What do you want Crew.org.nz to be

[Guest]

One decision I know cost me traffic was not to indulge the teenage girls round the world race.

[smithy09 50]

One thing that is nice on SA is that when you click on a picture that is embedded in the message it expands in a seperate frame to full size.... Any chance??

I thought wwe already had that?

 

Doesn't work for me. Am I alone??

[Mothership 6]

Whatever Mummy did, he needs to package it, put a bow on it and sell it to Web Forums. He could make a fortune.

 

We run a number of forums (and some bigger than these by quite a margin) and spam has been a huge bugbear. The eventual solution was simple and elegant in its entirety, and has worked flawlessly since implementation. If you're interested, log out, and go to the sign up page

One thing that is nice on SA is that when you click on a picture that is embedded in the message it expands in a seperate frame to full size.... Any chance??

 

Can you send me a screenshot of what you see with images? There's a fairly nifty javascript that resizes images to window width, then full width (with scrollbars if necessary) if warranted.

All of it

Agree, pretty much. But then I don't own the show.

 

I'd like to see this thread run for a week (as during this timeframe the majority of active users will visit) to obtain a reasonable idea of what's wanted from a technical perspective. There are some changes coming, and if I have my way, you users will have your way

 

Also; edits have now had the 10 minute limit removed, so please use with care. Abuse is the reason it was introduced in the first place.

[Battgirl 23]

This is my favourite sailing site and when I'm on the net I save it till last and check most of the general forums each time because there is usually a few gems that I can apply to my own sailing.

That so many are so quick to share ideas, advice, expertise is one of the best things about it and its easy to sort out where the credibility is.

For news I like pictures with few words giving a snapshot of the event.

I also really like it when people share how a particular sail went for them.

Threads degenerating into vicious personal attacks is tedious, unnecessary and easily bypassed. Its not a good look though for the site but mostly for the person doing the attacking.

Thanks for doing the review and being responsive to users suggestions.

[Guest]

At the risk of banging on like a stuck record, if all waffel continues to be confined to "Small Talk" would the "View Active but No sh*t just sailing" button satisfy all. Those who just want to talk sailing can choose this option, and all others with the time and or inclanation can continue with the "View All Active".

Click the 'view new posts' button or the 'View active topics' button.

A list appears.

DON'T read the ones that say 'in Small Talk' under the topics.

Yes it's that simple.

[smithy09 50]

One thing that is nice on SA is that when you click on a picture that is embedded in the message it expands in a seperate frame to full size.... Any chance??

Can you send me a screenshot of what you see with images? There's a fairly nifty javascript that resizes images to window width, then full width (with scrollbars if necessary) if warranted.

Hi MS. Can you pleaswe remind me how to do this? I have done it before but forget.. What I currently get are the pics, embedded in the message, no problem. But if you click on the pic, nothing happens. In SA, and many other sites, if you single click in the middle of the picture, it opens up as a seperate window, and to the true size of the pic. If it is big, you get big.

 

If you remind me how to do that screenshot, I will send it to you. Cheers, Smithy.

[Guest]

Try clicking the small box/magnifying glass dodackie in the top left hand corner of the pics. I have to click on that or they don't expand, clicking in the pic elsewhere does nothing.

 

Knot all of them have them which I assume means they are already full size.

[smithy09 50]

Doh!! Has that always been there?? Problem solved. Operator error. Sorry MS!

[Fusion 0]

So Fusion if you don't reply to me now then I'll know I'm on your Foe list?

No just offline for the weekend

[Guest Brucey]

At the risk of banging on like a stuck record, if all waffel continues to be confined to "Small Talk" would the "View Active but No sh*t just sailing" button satisfy all. Those who just want to talk sailing can choose this option, and all others with the time and or inclanation can continue with the "View All Active".

Click the 'view new posts' button or the 'View active topics' button.

A list appears.

DON'T read the ones that say 'in Small Talk' under the topics.

Yes it's that simple.

 

Yea KM you make it sound so easy, and I guess it is, but some of the topics sound vaguely interesting untill you click on them and watch the dribble start, and 6 old men talk about the size of their favourite child actors tits now?

 

I contend that if the site was sailing only less people would switch off?

 

But thats just me, you may enjoy the waffle on "home heating options, Look whos all grown up, inner peace.............." Some people have all day to pull their pud on line and some have better things to do.

 

 

That is not to say that there isnt lots of worthwhile stuff and good advice, and clever banter from time to time.

