel Bob is doing a great job within his agreed to budget, but some wonder if perhaps the forum is worth more to the club then is presently being invested.
A suggestion was offered to form a committee to collect input on how better to improve the SDC forum.
I'll start by saying the club has pretty deep pockets, and I feel this forum will only continue to grow in importance. Perhaps a closer look at adding enhancements might be in order based the value of this forum to SDC now and as it grows.
Discussion ??

JDP/Maryland

[DEEPNHOCK]

I think everybody should go out and work on their Studebakers, and then come in and write about that.
The mind wanders off when too much time is spent behind the 'puter screen and then the forum wanders off the side of the road and starts hitting stuff.
Just an opinion.
Jeff[8D]

quote:Originally posted by JDP

We've been having a discussion in the Stove Hugger's about potential forum improvements and enhancements. Basically, most feel Bob is doing a great job within his agreed to budget, but some wonder if perhaps the forum is worth more to the club then is presently being invested.
A suggestion was offered to form a committee to collect input on how better to improve the SDC forum.
I'll start by saying the club has pretty deep pockets, and I feel this forum will only continue to grow in importance. Perhaps a closer look at adding enhancements might be in order based the value of this forum to SDC now and as it grows.
Discussion ??

JDP/Maryland

[JDP]

Ok, how's working on a Avanti, then checking the forum from the garage laptop work for you ?

JDP/Maryland

[monomaniac]

I have nothing against spending some more money on the forum or our internet presence, especially for improvement. Bring details to our annual Board meeting so we can approve expenses.

However, Jeff has hit the nail right on the head with his comment. And I would also encourage more submissions to TW. When people take a good photo and post it here, that's instant gratification but posting it in TW would give much more exposure (within the SDC community naturally). This also applies to articles, tech tips, reminiscences.

[DEEPNHOCK]

That's a good point.
I posted some Stude/aviation pic's here and no one at TW looked at them for this months edition.
Their fault. No way.... My fault for not submitting them to TW.
(But TW would be well advised to visit here for some of their material)
Another unasked for opinion offered up
Jeff[8D]

quote:Originally posted by monomaniac
However, Jeff has hit the nail right on the head with his comment. And I would also encourage more submissions to TW. When people take a good photo and post it here, that's instant gratification but posting it in TW would give much more exposure (within the SDC community naturally). This also applies to articles, tech tips, reminiscences.

[Mark57]

Picking up on Jeff's thoughts, I often wonder a bit myself sometimes about the priority of activties one spends with their "hobby time".[8)] It would certainly be more productive if I spent more time tinkering with the Studebaker instead of tinkering on this keyboard, but I also recognize that there is a social aspect to this hobby (addiction, or whatever you prefer to call it. ).

Due to the fact folks on this Forum hail from all across the planet, this mechanism of communicating and socializing would seem to be the primary way for us to converse, discuss, argue and learn, except for the odd time we can get out to an International Meet, club event, etc.[^]

There was a point in my life where I truly believed that more "regulation" was good and necessary to ensure the smooth operation of most human activities, but now I have come to believe that the minimum amount of regulation (rules) usually provides the best conditions for enjoyment.

Truth be told, IMHO, this Forum does pretty good considering the vast cultural differences folks bring with them to this place and very seldom does a thread seem to go off in an unsatisfactory direction.[^]

So, bottom line for me is that while I would welcome a small group of committed individuals to consider "enhancements" to make the Forum provide even more enjoyment for its' members, I think we have sufficient rules in place to keep discussion focused on Studebakers and related issues. And, for those times when things do go awry, our Webmaster, Mr. Shaw, or whoever fills that role in future, has sufficient tools to take remedial action. And just to be clear, I think Mr. Shaw has done a very good job exercising his discretion in maintaining decorum on the Forum (sorry, couldn't resist!).

My 2 bits worth... sorry for the rambling post.[:I]

<h5>Mark
'57 Transtar Deluxe
Vancouver Island

Are you planning to attend the NW Overdrive Tour in Parksville, BC
May 23-25, 2009?</h5>

[Mark57]

quote:Originally posted by glen
[u] if we could just have a spell check!</u>

I'll second this suggestion![^]

<h5>Mark
'57 Transtar Deluxe
Vancouver Island

Are you planning to attend the NW Overdrive Tour in Parksville, BC
May 23-25, 2009?</h5>

[JDP]

On the flip side, I think TW could do more to point members to the forum. It's a life saver when you can't wait a few weeks for a reply from the TW tech guys for example. maybe a monthly ad featuring the instant help the members here can provide.
More interesting forum info could be posted in TW also. Maybe a this month on the SDC forum piece if a general interest topic or tip could be shared with the non-net types. The like it or not reality is printed mediums of all types are slowly being replaced with Internet.
Newspaper ad revenue is in the toilet, news is old news before the print dries and so on. I'm sure some on the board want to "protect" TW, but at some point most will find both the net and TW will need to work hand in hand and that includes making SDC money on the net at some point. Even just boosting membership via the forum helps SDC and thus TW.

