Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by Tako »

Is there really no one with the right skills, the dedication and time to take over from Thomas?
I really would like to do it, although I can only fulfil 1,5 of the above requirements, but the last weeks have shown me that after a strong start I have failed to find the time that is required to dig into it, as I prioritised family, work, home and my training (which is more important than ever in these home office days). I will continue to try and hope for Thomas’s patience but not sure this is a good solution even if it might be the only one for now.
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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by plummy »

If we cannot find a person who is technically able to pick up on the great work that Thomas has done over the years, could we offer to pay Thomas (through a small subscription each) to maintain it for us. At least he'd not be spending his valuable time sorting out our issues for free (assuming he'd be happy with this arrangement of course)?
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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by Thomas W-P »

It's not about the money Plummy!
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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by MaxMacLaren1 »

But we do still need to find a solution because lots of people value the meterboard. I would think something like...
1. Description of skill set needed and likely time commitment.
2. Stan emails members and asks if anyone has the skill set and is willing to take on the role.
3. If that works fine. If not we find someone with the skills and pay them. This could be by repeating a variation of step 2.

As Plummy says I'm sure we could raise the funds. And if someone says the Captain can't email members then I suggest that gets sorted as well!
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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by Paul Victory »

It would be great if the meter board could continue. Thomas has indicated that he is not able to continue and Tako, who was the only team member who had indicated that he might be able to take over from Thomas, has now advised us that he is going to move to another team.

Clearly, it would be totally unreasonable to ask Tako to take on the meter board if he is no longer going to be a member of Free Spirits. I'd love to volunteer to take over, but I know absolutely nothing about programming.

So where does that leave us? Probably without a meter board, I venture to suggest. But I think there is enough going on with this forum and, while it would be nice to have the meter board going forward, I'm sure that the support and encouragement and helpful competition that we provide for each other will continue unabated.
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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by JonT »

Paul Victory wrote: Sat Jun 13, 2020 7:12 pm So where does that leave us? Probably without a meter board, I venture to suggest. But I think there is enough going on with this forum and, while it would be nice to have the meter board going forward, I'm sure that the support and encouragement and helpful competition that we provide for each other will continue unabated.
I have been exchanging messages with Thomas and have spent most of my evenings this week working through the Meterboard php code and trying to see how hard it is for me to understand. I am a (lapsed) computer scientist but the technology here (php programming language, SQL databases and various public code libraries) is all new to me. As I just said to to Thomas in an email, in a sick kind of way I am actually enjoying doing this and it is getting easier as I go, which is understandable. But I don't do things in a half-hearted way. If I agree to take this on then I will do it as well as I possibly can, or I won't bother. Life is too short for "half arsed" in my opinion.

In summary - let me work some more on the code and see whether I can get close to understanding it, and let me discuss with Thomas how much effort will be required, if he can support the handover and also act as an "emergency service" if I get completely lost or make a massive mistake and trash things. Once I have done that I will let everyone know if I am going to try to manage this.

This is a complex system and has "evolved" over time which always makes things hard to fathom. If I do do this I can't guarantee to keep the patient alive, but I'll do what I can.

Peter has also kindly offered to help out if there is anything he can help with.

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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by Stan »

MaxMacLaren1 wrote: Thu Jun 04, 2020 11:29 am But we do still need to find a solution because lots of people value the meterboard. I would think something like...
1. Description of skill set needed and likely time commitment.
2. Stan emails members and asks if anyone has the skill set and is willing to take on the role.
3. If that works fine. If not we find someone with the skills and pay them. This could be by repeating a variation of step 2.

As Plummy says I'm sure we could raise the funds. And if someone says the Captain can't email members then I suggest that gets sorted as well!
Hi Max, I dont have admin rights anymore so I dont think I can email everyone from this site. I probably still can from C2 but that would include huge numbers of people who probably havent rowed for years (bit like me :oops: ). I can do so if the team wishes me to. I think we have time though and lets see if Jon can get to grips with it
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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by Jill »

Thank you Jon ( and possibly Peter ) for offering to ( hopefully ) take over from Thomas and for all the ongoing time and effort that you are putting into ‘ learning the ropes ‘. =D> =D> 8)

In case things do not work out, then I have a couple of tentative suggestions which I’ll keep to myself for the moment, as I don’t want to risk you saying, “ For goodness sake, what planet is she on? “. :roll: :lol: :wink:
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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by Iain »

Glad some people with technical skills are out there. As a way of understanding the code, something strange seems to be happening with the Summer Solstace Row. I thought this had to be done on 20th, but quite a few people are already showing this. Alternatively, tell me I have the date wrong and free me from having to do a HM on Saturday [-o<

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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by Thomas W-P »

There was a minor issue with setting it up. JonT and I were having a play. I'll fix it now.
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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by JonT »

Thomas W-P wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 1:28 pm There was a minor issue with setting it up. JonT and I were having a play. I'll fix it now. Image
What Thomas is being polite about is the fact that I completely screwed this up. As I summarised in a message to Thomas ""It doesn't work at all, but on the bright side it isn't broken". :lol: #-o

It looks like I was wrong, and it was broken after all.

