Advertising

[Richard]

As from today no advertising will be allowed on the Toylander Owners Club site. Any reference to adverts will be deleted without reference to the person placing the message under review.

This has come about due to the blatant undermining of my core business from two different quarters.

The man who sells the badges need not lose out nor any other genuine offer of useful stuff that does not undermine the core business. I am working on a method to help these people helping us enjoy our hobby. That is not to say I have all the answers so your suggestions will be most welcome.

On another point we are rapidly filling up again [I have already increased my spend on space] we need to trim some items. What do you suggest? The site suppliers have a system that deletes automatically after a set period. What do you think that period should be? Thank you Anthony for the spellchecker! I don't have to cut and paste into and out of Word to chek mi smelliks anymore.

Kind regards
Richard

[Tore]

On another point we are rapidly filling up again [I have already increased my spend on space] we need to trim some items.

I understand the need for trimming the forums for old Topics, space is limited.  The danger is, that useful information is spread over the entire forum. Removing old contents will also remove things that could be valuable to the users.

Most forums, once they gather some momentum, see the need for FAQ-sections.  There, threads that answers the most common questions are kept "read only" (not possible to reply to).

Problem is - who decides what should go in the FAQ, and who will do the work?

-Tore

[Lee]

Have you considered asking for donations from forum users? I'm not sure the forum is popular enough (yet!) to have a paid for members area but this is how many others raise money. I wouldn't be against putting some money in to help offset your cost. As Tore rightly says choosing topics to keep would be tricky. What sort of money would you have to pay to keep things as they are?

All the best,
lee

[multisync]

Hi All
I understand fully the need to reduce the stored content, not only as a cost saving exercise, but to make it easier to find information that was posted many weeks or months ago. Maybe there's a case for a bit of housekeeping, perhaps each individual could examine his own posts and delete any that are no longer relevent, altho this is only applicable to members who are still active. Many of my own posts are really more proper to a chat room than a forum! and are of no use after 24hours!
I'm thinking particularly where someone posts useful pictures or ideas and I, or others, comment on them, perhaps only to say how good it looks. The original post is worth saving, but often the follow up isn't.
If member's can't do their own deletions, possibly we could highlight them, as no longer relevant, for deletion by an adminitrator.
Another thought is to have a method of marking posts when they are initially submitted as, save or not save , the not save would then be deleted automatically after a prearranged period, with the default as not save, so it would take a conscious decision to make a post "long term".
Regards
Walter

[Tufty]

Could advertising be put in a separate (locked) section and have to be passed through "an administrator" who has the ability to post in this section? Again back to who has the time to spend doing it but there hasn't been that many things that I can think of.
As you say specialist items such as the badges which you don't sell is a help to all members and it would be a shame to loose such opportunities due to a few 'blaggers'!

As for the server space issues are all the pictures hosted externally (photobucket, flickr etc.) as I'd assume thats where alot of size useage comes from?

Tufty

[paulr]

We think Walter has hit the nail on the top bit.  Some post are great comments about something that a forum member has put on for us to see add the comments, and then after a short period of time can be deleted, such as this or the arrangements for the meeting in Harrogate which has now been was successful and has gone.Would 4 weeks be a good time span for this which would allow for most of us to catch up if we have been unable to access the internet for a while. For the help and advice side it could really do with being left on as its a good reference point and  we are gaining new builders all the time so they would benefit as well.
Regards PaulR and Mrs Paul

[markh15]

Hi All,
I agree with Richard about the advertising and selling of manufactured parts, from anywhere other than 'Toylander'. The ideas that Walter and Paul R put forward on certain subjects being deleted is a valid one, as most of the members have seen and commented on them.

A couple of stagnant sections could also fall under this banner, the 'Tools', 'Materials', and 'Trailers' sections to name just 3.

If Anthony is willing, then some subjects need moving to their relevant sections, and the old positions deleted to save a little space, this would also concentrate topics in one area, making information easier to find.

As Lee mentions, maybe members could help out with financial contributions. I for one would be agreeable to an annual subscriptions / donation towards the upkeep of the site, somewhere in the region of ?10 - ?20 p.a. from members would help out I'm sure.
It's a small price to pay for such a wealth of information and help.

