Andy

I absolutely agree with you and it's a shame the juvenile actions of a small minority spoiled it for the majority, however I'm sure that same juvenile majority would still be just as juvenile if the facility were re-instated. In saying that, there may be some light on the horizon. The Content Management System which controls all the front page news etc was fine for the job when I started the site four years ago, but it's somewhat dated and simplistic these days. We have been actively looking for a replacement and the current favourite does have the facility to allow for comments, but only to registered users. That offers the control that's needed to bring something like that back. The big issue and ideal scenario would be tying registration for that in with registration for the forums and we're nowhere near that stage yet. Watch this space...

I would remind you the owner of this site is an Aberdonian....

This is traditionally a quiet time of year so it's always a bit like this at this time of year. There's only so much info I'm willing to reveal publicly, but hits and page views on Trials Central continue to increase on a month by month basis. It's been hovering around the 3,000,000 page views per month for a few months, gradually increasing. I migrated the server in July 2007 so don't have stats from before then but the trend is definitely continued growth. In terms of Forum Registrations, for the past few months it's run... October 2007 - 112 November 2007 - 149 December 2007 - 136 January 2008 - 165 Again, an upward trend. If you bear in mind the publicity I've done for TC since starting it four years ago has been absolutely minimal and 99% of people get here by word of mouth, I'm more than delighted with how the site does. Thanks to the sponsors and the supporters it's now at a stage where I can start to return a bit to the sport financially. As far as the new bike info goes - just as an example - I rely on people sending me that kind of information. I'm not a full-time journo and have a real-life job over and above this so don't have the time to go chasing for it. Trials is, or has been a very old-fashioned sport. It's only in recent times people are starting to adopt new technologies like computerised results and this fancy fangled Interweb! I was talking to Jake a couple of days ago about my plans for the 2008 WTC. I currently plan on attending all World rounds with the exception of Japan and Sweden. Japan because it's so far to fly and the Honda complex, though very impressive, is not a nice place to be stuck and Sweden because us Subaru Impreza nuts have a massive Colin McRae tribute weekend planned for that weekend. I am pleased to say I should be able to make the US round though as I'm out there the week before for a conference so will (hopefully) be able to jump on an internal flight to Tennessee. Depends on how awkward our company travel people are.

What Kinell said

It looks like Octagon have outsourced the Indoor WTC stuff. Email just received with a couple of first lap pics of Cabestany from a guy I've never heard of from a gmail email address. No results though - just two photos. The ultimate crazy thing is Cabestany is clearly wearing a bib promoting www.indoortrial.com which hasn't been updated since the 2007 season! Curiouser and curiouser!

I wouldn't bet on that. That's Charley's site and although he's a fantastic bloke he is not going to be updating it in the late hours of a Saturday night. As far as I'm aware, Octagon know their contract is not going to be renewed (yippee!) and they're only in it for the TV rights and the money they make from that. They have no interest outside that hence the lack of website updates etc.

I keep meaning to re-do it for TC. Just never get round to it.

There isn't a specific Tutorial for Trials Central, but I wrote this one for the Impreza Drivers Club when I took that on. It's equally relevant for here Clicky linky

You are kidding, right? This is Octagon we are talking about. Their own website hasn't even been updated to cover his year's events/dates. Your guess is as good as mine as to if/when results will ever appear. Apart from that I thought it was 19/1 - though it might be 21/1, 27/1 or 35/1 the way they operate.

"b4" isn't a word I've seen in the English dictionary. TC Rules: "Messages must be posted in proper English. Messages containing SMS Text-type abbreviations of words are not permitted and will be deleted on sight. Continued use of text message type abbreviations may result in posting rights being denied." You agreed to accept that on sign-up. I also pointed you to the rules after posting your wanted ads and you still didn't pick up on it. Not only that, but after being told that wanted Ads weren't allowed and accepting that you then went and posted a wanted Ad in your Forum signature Not if you want continued use of these forums they aren't. Why do you think the rules, which the majority have accepted for over four years, don't apply to you?

Firstly, the Classifieds system has no problem with Hotmail accounts. Please do not post false and misleading information. Hotmail may have a problem with treating the verification emails as spam when they're not, but there is no block, ban or problem with using Hotmail addresses with the Classified Ads system - many users are signed up successfully doing exactly that. Secondly, as far as deleting posts goes, you've been around round enough to know the rules - posts containing text talk are deleted on sight, but then I've noticed recently you don't really pay attention to rules, do you... My patience is wearing thin, grasshopper...

