This website

[Mel Santmyers]

I would like to ask the following. I understand photos and some comments appear on Facebook regarding recent qualifiers etc.  My question is. Why don't we see this stuff on our own Scale Masters website ?   Confused !

[bwboland]

Hey Mel, You know why, no one sends things in. Mitch is happy to post fun event pics. HE always has... This starts with from the top down.

[Mel Santmyers]

 Question       Is it possible to have a system like face book or RC Universe where people can post things themselves to our forum rather than going thru Mitch directly?    I would think he has enough to do already. OR do we already have that and we just are not using it ?  It just seems we are missing an opportunity to sell the Scale Masters in the competitive arena of RC activities. 

[bwboland]

Hi Mel,

Mitch would know but I bet as the site is designed as of today no. Facebook rocks!

Bernie

[Curtis Kitteringham]

Mel
Yes you can be set up with your own picture album on the web site, make your wishes know to Mitch. He will send you info on how to do it and yes we do not get the picture posting that we would like. When you go to an event/contest there really is not that many taking pictures, we are busy watching, talking or working. What needs to be in place is a person with the sole propose of taking the pictures and willing to post them. In our area that is Ken Young he does a great job taking pictures, we also have a video guy Going Vertical that lives in Vegas but works in the Riverside area. See you for that FREE lunch we talked about
Hope this helps
Curtis Kitteringham   

[Flyfast1]

I think Mel's idea is a great one.  In addition to having our own picture albums, it would be good if multiple users could post pictures to a common photo album created for an event, and also have the common photo album linked from the announcement thread.  This would allow other users to see all the pictures for an event in one album, instead of having to search through photo albums of individual users.

-Ed Becker

[Mel Santmyers]

Curtis. I don't want my or anyone's album. I and many others I hope just would like to see what the qualifiers are seeing and doing in the country.  Example.  Roly sent me a load of photos from a recent event he attended.  I guess I would ask why they need to be SENT in. Let's just have a system if possible like RC UNIVERSE? Any one can send anything in.  My question is.  Can we have this,is it possible ??    Would it bring our website to life ?       

[Mitchell Baker]

Anyone can post what they want.  Create an album and post what they want and they can be viewed by anyone.. 

Start a thread, just like on RCU ( without all the in-your-face-ads) and attach any image(s) you want.  Just like on RCU. Or as was mentioned, create an album... 

See-ya
Mitch

[rcphotog]

Mel / Mitch,
I believe I tried to attach photos in the past and couldn't figure out how to do it. As I type this, I see two possible buttons that might allow posting a photo.
First one is a button with the Mona Lisa on it: hover over it & it says - "insert image"
Second button I see has what might be a camera on it: hover over it & it says - "upload new gallery item"

Neither will allow me to post a photo. Nothing happens when I click on them. Could be my browser or maybe I'm not allowed. Maybe only card-carrying paying members are allowed to post photos in the threads?
I simply do not see any way that I can post a photo.
K.

[Mitchell Baker]

Thanks for the info, I'll check into those.  They should be active for anyone who has registered on the web site, just just USSMA members.  The "Camera" icon is to insert a link to an image.  Like someone has uploaded images to some other photo service or created a gallery and wanted to view it inline with the post..  You would click on the "Camera" icons, and between the "img" tags put in the URL..  But you need to be careful when linking to other sites, some have very strict terms and one you upload an image to the site, they don't want people linking to it. You can't display ads when you are link just to the image. But, here you could create an album/gallery, upload multiple images there and put the highlights in the thread that way.  I will check on the other icons to see why they are not working. 

Remember folks, I don't have the time to check ever feature of the forums all the time.  If something does not work for you, please PM me.  No this does not work exactly like facebook or RCU, but then again, we don't have ads every 1/2" on every page you go to.  We also don't have a staff of hundreds developing for the site either...   

Example if inline-image below...



You should also see the work "Attach" with a button labled "Browse" below the editor box.  If not, click on the "Additional options" I believe is what it says, click on that and you should see the Attach option.

Mel / Mitch,
I believe I tried to attach photos in the past and couldn't figure out how to do it. As I type this, I see two possible buttons that might allow posting a photo.
First one is a button with the Mona Lisa on it: hover over it & it says - "insert image"
Second button I see has what might be a camera on it: hover over it & it says - "upload new gallery item"

Neither will allow me to post a photo. Nothing happens when I click on them. Could be my browser or maybe I'm not allowed. Maybe only card-carrying paying members are allowed to post photos in the threads?
I simply do not see any way that I can post a photo.
K.

