Private Boards for FE-FC Clubs

[RET]

If you've read the News that appears on the 'Home' page of these discussion boards, you will know that there is an area here which is just for the members of the FE-FC Holden Car Clubs of Australia.  These boards are not visible to the public (so that might be why you can't see them )

In the NSW club we use them to hold discussions about issues that affect us - allowing members of the club who aren't able to get along to meetings to still have a say.  Information about upcoming runs goes in there, as well as run-reports afterwards.

There are similar boards for Vic, Qld, SA and ACT.  However, they don't seem to get much use.  This could be due to people not being aware of them - hence this note.  If you are a member of one (or more) of the above clubs, send an email to me with your board username, real name, club and membership number so that I can grant you access to the members' area.

Lastly there is another "For Sale" board in the members' area.  This is for Club members to post offers of stuff for sale that is open to club members only, or perhaps offered to club members first.

The whole point of this message is to make sure people are aware that there are additional benefits available to members of the FE-FC Holden Car Clubs of Australia - who, after all, pay for this site.  But I'm also very interested to know if anyone has any other suggestions for the private area, or opinions about it.

cheers
RET

[air-chief]

G'day RET

Heres my two cents worth on it.

How about listing which club people are from beside the word "Club" under their nick names. This may help in identifying the people from your club.    You might find that one club has 20 members and the other 3 on this chat forum

The club boards are only going to work if the members from each club are willing to input to it. You may have seen by the lack of response I received to my P.L.I Auction question. :-/

Also its good to see what other clubs are up to with monthly runs, functions, news etc. This can give you ideas or suggestions for issues that involve your own club.

Hope this helps a bit.
Air-chief

What do the rest of you think

[4hammers]

Hi.
I am about to join the VIC club, as being in TAS I am a bit cut off & want to find out what is going on over there.
The idea that all the runs & events, no matter what club it is, are listed on one site is great. It makes it easier for someone like me, who the next time I go over to the mainland, can access the list of events , runs & meetings of the various clubs. Then I will make the effort to make an appearance.
I would like to see how other clubs run their meetings, runs & events.
I was a President of a club in TAS for 12 months & was dismayed at the lack of coomunication betwwen clubs. The committee & I got together, contacted some of the other TAS car clubs, & we had a run to the Midlands (Middle of TAS. Hence the name!).
We had 44 cars show up . Not bad for TAS, & the fact it was just a social run.
But my point is, we had to tell people about it, as they (all of us) need to have the info in their face before they make the effort to catch up with a different club.
I hope I am making sense, & I will be accessing the info if it is there.
4hammers

[craiga]

You guys are right. The club part of the site is only going to work if ALL State Clubs put valuable information up.

If you look at the N.S.W Club area there are regular posts about events and club activities. RET does a great job of this. People from the other state clubs should be posting stuff on their areas as well - after all they are contributing to the cost of the hosting fees, why not use their members money effectively. IMHO each State Club should assign a member of their social committee to maintain their section at their next meeting.

What about the Nationals? There is a need for a specific area for posts about the upcoming nationals in QLD. What about it guys in QLD?

Would you begin posting updates? It would be great to begin the run up to the event - after all it's less than 11 months away now.

Anyway, that's about 4 cents worth, so I too would like to read others opinions.

Cheers,

Craig.

[RET]

As per air-chief's excellent suggestion, I have created new groups for each of the participating clubs, and updated all of the user records appropriately.  (Look to the left, you'll see what I mean).  I was originally reluctant to do this, because I wasn't sure I'd be able to create many groups and give them all access to the club area - YaBB allows each user to belong to one group only.  But it turns out that I can configure this so it will work.  Let me know if I broke your access somehow :-/

A by-product of this is that I can now set up extremely private boards ("The Inner Sanctum") that only members of one club can see, so if you want to use this to discuss stuff that's private in your own club, you can.  In other words NSW couldn't see Vic's extra-private area, and vice-versa.  Does anyone think this might be useful?

As far as the Nationals are concerned, I did think about adding a board for that when I added the private For Sale board.  I decided not to, because the Nats are an event we like to publicise and promote, so it would be better served somewhere in the public area, I would have thought.  But I'm open to opinion/comment on this too.  Do we put in the Events board, or does it merit a board of its own?  And if so, where - public/private?

I did also think about a "National" private board as well, to talk about club-related things that affect us all, such as PLI.  What do people think about that?

Thanks for the feedback, and keep it coming.

RET

[craiga]

Hi Richard,

Thanks as usual for your great work with the board.

The Nationals thing would only work if it was primarily maintained by the host club, in this case Queensland, with support from the other state and affiliated clubs.

They could post updates about judging methods, accomodation, meeting points etc, and members could ask questions specifically related to the Nationals.

