THE FUTURE OF THIS WEBSITE (Announce)

by admin , Forest of Dean, Tuesday, March 10, 2020, 10:21 (1721 days ago) @ Mike Pinchin

First of all my apologies for the delay in providing some detailed information concerning the operation of the website and what is needed to enable it to continue.

Graham has set out details of current team members and I have to add that May is very unwell and unable to continue. I have health issues and will be 80 next year. It is therefore time for me to step down but this would mean having no one to manage the site hence the decision to close it down if no one steps forward.

The site is built on a Content Management System known as Joomla and the Forum on My Little Forum. The latter was used by Dave Watkins and we have therefore been able to keep the valuable information available to readers. Both pieces of software are up to date however the PHP scripts used to search the databases need updating and this is beyond our ability. We therefore need a person or persons with the knowledge to maintain and update the site and write PHP scripts. If this is not possible then the options are 1/ to employ a professional to attend to those parts which cannot be managed by new team members or 2/ close the site.

The management of the website is a considerable commitment and we strongly recommend a different approach by any new team that decides to take it on. In particular it needs more than one person to manage and monitor the site.To date all team members have given of their time freely. The website hosting is provided by Dave Watkins' great nephew at commercial rates.

Mike
Admin