Jon

Thanks very much. It will be on a 'add your own' basis, very much like the links directory.

Hmm, slight hitch, I can't find my only Nicholsons. I used to by Pearsons as I found it more interesting for general reading. Please could someone provide a list of the books for me to work from? Many thanks, Jon

That's a really good idea too. Leave it with me and I'll sort it asap. Jon

Sounds good to me. It would be a lot of work to sub-divide by canal, but region would probably be better - ie, North West, North East, Midlands, South West, South East etc. As for 'What's On' - the events forum is normally used for this, unless you were thinking of something different? Jon

Hi, Thanks for letting us know. I've closed your old account so if you carry on using this one if it is all working for you. Unfortunately I can't merge everything together. If we can be of any further help then please let one of the site crew know. All the best, Jon

Well I have returned back from holiday to over 60 new PM's in a week, mostly complaints or suggestions on how we could run the site better. Let me explain a few things: - For the last few months this site has been significantly undermoderated. This was my fault and I left too much work to too little people, particularly since I could not be here much myself. I decided that new members of the site crew were needed to pull things back under control. Dhutch and I therefore decided to appoint 3 new site crew members, and they started work last Monday 7th April. Applications were open to every member of the board with over 3 months membership and we had approximately 10 applicants of which we chose what we believed to be the best 3 candidates. - This site is moderated under my authority as the sole owner/bill payer/licence holder. This is a private site, and therefore I will enforce what ever rules I see fit, how I see fit. That is the plain and simple truth. I have decided to do this by publishing detailed forum rules and guidelines and making it a requirement of the usage of the site that all members will abide by these rules. Therefore the arguments of censorship or denial of a right to free speech do not apply here as there is nothing public about this site. Think of it as a terms of employement. If you do something that is in breach of your contract, you would expect disciplinary action or dismissal. The same applies here. - The site crew operate under my authority and act on my behalf. Their decisions therefore have my full support. They act on a voluntary basis, for no reward what so ever and they make decisions based on the circumstances at the time. If you have a problem with the decision, refer it to Dhutch or myself who will review the issue, although to date I have never changed any decision made by a member of the site crew at the time. Any members who threatens, harrasses or otherwise causes problems for any member of the site crew can expect to be warned or banned. - This is a canal and inland waterways forum. Therefore the primary aim is to discuss issues surrounding canals and inland waterways. The virtual pub is provided for what is meant to be light relief. It was never meant for deep politcal discussions, and while I realise that these sort of discussions are inevitable, I remind all members what the forum is actually meant for and that is should be a family and child safe environment. - I do not care that the members of the forum are largely adults, this site WILL be a safe and friendly site for ANY PERSON, no matter what their age or background. If you don't like this, then find another site. I make no apology, that is how it was meant to be, and how it will be from now on in. This means no inappropriate posts, pictures and avatars. Any such posts/images/pictures will be removed. This comes under "You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this forum to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise volatile of any law", part of the forum rules and guidelines. - We have issues with dual identities. This is a difficult area as we don't want to stop the fun and games in the virtual pub but we don't want behaviour which we have seen recently whereby one member registers several identities and then proceeds to have an argument with themself in order to stir up contraversey, or feign support for their idea/suggestion/complaint. I hope that some common sense can be used here or I will simply ban all duplicate ID's. - We are trying to make this a safe and friendly place for all. Certain members seem to have taken issue to this and are determined to make our life difficult, challenge everything that we do and generally pick apart any decision, sometimes for nothing more than laughs. To these people the message is plain and simple: go and find somewhere else to cause problems. You are not welcome here. Yes I know that banning you doesn't work very well, you will simply re-register, but I do wonder what sort of life you lead where the best thing you can think to entertain yourself is to get thrills from winding up a bunch of people who are trying to provide a facility for free for the enjoyment of others. If you don't like moderation, Gary has provided a link to an unmoderated forum for you to use - www.canalcommunity.net - I have no issue in referring you here if it means you will leave us alone. You know who you are. Hopefully this will clarify some issues. If you wish to query or challenge anything here, please do it via private message to me. Any public threads will simply be deleted. Jon Site Host

I am very please to announce that following a tough decision between everyone who applied, we have decided to elect Lady Muck, NB Alnwick and Liam as new members of the site crew! Please offer them your full support. The more observant amongst you will have noticed that there are 3 persons there. The reason behind this is that Theo is off crusing the canals for the summer season (lucky him!) so we decided an extra person would be very useful. Theo is still a full member of the crew and will pop in when he can! Thank you very much to everyone who applied. We may be looking for more people shortly, so we will certainly bear you in mind in future. It was a very tough decision on who to choose!

