Proved in another post I am an anorak, so had to vote yes.
I hope it happens.
Cheers Col! 
Ok…here’s where we’ve got to in the thought-process of seriously considering this one…A few points to ponder and give us your opinions on, if you would… 
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Photos - Whilst we agree that a photo forum would be good, there are a few possible problems with this. Our main concern is whether we end up having copyright problems…By this we don’t just mean if people are pinching photos from elsewhere to put up, but also from the firms who own the trucks. We had an incident only recently where a member was asked by his employer to take photos of their trucks down because they didn’t want them on a public website. Whilst we could make it clear that permission to cover this must be sought, how do we check that it has been given? After all, it’s our necks on the line here, and us who can potentially get sued…
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Topics for inclusion - Where do we draw the line? What goes in which forum? What gets moved from one to another? How do you define what goes where strictly enough that the mods know what to move and what to leave and the members are clear on where to post things?
We can see a real danger of the main Drivers Forum becoming a list of “Topic moved” after “Topic moved” given the sheer quantity of stuff which could end up in either category… -
How far do you take it? - If we start having different forums for different posts like that, how many more do we have? And how far do we allow the main forum to be diluted as a result? And which mod has the time to shuffle stuff around for hours on end? could end up being an administrative nightmare…
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Vintage Lorries and Lorry Drivers. - This one we could do fairly easily since it’s easy enough to define. Would that be any good to you?
Will await your thoughts with interest…
How old do you have to be to be a vintage lorry driver?
I am quite sure I wouldn’t be old enough
Also UK Law is quite clear on the fact that the person who has took the photo has legal copywrite, not the person who is the subject of the photo or the person who owns the object of it!
So as long as the photo is in the public domain or was took by the person submitting it, it would be quite legal to post on any website!
Copyright Issues
I would agree with TC regarding the copyright issue, copyright belongs to the picture taker. There are thousands of websites that have photos on them, no I don’t mean those kinds of pictures, and they usually have a disclaimer along the lines of; “While we believe the pictures used on this site to be in the public domain if you feel any are not please bring this to our attention and they will be removed.” That seems to cover it for most sites were members post hobby related pictures.
The pictures that had to be removed recently had been taken in a restricted area where cameras are not allowed, it wasn’t about copyright issues.
The Truck mags feature pictures of trucks taken by readers and sent in for publication. These can be taken in MSA’s, on the road, etc. and they don’t have a copyright problem
Topics for inclusion
Give the forum a title such as “The Photo Album” or “Picture Vault” and it sort of removes the off topic problem. If it is a picture of a truck, old, new, customized or falling to bits and the member is posting it because; “I drove this,” “This is my truck,” “Saw this nice truck” or “What the hell is this?” it would go in the picture forum, simple.
How far do you take it
By having the sort of pictures Mal suggested in his initial idea in one forum, away from the main PDF it means there would be less slower loading pages in the PDF for those on a dial up connection, the pics can slow page loading times a lot and sometimes people get bored waiting and click away from the thread instead. By having the pictures in one forum those who don’t want to download them can ignore the forum. There is no indication in the threads in the PDF when it contains pictures and may be a slow download.
Vintage Trucks
I think this would be too restrictive, I get the feeling from posts in support of Mal’s thread that members would want to see pictures of trucks old and new.
Just my couple of cents worth. 
I can see Coffeeholic’s point made just above about vintage trucks.
I didn’t mean really old ones in particular though, (that would be of very limited interest, I agree) more the likes of 10, 20 years ago -Volvo F88s, DAF 2800s etc. that are still earning a crust as well as starting to appear on the rally scene(Mal’s recent post on the A series/180 Gardner ERF as an example).Topics like these would be ideal for this proposed new forum.
Also driver’s anecdotal tales of the past -like Truckyboy’s recent postings ,as well as for example Toytowns’ ongoing progress reports as an artic unit and ordinary run of the mill box trailer are converted into what will become a truly unique outfit, - the only one of it’s kind in Britain.These are the kind of topics that would be best , I think anyway, on an ‘anoraks forum’. 
Perhaps a 6 months trial, to see if it takes off, maybe ?
Hmmmm! All very interesting, and Im glad ideas are getting batted about, and there is some interest in the idea! I actually envisioned a forum that would go beyond lorries and drivers tales, but could also include them, if you see what I mean, as these already have a home as it were on the PDF!
I see the PDF as a place where the day to day issues of the driver are well served, the Anorak forum would be more where people could discuss any type of detail that interestes them, like personal hobbies and interests and then see what responses they got.
For instance someone might know a lot about planes, and they might start a thread about a certain jet engine, or aircraft. People then might add to it, or ask questions. Or it might be about a certain diesel engine, or a history of a marque. Some might have photos of boats, or musical instruments or whatever in fact. Does this make sense?
With pictures, I suppose the best way to ensure copyright would be to either post the ones you own, or, get permission if you want to post someone else’s. I dont know whether subjects should be limited, but in the respect that the forum is not in competition with, or meant to cover the same subjects that can be found in other places. As for moving stuff from the PDF to there or vice versa, why bother, it would just be an additional forum for those that wanted to use it?
Ok…here’s the final decision…good news and bad news…
Good News[/i] is that YES we’re puttig up a Photo Forum. In it you can post up your favourite truck-related pics (there’ll be instructions in there on how to do it) …plus we’ll leave it so that you can post replies to chat about them.
Bad News[/i] is that it’s a NO to a general Anoraks discussion forum. We just can’t see the need - truck-related stuff can stay in the PDF and there’s Bully’s Bar for the rest! We just don’t want to risk diluting the forums too much, basically.
So there you have it, a compromise. 
Obviously it’ll take us a short while to get the new forum set up…so watch this space!!!
Lucy and Rikki
Fair comment, at least you looked at it. The photos will be interesting at least!
Fair Enough
I agree with the decision here. I think this site should be kept (apart from Bullies) to Transport related issues.
I consider that other Anorak/Spotter pics, discussions etc. (i.e. boat, train, plain, Steady Eddie) will be already adequately catered for elsewhere on the WWW.
Rgds, Jonathan