Retired but Active
Our Logo shows a man on a bike
it could just as easily be a woman.
...that's what we're about; being active in our retirement, taking life by the throat and shaking every last pleasure out of it.
We're a varied lot: some of us have our health and mobility - can ride a bike - others not; some of us are affluent - others penniless. Retired but Active is for us all, the powerful, the victims and everything in between.
If the internet can help us to enjoy retirement more, then let's use it to the full! For those of us who are essentially housebound, it can be a link to the world, for those of us who are out and about it can be a mechanism for sharing our pleasures with others.
We are expanding the site as we go along, adding sections to help those who don't really want to retire alone and for those who don't want to retire at all. But we want Retired but Active to be as democratic as possible, responding to the member's needs and demands.
This is the forum in which to make your points: to take charge
.
4000 Spammers and counting
Submitted by webmaster on Sun, 02/11/2008 - 12:54.4000 spammers and counting - we must be doing something right.
Join the Retired but Active Team
Submitted by webmaster on Thu, 30/10/2008 - 00:15.
Forward the Greys
Submitted by webmaster on Thu, 16/10/2008 - 10:40.Finding my way round the site.
Submitted by Old John on Wed, 01/10/2008 - 16:30.Getting started.
I used to be a 'has-been'
Submitted by webmaster on Mon, 11/08/2008 - 22:58.My career came to an abrupt and unexpected end!
I wondered who I was now I was no longer defined by what I was
I had been 'the boss' to a hundred or so people, and I had been 'the boss' since my early thirties. 'The boss' was part of my persona; I liked it that so many people liked to work for me, that I had moved on so many careers, solved so many questions, moved so many forward and suddenly that was all gone.
I missed it when it went.
Now I am my wife's husband; my children's father, my grandchildren's grandfather.
I used to be a has-been
July was a frustrating month
July 2008 was a frustrating month
It started out OK, with a decision to split the site into 3 to allow individual sites to be better targetted and more effective. It would also give us the opportunity to upgrade our software before we fell so far behind that it was a huge job to catch up.
To explain
To cut down on cost and remain independent we use splendid 'open source' software called 'Drupal' together with 'Gallery2' for the picture gallery and 'Phpfreechat' for our chat room.
Which Theme is the Better?
Submitted by webmaster on Fri, 08/08/2008 - 17:01.Somebody's Law
Submitted by webmaster on Tue, 01/07/2008 - 12:40.- eBay had been fined some extra-ordinary sum for allowing fake Diors to be sold on the site
- That they were also auctioning discounted credit notes from major stores.
Well, of course, no market that wants to remain reputable can allow illegal trading on its patch - and ignorance is no defence - but what does that tell us, the punters.
Moving On
Submitted by webmaster on Mon, 30/06/2008 - 14:35.Moving on
We saw the setup of Retired but Active going ahead in 3 phases
Page Content Competition - Entry Form
Submitted by webmaster on Mon, 30/06/2008 - 12:33.Use this form to submit your entry to any of our Page Content competitions
- No skills required
- You can submit your material in two ways
- You can type direct into the 'entry' box double spacing your paragraphs by using the 'return' button twice or
- You can create your material in your favourite word-processor and then cut and paste it into the 'entry' box.
- Submitting Images
Welcoming Max
Submitted by webmaster on Tue, 24/06/2008 - 22:09.
Max Lewis Joins
Max comes to us as part of the partnering deal with Fitnessfirst
He adds to our 'fitness after 50' section within our Retirement Lifestyle site www.retiredbutactive.com and has written some essential reading On diet for the over 50s and will be adding more over the coming weeks and months.
Splitting the Site
Submitted by webmaster on Tue, 24/06/2008 - 21:54.- The Retired but Active suite nears its target
- When we set up Retired but Active back in 2005 we believed it would come of age when it attracted 1,000 visitors a day
- On Monday 23rd June it attracted 700 visitors with more than 2,000 pages opened. Not there yet!