As you have to be a club member to take part in the Nationals I personally don't think it is an issue to exclude non-members. But this is called a discussion board for a reason, and already there has been valuable input.

What do other people think?

Cheers,

Craig

[Effie C]

G'Day Ret
As per usual a great job being done by yourself, I feel the nationals should be placed within the events section and hopefully it will be up dated by those in the know, no matter what state they are from.
As to inner private club areas I think you already know my feelings about that.
We all enjoy our particular models of car and does it really hurt to share the information around.
Thanks again
John.M

[JB]

Hi guys,

As a new member of the Queensland club I am not sure of how many actually use the forum as I have only had one answer from the Queensland site.
I want to get involved a bit more but being in Cairns has is limitations and I don't want to step on toes because I am the new boy.
But as for the Nationals, every bit of info that can be put on the board should be. Maybe even a Nationals section?
I with the rest of the guys about Richards tireless work on this great site.

[FEHOLDEN]

gidday correspondants

i may as well add my ditto re ret's excellent job as moderator [does he have time for anything else like prehaps work or sleep?]

whilst i am not currently a club member   mainly due to idealogical differences over what to spend my money on ie: family or car, i am all in favour of club only sites as otherwise this can lead to some  people getting a free ride at the expense of others who are willing  to pay for the privelages of membership.

having said that i would suggest that it would be prudent to advertise such events as the nationals in the public domain as it increases the readership and may well add to the number of paying passengers by way of increasing interest in our favorite passtime.

better sign off before i spend more than my two cents worth


denis

[RET]

i may as well add my ditto re ret's excellent job as moderator [does he have time for anything else like prehaps work or sleep?]

I've got a two year old and a not-quite-one year old.  What would I know about sleep?  

And work?  Let's just say I have an understanding boss  

But really, you're all too kind.  This is my contribution to the club (well, one of them, I can't seem to shake the Secretary or Editor gigs... offers?)  I'm not a mechanic's backside, and I know it.  I'm really lucky to have made good friends in the NSW club who have helped me with my car (and other things too) over the years:  Geoff - for much good advice on anything and everything, Alex and Charlie, who helped me fit a red motor to Dad's FC after I killed the grey motor in it, as well as many other favours over the years; Dad and Charlie for their work on my auto conversion, Geoff and Alex both helped me move house, CraigA for his help with my wiper conversion (just a small fire ) amongst other things, and they're just the recent ones.  There was also the small matter of Geoff, Alex, Darren and Siggy driving up to Tamworth (5.5 hours from Sydney) in their FE/FCs for our wedding cars.

Anyway, I haven't won an Oscar, so enough with the speeches.  I've gone a bit off-topic here, but in my 15 years with this club I've met a few blokes I wouldn't piss on if they were on fire, but the overwhelming majority - like 95+% - are terrific mates, who would be even if the cars disappeared tomorrow.  Apart from access to secret boards this is what you miss out on by not being a member of a club.

Thanks everyone,
RET

[FEHOLDEN]

GOOD ON YER RET, MORE POWER TO YOU

WHEN YOU REFER TO AN UNDERSTANDING BOSS I ASSUME YOU ARE REFERING TO MRS.RET WHO IF SHE DOESN'T SHARE YOUR PASSION MUST SURELY HAVE TO GAIN NOMINATION FOR SAINTHOOD.

I SAY THIS BECAUSE MY WIFE IS OFTEN REFERING TO BEING NOMINATED HERSELF  


DENIS

[customFC]

Hi Richard.
Thanks for the work you put in, and also for the mention.
I like the idea of a Nationals section, as I believe we can't have enough info. In my opinion we don't get enough info now. I think this should be open to all who visit, as it might inform and encourage others to join a club, if nothing else, just to attend the Nats. We all know what a fantastic event this is and we need to lift it to an even higher level. Communication from all, especially the host club, will help do this.
Regards
Alex

[RET]

WHEN YOU REFER TO AN UNDERSTANDING BOSS I ASSUME YOU ARE REFERING TO MRS.RET WHO IF SHE DOESN'T SHARE YOUR PASSION MUST SURELY HAVE TO GAIN NOMINATION FOR SAINTHOOD.

Actually, I was referring to my employer (being self-employed), but "The Boss" does deserve a medal, there's no doubt about that.  She doesn't 'share the passion' for the cars, but that was emotional baggage I already had when we met.

"Love me, love my jalopy... and my car club".

Having said that, she'd have a greater appreciation for the cars etc if I could get around to fitting kiddie seats in the FE so that when I go off on some Sunday jaunt, I could take them with me and give her a chance to potter in the garden (that's her passion) 'without the little helpers'.

RET