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Post by yorkshiremouth on Jan 2, 2023 11:25:31 GMT
Cheers. The devil, as they say, is in the detail.
I completely understand the idea of a subscription service for those who want to sign up, but my fear is a that the two-tier membership could potentially deter people far more than it attracts.
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Post by yorkshiremouth on Jan 2, 2023 11:28:24 GMT
Quick question for those wanting to post photos.
Now, we’ve always been able to do this using third-party hosting (you copy a link to a pic elsewhere, rather than uploading the pic directly here).
Many of us did thus using PhotoBucket, but that now has to be paid for.
We have Flickr, but that doesn’t work on phones (annoying if you’re on holiday and are communicating through your phone).
Would people be happy if we could find a workaround for this, or would it have to be uploading direct to here?
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Post by Woody (Admin) on Jan 2, 2023 12:42:22 GMT
A test
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Post by Woody (Admin) on Jan 2, 2023 12:55:33 GMT
OK, here we go!
There is an App for iphone and Android called Tapatalk, where you can add this forum, view, post and most importantly, add photos to the forum directly from your phone.
Visually, it doesn't look the same, but as you can see in the post above, I have added directly from my Gallery on my phone as a picture. I am not sure where it is stored, but it isn't on this forums storage capacity, it's probably on the Tapatalk servers.
It is free, or subscription, but the free version does give you some adverts.
1. Hopefully the 1st screen when you open the App will be "Welcome to Tapatalk". 2. Click "Get Started". 3. At the bottom click into the "Search Groups" dialogue box. 4. Type in "skiathosboomerang" and you should see our forum pop up. 5. Select "Follow", then you will have to Sign Up to Tapatalk. 6. You should then be able to Log In and use the forum (using your forum Log In details) to upload photos or post.
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Post by dennisn on Jan 2, 2023 19:39:14 GMT
Ok, so now I’m lost in the fog of tech. And bearing in mind I do have a Photobucket subscription so I can use that method (difficult to some people, easy for me because I cracked it ages ago). For me, Tapatalk sounds awful, but I’m no good at reading how to do things.
I’m not understanding YM’s subscription idea, xx people subscribing 50 cents a month seems weird. My feeling was allow levels of membership - e.g. Admin, Subscribers and Members. Admin does admin (Woody) and has access to all areas/functions. Subscribers have access to current areas, plus a Subscribers Only area, where they can upload photos. Members have access as at present (which incidentally would allow photos under the present arrangement of links to host websites like Photobucket).
For Subscribers I would envisage an annual subscription £10/15/20, whatever amount the guess is to give decent allowance for photos. I expect the chosen subs rate will produce a surplus, which should be passed to the benefit of Woody. Maybe try start at £10 to see if enough people take it up, increase it later if it’s not enough. For this option I guess Woody can post a question to ask who’d be willing to pay and how much.
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Post by dennisn on Jan 2, 2023 20:30:48 GMT
Sorry - question about Proboards storage. For example 200MB. Is that 200 each month or a total of 200? Say once we’ve uploaded 20 photos each 10MB is that it, no more photos ever? Or no more that month until next month when we can upload another 20 photos? My numbers are for illustration purposes only.
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Post by yorkshiremouth on Jan 4, 2023 13:27:21 GMT
Dennis, it’s not particularly my idea as such.
What I’m saying is that, if the cost (as quoted by Woody) is €3 a month, and 6 of us wanted to sign up, then by definition that’s be $0.50 a month each.
I’m going to give Tapatalk a go. I think I’ve already signed up, but never use it - I didn’t realise you could use it to add photos.
Dennis, if you’re already paying for PhotoBucket, you won’t need Tapatalk, or any increased facility here. Just keep on linking to pics as you could in the past.
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Post by Woody (Admin) on Jan 4, 2023 14:37:28 GMT
Sorry - question about Proboards storage. For example 200MB. Is that 200 each month or a total of 200? Say once we’ve uploaded 20 photos each 10MB is that it, no more photos ever? Or no more that month until next month when we can upload another 20 photos? My numbers are for illustration purposes only. Total of 200Mb storage, not per month
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Post by Woody (Admin) on Jan 4, 2023 14:47:06 GMT
Dennis, it’s not particularly my idea as such. What I’m saying is that, if the cost (as quoted by Woody) is €3 a month, and 6 of us wanted to sign up, then by definition that’s be $0.50 a month each. I’m going to give Tapatalk a go. I think I’ve already signed up, but never use it - I didn’t realise you could use it to add photos. Dennis, if you’re already paying for PhotoBucket, you won’t need Tapatalk, or any increased facility here. Just keep on linking to pics as you could in the past. Perhaps the paying for extra storage idea would be very difficult to manage, especially if extra people want to join/leave the scheme. It is not possible to have subscription for some members and not all using Proboards, unless a member paying into a locally (forum) administered scheme is added to a specific group which can be allowed to upload attachments. Yes Dennis, as YM has said, if you are already using Photobucket then, you can still use that as you already do. I have been using Tapatalk to view the forum for a couple of days now and although the WYSIWYG (I haven't used that acronym for a while!) is not the same as using the forum on a browser, if you only want to use it to upload photos to the forum with much less hassle, then it is worth it, especially as the uploading of photos is much easier than linking to a photo hosting website. You don't have to upload to Photobucket/Flikr/any other hosting site, before then linking to the forum. You can just select a photo from your phone/tablet and hey presto it is on your post. Also, IT IS FREE to do so. Woody
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Post by cariad23 on Jan 4, 2023 15:11:51 GMT
i think alot of people are unaware of this forum, could you bring it to the attention of facebook people. i discovered it when someone told me of Ians (SL1 ) blog which i really enjoyed. i kept using it because it is non judgemental, and not full of ive been coming for years but dont want anyone else to, and i own certain seats in bars sort of people
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Post by dennisn on Jan 4, 2023 15:42:50 GMT
Thank you (not) YM and Woody for telling me what I already pointed out, namely that as a Photobucket subscriber I can continue to link photos like I have always done. I had thought that in saying so, I was acknowledging that my comments are simply trying to contribute ideas to the thread.