- Splitting the Site
- As pat of the process we have split the site into its 3 components to make it more SEO friendly. The parts are:
- www.retiredandactive.org our online community site
Do you, as a member of the over 50 community, believe that
Submitted by webmaster on Sun, 22/06/2008 - 17:29.The Advantages of Age
Submitted by rogerwebb on Mon, 16/06/2008 - 17:09.
Sometimes it's difficult to appreciate the advantages of age
When your joints creak, more tablets than food pass your lips and your short-term memory starts to fade, it's hard to imagine that 'maturing' is supposed to be a positive process. As a friend said over the weekend, you know you're getting old when you don't have to run to the gents; because it simply and gently seeps out.
The World gets by Without My Input
Submitted by rogerwebb on Fri, 13/06/2008 - 17:44.Its all very strange...
that I'm up with the lark every morning, eager to turn the radio on and suck in all the misery that the world can generate.
... and just of late it has much on offer
What with earthquakes, African Dictators, droughts and floods, every morning I can find enough to get me worked up for a day or more. Bush or Brown has only to open his mouth, another celebrity get arrested for drugs, some guy in Austria lock up his daughter.......
Then I go on holiday and the world is denied my input
...and it didn't seem to notice.
No-Talents
Submitted by Wilde on Mon, 09/06/2008 - 11:16.I've got no talents - make me a star
I watched a programme on the box last night which explained that TV companies find it cheaper and easier to elevate 'no talents' to stardom than to pay real talents to produce real entertainment. The evedence of my eyes says you don't have to be good looking, and that of my ears says intellegence isn't a pre-requisit.
Well I've got no talents so why did they leave me out? I'm only moderately ugly and my family frequently comment on my dimness. I qualify!
The Retired but Active Chat Room
Submitted by rogerwebb on Tue, 03/06/2008 - 14:13.Chat Rooms put you in touch with the world
Chat Rooms are for teenagers- True: many Chat Rooms are designed for teenagers and others are dominated by them
- Retired but Active Chat Rooms are for members only, and we don't have teenage members.
Group Leadership
Submitted by rogerwebb on Sun, 18/05/2008 - 09:31.
The success or otherwise of Retired but Active
... in its mission to improve our retirement experience depends on our ability to attract Group Leaders with the time and inclination to explain their own area of interest to others.
Software 'for free'
Submitted by rogerwebb on Fri, 02/05/2008 - 14:00.I use the expression 'for free' deliberately as it's one of my pet hates and like a man with toothache I can't resist giving the offending clause a tweak every now and then.
The real expression for software like drupal is 'opensource' either as one word or two. It is living proof of the generosity and weaknesses of much of mankind: a sort of active anti-globalisation that prevents the big software houses from running off with even more of our hard-earned.
After the Clyde
Submitted by rogerwebb on Fri, 02/05/2008 - 13:52.My trip to the Clyde resulted in a complete rebuild of Retired but Active, away went Frontpage and in came CSS. Kevin worked round the clock to remake some of the of the original stuff whilst i worked on new copy to widen the scope of the site.
But the basic problem of giving members real access remained. The only way we could do that involved asking for e-mails, then cutting and pasting. Kevin realised that this involved more work than seemed reasonable for someone who had a living to earn as well and dropped out.
Days on the Clyde
Submitted by rogerwebb on Fri, 02/05/2008 - 13:49.
Of course it didn't work. It was mounted on the wrong software (software that resided on the home computer whereas Drupal stands on the server where anyone with the right passwords can access it), aimed at the wrong audience, and it was as boring and static as hell.
Otherwise it was fine.
Getting Started
Submitted by rogerwebb on Fri, 02/05/2008 - 13:42.Getting a website of this complexity up is a great challenge especially as, with limited funds, it has to be done using free open-source software. The software is great, but the guys who write are much more interested in new concepts and facilities than in documenting their stuff properly or in solving 'bugs' that users find.
Nevertheless it is amazing to think that this stuff is available for nothing (if not 'for free')
We often get stuck on the really technical stuff because the software writers assume we're all as up-to-speed as the are - fat chance.
