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Ahoy and Welcome to the New SSS Forums!!
As you can see, we have migrated our old forums to new software. All your old posts, threads, attachments, and messages should be here. If you see anything out of place or have any questions, please scroll to the very bottom of the page and click "Contact Us" and leave a note with as much detail as possible.
You should be able to login with your old credentials. If you have any issues, try resetting your password before clicking the Contact Us link.
Cheers - Bryan
It was brought to my attention at the Vallejo 1-2
- Thread starter AlanH
- Start date
solosailor
New member
Maybe put on every t-shirt: www.sfbaysss.org
Philpott
Cal 2-27 Dura Mater
Consider the implications of people attempting to click on it.
Aren't Southern Raiders enough trouble?
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Intermission
Member
There are currently 944 users on; there were as many as 3200+ on last month at one time.
Clearly, the few who do post are entertaining to a larger audience.
Don't whistle for a wind.
Clearly, the few who do post are entertaining to a larger audience.
Don't whistle for a wind.
tiger beetle
N/M 45 Tiger Beetle
Those 'users' will predominately be web crawler software and have little to do with people reading content.
A more useful metric would be the number of forum members active, and for a given thread, the member login-ins that have viewed a particular thread.
For example: there are currently 3 members looking at the forum and 1422 users, and 12 members have looked at this particular thread in the forum.
More usefully, there are 46 members that actively use the forum out of 1,100 total forum members created . 46 suggests the forum is not the best way to get information out to the SSS membership.
- rob/beetle
Intermission
Member
Another one of my long held fantasies crushed.
This is such an informative place!
Thanks, Rob.
Hi Rob ,
I'll bite: so what's a "web crawler" and what are they doing on SSS Forum? Can we get them to join?
~sleddog
BobJ
Alerion 38 "Surprise!"
Let's start simple and close to home. Why don't the SSS officers post here and tell us what's going on with our club?
The annual meeting is coming up. Who will be the new officers? Do the members have any say in that? (They should.)
What changes will be made in the races, meetings, etc. next year? Do the members have any say in that?
The SSS is a corporation and non-profit entity in the state of CA. It has By-Laws that are supposed to be followed. The last two annual meetings were loose affairs with no proper order or voting. Will this annual meeting be the same way?
And etc.!
The annual meeting is coming up. Who will be the new officers? Do the members have any say in that? (They should.)
What changes will be made in the races, meetings, etc. next year? Do the members have any say in that?
The SSS is a corporation and non-profit entity in the state of CA. It has By-Laws that are supposed to be followed. The last two annual meetings were loose affairs with no proper order or voting. Will this annual meeting be the same way?
And etc.!
tiger beetle
N/M 45 Tiger Beetle
A web crawler is an indexing program intended to locate web pages, download them to, say, Google, where indexing and sorting occurs for purposes of supporting Google's search engine results. Any given search engine will have many crawlers running simultaneously on all sorts of web sites, and the software can over-whelm a site with requests for pages that can then be indexed and made searchable/findable by others.
Pages that change often are the bane of a search engine's existence - these pages require multiple visits periodically to capture changes in those pages and then update the search engine's result set to reflect these changes. Online forums are a good example of that behavior - the site might change hourly.
It's an interesting problem to solve for - how to design the 'best' crawler, there's a brief discussion here of different ways one might implement a crawler:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_crawler
And nope, we wouldn't want them to join the forum as they aren't capable of posting responses.
- rob
This.
but is there another way? I haven't been to a Wednesday night SSS meeting in a long time because the traffic is hell.
There were 55 boats registered for the Vallejo 1-2. That means that 55 SSS participants/members were in Vallejo on Saturday night, and actually, probably more like 70, because probably half of the Sunday crewfolk arrived Saturday night.
Except for the 3 BF skippers meeting and awards meeting, are there ever 70 SSS'ers at a meeting any more?
Except for the 3 BF skippers meeting and awards meeting, are there ever 70 SSS'ers at a meeting any more?
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tiger beetle
N/M 45 Tiger Beetle
Sure - post announcements directly on the SSS website home page, along with sending an email from the SSS club to each club member. Those that don't use email (and it's likely at least one person doesn't use email), then they might want a post card
No reason to stop using the SSS forum to disseminate information, but it's unwise to expect information posted to the forum has the same exposure as something posted to the SSS home page.
- rob
I rarely check the home page ... I check the forum regularly.
