Website Report

Edited on 2009-03-23 18:45:31

Hi, Pascal -

First, thanks for all you do. The website has grown and improved every year and is a useful tool for all members. I know it's continues to evolve and that you need our input.

I take this website seriously, and was there on your behalf at the AGM - presenting your website report to all. During that time, I asked the Delegates in the room if they use the website regularly, and was happy to see that most raised their hand. They have been asked to send more input form their clubs, plus I offered to help anyone who has any trouble with uploading or navigating our website.

I look forwarding to seeing more club content here, and extend my above offer of help to anyone reading this post.

Check out the AGM Forum for my recent post that includes a link to some of my photos of the visit to Cussler Museum Friday evening.

good to see some feedback, thanks guys.

a few points..

1)- speed: 3 or 4 members have mentioned a speed issue over the past couple of years so it's hardly something that will cause widespread issues. neither I or or the company hosting the site have been able to duplicate the problem or find a cause. from what we can see, it's an issue on the ISP side, or browser. I access the site from a variety of system, mostly thry celular service and the pages load quickly. BTW, the home page is only 40k, excluding graphics.

2)- Over the past few years, I have distributed printed copies of the club help page at the AGM, sent multiple emails to clubs, and Mike has put articles in the Journal. Not sure what else i can do to spread the word about all the services we offer... i'll try another round.

3)- AGM: I'm not sure what the benefits woudl be, anyone woudl has attended an AGM knows it's not something you'd want to spend hours watching on your computer! :-) Seriously, i think streaming would be an overkill.

Now that said, I cant' believe that 2 days later, NOBODY HAS BOTHER SENDING ME INFORMATION TO POST OR POSTED UPDATES IN THE FORUMS!!!

I guess this proves my point about how seriously the website is taken...

This one. Bob was talking about his proxie enforcing the rules, and I pointed out that this year (the first one under Steve Kennedy) had the Parliamentarian to enforce the rules not his proxie holder, that is not our job. Sorry if we confused you.

"We had a Parliamentarian who's job that was. He stopped the meeting a number of times to make sure what we did was the correct way to proceed."

Last AGM or this one?
I thought I had read that the issues Bob is referring to happened last time, and that NO Parliamentarian was present.
Correct?

Nope, that's not your or my or your proxie holder's job. We had a Parliamentarian who's job that was. He stopped the meeting a number of times to make sure what we did was the correct way to proceed. Your Proxie holder's job is to vote on things the way you specified. You hope on things that happen he will vote the why you want. Aside from you trust in his voting, you miss out all of the interaction of the various delegates and their opinions. Due to various forces beyond the delegates control or the BOD, there are always last minute changes to the agenda. If you were here then you would have been privy to those changes. Also, no matter what my opinion is I vote the way my club wants. If my vote caries, good. If not, that's life. Often the amendment is amended by the delegates, sometime even in multiple levels. That's what happens in these meetings. That's what happens last year as well. Robert's Rules specifically recognize this and permits those changes. The actual voted amendment or rule change my be quite different from what was published before hand. This is not a violation of either ROR or our by-laws. You asked about the proxies voting on an item that was not on the agenda. Did you see the final agenda, so that you can make the statement? The trailering rule was brought to the AGM by the JCRC as is the by-laws. That it was changed, that too is within the purview of the by-laws. As you sent a proxie, are you saying that if an amendment that has been placed on the floor should count your proxie vote? That was actually discussed today, and was turned down. BTW, the trailering rule has been changed to allow only cars 35 years or older to be trailered.

Yowza Lou,

So in otherwords I have to physically "be there" to assure the rules are followed?

Why exactly did the JCNA deem Proxy usage in the first place? Obviously you don't approve of it. You should work hard to make sure that only the "right" people have a voice that way you can keep out the "undesirables".

The "Carriers" of our Proxies were well versed on everything that was on the Agenda for the AGM. They were also given instructions for those things that might possibly "turn-up" at the last minute.

I must have missed your reponse on how those 23 Clubs via Proxy were able to vote on an issue that was not part of the Agenda.

Good Day, Bob Lovell

As I said before, if you choose not to participate, and I know that's exactly what you chose to do, YOU have not basis for complaint. Come here and make the difference. As I said, I don't vote for me but my club. They tell me how to vote and that's how I vote. If things come up then I have to guess how MY club would like me to vote. You may not like it but that's the way this club is run. Just because you don't like the way things came out, does not mean that it wrong, just not to your liking. Do you rant like this to your congressman or senator? That's the same form of government. There are many things that my representatives have done in DC, and I have written them about it. That way they know what I think. Will that change things? Maybe, but then if enough of my fellow citizens take the opposite view then he won't vote the way I want. I may not vote for him next time, but again that may not make a difference since my neighbors disagree with my opinion. That's the way the club and the country works. I'm sorry that you disagree with me on this, but that again is what this is all about. I am not voting your proxies, nor would I want to. As I have said in the past I am uncomfortable voting proxies as I don't really know most of the club well enough to know what they want. That's me. That's how the club works and BTW has always worked.

