Koeketiene
Well-Known Member
As always, much appreciated.
ECS - New Edition
- Thread starter Koeketiene
- Start date
As always, much appreciated.
Vara
Well-Known Member
Second that, always an interesting read, and very well put together.
Marmalade
Well-Known Member
Fragmented resources
As always -this is a good read. It does make me think though, about the fragmented nature of resources for East coast sailors. We're not a huge community, and there's a plethora of websites and publications aimed at us - all competing for attention, spend, market share, advertising revenue etc...
Am I making sense?
For example...
YBW east coast forums - probably unrivalled as the virtual meeting place for east coast sailors. BUT...
East Coast Rivers.com - specialist site for the Essex and Suffolk rivers - unique content ie sketch maps
And
East Coast Sailing -this thread's originator. Good mag but almost no East Coast specific content this issue - Colin appeals for more in his editorial. Is this because it's spread too thinly?
Three point fix - not specific to the East Coast but Neil's excellent marina guide and logging site again competes with the others for our attention
And
East coast pilot.com the site of the book and
Crossingthethamesestuary.com - the site of the other book and...
You get my point.
Is there any way we could consolidate all this great content and knowledge into a single useable resource?
As always -this is a good read. It does make me think though, about the fragmented nature of resources for East coast sailors. We're not a huge community, and there's a plethora of websites and publications aimed at us - all competing for attention, spend, market share, advertising revenue etc...
Am I making sense?
For example...
YBW east coast forums - probably unrivalled as the virtual meeting place for east coast sailors. BUT...
East Coast Rivers.com - specialist site for the Essex and Suffolk rivers - unique content ie sketch maps
And
East Coast Sailing -this thread's originator. Good mag but almost no East Coast specific content this issue - Colin appeals for more in his editorial. Is this because it's spread too thinly?
Three point fix - not specific to the East Coast but Neil's excellent marina guide and logging site again competes with the others for our attention
And
East coast pilot.com the site of the book and
Crossingthethamesestuary.com - the site of the other book and...
You get my point.
Is there any way we could consolidate all this great content and knowledge into a single useable resource?
tillergirl
Well-Known Member
I must confess that the absence of two items with specific East Coast content that should have been in this month is entirely due to me. At least one of them will be in July's.
But that is an interesting post and whilst there are obvious things to say, I for one would be interested in what others think.
But that is an interesting post and whilst there are obvious things to say, I for one would be interested in what others think.
Koeketiene
Well-Known Member
Won't say anything about the books (and their site).
Different authors, different books - surely you can't complain about too many books?
As for the sites: IMO all are 'specialist' one way or another.
All serve their purpose and I feel that all have a place.
Trying to create one 'super' east coast resource may lead to one site trying to be all things to all men (and bland).
I may be the most reluctant east coast sailor around, but I would be sorry to see any of the resources you mention go, or morph into one less personal site.
Marmalade
Well-Known Member
You're right - I'm certainly not complaining about too much info. Perhaps a portal linking it all is the answer...
tillergirl
Well-Known Member
We - that is Colin, Dick, Garth and I are aware that three of the sites you mention are 'ours' and we do discuss ways of rationalising things. However, we need to balance the burden on each of us particularly as webmasters. As arranged at the moment, I can update the NtM on the CTTE site and the ECS is automatically 'updated' as it takes a feed direct. Bring in the CTTE site into the ECS site and Colin would have to update the NtM as well as the news and edit ther magazine etc. Too much. There is probably a way of have two webmasters but it eludes us with the software we currently use. We could just have hidden pages which we all update to feed the main site but then we need to bear in mind that the East Coast Pilot and Crossing the Thames Estuary sites are about reaching new people as well as updating the current editions - and so we would want to keep their identities.
It all gets rather complicated. We are conscious that there are some things that can be improved but trying to get the time to decide the best way is eluding us at the moment - mainly because to feed the magazine we best get down to our boats etc.
I don't think we should ever seek to run a forum. This is established, works well etc and the burden of administration would be too great. East Coast Rivers is a good site with a long tradition of supporting that book and of course was publishing their charts before I started - indeed Chris Woods was very helpful to me with my early falterings. Remember we have different publishers for the books - which I think is good for the East Coast Sailing community - and I think there is room for both the Pilot and Rivers - so it would be difficult to resolve that part of the structure.
So maybe we can improve the fit between the three sites we own and as I said we do talk about it! Feedback is enormously important though so keep expressing your views
It all gets rather complicated. We are conscious that there are some things that can be improved but trying to get the time to decide the best way is eluding us at the moment - mainly because to feed the magazine we best get down to our boats etc.
I don't think we should ever seek to run a forum. This is established, works well etc and the burden of administration would be too great. East Coast Rivers is a good site with a long tradition of supporting that book and of course was publishing their charts before I started - indeed Chris Woods was very helpful to me with my early falterings. Remember we have different publishers for the books - which I think is good for the East Coast Sailing community - and I think there is room for both the Pilot and Rivers - so it would be difficult to resolve that part of the structure.
So maybe we can improve the fit between the three sites we own and as I said we do talk about it! Feedback is enormously important though so keep expressing your views
Marmalade
Well-Known Member
Can't argue with any of that - and it's not as though it's hard to bookmark the sites! Thanks for keeping them alive!
