New Website, Newsletter, and Discord Server
It’s been a busy week!
Over the past several days, you may have seen that the South West Flight Sim Group now has a new website, newsletter and Discord server - which joins the existing Facebook group to give our members a social platform in which to share stories, chat with each other, and even share their screen live while flying.
We thought it might be an idea to outline the use-case for each part of the jigsaw - to help clear up any concerns or questions both new members, or the existing membership might have.
The Website
The new website acts as both a homepage for new and existing members, and a landing place for potential members to find out about the club, how we operate, and how they might get in touch.
The website contains the following major sections:
Home - a jumping off point to everything we do
About - a little more about the club, and how we are organised
Calendar - a google calendar listing upcoming meetings and events
Newsletter - the latest news for the group, with email subscriptions
Discord - information about the Discord server, to help ease new users in
Facebook - information about the Facebook group
Simulators - a list of the popular simulators our members use
Contact - a form through which visitors to the website can get in touch
The website works across all device form-factors - meaning desktop machines, tablets, and mobile phones should be able to access the information within it equally well.
The Newsletter
The newsletter takes over from the existing blog. Recent posts have been migrated across, so nothing has been lost. The huge advantage of the newsletter is that it supports email subscriptions - so you can choose to receive an email the moment a new issue of the newsletter is published.
Visit the Newsletter to have a read
Visit the Subscribe Form directly
The newsletter also supports feed aggregators, so if you use something like Feedly or Inoreader, you can subscribe through those services too.
The Discord server
Discord has become incredibly popular as a way for clubs and groups to allow their members to meet up online - to message each other, share screenshots, have conversations (in much the same way as traditional forums), use voice chat, and even to share live screens with each other.
Over time we may explore the “Events” features in Discord to organise regular on-line fly-ins, or for live discussions - bringing the club members together online as an alternative to the real-world meet-ups.
Discord will allow us to meet up more regularly, and to share more knowledge, experience, expertise, and enthusiasm with each other about the latest simulators, aircraft, scenery, add-ons and hardware we’re trying out.
Both MyAir and VirtualFlight.Online use Discord as their primary means for social interaction, and for hosting regular events with great success.
Discord is a free download for PC, tablets, and phones, and works with most headsets, microphones, and speakers - you can find out more here:
The Facebook group
Recognising that many people use Facebook to keep in touch with friends, family, and the various groups and associations they are members of, we have a foothold there too - a public group that anybody can join.
You can visit it here:
That’s quite enough for one newsletter!
Time to go start the computer up and take the virtual skies.
We’ll look forward to seeing you in the Discord server soon!