[Mel Santmyers]

Thank you all. Mitch,Ed,Bernie,Ken,Curtis. We seem to be on a path to fix something's. I hope it can be kept in mind that things must be simple to post and find where and how to post on the main page.  Mitch, Please consider Ken to help you. He has a burning desire to see the organization continue to succeed.

[Mitchell Baker]

Thanks Mel,

I'm always willing to let people help.  There is a facebook page, if you like I can add you as an admin and you can post there as well.  It's funny, at one point in time I had links to the gallery showing random images from all the albums and the "top 10 newest topics posted to"  and got complaints like, front page to much stuff... topic's don't change, etc...  so I removed them.  I try to keep the landing page as a gateway to the rest of the site, links to detailed info, in that respect it is very similar to RCU and most all other sites of this type.   If Ken wants to help, then all he needs to do is ask.  I have worked with Ken in the past getting him setup to be able to post images to the gallery.  And no site just has adhoc image uploading.. they are all attached to a gallery/album assigned to the user in some form or another... 

See-ya
Mitch

Thank you all. Mitch,Ed,Bernie,Ken,Curtis. We seem to be on a path to fix something's. I hope it can be kept in mind that things must be simple to post and find where and how to post on the main page.  Mitch, Please consider Ken to help you. He has a burning desire to see the organization continue to succeed.

[rcphotog]

Mitch,
Thanks for the tips.
I don't see "additional options" or anything like that around the editor box.

I'm going to take a screen shot of the "post reply" box and email it to your personal email so you can see what I see.
I think I do understand what you are taking about with - inserting the URL between [image/image]

I'm going to keep trying to figure this out and maybe people are watching this topic and will benefit from my struggles

~~Ken Young

[rcphotog]

Let's see if I can post a photo
Paul Stenberg (House of Balsa / Zap ) & Grandpa-Scale Masters Mel Santmyers at the end of the 4th & final round of competition during the annual regional qualifier in Hemet,CA. Both men were happy to have completed all required flights as the ambient air temperature was getting into the high 90s. Hemet in the spring can be a wonderful place to smell the fragrance of nitro and gas

[Mitchell Baker]

Ok I see there is still a problem. I will try to debug it soon.. Thanks for the help..

[Mitchell Baker]

Testing attachment again.

Nope still broken...

Wait!!! Fixed it... There.. attachment images show as thumbnails in posts... Now to find out why the SOE mod broke this...

See-ya
Mitch

[Mitchell Baker]

Ok Mel,

What else do you want to see?  I think that addressed most of that you were asking about ?

See-ya
Mitch

[Mel Santmyers]

Thanks Mitch.  I hope you can open something on the main page to tell folks what to do.  I think you know it has to be simple to do. However I consider this quite a step in the right direction.    Mel

[Mitchell Baker]

I want to try to address some of your comments directly and get a better understanding what your expectations are...

I would like to ask the following. I understand photos and some comments appear on Facebook regarding recent qualifiers etc.  My question is. Why don't we see this stuff on our own Scale Masters website ?   Confused !

The answer is simple, they don't come here and post them.   They post them on facebook.  It being a social media site specifically designed for that.  There is nothing anyone can do about that, short of contacting whoever posted them on facebook and asking them to post them here.  Or start a topic here and link to facebook. 

Question       Is it possible to have a system like face book or RC Universe where people can post things themselves to our forum rather than going thru Mitch directly?    I would think he has enough to do already. OR do we already have that and we just are not using it ?  It just seems we are missing an opportunity to sell the Scale Masters in the competitive arena of RC activities. 

Ok here is where I need some clarification.. First, this is not a social media site, as I said we don't have the budget facebook has. I also mentioned as much as you want more on the front page, there are others who want less.   No pleasing everyone, so I have tried to come up with a happy medium.  Explain what is so easy about RCU?  The front page seems to me to be much harder to navigate... 

As we have shown, it is fairly easy to post pics with your posts... If you have a lot of pics, it's easier to use the gallery since you can do mass uploads.. It is designed for that.  But as Bernie stated, unless people take the time, it's not going to change. 

