Passing on this forum - please read.

[techbod]

The eleven bodywork has now sold and I'll finally be moving out the workshop in a few weeks. Even if I get a new workshop it will all be on a much smaller scale and any projects are going to have to be smaller now, family commitments have seen to that .

So now would be a good time to consider my part in the future of this website and forum. I'm assuming that despite comparatively low traffic there is interest in keeping it going, so the obvious next step is to pass ownership and administration onto someone else, preferably an existing forum member.

Whoever takes it over gets the forum data and the website domain. They would need to arrange their own hosting provider, or I suppose they could use the existing provider, but they would still need to setup a new account and transfer the data over. I would be as hands on or off as required during this process. The domain would need to be transferred.

As it currently stands, the site doesn't take much admin. The odd admin email to reply to every now and again and check and clear out any spambot issues perhaps every week.

Of course the website could be expanded to offer a lot more than it currently does - a functioning technical wiki, file sharing of related eleven material, pictures etc etc, but at the end of the day the Eleven is pretty niche and the numbers using the site will likely be very small compared to other car forums, so you could put a lot of work into features that see little use, or maybe it would generate a lot more traffic and make it all worthwhile.

I'd like some views and feedback from the existing members on what they would like to see happen and if they are interested in taking over the site probably best to send me a private message to start with and then we can take it from there. I'm not sure what happens in the event that multiple people offer to take it over, but we will cross that bridge if it happens.

[jonclancy]

Thank you for all your hard work over the years. This forum most definitely needs preserving - it’s an essential XI resource IMO.

[Morris]

Firstly I would like to thank you for running the website. It is well laid out and I like the separate areas for the wiki, register, gallery etc. even though it is sparse in places…

As you may be aware, I am writing a build log on the WSC club forum. I’ve planted it on that site for a couple of reasons, firstly because of the ready answers and comments that keep my build and (frequently) my motivation going, and secondly it is easier to use from the perspective of uploading content and photos.

There is of course much activity on the WSC forum, the majority of which is Seven related. There’s only limited technical transfer between the 7 and XI builders/ owners, which is understandable given that our cars are more bespoke restoration projects than bolt A to B processes.

I would normally turn to the WSC forum for technical assistance purely down to the fast response times of its XI members.

What is difficult to assess is how much cross-over there is between forum members, and I suspect that most owners flip between the forums equally in the background (I certainly do).

I use this site extensively for historic technical stuff. The wiki on fitting a Denso style alternator has been invaluable to me, and there isn’t a home for that type of information in the WSC forum without it being lost in the Seven technical stuff.

This has been my first build (from scratch) and I’ve found it challenging at times. An easily searchable technical database would sit very nicely on this site, but not having to trawl through pages of forum entries, but summarised into factual subject areas.

Many of the tech questions are repeated many times over the years and the searching process can be somewhat painful at times from my phone.

It would be sad to see this site dissolved (like Jan’s which I found invaluable just from learning from the photos), although I fully appreciate the amount of (voluntary) effort it would take to develop it into the ‘go to’ site for XIs (other than for build logs that I think already sit quite nicely on the WSC forum).

Even if niche, there must be 100s (1000s?) of XIs in existence globally. If just 10% of those could be registered on this site as a virtual central meeting place then we’d be onto a good thing.

To summarise, there is certainly room for both this and for the WSC club forum. The former for build logs, and this site for post build cars, upgrades, focussed technical area, registry, gallery etc.

Only point I haven’t commented on is who can administer the site. I think once we get comments from some of the established contributors that discussion can then take place.

Morris.

[techbod]

Thank you for the replies and comments, very helpful.

A couple of other things:

As not all members read the forum daily, it might take some time for everyone to get up to speed and have their say (if they choose to), so this isn't going to happen overnight.

Although it seems logical, forum ownership and being the administrator doesn't necessarily have to be the same person. Control of the website, forum or even subsections of the forum can be delegated to another, or several other, persons. In the early days of this forum some users were given admin privilege's to manage various aspects of the board, but as it all settled down to fairly low amounts of traffic, I'm not sure I recall this ever being needed or used.

