T&T: New Cruisers Forum

[Quince]

Let me try and explain....

Why would one bother to create a new forum when there are already a number
of other internet sites in use today?  (Apart from the fact that I love
herding cats, of course ! )  Why waste my time?  

The first answer has to be value..if going to this site does not provide
members and visitors any value, they will not use it and it will die a slow
natural death.  This also asks for your participation and patience as it
comes up to speed.

The second is diversity.  We all usually obtain information from a number of
sources in making important decisions.  The intent is to be complementary to
these other sources but provide information and allow discussions in a
different format.  Hopefully information of interest will be easier to
store, find and discuss for those that observe or participate.

I have been a member of other forums that use this PHPBB2 Forumer type
format and find that they are a good way to capture and share information.
It can be a little more organized.  Sticky notes of information that are
valuable to all are saved at the top of the topics.  Other information can
be focused on particular areas of interest and capture information pertinent
to that topic over time.

It is free and does not require any membership fees so it may attract and
serve a broader group of cruisers, novice to experienced, young to old.  The
software and storage space are free from Forumer, cost is just the volunteer
time it takes to set it up and administer the site.

It is not a commercial venture and contains no basic bias.  It will also
allow you to post marine items for sale (and why not?, it's free)

It can capture snips of information from a number of different public
sources to share with the members.  It is an interactive topic based forum
that can be quite different from the email postings like the T&T list. It
will capture some information that is not shared or available elsewhere such
as that comes from member's personal experience and private emails.

I thought that one of the first posts to the forum was pretty
self-explanatory in its own right, from someone who has boated for over 40
years and owned the same Trawler for 30 years!

"My name is Leonard Stern. My wife, Anne, and I own our 1979 Marine Trader
DC since new. We started boating in 1967 with a 25 foot Owens. 1970 in a 28
Trojan and in 1975 a 42 Trojan. We purchased our trawler in 1979 so that we
could go longer distances. Over the years we have cruised all of the Great
Lakes, Northeast inland waterways, Long Island Sound, Bermuda and in 1984
crossed the Atlantic and back. I have for many years been posting on the T &
T site and still do. Presently we cruise Lake Ontario and our home base is
the St. Catharines Marina, Port Weller East, Ontario (beside the Welland
Canal). I look forward to reading posts and answering them as this list
comes up to speed (in my case trawler speeds, please). Regards. Leonard
Stern, INDIFFERENCE"

Thanks to Leonard, It's the experienced advice and opinions from folks like
you that will help to make this forum more valuable to others.

So post a bit, provide some constructive criticism and wish us some luck..,
the water's fine!

Jim

http://loopercruisers.21.forumer.com/index.php

-----Original Message-----
From: John Esch [mailto:johnesch99 at sbcglobal.net] 
Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 2:38 PM
To: Quince; T & T
Subject: Re: T&T: New Cruisers Forum

Quince,
    How will this forum be different from the many Great Loop & Cruising
forums that are already out there?