Ideas for improvement of the website

[Hammer]

Just so I understand this correctly...

At the top of my screen when I log on to the forums, I currently see the following message.......

'Your membership expires on Sun, Feb 09 2014. Click Here to renew it for £15'


So with the previous problem that has now been resolved, if I didn't bother to renew my membership, would I not be automatically kicked off the forums on Feb 10th? If I wasn't automatically kicked off, would I have still seen the message at the top of my screen telling me I needed to renew, even though the date had passed, yet still had been able to access the forums?

[Trevhib]

I think the reality Hammer is that eventually, especially regular members, will have realised their expiry date will have passed. If not within 3 months, certainly within a year.

Whether folk realised and didn't put their hand up however is irrelevant. If the club never bothered to administrate the process properly in the first instance, why should members be on the hook for it?

It looks like it's being attended to now so I guess we just get on with it.

[Alex]

Behave. If sky gave you service for free would you feel morally obliged to mention it? I dont think I would

Not quite the same thing though is it Andy. We're not a multi million pound organisation led by a billionaire bandit, we're a small car club for the like-minded Renault Turbo nut. We survive on memberships to keep us going.

Perhaps I'm just naive

[Alex]

Just so I understand this correctly...

At the top of my screen when I log on to the forums, I currently see the following message.......

'Your membership expires on Sun, Feb 09 2014. Click Here to renew it for £15'


So with the previous problem that has now been resolved, if I didn't bother to renew my membership, would I not be automatically kicked off the forums on Feb 10th? If I wasn't automatically kicked off, would I have still seen the message at the top of my screen telling me I needed to renew, even though the date had passed, yet still had been able to access the forums?

You'd then drop into the 'registered user' banner. You'd have limited access to the site (no sarky comments please! )

[Alex]

I think the reality Hammer is that eventually, especially regular members, will have realised their expiry date will have passed. If not within 3 months, certainly within a year.

Whether folk realised and didn't put their hand up however is irrelevant. If the club never bothered to administrate the process properly in the first instance, why should members be on the hook for it?

It looks like it's being attended to now so I guess we just get on with it.

Trev, Just so you're clear. It's not a case of the club not bothering, it's a bug/error within the data base. It's normally an automatic process that when the user does not renew they fall into 'registered user'. There is no administrative process for this - it's a system issue, which, should be fixed now

[LiamR]

Not quite the same thing though is it Andy. We're not a multi million pound organisation led by a billionaire bandit, we're a small car club for the like-minded Renault Turbo nut. We survive on memberships to keep us going.

Perhaps I'm just naive

Agree

[andybond]

Perhaps I'm just naive

Just a touch ! If you get owt for nowt, you are doing well.

( I have paid my yearly BTW )

[Alex]

Just a touch ! If you get owt for nowt, you are doing well.

( I have paid my yearly BTW )

I'll be watching you Bond!

[Trevhib]

Trev, Just so you're clear. It's not a case of the club not bothering, it's a bug/error within the data base. It's normally an automatic process that when the user does not renew they fall into 'registered user'. There is no administrative process for this - it's a system issue, which, should be fixed now

Sorry Alex. When I said administrate it properly, I was referring to putting in place a facility within the system at the outset that allowed the monitoring of the process (transactions, expiries, membership numbers) etc.

You're right, effectively the club was virtually blind to the bugs in the system and made the assumption both that the system was working ok and that payments reflected the number of members we have. The club should have always been in a position to confirm those things for itself (and thus administrate the process).

[Alex]

[Dre5gtt]

I'm like you Trev not on FB and never will be, stayed away this long so no going join up now.
I have a few mates that are not members here but are on FB do they get to see everything we do ? As he speaks about a few things on there that I have reading about or following on this site ?
Everything seems to be FB now

[JP Racing]

To be fair im on fb and here and if people post up questions then they get answered like on here but there is no search function so hard to find out what has already been asked. Most of the events are put up on there too so you can see whats going on and where. I prefer the rtoc to facebook and wouldnt want to just be on the fb page. As mentioned some people on there are not on here as its free to all.

[Hammer]

RTOC has two separate Facebook platforms doesn't it, the Facebook page and the Facebook group?

A Facebook page is very simply an advertising platform for a company/club whereby statements etc are made. Then, the general public can interact with that company by commenting on the statement.

