Tarboard

Before TARS had this forum I was and still am a follower of the posts on Tarboard which is an outlet for topics on AR.

Tarboard has quite a following so it was with some surprise today to learn that Ian the administrator has decided to close it down seemingly, his equipment is getting unreliable and he is tired of running the site.

Now some of the posters on Tarboard are members of TARS but there are several who are not.

I therefore wonder if some sort of guest registration could be used on TARS forum for non members should any wish to join in discussions here.

Obviously it is important to keep spammers and other nuisances out so some form of restriction is needed I am sure.

 

 

 

Mmm, do bear in mind that I'm just the tame tekkie and have no pull with the management .. but for my tuppence, after watching some of the discussions previously held on 'Tarboard' my inclination would be 'ROFL'.

In particular (again, this is just my personal impression / opinion);

a. Why would TARS provide such a service for non-paying non-members?

b. ** moderated **

c. A number of postings on Tarboard seem to have taken the form of attacks on both the TARS board and personal attacks on TARS members, if you have any thoughts on (a) that counter "it's one of the benefits of being a member and will encourage people to sign up" , I'm all ears ..

With regards to (b) and (c) , well , as you're probably aware far more people have been watching conversations on Tarboard than actually take part and some Tarboard posters have managed to get right up the nose of many enthusiastic, paying, TARS members. If you can think of some way of squaring what's been said, post away ...

Still can't find out how to register but I will crack the system. However, could you withdraw the remark "** moderated **" please, Gareth, because it is going to offend many people, including me. I think that discussing Ransome in a forum open to members of TARS and non-menbers too can only be a good thing, and those who participate in the electronic world do not necessarily wish to receive paper journals and may well be unable to attend meetings. Joy Wotton (a member of TARS)

I do see you have a number of good points, and hopefully this matter could be looked at again if there is a number of requests to use the forum.

Maybe I was premature in bringing this up. I mainly want to see this forum become a success and for it to encourage surfers to sign up to TARS by having interesting topics to discuss, no doubt as time passes this will happen.

Maybe someone with other views on this will come in to further the discussion

 

Hi Joy,

I have removed the comment for now, however please can you clarify why it's going to offend people, yourself in particular. As a member of TARS I take it you're not guilty of this? Also, can you clarify - do you think my comment was inaccurate, or that issuing the comment is likely to upset people?

At the moment the registration process is less than streamlined, if you email your name, address and membership number to tarsnet@arthur-ransome.org" you'll get a login ID and password by return.

Previously Anonymous wrote:

Still can't find out how to register but I will crack the system. However, could you withdraw the remark "** moderated **" please, Gareth, because it is going to offend many people, including me. I think that discussing Ransome in a forum open to members of TARS and non-menbers too can only be a good thing, and those who participate in the electronic world do not necessarily wish to receive paper journals and may well be unable to attend meetings. Joy Wotton (a member of TARS)

 

Briefly, I thought it was a generalization that rather harshly tarred all Tarboarders with the same brush. It seemed best to sweep point b) away before it caused offence.

 

Gareth wrote: I have removed the comment for now, however please can you clarify why it's going to offend people, yourself in particular. As a member of TARS I take it you're not guilty of this? Also, can you clarify - do you think my comment was inaccurate, or that issuing the comment is likely to upset people?

 

 

Whilst I would agree with your TarBoard comments about attacks some time ago, Gareth,  I am not aware of any real attacks on either TARS or board members recently. I think that those involved have either been warned off by the moderator or have got tired and shut up.

It is just possible that someone will be able to take Tarboard forward and I know that people are looking at the possibility.

Are you referring to me Owen? If so I am neither tired nor will I shut up ... *** moderated ***

Mmm, it does appear that some people just don't know when they are well off. I had thought my previous posting was fairly clear, unacceptable content will simply not be approved and nobody is going to see it unless it's approved. Why one would continue to post under such circumstances is beyond me.

