Plastic Armour needs you!

Anything relating to the site itself is posted here - announcements, changes, feedback etc.
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Philipp Gross
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Plastic Armour needs you!

Post by Philipp Gross »

There are a few things that we need to talk about. This site has some problems, and we're determined to fix them. But we need your help to do it!

The most important stuff first: The site is up for renewal soon and Gary needs to pay the bills. If you can spare a few coins to contribute to keeping the lights on, it would be very useful - and we'd be extremely thankful. Donations can be made through the 'Donations' page right here. I've grown deeply attached to this site and its community and I'd hate to see it disappear. :?

Secondly: The current main site isn't exactly user friendly. Right now the forum is difficult to find and the resources available to Gary don't allow for much else. I've been thinking of setting up some sort of blog structure, where every new model, walkaround, review etc. would be put on the front page for everyone to see. The forum too should be linked directly on the front page. I've been looking into serveral options to set up a new main site but I must confess I have absolutely no experience with such matters. Do any of you have experience with setting up websites or know of someone who might be willing to help?

Lastly: Right now this community is dying. We're losing active members every year with barely any replacements coming in. We've had this debate long before, but I fear it is more urgent than ever. I need all of you to turn this ship around. We need activity and content to make the site attractive to visitors. Post stuff! Comment on stuff! Ask questions and post photos! Make it a welcoming new home for anyone who stumbles though the front door! Tell your friends, tell your wife, tell your cats and dogs! We're a great community and need to let the world know it!

Thanks for reading though all of this. Please leave some feedback what we could do better. Any opinion is more than welcome to help plot a course through the rough waters ahead. ;)

Philipp
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Vincent Power
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Re: Plastic Armour needs you!

Post by Vincent Power »

I hear you Philipp. I guess the easiest thing for anybody to do is to start making comments and posting stuff. I know I've been guilty lately of having a look and leaving without saying anything. I'm also very fond of the people on this site and I want PA to continue. To that end I've just made a donation. I don't know any website people unfortunately but I'm happy to help where I can. :)

Cheers,
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Justin Wooding
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Re: Plastic Armour needs you!

Post by Justin Wooding »

Hi Philipp,

The problem seems to be a common observation of the smaller websites. And i see a lot of comments that facebook is taking front place to websites like ours. But give me a website forum over facebook anyday!

I'm not sure how we draw new members to being active participants. There are a lot of members who just observe and don't get active. I don't have a problem with that, and i hope they are learning stuff from those who do post, and are enjoying it too. It would be great for them to jump in and say hello and show their projects 8-)

Saying all that, i myself am not as active as i used to be. I don't seem to find the time to sit and peruse the forums as much. I am struggling to find bench time! I am trying though :|

Donations may help i guess. I will see what i can do in that area. Money is going tight for us as we just bought a second house in my home city of Wollongong, to which we intend to move back to in a couple of years. On a plus side, that might force me to have more build time and less acquisitions :lol: :lol:

Keep us up to date with the goings on.
Woody...

Trying hard to do some modeling!

Adam Durrant
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Re: Plastic Armour needs you!

Post by Adam Durrant »

Giddy Philip,

Donation made. Hopefully every little bit helps!

Not sure how to attract new people to the forum but would support the suggestion of kit reviews etc. I google kit reviews on most of the kits I purchase to see what the average modeller thinks. Maybe we could do mini kit reviews of the kits and sets we use for our GBs as well as the blog of the build itself?

Adam
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Steve Hutchinson
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Re: Plastic Armour needs you!

Post by Steve Hutchinson »

Totally agree with everything said by the chaps

I don't know any web masters!

I really don't want to FaceBook, but most of the absent ones are there, with their work.

Pay day is some distance but I will donate again

Time to build and blog is getting more and more restricted, but I shall try.

We have all seen many great small forums disappear,

I don't want to loose PA, so I shall try my best, but perhaps we should also prepare for the worst, with a Plan B?

Not great but I don't want to loose touch with you guys, either

Steve H
""I need to be creative, to feel ALIVE!""

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Gary Boxall
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Re: Plastic Armour needs you!

