http://www.focusstoc.com/forums Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:02:06 +0000 1440 http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/104447-new-focusstoccom-members-of-staff-ryan-mark-mbaker/
The Club Staff have finished our interviewing and selection process and decided in light of the huge amount of applications that we received for the position of club staff, that it would be unfair to take just one person.

In light of the above, we have offered two positions. I'm sure you will all join me supporting & congratulating Ryan & Mark on / in their new roles.

Congratulations to you both ]]> Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:02:06 +0000 http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/104447-new-focusstoccom-members-of-staff-ryan-mark-mbaker/ http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/104266-ford-fair-2012-important-sales-announcement/
We have been in long discussions with the Ford Fair Organisers with regards to our club stand at Ford Fair 2012.

We have been told that this year, due to a change in the show logistics management team at Future Publishing (The organisers at Ford Fair show and various media publications). Club Stands for the show will be allocated on a 'first come, first serve' basis this year.

In previous years, we were able as a club specify a 'ball-park' number of tickets, and the planners would allocate us a stand to suit our needs. This year this will sadly not be the case. The organisers have taken this stance, due to the increased level of online car communities, and have done this to ensure that nobody looses out in getting to display their club.

Where you guys come into this:
As our club has grown to be the size it is today, it is important that for health and safety reasons & even more importantly; your enjoyment on the day, that our club secures a good 'pitch' and that this pitch suits out needs as a club without risk of us being placed out of the actual show arena & away from all of the fun due to our club's size.

In order to achieve the above, what we need is to be able to place our order for our pitch & show tickets by the end of April 2012.

So what we have decided to do is to pull the current closing date for tickets forward from June 2012 and enable you all to purchase tickets up until the 27th April 2012.

Once the above date passes, Club Stand Tickets will no longer be able to be purchased from the club. Whilst we realise there will be a number of people join between April & August, there is little we can do about that due to the above. There are always people who purchase tickets, and cannot go for whatever reason, so for sale threads with people selling the rights to their ticket will appear.

We trust you all understand this matter, this still gives you roughly 3 Pay months between now and then to purchase your ticket.

Please be aware that only the Driver ticket need be bought through our club by this date.

We can provide you with the facility to order your passenger ticket(s) up to the 27th April 2012 for these to be included in your order of your Driver ticket / Stand Pass.

Passenger tickets may also be purchased after this date either directly from the future publishing ford fair site (http://www.fordfair.co.uk/) or these can also be bought at the gate on the day at a higher on the day price.

If anyone needs any further information, then please don't hesitate to contact myself or a member of site staff for further information.

Thank you for your understanding on this matter.

Marc

fordSTOC.com
Network Admin]]> Sun, 19 Feb 2012 13:34:58 +0000 http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/104266-ford-fair-2012-important-sales-announcement/ http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/103827-network-terms-conditions/
During the past few weeks whilst we have been very busy in the background updating various parts of the network, we happened to notice that our club staff have been put under an extra additional work load, which isn't really warranted nor required. This work load includes the increased use of individual thread moderation across out network of sites.

Contributory to this high level of extra staff activity, are a high instances of people evading our bad word filters which are in place to keep our network a nice calm & civil place to enjoy discussion on your chosen Ford ST model. Having a clean board free from profanity & rude or lude content is something we have prided ourselves on portraying since the network was founded.

May I take this opportunity to remind you that this club & network operate strict terms and conditions, and these are clearly on our site to be read, understood & adhered to. Non-compliance with our network policies will result in loss of membership to our club without question.

Please click here to View our Network / Forum Terms and conditions:

http://www.fordstoc.com/terms]]> Sun, 12 Feb 2012 16:50:58 +0000 http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/103827-network-terms-conditions/ http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/103722-north-west-of-england-rep-appointed/
Ron informs us that he will continue the good work that Kay was previously doing in the region and will be bringing some new meets to the forum for all you locals.

All the best in your new role Ron.

Marc and the entire FocusSTOC.com staff team]]> Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:51:40 +0000 http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/103722-north-west-of-england-rep-appointed/ http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/103074-welcome-to-version-7-of-focusstoccom/
This upgrade has been essential to address security and overall performance and enhancement of the software we use.

IMPORTANT - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

INTERNET BROWSERS, MOBILE AND COMPUTER - FocusSTOC.com WILL require the latest internet browser to function correctly. PLEASE upgrade before contacting us with any issues. For those of you that cannot because of work computers, please try enabling ‘compatibility’ mode on your browser.

IPAD - There is a bug when using the software on an iPad, whereby you are not able to see the text editor buttons or emoticons. Sometimes you will struggle to get the drop down menus working correctly. There is nothing that I can do about this until there is a fix.

VIEW NEW CONTENT - The button has been removed from its old location on the right side... it is now accessible (as its always has been) via the FORUMS drop down menu button. It is a new looking system, by default it is set one week, feel free to change this in the side bar. YOUR posts will NOT show as it is not NEW content.

AVATAR / PROFILE PHOTO - This is now one and the same, your profile photo is also your Avatar, so some may find its changed. To upload a new one from a large image, it MUST be reduced in size otherwise you will get an error message.


Skin / Look:

Most of you should feel familiar with the look and feel, I've purposely not strayed too far from the old look of the forum, whilst still being able to incorporate the new features and functions.

I was determined to use what was already good, whilst getting rid of unwanted graphics, buttons to create a clean look... I hope you agree its an improvement!