And Woody, a subscriber Group is exactly what I was suggesting. As a subscriber on pocketgpsworld.com I have access to download data which non-subscribers don’t have. In my simple mind I thought that was a good idea, whereas six people contributing 50 cents a month seems quite unworkable. My suggestion carries the risk of there not being enough subscribers to cover the costs incurred by Admin (and the risk that subscribers don’t like paying enough to give Admin a profit). In my opinion, £10 or £15 a year is large enough to avoid the former and small enough to avoid the latter.
End of my contribution to the discussion - I shall pay if a subscription option is adopted under any guise. Otherwise I’ll continue with my option of Photobucket, which I joined solely to allow me to link photos.
It seems problematic that once 10 of us have each uploaded 20 photos of 1MB, that’s the end of uploading for everyone - maybe a couple of years’ holiday feedback, then no more. Kev uploaded 18 superb photos to his 2022 feedback, I don’t know how big, but you can imagine they would have used a decent amount of storage for just one feedback. I’m not the only one who goes more than once a year and I hope to emulate Kev’s brilliant example in the future.
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Post by Woody (Admin) on Jan 4, 2023 17:27:01 GMT
Dennis,
Under no circumstances was I trying to undermine or belittle your suggestions. If it came across as that I apologise. I certainly am not in this to make money, I do not and will not expect to make any profit.
You did not, in your earlier post fully explain how you pocketgpsworld subscription worked. I had to look into it in the admin part of our forum to find the information. As an ex member of pocketgpsworld, I am sure the admin of that forum (which must have a much larger membership) may find it easier to manage a subscription service. For our forum, which has at most a dozen active members, I feel, looking into whether there is a free and easier way of uploading photos would be more appreciated by the membership. If I am wrong then I await further discussion.
I said in my original post that no decision would be made straight away and I would await discussions by the membership, so please do not feel as though your ideas have been ignored. At the moment, from the few replies I have got, there is no concensus on any ideas, so no decision has been made.
I just did some digging into using the Tapatalk service to see if you could upload from there. The more ways there are for people to upload photos, the better. Then there is a choice.
Woody
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Post by Woody (Admin) on Jan 4, 2023 17:35:25 GMT
i think alot of people are unaware of this forum, could you bring it to the attention of facebook people. i discovered it when someone told me of Ians (SL1 ) blog which i really enjoyed. i kept using it because it is non judgemental, and not full of ive been coming for years but dont want anyone else to, and i own certain seats in bars sort of people Cariad, unfortunately I am no longer a member of any Skiathos Facebook page, so I am unable to promote on there.
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Post by dennisn on Jan 4, 2023 20:20:18 GMT
Woody, I reckon you’ve run this site for about ten years with no sign of profit, so I had no thoughts of you doing so now. It’s just with my suggestion of subscription group, in my opinion results give rise to either a profit or loss, because it’s impossible to set the subscriptions to match the costs. I offered the view that my model would raise a profit, but not worth much and you should keep the pennies to buy the odd beer.
The gpsworld site shows a registered membership over 500,000, but that’s misleading, far less are subscribers. Several years ago subscriptions were (I’m guessing) providing a handsome profit, but the site became very quiet after TomTom changed the firmware of their satnavs, making it impossible to load the Pgpsw camera database on them. Only older models can do it now and although the camera database is still the best available, a lot of people can’t use it. In the good old days, there was enough profit to pay for an annual Christmas get together of Admin and Moderators, hotel and meals, but that’s long gone. I have no inside information, but suspect the money is no longer rolling in.
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Post by Woody (Admin) on Jan 5, 2023 14:14:22 GMT
The gpsworld site shows a registered membership over 500,000, but that’s misleading, far less are subscribers. Several years ago subscriptions were (I’m guessing) providing a handsome profit, but the site became very quiet after TomTom changed the firmware of their satnavs, making it impossible to load the Pgpsw camera database on them. Only older models can do it now and although the camera database is still the best available, a lot of people can’t use it. In the good old days, there was enough profit to pay for an annual Christmas get together of Admin and Moderators, hotel and meals, but that’s long gone. I have no inside information, but suspect the money is no longer rolling in. I was a member of pocketgpsworld for many a year when I used TomTom and Garmin Sat Navs. I then got a car that had its own navigation system and I now plug my phone in and use Android Auto and use Google Maps as my navigation source. pocketgpsworld was a very good subscription for Speed Cameras, I think I paid about £20 a year for regular updates. Is it the same price now?
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