[NSRCA-discussion] Why did you join the NSRCA?

Lisa & Larry lld613 at psci.net
Sun Feb 1 07:24:43 AKST 2009 

Webmasters are very under appreciated....

I've held these words for a long time but I will state my own situation from
a few years back without using names...

I was the district webmaster for two years after volunteering to help. The
incumbent had it a number of years and it does get old after awhile. He was
looking for someone to take it if I recall correctly.

My first year was rewarding, many compliments and notes of appreciation. The
second year, I wasn't fast enough getting contests reports out and received
a lot of negative feedback. I was approached by the DVP that someone else
had volunteered to step up and take the website. I was told I could keep it
or pass it on. No problem so I passed it on to whom I believed was my worst
critic (I only suspected, the DVP would not tell me who stepped up).

For the next six months our website was a mess. Many couldn't open it or it
took way too long to open it up. After about the 9th month someone else
stepped in to help and got it back on track. I know the person that took it
from me was probably one of the more vocal in offering the feedback.
However, I was humble and that individual, I believe, has a whole new
perspective on being a webmaster.

I have and pay for my own domain even still to this day which is where the
district website was located while I maintained it. I haven't done anything
with it since. I purchased MS FrontPage to help support this effort.

As the webmaster most of my time was spent trying to get contest reports
from the CD's which fed itself to the perception of me not updating the
website.

***A webmaster is only as good as those who provide the input necessary on
time and others who volunteer to make life easier for them***

Marty, I truly appreciate your efforts in improving our website. It is a
work in progress. I suggest that anyone who wishes to criticize a webmaster,
you should ask what you can do to help first. If there is anything I can do
to help, let me know. My knowledge is limited, but I can learn....

A webmaster is truly a thankless job that takes a certain type of person to
volunteer and take that role.

IMAC's website...There are many things I don't like about the site and some
things I do. Is it more polished than NSRCA? I don't really know...What do
you like better a Firebird or a Camaro? Both had the same frame and engine
options, just a little different on the outside appearance.

My .02

Larry Diamond
NSRCA 3083
AMA 5024

-----Original Message-----
From: nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org
[mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org] On Behalf Of Ron Van Putte
Sent: Sunday, February 01, 2009 9:27 AM
To: General pattern discussion
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Why did you join the NSRCA?

I'm sure many of the web site users are like me: we enjoy using it,  
but have no idea how it was built or how to change it for the  
better.  I'm glad there are guys out there who can and are willing to  
do the web site work.  Thanks.

Ron Van Putte

On Feb 1, 2009, at 9:13 AM, Stuart Chale wrote:

