need for an armchair forum?
 

A few years ago this forum was a different place. it was pure motorbike travel talk, mainly facts but with occasional banter. these days there's lots of pish posted about this and that, a lot unrelated to the actual act of getting your bike/4x4/cycle across the land. I guess it's an inevitable result of fashion.

'Pish' is obviously a relative term, one mans pish is another mans nectar (so to speak...)

When out and about travelling, having to search through pish to get to the meat of the content is sometimes a costly experience. A slow link, and 5 pages of recent posts about "chuckie and ewan", or "does my bum look big in this" (always male!), or "will a GXYZ1500 make it along the Kings Road, or do I need knobblies", is a costly and frustrating thing.

is it time for a 'social' or 'armchair' forum that doesn't show up in the 'do=getdaily&hours=24'?

you spelt it wrong Bloke!
 

Judging by some of the 'Old Farts' that post on here we should have a :wheelchair: Forum! :rofl:

Can you believe I heard of one person having their bike 'shipped' while they flew by air so they could meet up with the Dakar! Hardly an adventure....... and there was NO way they could say it was CHEAPER, so they did it as a cost saving excercise! I am beginning to wonder if anyone ever rides their bikes these days?

Martyn

I'm not taking the pish. some people like to talk about it, without the inclination/cash/time/etc to go anywhere. that's cool.

but this site, by design or not, serves a purpose for the people out there on the sharp end. and if you're not out there on a crap link you might not realise that all the image posting and endless debate over the latest colours of an XYZ640GPF, really slows things down.

anyway, time for hogmanay....

It's a draw so far :
Ayes - 1
Nays - 1

How come there's not a "don't know" category ?

But really ,if you are looking for serious info ,would you even look in a Charley and Ewan thread ?

Yes, probably, but what would be top of my new year wish list would be that people do a search before posting.
But hey I'm being nitpicky here, an excellent forum and happy new year to everyone.

I followed the 06 Dakar all the way and rode to and from the UK and have never been so cold in all my life on a bike, and that includes the 1981 Elefant treffen.
I met up in Lisbon with 2 Dutch riders and in Ceuta with a Belgian guy and all of them shipped bikes by truck to Lisbon and flew in, one Dutch guy said it was because ot time but the Belgian said he was not prepared to ride in the cold.

A number of Brit riders are doing at least some of the Dakar for 08 and I believe they are riding the lot! must be something about the Brits with rain and the cold.

Yes
 

Yes I dont much traveling. I love to do it but I do have other things I need to. But as far as getting on your bike and traveling that realy depends on what your implying. Chuckie and Ewan are traveling burning millions doing it but there traveling so why not talk about it.
Not riding to Dakar? Well I cant people on this side of the "pond" cant people in OZ cant and dont they puss out and take a ferry across? Its only what 4,000 to 6,000miles hell IBC rally is 11,000 is it traveling? No its a silly rich boy race grate fun but not traveling.
As far as what bike to take and road conditions and the need for knobblies that is what you say you want facts about and area and motorbike travel.

Your load times and connection speed is client side (you) If your in an internet cafe you may want to try downloading and running a tuneup utility on there machine there are going to be loggers and data miners on the drive eating away at the internet speed. (save it to flash drive that ways its safe and easy to use) They may not like you to do it, the longer your on the more $ they make off you. You can get a laptop and use free WiFi. not cheap I know.

And a this may hurt but you dont need a web page to tell you about "pure motorbike travel talk" your doing it. People have don it long before the internet and lots of people do it with out the internet. You think you have it bad try running a blog Uplading pics from the road. Hear its hell with the connections in Africa and South America.
You may have it bad But Im going back to work tomorrow I will be told Im too slow and stupid working on parts for 10 to 12Hr. And the next day I will do it agen. A thankless boring job 40 to 60 a week for rich asshats saving all I can so one day I can do what your doing right now. Its not so bad I get 4 weeks off. Some are even payed! (I have a job so im happy).

Hey Dougie,

vBulletin (which this forum uses) has a great search capability, whereby you can exclude areas of the forum in your search.

It should work like:

..where 34,22,12,47 are the numbers of the sub forums you don't want to search. Unfortunately, it would appear that HU have changed the configuration so that this doesn't work, as the sub forums don't have numbers, just names. Shame that eh.

Well said Stephen.!
 

Well said Fella! I would love a job like yours, unfortunately I am Unemployed & probably now Unemployable! ( I am 'too old' at 44 and with health issues.)