I think this is an issue to large to solve on this web page. It's actually also an issue for yacht clubs and other similar organizations, too. When I was SSS Secretary I typed up a newsletter following each race with results - and once a month if no race - photocopied, addressed, mailed it out to members. Then came the Internet. Since then there have been various iterations of this website. I think it you were to look at its history there was more information disseminated earlier via the SSS website than today. Part of that reason might be Jibeset, where members register, get race docs, find results. Don't get me wrong, I think Jibeset is a wonderful tool for racers and race committees, but it's not designed for discussion and non-race information. I think a monthly newsletter emailed to members would be a good idea, but that means another volunteer position - newsletter editor. I've found recently that (I think) that the SSS and other race organizers sort of use the "post and forget" method, thinking "they will come." In some ways this page has become the semi-private messaging center for half a dozen or so SSS members (I might be one of them?). I don't know how many visit to read.
About SSS meetings. Yes, the numbers attending are way, way down for meetings. In the past programs were organized for skippers meetings with ocean safety, bay currents, information about shorthanded sailing. I haven't been coming from Santa Rosa very often since I drive up to 2 hours to get there (comment time) for a 30 minute or less presentation of prizes or picking up a shirt - and then over an hour to get home. I didn't understand the OYC to IYC and now apparently back to OYC issue. But the IYC is off the map for may racers. One meeting I attended there had fewer than a dozen racers.
About officers. I think elections are vital to volunteer organizations. It's always easy for someone to say, "Oh Hell, yes I'll serve another term; the first 3 weren't too bad." But "new blood" in volunteer offices, I think, is necessary. Apparently the Hawaii Race winner is the defacto Commodore? But getting a slate of candidates - or even 1 per office - can be difficult, especially when there's no "organization" to belong to. It's part of what keeps a volunteer organization alive. I've seen too many wither and go away without many noticing , including several. yacht clubs.
When I was active as an SSS officer (circa 1985 - 2005 or so) we carefully separated the local SSS activities (including funds) from the TransPac activities (including funding). There are several hundred boats that participate in Bay Area SSS races and maybe on a good year upwards of 2 dozen - usually fewer - that participate in the Hawaii Race, but it seems to be the present orientation of things is toward that race. At least the discussions. I don't know about funding. There's almost a "club within a club."
It's important to the SSS's future to see new faces at Vallejo, for instance or raise their hand at a Farallones Race skippers meeting as newbies. I know. It was the way I started out in 1983. Ask Ants.
I believe in the old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" but sometimes folks fail to see that it is broken and before long it's too far gone to fix. We did "fix" the SSS once when things weren't going well in the past. I think we need to spend some time analyzing where the SSS is today and possibly make some changes. Adding "cruises" or "RAIDS" for instance offer, in my opinion some exciting new possibilities. Look what the StFYC did when it decided sailboarding was a sailing sport? Or that a J-70 was a "big" boat.
I stopped posting a couple of years ago when my ideas generated snide comments. I'm not asking for that. If you think I'm way off base PM me, don't Sail Anarchy me here. Pat Broderick
About SSS meetings. Yes, the numbers attending are way, way down for meetings. In the past programs were organized for skippers meetings with ocean safety, bay currents, information about shorthanded sailing. I haven't been coming from Santa Rosa very often since I drive up to 2 hours to get there (comment time) for a 30 minute or less presentation of prizes or picking up a shirt - and then over an hour to get home. I didn't understand the OYC to IYC and now apparently back to OYC issue. But the IYC is off the map for may racers. One meeting I attended there had fewer than a dozen racers.
About officers. I think elections are vital to volunteer organizations. It's always easy for someone to say, "Oh Hell, yes I'll serve another term; the first 3 weren't too bad." But "new blood" in volunteer offices, I think, is necessary. Apparently the Hawaii Race winner is the defacto Commodore? But getting a slate of candidates - or even 1 per office - can be difficult, especially when there's no "organization" to belong to. It's part of what keeps a volunteer organization alive. I've seen too many wither and go away without many noticing , including several. yacht clubs.
When I was active as an SSS officer (circa 1985 - 2005 or so) we carefully separated the local SSS activities (including funds) from the TransPac activities (including funding). There are several hundred boats that participate in Bay Area SSS races and maybe on a good year upwards of 2 dozen - usually fewer - that participate in the Hawaii Race, but it seems to be the present orientation of things is toward that race. At least the discussions. I don't know about funding. There's almost a "club within a club."
It's important to the SSS's future to see new faces at Vallejo, for instance or raise their hand at a Farallones Race skippers meeting as newbies. I know. It was the way I started out in 1983. Ask Ants.
I believe in the old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" but sometimes folks fail to see that it is broken and before long it's too far gone to fix. We did "fix" the SSS once when things weren't going well in the past. I think we need to spend some time analyzing where the SSS is today and possibly make some changes. Adding "cruises" or "RAIDS" for instance offer, in my opinion some exciting new possibilities. Look what the StFYC did when it decided sailboarding was a sailing sport? Or that a J-70 was a "big" boat.
