Forum Improvement Topics

[BrianMac]

Seeing Matt's note about a trip to Skye buried within the "Finally Wild...." thread (where nobody will notice it Matt), set me wondering if our Website Wizards could provide a calendar that Forum members can edit? This would enable those planning informal events (Formal races would still be recorded on the Club Callender) to see what else is being discussed in the same time frame. Particularly useful for planning informal trips away to recce the Cullins etc.. to ensure they don't clash with team outings to the Jura Fell Race (end of May Matt) . If it were possible for members to edit calendar entries then we could add our names to events to show interest. Deletion of the event should be restricted to the member who created it in the first place to prevent the less adept from inadvertently destroying the record.

Thoughts anybody?

[BARRY BLYTH]

I've been updating the Fell Calendar for a couple of years Brian. I think it was Neil that made a system change to allow me to do this. Presume only I can edit my input so the facility is there. I'll e mail Neil (in case he doesn't spot this forum topic) to advise.

Barry

[BrianMac]

You are missing the point Barry, or several points to be more specific:-
1) My proposal is for an informal calendar, separate from the formal one you maintain. The two should not be mixed to ensure there is no confusion between transient plans for recce's / jolly's etc.. and the formal race calendar.

2) For my proposal to work all members of the Forum must be able to create and edit all entries on the informal calendar, think of it as a calendar forum. Ideally only the original creator of the entry could delete it (this may not be possible and it is not a show-stopper if it isn't).

Does anybody else have any thoughts?

[Neil Gunn]

The existing section calendars on the website use GOOGLE calendar.

Creating a new GOOGLE calendar (and a link to it from the fell section of the website) for trips is fairly easy.

The problem is that you cannot create a calendar that everybody can edit or create new 'events'. It could work if somebody is prepared to be the owner and to add users as required. New users can be added (via their email address) with the ability to create and edit new events. Everybody else will be able to see the calendar. This is how the existing calendars work...each has several 'owners' that add/modify entries. Any person doing this needs a GOOGLE account.

An alternative is to start using FACEBOOK more and having a private FACEBOOK group (invitation only) and setting up FACEBOOK events for such trips - I can see this would start to cause problems with the forum as more people would use FACEBOOK for chats than the forum (this is what has happened with the road runners - there are already several FACEBOOK groups for road running effectively doing the same thing as the fell section forum.

MTA: I will also ask John Bunyan (webmaster) if he can think of a solution

[mudskimmer]

Dropbox - anyone can add, edit, a document in there depending on the 'permissions' granted to each user

[BrianMac]

Dropbox won't do the job Kath, not unless you are prepared to open dozens of files to find out if a certain date is free. It needs a calender to give that at-a-glance view.

Any thoughts from one of our esteemed webmasters?

[Neil Gunn]

I did ask John Bunyan (technical aspects of website) and his view was that a Google Calendar was the way forward. That does mean each person who wants to update it needs access and a GOOGLE account.

Neil

[BrianMac]

If that is the case, how do we get it implemented, initially as a trial with a few chosen testers given access?

[Neil Gunn]

Brian

I can start to set this up ...where will you want the link (in the fell menu below Calendar?) ...and what will it be called both on the menu and the actual calendar name. The current one is called Calendar and the actual calendar is MHAC - Fell Running.

Who will be the owner of the calendar so that more people can be added as required?

Not sure how quickly I can get onto this though,

Neil