> I agree that right now the IMAC site looks a bit more polished than  
> our site. Marty has put a lot of time, I'll repeat a lot of time  
> into the site and I think his answers might have sounded a wee bit  
> defensive but I'll leave that as it is :) (no offense meant to  
> either side)
> It takes a lot of work to put together a quality site and then a  
> lot of work to keep making updates.  This takes people willing to  
> do the job.  Not to make an excuse but the webteam has varying  
> website, and programming skills, and time.
> We are straddling two sites trying to make the new one work better  
> and be more informative.  There are still a few hurdles to cross  
> and it does take time.  I have been involved in spurts but just  
> installed the new forum based on SMF.  Much more robust and will  
> allow more options, plus it looks better than the one we had. In  
> order to install it, bridge it to joomla so that all the users are  
> the same, change the graphics to match our site, change and add the  
> navigation buttons, work out the kinks so that it looks right when  
> you get an email that the topic you were watching has a new  
> response.  Then I had to change our template to allow the recent  
> forum posts to go to the top of our website, moved polls there as  
> well (our template had no provision for this) took the equivalent  
> of 2 to 3 full work days.  Now if I knew more about programming and  
> modifying php I might have gotten it done in a day, but I have  
> limited knowledge of it. Just an illustration of the amount of work  
> that this takes.
>
> Hopefully we will start getting more contributions of articles,  
> collate those that are already on the web and link to them or copy  
> them to the nsrca site.  Hopefully our president, vice president  
> etc (no pressure guys) will make frequent posts to keep us updated  
> on what is happening on pattern as you see on the front page of the  
> imac forum.
> The webteam can convert their submissions or the site can easily be  
> made so that they can simply type in from home right on the site  
> what they want to convey.  This is one of the nice things about a  
> CMS system like Joomla (many others out there)  Right now the front  
> page has random posts of information but you are right some of it  
> needs to be removed and or updated.
>
> OK off my soap box :)
> Stuart Chale
>
>
> Martin X. Moleski, SJ wrote:
>> davidmichael1 wrote:
>>
>>> ... 4) I think the NSRCA website needs to be more robust and be  
>>> updated
>>> more frequently if it is intended to attract and keep members.  I
>>> thank all who have and are working on the site now- but I am
>>> struggling to find a way to say this without offending or being
>>> ungrateful- so I'll just say it- take a look at the IMAC site and
>>> compare: <http://www.mini-iac.com>  ...
>>
>> 1. Robustness: we're straddling two operating systems and using
>> two different databases (Access on nsrca.org and MySQL on
>> nsrca.us).  If you or anyone else on list would like to help
>> finish the transition, volunteers are most welcome.
>>
>> Here's the outline of what has been done and still needs to
>> be done:
>>
>> http://nsrca.us/formfunction/design/190-database-gameplan.html
>>
>> 2. Updates: I'm willing and able to support the mechanics
>> of the site.  I'm also willing to resign at any time and
>> hand things over to a new webmaster.  I saw a need and
>> volunteered to fill it a while ago.  I can be replaced.
>>
>> 3. The IMAC site is running on a content management system
>> from <http://www.dotnetnuke.com/>.  We use Joomla.  Both
>> are open-source (free).  If we want to scrap Joomla and go to
>> DotNetNuke, we can.  I hauled all of the pages over from
>> HTML into Joomla format.  I suppose I could haul them
>> into DotNetNuke, too.  Or better yet--the new webmaster
>> could.
>>
>> What does DotNetNuke provide?
>> * user login
>> * forums
>> * news articles
>>
>> What does Joomla provide?
>> * user login
>> * forums
>> * news articles
>>
>> 4. Adding content to the site more frequently is definitely
>> something that would make it more fun and valuable.
>> I've gone with a static front page because it's easy to
>> do.  But we could turn on various modules that would
>> let articles start on the front page with "more ..."
>> links for those who want to read more.
>>
>> 5. It seems to me that I've asked several times for folks
>> to help us give the site a better look.  I cooked up the
>> home page logo when I first installed Joomla and put up
>> an article asking for help from better graphics artists:
>>
>> http://nsrca.us/formfunction/graphics/188-site-logos.html
>>
>> The first line of the article from the day I wrote it
>> reads: "We are interested in improving the graphics on
>> this site."  We have received zero (0) responses to these
>> requests for improving the site graphics.
>>
>> If you'd like to work on the .css for the site, it's
>> explained here:
>>
>> http://nsrca.us/howto/css.html
>>
>> Lots of other articles on what the webteam has done
>> and is doing:
>>
>> http://nsrca.us/webteamhome.html
>>
>> 6. If you don't like the looks or layout of the site,
>> we have options.  There are other templates we could
>> use.  If you browse this list, you may find one that
>> suits your taste:
>>
>> <http://www.google.com/search?q=Joomla+templates>
>>
>> We chose ja_purity after using a couple of others on
>> our test site.  The choice is not written in stone.
>> We can change templates more or less with the click
>> of a button on an administration page (graphics need
>> to be adjusted for the NSRCA).
>>
>>                 Marty
>> _______________________________________________
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>> NSRCA-discussion at lists.nsrca.org
>> http://lists.nsrca.org/mailman/listinfo/nsrca-discussion
>>
>>
>
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