twitter river updates??

sinorthwales · Post by **sinorthwales** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 10:33 pm

Just a thought I have been experimenting with using twitter to provide river level updates as I live right on the Llugwy and regularly drive past other North Wales rivers. Would this be useful to people or am I just wasting my time? Is it worth getting some tech type person to integrate this into this site so that people could get to the information easily and lots of people could all contribute? Playak have integrated twitter into peoples personal profiles but I was thinking of more than this. Interested in peoples thoughts? Just bash allfreeoutdoors into twitter if you want to check it out.

stewarty905 · Post by **stewarty905** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 10:59 pm

How about just an archive of all rivers on here (contributions welcome) split into say regions and if you fancy paddling it on a given day just go to the river listed and hopefully someone has put up some current info for everyone.....something to think about for the contollers here, you could even book an "up to date" slot if you know when you want to paddle and recieve the info real time.

MattBibbings · Post by **MattBibbings** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 11:10 pm

stewarty905 wrote:How about just an archive of all rivers on here (contributions welcome) split into say regions and if you fancy paddling it on a given day just go to the river listed and hopefully someone has put up some current info for everyone.....something to think about for the contollers here, you could even book an "up to date" slot if you know when you want to paddle and recieve the info real time.

Been here long?

stewarty905 · Post by **stewarty905** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 11:17 pm

Na only about 10mins pal just logged on how about you......./

Jim Pullen · Post by **Jim Pullen** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 10:28 am

MattBibbings wrote:
stewarty905 wrote:How about just an archive of all rivers on here (contributions welcome) split into say regions and if you fancy paddling it on a given day just go to the river listed and hopefully someone has put up some current info for everyone.....something to think about for the contollers here, you could even book an "up to date" slot if you know when you want to paddle and recieve the info real time.
Been here long?

I assume Matt was referring to the regional updates forum, where you'll find topics for every river with a guide on the site. If you want to report river levels for a specific river then please use it! There are also some dedicated topics in this such as the Dart levels thread or the ones I've created for the NE/NW regions. These seem to be working reasonably well, but as with any of these non-automated online systems they are dependant on contributions from users. Having someone who lives next to a river is very useful if they are prepared to update the topic all the time (eg Steve for the Tees).

The twitter thing sounds like a good idea, but this site is run by unpaid unsponsored volunteers (unlike playak) so I doubt any of us could afford the time to do this.

NPearce · Post by **NPearce** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:11 pm

Just thinking about this,

Easiest way would be to add #ukrgb or something at the beginning of the tweet. If a few people start using the same basic format it is easy enough to start and anybody can join in.

'#ukrgb, Conwy, gauge at 5 on A5 road bridge. Good paddling level' kind of thing.

Easiest way to publish on a website would be using RSS: http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=%23ukrgb or any number of plugins designed for the purpose.
The more paddling websites to add a feed to the twitter river levels the more popular / successful it would be.

Nathan

AnnieC · Post by **AnnieC** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:51 pm

Irishwhitewater used Twitter for river warnings for a while:

http://www.irishwhitewater.com/forum/vi ... itter#p165

itsallgood · Post by **itsallgood** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 8:24 pm

Good idea. Anything that gets river level info out has to be a good thing.

dave

box2k2 · Post by **box2k2** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 11:22 am

As a courtesy, does Mark have any issues with us minions using UKRGB as a topic on twitter?

Otherwise its good to go.

Adrian Shanahan · Post by **Adrian Shanahan** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 11:55 am

AnnieC wrote:Irishwhitewater used Twitter for river warnings for a while:

http://www.irishwhitewater.com/forum/vi ... itter#p165

They worked perfect to, the reason they were stopped is Twitter stopped supporting mobile devices in Ireland due to costs, but it was a great system.

sinorthwales · Post by **sinorthwales** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 12:57 pm

box2k2 wrote:As a courtesy, does Mark have any issues with us minions using UKRGB as a topic on twitter?

Otherwise its good to go.

I've not asked him that question direct but I did PM him with the idea first and his response was post it on here and see what other people thought. So that is what I have done.

box2k2 · Post by **box2k2** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 3:45 pm

sinorthwales wrote:I've not asked him that question direct but I did PM him with the idea first and his response was post it on here and see what other people thought. So that is what I have done.

Sorry, didn't mean to shoot you down in any way.

In hindsight I should have started with - I think it's great idea, although would help if I "got" twitter a little better.

I suppose it doesn't really matter what topic is used, just ukrgb seems the most obvious (or lazy) choice.

Dug · Post by **Dug** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 4:21 pm

God damn twitter, can't we just stick to facebook....

sinorthwales · Post by **sinorthwales** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 3:52 pm

box2k2 wrote:
sinorthwales wrote:I've not asked him that question direct but I did PM him with the idea first and his response was post it on here and see what other people thought. So that is what I have done.
Sorry, didn't mean to shoot you down in any way.

