More Forums ...

If anybody would like or sees the need for any additional Forums / Special Interest Groups, please feel free to post details.

Hi Gareth

I'd be interested in people's thoughts on whether a "virtual book reading/discussion group" is worth thinking about? Is it worth having a "Book of the month", or something similar, with a forum to discuss that book after people have had a chance to read it? The 12 SA books would be obvious candidates, but there could be others to look at too - perhaps some of AR's other available works, or those books we know he particularly enjoyed.

 

Maybe we could have something on Boats and sailing and things nautical.

Seeing AR's interest in these

Yup, that one wins a prize.. Sailing forum now available in "Arthur Ransome" section ..

Incidentally, you should see a "My Folder" in the top right when logged in, you can use this to upload your own pictures and make your own slide-show ... (amongst other things)

There are some samples here ...

That is great, now will have to think of something to kick it off.

Also think the My Folder is really a fine idea.

Do you think having a Forum called "TARBoard2" would be useful, or just too cheeky? 

Previously Gareth Bult wrote:

Do you think having a Forum called "TARBoard2" would be useful, or just too cheeky?

 

 

I think it might be a good idea to wait and see what is the final outcome to Tarboard ,if it does in fact disappear them maybe it would attract posters from it.

It still may be rescued by someone, I think the cost could be a factor in that not happening however.

I am certain some of the tarboarders could find a happy home here once they get over their  conceived loss.

 

Just a thought re; posting and replies, the system will include the previous post by default - although since it's always listed above it's not necessarily required. I usually find for presentation purposes it's best to chop down the included section as a point of reference, then type a reply above.

Looking at your post above, I looked at the blue bar down the side and gray text and initially thought, "Oh, he didn't post anything new ..".

It doesn't let you do much with the original comment which I think is a bit of a shortcoming with the board software .. I know why it's done, it's to try to prevent undesirable HTML content that might break the site .. but it does tend to lend itself to confusing postings ..

Previously Robin Marshall wrote:

Previously Gareth Bult wrote:

Do you think having a Forum called "TARBoard2" would be useful, or just too cheeky?

 

Yes I see the problem and have noticed it with other posts, however I don't' seem to be able to reduce the blue bar as you have done,

Maybe I am  using the wrong chopping technique

If you "top post", i.e. add your comment above the quoted text, the blue bar stays just with the quotation.

This goes against normal newsgroup preferences which ask one to "bottom post", hence the confusion.

On another point, would it be possible to add the day number as well as the name of the day in the "Posted by..."  line so that when looking through the "latest postings list, one isn't confused about which Tuesday we are talking about ?

Yes it does, however this is a forum that lists messages in a linear fashion, rather than a newsgroup, hence there isn't really a need to reprint the previous message. (although I do like to repring a small excerpt as a frame of reference).

As I say, this is a short-coming with regards to this specific piece of software and I've found top posting to be the best solution. Posting your comments into a section that's visually marked as the the text on which you are commenting is very likely to end up with your comment being overlooked.

With regards to the day number, yes it's possible and something I'll look into ..

Previously Robin Marshall wrote:

Previously Gareth Bult wrote:

Do you think having a Forum called "TARBoard2" would be useful, or just too cheeky?

 

 

I think it might be a good idea to wait and see what is the final outcome to Tarboard ,if it does in fact disappear them maybe it would attract posters from it.

It still may be rescued by someone, I think the cost could be a factor in that not happening however.

I am certain some of the tarboarders could find a happy home here once they get over their  conceived loss.

 

Adam Quinan from Toronto here. Tarboard has now moved to www.tarboard.net and continues there. Under the current arrangements, we have managed to ensure that there is no charge to users. Please note that, contrary to some opinions I have heard, I consider that Tarboard, while being an independent forum, is not in competition with TARS or this forum but is complementary. Anyone may post on Tarboard and we have many Ransome lovers from around the world who do not consider the benefits of TARS membership worth the costs but still enjoy somewhere to discuss their favourite author. Please bear in mind also that many Tarboard posters are also TARS members who have the best interests of TARS at heart. I consider that an open Ransome forum promotes interest in Ransome and may ultimately lead to more TARS members.

Hi Adam

Many thanks for the update. Speaking entirely personally I think you have all done very well to get your arrangements for the "new" Tarboard in place so quickly. That must have been quite a challenge. Please accept my best wishes to all involved for a peaceful, productive, enjoyable and (above all!) "Ransomish" future running it.