Many people have it too easy, without seeing the real 'underlying reason' some of us spend a lot of time on the net. it is Escapism. Travel for the MIND. Voyeuristic it may be, but if we can't afford to travel, and have the addiction, we have to get our fix somehow!:thumbup1:

I spend my time between here and ADVrider, if it wasn't for the Travel reports and some of the fantastic Blogs on HUBB and ADVrider I think I would have shriveled up inside long ago.

Martyn

I've riden through Spain in the middle of winter the last two years on the way to watch the Dakar in Morocco and it's not my ideal of adventure.

BikeTruck picked my bike up last night in a massive truck with about a dozen bikes in total and I shall fly into Málaga on 5 Jan to collect it. A second truck left several days earlier taking all the UK Dakar competitor bikes directly to Lisbon. For me the decision was easy, it would cost £380 for the ferry to Bilbao and then ride the 700 miles through Spain, or I could lay out a total of £390 for Biketruck plus the flight and start from Málaga.

I'm carrying on to Senegal where my wife is flying out to join me for a couple of weeks in the sun, so I suppose that's not an adventure either???

I admit to being a voyeur (wot?)
 

Couldn't agree more. I can't travel at the moment, for reasons others may find too weak, but they are enough to stop me for a couple of years. HU provides me with some material to fuel my dreams, and I can even pretend I'm planning my next trip! At least I can commute on the bike occasionally.

It also gives me the chance to get out of the office (metephorically) and mix with like minded people. In my current contract I have a colleague who has never left the village shewas born in and can see no reason to do so! I am totally alian to her experiance, and our opportunities for conversation are therefore somewhat limited.

"real" traveler
 

Personaly, I don't give a "#$%#$" if you consider me a real traveler or not. I like to travel and I do it my way and that may be different from your way. So what !

I don't care if you fly your bike somewhere, hire a bike or ride around the world on your own bike. Even if you use a car or bicycle instead of a bike. No problem. We all travel the way we like it and "adventure" has a different meaning for everyone.
But no matter how you travel, it is nice if you keep an interesting website about it with nice pictures for me to look at :-)

A "general" or "armchair" section about other things then traveling could be usefull.
If you come to the HUBB to forget the office for a moment, it is nice to "chat" with other travelers about all kind of things and if you are looking for "real" travel information, ignore the "armchair" threads.

There is a thread running for this
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ght=chat+forum



now, what was that about searching before posting.......?

That's somewhat different - the request there was for a chatroom - which isn't the same as for a chat forum, which is why I responded to the question and posted the poll.

I note it's still 50-50 too!

Grant

12 bikes @ 390 quid each is 4,680 quid, a good profit being made by BikeTruck. A house move to spain is only about 2.400.......
so you and 12 others are also too chicken to ride in the cold! :rofl:

Tim, each to their own, DON'T TAKE OFFENCE AT MY COMMENTS, PLEASE, I rode 365 days a Year in the UK,without heated vests and only 'discovered' heated grips the last year I was in the UK.
Riding in the Cold, it isn't for everyone I know,but you are missing out on some great scenery.... thought I will admit, the 'Picos de Europa' would be a little nippy about now!

Come back to Spain on a your Honda when the weather is good ( leave the Lardy BMW 1200 behind, although im sure you can pick it up unaided, cant you?) and you will be able have some of the BEST off road riding in europe.( pyrenees excepted of course)

Martyn

Seek and ye shall find........
 

.........that's one answer to the question; far too many people post first, asking a question that has been answered multiple times.
As a side issue, it may be that an increasing number of people want it handed to them "on a plate", saving them thinking and acting for themselves (I'm not saying that DougieB is doing this - just an example of not searching!!).

In summary, the search function is very powerful.

On the specific poll. It is disappointing that this poll has been here for less than a day, whereas this one:-

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...od-stuff-30852

has been up for over a month with very little feedback provided.

Yes, no doubt this website will have changed over the years - show me something that has not changed - and it needs to continue to evolve in order to serve its' "audience".
So, my plea would be to get voting on all of the polls.

For my 2 cents worth, the site will benefit from increased structure like the recent additions of recommendations for both accommodation and workshops; a general forum is not required but more structured, specific ones are - how about bike maintenance, generic, not specific to model: how many times does a recommendation for a scott oiler or whatever have to be associated with a specific model of HonYamKawaBMW?
And what about the preparation of a DR650 for distance travelling in the bike tech? - most of that is generic - what I am saying here, is that the bike tech section is looking very thin.

