Hi Jim

Thanks for all your patience working behind the scenes for A-UK ! :-)

Our first Feature using the new system is on-line: Building a sea base

Many thanks for your support

All the best

Rowan

Way to go. That's great. Growth is good! More is better. That article is really nice. Helps out the ship side!

I have never done a waterline ship model, but seeing that completed base. Hmmm, that is really sharp.

I think the article is great and it is great you are growing the site.

Shaun

Britannia Rules The Waves ?

That's a nice feature article.

I just can't understand why it's too good to share with the rest of Armorama. What's the need of having a separate UK Armorama on MSN ? Is there something you can do there that wouldn't be available in this site ? What would that be ?

I don't want to rain on your parade, but I wanted this off my chest. This remark has nothing to do with the qualities of said feature article, which is very well brought and will certainly inspire other people to try a seafaring diorama.

Can I add my thanks to Jim as well, A-UK is really blossoming, due also to Merlin's great work.




Hi GeneralFailure, I don't think it is a case of "too good to share", after all Merlin immediately posted on the warship board a link to it. I look on A-UK as being similar to the seperate forums here, such as the Dutch site and the Russian site. It is freely available for anyone who wants to take a look. One good benefit is that it is a big help to modellers who don't have ready access to model shops, a common thing in the UK. Hence the UK model shop directory. It will never have the depth of modelling knowledge that is available on this site but does cater to "local" issues.

I want to congratulate Rowan on all the work he has done with his fellow UK'ers building on and organizing the A-UK site. It's safe to say they are exceeding my expectations of what I had imagined that site would do. And while I do not want to dampen their drive or energy (after all would their even be a "Building a Sea Base" article if the A-UK had not been started?) I have to echo a bit of what Jan is saying. Perhaps this aspect will make my point for me. We haven't had a new Warship article entered on the site since Sept 2002. The site needs this kind of article! But warship enthusiasts are not going to find Brandydog's wonderful article on the A-UK site.

My preference would be that (as we did with Peter Mealing's article originally) UK member articles on Armorama would be high-lighted on the A-UK site.

Perhaps what I need to do here is give those who have an obvious interest in publishing reviews and articles the tools to do so. Now that Rowan has the HTML and FTP experience needed I think he can probably handle the rigors of the job of an Editor post here on this site. That would allow him to enter articles like this one and also update the A-UK site with info about it.

What say you Rowan?

Cheers,
Jim

Hi all

I'd be delighted and honoured to join the other Editors on the Big-A! I just hope I could live up the high standards that have been set.

I'm somewhat torn between defending A-UK and agreeing with Jan. I managed to bounce myself into the "job" of bulding it up, because I spouted off (in rather colourful language) about how we Brits should make use of something that Jim had gone to a lot of trouble to create for us... hence my nickname "Rocket" in some quarters...

It would really be better if everything could happen under one roof, like the Foreign sections... although A-UK could hardly count as a "foreign language" Forum - despite what some may say!

I think the development of Regions is the real way forward, because it's clumsy and confusing having stuff on different sites. If Regions mean the eventual demise of A-UK, then no-one need feel sad; rather celebrate the way the Bulldogs helped define a truly global modelling community. :-)

In its defence, A-UK does allow for more detailed reviews than is possible at present on the Main Site (hint... Jim ). What I'm trying to do lately is to post my reviews on the Main Site with a link to A-UK, where I can include extra pictures (Fokker DVII tonight...).

As Martin says, items such as the UK model shop directory are important. It might seem ironic, in an on-line forum, to stress how vital local model shops are; buying stuff over the net is great - I do it and have saved a lot of money in the process, but there's substitute for a well-stocked local shop. They're an endangered species... and deserve our support.

OK... you can relax... the sermon's over. :-)

All the best, and thanks again Jim for all your help - it's been a great learning experience for an internet Newbie like me! :-)

Rowan

After reading the posts above, and then this question---Jim is smooth----very, very smooth!

My experience with Rowan on another aspect of the site exemplifies that he is a go getter, always thinking, and a site asset that has already delivered in the UK.

My congrats to both Rowan and Jim, as we all win on this one :-)

Steve

To be honest Jim, no there wouldn't. The article was written in such a way that it wouldn't fit the template for doing articles on the main site. Thanks to Rowan on A-UK I can write up a feature and present it in the way that I want it to look. This isn't meant as a criticism of any aspect of the main site feature submissions page, it just shows I am more comfortable doing them on A-UK, purely a personal preference. If anyone wants to lift any part of the article and put it on the main site that's fine, but having looked only about 20 people have looked at Rowan's note on the warship forum anyway so I don't think it would be any great loss that it is over on A-UK.

Martin,
You may be confusing the reviews submission page (which has changed btw) with the process for adding features. Feature stories have no defined template. They can be added in any way the editor feels works for the site. In fact I can take the HTML from the A-UK site and plop it into a new feature and it would be done (for the most part).

I would recommend to everyone reading this that they review the new submission procedure page so there is no confusion about how to submit things for the site.

Submitting Content

Thanks for your contributions.

Jim

No Jim, I know the template is for reviews and other articles can be sent by e-mail. What I meant was that even for reviews the template may not give the layout want it to show.
On A-Uk thanks to Merlin I was able to build the actual page and see as it would appear on the site and make adjustments before letting Merlin know it was ready for his approval and use, not something that would be available in an e-mail submission. My other alternative would to have used the appropriate forum and put the article in as a normal post, not ideal as it probably would have taken quite a while to open on a slow connection. I would not really want to submit by e-mail, just a personal choice.
Another reason for submitting to A-Uk was due to the encouragement I received whilst showing in progress pics on the site and it seemed a logical thing to do. If the chioce is there surely it is up to the individual to make that choice and not be criticised for it.