REFLECTOR: New site

[Reiff Lorenz]

From: Don Johnston
Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2013 6:34 PM
To: Reiff Lorenz
Subject: New site

Reiff,

What's the status on the new site? Looks like the member count is past 80.

But there's no content. :-(

Anything I can do?

-Don

===============================

Don,

Good question. I hope that you don't mind that I'm forwarding it, along with this answer, to the Reflector.

Yes, we've passed the 80 member mark! So we've had a great first few weeks. (There are about 6 more people who registered, but didn't want to pay with a credit card. They don't show up in the membership lists until their payment arrives.)

A lot has been happening, but not much is visible, yet. Here's a rundown of the latest:


1.       The Wiki: Brett has decided to separate the Velocity Wiki from VelocityXL.com. He wanted to upgrade the wiki software, but was running into compatibility issues with the main site's login system. For a while he had been debating whether to keep running the old software, upgrade and re-implement the integration, or separate the systems. We worked out a way for VOBA to run a server dedicated to the wiki. Brett has put in countless hours to install the upgraded wiki platform and move all the content. The wiki now resides at http://wiki.velocityoba.com. There is no integration with the VOBA login, and probably won't be. We looked into unified login options, but the Club Express platform that runs the VOBA main site does not have a login-verification or -confirmation API. Since the Velocity Wiki has long been the most important repository of Velocity information, ensuring its future was our top priority.

2.       Setting up forums. The VOBA site now has a few areas for conversations to take place. There is general discussion forum for building/ownership/maintenance issues, similar to the Reflector. (The Reflector is more widely followed, though, so I recommend that everyone continue to use it.) There is also a Hangar Talk forum for any non-Velocity topics that community members may want to bring up. (Some folks complain when these end up on the Reflector.) Finally, there is an Announcements forum-members who just want important notifications can subscribe to this forum and get safety and occasional news without all the general discussion traffic. Brian Michalk is the moderator for all these forums. He set up the Reflector and has the most experience with such things.

3.       The Interests section: This continues to grow. About 60% of our members have visited this area and indicated what plane, options, avionics, engine, and prop they're using. (Note, this is different than the registration questions you were asked when you signed up.) We've added a section for people to also indicate what service providers they have used and would recommend. It currently lists many popular engine shops and insurance brokers/underwriters. If you have not visited the Interests section of the web site recently, check it out at http://VelocityOwners.com/interests
(We're currently showing 23 people building, 23 people flying, and GRT has pulled ahead of Garmin and Dynon as the most popular avionics.)

4.       Aircraft database: we're working on a long-term project to build a database of Velocities with full history and lots of detail. We're trying to pull together data from the FAA, VelocityXL.com, Squadron III, Central States, and classified magazines like Trade-A-Plane. We'd like to end up with a resource that people can consult when buying or selling a plane. Ideally, sellers would get recent market activity data and pricing trends; buyers would get a full provenance from kit sale date through all the builders, owners, incidents, and upgrades.

You asked: What can you do to help? I'm glad you asked! We can use lots of help from you and the rest of the community. Here are a few ideas:


*         Write something. It doesn't have to be a lot; just 1 page on any Velocity topic and a few pictures. Tell us about a modification. A tool you bought or built for your workshop. The results of flight tests before & after a change. What process you went through when selecting an engine and what did / didn't turn out well. You can take an existing series of blog posts and turn them into a comprehensive write-up on a topic. Anything that you think other Velocity enthusiasts would find interesting or helpful. Send it to admin at VelocityOwners.com<mailto:admin at VelocityOwners.com> and we'll get it on the VOBA site or the wiki. If you're a prolific writer, we'll give you the ability to add your own articles to the site.

*         Make a list of features & services that you want from VOBA and indicate how you can contribute to them. We'll prioritize our projects based on how much interest there is and how many volunteers we have.

Even though the site is still kind of sparse, we're laying the groundwork for a great future.

Reiff Lorenz
Velocity Owners and Builders Association
http://www.VelocityOwners.com



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