The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Where in the world upgrade

I'm ready (I think) to revisit the where in the world upgrade, and I'd like some input from you.

The Where in the World page has been around a long time. It's getting long in the tooth now, and nobody has added to it in quite a while.

So question number 1 is, do we still need/want this thing? Is anybody using it?

If so, my thought was we could create a database with the information bolters want in it, and then you could search the database for what you were looking for.

For example, if you live in Australia, you could search for any bolters who have submitted their information and live in Australia.. (Since it's entirely voluntary, it would only be populated with info from people who wanted to be contacted.)

If you wanted to talk to someone who owned the same (or similar) truck as you, you could search by year, make and model and find any that are in there.

The thing is, if people aren't going to use it, it's not worth the effort. I'm not a programmer or a database designer, but I know enough to cobble together something that might be useful. (If there are any bolters who program and want to volunteer to help, I'd be tickled pink to talk to you.)

My thinking is to use php and mysql to create the page. Data would be submitted through the page and inserted into the database. Searching could include checkboxes like Chevy and GMC (so you could chose both), and text boxes for City, State and Country, as well as model and year (all optional).

Unless someone objected, I would enter the existing data into the database myself.

The existing form has fields for the following information:
If someone has multiple trucks, they could enter all the information once, check a box that says add more or something like that and the code would prefill all the form fields except the truck filed and then create multiple truck records all pointing to the same person record.

Comments? Suggestions? Criticisms?

A lot of people, including myself, would like to not publicize our info. However, in todays world if one wants to find someone bad enough there are usually ways to do it in todays world.
However, I think it'd be nice to at least know the STATE and the COUNTY one lives in case I'd like to contact someone, or maybe even visit. I could tell folks I live in Spartanburg County in S.C. and they would know if distance is a problem in perhaps dealing with someone. Am I making sense here? In other words at least the "general vicinity" of where one is without giving out your street address.
Example. I know lots of guys in N.C. I'd like to get together with....if in Cleveland county no sweat as its relative close by but if from county "X" which may be 300 miles from me then I can forget driving there for a "day trip". Is this any clearer??
I didn't think so...LOL

I think it is a great idea. I find that so many just post their State or just USA and that is not helpful at all. Even a few are posting fictional locations. The information you are proposing is not a big invasion of anyone's privacy. Bolter's going on cross country excursions, such as Builders IRWIPI adventures, could use it for social purposes or emergency assistance if they break down on the road. As proposed it would be only those who want to participate so those who have anti social tendencies could opt out. I say go for it.

That was my reasoning for Illinois People in the Great Lakes Bolters forum. Trying to find out if anybody was close to me without giving out there exact location.

Just keep the required information to a useful minimum.
Allow the posting of Optional information.

Required: Name (please enter at least the first name you normally use)
Required: Username/Nickname (the username/nickname you use in the Forum)
Optional: Email Address
Optional: City or County or Parish or Region (where you live)
Required: State or Province
Required: Country
Required: Year, Make & Model of your truck (multiple entries allowed)
Optional: one or more URLs that "points to" your truck(s) (photo, website, etc)

Alvin, have you ever Googled yourself?

If it would at all be possible, I think rather than an email address, the contact should go via the registration name in the forum. Many people have lots of email addresses and that was one of the "busy" points on keeping the World page updated in the beginning.

I guess I am more guarded than most. I would rather say I have a Chevy and GMC truck and live in Southern Maryland (our version of a "county") but definitely not the state.

If someone comes along who lives in MD and wants to know more about us, they should go to John's signature line. This way, each person can keep as much information private as they like but still giving others an idea that they are "out there" ... make sense?

We have some folks with nice stuff. I have even started leaving off the cities on the gallery stories as I would hate to be the one who directed some creep to a really nice AD 1-ton that ends up missing.

The idea of the World page was just to see who your neighbor was. Besides, we have some Bolters here who don't have trucks any more. I think it would still be nice for them to be counted, so to speak.

The other nice thing about not having the email listed on the World page, it will make it harder for anyone to harvest them. If you "meet" someone there, you can scope them out in the forum and check their posts to see if they seem to be fine upstanding Bolters ... which most of our gang are.

On the trucks again, you can say Big Bolt, Panel, Burb, maybe. Will people actually do a search for similar years? We have all that in the Gallery breakdown pages? Just wondering ...

Thanks for taking this task on Paul. I think it will be helpful to the people who are trying to meet up with one another. They seem to be doing pretty good to find each other via the forum, but I bet this will help.

Peg

Tiny, it doesn't take long to find out there are a lot of "chipmunks" out there. However, I haven't told everyone, every thing

What ever the boss decides on this will be fine for me. Maybe we can start out small and add stuff if it becomes necessary.

That is a smart idea (starting out small). I hope more and more folks will "group" like it has done so far. We keep reminding ourselves of our initial vision of this site -- think of a virtual garage. If you want to meet with a bunch of 60-66 guys after you've tinkered on someone's truck, that's great! Post a sign somewhere (well, an appropriate place) in the VG.

We were fortunate to be in several USMC base auto hobby shops and I got to see what went on there besides the wrenching. The hobby shop personnel just kept the place in order, and the people orderly (enough). Connecting people -- I guess we were social media before it was everywhere. Gosh, good thing John didn't pick a name like "Old Truck Tweet" ....

I like the idea as well. When the time comes to drive my burb from Kansas City back to wherever I end up next, I'd love to have a list of emergency contacts along the route in case she gives up the ghost halfway home.

If there are any programmers following this, I could use some help. This is getting complex.