Ex Forum Admin

Hi, Search engines such as Google recommend that webmasters request relevant links to their sites (conduct a link campaign), but avoid participating in link farms. According to Google, a site that participates in a link farm may have its search rankings penalized. Search engines try to identify specific attributes associated with link farm pages and filter those pages from indexing and search results. In some cases, entire domains are removed from the search engine indexes in order to prevent them from influencing search results.  

[quote user="renaud"] Paul, Don't forget that, when all else fails and you're stuck in some god-forsaken deserted petrol station at one in the morning kicking a pump that refuses your English card, out of the darkness will come a petite blonde local angel on her somewhat noisy moped also looking to tank up. She WILL have a French card, will be delighted to accept your hastily profferred french cash, will insist on helping you fill up, and will then categorically refuse any gesture of thanks (such as a contribution to her own petrol) you may suggest. After all, to her it will be much the same as asking for cash-back while buying something with a card at the supermarket. As I have a nasty and as yet uncontrolled urge to run the car as near to empty as possible (someone once convinced my frugal mind that the lighter a car is, the more mpg it attains), I have been in such a position three times in as many months. I have yet to be disappointed by the next driver who turns up. Even a good command of French is not essential when gestures will suffice. [/quote] This happened to us on our journey back from Le Mans this year. The Diesel we had could easily make the journey back to UK without filling up, but unfortunately my friend’s car needed constant filling, we pulled in and it was French card only - luckily a lovely chap from Paris helped us out. Thanks go to that man - Pierre. I think he might have regretted it though when about 20 other English cars heading back from Le Mans (all running on fumes at this point) all turned up and had the same problem....  

[quote user="Christine Animal"]   ....Does this mean that the Ile-de-France are lurkers ?   [/quote] It appears so...

Hi, 64,000 visitors. James

'ransom strips' is what we used to call them....[;-)]

http://www.livingfrance.com/blogs/map.asp  

Hi Cassis, It's not just based on active members, it is a general traffic report for all visitors to the forum who are based/viewing from France. This forum membership, as Quillan rightly said, is part of a much larger forum for all our Archant websites. James    

Hi, It's a percentage of the total in France. It is also based on number of users in those locations rather than number of posts by users in that area.

Actually I have some snazzy new software that will give an indication: % of forum users by region for month: 1. Poitou-Charentes 21.1% 2. Ile-De-France 20.6% 3. Aquitaine 12.0% 4. Midi-Pyrenees 8.6% 5. Bretagne 8.0% 6. Languedoc-Roussillon 6.5% 7. Pas De La Loire 5.7% 8. Rhone-Alpes 4.8% 9. Basse-Normandie 4.4% 10. Centre 2.2% 11. Provence-Alpes-Cote D'zur 1.6% 12. Haute-Normandie 1.3% 13. Norde-Pas-De-Calais 1.0% 14. Bourgogne 0.8% 15. Picardie 0.6% 16. Auvergne 0.5% 17. Alsace 0.2% 18. Champagne-Ardenne 0.2% 19. Lorraine 0.0%

[quote user="Ejc"] We also have a maine coone - by the name of Bilbo Baggins, and we love him to bits - we're very much his humans - who else could wander up to MOH during a foootball match, complain that he is starving NOW and have hubby get up and go and feed him and miss a goal.... [/quote] My friend has one...it's absolutely massive!!

There was some extra code not allowing other users to reply to Mascamps post. I have now removed this code.

There was some extra code not allowing other users to reply to Mascamps post. I have now removed this code.  

Hi The forum software comes with an automatic filter with words already in it, but this can be changed.  

About 10 posts have been removed from this thread. Stick to the topic. I'm getting fed up with reading this forum and finding threads turning into personal arguments among members. If this continues the members involved will be removed from the forum. Can I be clearer?

Sorry, but can I remind forum members not to talk about other forums on this board. Thanks James

[quote user="catalpa"] As I said, Netiquette is mostly a code of politeness on the web so whatever the perceived rights and wrongs of the embryonic French forum that someone is spending personal time and effort to get started, a big commercial publishing company like Archant would look pretty mean allowing this forum to happyslap it. There are other Anglo regional commercial sites which, by contrast, are fair and enjoyable game. [6][6] [/quote] From my point of view I wouldn't want to be the type of webmaster that had 'wars' with other websites, maybe it's an acknowledgement of the work involved and others doing the same as myself. Webs a big place...different sites bring different perspectives and information...and that's what the webs about. IMHO.

Moved to 'Lounge' and suggest thread is kept on topic. James  

Shop from home nowadays [:)]. Anyway, good idea and I have added this section now. Sorry for the delay but I thought it best to move the FAQs out of their own section and integrate them within their relevant forums. This then gives a bit more space on the forum main page for new sections.

Hi, Have added this new forum section as requested. James  

Same here... will look into this. James

Originally posted by Quillan:   I received an French email yesterday which is a spin on a old scam that has been doing the rounds.   In it’s original form the scam appears to be a job offer from Honda. The basic idea is that you will become a financial agent in Europe for them. They will send small engines to Europe, the type that power lawn mowers etc and you will collect the money on their behalf, take a commission and forward the balance by Western Union.   The French version is about doing the same thing for a finance house based in the UK and again taking a cut and sending money by Western Union.   In both cases you will be sent cheques or bank drafts for a lot of money. You forward the money on (less your commission) by Western Union and then of course 6 to 8 weeks later the bank phones you to tell you the cheques or bank drafts are forged.   Why does it take a while for these scams to be spotted? Well when they first start out and people loose money they are never too happy about letting others know they have been taken as a fool by these people so they tend to keep quite. So it takes a bit of time for it to become a recognised scam.   I can give you two tips. Never get involved in anything that looks to good to be true and never use Western Union. The reason for not using Western Union is NOT because they are not a reputable company but because they are not secure. By this I mean the money is wired and a person needs only a passport as proof of ID to get the money at the other end in cash. Nobody knows where they live and you can’t get your money back.   As a side issue, if you use Ebay never use Western Union either, especially this time of year (Christmas), you won’t receive the goods. Ebay strongly advise never to use them or any other company that uses the same method of money transfer.   Having said that Western Union is very good for sending money to family and friends that you know well anywhere in the world. We used them when our daughter had her handbag stolen on holiday and she had the  money in hours.

The "Kidookid" Association have launched a fantastic drawing competition ..children age 3-15 are invited to send us a drawing of their " Dream Planet" . Vicky McCreery and Mark Abson from Riviera Radio have agreed to judge the winners who will receive prizes such as : Free passes to Marineland, the Labyrinthe de l'Aventure and lots of Toys too! So Mum & Dad take some time out with your kids to chat about key environment issues, water usage, recycling, not dropping litter etc. to raise awareness from an early age ..get them to draw a picture and hopefully win a prize! Entries must be sent to Kidookid! By 30th June 2006 . Full details on how to enter and where to send your entry can be found on our website http://www.kidookid.com Happy drawing!

For all that missed my post please see: http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/690661/ShowPost.aspx Thanks. James

  It's regarded that postings about other forums is against 'netiquette' and to be fair this hasn't really happened on here until lately. I am aware that some members (me included) reasoned that the forum at That's France has been completely removed and that some members have posted about it, but I have been in contact with Trevor (Admin) and this is not the case, therefore may I politely request that we don't post about their forum on this board. Many Thanks. Best Regards James  

France Magazine has done a few articles on canoeing but not on the Dordogne. Main reason for this post was to test a change to the software.... dago