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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by Thomas W-P »

Not broken! Behaving exactly as designed

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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by Iain »

Many thanks. You are not alone, The C2 Site is claiming 3500 participants in "Juneteenth" Challenge. I know that the first places in the world have been on 19/6 for over 2 hours, but alot of people to have done this in the early hours in a poorly populated part of the world!
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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by JonT »

Iain wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2020 1:46 pm Many thanks. You are not alone, The C2 Site is claiming 3500 participants in "Juneteenth" Challenge. I know that the first places in the world have been on 19/6 for over 2 hours, but alot of people to have done this in the early hours in a poorly populated part of the world!
Eeek - I need to get the challenge set up. Some of those 3,500 may well be Freespirits :fsbgrin:

To be fair - I think that is how many people have registered for the challenge rather than completed it.
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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by JonT »

I have spent the last couple of weeks:
  • Exchanging lots of information with Thomas
  • Learning PHP - which is the main language used on the Meterboard and also some of the website and forums
  • Learning to create Challenges for the Meterboard (not massively successfully. Thomas came to my rescue)
  • Trawling through quite a lot of Thomas' code
  • Thinking about the time commitment, and the responsibility
I'm glad to say that I have decided to take on the ownership of the Meterboard, forum and website. :fsbgrin:

Thomas has been fantastic in helping me to find my way around and I've really enjoy working with him on this. He has very kindly agreed that we will gradually transition control over the next year with the aim of me taking over by the start of the next season. ^O^

I will also take over the hosting of the site so that Thomas is not paying for the hosting arrangement. Thomas and I are looking at options here.

Peter has also offered to help out and I will take him up on that offer when I have a better understanding of what is required. =D>

I can't promise that the Meterboard will survive the change of ownership, but I will give it my best shot. Please be patient when some things inevitably go awry.

Jon

P.S. I have continued to play with the Nonathlon analyser at: https://copernicusservices.com/phptest/Nonathlon.php. This has been a really good way for me to learn a number of things quickly and put them into action. I have added analysis of scores based on your average score and you can also now toggle through the different forms of analysis or turn it off completely. Just a pert project but I quite like it. It highlights some interesting stuff. Let me know if it doesn't work - all info is useful info at this point.

At some point I will tidy the tool up a little more and integrate it into the website.
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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by fkoene »

Great to hear about your commitment, Jon. And personally I find your new page great.

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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by Dogma Dave »

Thanks for taking all this on Jon. It is very much appreciated. Happy to dip into my pocket to help contribute to the cause...
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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by plummy »

Agreed - thank you Jon. My fear was that Free Spirits to a certain extent "was" the metreboard and it was the central kingpin about which it kept so many members in the team. As such, it's disappearance would mean all those members who choose not to join the the challenges and/or comment of the forum would just float off into the ether.

So, no pressure to get it right then.. :shock: :lol:
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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by milt »

Thomas, thank you for all your work. Just started using the forum last season and the meterboard is really motivating and fun. I found the site looking for HR guidance and the utilities have proven very useful. No IT skills here unfortunately. Anyway, just wanted to say thank you and mornings following my workout won’t be near as much fun without the meterboard.
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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by jainser »

Nice one mate, I was so addicted to the meterboard at one point - it was almost an obsession!!
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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by Stan »

jainser wrote: Mon Aug 17, 2020 8:37 am Nice one mate, I was so addicted to the meterboard at one point - it was almost an obsession!!
Oh my goodness where did you spring from? good to hear from you though. :D
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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by jainser »

Hello Stan, don’t want to ‘highjack’ this thread but finally got my rower back (as I now have somewhere to put it) so for the potential short time we have the meter board I plan to climb it!!
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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by Thomas W-P »

Jainser!

Don't worry, meterboard is safe.
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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by JonT »

Thomas W-P wrote: Mon Aug 17, 2020 11:26 am ...meterboard is safe.
That really depends on your definition of "safe"

Definition: Safe - to be in the hands of a well meaning, rank amateur with rusty skills who has good intentions but no proven track record.

Is that the one you were thinking of? :lol: :lol: #-o
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Re: Last year of the Meteboard? / Meterboard3?

Post by JonT »

Thomas was avoiding doing the gardening today and fixed the "gap" feature on the new Meterboard =D> =D>

For those of you who have forgotten (like I had).... to get this working, you need to tell the Meterboard who you are. You can do this by clicking on your name on the board and then clicking the "This is me" button just above the profile image on the top right of the profile page.
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