DTCA website upgrade 2023

Jacques. I now discover that yesterday it was a lucky shot that I was able to upload photos the normal way. I just tried again and now it doesn't work anymore. That's why I tried your way via serving.com or www.serving.com , but ended up on a religious website. I think the designation of the website you mentioned is incorrect. Please can you explain. Jan Oldenhuis

I did finally receive a reply from Michael Driver regarding my e-mail. I shared his reply on the Dinky Fans mailing list, but suffice it to say that updates to this website have been 'dogged by technical issues' and 'delayed again.'Meanwhile, regarding Jacques' post about Serving.com (the correct name is Servimg.com) I had already shared information in the New Arrivals thread (see post #1868 for example) about how one can share images using an external hosting site. The problem with such a workaround is that the images will not be part of the DTCA Forum database, as it were, and are also at the mercy of the external site -- which may in future disappear, start injecting ads with every image, or cause other mayhem.For my own tests, I used Dropbox, a paid service which is probably one of the more reliable for the long haul (but nothing is certain on the Internet -- remember Myspace?). Apparently Google Photos may also be used for image hosting, and that would likely also be one of the more reliable. Here is www.labnol.org/internet/embed-google-photos-in-website/29194/ ' target='_new]an article explaining how to use Google Photos for image hosting.But in short, I really do not think external image hosting is an acceptable solution for the DTCA Forum.

These are all tools that really shouldn't be necessary and don't help to get new members excited about joining the forum. A very limited number of people may be able to handle it because they really want it and need it, but if it is not made easy the forum will collapse. Uploading photos must be very easy for members, otherwise most members will refrain from doing so. Al Keeling also mentioned several options for pasting photos into the text, but I haven't seen anyone doing it. That just doesn't work. The DTCA board has a great responsibility to make this possible. What did Michael Driver have to say about this when replying to Jonathan? I don't know that yet. If they don't do anything about it, the forum will collapse. I'm waiting for the board meeting. If nothing positive comes out of this, it's over for me and I will become a member of the HRCA. Jan Oldenhuis

Jan,For Serving. com, try servimg.com/images.phpI know that using an outside server for the photos is not the right solution but we can use it until the problem is solved if it is solved before the DTCA colapses completely.

Any news about the photos problems ? I think that, if nobody in the club is able to manage these problems, please call a specialist !Good luck.

I never received any reply to my second e-mail to Michael Driver, but it has been made clear by his earlier comments as well as by an item in the latest Journal that the DTCA does not want to spend any funds on fixing the website. We who rely on it -- especially overseas members -- have been abandoned. Unless the 2024 AGM -- where, alas, we will no longer have Dave Busfield to plead our case -- brings a belated change of heart, the DTCA may be beyond saving.I do not like the idea of causing offense, but it is very clear that the DTCA board members do not use the website and just do not care. I wonder if they ever embraced electricity in their homes or are still sticking with the gas lighting they know and love ....

The main reason i am a member is because this very useful website. It seems it will never be fixed, so this will be my last year. Im one of the younger members. Born after the golden years of Binns road. Without a good website the next Dinky generation will leave.

Hello again everyone. Once again I can only apologise for the late delivery of the replacement website. As Jan noticed earlier, when starting a new thread the picture posting features are shown with the editor. The picture features are still here but hidden for replies/comments for reasons that I just have not been able to determine. There are many picture hosting websites available by doing a google search and as an emergency workaround, images can be uploaded there and linked in comments. This is not an ideal stopgap or substitute for a better website, and given that this one is already obsolete. While I can't make a committee authorised statement about it, because I'm not on the committee, I think that the provision of the website is not really part of the club's subscription offering, which is meant to cover the production and delivery of the journal and meet expenses for the club's presence at toyfairs and the like. The subscription doesn't really have sufficient residual to fund very much of a web experience. This website originated with Peter Golden and was continued by other members after his passing. Over the years the cost of building websites has steadily increased when it was already beyond the means of the club at the start. These days, the cost of a new website through a paid professional would be more than the entire subscription generates. Much of the creation and maintenance has been historically performed by other unpaid club members - and the available expertise is highly restricted. Given that all the previous webmasters have passed away, this function has devolved to myself alone. Unfortunately the new site has been beset by technical issues and by chronic faults at the webhost. Also I am not retired and have been extraordinarily preoccupied in recent month in trying to weather my business through the present economic turmoil - so my availability to focus on club work has been very poor. By which excuse I hope not to give the impression that I've given up, but ask for your continued patience while I get the project back on the rails.

Al, thank you for your reply. While it has been said in the past, it should be said again that we who have complained about the website greatly appreciate your ongoing efforts to make things right, at high personal cost and without outside support. Naturally you must also put your own business (and your health!) first.You have stated the situation straightforwardly and eloquently. Our complaint is not with your yeoman efforts, but rather with the committees tendency to ignore the situation. The club is at a crossroads. If it is to be only a social organization for those who can attend UK events, so be it. But if it is to serve international members and younger people generally, who prefer to interact electronically, something must be done.There are members who would contribute to the cost of a rebuilt website. I also know of one (unfortunately not local to the UK) who is a programmer and experienced in website creation. Further I imagine that if approached properly, SAS, Vectis or another auction house would help pay for the effort, in exchange for acknowledgement and probably an ad banner (members will not mind advertising if it actually is relevant to diecasts). If they can and have helped with printing costs for the Journal, they can do this.Those of us who may not renew for next year will miss the Club, the Journal, and many of the kind folks associated with it. But ultimately, the Journal is just one more publication regarding Dinky Toys for our overstuffed bookshelves. In contrast, a website is a vehicle for communication among members, as well as an international showcase. And as far as the Journal goes, since significant content for it has been drawn from website contributions, if nothing new can appear on the site, how hard will it be for the Journal to continue?

Jan,Here are a few free image hosting alternatives to serving.com (which as you correctly indicated is a religious site). Note, I haven' tried any of these myself.Post Images = postimages.org/ Free Image Host = freeimage.host/ Image Hippo = www.imghippo.com/Update : The correct link to the site suggested by Jacques is:https://servimg.com/and not:https://serving.com/--Ravi

Hi Al,Could you inform the DTCA management committee that the domain name 'dtcawebsite.com' is due to expire on 27 July 2024? Unless this is renewed, all access to the site will disappear. See:https://www.ravib.com/images/icann.dtcawebsite.com.pngThanks,--Ravi

Thanks for the kind replies, gents. Ravi, the domain is set to autorenew at the end of its annual subscription, so the website is safe in that respect, at least. Johnny, Vectis have been generous supporters in the past but I'm not sure that the club can hope for a white knight to meet the scale of expense that would be involved to produce a website of this kind. In a way, Google has been that saviour for quite a few years now - because the presence of their advertising has been paying the whole cost of the hosting.The membership has been reducing slowly - as you know, we have lost some dear friends lately - meanwhile costs, especially for posting the journal, has been rocketing. Now it may be that the membership would like more of the website and less of the journal, if it comes down to optimising the budget. That could be a suggestion raised to the committee - see the journal for contacts.Certainly with a higher budget, the club could maybe get a maintained site going forward - perhaps with extended features.