[wheels 543]

Brucey, it's not about the size of child actors anything, or whatever. You are completely missing the entire point. I think life is far too busy for you. You need to relax a bit mate. I am not being smart arsed here. I am being serious. The topics are chosen for a reason. Otherwise we would have dribble like on SA. Think about Cruising warm waters, that Blue ocean, white sand beaches and forget about having to fill on your day, and some of these subjects might start making a little sense. The "all grown up" is about a little bit of "Nostalga", A little "where the hell did the time go" and "wow she has become a stunning young lady and made something of herself" topped off with a bit of banter. Home heating is about "self sufficiency", how do we "cut the ties to society" and so on. Each topic may seem irrelevant to you, but they do have a purpose in some way. If it was just plain ole dribble for the sack of posting, then there is a lot of stuff I could find that would flood the place. And I doubt very much many of the topics would get any replies what so ever.

[Guest]

Yea KM you make it sound so easy, and I guess it is, but some of the topics sound vaguely interesting untill you click on them and watch the dribble start, and 6 old men talk about the size of their favourite child actors tits now?

I know what you mean but you just have to take a punt sometimes. The most boring thread titles can often have gems and then you get the hard core sailing looking titles that are quite boring. It's very much one of those 'don't judge a book by it's cover' things.

 

And as a FYI some of those 'old men' probably only had their 1st shave this year

[Guest Dry Reach]

Suggestions...

 

in order to improve one needs to understand what holding you back (besidesd the official scape goat called me ) and what is not working!... the issues

 

firstly the 3300 (huge proportion of Crew) people who are members but don't post need to be contacted to see if they exist still. they also need to be questioned / polled (IF THEY EXIST) as to why they don't contribute.

 

My guess is .. these people are a reflection of the sport in general and have either lost interest in sailing or cannot be bothered with talking boating with people they don't know, and use the site for info only.

 

secondly you need a plan to attack the 3300 "quite" people / 4 million newbies, and inspire them to participate. ... "Give them a reason to participate"

 

Offer a newbie comp where new members and people with less than 100 posts can win something (more prizes from the sponsors? other than Mt GAy)

 

Target all yacht clubs and class associations to participate in the site (results and news letters...) for free advertising. Some / most (out of Auckland) yacht club and class sites are inactive and need to be on crew.org to keep them active and in the publiuc eye!.

 

Crew.org needs to expand it membership out side of the myopic NZ opinions based sailing comments. The reason i say this is that i believe Crew will probably not be any bigger that a 5-7,000 membership site (in the next 5 years). Yet plenty of people view the site and don't find anything worth commenting on so don't sign up. What needs to happen is the site needs to be "the best in the world" for whatever niche it chooses and then it will, through word of mouth, attract more/world wide participation and differing views.

and grow?

 

SA, despite what people say, is the best sAILING site in the world (and i notice there are as many Kiwis posting on the SA site as there is post here). IT is succesfull because of many reasons but the main ones are its diversity (eveything to everyone), it got all the latest news and gossip, and it has controversial stuff too!. Its the main hub to sailing!

 

Crew does not have to be SA but it can cherry pick the best stuff of the best sites (like SA) and it could have a "anything goes / don't be too precious forum"... which is very funny sometimes... apparently.

 

finally, crew needs to lose the Auckland image and the dominance of Aucklanders on the site. I have nothing against Aucklanders, but i think some people are to scared to expose themselves on this site for fear of the "AUCKLAND IS THE BEST SAILING/SAILOR attitude

drowning them. (but i do appreciate the majority of sailor are north of manakau)

 

finally, If YNZ was more active in supporting and growing the sport of sailing (for which they are charged with, paid for but fail to deliver / and have no accountability) then Crew.org would grow too. What i am saying here is ... some one needs to bail these guys up and say... What are you doing?. Yes this is a hoary old chestnut but they do jack for their money and the sport / crew suffer.

 

I see Barbara Kendall is making a solo effort to get people into windsurfing to grow the numbers and see all her effort "not' wasted". Why does she have to be the lone voice? why does YNZ do nothing? and... CREW.org do more for sailing than YNZ.. get my drift? (the idiots are in charge of the assylum)

 

Ask yourself this... if NZ had twice as may sailors as we had ten years ago (instead of less) how manyy members would be on Crew.org.

 

just mho

 

I have more thoughts but i'll save them for a rainy day!