Post by Gary Boxall »

Al donations towards the running of the site are gratefully appreciated. 12 moths worth of hosting isn't cheap unfortunately.
But it's not just about the money. Photobucket have caused a huge issue now with their greediness and now expect users to pay some US$400 to allow 3rd party hosting. As a result, a lot of images on this (and others) forum are no longer viewable. Extremely frustrating :evil:

Phillip is quite correct in saying the site needs to morph into something better as the current format isn't perfect. It does take a fair bit of time but we're committed to making things work as this is a great community with awesome members and I love the fact we all can get on like grown adults and behave nicely towards each other unlike some other forms :roll:

Please do feedback to us as to what you want/need and we'll do our best to continue to make this a place you want to come to and hang out!

Gary
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Philipp Gross
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Re: Plastic Armour needs you!

Post by Philipp Gross »

Thanks everyone for your feedback...and your donations! :)

I agree, reviews are a good way to draw in an audience. It doesn't have to be your newest 1000 parts kit, but maybe a small aftermarket set you find useful. Just take a few photos, write a few sentences and post the result in the News & Reviews forum :)

Don't get me started on Facebook....internet junkfood in its purest form. Almost impossible to find content after a day or two, even if you manage to find it in the millions of single-topic groups. If you post something you get a handful of "likes" and no other feedback whatsoever...but hey, I've got 23 and you only 22!

As soon as time permits I'll start experimenting with a new main site. I'll keep you updated on the progress. Once the new setup works we'll transfer it to this site's server and hope for the best :? :lol:

Philipp
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Olivier Carneau
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Re: Plastic Armour needs you!

Post by Olivier Carneau »

I'm in no way a geek but creating a menu on the front page of the main site is not that hard. I concur that finding the forum from the main site is not easy that's why I have saved the direct link of the forum in my favorites and scarcely visit the main site. Shame on me :oops:

I'll pay a donation when the French rugby team beat the All Blacks this will give time enough to save some Euros :lol: Just kidding, we will beat them in November ;)

Being more present will / should be easier. I confess I'm present on a number of French and English language forums on which I don't always share the same stuff. But I could do more for PA.

That being said, I'll start a new discussion with my current project.
Oh I forgot, I have two dogs, no cats, a wife and none of them are eager to participate in the forum. At least SWMBO allows me some time to build models and share them with the community :lol: :lol:
Olivier
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Raoul Kunz
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Re: Plastic Armour needs you!

Post by Raoul Kunz »

I have to concur with many here in feeling some form of basic shame to not be as present as I should be :? :oops:
I try to kick some money over regularly but occasionally forget... I'm an a**hole, though as a matter of course I've sent a donation this time!

I also really fail to be as present as I should be... I know the little posts matter because I do read a lot of threads... I feel like having had this discussion before, maybe even on MA, but I will really try (there is no try, do or don't!)
I might be away 12 hours of the day but there is still time to post at least a comment on something new, and there still is, gods bless the community, because it matters.

Pille does his part in this regards (aside from all the others really) and occasionally mildly bugs me until I get around to actually post things I've done....

I also concur with him (big surprise I concur with the sentiments of someone I communicate daily...) in regards to facebook.. it's horrible, it's degenerate, it's not even remotely acceptable as an alternative to me... I tried when MA went down the drain, I really did.. but it's completely unacceptable... no discussion, no real feedback, no reflection, just quick, supremely superficial BS...

I also think (again big surprise here) that the blog structure for the main page would be an idea.. it unifies the two tendencies of modern internet, the "classic" more "expert based" notion of discussing topics in a way that the ARPANET started out with and the more "user friendly", "regular Joe interwebs structure" that tends to be smart phone based, if not in comparability then certainly in lack of overwhelming complexity.

...maybe mascots... a kitten and a puppy... in tanks :lol: ;)



Best regards

Raoul G. Kunz
Last edited by Raoul Kunz on 01 Jul 2017, 01:10, edited 1 time in total.
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Mark Aldrich
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Re: Plastic Armour needs you!

Post by Mark Aldrich »

I run and control three different FB pages and am a member of many more. When I get home this evening, I can post links to our little website and see if that helps draw attention. Of course, that might bring in a lot of us American "types"...LOL.
Last edited by Mark Aldrich on 30 Jun 2017, 16:28, edited 1 time in total.
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