FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Attention all,

I've made some significant changes (and hopefully improvements) to the FE-FC Forum software.

First off, you may have already noticed that there are now a number of Moderators for each board.  This will hopefully spread the love (and the abuse), while reducing the load and expectation on yours truly to resolve disputes, deal with forum rule-breakers, solve third world hunger, etc etc.

With privilege comes responsibility, of course.  The moderators will assist newbies and seasoned board users alike by dealing with issues that arise from time to time.  To that end, forum users who are not moderators are hereby requested not to take it upon themselves to stand in for those who are.  A very dim view will be taken of forum users who decide to tear strips off newbies (or anyone else) over perceived infractions of the site rules.  You will notice that next to the Quote / Modify / Remove links in each post there is now a "Report" option.  If you believe a post contravenes the letter or the spirit of this site, you should use this link to initiate action from the Moderators.  Feel free to try it (you get an option to cancel even after you click Submit on the "Report Post to Moderator" page.

Other new features.

The Search function has been extended to allow searches for an exact phrase, and there is now an option to limit returned results to one entry per thread.  (This means that if what you searched for appears in a thread Subject, for example, you won't get a result for every reply in that thread any more.)

Forum Users who are also Club Members now have up to 20K each to create their own Home Page.  I've put a fairly simple one together as an example ($2), and you are urged to get your creative juices flowing to personalise your corner of the site ($2).  (Note that the 20K limit is for the size of the text, including YaBB tags/mark-up.  The file-size of any images displayed doesn't count towards that limit.)  Members who have a Home Page are identified by the little House symbol to the right of the IM link under their icon, at left.  (The house on the extreme left still links to any external Home Page the user may have.)

Additional new features will also appear soon.  Watch this space. ;D

Enjoy,

RET

PS: Who said YaBB wasn't extendable ($2)?  :P

Good 1 Ret.
Cheers,
Graham

Great improvements RET.

Lets get those homepages happening. Mine is at http://www.fefcholden.org.au/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=;action=hpview;member=craiga

A few images so it might take a little time to load on a dial up connection.

Great to see a few members have already taken up the Homepage idea and run with it.  To see who has one, click on the Homepage link next to Profile on the bar at the top, and choose "List all active Homepages" from the page that appears.  Or click here ($2)...

Another change that has been implemented are improved prev/next links.  These now:
- show the abbreviated title of the prev/next thread
- include a flag to identify if that thread has new posts
- link to the last page of the thread, rather than the first.

Enjoy.

cheers
RET

Hey RET
    Great work mate , you've taken us "one step further" from being the best Forum on the NET to .... ???
   If members aren't happy with the changes , you'll never satisfy them.
      I think I can speak for most of the people here.
                 " Thank You"

   Norm  :)

In consultation with the Moderators, and in an effort to improve the quality of the posts and hence the site, some new changes have been implemented today.  No doubt one of these changes will be more welcome than the other...

1.  The site now has a built-in spell-checker.  (Thanks Aaron cer444 for the suggestion.)  You'll see the button to activate it between the Preview and Reset buttons when you're composing your next post.

2.  Speaking of the Preview button, it is now mandatory to Preview all messages (Posts) before committing them.  This means that posting a new message will be a two-step process (as is common on other discussion boards), but will hopefully improve the quality of the forum as it forces you to re-read your message and check it for format and content.  Note that this does not apply to Instant/Private Messages.

In a related development, the "Attach" function (club members only) will now only appear after the Preview step, which hopefully will reduce confusion about the file attachment process.

Thanks for your attention, and for your ongoing support of the FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum.

cheers
RET

Good on 'ya Richard...!
I still reckon the Homepages was a great idea on your last update of features... but am still surprised only a dozen or so members have taken it up, and even more surprised it's not attracting more traffic...

Keep up the great work though...! Looking good!
Cheers
Les...

Good changes RET, very relevant.

I also agree with Les - what's happening guys, where are all the homepages? It's really easy to stick a few words and photos of your car up on your personal page, it's also a great record of ideas and preferences.

If you haven't got one yet, do us all a favour and take the time to produce one.

Now all you have to do RET is automatically capitalize text. SO PEOPLE DON'T YELL!!!  ;D

Cheers,

Craig.

Maybe if it wasn't just for 'Members Only'?....

What, just for people whose club membership fees pay for this site. Some extra value for financial members?

Now that would be unfair surely...................
::)

I didn't realise it was for club members only, so there you go I 'spose, that explains it a bit ... though there still could be a couple more people set a page up...