Thanks for all of the applications so far. 2 1/2 hrs to go until the applcation window closes, so if you are interested please submit your application now. Many thanks, Jon

I have left this thread open as the comments were general, and I felt it fair to give members a chance to respond to my post. Please keep it general. Thanks, Jon Positive experiences are a bit different. From a legal perspective, no builder will ever complain for being named as good and therefore I don't have a problem with this. I see the point that one persons bad experience is another persons good experience and vice versa, it's a difficult balancing act but the issue starts when we say XXXX boat builder is rubbish, don't use them. The UK.rec group mentioned above can be added to the link directory if you so wish.

Applications are invited from members who wish to become members of the Canal World Discussion Forums Site Crew. This voluntary unpaid role will require the successful applicant to help in the day-to-day management and operation of the forum. You will be expected to help members with queries, move close or edit posts are appropriate, deal with requests for techincal support and report any problems to the site host. There are no fixed hours, but the successful candidate will need to be a regular visitor to the site and have a good techincal knowledge of the IPB system. The ideal candidates will be: - A regular contributor to the forum - A member for a period greater than 3 months - Happy to do the job out the goodness of their heart!! - Be available for most of the summer period this year. If you are interested, please apply via private message to Jon by 23:59hrs Sunday 6th April 2008 . The final two applicants will be chosen on Monday. If you have any questions then please let me know. Many thanks, Jon Site Host

Yep were a bit short and unfortunately I've been at work all day. Another decent thread ruined by petty bickering... Warnings have been issued and posts deleted. Topic closed. Jon

No, let me make this absolutely clear, we will not be entering into naming and shaming on this site. No argument will change my view on this and any posts made in this manner will be deleted. The risks are too high and I don't have time to deal with the consequences.

Yep, general boat building / how to choose a boat builder is absolutely fine. In fact, if anyone with any experience wants to write an article about it then I would be more than happy to publish it. It is naming and shaming that causes the problems.

Boat Builders are a relatively small topic compared to everything else to do with Canals and Inland Waterways that get discussed on this forum. I agree that people should be aware of issues so that they can make the same decision and I would encourage these people who have legitimate problems to make them public in the own way (ie their own website). Unfortutately I am never party to any contract, and therefore I am very exposed when people start using the forums to say negative things about their experiences. Companies have reputations to protect and when the money inolved in in the hundreds of thousands then one public comment could be very costly to the builder, so they are very keen to remove such comments. As a result this is the only topic that I will not allow on here and I will not be changed on this stance. Sorry. Individuals who are already party to a contract with a boat builder and have a legitimate gripe atleast know the full circumstance so as to present a case should legal action be taken and they stand a much better chance of being able to defend themselves. Maverick, if you wish to set up your own forum to dicuss such things then feel free, but I feel that despite your best intentions, you will soon find yourself swamped with angry company directors threatening legal action against you. The grapevine doesn't take long to make them aware!. Moving to suggestions...

I appreciate that boat builders are a very big issue to a number of members on here, particularly when things go wrong. However unfortunately i can not permit posts on here relating to personal negative experiences with specific boat builders. This is because on every previous occasion I have angry e-mails from the builder concerned and threats are made about legal action. In these situations it is normally thousands of pounds of money that is in question and builders will threaten anything to protect their reputation. While I do sympathise with those who have problems, I do not have the time or money to enter into any legal challenge with a builder and therefore I will remove any specific post on this site to prevent these situations from occuring. The issues of censorship and free speech have been covered time and time before and my answer remains the same. As a user of this site, you agree to abide by the forum rules and guidelines. This is a private site, paid and owned solely by me and therefore I insist that certain rules are followed. Members who don't follow these rules will be asked to leave. I think this thread has run it's course. Many thanks, Jon