Geraint  

 

Previously Geraint Lewis wrote:

Hi Adam

Many thanks for the update. Speaking entirely personally I think you have all done very well to get your arrangements for the "new" Tarboard in place so quickly. That must have been quite a challenge. Please accept my best wishes to all involved for a peaceful, productive, enjoyable and (above all!) "Ransomish" future running it.

Geraint  

 

 

Whilst I join with Geraint in wishing the new Tarboard well, I cannot honestly see how Tarboard can avoid being 'in competition' with the TARS Forum. Surely the two sites are aiming to attract the same persons, ie AR fans? If it is true that Tarboard is 'complementary' to this Forum, then it must be different in some way - things which 'complement' each other by definition must have some difference. If I wanted to explore, e.g., 'the absence of a plot in Swallowdale', on which forum should I post? One way in which the two sites could be complementary is in their general tone. I must use careful wording here. It is too soon to attempt an assessment of the TARS Forum general 'tone', but the Tarboard tone, by its own admission, tends towards 'steam engines and beer'. It also tends to have in-jokes. And it has its own devoted following. Maybe the two forums will develop on the lines of a public library (TARS Forum) on the one hand, and a slightly exclusive club (Tarboard) on the other? Peter Hyland

 

Adam Quinan here: My understanding is that TARS Forums are intended for TARS members only, Tarboard offers a forum for everyone, so describing Tarboard as any sort of exclusive private club is rather unfair. It is in that sense that I think of Tarboard as complementary, one is intended to be open to the entire world, the other restricted to a small group. I think it was you who originated the Tarboard as a pub idea (if not I apologise for the misattribution) and I think that was (and is) a good description. There are the locals and there are the visitors on Tarboard, some of them really like the place and become locals and others go off looking for a more congenial place. Perhaps this will be it. Tarboard has been around for quite a long time in Internet terms and it has developed a character of its own, but "steam engines and beer", whatever one or two people may admit are really a small part of the postings. Over the last weekend we have discussed, the layout of Beckfoot, Ed Balls favourite book (S&A), a dramatic Lakeland Cam picture of Peel Island and the differences between the various editions of Ransome's books. I suspect that if these forums turn out to be a howling popular success that I hope they will be, then you will probably see the rise of similar "in-jokes" and a dedicated clique of frequent posters with a number of individuals coming in from time to time to see if they like it. However, if it becomes restricted to TARS members, then it will be the private club, not Tarboard. If the TARS Forums become more like a public library than a public house, that is fine but I think there is a place for both pubs and libraries in life. Another difference at the moment is that Tarboard is not moderated except to remove very offensive posts, whereas here everyone's posting is moderated before it appears. Of course this may affect what is posted and how people express themselves. I realise things may change in both places and I look forward to seeing how the TARS Forums and Tarboard develop. Adam Quinan

Previously Adam Quinan wrote:

 

Another difference at the moment is that Tarboard is not moderated except to remove very offensive posts, whereas here everyone's posting is moderated before it appears.  Adam Quinan

Hi Adam,

I don't personally want to get into a debate on the respective merits or limitations of different internet forums. But I reckon your comment gives a rather undeserved impression of what "pre-moderation" actually means in practice, at least as far as the TARS Forum is concerned. (I can't speak for other sites of which I have no knowledge). Here on the TARS site, so far as I am aware, the only posts that are rejected by the moderators are those which are "very offensive" - ie those that the administrators of any post-moderated forum would themselves remove as soon as they saw that they had been published on their site. I think there have only been a couple of these to date on the TARS Forum, and in both cases Gareth actually published the post, less the "offensive" text, together with a clear reply indicating that TARS had received it but simply couldn't publish it owing to its contents. The poster was not identified in any way by TARS, to avoid embarassing him or her. This seems like a pretty fair way of treating offensive material, and does mean that the majority of visitors and posters can come to the forum knowing that their potential enjoyment of Arthur Ransome won't be compromised by postings that they simply wouldn't want to see. And which, I should emphasise, the administrators/moderators of any post-moderated forum would themselves remove, but only after it may have been seen (and possibly offended) some of their visitors.

It certainly isn't the case that the moderators are busily editing every post in some invisible way, and for the record I think it would be wrong to give the impression that it does. All it means is that TARS has chosen to remove genuinely offensive material before it appears, rather than afterwards.

 

 

   

Previously Geraint Lewis wrote:

...

It certainly isn't the case that the moderators are busily editing every post in some invisible way, and for the record I think it would be wrong to give the impression that it does. All it means is that TARS has chosen to remove genuinely offensive material before it appears, rather than afterwards.

