Website Editorial

[Paul FreshneyParticipant @paulfreshney24971]

Change in website and forum moderation

[Paul FreshneyParticipant @paulfreshney24971]

Vinnie Branigan left the company today and we wish him well for the future. Most forum users will know that he edited the Military Modelling website as well as the Model Boats website and the former was where his chief interest lay.

I am able to announce that Colin Bishop will be looking after the website in the future but please bear in mind that it will take a few weeks for him to get his hand on the keyboard so to speak. He is a highly experienced model boat builder, Model Engineer Exhibition  judge and a major contributor to the magazine with some unique articles. He is an ideal person for the task this Model Boats Website.

[Dr John BoothParticipant @drjohnbooth43899]

A very sad day for both this site and MM, Vinnie is a first class person and dedicated to his work……..I do wonder about the exact reasons for his leaving.

 

 

[Charles ReadingParticipant @charlesreading80470]

“I do wonder about the exact reasons for his leaving.”

 

http://www.militarymodelling.com/forums/postings.asp?th=24510&p=3 

 

There are several threads on the MilMod site that contain information on how Vinnie Branigan was  made redundant after he had resurrected that site from ashes.

C.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Good luck to Vinnie, and I wish Colin well in his new job, and look forward to crossing swords with him on this site over contentious issues , such as …what colour was the antifouling on a 1959 ACME tiddler …red or black????  .I trust he will fill in his profile and provide us with a picture at some stage!   will he adopt a nickname suitable for the post I wonder…how about “The Dreadnought”??   regards, Ashley

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

The Arch Bishop has a good ring to it?

 

All the best Colin…………….and Vinnie?…………..keep in touch!

 

Bob

[Model Boat MayhemParticipant @modelboatmayhem15613]

All change at Model Boats Forum!

 

All the best Colin, a moderator par excellence, et extrodenair! 

 

Martin – http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Hello Everyone!

This is my first post as Website Editor, you can be sure that there will be many more once Ive got fully to grips with the 16 (actually very helpful) pages of instructions I have been given for managing the site. As many of you will know, I have been a model boater all my life and regularly write for the magazine. I hope that this background will inform the way I tackle the job.

My first priority has been to address the complaints about missing posts. Referring to the most recent comments, I have discovered that Glynn Guest and Martyn Crowther have had their IDs tagged with a flag that makes their posts invisible to other members. Whether this was intentional or simply a by product of the change of software platform I do not know and in the circumstances have no way of finding out. I have looked at the posts of these two gentlemen and can see no obvious reason why they should have been moderated in this way. Glynn’s comments on the use of glycol are robust but well within the standards of informed debate. I have therefore removed the invisibility tag and everyone can see their posts once more. I think we should now regard this as water under the bridge and draw a line under the issue. If anyone else suspects their posts have been similarly affected then please let me know and I will look into it.

Moderation is always necessary on an Internet forum but I believe that it should be as transparent as possible. It will not be my policy to delete posts without explanation, either to the member concerned or on the forum itself unless they are obviously spam postings. Where only partial moderation is required, such as the use of inappropriate language, I will consider directly editing the post so as to retain its sense but will make it clear on screen that this has been done. Depending upon the circumstances it may be appropriate for the original post to be deleted and for the poster to replace it with a more acceptable version.

I would however point out that I do not have unlimited time to devote to the moderation role and I do expect that members will conduct themselves in a civilised manner in discussing our shared hobby that we all enjoy. I want this forum to be a pleasant and enjoyable place to visit and one where only light touch moderation is occasionally required. Where it does take place I will not be drawn into extended arguments as to whether it was justified or not. On here as elsewhere, the umpire’s decision will be final!

Once I have got my feet a little further under the table I will post more on the subject of rules and guidelines and on other matters too, but for the moment I’ve got a bit of reading up to do!

Happy Boating,

Colin

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Colin  May I wish you all the best in this new task  .

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Colin May I wish you all the bestt in  this new venture .

Dave Wooley

[Len OchiltreeParticipant @lenochiltree67043]

Hi Colin,

 

My Album ” Action Springer “. I cannot find it in the list of Albums,it says unable to find it!.

Any ideas ?

 

Len.

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Looking into it Len – see my PM.

 

Colin

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hello Colin

 

Two pictures in my latest album are now blank……..Can you have a look please?

