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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Calibri>Excuse butting in, but personally I find phpBB
type systems way superior to Facebook for the sorts of use I would envisage for
this. They may be long-established, but they are also well ahead of FB for
functionality and user friendliness. They have vastly better features for
editing, formating, making things clear with little diagrams or colour etc than
FB does. They are also for more organized in logical presentation with topics,
search abilities, automatic alerts on topics... </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Calibri>Facebook has a very slight advantage in that
people may be already checking it for other purposes and so see things in
passing, but on the downside important business stuff can disappear in a
welter of trivia! The better PHP systems allow one to ask to be
alerted if there is a reply in a thread of interest and so get the best
of both worlds.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Calibri>Just my tuppence worth. I'll duck
now.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Calibri>Alex</FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=paul@pvg.co.uk href="mailto:paul@pvg.co.uk">Paul Golder</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=cma-l@commedia.org.uk
href="mailto:cma-l@commedia.org.uk">cma-l</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, September 16, 2014 3:52
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [cma-l] the Community Radio
Toolkit Needs You!</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>I've set up lots of phpBB-type forums in the past - really
popular 10 years ago, but I think they've had their day now.
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>What's wrong with setting up a Facebook Group? Minimum of fuss /
people familiar with the formats / probably not going to die out in the next
few years etc
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Paul</DIV>
<DIV>Phoenix FM</DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.phoenixfm.com">www.phoenixfm.com</A></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=gmail_extra><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On 16 September 2014 15:20, Associated Broadcast
Consultants <SPAN dir=ltr><<A href="mailto:info@a-bc.co.uk"
target=_blank>info@a-bc.co.uk</A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex"
class=gmail_quote>
<DIV dir=ltr>I agree to a certain extent - the problem occurred with the
move to the "new" format website. From what I recall you had to
re-register on the site, and it seemed many active contributors were lost at
that point.
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Another problem is the landing page on the new site after login.
Even though you may have clicked on the Forum tab at the top, after
login you are redirected to another page called "Activity" which actually
seems an oxymoron because it does not seem very active! At this stage
I reckon new sign-ups might give up - assuming the forum is not
active.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>I agree there should be an active forum supporting people who do
community radio. I have at times thought about setting one up myself,
but really I think it's best if such a forum is hosted on an independent
website like this one or CMA.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Having said that, even the Media UK forum seems less active than it
used to be - maybe Forums are not "where it's at" nowadays?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Glyn</DIV><SPAN class=HOEnZb><FONT color=#888888>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>-- <BR>Glyn Roylance - Principal Consultant
<DIV><A href="http://www.a-bc.co.uk/" target=_blank>Associated Broadcast
Consultants</A></DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.a-bc.co.uk/index.html"
target=_blank></A> </DIV></DIV></FONT></SPAN>
<DIV>
<DIV class=h5>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=gmail_extra><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On 15 September 2014 19:34, Bruce Rodger <SPAN
dir=ltr><<A href="mailto:bruce@celticmusicradio.net"
target=_blank>bruce@celticmusicradio.net</A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex"
class=gmail_quote>
<DIV style="WORD-WRAP: break-word">Hi Phil,
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>I hope my comments will be taken as constructive criticism - as you
will remember I was a regular participant in the original toolkit forum,
but since the re-vamp my contributions - and pretty much everyone else’s -
have mostly dried up. We need to fix that, and I’m not convinced funding
will resolve that.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>I do support what we’re trying to do with the toolkit - it’s a very
worthwhile project (note the “we” there….)</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>The one thing that surprises me about the community radio scene in
the UK is that there is no active web forum. Think about just about any
hobby/sport/pastime/activity, search around a bit, and you’ll find a
wealth of volunteer-run web forums. Whether it’s Land Rover maintenance,
or theatre technology, or skateboarding, or hillwalking, or photography,
or people who live in a certain town, or one-legged blind naturists….. you
get the idea.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>I’m involved with several, and they’ve grow from being initially a
place where like minded people could chat, through being a repository of
useful information and knowledge, to being the de-facto reference site for
any technical or non-tech queries on that subject. In one that I am
involved with, we have an active membership ranging from school kid
know-it-all wannabe’s through to industry professionals at the apex of
their profession.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>It’s not funding that makes these work - the web hosting is often
paid by google adverts, or out of the pockets of the admin team. There are
no paid admins, authors or moderators - it’s done by the community, simply
because it’s THEIR community.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>The toolkit is never going to happen without formal funding - but