Adam Quinan here: I am sorry, I didn't mean to give the impression that TARS' moderator was censoring posts except in very offensive cases. There are merits in both systems, and perhaps knowledge of a pre-moderation process will deter some people from posting these as well as protecting viewers. Tarboard has worked pretty well with post-moderation and most posts that have been removed were for legal reasons rather than because they were gratuitously offensive.

I think that now Tarboard has been resurrected we  can co-exist as there were quite a few posters that most likely would not have come here.

At the time Ian said he was closing his site I thought we would see an influx to this forum, but having to be a member was a detterant obstacle to many.

That seems unlikely now, however I hope some will still look in from time to time, I am hoping that this board will be discovered by TARS many members worldwide and I hope it will be well publicized in Signals and the Outlaw as at the moment I doubt many members are aware of it.

Tarboard has done a great service over the years and has many loyal followers, it has had its ups and downs from time to time but most open forums do. it led to me rejoining TARS after being away for a while, and I still am a daily lurker. as with this forum.

Good luck to both may they spread the love and understanding of AR's works far and wide.

 

 

previously Anonymous wrote:

Previously Geraint Lewis wrote:

...

It certainly isn't the case that the moderators are busily editing every post in some invisible way, and for the record I think it would be wrong to give the impression that it does. All it means is that TARS has chosen to remove genuinely offensive material before it appears, rather than afterwards.

 

Adam Quinan here: I am sorry, I didn't mean to give the impression that TARS' moderator was censoring posts except in very offensive cases. There are merits in both systems, and perhaps knowledge of a pre-moderation process will deter some people from posting these as well as protecting viewers. Tarboard has worked pretty well with post-moderation and most posts that have been removed were for legal reasons rather than because they were gratuitously offensive.

 

Me too. The point of my last posting was to explore what was different about the two AR websites, not what was better or worse. Adam claimed that the sites were complementary, and I am not sure I see why. Adam is correct in saying that Tarboard is open “to the entire world” although I think that in practice (and based on observation of both sites) the sites are attracting participants from roughly the same group of people.

 

In my ‘library/club’ analogy, I wasn’t referring to the technical structure of the sites, but to the ‘atmosphere’, and here I won’t shift from my personal view that Tarboard does operate like a club. I can’t go into details about this, and it would in any case be discourteous to do this on this site rather than on Tarboard itself. The question of pre- or post- moderation is an interesting one, and personal opinions may differ. I myself vastly prefer pre-moderation – if my posting is deemed unsuitable then I would rather it didn’t appear at all. With post-moderation, as on Tarboard, one’s posting appears, then is removed, with a certain amount of loss of dignity! And pre-moderation might have avoided some of the over-hasty posts on Tarboard, which I subsequently regretted posting, and all the subsequent bad feeling.

 

Just one more thing – both sites are now in the ‘market place’ and competing. This is a new situation for Tarboard, and I would recommend that the Tarboard administrators should not be too sensitive about criticism and may need to sharpen their act up. TARS members have a choice now, and we are entitled coolly to weigh up the ‘minus’ factors of each site, and also the ‘plus’ factors, and make a choice. (And lest there be doubt, having been a regular participant for 11 years I can see plus factors in Tarboard, one of them being ease of posting, having spent half an hour on this one!)

You are quite right, Peter, there is now a competitive marketplace and has been for some time. As well as the TARS Forum and TarBoard, there are also AR Blogspot, Arthur Ransome Wiki, Ransome Facebook and Yahoo Tarboard to name ones I know about and there are probably several others. Some information that was previously on the TARS website, that for some reason was not carried over to the new website, has now resurfaced under All Things Ransome to which one can also contribute.

I suspect people will go to the various sites and pick on threads that interest them and contribute if they wish. Some of these sites, as with TarBoard, do have a strong international element. Mind you, Gareth's interesting idea of including a ClustrMap does provide some illuminating statistics, vistors from Uganda and Madagascar? Fascinating!

Thanks for your advice for the TarBoard administrators, there has already been an appeal for suggested improvements - no response - but early days yet. Most people seem to be glad it has not changed - so far.

I think there will be inevitable areas of overlap between all the sites and the users will support the ones that they favour. However many can co-exist because the set up and maintenance costs are nil or mimimal if one is prepared to accept advertising or has a kindly host. The only remaining cost is that time of the administrators and this is often freely given in the belief that spreading the word about AR is a good thing.