 

Bob

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Bob,

 

When I was looking through the albums earlier there seemed to be quite a few blank pictures.There has apparently been a problem with migrating images from the old setup and I am taking this up with Technical Support. MB is not the only site affected.

 

Colin

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Thank you, Colin

 

Also, where are the latest instructions displayed, informing forum members how to post pictures etc…………..I suspect some pictures could be too large in Pixel length or Kb?

 

Bob

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Len,
It appears that your Action Springer album did not have a title and that the “Public” box was not ticked. I have amended the album and hopefully you can see it now.

 

Bob,

 

I have heard from technical support that the reason for a number of missing pictures is that when the site was migrated onto the new IT platform there was a gap between the picture transfer files being created and the old site being closed down. Pictures posted during this period were therefore not transferred over. Efforts are being made to obtain them but without much success to date. This may not account for all the missing pictures but I’m afraid it has to be accepted that when a migration of this nature takes place some things do fall through the gaps – I experienced this in my previous job!

 

As far as the size of the picture files is concerned I have not been able to find any instructions so far and don’t want to be too much of a pain to the technical guy who is doing his very best to help. I have however just created a test album which has 3 images on it. One is over 2MB, one is just under 1MB and the other is a very small one. All of them seem to have uploaded successfully which suggests that there is a built in resizer in operation on this site. Having said this, you can speed up the upload time by resizing the original picture using one of the handy free picture resizers ( Power Toys for XP or VSO Image Resizer for Vista) to make a “desktop resolution” size copy which gives a file size in the order of 240kb or so. You won’t notice the difference on screen and it’s a heck of a lot quicker!

 

Colin

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Thanks Colin

 

Not too concerned about the missing pictures really……………….the only thing against your argument is that these pictures were posted well after the changeover………..they were in the new album

 

I`ll erase them shortly

 

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Having now lost a third picture……………..I`ll wait and see what transpires?

 

Bob

[Peter FitnessParticipant @peterfitness34857]

I endorse Colin’s comments regarding image resizers. I use VSO Image Resizer for Windows XP (a free download) and it is excellent, not only for posting pictures on a forum, but also for quicker emailing.

Peter. 

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Hello Colin

 

Welcome to your new job and its nice to see that a model boater of such wide experience has been appointed. I wish you all the best in your new role and hope that you are able to take this site to new heights.

 

Dear friends

 

Thank you for all of the nice comments regarding my health, I am now out of intensive care and in a nice room (with a computer) and I expect to be home on Monday. Meanwhile I expect Bob and the usual suspects to keep our new webmaster on his toes….

 

Paul

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Welcome back Paul!…………….Once again, you had us all worried!………………Perhaps those big models you`re making at present, should be put to oneside?

 

And what did I say last week?…………..about having a webmaster with model boat interests?………………Well, it`s all been realised!…………..No disrespect to Vinnie of course!

 

Now you sit back and have a rest………………You`ve done enough for today already!

 

Dr Bob

[Dr John BoothParticipant @drjohnbooth43899]

Its good to hear from Paul again and know that he is out of danger, perhaps the good Dr. Bob is right and you should shelve the large models for a while as I am sure that your young grandson will keep you busy whilst you get your strength back.

 

Meanwhile I am sure that Dr.Bob, Ashley and the crew will keep things ticking over until you return to your own keyboard.

 

I have pointed “Z” in your direction for information on the Bates Starcraft as I know you have an extensive archive of plans and information but I am sure Z will understand if you are unable to help at this time.

 

Take care and dont rush things and don’t forget that you and Jane can always come over here for a holiday whilst you rest.

 

John

 

 

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Very good to hear you are on the mend Paul. Just take things easy for the moment – as if you had any choice!

 

Colin

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Thank you Colin. 

Sorry not to have replied sooner but I have been asleep for the best part of 24 hours……strong meds.

Now that you are getting your feet under the editorial table and before you are battered by all the “slings & arrows” would you mind if I enquired about your aspirations for this site. 

I imagine that you have lots of ideas and an intention to take the site to new heights and I would be very interested to hear about your plans. 

Paul

 

[David MeierParticipant @davidmeier28154]

It is nice to see you back again Paul. You are looking good.

Give your self a chance to get on top again and don’t rush things will you.

David.

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