what our community lacks is a community forum. Which is a bit sad, bearing
in mind that community is what we’re all about! It doesn’t take money, it
just takes a bit of time and some community buy-in.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Bruce.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>(ps - I made up the bit about one-legged blind naturists. I don’t
think it exists - unless one of you know different?)</DIV><SPAN><FONT
color=#888888>
<DIV><BR></DIV></FONT></SPAN>
<DIV><SPAN><FONT color=#888888><BR></FONT></SPAN>
<DIV><SPAN><FONT color=#888888>
<DIV>
<DIV>Bruce Rodger</DIV>
<DIV>Celtic Music Radio 95fm</DIV>
<DIV><A href="mailto:bruce@celticmusicradio.net"
target=_blank>bruce@celticmusicradio.net</A></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><BR></DIV></FONT></SPAN>
<DIV>
<DIV><BR>
<DIV>
<DIV>On 15 Sep 2014, at 16:11, Phil Korbel <<A
href="mailto:phil@radioregen.org"
target=_blank>phil@radioregen.org</A>> wrote:</DIV><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite">
<DIV dir=ltr>Hi Bruce
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>The site is un-funded and we've not had the resources to support
new content or the forum.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Watch this space for the re-launch...<BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Would hate to see you when you're being critical ;)</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>best wishes</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Phil</DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=gmail_extra><BR clear=all>
<DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=1>Phil Korbel FRSA - <FONT
color=#6aa84f>Director,</FONT> Radio Regen, charity no. 1077763</FONT>
<DIV><FONT size=1><BR></FONT>
<DIV><FONT size=1><A href="http://www.radioregen.org/"
target=_blank>www.radioregen.org</A> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.communityradiotoolkit.net/" target=_blank><FONT
size=1>www.communityradiotoolkit.net</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.connecttransmit.org.uk/" target=_blank><FONT
size=1>www.connecttransmit.org.uk</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=1>Please note that I work at Radio Regen under 2 days a
week so responses might not be as quick as we'd like. Many
thanks.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On 15 September 2014 14:51, Bruce Rodger <SPAN
dir=ltr><<A href="mailto:bruce@celticmusicradio.net"
target=_blank>bruce@celticmusicradio.net</A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex"
class=gmail_quote>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>Phil writes: "...The much loved <A
href="http://www.communityradiotoolkit.net/" target=_blank>Community
Radio Toolkit</A> is re-launching soon "...<BR><BR></DIV>I really
don't want to be a wet blanket here - but I've got to ask. Is it
really "much loved"? The document itself is fine, but the website
aint.<BR><BR></DIV>The "Forum" section - which is potentially one of
the most valuable and useful areas - has had 3 posts this year, the
last one 3 months ago. The "News" section has had 3 posts this year,
and the "Feature" section - which claims "Every now and then we put
the spotlight on a different community radio subject. These features
allow us to look at particular topics in more depth, with articles,
website links and interactive contributions from members" - has not
been updated in four and a half years.<BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV>I don't find it a particularly user-friendly
experience.<BR><BR></DIV>Before the last "rebranding", it was quite a
useful resource, with an active forum. But I'm now just a very
occasional visitor, and any time I do visit, I get the feeling that
the only footprints in the sand are the ones I made last time I
visited.<BR><BR></DIV>It's a concept with great potential, but needs
more buy-in and participation from the community to make it
work.<SPAN><FONT color=#888888><BR><BR></FONT></SPAN></DIV><SPAN><FONT
color=#888888>Bruce.<BR><BR>
<DIV><BR></DIV></FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=gmail_extra><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote><SPAN>On 15 September 2014 11:04, Phil Korbel
<SPAN dir=ltr><<A href="mailto:phil@radioregen.org"
target=_blank>phil@radioregen.org</A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR></SPAN>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex"
class=gmail_quote>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>Hi colleagues
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>The much loved <A href="http://www.communityradiotoolkit.net/"
target=_blank>Community Radio Toolkit</A> is re-launching soon -
allowing far easier access to our huge free library of 'how to'
resources for the sector.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>As you'll know if you've delved there - it has a lot of writing
in it - which looked great on the printed page and pdf's but frankly
runs the risk of looking a tad dull on a web page so - we need more
pictures! If you'd like a name-check on the new site and have
a photo or cartoon that really says something about community radio
would like to share it with us - and the sector?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>No prizes - this is just about sharing. Please send
images by email to this address in the next couple of weeks along
with a short caption and photographer credit if required.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>More news about the re-launch soon</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>best wishes</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Phil</DIV>
<DIV><BR clear=all>
<DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT size=1>Phil Korbel FRSA - <FONT
color=#6aa84f>Director,</FONT> Radio Regen, charity no.
1077763</FONT>
<DIV><FONT size=1><BR></FONT>
<DIV><FONT size=1><A href="http://www.radioregen.org/"
target=_blank>www.radioregen.org</A> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.communityradiotoolkit.net/"
target=_blank><FONT
size=1>www.communityradiotoolkit.net</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.connecttransmit.org.uk/"
target=_blank><FONT
size=1>www.connecttransmit.org.uk</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
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