FEGA site

Big-Un

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I have been unable to access FEGA's forum on their website; anyone know why?
 

Joe Jacob

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Aug 26, 2009
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I just tried and did not have a problem accessing or loging on.
But the forum gave me an error "There is a serious error and the page cannot be rendered"
 

alladin

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Dec 26, 2014
Messages
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I have tried to register and received a 404 error.
Then tried to look at the forum and it said " there is a serious problem and the page can not be rendered".
I wonder what the problems may be.

Thanks for now, I will try it again in a couple days.
 

Big-Un

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Just tried again and get the same message. It seems not too many participate there so maybe it is unnoticed by those responsible for it.
 

John B.

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Thank you for bringing this up Big-Un.
I have been trying to access the FEGA forum for many month and have contacted BoD members without any action.
The site won't even recognize my name, computer or log in details.
We all should be extremely disappointed in the loss of this valuable link to fellow members and friends.
I know that I am.
John Barraclough.
 

Barry Lee Hands

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Hi Folks.

The site www.fega.com itself, mostly works just fine.
It is where most of the income for FEGA is generated, and critical to the functioning of our Guild, signing up new members and offering books, DVDs and castings to the public.
It was built by volunteers, and is administrated by volunteers.
Although it serves well now, we are looking at options for new ways in the future.

The FEGA forum is another matter and it is down.
There is some problem with the hosting company and Bill Gamradt our webmaster has sent them an email trying to get them to point everything at the right directory, or something to that effect.
John, There has been actions, but no satisfactory resuts.
I have called you, and I have called Bill Gamradt about your problems with the site.
My friend, I apologize for the difficulty,we are a bunch of volunteers for the most part, and doing our best.
Hopefully our best will improve soon.
 
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John B.

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Hi Folks.

The site www.fega.com itself, mostly works just fine.
It is where most of the income for FEGA is generated, and critical to the functioning of our Guild, signing up new members and offering books, DVDs and castings to the public.
It was built by volunteers, and is administrated by volunteers.
Although it serves well now, we are looking at options for new ways in the future.

The FEGA forum is another matter and it is down.
There is some problem with the hosting company and Bill Gamradt our webmaster has sent them an email trying to get them to point everything at the right directory, or something to that effect.
John, There has been actions, but no satisfactory resuts.
I have called you, and I have called Bill Gamradt about your problems with the site.
My friend, I apologize for the difficulty,we are a bunch of volunteers for the most part, and doing our best.
Hopefully our best will improve soon.

I realize that you called me after my complaint to Betty and Mr. Rex, my usual-fix-the-forum angel.
I thank you for the call. You are always hard working and on top of things.
I'm aware that the Guild is mostly run by dedicated volunteers, no pay and much work and not enough thanks.
But...........big but...........IMO.....
The FEGA forum is a very important tool and benefit. A valuable part of our membership. Lets us keep things in the family.
And when it is broken for so long with no news posted on the site or published in the journal about a remedy, it gets very frustrating.
How are we to know if anything is being done or if it's just going to be a non-runner?
I was glad to see Big-Uns and others post about it and know that others were as upset as me.
 
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Big-Un

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I try and go to the forum at least once a week but am really disappointed that so few participate. Engravers Cafe is the most used and most go here, as with Lindsay's site, but not so many FEGA members participate in THEIR OWN site. Just venting, not fussing.
 

Sam

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I have absolutely no problem with making and hosting a FEGA sub-forum here in the Cafe if it would help.
 

Big-Un

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I have absolutely no problem with making and hosting a FEGA sub-forum here in the Cafe if it would help.

I believe that would be a decision from the BoD's, but it could take a lot of pressure off them. Thanks for stepping up Sam.
 

John B.

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I have absolutely no problem with making and hosting a FEGA sub-forum here in the Cafe if it would help.


Sam, You are generous as always with your offer to host a FEGA sub-forum. Thank you for that.

You already give we Guild members a place to hang out while our own forum is no go. Many thanks for that.

But it's my belief that it is important for FEGA to fix it's own forum problem and maintain it's history.

In this Internet era it leaves a diminished impression of the Guild in a potential client's mind when the go to the FEGA site/ forum and see very little action, participation or posting.

It is also a concern that we are loosing the Guilds historic website records of postings of members pictures, work and Q & A.
Our having to rely on the kind hosting of another forum does not preserve our own day to day historic and corporate records.

FEGA has a world class journal, The Engraver which portrays so beautifully the business, interests, news and history of the Guild.
Personally I would not like to see the continuity of this great link and historic journal passed off to even the friendliest of outside source.
Any more than I like the idea of having to rely on the good offices of a dear friend for our forum presence.
It does not serve our history or our client base.
When someone seeking a firearms engraver goes to the FEGA site they need to find an active community as well as a listing of names.

Sorry for the long post, Off the soap box.
John Barraclough
 
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Sam

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I'm in agreement, John. Hosting it here just isn't like it being on its home turf.

Here's the deal with forums: They are incredibly complex and can be extremely difficult to setup, maintain, and keep secure. For me it was and is a huge learning curve, and if you could see the Admin control panel you'd glaze over at its hundreds of options and controls laced with code that most of use don't understand. It's stupidly confounding and not at all intuitive, and I've been doing it for 10 years. My point is, it's a far greater task than most people are aware of or have time for.

Hopefully someone who has the time and tech savvy will step in and get it going again!
 

John B.

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Thank you for your explanation Sam. I realize how much work you put into your great forum.
I've had more than my share to say about the FEGA forum so I will just let it go.
 

Barry Lee Hands

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Thanks Sam for the offer and the explanations, these things are more difficult then they appear.
I am always grateful on behalf of fega for any help, and as John suggested, with more forums we are covering more bases than if we combined them.

For those of you who are FEGA members and want to be visible To the public and upload pics on
www.fega.com, this is how to do it:
Once logged in, go to the link you see on the left side of many pages that says "Your Account" - when your mouse is above it you should see three other links appear to the right. Of those, the middle says "Show Your Work" - click on that. Then you will be at a page which has a box to check to allow your information to be seen by visitors to the site. After clicking the box add/edit whatever information you choose and then click "Save Changes". Then your name should appear on one of the lists of engravers (either master or regular).
To use the fega forum, follow the link on www.fega.com and register there( it is a seperate site)
Right now its up and running and working pretty well as far as i can tell:)
 
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