Yowza Lou,

Lou, your reply is an example of THE problem. No mention was made about the Reps we sent for our Club. You didn't address the issue.

The issue being..... when I joined the JCNA it was based on the rules you had in place and the promise of the Club's Officers to follow and uphold them. Since ALL club officers are supposed to abide by these, that's good enough for me. The President did not following the rules and the Officers did nothing to remedy the situation for a year.

JCNA has broken their part of the contract with the membership. In the real world that would be called "non-performance" and the contract would be nullified and a refund would be issued.

This is not an isolated incident for the JCNA, just one that concerned and inflamed the people, like me and yourself, that are passionate about the marque.

Representation was not what the membership received when the previously conceived and voted on rules were set aside for what transpired at the AGM last year.

Try replying to the problem described above, what are the reasons for why it happened in the manner it did?

Monarchies preferred not having to "deal" with the "little people" and acted with their own self-interests at heart, instead of following the rules . Monarchies rarely exist nowadays and those that do are merely figureheads, you and your ilk may want cogitate on that as it will most likely become apparent as the AGM progresses in the future.

Monarchies have no place in the JCNA,.............................. as long as we have representation that follows the JCNA Rules!

Good Health to All, Bob Lovell

Actually, its a representative form. If you don't like what your reps did, don't send them. BTW, I am in Denver, right now. I might remind you that no one forced any of those clubs to join JCNA, nor is anyone forcing them to stay. We do loose clubs due to many factors. We try to address them, but you cannot please everyone all the time. That's life. I have always felt that you cannot complain if you don't vote. It applies here as well. As a note, my club instructed me to try to keep the rule as they felt that it might help attract new members. As this is their wish, that's how I'll vote, even if I don't agree with them.

Yowza Lou,

Must have missed the original reply to my answer, though in all honesty it was back then, like this time directed to Pascal.

Was told the last time that the "expense" was too much, no details about it being due to the Hotel's pricing structure.

Flying in and out for a day is in my mind a waste of my funds in light of the way things are being done.

Last year was a FIASCO...... The duo presenting the Rallye suggestions couldn't even agree among themselves and they used all of their time hashing out something that should have been done beforehand, leaving our many including our two delegates wondering why they bothered attending .

Secondly.....an issue was voted on that was NOT on the Agenda so technically the gentleman holding the 23 proxies should not have been allowed to use the Proxied votes to vote on an issue that could not have been discussed. That man is our President and unfortunately he did not abide by the rules. Read the rules sometime, Steve.

Third........... Mr. Kennedy's explanation was heinous. For the uninitiated let me inform you how it worked. Even though we have rules that the JCNA Officers are supposed to follow, they chose to do what they wanted, even though the rules preclude it, as long as nobody "officially" objected at the AGM. Membership be damned. Once the meeting is over it's law. BS any way you try to explain it it reeks.

Bottom line, we assigned our votes to Proxies we trust and will continue to do so as the need arises.

As far as the movement to remove the voting power from Club's that choose to abstain, you ever think they maybe telling you something that you just don't want to admit?

Looking forward in the future to seeing the JCNA's budget and exactly how funds are allocated when it's finally released.

Love the Motion, love the democratic process in action.

Cheers, Good Health to All, even Lou K, Bob Lovell

Bob, I thought we hashed this out a long time ago. The problem is not on Pascal's end, though I doubt the site has the bandwidth to handle the load, but on the Hotel's side. No hotel will allow audio-visual equipment brought in. They must supply it, plus they require their operators, usually union. Further, the hotel most likely has no more than a T-1 connection, and what you want would require several T-1s if not a T-3. Surprisingly, the local telco is not jumping at the bit to supply a T-3 connection for a one time event. We are talking big bucks, and there is probably very little demand from the membership for this. Look if I can manage to make the AGMs on a fixed income than surely others can make it who are working. After all you only have to be there on the Saturday, so you could even fly in and out the same day, even if you missed all the rest of the activities.

Yowza Pascal,

I wasn't aware of the features you mentioned and I've been involved with this club (JCSNE) at least a decade since moving to Connecticut.

My link is through the library and is darn close to immediate. The only thing that makes it hard is finding the login as it's in differnt places depwnding on where you've clicked, don't think it's an issue though.