We have now reported this abuse to the poster's ISP who have been asked them to keep details of  IP addresses used and online times. If the poster persists in attempting to post abusive comments to this Forum we will make a formal compaint to the NHTCU and bar the individual completely from all sites hosted with Encryptec.

Previously Anonymous wrote:

Are you referring to me Owen? If so I am neither tired nor will I shut up ... *** moderated ***

 

In view of the last post, Gareth, I think your argument about anonymous and non member posters is overwhelmingly proved.

Unfortunately if anonymous is who I think it might be, I was not referring to that person anyway.

Mmm, whether you were or weren't isn't really relevant in the context of the comments he made .. anyway, no longer an problem.

Previously Owen Roberts wrote:

In view of the last post, Gareth, I think your argument about anonymous and non member posters is overwhelmingly proved.

Unfortunately if anonymous is who I think it might be, I was not referring to that person anyway.

 

Mmm, please bear in mind prior to making the board live I did read back through TARboard in great detail and I'm not a TARS member hence have no axe to grind either way. I stand by what I said, that's the impression I formed as a neutral third party.

Previously Joy wrote:

 

Briefly, I thought it was a generalization that rather harshly tarred all Tarboarders with the same brush. It seemed best to sweep point b) away before it caused offence.

 

And I was very specific about my use of the word "some".

Previously Gareth Bult wrote:

Mmm, please bear in mind prior to making the board live I did read back through TARboard in great detail and I'm not a TARS member hence have no axe to grind either way. I stand by what I said, that's the impression I formed as a neutral third party.

 

It might be worth noting that TarBoard continues with new administrators and a new domain from the 1st November. All those who who want to visit the old site will be redirected to the new site, which they may bookmark if they choose.

This should remove pressure for non member posters to access the TARS Forum

I do find this thread a little depressing.  I pop onto Tarboard from time to time and it is generally a good, lively forum.  Fine - occasionally there are threads on there that are a bit depressing too!  But surely the Ransome-enthusiast community can avoid factionalism and in-fighting!!  As someone who - when not engaging in Ransoming - is generally found in left-wing politics, I'm not sure I can cope with both my main passions being like a scene from Life of Brian.

>But surely the Ransome-enthusiast community can avoid factionalism and in-fighting!

You would think ... 

I've just spent the last hour cleaning 250 postings from another Forum where it was decided people should be allowed to post without logging in. Unfortunately it got noticed by a spammer (which always happens eventually) and the members got very upset when they found adverts for Viagra on every thread .. (!)

I wonder if Duncan has failed to notice that the 'factionalism' he refers to is actually more than a year old! The last of the dozen or so rather mildly-worded postings before his own was on November 2008. One could scarcely call that 'in-fighting' !

 

It seems to me that the biggest threat to what Duncan calls 'the Ransome-enthusiast community' is in fact lack of enthusiasm - not so much in-fighting as apathy. Even Tarboard traffic is slow these days. Have all Ransome topics been exhausted? Personally, I would welcome a bit of 'factionalism' if it showed that people still cared about Ransome and his books. 

Mmm, or could it be that sufficient numbers of enthusiasts have now been driven away such that  'factionalism' has now lost critical mass .. ?

As one who checks in to most of the sites devoted to AR fairly frequently, I find Tarboard has been the most used over the years, mostly by the same set of posters, but it does seem to have its moments of inactivity and things in the past did get a little heated at times which did make it lively.

Of the others that I know of, Yahoo seems to be totally dead, on Facebook the one started by Duncan has periodic moments of activity, however there is another one started called Swallows and Amazons which seems to be at the moment  fairly active.

But as Peter says  they all seem to run out of topics after a while.

As to this Forum I thought when it started it would be a great thing, but in spite of my own efforts of promoting it, it just does not seem to get much attention.

Maybe it is the log in and to be a member,  however one has to log in on all of them and this is designed for TARS members, we just need to find a way to get them to participate.

