DIY Picture Gallery ?

[Cate&Rob]

This is probably a question for the forum administrators . . . but, could a DIY picture gallery be set up to help those planning projects or needing to make repairs that have already been accomplished by others ?

A while ago, I asked Grand Design directly if they could provide pictures from the manufacturing process and received a “we’ll look into it” reply. It would be a great addition to a DIY picture gallery, if they could be convinced to participate. For example, pictures from the manufacturing process would show where the frame structure is, where the roof beams are, where the tanks are, where the wiring harnesses run, where it would be safe to drill a hole and, more importantly, where not to drill a hole . . . etc.

As owners are starting to do their own maintenance and repairs with the running gear and behind the access panels, some really useful reference pictures are starting to appear on this forum . . . but these are not retained in any organized manner. It would be great if these pictures could be gathered in one place and sorted by model (Reflection/Solitude/etc) or by system (plumbing/wiring/HVAC/etc). It would probably be useful if each photo was published with a meaningful name, to make best use of the search tool and to help others find what they might be looking for.

As they say . . . a picture can be worth a thousand words . . .

Rob

[PolarBear]

I to would like to see this done,,,,,,,,,

[PolarBear]

I too would like to see this,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Gyro Gearloose]

I'm glad to see others wanting a picture album location. I contacted Chris back in December, trying to come up with something like that.

Unfortunately I don't think the direction Chris wanted to go would work well, or maybe I misunderstood. What I was thinking about was having an a place where different albums could be created within something like a folder and no dialog except folder titles and album titles.

Example:
Folder> "Greased Brake Pictures"

Album> "Pats Greased Brakes"

Album>"Jim's Greased Brakes"

etc.
Then another folder could be created like,
Folder> "Spring Pictures"

Album>"1"

Album>"2"

Then as Jim said, people could link to the Albums/Pictures in the threads.

I went to the vBulletin web site (the people who do the engine for the forum) and it looks like the engine being used in the forum may not have the capabilities I was asking for. I may be wrong. It may require a different version of vBulletin.

I used the Album like Jim tested early last year for a post that required a lot of pictures, but its under may name and not easy to go lookup something all "Greased Brake Pictures" in the forum for all users.

So maybe we can come up with a hybrid idea. Something like creating an album under your own Member album location and then link to that album from something like a folder in the Reference Library or something similar to that. Basically, some way to group all the links to greased brake pictures albums in one locations. Not sure how to do this... Ideas?

I requested the Reference Library early last year because of all the cool docs I was seeing in the forum but always had a hard time finding. Posting in the Reference Library requires Administrator approval before it gets posted. The problems I've had posting there was it never showed up so I guess it didn't get approved. If I recall I also requested from admins to put some kind of sticky in the Reference Library that has instructions but never heard back.

Hope this all makes sense,
Pat

Here is my conversation on trying to get a Picure Album Location (I was still waiting on another response from Chris):
"

Re: Group Photo FolderAlbums for Greased Brakes

Originally Posted by chris
Pat,
Do you think a separate section dedicated to brakes would suffice? I could put it under the General Discussion forum.
Thanks
Chris

Originally Posted by patwardell
Hi Chris,

I have been doing some work off forum with with Rob (Cate&Rob), Jim (TusconJim) and TomHaycraft on Greasy Brake issues and some other GD issues that we are analyzing.

I have been trying to look at pictures of Greasy Brakes issues to try to get an idea of common trends. The problem is trying to find pictures that are all over the place and in different threads and then try to correlate the pictures to a model and year.

I was curious if there was a way to have common folder like "Greased Brakes Photos" that site sponsors could create an album in that they could put their greased brake pictures in only. I was thinking a standard naming convention for the albums so they could be grouped. Something like "YYYY-MM(Build Date) Reflection 303RLS 8000(miles) Member" for example. It would be nice if it could be searchable. If people put their pics in these albums and references them with a link it could possible decrease disk space usage.

Another idea would be a general "Grouped Photos" and another folder could be created under that for different themes and then albums in the specific themes.

Is something like this possible? Pros and Cons? Options? Your thoughts? FYI, I was an IT Engineer and also one of the first Web Masters at HP back when there was only HTML.

Thanks in advance for you consideration. I will take your response back to Rob, Jim and Tom.

Thanks,
Pat Wardell

Hey Chris,

Thanks for the reply.

If I'm understanding correctly, I'm not really looking for another place for dialog and threads. Looking for a place to put photos in a centralized location for a specific subject (greased brakes) that are grouped together so the pictures can be grouped by person and RV model like in a folder or an album. Don't want dialog just pictures.

The problem is that there are so many greased brakes threads that it is almost impossible to look at the photos and categorize them to look for trends or identify key issues. We may present finding to GD management.

I hope this is making sense? If not, I will try to clarify further. You have any other ideas?

FYI, I accidentally just replied to message initially in email..... sorry. Old habits die hard.

Again Thanks,
Pat

"

[DMWestoby]

Good idea!

[LCBoyer]

That sounds like an awesome idea!

[Gyro Gearloose]

i did some playing around with creating a blog.

Here is a concept for collecting comments, data and photos, using Jim's Photo Album idea and a Blog

With a Blog a primary story is created and stays at the top of the blog. Others can then comment on the blog.

A Blog could be created and call something like Greased Brakes and the story of the Blog is what to put in the Comments of the Blog. Also a specific Tag could be put in place for the Blog.
The user can create a Photo Album of their Greased Brakes in their member area. This allows for more pictures.

A blog can be managed by the creator, so it would not require an Admin to manage. An Admin can probably assign other user to help manage the Blog. There may be an issue with loosing the data if the user leaves the forum (account no longer available). Maybe a photos user could be created.


The Blog story could request specific information for the comments like:

• Basic description of the issue
• RV Model
• RV Year
• Failure Year-Month
• Other Specifics
• Hyperlink to Members Brakes Photo Album
• Request others to not to reply to the comments

The Blog can then be searched with an advanced search in Blog Comments only and specify the Tag to identify the correct Blog.

So a search could be done with:

• Keywords: "Reflections 303rls" 2015
• Tag: "Greased Brakes"
• Select Dates of the Last year

This should get you all the 2015 Reflection 303rls that have posted brake issues in the Blog in the last year.

Now you have something measurable, and the ability to look at all the photos from the group found.

Just found a potential issue with this idea. The comments in the blog don't have a hyperlink so the users brake issues comments can't be posted in a forum thread for example, unless copied and pasted from the Blog. If the Member wanted to show their pictures of their brake issues only in the forum they could use the link to their Photo Album.

Anyway just an idea,
Pat

[Cate&Rob]

Well . . . this revived an old thread
Since I wrote the OP over two years ago, a few things have changed. There is now a "library" section on the forum, but no one seems to be able to figure out the approval process to post things there. I have also learned that GDRV is very protective of their manufacturing processes. While any owner can tour the plant and discuss anything with them in great detail, they do not want pictures posted to public forums. Unfortunate, but understandable.

I still think that a common reference location for DIY information would be a great idea.

Rob

[COLRetired]

I agree, love the idea. It would make it so much easier for those of us starting our mods to see what other have done, and post what we do as well.

Pete

[TucsonJim]

I just noticed that there is a place at the bottom of each picture where you can post extensive comments about the picture. These albums and the associated comments might be a great place for posting "How To" information. A person could post information here on the forum about what they've done, then provide a link to the album for more detailed information.

Jim