Trip & Gathering System

Submitted: Tuesday, Sep 07, 2004 at 19:33

ThreadID: 16111 Views:2556 Replies:5 FollowUps:12

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ExplorOz Team - David

The new system is now live and running. Please feel free to register your trips & gatherings in this new area. We will release more information in the next newsletter.

Some basic info:

Once you load a trip it will create a locked forum thread to alert forum readers that the event has been created. As the event creator you can edit the event details.

I will also (but not yet) have the event registered into the latest news system. It will also be added to the Members Home page however at the moment it is in the menu under Members.

Once the trip is complete we will allow upload of 3 pics and a write up. I can have more pics is it just that we need to be careful of the traffic levels generated. Past trips will then be available in the system for future reference and searching etc.

There are heaps of features that will appear in time and feedback is welcome.

Please feel free to load your trips and gatherings now?

David (DM) & Michelle (MM)
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Reply By: ExplorOz Team - David - Tuesday, Sep 07, 2004 at 19:36

Tuesday, Sep 07, 2004 at 19:36

Oh forgot one thing you need to be a member to create a new trip. Visitors and members are able to register to attend a trip.

David (DM) & Michelle (MM)
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AnswerID: 75564

Reply By: Truckster (Vic) - Tuesday, Sep 07, 2004 at 20:36

Tuesday, Sep 07, 2004 at 20:36

Is there a reason you cant reply to a posted trip? EG to ask questions about it?

I tried to in Erics but it wont allow you to.

AnswerID: 75575

Follow Up By: Mad Dog (Victoria) - Tuesday, Sep 07, 2004 at 20:47

Tuesday, Sep 07, 2004 at 20:47

Bruce, there is a yahoo forum for the crap.

FollowupID: 335342

Follow Up By: ExplorOz Team - David - Tuesday, Sep 07, 2004 at 20:58

Tuesday, Sep 07, 2004 at 20:58

Ah I thought that this would be the best way to try to keep the information in the actual trip section as some people would not have the ability to see the forum if say it was a few days old.

I can enable the posting in the forum thread. I am just concerned that the information may not get into the Trip/Gathering system. The trip gathering arraging person can edit the trip info. What do you think? Maybe I need to link the Trip/Gathering to the forum thread but this sort of defeats the purpose. I think it also comes down to how much information is loaded into the Trip/Gathering system when the trip is setup.

Your thoughts and ideas are welcomed.

David (DM) & Michelle (MM)
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FollowupID: 335344

Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Tuesday, Sep 07, 2004 at 21:03

Tuesday, Sep 07, 2004 at 21:03

Not everyone uses the yahoo system...

Just basics really.. doesnt need to be much, anyway the trip co-ordinator can have rights to delete chit under his thread?

Also maybe a count of #'s on the trip thread. Yea suppose waste of time, it will be 3 pages back within a day.

FollowupID: 335346

Follow Up By: Baz (NSW) - Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004 at 10:19

Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004 at 10:19

I mem msg David about info on trip/gathering i think i put too much in and it didn't work, i thought as you can't ask questions about the gathering i would put as much info as i could to compensate, guess it was too much. As with all new things just takes time to iron things out.

This site just gets better and better.
Baz.

FollowupID: 335413

Follow Up By: ExplorOz Team - David - Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004 at 12:09

Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004 at 12:09

T.

I am still thinking about this one. Baz is going to load a trip, I will see what happens when this one goes up.

I am thinking of putting a question/answer thing in the trip page so that people can ask questions and get answers within the trip view area. I have a few days work to do for other people at the moment and will come back to this maybe AH or in a few days. Thanks for the feedback, I can see where the issues are.

David (DM) & Michelle (MM)
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FollowupID: 335429

Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004 at 14:45

Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004 at 14:45

Again your reply isnt showing above this box, the last one is from myself, thats the error Im having at moment.

anyway

ExplorOz Team - David posted this followup
I am thinking of putting a question/answer thing in the trip page so that people can ask questions and get answers within the trip view area.

That would work, as long as theres somewhere to ask something...
trip info sayign 19th of X 8am be there, doesnt always tell everyone what they need to know, eg trip rating, facilities etc

have fun

FollowupID: 335448

Reply By: Willem - Tuesday, Sep 07, 2004 at 23:01

Tuesday, Sep 07, 2004 at 23:01

Good one David. Another excellent feature to this great site

AnswerID: 75605

Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004 at 09:20

Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004 at 09:20

Gee your up late, is the new car keeping you up admiring it?