Mmm, I can't help thinking that TARS is generally driven by events and publications. If this is the case, then IMHO it needs the people running events and publications to actively get involved on the site and actually publish what's going on.

What I would expect to see but don't;

• Proper Events postings, these will appear in the sidebar and provide the facility to display a proper write-up for each event together with timings, who to contact etc ..
• Event reviews so people can see what they've missed out on!
• Notification of publication availability
• Requests for articles for publications / feedback on articles submitted

Not only would this sort of content encourage participation from the membership, but it would also attract more new membership.

I think the real problem (again..) is that TARS is run by volunteers who do not have enough time to do the job to the level many members would like or in some cases expect. As with all things these days, if you see an "official" organisation of any kind providing a service whether it be free or paid for, people expect there to be some sort of professional management behind the scenes to keep it going and to keep it providing a high quality of service.

In today's society people simply don't have the free time any more .. and those that do often lack the skills required to run a large organisation in today's regulated world on today's complex technology. So all too often, you end up either with people who can't do it, or people who don't really have the time to do it.

I've heard the comment "we couldn't afford to pay people" .. well that's easy, you put the cost of membership up. Then we have "but people won't pay a higher price .." .. no, they expect lots of other people to do lots of work for free on their behalf.

I'm afraid we entered the world of "you get what you pay for" a little while back and TARS has yet to catch up ...

I think that is fair comment Gareth, I will be interested in any response from members of the board.

 

I’m afraid there is going to be very little ‘factionalism’ in what I say, because I totally agree with all Gareth’s points. I think one of the reasons why the membership on the whole have not adopted the Website as the kind of internal information centre which Gareth suggests, is that the TARS site is generally perceived solely as the outward-looking face of TARS, ie the place where web-searchers end up if they are seeking info about Ransome. In other words, the belief is that it is really designed for non-Tars. This of course is partly true, and indeed the site is successful in this respect. As Secretary I regularly receive enquiries via the ‘Tarsinfo’ address, nearly all from persons or organisations (press, TV etc) who have no connection with TARS. It seems to me that the TARS site is regularly visited in this way, and that is good.

 

However, I certainly agree that the internal, TARS member, usage of the site is dismal. Perhaps Gareth is being polite in putting this down to lack of time. Alas it is worse than that. I am in a position to know that amongst those who manage TARS there are some who are not merely apathetic to our website, but actively distrust it. This is not a personal attitude, but more a ‘Luddite’ one. “TARS has yet to catch up” – absolutely! I sometimes wonder whether many people who enjoy reading about children in the 1930s behave as if we are all still in the 1930s.

 

Previously Robin Marshall wrote:

Before TARS had this forum I was and still am a follower of the posts on Tarboard which is an outlet for topics on AR.

Tarboard has quite a following so it was with some surprise today to learn that Ian the administrator has decided to close it down seemingly, his equipment is getting unreliable and he is tired of running the site.

Now some of the posters on Tarboard are members of TARS but there are several who are not.

I therefore wonder if some sort of guest registration could be used on TARS forum for non members should any wish to join in discussions here.

Obviously it is important to keep spammers and other nuisances out so some form of restriction is needed I am sure.

Hello Robin and everyone else in this "discussion."

I have posted these collection of thoughts as a follow-up to Robin's remarks, but really they take in the whole "debate".

As Gareth and others probably know I fall between several stools. I think I am computer literate to some extent, having worked with computers in schools since the Sinclair days, but I am not a wizard. I am a TARS fan and a Ransome fan, but not a fanatic.

As Gareth also knows I did spit a few exasperated feathers in my earlier days of wrestling with the web-site, but have acquired now some degree of skill in using it, I hope.

I agree with Peter in that the site seems to me to give a good impression and coverage of "things Ransome". Thank you Gareth for that.