I stopped posting a couple of years ago when my ideas generated snide comments. I'm not asking for that. If you think I'm way off base PM me, don't Sail Anarchy me here. Pat Broderick
Bob,
Jackie sent me the link to this message. I do not consider the forum an official site for the SSS, rather it is an informal service for members to share information. The website where I would publish official notifications. Regarding officers, we need a new Race Chair and webmaster. If you would like to volunteer, your services will be appreciated.
...Don
Jackie sent me the link to this message. I do not consider the forum an official site for the SSS, rather it is an informal service for members to share information. The website where I would publish official notifications. Regarding officers, we need a new Race Chair and webmaster. If you would like to volunteer, your services will be appreciated.
...Don
BobJ
Alerion 38 "Surprise!"
That sort of half way answered the first question.
How do the officers propose to maintain communication with the membership? Other than race announcements, I don't recall any "official notifications" from the officers about anything. Can you give me an example of one?
This is the first time we've been "officially" told we need a new Race Chair and webmaster. This is a good example of the issue.
How do the officers propose to maintain communication with the membership? Other than race announcements, I don't recall any "official notifications" from the officers about anything. Can you give me an example of one?
This is the first time we've been "officially" told we need a new Race Chair and webmaster. This is a good example of the issue.
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As a volunteer organization, the SSS continues thanks to the efforts of volunteers. The means of communicating has not gotten easier from when I was happy to have a mailing list to make labels on my Kaypro computer in the early 80's.
I don't think I have noticed a consistently effective way to communicate - e.g. printed newsletter for vintage motorcycle club, forum announcements for fly fishing forum, or FB / Instagram / webpage for fly fishing club.
The best advice I heard was from a 35-year volunteer for the vintage motorcycle club. "If you have an idea that you think will help, I will do my best to support you as you implement it".
Ants
I don't think I have noticed a consistently effective way to communicate - e.g. printed newsletter for vintage motorcycle club, forum announcements for fly fishing forum, or FB / Instagram / webpage for fly fishing club.
The best advice I heard was from a 35-year volunteer for the vintage motorcycle club. "If you have an idea that you think will help, I will do my best to support you as you implement it".
Ants
pogen
Sailing canoe "Kūʻaupaʻa"
Is the current board still as shown here? https://www.sfbaysss.org/main/contact/
The bylaws of the SSS set it up as a self-perpetuating oligarchy, much like the Catholic church. Traditionally, new board members were recruited from the general membership based on interest, willingness to work, and skills. There is no provision for voting by the general membership. In the past decade or so, the winner of the SHTP became next Commodore, like on Game of Thrones where you have to slay the old king to become king yourself.
A lot of people just are not that into internet forums and posting, and that probably is not going to change. Maybe a regular email listserv would be better, if someone could commit to writing up a monthly newsletter. So many of our boats are 1980s vintage, so maybe our communications could be as well. I think the Facebook group has some activity, but some people don't like Facebook for various reasons.
Just my 2¢ as a former board member.
I enjoy the forum, obviously... however, as Rob pointed out from the useage statistics, with only 46 members active out of over 1000 accounts created, this is not the best way to get news out to the membership, or involve people. I personally talked to six, seven people at the Vallejo 1-2 dinner on Saturday night, who had either read the forum but never posted, or knew it existed but never looked at it. New people DO post now and then....Carol has volunteered to do the 2020 SHTP Poster, as a result of talking to myself and Jackie on Saturday night, and she'd never written on the forum at all.
The Bay Area traffic situation has ended the viability of the "Wednesday Night Meeting in Alameda". I know, for you folks who live nearby in the East Bay, it doesn't seem like so much of a big deal but if neither I not Pat Broderick can get to meetings any more, that's got to tell you something.
I think we need a different way to build the community. I remember, when I joined, pre-internet, I looked forward to meetings where I could hang out with my friends and the men and women I admired, who were role models as I developed as a sailor. I think we need to bring that back.
How to do it?
Honestly, the Cruise-In's are a big help, but still only 6-8 boats show up. We could have 30.
The Bay Area traffic situation has ended the viability of the "Wednesday Night Meeting in Alameda". I know, for you folks who live nearby in the East Bay, it doesn't seem like so much of a big deal but if neither I not Pat Broderick can get to meetings any more, that's got to tell you something.
I think we need a different way to build the community. I remember, when I joined, pre-internet, I looked forward to meetings where I could hang out with my friends and the men and women I admired, who were role models as I developed as a sailor. I think we need to bring that back.
How to do it?
Honestly, the Cruise-In's are a big help, but still only 6-8 boats show up. We could have 30.