I also mentioned, USSMA has a facebook page. It has been up for several years, and has a whopping 135 likes.  I am about the only person who shares anything there.  A few others have.. You can link any topic to your own facebook page by clicking on the facebook icon at the bottom of every forum topic.  The more you link things between sites the better it is.  Anyone can link a facebook topic, pic in a post here...  Like this... https://www.facebook.com/scalemastrers or like this...
https://www.facebook.com/scalemastrers/photos/a.10153960811265697.1073741826.284442630696/10153960811200697/?type=1&relevant_count=1

Thanks Mitch.  I hope you can open something on the main page to tell folks what to do.  I think you know it has to be simple to do. However I consider this quite a step in the right direction.    Mel

Simple.. that is such a subjective term.  For anyone who frequents forums on the web, this site is very simple and pretty much follows the standards set for a member participation site.  So remember simple for one person may not be simple for another.  Again I try to give a happy medium.  Remember the front page has to also be as much if not more for someone who knows nothing about USSMA than for members.  The forums and gallery is more for members.  That being said,  short concise suggestions with examples are greatly appreciated.  But I really can't do anything with "make it simple".  So exactly what do you want me to open up on the front page?  Attached is a screen shot of RCU front page... I do think ours is much simpler than that.

See-ya
Mitch

[Mel Santmyers]

Hi Mitch.  I know very little about computers and the abilities of the systems. As previously asked I thought we may be able to post pictures of the qualifiers etc. without bothering you on every detail by using a way to post them on the forum by the contest managers or others that may take photos for all to see.    I mentioned the front page being used to advertise the method to be used until such time that everyone becomes familiar with the way to post photos. I was hoping that it would catch on over time.      Mel.

[Mitchell Baker]

No problem Mel,

For what it's worth, that ability has been available on the site for several years...

Will see what I can put together. 

See-ya
Mitch

Hi Mitch. I know very little about computers and the abilities of the systems. As previously asked I thought we may be able to post pictures of the qualifiers etc. without bothering you on every detail by using a way to post them on the forum by the contest managers or others that may take photos for all to see. I mentioned the front page being used to advertise the method to be used until such time that everyone becomes familiar with the way to post photos. I was hoping that it would catch on over time. Mel.

[Mel Santmyers]

Well gentlemen I just had a conversation with Mitch again to why we cannot have photos,comments etc on the various qualifiers. Once again it seems as Mitch says the guys simply are NOT using our Scale Masters website in a manner that would benefit everyone. NOW! This is one I simply do not understand.  Maybe it's just me that thinks it matters HOWEVER  If you  as a CD or a qualifier officer thinks like me then lets do something together and begin to post on the forum.  Photos etc would eventually help those that were there as well as new people that want to see what is happening in their areas.                              I think many of you know I have tried to be civil in every post I have ever made. I have posted ideas,it doesn't matter if they are adopted as I say they are simply ideas to create more ideas from you the membership.  I have one post with  almost 5 thousand hits with only Mitch and a couple members answering.  EVEN if I am wrong would it not be nice to hear from an officer. Gentlemen the Scale Masters in Indiana is going to happen within one month. I would hope that something GOOD comes from their board meeting.  I urge you all to see the web site from the NASAM .com  I hope I am right with that web address.  Remember we are an organization  with about one hundred members after some 35 years.  Remember we also have a vote coming up very soon.  This is your chance to help in the rebirth of the SCALE  MASTERS  ORG.  Over 400 of you that enjoyed your event this year need to become involved and quick.   Mel.

[Mel Santmyers]

NWSAM.ORG  Sorry guys take a look though.   Mel 

[j_whitney]

Mel, you mentioned facebook - or someone did - a while back.  I just took a look at the USSMA page on facebook.  Going back to April, the only posts were made by  - - wait for it - - - USSMA.

I saw a couple of pics of you at Hemet - there is no reason they could not be posted on facebook as well.

Why not take it upon yourself to prod your local CDs to post to either or both sites?
Seems to me that anyone reading this could do the same thing.

I know exactly where Mitch is coming from.  As the newsletter editor I start sending report requests about 5 or 6 weeks prior to what is supposed to be the publication date.  Some of the guys (Roly for one) are right on top of it and respond right away.  Some guys take 2 or 3 reminders,  Some officers just seem to ignore it altogether.  I think you guys know who is who - so it would be much appreciated if you could drop a bug in the ear of the representative asking them to pony up.
By the way - not all posts have to be USSMA related, but they should be SCALE related!

[Mel Santmyers]

Jeff.   It appears we are masking progress from Mitch and others comments.  I did not know that CD'S photographers etc. were not using the site.  If  people begin to use the site then Mitch will be able to have something to strive for such as making things simpler to post. Mel.