Will attempt to get some articles sent toward the JCNA website.

Pascal, one question.....exactly how expensive would it be to have the AGM available live? Being able to see that may improve some of the things you mentioned, maybe not.

Daniel, while I agree with some of what you stated, you might try keeping an open mind plus some of your epistles are waaaaaaayyyyyyyy tooooooooo long. The Constitution said more with less.

Brevity has clarity.

Good Health to All, Bob Lovell

Sigh, why?
Or, sy, wigh?
The webmaster was bemoaning the lack of use of this forum, and the lack or provided information.
"The number one problem with the website is the lack of support from members, clubs and directors. To be very blunt, sometimes I wonder if some clubs and regional directors even know that we have a website!"

So, some suggestions have been made, maybe they will help, maybe they won't.

I would like to see it "work".

Hi Dave,
it appears many people have a problem loading the JCNA page....................
I had the same problem..................
I have now switched to MOZILLA FIREFOX , this site is also run by Google , however it loads usually in approx 2 seconds on my computer, even though it is a bit of a relic.........
SPREAD THE WORD, .....MOZILLA FIREFOX.... GET IT AND SPEED UP YOUR LIFE................

REGARDS, ART

I know of a couple who won't even try coming to this site, as, for them, it loads so slowly they run out of coffee waiting.
If it is important, I copy and e-mail to them.

I have tried to hit every option on these forums, lots of interesting data, but, unless a club, member or head of committee submits something, you can't put it up.

I have been going through Judging Guides, if for no other reason than to improve my knowledge.

Another area I watch is the Protest Committee Reports, but, alas, the last one is 2006.

The lack of ability to e-mail folks from this forum is a problem.
I am on a lot of non-Jaguar forums that have secure links for e-mailing (like, you never see the e-mail address), and that would be handy.

We @ Pacific Jaguar have subscribed to the online member GREAT IDEA since its inception many pistons past................
I would also like to have a link on the JCNA web site ( our PJEG club page ) to guide prospective members to our own individual web page @ www.pacificjaguar.net , I am unsure how to create this link, I need help in this areana, and I have asked before.........
I feel very lucky to have met Pascal at a personal level many moons ago, and I believe that is how we managed to get onto the Paypal deal, who in their right mind ( I am left handed and therefore CONSIDERED in my right mind ) or something similar ) just do not ask my wife to verify this .................could refuse to get on board the paypal idea...............
I have sent articles in to JJ for publishing in the past, many have been printed.......... it does however take a committment to continue onward.........
This year I have major renos to achieve on my car , however my new engine is still not here, should have built it myself I suppose............tyres and old tired engine are ready to go anyhow..........all we need is some sunshine in the rain filled arena........ lucky we live at the highest place in town.............

Okay, I see part of the problem. Many clubs, including JCOF, operate independent web sites. They would have to link to those services, and I am not sure that there is enough information for them to link. Maybe what we need is a separate area for independent club webmasters.

Lou

the paypal option has been around since 2002.... It is explained in detailed on the Club Service help page, the link has been sent regularly to clubs and regional directors.

http://www.jcna.com/php/clubhelp.html

Pascal, First of all I do not think that most of the clubs know about this option, I know that I did not. In fact I was going to suggest that very thing at the BOD Friday Morning. It is a pain to have to do form after form for all of the applicants. As long as we are doing this here is my Membership Committee report:

The past year has continued the downward membership trend. Overall the club has lost three and a half percent of its membership over the last year. We need to stop this trend.
This committee has been in contact with both the club membership chairs and presidents with ideas to increase membership. We have asked for ideas from the clubs as well, and those ideas have been promulgated to the clubs. Some of the ideas as well as new ones were ably put forth by our president, Steve Kennedy in an article that appeared in the Jaguar Journal. Other ideas that have been put forth and have shown to work with some clubs (but not others) have been to leave business cards under windshields. Also, leaving copies of the club newsletter at dealerships and other locations seems to work as well. Any time you can get you club into the local media is a very big plus.
Recruitment of new members and retention of old members is a major problem or should I say headache for most clubs. I know that I, as the Jaguar Club of FloridaÔÇÖs Membership Chair, have sent emails to not only the current non-renewing members, but also to many of those members whom we have not seen for a number of years.
Another way to increase membership is through visibility. Many of our activities by their very nature are outdoors. However, most often we hide them away, far from the mainstream foot traffic. If you can find a venue for your events in a downtown area or at a large mall, people will become more aware of your club. Another grabber is using unique trophies. JCOF has used freeform lexan and glass as well as porcelain plaques as trophies as have a most of the other Florida clubs.

Finally, I would like to thank my committee members for putting up with me and for such a good job over this past year.