I have activated the long-awaited change to our online data files and their location. This changes the locaiton where people used to see the G&D ads which are posted online each month. They have been moved to the NEW Resource Center.


The other big change in this realignment is that the G&D Password that was published in the G&D is no longer in effect. From now on members need to use their personalized ID and Password in order to log in to the Resource Center. This protects the information from being accessible to non-members who happen to pick up a copy of the G&D at a swap meet.


But more importantly, this new format, and navigation will make it much easier to find and save data in this new location.


Give it a try.

Go to http://vcca.org and select
MemberServices, then
Resource Center.

Then after you log in, click on Resource Center.


By the way, the November G&D ads are now available there too.

Almost 400 megabits of data added to the Resource Center -- including information about early carburetors and wiring diagrams for many years of early Chevs.

Thanks to Erling (in Norway!!) for a lot of this information. It's taken quite a while but I finally have a good way of displaying a lot of it. Watch for more to be posted as soon as I get the files grouped and renamed.

Go to http://vcca.org and click on MEMBER LOGIN.

FULL EXPLANATION:

The club created a new SECURE web location on January 1st this year. In order for ANY member to gain access to that location, they need to validate themselves. Once validated, then they use their newly created personal ID and PASSWORD to gain access. From then on, their Unique information gets them access to all of the VCCA Member Services location and data.

This is exactly the same as having a PIN for your bank, or a Password for any other site that you shop at such as Amazon.

The key is that all members need to "activate" their online information ONCE. After that, the system knows who you are (by linking your "validation" to your VCCA membership information) and your ID and PASSWORD becomes your permanent key to getting in.



There is no similar process that has been in effect previously. This is brand new for the club. Whether you've been a member for 20 years, 30 years, or 1 year, everyone needs to create their new online member account (and ID and Password). You do this by including information from your G&D label in order to VALIDATE who you are. (It's really that simple.)

Again, this has been in effect since January 1st, 2010. If you haven't validated yourself before now, then you weren't paying attention. This process also allows you to RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP ONLINE WITH A CREDIT CARD. Again, since January 1st.



Now, what brings a bunch of folks to the table this week, is that we just moved the G&D ads and the rest of the VCCA Forms behind this same SECURE location. Now you can get to it using the SAME ACCOUNT information that you create when you VALIDATE yourself to the Member Services site. This is going to be your universal account information for ALL VCCA actions in the future.

The net effect is that we just GOT RID OF A PASSWORD that was being mis-used. Since it was being published each month in the G&D (and changed only once a year), anyone with an old G&D issue, or anyone with an expired membership account could still gain access to the Ads (and the other Technical data that was there). By moving it all to the Member Services location, only ACTIVE MEMBERS now have access to it. Each account is unique, and once each member validates online, they have full access until their membership expires. Then they are automatically disallowed further access. This totally solves the previous problem.



With this change there is only TWO ID/Passwords now being used in the VCCA. The Member Services one, and the CHAT site.

We have now gotten rid of the "membersarea" "vcca2011" account which was not very secure, but it did the trick in getting G&D ads online 5 years ago.

And guess what?.... sometime down the road, we hope to consolidate those too. Ultimately your Membership account will give you access to everything -- VCCA ads, Technical data, online renewal, AND --> CHAT.

So if you haven't registered for your MEMBERSHIP account yet, next month before you throw away your G&D cover, take a minute to log in and "validate" yourself. Create an ID and PASSWORD. Then write it down, because it will become your next-best-friend for future VCCA actions.



And -- if you threw away your G&D cover already for this month, and don't want to wait until next month, then call the VCCA Membership Office, and identify yourself sufficiently and they'll activate your account now. It's really that simple.

Want their phone number?

http://vcca.org/contactus.htm
Look for "Membership Information and Help".

--Bill Barker
"Creating a better VCCA online service.... (you finish the quote)"

Possible suggestions:
... in spite of the bitching.
... one step forward and two kicked backwards.
... whether they want it or not.
... and, once again, it's too late at night to be posting long-winded comments.

Hi Bill,

Yes, a long explanation. But it all seems to make sense.

The "problem," at least for me, is the validation process doesn't work. The two numbers (red and blue in the example) on the outer cover still produce an "invalid" response. Same thing was happening, to me, 15-16 hours ago.

Whoa is me. Maybe I'm doing something wrong??? I'll just wait and see if it "works" later....

Bill.

For everyone else... I checked and the problem that 43Bill is having is because the Membership database didn't have his email address listed in it. Without that piece of data, a person can't be "validated". In this day and age, a person's email address has almost become more unique and identifying than their SSN. !?!?!?

When we checked a year or so ago, there was about 2,000 people who didn't an email address on record. So all of them are eventually going to have this same "registration" problem.

So, if anyone else experiences difficulty logging in, just give the Membership office a call Monday-Friday 9-5 (I think), CST and they'll validate you over the phone.

Their number is at http://vcca.org/contactus.htm

Cheers!!

Hi Bill,

First, thanks so much for helping out your computer dummy buddy on all this.

Second, You say I had no email address in the "membership database." I'm sure I thought if I had an email address in my chat "profile" that would cover it.

Apparently not so. Must have an email address in the "MEMBERSHIP DATABASE" also.

Now that I understand those are TWO different things, I'm guessing that may be why others are having problems like I was????? If so, then they need to call the Membership office and get their email info to them????

Well anyway, thnx again....

Bill.

Yep, when I presented the consolidation strategy to the Board of Directors last year, I showed them that our biggest problem was going to be the lack of email addresses in the Membership database. If you think about it, why would the club have collected ANY email addresses over the past couple of years? We never used them for anything, nor published them.

So now, instead of waiting another couple of years for the email percentage to be a lot higher, we decided to go ahead and use the "email validation" check anyways and get people moving into the Primary Password process now, rather than later.

As I said earlier, when we reach our final configuration, each member will only have ONE ID and PASSWORD for ALL VCCA services. And that will be your Membership one... so it's a good idea to activate it now, rather than later.

By the way -- I just added 50 more Wiring Diagrams to the Resource Center this morning. Thanks to everyone who is sending me stuff. If I don't have to scan it, then it's a lot easier for me to sort, rename, and post it. After all these years, we are finally on our way.

OK. Good to know. And understand. Thanks very much....

Bill.

42Bill, I did some checking on your email address and your email address on the Chat Group membership list for the Non-Geographical Chat Chapter is different than the one Billy added to your membership listing in the VCCA membership Database, which is the one in your profile. Shouldn't they all three be the same?
I am sure that many of us have the same problems, several email addresses, which to me makes an email address a poor bit of data to base any database on!

Slogan completed here: (#187738 - November 02, 2010, by BBB)

Creating a better VCCA online service, best built by BBB!

Thanks, Billy Boy!