However, the Facebook group is more social whereby those in the group can interact with each other. I feel that Facebook groups rather than pages are in direct competition with forums as they serve a very similar purpose; that of interaction between members.

[Trevhib]

Does the FB group have a shop, articles, member profile galleries, moderated classifieds, an events calendar, deals with companies for discounts, polls, area reps, or a search function on old threads, etc etc?

I understand FB is good for keeping in touch with people, well those who're actually on FB, but is it any more than chat boards?

[5teve L]

I moved the facebook discussion here as I thought it was move relevant.

Steve

[Hammer]

Does the FB group have a shop, articles, member profile galleries, moderated classifieds, an events calendar, deals with companies for discounts, polls, area reps, or a search function on old threads, etc etc?

I understand FB is good for keeping in touch with people, well those who're actually on FB, but is it any more than chat boards?

A Facebook group is basically just a chat board. But a Facebook page can have many of the features you mentioned, such as shop, discounts, polls etc. However, there are no search functions which is the major downside of Facebook.

[Trevhib]

Thanks Hammer.

So at the moment there is just non-searchable chat boards because it's only a group.

I'm struggling to see what argument there is for moving that way.

[andybond]

Thanks Hammer.

So at the moment there is just non-searchable chat boards because it's only a group.

I'm struggling to see what argument there is for moving that way.

That is correct.

I have alluded to this before.

Facebook is great for instant gratification.

RTOC is great for archive-able information that is searchable.

There are bridges between both , and there are plugins ( at least for Vbulletin ) that will sync a board to facebook and vice versa. IE post on facebook it appears on a board ( it can be configured which one ) and then if someone replies on the board it syncs to facebook. That kind of idea.

I think the main strengths of FB are its easy UI on a mobile platform.

[Trevhib]

If it were possible for an RTOC member to post on an RTOC thread, or start a new RTOC thread and it appear on the FB group without that member having a FB login, then that might work.

What about FB group members who don't have an RTOC membership?

[andybond]

If it were possible for an RTOC member to post on an RTOC thread, or start a new RTOC thread and it appear on the FB group without that member having a FB login, then that might work.

I had to read that sentance 3 times out loud. It was like one of those riddles !

What about FB group members who don't have an RTOC membership?

Honest answer. I dont know. Let me research it.

research done : it looks like if you have a FB account , post on FB but dont have a RTOC paid membership it will sync.

The benefit is though you can limit it to one forum category and forum. In effect just syncing with one segment of the board.

This might drive traffic back into the RTOC as people may visit the URL , see locked areas and work from there ?

[Trevhib]

I can't see how this would work since one site is free and the other is a pay-for membership site. There are all sorts of permutations here.

Maybe the free to the public general RTOC chat boards could be opened up to this bridge. But then the point of those is to entice folk into the club. In some ways that purpose would be diluted, then again, in other ways it might be beneficial.

Edit - wrote the above before you added the research bit of your post.

[andybond]

I can't see how this would work since one site is free and the other is a pay-for membership site. There are all sorts of permutations here.

Maybe the free to the public general RTOC chat boards could be opened up to this bridge. But then the point of those is to entice folk into the club. In some ways that purpose would be diluted, then again, in other ways it might be beneficial.

I have literally just edited my post and alluded to exactly the same.

[Trevhib]

research done : it looks like if you have a FB account , post on FB but dont have a RTOC paid membership it will sync.

But what about an RTOC member who doesn't have a FB account. When they post on RTOC, does it sync on FB?

Which site is the master and which the slave?

[andybond]

But what about an RTOC member who doesn't have a FB account. When they post on RTOC, does it sync on FB?

Which site is the master and which the slave?

Ah yes, with you.

I believe it acts in conjunction with the facebook bridge. There are options to allow the non facebook users info to be uploaded ( I believe it comes in as anonymous )

From what I understand of it , there isnt a master / slave. It more of a replica. If a comment is made on forum it syncs up , if FB it then syncs down.

[Trevhib]

Sounds ok but doesn't appear to cater fully for the permutations that will exist then. Not great RTOC members posts appearing on FB as anonymous.

[andybond]

I guess it depends on what you want it to do Trev.

For me

Forum
--> General Talk
--> Website
--> FACEBOOK

etc etc

Then the facebookers can , er facebook and sync , and the RTOCers can RTOC. A bridge is acheived. It will draw people both ways I feel ?

