Hello all

If you've been trying to use our web site since around Thursday last week, you may well have been unable to, and seen nothing but pages with strange error messages.

I apologise for this, it seems our hosting provider has been doing some major re-configuration of their systems, and completely messed up the site software in the process. I've had no communication from them about what they're doing, I've had to work out the hard way and correct everything myself. This includes restoring a week's worth of site backups.

There was a flurry of errors on the web server today, which resulted from an attempt to post a message with emoticons (or do you prefer "emoji"?!) in it. (Roly - see below)

Unfortunately, our site can't cope with these, and just throws a fit. The digital codes for emoticons have only been relatively recently agreed by the industry, and although they've been rapidly taken up by all things mobile, the world of web site hosting is slower to adapt, and our server thinks they're invalid characters.

This is for everyone interested in the web site.

I am working on some changes and improvements to the site, and I would like a few people to try them out before I release the changes for everyone. They mostly revolve around creating an indexed Knowledge Base that will offer our accumulated information in a more accessible way.

If you would like to be involved, I will give you a special extra privilege which means you'll see some things in the menus that won't be visible to everyone else. I'd just like you to use the new pages and tell me what you think.

Here are some ways to help ensure you keep up to date with postings in the forum.

You'll be well aware that the site sends out an email every time there is a new post in the forum, However, that's not the only way to find out what's going on, and you may find some of the alternatives more convenient. Also, because of the volume of emails that are sent out we can't guarantee that you will actually receive an email for every single post (sometimes they get lost or rejected) - so if you rely totally on the emails you may miss some things!

Hi,

Many thanks for the new web site, it's great, well done!

I was just wanting to navigate to the Forum from the home page this morning and, although I found a link in the section on the right, I felt it would help to have one on the main blue bar as well.

It's probable that prospective new members will be wanting to get to the forum to assist with boat choice research etc.

For us regular users this isn't a problem but for first time users, who might never return, my feeling is that it needs to be more obvious.

Kind regards,

Mike