Request for new site page

[Captain Smollett]

Kurt,

With the 2 year anniversary of SailFar here, I was wondering if you might be interested in creating a (static) page linked off the main sailfar.net Home Page (ie, NOT the forum) that has Sailfar-er Trip Logs...just a page with a list of links to the forum and/or blog entries?  I think that would be cool.  I just think it would be neato to catalog them in one place for casual surfers, non-members, new members, etc. 

For example, right now you have:

Index
Home
Forum
Gallery
Links

Maybe add a line like: "Member's Trip Reports."

This would be a link to a static page (updated once every month or two, depending upon activity) of the form:

Member Name
    Boat Name/Type
          Trip Locale (link to forum page or blog entry)
Member Name
    Boat Name/Type
           Trip Locale (link...)

(The reason I list it this way, with both member name and boat name, is some, such as Frank and I for example,  will have trips on different boats).

A nice, text-only list like this is VERY Google friendly, too, so might drive some traffic to the site.

Any thoughts, yeas, nays, discussion?

[AdriftAtSea]

Sounds like a good idea... It might be nice if we could set it up using a blog engine like wordpress so that members could submit their stories with less work on CapnK's part...

[CharlieJ]

Isn't there ALREADY a blog area?? Says so on this page.

[Captain Smollett]

Yes,  there is already a blog page.  That's not what I was talking about.

I was talking about a simple INDEX OF LINKS page of existing stories and blog entries (both on SailFar.net blogs and EXTERNAL blogs) that are currently spread all over this forum, this site's blogs and external web sites.

Imagine a web page that is nothing but a list of links:

Craig's 2007 Bahamas Trip
Connies 2007 Bahamas Trip
James' 2007 Bahamas Trip
Laura's 2007 SE Texas Trip
John's 2007 Charleston Trip
etc.

And nothing else.  These are links to the real stories, whether in the forum or in any blog.

On the FRONT PAGE of the SailFar.Net site, the main page (not the forum index) is an additional link that says "Members Trip Reports" that links to this indexed list.

There is no need to wordpress or some other 'engine' for this simple list.  If Kurt does not want to do as part of regular site maintenance, so be it.  But in order to use an 'engine' it is already getting WAY TOO COMPLICATED for what I have in mind.

For that matter, in a few minutes I could write a script that would allow each user to submit their own links and Kurt would not even have to do it.  I usually don't give away such awesome programming skills, though.   ;D

[CharlieJ]

Ah, I see. That's quite different I agree, and would be a nice thing.

[CapnK]

Are you proposing that the links go to the related thread, or that the text of the story be on it's own page?

[CharlieJ]

Eventually I came to understand he wanted each tale in it's own slot, with links to that story. For instance, Laura's 11 parter could be read all at once, without the nice words in between. Same with Craig and Connie. They can get hard to read having to jump from one post to the next.

I have to agree- it would really be a nice touch , Maybe it could just be a new section, with "cruising threads" where all you could do would be have the author stick 'em in there, and not allow comments- IE- read only.

[Frank]

Great idea.A place to share your cruise..and add as you go so it keeps its 'flow'.A simple/easy place for others to check the progress of a vessel.I also 2nd Charlie's idea of 'no responces' to keep it as a seperate 'cruise only' type document. good stuff !!

[Captain Smollett]

Well, what I meant originally was simply a list of links to the EXISTING threads/posts, whereever they are.  That is, Craig's trip (for example) would have just one link to the first post in the "S/V Faith" thread.  Just a catalog of stories.

Extracting the existing material from "forum post" form and putting into "read it all here" form is more like blog-ifying the posts.  I think that would be a fair amount of work for whoever does it, but it seems that if FUTURE stuff is put in the SailFar (or other) blog, rather than posts in the threads, that would amount to much the same thing.

My point is, I would STILL like to see this so-called INDEX OF LINKS page to ALL STORIES, whereever they are and in whatever format they have been 'published.'  I don't mean a link to each "segment" of the story, just to it's beginning.

Make sense?

[CapnK]

Okay - what I've done for now is to link a few trip logs from the home page of the site in the left-hand menu.

Mo' thoughts:

While I agree it would be nice to compile trip reports into one unbroken report (with no commentary/questions between the 'pieces'), I don't have the time to do so, myself. However, if individual authors (or just someone who wants to help) want to do that, and send it to me as a plain text file (no Word docs, or html, or anything fancy - just the text, Jack ;) ), I'll be glad to post the story on it's own static page. That'd be a neat resource.

AFA a separate page for trip log links: Sounds like a good idea to me, and should do a good job of showing the sailFar concept in action if we format the links at least somewhat like John suggested (open for comments):

• Boat Name (this will be a link)
• Boat Type/Model, Boat LOA
• Captain (and Crew) Names
• Dates of Voyage
• Destination/Area Cruised
• ??? Do we need more ???

This way, folks could see the type and size of the vessels making the trips right at the top, and even a quick browse of the list will show that people are actively, successfully making cruises in boats that aren't 45' mini-mega yachts.  ;)

What I'd ask is that y'all help me compile the list, posting in this thread your own info, and the info of those whose reports struck your fancy but haven't been posted to this 'master list'. You know who/what you'd like to see there, so let me know. :)

Submissions should be formatted to look like this, please, so that I can easily cut-n-paste your info (note: the following info is fictional  ;D ):

S/V "Myweevessel" & URL/Link to the story
SuperduperSailin 27CC, 27' 4" LOA
Phillip Queeg
3/4/07 - 5/12/07
Azores/St. Helena/Falklands

Comments, suggestions?

Also, they don't necessarily have to be sailFar members/threads - we could link stuff like Manry's story of his TransAt onboard "Tinkerbelle".

[Captain Smollett]

Hey, Kurt, thanks bunches.  That's exactly what I was a-askin' for (sans the separate page).  Personally, I think that is a VERY GOOD addition to the main front page of the site - it gives newcomers a good starting point to the sailfar "spirit."

As more stories are added to the site, you could change 'em around from time to time if you like.  We should also remember that the Google indexing engine LIKES content to change from time to time; it helps a site appear relevant.

Beautiful.  Thanks.   :)