However, ongoing, and depending on the direction this forum takes, it might be something that has a place.

[alleggerita]

My 2 cents:

Firstly, thank you for the continuous efforts to keep this website in the air. It is a very small community that gathers here and it is good to have a place to ask or tell things.

Secondly, I strongly believe that we should maintain the website in order to maintain contact. Outside this site people meet on various platforms, but I for instance am not on Facebook so I am missing out quite a bit.

Thirdly, the website could favour from some rejuvenation to increase its usage and relevance. I could imagine that we could improve the message function, introduce a place where you can add spotted cars, a buy/ sell marketplace, a register of all S1 and S2 Westfield Elevens and Elevens built on the same principle, a library with technical stuff, build reports by chassis number, reports from our Man in the USA and the Continental Correspondent etc.

Maybe we could set up a teams meeting with people interested and brainstorm a bit? Earlier contributions in this thread have shown that there is interest and that people have good ideas for the future.

The obvious question “who is going to manage all of this?” has not been answered yet but I have the impression the best person suited will eventually pop up. I might be interested to support, although I must admit I am possibly not the ultimate IT specialist that people could hope for.

[techbod]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm another that prefers forums to Facebook (other social media maybe available ).

The forum started* out with the intention of being a register: http://www.westfield-eleven.org/register.html is as far as it got - partially as you can only register the information member's are willing to hand over but also searching the internet leaves to me to believe that holding VIN/ chassis numbers may put you into GDPR (or UK equivalent) territory. Taken from the ICO guidance here: https://tinyurl.com/t4pfwz2m:

"What kind of information could allow an individual to be indirectly identified?
The following is a non-exhaustive list of information that could constitute personal data on the basis that it allows for an individual to be singled out from others:

-car registration number and/or VIN;
-national insurance number;
etc...."

So if that is correct, then you may have to manage GDPR compliance for the register/chassis build reports. All very doable but that is definitely an overhead that personally I don't want to have to manage. (Note some of the photos on the register do have reg numbers visible, but that is the same of pictures of cars all over the internet and I assume they don't fall foul of GDPR). Of course I maybe wrong and you can hold chassis numbers without GDPR compliance issues.

The site does undoubtedly needs an overhaul, something that has been on the todo list for the last x years, some even reached testing phase... However, having said that, I think provided 'induction noise' and 'technical and upgrade' forums keep going in some form, they form the core of what this site has to offer Eleven owners.

I agree that its target should be Westfield Eleven and similar build Elevens. At one point is was suggested that it could be expanded to include other sorts of similar sports cars but there are other established sites that cover that and I personally think it is better to keep this to site to Eleven builds.

---
*actually the forum started out as a closed but convenient way of organising a trip to Le Mans and then eventually moved into the public domain as a register and morphed into its current form.

[biggles]

I've not got anything further to add to the above other than my thanks for starting and running this forum.

I would hate to see it disappear, but I,m a total div when it comes to computery stuff, so couldn't really offer anything other than moral support to the 'save the forum' movement!

Best wishes all
Tim

[alleggerita]

Did you set a deadline or a planned date to start transferring the job?

[Morris]

Yes, good question .

I wouldn't want the forum to fizzle out. I'm happy to help out on a trial basis ( ) but I wouldn't be prepared to blindly sign my life/ free time away without knowing what is really involved. I use computers every day but not for web programming stuff/ databases etc., just 'Office' and science related software.

How is the site funded etc.? Is it a free site so long as we keep within a defined storage space?

[Splat]

I too would be very sad if this site were to disappear. It’s been a valuable source of info, a good place for occasional chat and I’ve made a few friends here too. (Clance and I see each other socially several times a year!)

But I know absolutely squat about website hosting, maintenance, coding, whatever. I have absolutely NO computing skills (despite reading for a Masters in engineering, half a lifetime ago)!

Sorry!!