In hindsight I should have started with - I think it's great idea, although would help if I "got" twitter a little better.

I suppose it doesn't really matter what topic is used, just ukrgb seems the most obvious (or lazy) choice.

No worries you didn't I was just responding to your valid question.

sinorthwales · Post by **sinorthwales** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 4:00 pm

Dug wrote:God damn twitter, can't we just stick to facebook....

The reason I was thinking twitter was that it can simply be updated with a txt from a mobile therefor cheep and fast it can be done as I drive past a river on my way to work. I think the long term aim is that twitter will txt you updates straight to your mobile at no cost to you. At least I think that is how it works in other countries. Also means that you are not proving to all your non paddling mates on facebook that you are completely obsessed.

I was just interested to see if people thought it was a good idea or not and something we could all benefit from.

Adrian Shanahan · Post by **Adrian Shanahan** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 4:03 pm

sinorthwales wrote:
Dug wrote:God damn twitter, can't we just stick to facebook....
The reason I was thinking twitter was that it can simply be updated with a txt from a mobile therefor cheep and fast it can be done as I drive past a river on my way to work. I think the long term aim is that twitter will txt you updates straight to your mobile at no cost to you. At least I think that is how it works in other countries. Also means that you are not proving to all your non paddling mates on facebook that you are completely obsessed.

I was just interested to see if people thought it was a good idea or not and something we could all benefit from.

Dude,

Its a quality idea, and fair play to you, just set it up and off you go. Job done.

Adrian

Mark Gawler · Post by **Mark Gawler** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 9:08 pm

By popular demand we now have the ability to embed a Twitter feed in a post!

The first test of this is the new Dart Levels thread...
http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/foru ... 98#p419199

Please Comment in this thread not the levels update.

Mark R · Post by **Mark R** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 9:29 pm

Cheers Mark ...

RVabdn · Post by **RVabdn** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 9:34 pm

Seem like that might be open to abuse. What's to stop me creating an 'anonymous' twitter account and spamming that thread with links?

Tom_Laws · Post by **Tom_Laws** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 9:35 pm

"I Have Know Idea what the level is".... I saw that Gawler... tut tut.

Mark Gawler · Post by **Mark Gawler** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 9:47 pm

I

Tom_Laws wrote:"I Have Know Idea what the level is".... I saw that Gawler... tut tut.

I hate Twitter, you delete something and it stays out there to haunt you! My excuse is I was testing...

Tom_Laws · Post by **Tom_Laws** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 9:51 pm

Mark Gawler wrote:I
Tom_Laws wrote:"I Have Know Idea what the level is".... I saw that Gawler... tut tut.
I hate Twitter, you delete something and it stays out there to haunt you! My excuse is I was testing...

Too much twitter makes a twat.

Mark R · Post by **Mark R** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 9:55 pm

All very constructive, Tom.

All credit to Mark G for taking on yet another technical mountain behind the scenes at UKRGB, purely on his own initiative. These days he pretty well does everything short of carrying the server around on his shoulders.

Terryg · Post by **Terryg** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 10:09 pm

Sounds like we all owe Mark G a load of thanks.
Thanks Mark.

Simon Westgarth · Post by **Simon Westgarth** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 7:45 am

Great well done, Mark and Mark, lets see how she goes

Mark Gawler · Post by **Mark Gawler** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 1:02 pm

Mark R wrote:All credit to Mark G...
These days he pretty well does everything short of carrying the server around on his shoulders.

Not quite true, I don't pay the hosting bill or do any guide updates.

Does anyone out there understand Twitter? Do we need the register the #ukrgb hashtag at hashtags.org or anywhere? Will this give us any benefits?

Thanks to all those who have taken the time to show there appreciation. Those of you who have decided to follow me on twitter may be very disappointed as I cant see how I will ever use it, but I may surprise myself.

All comments welcome, but don't expect a speedy response. It's the paddling season!

Jim Pullen · Post by **Jim Pullen** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 4:29 pm

You'll now find similar twitter feeds on the North West England and North East England Regional forums. I think this makes updates a lot easier, particularly if you can text current levels in.

Barny P · Post by **Barny P** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 6:18 pm

Is there no way you could put this on the actual river guide?

Mark Gawler · Post by **Mark Gawler** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 6:21 pm

Barny P wrote:Is there no way you could put this on the actual river guide?

Yes, but you wouldn't see the forum level updates. I'm not sure we want to do it at the moment.

Tom_Laws · Post by **Tom_Laws** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 6:38 pm

Mark R wrote:All very constructive, Tom.

Sometimes we need the words of David Cameron to keep us sane.

I was idly wondering if I could be bothered to do a Twizzle update for the Conwy as I drive past it every day. Then I realised people could just ring the guage.

Conwy was at a humping 3foot over the guage and through the trees this eve (very pleasant it was too), but the Llugwy was pretty low in comparison.

UKRGB

The UK Rivers Guidebook

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