Summary: increasing content requires increased structure - sorry Grant, more work for you!

And we have a much more powerful search engine in beta on our test server right now - it will get better. The current one doesn't do boolean AND OR NOT NEAR etc which annoys me no end, and the new one will.

Yep - always amazes me how few people bother to give feedback - without it I have no way of knowing what people want. You do have to register to vote, but how hard is that and why wouldn't you when you get so much more capability just in viewing and being able to pm and contact people?


YES!

We are working on the Bike Tech section to make it more accessible and more useful to all, but I agree - it's thin, and as a former mechanic and still bike geek, (and motorcycle maintenance course instructor) I find that annoying - I'd like to build up the tech section a lot - so what do you want?

Walkabout listed one new tech forum "Generic Bike Maintenance" perhaps - which has merit - anyone else agree?

Any other forums?

There is a maintenance site already out there which has been referred to on here before.
It's at Motorcycle Repair Course and does contain some very useful information although obviously it isn't controlled by the Hubb and therefore could disappear at any time.

I'd like to see one on other 4 wheel transport as I'd be interested in a van / campervan section but no idea if it would be of interest to other folk.

I'm ALWAYS reluctant to depend on other sites - they come and go far too often - we're here to stay - 10 years as of Christmas 07. :)

I'm listening - in the meantime the 4wd forums are 4 wheels generally.

One of those thoughtful days!
 

Hi again,
That M/C maintenance site is pretty good though and it seems to have been around for quite some time - I flagged it up a few months ago on here as well but it has not been viewed very much:-

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...al-stuff-27640

Just a thought then: could you "cut a deal" with the site owner in some way and put him in here as a more formal link (no point in re-inventing round things)?

As for the 4 wheel stuff; you might consider a forum for 3 wheels - you will know they have been cropping up in a number of threads recently; there is no single place to discuss sidecars, fitting the damn things, Urals etc etc.

ps Yes, leave the camper vans and quads in the 4 wheel section; it's a bit like the Yam bit (which is still dominated by XTs!), with its' concentration on 4x4s.

pps Suggest you move the HU feedback part of this web layout to the "top of the page", just below traveller advisories and above all of the rest - then the welcome/feedback etc is much more in peoples' faces and they might vote more often.

I think a casual chat forum is not a bad idea.

One of the reasons I like this forum is the relative lack of aggresive wankers who respond to a genuine question from someone (OK, possibly someone naive who has done a minimum of research) with a lot of mickey taking or with that "you're not hard/adventurous/macho enough to post on this forum" pish. I always find it a little heart warming when some guy who's done a ten year multi-circumnavigation of the globe on Ural/Enfield hybrid with a wooden leg and on a budget of £6.50 takes the trouble to give a load of tips to another guy who's going to Spain on his new GS.

However, inevitably there are some people who enjoy the banter and sword-play of a public forum and possibly have too much time on their hands who's posts would be better placed on a 'down the pub' style forum where they don't get in the way of the hard info.

Matt :)

Could be done, but is the juice worth the squeeze?
 

I agree in principle with your points Matt, but I voted the other way. This is because there are many, many instances of threads going off topic frequently; even during the last 24 hours this one has not stayed on topic for very long!!
Therefore, there will be no particular incentive or reason for anyone to bother with the proposed new forum, as per your last sentence - I believe the present "off topic" tendency would simply continue.

I believe that the moderators would have to monitor the posts more regularly and transfer wrongly placed posts much more rigorously in order to get the new "regime" implemented; do they want that workload?

some of us enjoy both Matt, all work n no play ya know...
 

In general Matt, I will research,some people have NO IDEA how to research stuff, and do everything I can to help a fellow Biker... if I can help I will.

on the Other Hand.......:devil2: that I can be sometimes cant resist having a 'Dig' at those that need 'loosening up' a little.

Life is for Living and Enjoying! you will all be dead soon enough anyway! so before anyone jumps at one of my comments, imagine it being said with a sly grin and a twinkle in the eye!

Martyn

I've not found the search to be very effective so far , maybe just my ineptitude .

But I've been pleasantly surprised many times whilst I have been reading threads when an unexpected gem of information is contributed by someone [and it may be completely off topic as well ] .

If you try to compartmentalise [ is there such a word ?] the HUBB too much , there will be a tendency for one to just use it like an encyclopaedia and only extract knowledge and not to give knowledge as a byproduct of conversation .

It has been my observation that threads labelled as being "technical" or "in search of info" very rarely go off topic .
It's the threads that deal with opinions ,rather than pure facts, which tend to go astray and they seem to occur randomly .

