TOP HAT WEB SITE

[DESIREMK1]

Hi Guys ,

Currently I am a perspective Top Hat owner , who will enjoy attaining what is highly regarded as the best 25footer sailboat in Australia upon our return to Sydney around September , once I have completed renovations to our rental property here in Broken Hill NSW . It is my humble belief , that this forum should be available to all , even if an annual subscription to this site comes into being , which i know of a few social interests groups have to access information ( Hawkesbury Sailing Club ) etc . Further , In the same spirit in which Top Hat Sailboats are appealing to perspective owners . If any group in society wants to grow their " Brand " so to speak , then I believe that as a group a lot more can be done to facilitate such growth , such as the following :

1) Perspective Owners should be recognized , as nearing ownership , and supported In their quest to gain experience with the mark . Thanking Miker , in this regard .

2) Establishing groups within areas , ( such as the Sydney fleet ) , to create a level of corespondance with more experienced owners . social outings , maintenance days / nights . Which I know of other sailboat groups frequently do .

3) Clothing that advertises the group , ( such as Polo Shirts ( etc ) ) worn at functions . By which a small portion of proceeds can be donated to group costs .

4) Public Days , that give extended family / work colleagues ( possibly charitable groups - disability etc ) the opportunity to take a closer look at Top Hat 1-3 , and the joys of sailing the mark , with other Top Hat group members .


All this depends on work / family commitments , and possible legal concerns .

These are just thoughts put in gest , though they would create a better standing amongst the social yachting fraternity ....

Brad
DESIREMK1

[Jeremy]

I think the forum needs to remain 'free' to join, but a donation page should be added. This might be for a membership to encourage annual donations. There could be a quarterly or half yearly newsletter emailed to all members with some articles on regattas, meet ups and future events (basically you could pull the info off the forum with the authors permission) to give members value.

Have you considered advertising? I am talking about sail makers, slip ways, chandleries etc. not the usualy internet crap. You should be able to supply the potential advertisers with detailed information on visitors to the site... Targeted marketing like this could be quite lucrative for all parties involved.

I would be happy to chip in also. just let me know how - a PayPal donation link would be good.

[Brainless]

haha, the history of the handle "Brainless" goes back a long time now but its not actually an interesting or funny story so ill leave it at that

Great ideas for the site all, I think its agree'd that the site will remain open and free and ill work on an paypal donation link

Edit:

What are peoples thoughts on creating a few sub forums for different Area's for example, Sydney, Lake Mac, Pittwater which could be used to assist with organisation of localised events and meet ups with people but also for people to ask information directed at locals with information

[DESIREMK1]

Hi Brainless ,

Great idea about having sub groups in my humble opinion , as it would create a focal point for " Get Togethers " ( etc ) , as I stated In my last post , I feel the group should be pro - active in promoting Top Hat Sailing . There are a many groups that operate in this way , at varying levels , including

1) Folkboat Association
2) Endeavour Association .
3) Careel Association.

From what I have seen firsthand , and read . The group has much to celebrate and promote , not to mention the wealth of knowledge more experienced members can pass on to sub branch members ( Brainless Idea ) , that may be new to ownership ( my family 1-2 years ) , or would like to get more out of their Top Hat Mk1-3. ....

Brad
DESIREMK1

[Shaun]

I have re-enabled auto-login.

PS Everyones thoughts, opinions, stories & ideas are welcome, so try to make the occasional post when you visit, its your contributions that make the forum interesting

cheers
Shaun

[Shaun]

Brainless has been doing a fantastic job of copying the current messege board, website & organising a new web host.


We will shortly be changing to a dotcom, with a new web host. We will be able to fine-tune the site & add some new feature's to the forum like avatar pictures & a chat feature once we have moved, but the priority has been to move off this expensive web host asap.
Details to follow,
cheers

[Brainless]

Just to add some more info, the forum has successfully been recreated on the new hosting and everyone's posts and accounts will continue to work exactly the same however to enable to this occur and make the database replication work effectively I cannot add the new features prior cutting over as they make significant changes to the database.

Anyway, on to the new features that have been tested so far and will come as soon as possible after the changover

Gallery! dont know if you can call it new but it will be returning

Chat, this will allow members logged in to chat to each other without the need to PM (of course the PM functionality will still remain as well)

Avatars, also not really new but it will be enabled and uploading allowed so everyone can choose their own

Front Portal page, allows forum information to be displayed on the front page, will also allow for some customisation

New Theme, just to mix it up an little, new theme and new banner, may look into running an banner art comp in the future for people to submit their own handy work as I am not very artistic

That's it for now, biggest change will be that the site will be moving to tophatyachts dot com rather than dot org, we are currently trying to get some information and potential ability to forward the existing domain but that is not yet confirmed, there was no intial plan to change domain I just used it cause it was easier for testing than using the direct site ip all the time and it has worked out that we may need to use it after all, if i can get the domain transferred i will but it will be as a redirect to .com

[admin]

Ryan

I own the current domain; drop me a message re transferring it etc

Dan

[Gramps]

Many thanks Ryan for putting in all the effort and achieving as much in a relatively short time and best of luck with the transition to .com. Thanks also to Dan for his contribution to date. That has also been appreciated.

I will look forward to tbenefitting from the restoration of the auto log on too.

Sean
AZZURA
Lake Macquarie neighbour

[Shaun]

Gday Sean,
The auto-login has already been re-enabled.
You need to tick the box below your password when signing in, & as long as you dont "log out", you can close the browser window....& the next time you visit the messege board you will be automatically "logged on" without having to enter your username & PW.

cheers