Site problems

[Paul Sheridan]

Any one else having a problem viewing pictures? they just appearing as an icon with thumb nail written underneath. 

[Dave Price]

I have found if you click on one of the blog posts (right hand side) and then navigate from there it seems to get over the 18th Jan issue.

[Big Vern]

But who are you expecting to do something? As I understand it only TTB can report faults to ning and I don't ever remember him actually being on here :/

[Adrian Southgate]

Using the links Dave Taylor provided anyone can report faults and give feedback. 

LINK

[Dave Adams]

sometimes it goes back a few weeks, sometimes its not available......the problem is the site and how much we pay for it.......

if you elect to pay LOTS more for the site, i will bet the "issues " all disappear.

this site is for now the de-facto Dutton site, the DOC needs its own forum site that it has control of that provides what is here, a site not unlike Mr G's for example.

this site seems to have hit the buffers in terms of storage space, its likely to be a case of pay more or put up with "issues".

[Patrick Buchfink]

What is payed for the ning site monthly? The prices listed on their current main page begin from 22€ per month which is a whole f*cking lot for a webserver. Esp. for a site that does not work properly. Also there is no mention of storage space limitations in the offers there. Or does this site run on an older contract?

Open-source solutions (forum + members + even some kind of social network) are available from 5€ per month, from what I've seen (server costs. code is for free). There are even possibilities to migrate the users and some content from the current ning space, if there is some one with administrator rights.

In case of the open-source solution you need to look after issues yourself, true. This needs someone who can handle server issues etc. That is what makes ning more expansive. But obviously this service is not working in case of the duttonowners ning site.

[Dave Adams]

this ning site isnt paid for at 22 a month......more like 22 a year. the "Upgrade" is 22 a month

[Patrick Buchfink]

Thanks. So it's none of the "service levels" adverticed on the current NING site. More like an old one NING would be surely happy to be upgraded. 1 GB space for a social network is a really bad joke. More like: Upgrade your site or gtfo.

[Paul Sheridan]

What we have now is the basic site for  £19.99 per year (from memory). The idea behind it was, for groups of like minded people to be able to set up a social network, see if it worked and then upgrade to another level with more facilities, if they liked it.

I only know this because I set up a similar site about 8 years ago for a group of mountain bikers, that site was used primarily to arrange meets etc, so never got anywhere near the usage limit allocated for the £19.99

To move forward on this (with out any infighting gents) perhaps Dave T could contact the Ning network, and ask exactly what the problem is. Providing that is something you can do as a site administrator, would you be prepared to do it Dave?

If it needs the owner to do it, we would seem to have a problem, as Dave said to me that he has had no contact with Tim for quite some time. Lets try and get this answer and then take it from there.

 

[Dave Taylor]

12.56 GB (1256%) of 1 GB used

[Patrick Buchfink]

Wow. 1 GB is pretty hard to achieve. This means ALL pictures would need be removed from the ning server to ensure it runs smooth. How much access to the backend does one have as administrator? Does anyone know? Basically one could crawl all posts for pictures, and replace them with a selfcoded script with flickr links. But this needs at least some access to the database (MySQL) behind the scenes.

Also there is a possibility to archive one's NING page as administrator. Before all the pictures get removed it would be nice to have at least a backup of the content without many deletions. Dont you think? But this might worsen the storage space problem as the backup would be saved on the server itself, i suppose :( It might not even work, if we're over 100% storage space usage - i don't know.

Rebuild blogs might be the main reason. But rebuild blogs without pictures make no sense to me. And the build diaries are a big part of our community. It makes me sad to read that build diaries are not posted due to storage space limitations. I like reading em.

The question is in my view:

0.) Fix the current site (idea from above). Needs access to backend.

1.) Update NING to a higher service level of 18£ / month (216£ per year), which is pretty expansive for a webserver.

2.) Moving to Mr Gs (if possible). One should clarify in advance how much space is available there.

3.) Moving to something different. With WordPress (+ WordPress forum) one could even migrate the members from ning and even most of the content. As Graham mentioned there are also free and ready to use solutions such as Proboards.

Sorry, if this was discussed earlier already - I'm not part of this site for so long. But I enjoy reading the updates on here and adopt some ideas to on my car. But in the current state, the site needs a change.

[Steve Kerswell]

But, this is not a club site, its funded by Tim Walker, (many thanks Tim) it is his folly, it has been very successful in the past. When I first arrived on the scene this was the hot site, full of Duttoneers willing to help, and it was friendly, Friday night banter night etc. The DOC site is over there, still running, struggling along. Mr G is still there, great reference library, I must get my update of the Sierra on there! If a new site is required, surely its the DOC job to sort out a club site rather then complain about a private site like this is. Many thanks to the people who have helped keep this running up to now and of course to the contributors who help make it happen. As a by product, look at the Haynes site issue's and several hot rod, underground type car scenes. They are all suffering a loss to Facebook, yet thousands of youngsters are leaving Facebook because their parents are too involved in it, embarrassed teens :-)

[Dave Adams]

as steve says this isnt a club site....its just become one, not because its a good forum type but because the official dutton one is ....er.....so bad.

the club spends a deal of time talking about changing the DOC site and forum every AGM........and that is as far as it gets.

some stuff changes mostly it dont. not anyone in particulars fault, no one competent in web design or maintenance is on the committee.......