FollowupID: 335397

Reply By: Member - Melissa - Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004 at 12:14

Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004 at 12:14

Hi David,

Thanks for this latest enhancement to EO. I'm sure this feature will be well used. It occurred to me when arranging the WA get together that one of the difficulties was keeping track of who is attending, but not wanting to publish my email address, I couldn't see any way other than hoping people responded to the original forum thread to say they would be there. This new feature overcomes this sort of problem.

Without wanting to put too much pressure on you, I also have the following suggestions:
1. Could the system generate a reminder notice on the forum about the trip/gathering say 1 week prior to the event. Just like the original could provide a link to the gathering so people can register or delete their attendance. This might also pick up a few late comers who didn't seen the original post and may not be familiar (or diligent) enough with the EO site to regularly check for new gatherings etc.
2. If the arranging member makes changes to the original trip info, can they have the option to have the changes conveyed to the forum (and possibly email notification to those registered to attend)? This would only be necessary in the case of "critical" changes such as cancellation or change of venue.

What do you think?

:o) Melissa

AnswerID: 75644

Follow Up By: ExplorOz Team - David - Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004 at 12:31

Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004 at 12:31

Melissa,

No pressure at all this is the sort of feedback I want.

I agree on both points. I also want to add the ability to send email to all attendees (regardless of changes to original trip). So I guess this function would be able to cover both instances.

I also am wanting the trips system to update the latest news of the site both when the trip is loaded and a week before the trip starts. The 1 week forum post is also a good idea. I also think all attendees should be emailed a week before to remind them of the event.

I need a few days on other business and will look into this ASAP. I may get some hours on it after hours if time permits also.

Thanks a lot for the feedback, I will advise as these features get installed.

David (DM) & Michelle (MM)
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Currently Mapping in the Field Across Australia Fulltime in 2023 - 2025

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FollowupID: 335431

Reply By: GO_OFFROAD - Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004 at 12:26

Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004 at 12:26

Discussion on this thread is a classic example of why the forum needs a trip/travel section, a Tech section, and a general chat section, the yahoo group already is segrogated for the chat, but much easier for it to all have one home, and stuff would saty on the front page of each section longer too.........

The rest of the expor-oz website has everything catagorised, I cant understand, and have never had an explanation as to why the forum isnt?

AnswerID: 75646

Follow Up By: ExplorOz Team - David - Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004 at 12:45

Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004 at 12:45

There are many reasons, one being that by having one section we remove the issue of poeple just posting everything into general. I am currently working on several sites for business that are moving away from categorised sections because they generally find everything ends up just getting put in General.

Also you can read everything that occurs in just one place you may have to page once or twice (depends on how often you visit) however you will always be able to know where you are upto.

As far as a trip section this is what we are just building now and this as a dedicated system using specific database setup and rules designed for the actual function will always work better then just trying to use a forum based system for everything.

I may be wrong however the system has always worked well in the past and as the requirements for different functions come up we try to build a specific system to handle it.

David (DM) & Michelle (MM)
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Currently Mapping in the Field Across Australia Fulltime in 2023 - 2025

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FollowupID: 335432

Follow Up By: GO_OFFROAD - Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004 at 15:37

Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004 at 15:37

"There are many reasons, one being that by having one section we remove the issue of poeple just posting everything into general."

But now there is a yahoo group, the forum, and a travel section, is this not dividing up the forum to a degree anyway?

"and rules designed for the actual function will always work better then just trying to use a forum based system for everything. "

Doesnt this agree with my original idea?

"I may be wrong however the system has always worked well in the past "

well its worked, how well it has worked in comparison too?, none of us really know unless we chnage and monitor it, do we?

I know there is alot more info that could be posted, if things stayed on the front page for longer, because I know I dont go past there, as most probably wouldnt.

FollowupID: 335455

Follow Up By: Member - Gary W (VIC) - Thursday, Sep 09, 2004 at 13:23

Thursday, Sep 09, 2004 at 13:23

I agree with David on this one. I run a forum as part of my job. It has various topics. Most people post to "General" and those that don't end up putting stuff in the wrong hole anyway.

I think this Forum style is the best I've seen. The search function makes up for things not being categorised.

IMHO

Gaz

FollowupID: 335620