JDP/Maryland

[jimmijim8]

yep. what he said. jimmijim

[Mark57]

quote:Originally posted by JDP

On the flip side, I think TW could do more to point members to the forum. It's a life saver when you can't wait a few weeks for a reply from the TW tech guys for example. maybe a monthly ad featuring the instant help the members here can provide.
More interesting forum info could be posted in TW also. Maybe a this month on the SDC forum piece if a general interest topic or tip could be shared with the non-net types. The like it or not reality is printed mediums of all types are slowly being replaced with Internet.
Newspaper ad revenue is in the toilet, news is old news before the print dries and so on. I'm sure some on the board want to "protect" TW, but at some point most will find both the net and TW will need to work hand in hand and that includes making SDC money on the net at some point. Even just boosting membership via the forum helps SDC and thus TW.

JDP/Maryland

JP's thoughts have made me think of another item... Our local Chapter has gone to creating our monthly newsletter as a PDF which is sent electronically to all Chapter members. Of course, those folks who are not "online" still gets theirs by snail mail, but our Chapter has saved quite a bit of time and money by offering this option. I would think that something similar could be done with TW, or perhaps an electronic copy of TW could be posted on the website (password protected) - or perhaps an online version?

The possibilities are endless.

One last thought, then I'll be quiet for a (little) while (I'll go tinker with my Stude)... Our Chapter is hosting the Northwest Overdrive Tour next year and while this website offers a place to put in some basic details, there is no place here where our Chapter could put up a webpage to advertise to Tour, provide links to the host hotel, etc. and have a downloadable registration form for folks to access. If the SDC website could host such things, it would be very helpful to local Chapters, especially small ones with few resources.[^]

How can you tell I'm a "Continuous Improvement" geek!!?[:0]

<h5>Mark
'57 Transtar Deluxe
Vancouver Island

Are you planning to attend the NW Overdrive Tour in Parksville, BC
May 23-25, 2009?</h5>

[BobGlasscock]

quote:Originally posted by Mark57




There was a point in my life where I truly believed that more "regulation" was good and necessary to ensure the smooth operation of most human activities, but now I have come to believe that the minimum amount of regulation (rules) usually provides the best conditions for enjoyment.


So, bottom line for me is that while I would welcome a small group of committed individuals to consider "enhancements" to make the Forum provide even more enjoyment for its' members, I think we have sufficient rules in place to keep discussion focused on Studebakers and related issues. And, for those times when things do go awry, our Webmaster, Mr. Shaw, or whoever fills that role in future, has sufficient tools to take remedial action. And just to be clear, I think Mr. Shaw has done a very good job exercising his discretion in maintaining decorum on the Forum (sorry, couldn't resist!).

I agree totally with these two excerpted paragraphs. I absolutely don't want any more 'rules' as to what can be content on the forum. If someone contributes something that is offensive or undesired by the majority of members, the posts will say so and action can be taken by the webmaster. If the post is flagrant, it can be left up entirely to the webmaster to take warning action off-forum or more.

I have no problem with 'enhancements' to the forum. That is an area of promoting growth that all entities must have, or die.

The biggest annoyance I have about this forum is the inability for posters to control the size of pics uploaded. I HATE the threads that have to be scrolled horizontally in order to read them. I actually will typically quit reading them immediately after that particular pic is posted and the thread expands to more than my screen size. I don't know if there is software available to "resize" pics at the moment of uploading to the forum or not, but, I am willing to bet that there is software that will refuse to upload a pic exceeding a specific size. I would love to see that kind of improvement in the forum. Maybe if members saw little boxes with red x's, they would learn to resize pics at the host site.

Spell check would be nice, but, their are two many words that when spelled correctly are steel the wrong word and wood get passed threw the spell check.


'50 Champion, 1 family owner

[JDP]

I thought we had spell check for a few years, or is it just my Firefox browser doing it ? If you are still on IE, I feel sorry for you.

JDP/Maryland

[studeclunker]

I regularly visit a wide variety of websites. Many are infected with the 'continuous improvement' fervour. One of these was recently bought out. The 'improvements' that the new owner added now make it very difficult for me to participate. As each website gives in to this fervour of improvement, people like myself are closed out. Many of our members (the club that is) are not techno-geeks. Therefore their equipment isn't the fastest and state-of-the-art. I'd rather spend the money on keeping Ed and Bess on the road, thanks.

The Technical Forum here has saved me numerous times. I'm sincerely grateful for the patience of the members who contribute to it and consequently, have helped me out. If this group of forums becomes more complicated and 'improved' I'll be closed out and lose one of my most valuable resources to keeping my cars on the road.

The idea of creating a location for posting of chapter newsletters is an excellent one. I'd love to see that happen.

This web-site is very simple thus easy for me to load on my dial-up connection. There is no DSL available in the county that I live in (unless of course one wants to go to a cel-satelite connection at over a hundred dollars a month). I think Bob has done an excellent balancing job with the site as it is. Keep it simple, please.

Though, I must admit... some of our members really could use spell check.


Home of the famous Mr. Ed!
Lotsa Larks!
K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Studebaker!
Ron Smith
Where the heck is Lewiston, CA?

[52-fan]

If there are real improvements that can be made I am all for them, but I think the forum is great as it is. This venue has done more for helping me keep my enthusiasm for the hobby up than anything else. I well remember when writing to a magazine and waiting months for a reply was the only way for those of us without knowledgeable friends nearby. My only regret is that it took me a long time to look in on the forum for the first time.


1952 Champion Starlight, 1962 Daytona.Searcy,Arkansas
"I may be lazy, but I'm not shiftless."

[dong]

I agree with 52 fan.

Don