[wheels 543]

Actually it is usually a case of, as numbers increase and start participating, the more the more Knowledgable tend to thin out. I have been involved with two Forums from there beginings and both suffered the same problem. The first one was a Proffesional Forum and we didn't tend to tolerate the less knowledgable. So that one was a little different than here and CF. But it still suffered the same as CF just the same.

Plus people move on. It is not always just about the Forum.

 

But DR, we don't really want to know if the 3300 members exist or not. Because that number atracts Squids advertisers. It's better for Squid to just "believe" they are there.

[Guest Brucey]

Yea KM you make it sound so easy, and I guess it is, but some of the topics sound vaguely interesting untill you click on them and watch the dribble start, and 6 old men talk about the size of their favourite child actors tits now?

I know what you mean but you just have to take a punt sometimes. The most boring thread titles can often have gems and then you get the hard core sailing looking titles that are quite boring. It's very much one of those 'don't judge a book by it's cover' things.

 

And as a FYI some of those 'old men' probably only had their 1st shave this year

 

My point completely KM, and the frustration at finding the punt was a lemon is most disapointing to say the least. PS, shaving what for the first time? back, sack and crack?

 

 

Brucey, it's not about the size of child actors anything, or whatever. You are completely missing the entire point. I think life is far too busy for you. You need to relax a bit mate. I am not being smart arsed here. I am being serious. The topics are chosen for a reason. Otherwise we would have dribble like on SA. Think about Cruising warm waters, that Blue ocean, white sand beaches and forget about having to fill on your day, and some of these subjects might start making a little sense. The "all grown up" is about a little bit of "Nostalga", A little "where the hell did the time go" and "wow she has become a stunning young lady and made something of herself" topped off with a bit of banter. Home heating is about "self sufficiency", how do we "cut the ties to society" and so on. Each topic may seem irrelevant to you, but they do have a purpose in some way. If it was just plain ole dribble for the sack of posting, then there is a lot of stuff I could find that would flood the place. And I doubt very much many of the topics would get any replies what so ever.

 

Jezz mate, you dont have to explain to me how you spend your time, you're a big boy.

 

 

 

And DR, I thought you were away?

 

I dont think I have ever agreed with you b4 but you are talking some sence. The real question is how do we create more real sailing traffic. I agree totally. And you proffer some good suggestions. NB/Squid there are answers in that suggestion.

 

All without the usuall 'its some lucky, well off or big boats fault that the whole of Otara if not NZ arnt sailing Variants every day".

[Guest Dry Reach]

Brucey, 2 things,,,

 

if you agree with my idea... then it must be a bad one

 

and... there is such a thing as technology and internet access out side of NZ

[Guest]

Crew.org needs to expand it membership out side of the myopic NZ opinions based sailing comments. The reason i say this is that i believe Crew will probably not be any bigger that a 5-7,000 membership site (in the next 5 years). Yet plenty of people view the site and don't find anything worth commenting on so don't sign up.

 

(...)

 

SA, despite what people say, is the best sAILING site in the world (and i notice there are as many Kiwis posting on the SA site as there is post here). IT is succesfull because of many reasons but the main ones are its diversity (eveything to everyone), it got all the latest news and gossip, and it has controversial stuff too!. Its the main hub to sailing!

 

Crew does not have to be SA but it can cherry pick the best stuff of the best sites (like SA) and it could have a "anything goes / don't be too precious forum"... which is very funny sometimes... apparently.

 

finally, crew needs to lose the Auckland image and the dominance of Aucklanders on the site. [...]

 

My 5c...

 

Without wishing to come off like a Little Britain fan (which I'm not), I'd have to say that the whole point of Crew is that it's a local site. Goes without saying that SA etc are all very well for the AC, J24 Worlds etc, but for the Simrads, Coastal, local cruising tips etc, where else are you going to go. The Auckland focus is a bit of a drawback but it can't be helped, for similar reasons... Also, SA, by virtue of its size, can be a lot worse - in terms of user behaviour - than Crew.

Not sure how this conclusion meshes with the aspirations of the proprietors - but that's how it goes if you set up a local interest site.

 

Personally I think the site is what it is. A bit of an old boys' network, a bit of between-the-lines industry stuff, a few posters and lots of lurkers. Sounds like a web forum really. One slightly off-kilter suggestion I just thought of is that you might consider having a (voluntary) profile page for some of the old timers. If they actually introduced themselves, indicated any particular industry affiliations etc, even a photo, it might make the site a bit friendlier & more comprehensible for newcomers. And might make that cutting quip seem a bit more good natured.