I certainly would use that kind of feature when at work

[Red October]

Great idea with the likes. This imo is what makes Facebook the world leader in the form of a "socially friendly" site, if someone's post is twaddle/stirring/inflammatory then the majority can favour or dislike.

This is a good two fold indicator; One being a gauge of consensus of opinion and the other to determine if the same members "like" or "dislike" the same members posts etc (to dispel the notions of ganging up/cliques/agendas/general ar$e kissing)

As far as clicking a link or plugin to refer posts to the Facebook area of the club is also a very good way of expanding on the club format as we already know it has a wider audience, but I would say that also brings a couple of issues to light also.

Facebook is free to join as is the RTOC FB group so we can use is as a promotional tool yet would have to control it in a way that befits the RTOC T&Cs. What I mean is swearing and all things that are common place on FB are against the rules here, imo that is useful as sometimes certain jokes/pictures/memes are a good way of socialising and relaxing so to speak. Perhaps RTOC at times is very strict and frosty toward taboo subjects (possibly a necessity) and the social networking side of things would be the best way to bridge the gap so to speak.

If a member of the RTOC FB group asked a tech question for instance I think it would be bad news to post the answers on FB, rather link them to the appropriate thread on RTOC, how we would do this correctly is anyone's idea because imo the fact there are so many people offering their guidance rapidly FOC makes the FB groups the success they are.....(every pay to join website in all of Christendom has this same issue to overcome/find the answer)

Just a few things that I was thinking about......

If the club would like any help in the future id be willing to offer a few of my hours a week, ive already made Blunty aware if I can help I will.

RTOC is the meat and FB is the taters, you cant have one without the other in this day and age as the formula is clearly working.

[Trevhib]

I see the point and the potential Andy.

In that scenario though it feels like RTOC is accommodating FB. I'd suggest that for various reasons it should be approached from the perspective of FB accommodating RTOC.

This then should mean prioritising RTOC member functionality on any bridge, like posting on sync'd threads being fully supported for example.

This bridge idea could be a goer though, at least as a plug-in on the free RTOC general chat boards.


Red - I agree, it is working for some/many. Does that mean we must or need to have it here in order to succeed?

[Red October]

I see the point and the potential Andy.

In that scenario though it feels like RTOC is accommodating FB. I'd suggest that for various reasons it should be approached from the perspective of FB accommodating RTOC.

This then should mean prioritising RTOC member functionality on any bridge, like posting on sync'd threads being fully supported for example.

This bridge idea could be a goer though, at least as a plug-in on the free RTOC general chat boards.


Red - I agree, it is working for some/many. Does that mean we must or need to have it here in order to succeed?

Not at all trev the RTOC website is the mecca, FB is simply the compass to find it imo

[Slammed 66]

Not at all trev the RTOC website is the mecca, FB is simply the compass to find it imo

I mainly use Facebook for picking up cheap bargains if I'm honest. Anything I want from banter to serious technical info I use Rtoc.

One thing that always pees me off with Facebook is this, if you want an answer to a question, many people will jump in with possible solutions etc. but if I want to look the answer up a year down the line... No chance!
You struggle to find posts from a couple of weeks ago on there.

[Lowiepete]

Would it be possible to have a 120px by 80px size limit for custom avatars, with
the same file size limit? Most pictures follow the 6 by 4 ratio, and this would make
choosing pictures much easier. Thanks.

Regards,
Steve

[Lewis]

I've been trying to search back through the forum and comes across a few issues.

The search results seem to find the topics created on the new site but then as I search back through the results I'm only pulling up results from 2009.

Is there a reason for this?

[Trevhib]

Good spot. I've had difficulty with the search funcs too and not sure what the cause is. Initially I was able to get results from recent times but then in recent searches there seems to have been a problem and I'm not getting anything contemporary.

[Matt Cole]

Me too. The search isn't returning much in the way of useful info

[Bigfoot]

Plus not returning back dialogy results which may be related.

[Trevhib]

Boss man, we seem to have lost our little turbo icon in the header of the browser tab. It's gone back to a Vb logo.

[Ian S]

I saw that recently. It's name is a fav.ico.

I can only make guesses as to why it's not being found by the live site.

Mick is the man for this one and the search issues.