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Pia Walker
April 25, 2006, 5:28 p.m. (Message 45108)
Which reminds me - it would really be helpful for us poor travellers if all clubs/brances/sets/individual dancers could check the contact details which are in the public domaine - i.e. not your own websites. I was recently in Dubai (and other places) and decided to go dancing in Dubai having missed dancing in all the other places due to conference dinners, travel etc. My contact in Dubai which I received via Mexico had not managed to contact me before I went, because I was too slow to contact her - but I knew that in Dubai they danced in the Dubai Country Club - and when there, I checked online and the Expat Womens pages confirmed this plus date and that it was Squash Court 3. I took a chance and a taxi and ventured forth into the traffic chaos and general maniacal driving in this wonderful place - when I got there I was received with totally blank stares - nobody had heard about SCD - apparently the info I got online was (years?) out of date. Gate crashed the pool bar in the Country Club (my only chance to get to such a place :>)) had a drink and a snoop (memories of 6 arabic gentlemen in full garb playing snooker in one of the rooms) and went back to my hotel. No dancing. Before anyone says that I should have checked with RSCDS etc, the dancers out there apparently are not affilliated - yes indeed there are plenty places out there where Scottish Country Dancing is carried out without contact with Edinburgh - and therefore one cannot check up on them via RSCDS. Just a little by the way - it may help others to join you in dancing. Pia Who really enjoyed Dubai anyway - can recommend Dune-bashing - it is a bit like Wild/White Water Rafting with a 4 wheel drive in sand. We have a member going on holiday to Leipzig this weekend for about 6 weeks. Any advice on SCD availability within reach of Leipzig during that time will be most welcome, and will be passed on immediately. Many thanks Angus Angus Henry; Secretary, NT Branch RSCDS web site <http://www.users.on.net/~anguka/> -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.4.6/323 - Release Date: 24/04/2006 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.4.6/323 - Release Date: 24/04/2006
Pia wrote: > Which reminds me - it would really be helpful for us poor > travellers if all > clubs/brances/sets/individual dancers could check the contact > details which > are in the public domaine - i.e. not your own websites. That includes me - http://www.scottishdance.net/groups/ [Oh no - I've probably just doomed myself to another hundred updates...still 6 weeks behind on previous updates...] Cheers, Ian Brockbank Edinburgh, Scotland xxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx http://www.scottishdance.net/
On 4/25/06, Pia <xxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx> wrote: > > Which reminds me - it would really be helpful for us poor travellers if all > clubs/brances/sets/individual dancers could check the contact details which > are in the public domaine - i.e. not your own websites. My feeling is that it should be some sort of centralised service even. Everybody registers their website with a particular provider (could be done automatically first time) and that provider periodically (say every 3 months) runs dead-link checkers, sends confirmation emails of 'X linked to you', etc. Theoretically, this should even be a part of HQ's services to the branches, but I suspect they have their own problems with technology and/or there may not even be providers out there to do such services. Do people (website masters in this case) even care if their links are dead? Does anybody send 'notice, dead link' emails to web sites they visit? I do, but then I worked in tech-support before..... I am quite interested in this topic, so if you don't want to email the whole list, private emails are welcome too. Regards, Alex.
Pia wrote: > Which reminds me - it would really be helpful for us poor travellers if all > clubs/brances/sets/individual dancers could check the contact details which > are in the public domaine - i.e. not your own websites. > > I quite agree, but do we know where our details arre published? Or how to get them updated? It's not always obvious. Martin, still at same address in grenoble France -- but with a new telephone number. Who shall I send it to?
> I quite agree, but do we know where our details arre published? > Or how to get them updated? > It's not always obvious. Easy: 1) Go to: http://www.google.com 2) Put in your top level website address, e.g. http://perso.wanadoo.fr/scots.in.france (notice not even the final slash) 3) Search brings you to the page with options for Cache, Similar to, Linked to, Contain the term 4) Check the webpages returned by the last two searches (Linked to, Contain the term). Those are the ones Google knows about. There might be overlaps. 5) Go to http://www.google.com/alerts (may need a free account). Setup the alert search with the website URL to automatically be notified when it appears in new places. This is not a 100% solution, but it is a very good easy step in the right direction. Hope this helps. Regards, Alex.
One way is searcing by using the name and/or some lateral thinking - in my case I searched on Scottish Country Dancing Dubai. And then see what comes up. With regards to Alex comments - well this was a third party web site I found the info on - so they probably weren't aware that the info was out of date. One way would be to take a print out of the home page of all the places where you place information and keep them in a folder - this can be handed over when you give the job to someone else or used when you move. Pia
This is a problem I am always highlighting when I do website reviews for the Dance On! Magazine. There are a lot of dancing websites which are not up to date, some years out of date, and to make it worse, many events listings to not have the year so you have to look at a calendar and check the day of the week (if they have that). I always think it is better not to have a website, than to have an out of date website. It would be impossible for one person to maintain a central website (witness Ian's problems keeping up to date) and John Sturrock's is the one the RSCDS link to - they will never manage it. The best option is for regional sites where events are held with links from the RSCDS site. This is already happening by default to some extent. I manage a site which posts events in south west Scotland and north west England (and a few a bit further afield) www.dumfries-rscds.org and Alasdair Graham manages one for west central Scotland. These areas are a size that one person can manage to keep up to date. Happy Dancing Sue Petyt www.suepetyt.me.uk Skype Sue Petyt
On 4/25/06, suepetyt <xxx@xxxxxxxx.xx.xx> wrote: > It would be impossible for one person to maintain a central website (witness > Ian's problems keeping up to date) and John Sturrock's is the one the RSCDS > link to - they will never manage it. Oh, I did not say that one person maintains the website. What I meant is that one person/company checks all the websites. There are tools on the market that will scan all your pages and check them for dead links (a good free one is at http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html). Then the dead links (and often they wil be shared my many websites) could be chased to see if they just moved site structure, moved to a new website or completely gone. The final result would be sent to the individual site maintainers and they can update the links wholehog, rather than one by one as people discover them. > I always think it is better not to have a website, than to have an out of date website. I don't fully agree on that one. Perfection should be a goal, not a pre-requisite. It is worth knowing that Dubai group existed at some point and be able to chase from there, than not to know about it at all. Regards, Alex.
Hi Pia Is that the group that Roshen used to teach????? I might have her in the wrong area. Now if you had asked the Strathspey Server group first, I bet you would have got the information you needed. That said: I am still looking for the 2 dances requested the other day. I have been in touch with Glasgow and no repsonse from them either. So there you have it. Cheers Marie
Well, even if you do have the right place and the right time to go, there could always be a reason why an that specific day you would like to come there is no dancing. So I would advice: NEVER go to a dancing without checking with somebody form the group. We like to have guests and we hate to have them standing outside the door ;-) Greetings, Anja Cologne Scottish Country Dancers (Germany)