It's not so many years ago that we had no internet and therefore no internet exchange of information , however did people travel in those days ? They managed just fine I would imagine . Reading a couple of pages of pish is not much of a hassle to get valuable info on the road that might otherwise take days or even weeks to get to you by other means .

I belong to a discussion group that deals with motorbike tech questions , if you want to contribute something that is off topic , you are requested to add "off topic rant " to your heading . Then a reader can be selective about what posts he views .

Dan's sticky poll from last November
 

Another day, and the other poll for website feedback (which is a sticky, so it certainly does not need a "bump") has been viewed about the same number of times as this one, it has less than half as many replies as this one and it still has just 12 votes as of now.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...od-stuff-30852

Which poll is more important?
For instance, on another "off topic", does this website need an area to discuss bike racing? I have enjoyed reading, and very occasionally contributing something, about the imminent Dakar, road racing, Enduro, Trials etc etc. but I don't, personally, see a need to address these as part of specific dedicated discussion areas in the HUBB.
Perhaps it does not matter; there are other websites for all of these, and they are covered in far more detail already, and this includes the subject matter of Dan's poll, as he himself says.

Arguably, the whole of the HUBB can stay as it is for the random accumulation of information, opinion, rants, whatever, while the rest of HU develops the encyclopaedic knowledge base side of things.

So, what Grant needs to know is which way to develop this whole website because it cannot stand still.

the second post seems to have set the tone here, with the idea of a real traveller being somehow better than an armchair traveller. this is nothing to do with my original suggestion, I'm not interested in belittling or glorifying anyone.

It's simply, with the quantity of posts these days, after a while away it can take ages to even view the 5 pages of subjects in the 24hr view. Especially if the connection drops frequently.

Adding a sub-forum for general banter, and having some way of excluding this from the general 24hr view is what I'm suggesting. But then, I guess, if more people are bantering than travelling then the majority view will be no-change, because the banter is the draw.

Maybe, instead, a hubb-light/on-the-road link for a view of the forums? Create an emoticon for 'banter', which could be tagged on threads that are just that. And the on-the-road view simply excludes these types of posts from the 24hr search? hmm.. each post/reply allows you to add an icon, so people could tag their own replies as banter. Work out the banter-ratio (4 posts, 3 are banter, this thread is 75% banter), and filter on that?

The 'poll' buttons should maybe be at the end of the last post, as that way you've read and can make a judgement. with the current results visible. Human nature to need things to flow in an easy order, rather than go back.

remember this dougie....
 

without the FIRST post, I couldnt have 'set the tone'. also the rest of you could have just ignored me!
Always remember Dougie Old Boy, when you point the finger at someone, there are three pointed back at yourself......:innocent:

Regards n best wishes

Martyn

Therein lies "the problem" Dougie: the banter develops spontaneously and randomly from some posts and not from others i.e. the whole of the HUBB can contain some banter, sooner or later, often by going completely off topic or going off topic by just a small amount. Even the factual technical stuff can go off topic and it can contain such banter I reckon, which indicates to me that there is not an inclination/discipline among contributors to specifically start a new thread when they feel inclined toward "taking the Micky" or whatever it is that motivates them at that time.

As with other websites, some posts may be a simple single sentence or even one or more of those smiley things, which adds to the list of postings in the last 24 hours. Fortunately, this site does not suffer from this to anything like the degree of certain others - having to wade through a pile of "non-contributions" to find the next useful reply.
I use the new posts search a lot; it is very handy, but as you point out it does not discriminate in any way.

Grants new search facility may offer an answer?

Not sure about that Dodger; the technical stuff can still go off at tangents to the original question/statement. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does make it more difficult to find such information later I suppose; a search by thread would not show the full content of a thread that is off topic while a search for keywords would do so is my guess - but who knows, I am certainly no expert in how to search, and there is guidance in here I understand about how to carry out searches (the sun is shining and I am getting off this computer in the next 5 minutes so I am not looking for that right now!).

Do we have the discipline to do as you suggest in your last sentence? Will the moderators impose such discipline in the future (I have an impression that this happens more frequently in other websites than on here)?

but what is banter...
 

... as we discovered when I asked a few months or so ago 'what is adventure biking'... we all have quite different ideas of what cuts the mustard...

So what is banter? How on earth would you draw the line between a thread that's about the inner workings of the latest GS suspension system, or a request for a good B&B in Eastern Outer Mongolian Russia moving on to what is the best compressor for me to buy for the garage, oh and by the way anyone heading to the NEC this weekend?