Cheers

Membership has its privileges, as the old commercial used to say.  The members of the FE-FC Holden Car Clubs of Australia pay the (substantial) costs involved to keep this site running, and hence are afforded benefits not available to non-members.

It's just like the "free" and "paid" versions of software.  Once you buy it, you get access to features the free version doesn't have.

cheers
RET

The point remains valid though - there are 188 registered club members on this site.  Where are the forum home-pages?

cheers
RET

Your sarcasm hasn't gone unnoticed... well done!

Simply stating that of the members of this board, there would only be ?% who are members of a club... of that there would only be a ?% of those who would host up a page... that would explain the lack of traffic there.

When I become a member of the NSW club I will put up my own page... then I won't feel so 'guilty' about 'taking advantage' of this forum.

I'm glad you noticed! The effort wasn't wasted :D

All I am saying is that you get what you pay for. There has to be some level of reasonable return for someone paying to be a member of one of the FE/FC clubs. We get access to a newsletter, selected areas of the forum, and a few other bits and pieces including access to enter the Nationals.

If you use the forum regularly, why not join a club and financially support what is an excellent resource. Oh, and with it will come a free homepage on the forum ;-)

Cheers,

Craig.

Because at the moment I cannot drive and have no way of attending meetings/runs etc.

You see, that is EXACTLY the point I am trying to make. You say you won't be joining until you can physically attend the meetings, and it would genuinely be great to have you there. The more the merrier. But there are other advantages, like the member only features on the forum. These are what make being a member worthwhile. We have members who have NEVER been to a meeting, but retain membership because of the other advantages.

As I say, I look forward to catching up with you at a meeting and arguing the toss over a few VB's. ;-)

The next meeting is only next week, so post up your suburb and see if someone can pick you up on the way.

Cheers,

Craig.

Can I just point out that there is no "us and them" attitude between club members and not. At least none that I have seen and there is no need, as a paying member it is nice to have that little extra perk though.

My main motorvation for joining the SA club was to put literally, my money where my mouth (keyboard) was. Now I am going on club runs and stuc... um I am mean editing the Club Newsletter.

Hi SRVLIVES
   No worry about attending meetings , if I went to a meeting it would be a 750 k round trip and I've only been able to get to 1 club run ,and I've been a Forum member for 3 yrs and club member for 18 mths . On a personal note , being a member makes me feel I'm " one of the guys" , helps keep the club financial and also helps keep this great site on the Net.
  Just my thoughts

 Norm  :)

How these things happen.....

Craig, I'm not here to fight about being a mamber as opposed to not. I simply reiterate that I was suggesting that if the Homepages were open to all then there would be more pages up.

Reasons I stated for not being a member of the NSW club were only part of it, rest being new baby in the house meaning no real time for my 'hobby' and no  spare cash (I know it's only $40 odd to join)

I look forward to those beers though.... but VB?  ::)

Thanks for your explanation. I am just acutely aware of how much effort RET puts into the website and others put into the clubs. My head is now firmly pulled back in  ;D

And just for the record, there are two types of beer - VB (in can's of course) and not VB.  8)

See you at a meeting soon.

Cheers,

Craig.

Craig, you do know where VB is made don't you?
Us South Aussies obviously don't send any of our fine product to NSW.

Stinky,

You do actually.

Coopers Pale. Nectar of the Gods

More changes, in response to more childish behaviour  >:(


The ability to Edit earlier posts has been revoked.  You may still edit one of your posts as long as it has not been replied to.  Once a reply has been made, amendments to earlier comments are no longer permitted.  This allows you to make spelling or other corrections to your posts that you did not pick up in Preview, but stops people from rewriting history and deleting comments made previously.

Note that Moderators still have the ability to remove offending material.

So, please, think before you post.  You cannot "take it back".

If only i was computer smart , then i would put up a home page,  it will allow me to  write a short intro , but how do you put up pics ?
                Cheers (computer challenged) Rusty

Hi Rusty, I don't think you can put pictures up from your own computer files, :(  you have to start up a photobucket thing or similar on the web.

Someone on here should be able to tell you how to do it
Gary

www.photobucket.com ..... too easy.

OK well it was sorta easy (only took about two hours for this computer challenged Bogan to do ) sorry about the BIG pics but i am wrapped that i could even do this much , so i hope you enjoy my pics of my old girl ,
                                 Cheers Rusty