NorCal240SX.org website NEEDS YOU!

[Danio]

Clearly NorCal240SX.org needs work. Not only does the website suck, the mailing list stopped working a long time ago! And now I can't seem to reach the server admin. (This is the problem with having someone host your site for free.)

The NorCal 240SX website was supposed to have a content management system (CMS, eg. vBulletin) a long time ago, which would have allowed members to schedule meets, post pictures, subscribe/unsubscribe from the mailing list, view member infos, etc. I know how to set up that stuff, except I didn't have the server access to do that. I had asked the server admin if it was possible for him to set it all up, and he said he'll do it. Well obviously it never happened, and now I can't reach him.

My own website is on a very reliable host with terrific 24/7 customer service. I'd like to move norcal240sx.org to that same host. The CMS I'd like to use is Drupal (drupal.org), which is what my site uses, because it's free and very customizable (and "open source" so there's a big community to help if there're problems setting up features and stuff).

But it doesn't have to be me. I won't be able to put as much time as I'd like into working on the site, so if someone else has the expertise in doing this stuff, please let me know. If not (there has to be a few 240SX owners who are computer geeks in the Silicon Valley), I don't mind doing it. All I ask is that someone, or some people, help me pay for the hosting service, which is $40 per year. $40/yr for 300 MB, 1 MySQL database, PHP, unlimited e-mail addresses, etc, is very cheap. Why don't I pay for it myself? I'm short on money, and I don't want to pay :P so if you ppl can help me with it, that'd be great.

So you can help in two ways. If someone would volunteer to do this stuff, great! Contact me. If nobody's gonna do it, I'll do it. I trust that I'll get some donations later on to help pay for it. >:]

[Teh Luckinator]

I'd love to HELP, but I know I can't do all of it. Maybe if I could be a... mod or of some sort? I don't know. I'm willing to help anyway I can though.

[NZO]

Funny I was just wondering what happened to you and the site the other day. Id be willing to contribute to the fund, I'm sure youd easily get the $40 a year you need.

[kazuo]

I'll throw down for it. :P

[TiNMAN]

i got $5 on it! who has the chronic? jk, no really im down to throw down too.

[sr240mike]

I got 5 on it too. That site needs the update

[Zoom8112]

i'd be interested in helping out if i could get some info on what kind of direction everyone wants the site to go.

[95Blue240sx]

im no web geek, but i can help with donating. i think if we can get people to pitch it more than just $5 we can save that money and use it towards money for meets and shit like that. just an idea.

[knghtryde]

Danio... I'll give you the $40.00 bucks cash if you're near the South Bay area....

[Andrew Bohan]

holy shit, david's big ballin!

i'll help out with any graphics and stuff

[knghtryde]

Dude you guys act like $40 is alot or something

[Andrew Bohan]

i have to make 50 bucks last for 3 weeks, so yeah 40 bucks is a lot

[DRFT]

ill chip in too....will there be norcal240sx stickers designed along the way?

[knghtryde]

Andrew just think... once you graduate college $40 won't even be considered pocket change... LoLz...

[Danio]

This is NorCal. $40 is a lot. Look at what happened to NCDA... LOL j/k... -_-;

Anyway, I'll get to work on it middle of next week. If you'd like to donate now with PayPal, my e-mail is danzeth at comcast dot net.

i'm driftaholic - If you can make a header graphic and save it as .psd (so I can edit as needed), that'd be great. Make it large enough so I can reduce the size. Thanks.

DRFT - Sure, we can have stickers. Just need someone to volunteer to take care of that stuff.

I'll continue later cuz I'm in class right now.

[sr240mike]

Just sent you $10

[AutoRnD]

whoa... =) honestly... that website needs to get more content... there is like nothin in there.. hell i didnt even know this website existed.

[kazuo]

Dan,

I'mma send you $10 as well.

[that180guy]

i wondered what happend to that mailing list........ :ugh:

im dwn for 5 bucks, and yay!!! stickers!!! :eek3:

[Andrew Bohan]

danio do you have any guidelines for me to follow? or just whatever i feel like?

[Teh Luckinator]

I'd like to make images/graphics for the site, too.

[Danio]

Don't really have any guidelines. Just make them high resolution files so that they can be used for other stuff if needed. And use layers so that they can be edited easily.

[Danio]

Site is not finished but could use a few testers and suggestions.

norcal240sx.org (http://norcal240sx.org)

[AutoRnD]

it looks confusing as hell

[Danio]

it looks confusing as hell


Yes, I'll work on that. :] It just needs some content and images, and lots of cleaning up. I'll get around to it in a few days.

Meanwhile, you guys can help by testing the funtionality and giving feedback on how it can all work better. You'll need to create an account (http://norcal240sx.org/?q=user/register) to do that.

The main thing people use should be the forums, so go ahead and make some test posts. This is your chance to be a post whore! =D Any thread in the forum could be "promoted" to the front page by a moderator, so that people can see the post without searching through the forum pages. This could be useful for threads like "My S13 got stolen!" which could use everyone's attention.

We might use that for meets also (people post meets in forums and mods promote worthy ones to the front), although I have something else in mind right now for posting meets. The problem we have once in a while with meets in Zilvia is that there'd be a bunch of them at about the same time. There'd be one in Milpitas and two days later one right nextdoor in Fremont. Few people would go to both.

I was thinking people could post an upcoming meet as a "story (http://norcal240sx.org/?q=node/add/story)", which is anything that should go on the front page. However you don't just write about a meet and submit it and see it on the front page. It goes through the "submission queue (http://norcal240sx.org/?q=queue)" and members will be able to vote on whether or not the post makes it to the front page. A vote would be like saying "Yes I'm interested in going to this meet." This way, which events happen become up to the community rather than the mods.

You'll see that you're able to post blog (http://norcal240sx.org/?q=node/add/blog) entries. I hate my car so I'm never gonna use it, but maybe some of you out there love your cars so much that you'd like to write about them and let other members know about them. One of the common questions at meets is "So what have you done to your car so far" and you'd be able to answer on the blog. "Today I put on Mugen wheels and painted the car yellow and pink." "Today I added a fake second muffler." And of course people would be able to comment on your blog.

The 240SX Handbook (http://norcal240sx.org/?q=node/view/18) is meant to be a reference source with pages contributed by members. You contribute by writing a book page (http://norcal240sx.org/?q=node/add/book), and a mod puts it in the right place in the book after reviewing it.

That's about it for now. I'll look into adding PMs and a calendar later on.

[proj240sx]

yay its alive!!

[someguy_240]

sweetness lookin good man!

[Danio]

Updated the site a bit.

Try the voting system. I've submitted an upcoming meet post and it's in the submission queue. Currently, 4 votes will bring it to the front page. When more members sign up, we'll up the required number of votes a bit. The purpose for this is to see which meets people have an interest in and which ones people will ignore. If a mod feels that the post deserves attention, s/he can let it bypass the voting process and send it to the front page.

Also try submitting your own events or news, so we can try out the voting system more.

[Danio]

Is the site too hard to use or what?

[NZO]

Its cool and has a lot of features but I think if it looked more unified it would be easier to use.