class forums

Y&Y acting as host for class forum's?

pro's and con's....?

Fair comment.

I was thinking of the smaller classes i.e. Lightnings that don't/didn't have a forum of their own. Obviously any arrangement would have to be mutually agreed by Y&Y and the CA.

Likewise Y&Y might give moderation / admin to third parties, don't know whether that could threaten the security of the Y&Y site.

There are some 'unofficial' class forums that seem to have taken a greater role than the official CA websites i.e. 'Jard' for the Laser 2's.

In some respects, keeping CA forums (and indeed sailing club forums) for the privacy of members only (yes I know you've paid your subs) could be counter-productive for anyone thinking of  joining up. Even not being allowed to read only can be a bit off putting....

Edited by Andymac

Originally posted by Andymac In some respects, keeping CA forums (and indeed sailing club forums) for the privacy of members only (yes I know you've paid your subs) could be counter-productive for anyone thinking of  joining up. Even not being allowed to read only can be a bit off putting....

Indeed. The Wayfarer site and forum are a bit like that. Not very inviting.

I hate class forums that are

a) Members Only - What the duck - If I'm interested enough in a class to bother looking at their website then why can't I look at the forums. If the only selling point of being a CA member is that you get access to their forums then that's a poor situation. With my nieces working thru the youth system I occassionally want to look at websites that might not be a class I actively sail/race

b) Too many sections - events, buy and sell, technical and general is about all you need - having multiple different foums reduces participation - Optimist UK site is the classic example - they have about 30 different forums - almost one for every different event and most have no posts in the last year.

c) Ones that run on outdated / old-fashioned software. With the likes of phpBB or YAbb about then setting up a decent forum is straightforward for a techie, so why do we have to make do with outdated forums on the likes of fireball, firefly and 420 websites. Being able to sensibly quote, and thread messages and private message other users is all pretty standard..

d) Forcing 'real name' registration - dunno about you but I'm a bit loathe to post under my real name cos I wouldn't want people to google my name and be able to see all my posts, especially if the odd one done thru the working day - plus there's the privacy issue too - amazing what you can deduce about someone by linking together public record / pulicly volunteered information...


Yeah I know it's all done by volunteers - well before anyome jumps on me too hard then I've been there/done that and got the t-shirt..


Edited by laser4000

If classes want a forum, talk to me; I already run the Shadow Forum.