See it's a minefield; and unless you have a very strict line of moderators (and who wants that?) to keep us all in line and posting in the right areas then I can't see how it would be workable.

I run a very wayward list for the BBC called backstage - backstage.bbc.co.uk :: Front Page :: | and whilst not a forum (it's a mailing list) we have this piece of advice for our users.

The list's House Rules are simple: Be Nice To Each Other and Don't Break The Law. If you are rude or spam the list then you'll be taken off.

Finally, remember that the noise is the signal. You can't post too much. Deploy filters.

Hi Dougie,
Your prayers have been answered: the Bar is set up (not sure if you can run up a tab there however).
Perhaps it will still show up in the "last 24", or whatever, timeframe, but at least you will be able to recognise it for what it is.
Maybe, this bar will even have a male only section??! :rolleyes2:

ps the poll vote makes interesting reading: democracy is such a great concept.

Yeah, I'm happy. I have nothing to do with it though, ie I didn't suggest it other than this thread.

My point was always that people should be free to post what they wish, but posts and threads (with useful stuff in them) were being hi-jacked with non-useful (to the business of travelling overland) stuff. So when you're on a terrible link, it does take a long time (and cash) to find what you're looking for.

Like all democracy, only people with a vested interest tend to vote so it's never really an accurate reflection of what the totality want. Maybe just a guide.

A chatter's forum most definetely is required, if only to get the chatters out of the other sections...

As to the fact that a lot of questions get asked several times, I'd plead for a HU-Wiki.

It would not replace the HUBB, since the board would be a place for diskussions, the Wiki could be the place for facts as experienced by the individual travellers. I do not know if there is such a possibility, but maybe it would make sense to have it moderated just to make sure only facts are published. Links could be set to relevant discussions on HUB. I also found it annoying to have to search several long threads (from an internet cafe with a bad connection...) in order to find relevant facts.

Lars

Lo-Res version?
 

I can't see a link anywhere so I'm guessing there isn't one. I run a small forum (admittedly using IPB) and we have a lo-res version if it built in. I think it's primarily for PDAs and Smartphones, but on PC it does really help with loading times if you're on a slow connection as it strips out a lot of the formatting, pictures etc.

I know it's OT a bit , but as a way to view and use the HUBB on the road it'd be great when your connnection speed is poor.

Ultimately this is all up to Grant and Susan - I love the idea of a HUBB wiki - but actually I think that may take something away from what HUBB is all about - and of course - why even try to compete with people like this? Free Worldwide Travel Guides - Wikitravel

m

Or perhaps even easier... RSS feeds of each of the forums? That way you can just subscribe to the forums that you're interested in.... There are several RSS plugins for this forum software - but I wouldn't want to be the one to try and integrate it!

It took me an age to make it work on our very simple forum with no customisation - but then I'm not exactly a PHP wizz.

m

Sure enough, but the main problem of the forum is for me that the information is somewhere here, it is just sometimes hard to find it. It happened several times that I searched for information I could not find, only to stumble across a thread later because I did not use the right keywords (particularly difficult for non native speakers like myself to find the right phrases). And sometimes, the forum-style presentation is not very well suited for some information. For example it still does not make sense to me to open 10 different sub-forums for accomodation and yet another 10 subforums for repair shops. So much klickwork ;)

I also do not think it is about competition. There are thousands of travel-related sites out there. I use a number of them but always come back to HU. Where do I find the specific motorbike-related info on wikitravel or somebody who travelled that particular country/ before and who is willing to confirm that this trip is doable...

I would think it is just about presentation and giving people a way of finding relevant info easily.

See the FAQ - it's all there. :)

General Forum Usage, RSS feed...

If you KNOW of a plugin that's better than the default send me the link please.

ta, G

It looks to me that the Bar or Armchair forum is trying to corral the off topic posters and idiots who have little experience but have a view on everything.
I am not sure the bar will achieve this they will still continue to post as before and just fill the bar with complete drivel as we can see already.
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub.../bar-dog-32776

If you have a group of people you will always have someone who can't behave, don't try and change them just accept it, either deal with it as an individual or as a group but your wasting your time to try and make them tow the line.

Steve

Strange polling going on
 

It's just a matter of moderation Steve: the moderators will sort it out in other words.

The poll is strange though: for a long time it stood as "evens", at something like 10-10 or 12-12, now it is 19- something in favour of the "bar", now that the bar is established in any case. :rolleyes2:
A case of "reinforcing success"?