If others are not agreeable to 'Subscriptions', then maybe Richard could accept anonymous donations.

It might also weed out the 'Enthusiasts' from the 'Hangers-on'!!

As usual, I bet I've offended someone somewhere, but this is only my opinion.

Regards to All,
Mark.

[multisync]

Hi Guys
Lots of idea coming up and I hope somewhere there's something to help the site along and keep it progressing. It's grown considerably in the last 12 months, and I, and I'm sure many others, find it interesting and entertaining, and hope it continues for years to come.
Tufty seems to have hit a valid point about pictures. Many of us post pics that are relavent at the time but may not be worth keeping for ever. Perhaps the Gallery photos should time expire, or be limited to a fixed number in total. Anyone who wants a particular picture put up could always post it again when it is removed.
Making contributions towards the upkeep sounds fine at first sight, but one of the benefits of the site, is that newcomers to the hobby can read and discuss, and get an insight into the builds, before they commit themselves. I like to think that the site encourages these newcomers, and would be concerned that any charge may discourage some.
Regards
Walter

[markh15]

Hi Walter,
A valid point about the contributions.

This is why I would lean towards a 'Voluntary' system of 'Donations', for those who have gained knowledge via the site.

The other alternative is, a system where the first six months are free, and then if they wish to continue, a contribution is payed.

I'm (as usual) just thinking in print, so to speak, and throwing ideas into the arena for discussion.

Regards,
Mark.

[max]

can you not change the icons so that they do something IE: a spanner is technical info
                                                                               : a smiley face is chit chat etc
and then the spanner messages will stay and smiley faces will automatically delete after a week or so.And we could even have a icon for silly questions...
food for thought!!!!
regards
max

[Richard]

Wow! I am impressed at the flow of ideas, thank you all. I think all of the ideas are worth investigating, space use / server, the pictures on the web, subject headings etc.. But the most important issue to deal with is money. I do not want any money for this site but thank you for the suggestions. However I would like to adopt Walters idea of self weeding [they cannot touch you for it] as that is one of the biggest space users: the chit chat that is current on the day but confusing to a newbie and I'll ask Anthony about Max's icons.

Best wishes
Richard

[Jason]

Just to add my two cents. For me the most useful part of the forum so far has been the pictures. I like to see other builds. Different methods of mounting motors, transaxles, wheelchair motors, paint colors, body construction, suspension, steering boxes, and more. All these have been very helpful for me. I would hate for others to miss out on some of these great pictures. A lot of pictures are duplicates. Maybe some of these can be deleted and the rest of the pictures can be grouped together somewhere so they can be viewed. Just a thought!!

[Richard]

Thank you Jason,
A good idea.
Many thanks
Richard

[David B]

I'd agree with Jason,
The photos are hugely valuable and very very interesting......I regularly look in the gallery to see if there are any new ones (talking of which i need to upload my own!) AND i look on Richards main toylander site at the photos - as there are loads - and the way they are presented makes them ever so easy to look at.

From my perspective (a bit late i realise) i found the owners club website hugely interesting and valuable - i spent a fair amount of time on it during the build, after the build and more importantly prior to the build. When we thought about buying the kit i asked Richard for details of someone who had already done one before and he put me in touch with Mark in Halifax.....hugely helpful gentleman. Once we'd bought the parts i spent quite a bit of time looking at photos and accounts of how other people had done things - for example the pros and cons of different paint methods..... and just familarising myself with the parts and the sequence so if there's a way of weeding out some of the older chit chat and hanging on to the valuable advice and technical banter that would be best from where I'm sitting.

It's an enormously useful research device for prospective builders, just about to build..ers, builders, and got the t shirt builders!!

I do hope it goes on for a long time.

[Robert]

In my opinion, a site like this should be free of charge, I also think that it's a huge benefit for the Toylander company when the information is accessible for anyone.
At the motorcycle forum where I?m a moderator, we use some sponsors to pay for the site.
I'm not a specialist, but know that there is a big difference in internet providers and their prices, we saved a lot of money at our site by changing the provider.
Another possibility are advertisements.
Maybe Richard can arrange some suppliers that are interesting for toylander builders , but don't interfere with his business?
And there is a possibility to use Google added advertisements.