I don't detest anybody. That's a very strong word. Suggest we take this offline

Do we have a wee TC-lurking "keyboard warrior" taking your comments out of context John?

I think you guys are just being plain mean. It took me AGES to get HL to agree to pose for that photo

I did a few years ago. For me it was good as they had Wi-Fi so I could do the website updates from my room. Ask most hotels in Ft. Will about Wi-Fi and they look at you as though you're from another planet! The upside is they don't bump their prices up for SSDT week like every other Hotel in Ft. Will. The downside is you'll not meet a lot of Trials people there, but you're only 5-10 mins walk from where everybody else is and it's certainly the closest to stagger back after the awards presentation They're also not geared up for the whole SSDT thing. Go into any privately or locally owned hotel during SSDT week and you'll see every radiator and heater in the corridors covered in boots and riders gear. That wouldn't happen in the Travel Inn. They have the Brewers Fayre next door for eating and drinking, but again, it's not going to be full of Trials folk like the other main hotels. Rooms are as good quality, if not better than you'll get anywhere in FT. Will and the seats in the Brewers Fayre are unlikely to have been pee'd on by several hundred incontinent pensioners, unlike those in your typical Ft. Will SAGA Tour Hotel

That could only be Shaughan! On a more serious note, John Lampkin and Beta UK invest in Trials Central. As such, I would always recommend putting your business with those who help this site.

You're like me - Clearly spend FAR to much time on the Interweb

Of course Dabster's going to deny it. He doesn't want anyone to know how he REALLY arrived on this planet

I've not seen him about for a while, but Martin has been known to post on these forums

And she calls ME grumpy!

He's bought a Beta that's "been in the wars and has the scars to prove it". That's GOT to be an ex-Kinell bike

Fancy doing a wee diary for Trials Central? Might get rid of that grumpy old man image

For those in Scotland who know him, Iain Shankie was to be riding this. Gutted for him as he was really looking forward to it

Blimey. Even I didn't hear of that one coming! Good luck to the lad. TTT are a great Team and Michael Brown has a bit of experience I'm sure he'll be happy to share. Hope the lad likes Pasta

There was a guy there from a local TV station, but I think that was just for local news. I really don't think Sheffield will appear on SKY. The paying for video has raised a few questions. Let me explain why it's in place as it's not about making loads of dosh. I picked the wrong sport to ever do that! Trials Central on an average day uses roughly 3GB of bandwidth. In the three days since putting the Sheffield 2007 videos online Trials Central has used over 40GB of bandwidth - and that's just from registered Supporters. If I was to open all photo and video content to the masses, that 40GB would multiply at least 100-fold. Firstly, that would cause the server to grind to a halt making it unavailable to anybody and secondly the bandwidth costs (I have a monthly allowance then have to pay per GB over that) could never be met - not even by the very valuable contribution made by TC Supporters. I would have to close the site - and I'm not kidding on that. The penalties for exceeding bandwidth limits are costly. Whilst not as important, on top of that, I know that if it was all public and free it would be leeched by sites all over the world, the credit screens stripped out and all videos posted on YouTube etc with no links or credits to Trials Central and photos appearing everywhere, again uncredited. That's not really fair when it's myself and Trials Central users who do all the work and we all do it for the good of this site and the sport. So, the Supporters thing is deliberately a small amount, but is mostly there to seperate the real enthusiasts from the file leechers whilst protecting the efforts made by both myself and those who help contribute and every penny is added to the fund for the cost of getting to and covering events, TC beer fund at Hawkstone etc. On another note, I've just done a quick check as it's not just about Sheffield 2007. Supporters have access to the full archive of Supporters content, not just the stuff from the day they join. There's 3.8GB of Supporters content currently online, both photos and video from 2006 onwards covering SSDT, Pre-65, World Championship, European Championship, British Championship at Kinlochleven and TdN. The site is a hobby and not a business, but the Supporters scheme helps keep things going whilst keeping the bandwidth usage restricted to those who really want the additional content and keeping the bandwidth costs under control. Hope that explains why things are the way they are