Members website update

[CosworthCabrioLee]

Hi All just wanted to give you all a update on your new website, to date, the website project is on target for completion at the end of October with the structure agreed and a design being developed. The website will be ableto do everything originally specified but with some additionalfuture-thinking built in. For example, should the use of online paymentsystems be a priority in the future then this can be done easily. However,it is important to bear in mind that there is more to buying club goods and paying for membership than simply clicking a website button – there areauditable processes involved at the sales-end which our volunteer membersmay not feel comfortable with if online payment systems are added to theiralready heavy work load for the club. The use of Twitter (and Facebook links) is being built in also so thatshould the club decide to use these technologies at any time in the futurethen they will be immediately available. We are researching the development of an iPhone App for members who wish to use that particular technology too. Contents-wise, the club site will largely contain the same sort of information as now, but some streamlining is going to take place especiallyin the contacts pages. The History pages are currently being rewritten and we are hoping to get some more high resolution photos. Photos are an issue: most members take their shots to record a memorable moment, maybe a trip somewhere, or simply a nice shiny clean car! These photos don’t always lend themselves to publications like websites (orPitstop or the Calendar). So finding good photos is quite hard. If members would like to submit photos to me for inclusion they should be around 2000 pixelson the long side (as a rule of thumb) for designers to be able to resize andcrop etc. Photos for the calendar and Pitstop ideally would have aresolution of at least 300 dpi but the website needs as little as 72dpi. Members will have their own gallery space associated with their forum profiles and they will be able to upload their images for all to see. Theforum will also allow linkage with photobucket, flikr etc. The next phase is to complete the design elements. Then it is a matter of populating the empty website with the design template, inserting the content and matching up the forum (vBulletin). The stage after that will be trying to archive the existing forum in a usable way. We will then need to finalise the elements of the site and test it all thoroughly before making it live.

[stevejgreen]

Re: Members website update

It is my analysis that the author of this thread is in fact Cyberpharm (or others), though it is being presented as the work of the committee.
Does the author accept that it is Cyberpharm (or others) original document which has been amended and that there is no intent to be misleading.

Sorry for my own plagiarism of a previous post but I thought it important to illustrate a point.

[dcunn]

Re: Members website update

So you're clever guy Steve ( but in who's opinion ?) Does it really matter what your opinion is, and to whom is it important ?

Does it really matter who wrote the post, or any other of the posts and missives from Lee ?
Surely the important point to Lees message is that something positive is being done and to an agreed time scale. Lee may not be a wordsmith, but he is our elected Chairman, and a very dedicated Marlin person over many years. He has been trying for months to move the club on, despite all the whinging and attacks from many people - predominantly yourself - whose sole aim in life seems to be negative and nit picking.

Yes Steve, this is a positive attack on you and I have refrained for some time from posting something like this.

If you don't like being got at then please fold your tent and go away, you perhaps know now a little of how Lee and others have felt.
Many people have spent a lot of time and recently a lot of heartache in trying to move on, yet each apparent step forward seems to have been greeted with some form of snipe from you.

This post is from someone who is TRULY trying to help move the club on, and doing something about it.
DC

[cameronfurnival]

Re: Members website update

Oh I see Steve! lol. Glad to see humour hasnt passed us by in these times.

Steve, can you email me at some time on a slightly off-topic matter? Cheers
Cameron
cfurnival(at) btinternet dot com

[dcunn]

Re: Members website update

Right, now I've got my breath back.

I've not actually been counting, and I know that not all members appear on the forum but the proportion of recent unhappy posters is very very small when compared to the 600+ membership as a whole......does this mean that in general people are happy with their club ? (And no, I'm not suggesting for one minute that we need a poll, or a vote of confidence, or whatever)

Seems to me that of late we've forgotten that the main reasons for the clubs existence is the enjoyment of our cars, and the techie side as well for improvements,mutual fault finding assistance, and mods of one sort or another.

We seem to have a very strong social side, with regular local meets and some "national" things ie Lakes, etc which appear to be well supported and enjoyed by a number of members.

