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10th May 2008, 07:20 PM
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Board Update - May 2008
Greetings all,
It has been nearly two months since the resurrection of the Sydney Airport Message Board, and so far everything seems to have been running smoothly. The servers are faster and more reliable, the vBulletin software is substantially more user (and moderator) friendly, and the vast majority of feedback received thus far has been positive! It's our intention to improve our communication with the users and readers of this Board, so here's a brief update on various works in progress... GET-TOGETHERS & SPOTTING WEEKEND We believe that one of the greatest attributes of the Board is the community that has developed around it. As such, it's our intention to hold a number of informal gatherings and get-togethers throughout the year, obviously culminating in the February 'Spotting Weekend'. These could include dinner/drinks events, barbecues, fly-aways or even a trivia night(!), and would be an ideal time to put faces to names. Events will be publicised via the Board (including the new Calendar function), as well as dedicated web sites where required. The Spotting Weekend is a highlight of the Australian aviation enthusiasts calendar, and is ideally more of a social event than a serious spotting endeavour. The next Spotting Weekend is scheduled for 6-8 February 2009, and will be bigger and better than ever! One of the highlights has always been the large interstate presence, and we encourage all interstaters to book their flights and accomodation early. As usual, we will attempt to negotiate a special deal with one or several nearby hotels, but this is always subject to general demand at the time. As the size of the Board (and its events) increases, we will encourage user participation in the organisation and running of the events - and particularly the Spotting Weekend. More on this over the coming months! Until then, please feel free to organise or publicise your own (relevant) events via the 'Flying and Technical Discussion' forum. BOARD ARCHIVE Unfortunately - and despite our best efforts - we have been unable to resolve the issues surrounding the old Board's demise, and will be unable to offer an archive of posts prior to this year. This is highly disappointing for all of us, however the pace of aviation at the current time is such that our new Board will be replete with a searchable history of recent events in no time at all! YSSY WEB SITE As promised, we remain committed to bringing a number of pages from the old 'Sydney Airport Enthusiast WWW Site' back online. Our priority until now has been the set-up of the new Board, but we can now start work on updating several parts of the old site, including: - Airport history - Viewing Spots - Radio Frequencies - Sydney ATC Overview - Facts-at-a-glance The availability of these pages will be notified via the Board. LINKS FROM OTHER PAGES You're more than welcome to link to your personal website in posts and signatures, although we do ask that you return the favour on the linked page. Don't forget that our URL is now yssyforum.net (with or without the /board), and that some old links might need to be updated. PUBLIC PROFILE Now that things are up and running again, please take the time to fill out your 'Public Profile'. You can edit this at any time via the 'User CP' link in the header (then click on 'Edit Profile'). CALENDAR FEATURE As you may be aware, the Board now features an Events Calendar, accessible via the link at the top of each board page. We welcome the addition of relevant events to this Calendar by users, including major aviation or enthusiast events interstate or elsewhere. POSTING ETIQUETTE We continue to receive substantial feedback from users regarding the 'quote' function, particularly in thread replies. As a courtesy to readers, and to avoid long post 'tails', please only quote specific lines or paragraphs to which you are directly replying (or commenting on). Spelling and grammar remain a problem in a small number of posts. Everyone makes typos, formatting blunders and other one-off mistakes. On the other hand, messages with 'freestyle' formatting, SMS abbreviations, gross syntax problems or where no clear effort has been made to make them readable are highly annoying to users, and seem to bog down the threads in which they occur. Please pay attention to this, and use a spell-checker where appropriate. Please refrain from on-thread policing. The Board's private messaging function works well. Alternatively, contact a moderator. BUG AND ERROR REPORTS, FEEDBACK AND SUGGESTIONS Always welcomed on the Admin & Feedback forum, particularly as the new Board beds down. FUNDING Throughout its eleven year history, the Sydney Airport Message Board and Enthusiast WWW Site have been entirely funded by Luke Wallace and Will Tidmarsh. The recent move to an Australian hosting provider, purchase of new Board software and plans for further expansion later in the year have very substantially increased our running costs, and it will become necessary to offset part or all of these as we grow. Many users have generously offered to donate money to the Board over the years, and whilst this has always been greatly appreciated, we're reluctant to go down that path. Instead, and over the coming month, we will examine the feasibility of a small-scale sponsorship arrangement, with a view to simply paying our bills. Any such arrangement would be carefully considered, and would be subject to strict criteria, including: - No editorial influence - Limited, sensitive and benign placement of any branding or advertising - Continued complete non-profit Board operation A similar model, if appropriate, could be applied to our larger events (eg. Spotting Weekends). In any case, no decision will be made without user consulation (via the Admin forum), and we're certainly not about to foister wall-to-wall Google adverts on our users! That's it for now, comments and queries always welcomed. Regards, Kurt, Dave, Will, Nathan and Luke Moderators 
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