Please use the forums for a week or so, be open minded and THEN constructively feedback to me.

The decision to use a fixed width on the previous version was all down to computer screen resolutions. Since then, screen resolutions have improved once again and I have been happy to increase the width of the forum. For some, this will fill their screen, for other like me, I still have three inches of blank space either side, hence the importance of the balance.

You will notice I've moved the Sponsors banner to the top now, again saving space.

Mobile Skin:

I am now just playing the waiting game regarding the whole mobile side of things...

Currently, we have a very limited functioning 'Mobile Skin', which still uses your phone's browser, but as people can see, things such as uploading images, giving reputation, notifications and viewing systems such as the garage, gallery etc are not possible... at the moment... I am being assured this is being worked on to improve function.

I am also closely monitoring a 'Mobile App', which would be a custom made App for both Apple and Android... development hit a barrier and the last I've seen is that they hope to have something by Q2 of 2012... this would obviously carry a large cost, so there are no promises.

My only issue with all this App / Mobile stuff is its future.

The only reason anyone wants an App (from what I can see) is because mobile internet speeds are poor and people want a quick responding, easy to use look and feel.

With the way mobile internet is expanding and the likely introduction of 4G speeds in the next year or so, I don't want to plough money into something that people wont use when their phone easily browses the site as they would on a computer.

I refuse to use TapaTalk and that will never be an option (before anyone suggests it).

Will keep you all posted when I know more.


New Menu System:

Many aren’t even aware of the features we offer, please take the time to go through each page, using the menu buttons. The menu system functions the same as before, I've added some new buttons in the sub menus.

Next to your logged in username you have a drop down menu providing access to your website settings. I'd recommend you click on 'my settings' and spend some time choosing how you'd like the forums/site to work according to your requirements.

The 'messenger' and 'notifications' icons now only show a number when you have new messages.


Topic Hover -

The feature we previously used became defunct, however the software has a built in one, albeit I know not as quick, it does add additional function... over to the right side of every post you will see a icon as below, click on that:



To show this:




Like -

I know this system changes quicker than an F1 Pit Team... Reputation as it was previously called is now 'Like'.

Don't worry you've not lost your rep, and the count or 'score' as some would prefer is in your user profile. It is no longer displayed below your username when posting, however you can quickly see by hover over someone's username

It works in exactly the same way, but much like Faceachebook you 'like' posts.


Follow Content -



Clicking on the 'Follow' button at the top right is a great way to keep track of new posts... you can even subscribe to an entire forum section.


FocusSTOC.com Official Facebook & Twitter Page -

Please visit http://www.facebook.com/FocusSTOC or http://www.twitter.com/FocusSTOC and 'Like' us... its another good way to hear about Club News!


Quick Reply -

You will now see when replying using the quick reply, there is no longer a page refresh and your reply will appear straight way.


My Media Button -

Ever had to search through all your posts to try and find a picture or file you previously posted? Then search no more!! By clicking on the "My Media" button all your previously uploaded pictures and files will be shown.




Other Additions -

There are hundreds of small additions/improvements, that you may come across, all done to make the experience of using the forums quick and simple.


What's Next...

I am currently still working on the new Classifieds System, along with an Ebay style feedback system... its a work in progress, however I hope to have it ready in the next few months.


Finally

I'm the first to welcome feedback, so long as it is constructive... please bear that in mind.]]> Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:39:11 +0000 http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/103074-welcome-to-version-7-of-focusstoccom/ http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/103059-new-london-and-south-east-rep-appointed/
Dan has been a member for some time now and has much enthusiasm for the club and has great ideas planned for his region so keep your eyes peeled everyone and lets hope all the members will support him in his new position as he has very big shoes to fill.


I am sure you will all join the staff in congratulating Dan in his new role and we wish you all the best with all our support.

Congratulation on your new role Dan & Mel.

Phil & Focusstoc.com Staff Team]]> Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:46:34 +0000 http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/103059-new-london-and-south-east-rep-appointed/ http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/102953-fitp-fiesta-in-the-park-2012-club-stand-pass-show-access-tickets-now-for-sale/
For Info See here:
]]> Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:54:04 +0000 http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/102953-fitp-fiesta-in-the-park-2012-club-stand-pass-show-access-tickets-now-for-sale/ http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/102830-new-west-midlands-regional-rep-appointed/
Anthony informs me he will continue the good work that Steve was doing. Making sure that the popular West Mids v East Mids meets continue. And has some ideas for some new ones.

All the best in your new role Anthony.

Allan and the entire FocusSTOC.com staff team]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:50:19 +0000 http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/102830-new-west-midlands-regional-rep-appointed/ http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/102739-london-south-east-regional-rep-required/
Just to remind we still require a rep for the London and South East region. It would be good to have a rep in place prior to the show season beginning. So if anyone wants to give it a bash please drop me a PM.

Regards

Allan]]> Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:26:12 +0000 http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/102739-london-south-east-regional-rep-required/ http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/102702-west-midlands-regional-rep-required/
As some of you may be aware Steve (the current rep) has decided it's time for him to stand down as rep for the region. Steve has done a excellent job organizing the region. Putting a great deal of effort into the role. Steve has kindly said that he will remain on as rep in the short term until another rep is appointed.

So if any of you fancy applying for the role please drop me a PM.

Regards

Allan]]> Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:42:22 +0000 http://www.focusstoc.com/forums/topic/102702-west-midlands-regional-rep-required/