The committee are doing the best they can, as volunteers, unpaid for their not inconsiderable time spent on club business, so why not support them............if you're not happy with them or what they are doing then your chance will be next May to vote others in - if you can find enough people willing to commit a lot of time to the club and to be set up as targets !

August has always been known as the silly season, it's now September so please can we get on with life in a sensible fashion - life's too short for all of this DC

[terryreed1664]

Re: Members website update

Well said D.C. 100% behind you on everything you have said.
Terry

[Dane_Rescueman]

Re: Members website update

DC, I have been saying the points made in your paragraph two for a while. Buildem, drivem, mendem, drivem again. That's what Marlins are about. Leave the nitpicking to the nit-nurses!

[donsayers]

Re: Members website update

So Dane and others, what is the MOC actually for?

[donsayers]

Re: Members website update

Oh and to the OP. Paragraphs please:

Lee wrote:

Hi All

just wanted to give you all a update on your new website, to date, the website project is on target for completion at the end of October with the structure agreed and a design being developed.

The website will be ableto do everything originally specified but with some additional future-thinking built in. For example, should the use of online payment systems be a priority in the future then this can be done easily.

However, it is important to bear in mind that there is more to buying club goods and paying for membership than simply clicking a website button – there are auditable processes involved at the sales-end which our volunteer members may not feel comfortable with if online payment systems are added to theiralready heavy work load for the club.

The use of Twitter (and Facebook links) is being built in also so that should the club decide to use these technologies at any time in the future then they will be immediately available.

We are researching the development of an iPhone App for members who wish to use that particular technology too.

Contents-wise, the club site will largely contain the same sort of information as now, but some streamlining is going to take place especially in the contacts pages.

The History pages are currently being rewritten and we are hoping to get some more high resolution photos. Photos are an issue: most members take their shots to record a memorable moment, maybe a trip somewhere, or simply a nice shiny clean car! These photos don’t always lend themselves to publications like websites (orPitstop or the Calendar).

So finding good photos is quite hard. If members would like to submit photos to me for inclusion they should be around 2000 pixels on the long side (as a rule of thumb) for designers to be able to resize and crop etc.

Photos for the calendar and Pitstop ideally would have aresolution of at least 300 dpi but the website needs as little as 72dpi.

Members will have their own gallery space associated with their forum profiles and they will be able to upload their images for all to see. The forum will also allow linkage with photobucket, flikr etc.

The next phase is to complete the design elements. Then it is a matter of populating the empty website with the design template, inserting the content and matching up the forum (vBulletin).

The stage after that will be trying to archive the existing forum in a usable way. We will then need to finalise the elements of the site and test it all thoroughly before making it live.

[Dane_Rescueman]

Re: Members website update

Don, DC has it in a nutshell "what the club is for" written in his para 2.

"Seems to me that of late we've forgotten that the main reasons for the clubs existence is the enjoyment of our cars, and the techie side as well for improvements,mutual fault finding assistance, and mods of one sort or another."

We need to swap information, techniques, mods, parts suppliers and, of course, yarns. The web site and Pitstop are great for this but quite a lot happens at local meetings, runs out and shows too.

I have been a member of many clubs and societies where there has been a period of introversion concentrating on constantly tampering with the myriad of society rules and clauses, Changing the information flow and airing personal attacks at committee meetings. A lot of the time this arose when persons forgot why they joined in the first place, where procedure ranked higher than any other topic.

Let us all lighten up a little and enjoy ourselves a bit more.

Don, what do you think the club is for? What do you get out of it? Thanks for the question though, It was food for thought. Good luck with the Beastie.

[c5martin]

Re: Members website update

The direct attack on Steve Green serves no useful purpose for moving things forward.
Every one should be able to express their opinion openly.
You may not like or agree with what is written.
I apologise as a club member and hope this doesn’t happen again.
Free speech is what makes our country great and it should also apply to the Marlin Owners Club.

Martin

[donsayers]

Re: Members website update

I will agree with him. Now how is the committee furthering those ends? How has it furthered those ends over the last six months? How does it plan to do so in the future? Are we getting our moneys worth for our subscriptions?

These are some of the questions that have produced the current spate of so called nit picking. It's our club and sometimes committees have to be held to account. (And no one is going to tell me that I am not entitled to do so.)