I also appreciate that professional web-site builders are busy people trying to earn a living in a competitive environment. They are not just sitting there waiting for my personal comment or moment of failure.

I personally regard the site as a source of information, posting events, regional details and news both regional and national. I have little time or desire to "twitter" or "chat" idly. There are far too many words in the current social whirl which are loosely used, ill thought out and contribute to a superficial sense of communication in which, I feel we ironically communicate more, but  often less effectively. We don't listen properly to the words coming out of our own mouths and listen even less to those from the mouths of others. In any event I do not believe that there is any place for abuse or discourtesy. This simply demonstrates an inability of expression. Hence my use of inverted commas above for the words discussion and debate.  I also believe that silences are incredibly expressive.

For me TARS is a relatively small society, very widely spread, but with a big heart in the right place. TARS members come from a diversity of backgrounds but are united by Ransome. Many members are from the "older" generation, and many of them, by definition, have no affinity with computers. If I (ageing juvenile of 66 years) found it difficult to get tuned in, then others will try once (if they try at all) and give up.

The other side of the coin is the issue of protection from the sordid array of "spammers" and others more sinister, who see and use the web as the outlet for their frustrations etc. Having twice had computers "eaten" by malignant diseases, I think protection is a very serious consideration.

I would like to hope that in 2010 the Society continues to offer a range of opportunities to people to enjoy and celebrate Ransome's life and work. Inevitably the take up and appreciation will vary. It should not mean that the less travelled roads are closed.

My best wishes to all for a peaceful Christmas.

John Hunwicks

PS Whilst there may be occasional justification for a contributor to remain anonymous, I cannot believe that anonymity gives real credibility to the writer or his/her views.

 

Previously Robin Marshall wrote:

As one who checks in to most of the sites devoted to AR fairly frequently, I find Tarboard has been the most used over the years, mostly by the same set of posters, but it does seem to have its moments of inactivity and things in the past did get a little heated at times which did make it lively.

Of the others that I know of, Yahoo seems to be totally dead, on Facebook the one started by Duncan has periodic moments of activity, however there is another one started called Swallows and Amazons which seems to be at the moment  fairly active.

But as Peter says  they all seem to run out of topics after a while.

As to this Forum I thought when it started it would be a great thing, but in spite of my own efforts of promoting it, it just does not seem to get much attention.

Maybe it is the log in and to be a member,  however one has to log in on all of them and this is designed for TARS members, we just need to find a way to get them to participate.

I believe that Tarboard probably has the most traffic for several reasons, firstly, it was one of the earliest and is probably the longest surviving interactive website devoted to Ransome. As such it garnered a good number of adherents early on and has managed to remain enticing enough to retain them even through the turmoil of moving last year.

Secondly, and this is reflected in the "same set of posters" comment, it has developed a community of active posters who can usually be relied upon to break the silence with a comment if it gets too long and embarrassing! This community aspect has been criticised sometrimes for being too cliquey and full of in-jokes and self references but that is part of its success in community building. Sometimes I think TARS tries too hard with its Ransome references especially in its publications (calling all cars Rattletraps for example) but it is an aspect of how the society tries to create its own sense of being part of the in-group. These references are less obvious on the website as that is much more open to the public and someone researching Ransome might find the usages cute at best and silly at worst.

I am sure that the TARS Forum could also become a more active site but so far I don't think it has hit the critical mass of regular posters who can't find a better place to say what they have to.

Certainly the use of the Forums to promote events and report on them afterwards would be a useful step in increasing traffic, so would posting weblinks to these reports in Signals and on every TARS publication.

As for the Luddite tendencies of some, that is sad and so unnecessary, many of us are not as young as we were and yet we have managed to learn and enjoy the new age of information technology and the wonders of the Internet. Most overseas TARS, of which I am one, probably came to TARS through the Internet and I strongly believe that TARS shoukld embrace and encourage the use of the TARS site as a vehicle for communication with and from the membership.