 

I generally don't read the front page unless it's local and certainly not when the whole screen is taken up by a static shot of some merchandise.

 

The inline photo magnify thing doesn't work on (my) IE6. Yes I know but it's at work and not my choice. Annoying too because I like the photos.

 

Digests of good posts / threads would be good - really good cruising tips, repair tips, references to sailing instructions, that sort of thing.

 

Expert analysis of races (or other subjects) by members or invited guests would be great for us trying to learn etc - a bit of a challenge to get someone to chip in of course when they might expect a bit of reflexive sniping.

 

That GPS plot idea posted a while back was interested although might be a challenge to advance to a useful state.

 

Don't add extra post editing features because it can make the thread incomprehensible. Think before you post and if you screw up apologise later. If you were really wake-up-drooling-on-the-keyboard drunk beg Squid to delete it.

 

Right, back to not posting for a few months. Like a number of your inactive members I'm not thinking about yachts much this time of year except to hope the new sealant holds and that the forecast gets a bit better prior to the Simrad in the weekend... which is the only reason I've checked in this afternoon anyway.

 

Give it a few months and I'll be sitting at my desk, looking out at the sun, hitting refresh and waiting for the latest bit of mindless sailing chat.

 

n.b. I'm also one of these customers that doesn't read the manual so if these features exist, apologies in advance.

 

Cheers,

Craig.

 

p.s. and prizes for Scotch drinkers.

[Fogg 427]

It might have already been said in the previous few pages of feedback but I'll repeat what I've said before, namely I'd love a 'save' feature for favourite threads, as some other forums allow. Yes I know we have the search function if you ever want to find out the best way to repair leaking cabin windows or ask about the best solar panels etc.... but sometimes the answers vary in helpfulness and when you do find a thread that contains a gem of an answer that absolute nails it, then you'd like to be able to save it for future reference. Or at least I'd like to be able to.

 

Cos the ability to save a personal reference library of useful threads would be something that increases the stickiness of this forum. Whereas if you tell me that I have to simply use the search function and hope for the best, then I might as well just use Google.

[wheels 543]

Why not copy and save it to your own computer AC? I often do that with things I read on the web. If I think it could be helpful to save it, I have a file titled Marine info and anything Boating related goes into it. Another file on Mechanical and so on.

[Guest]

I have no problem with either of those JB , just need to see if Mothership's magic computer will allow it.

 

 

Content is an interesting one, I'm a one man band - I love it when someone sends me something or posts good quality material themselves. I'll never have the resources to be a newspaper.

 

 

An interesting afterthought - since I went and got a day job and spend way less time fussing over the site, the stats just keep climbing.

 

Sqidly.

 

The dinghy sailors. Here is my biased take on attracting them.

I think you should go to some of the junior regattas and interview some of the younger sailors and write several short pieces about their regattas and put them on the front page. Annonce it at the prizegiving that there will be an article on the front page. That will get the young dinghy sailors looking at the site. There is nothing better a young sailor likes than to have some attention put their way. Give them a crew flag when you talk to them.

 

We at the ASC are a senior club and we don't have a junior fleet. We are getting a lot of interest from some of the olympic fleets like the 49er and 29er to come sailing at our club. We can't quite work out why as we have a very relaxed way of running our club and races. Perhaps this is the attraction. I think it is also more likely that we have run several regattas for them and they haven't been mixed in with the rest of the groups and the entry fees are small compared to other clubs because of regatta sonsorship.

 

The thing that really helps us as a club to run great regattas for the sailors is sponsors. It is an ongoing battle to get them some descent coverage so they feel they are getting their monies worth. Many media like the telly and herald (If you can ever get their lazy A$$es out from behind their desks) won't mention sponsors. A few years ago I entertained MR Clean from sailing Anarchy and he brought this coverage thing up. He informed me about their policy. He said it was simple sponsors = great regattas = Great stories = hits on website = great stats for their advertisers. So you start at the begining and get great sponsorship coverage and the rest will come naturally hence forth why they alway mention regatta sponsors and link their name to a web page. The last 12's inters cost 30K to run and if it wern't for Barfoot and Thompson and harken it wouldn't have happened.

 

I will give you a heads up. Ring me October 1 as the ASC will have some great news which will be the best news for yachting in Auckland.

 

I am sorry I got slightly off topic here but strongly belive that the two problems have the same solution.