The idea was it would be MUCH easier to find the one you want by going to the appropriate area and then search from there. Cuts the looking down by 90%! Was also suggested by a number of people.

ANY and all suggestions are always listened to!

However I get lots of:

"it's hard to find information"

but very little:

"here is what you need to do to make it easier
1.
2.
3. "

In the meantime, the real problem comes down to we don't have a vast team of expert people inputting nice solid clean information in a standardized format - it's all coming in from all over the place with most of it in various posts on the HUBB and in Travellers Stories and the ezine.

We have a new search engine in progress for the entire site that will hopefully make it easier to find stuff - AND OR and NEAR etc boolean arguments will help a lot.

We've also looked at full wikis - and come to the conclusion that it;s just yet another way of doing the same thing - and trying to keep the HUBB and a Wiki will just split the info too much into two incompatible formats.

We're working on a new setup for a lot of wiki style information presentation, hopefully fully running in the next few weeks. There will be a place to input whatever, that anyone can create, a regular use editable web page, and comments go in a specific linked thread in the HUBB. So you can look on the HUBB and find a subject of interest, (the first post has a link to the info page,) OR go the section for the info and read all the information and view update comments on the HUBB page.

So for now:

1. Better search is in progress
2. Wiki style info input is coming.
3. Left menu is in constant flux as old static pages are updated to new system. A "rethink" of the left menu is on the cards - well actually I'm CONSTANTLY trying to rethink it but haven't come up with better - nor has anyone else. FEEL FREE to suggest a re-order / consolidation/ change - but remember the wide range of needs we have to cater to - newbies who just heard about Charlie and Ewan for the first time, hard core adventure travellers on the road for 5 years, and everyone in between, including the armchair traveller who will never go anywhere but likes to read about it!

See the intro for an idea what I mean and how it all works in theory.

A major change to the look and feel of the entire site is NOT possible at this time. When the whole site is on the new systems, it will be relatively straightforward to make changes quickly - at the moment it would take months of solid work for a couple of people to do as simple a thing as move the menu from the left to the bottom, or to a horizontal bar at the top etc on the whole site. We STILL have hundreds of pages to upgrade to the new system, (Drupal) and the blogs aren't even started.

So for now it's incremental stuff, with major redesign at least a year away.

Hope that helps a little - as always, ideas appreciated!

thanks for your input!

I am not sure the Bar will have the desired effect. It has not really empowered the moderator’s just dumming the HUBB down as far as I can see. There are loads of web sites were people can go and chat why do we need one? It would appear the moderators could not contain the rubbish being posted and trying to be inclusive came up with the bar.
What about going the other way, and making a charge for extra privileges on the HUBB. The majority of the Usual Suspects haven’t paid anything towards HU. A subscription charge in return for access to some areas would weed out some I am sure and give power to the moderators.

Steve

your taking out your ass
 

talk is cheep , I used bike truck.com to go to morroco on that trip and saved a lot of cash and wasted time traveling in dull spain and france , get real

Time will tell
 

Can't disagree with most of that Steve: you and I were among those who voted against, but it is here - not the end of the world in any case.
After an initial "spurt" in the first few days, the bar forum has gone fairly quiet as it happens.

One thing I am sure about: the HU webpage has to develop constantly and change along the way:-

Old (Chinese?) proverb: to stand still is to go backwards.

Dave,
I don't think I oppose change for the sake of it, the Bar in it self is no bad thing. At the moment it has been tainted in the way it has evolved, I guess that will dissolve with time.

The problem posts appear to have drop off big time for the moment, it could be the hubbers got the message or could be the Moderated Users Group System (MUGS) suppressing the enthusiasm for Posts Requiring Approval To Spam (PRATS)

I am pro the changes and want them to work.

Steve

I think so as well.

Thanks for the acronyms - brand new to me! :rofl:

Ahh Grant genius - had no idea that was there

So RSS feed lives at

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub....php?type=rss2

then you use these codes

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...q_rssfeedcodes

to create a link for each forum you're interested in.... this is a revelation!

So if I just wanted an RSS feed of the Sarah Travel forum I'd just add the relevant forum ID to the end - and get this

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...s2&forumids=41

So when I'm on the road I can build an RSS feed of the threads / sections that will be of use, combine them into an OPML feed and be able to digest it on pretty much anything with a net connection no matter how small....

Grant - thanks for the pointer - brilliant!

m