The DSG has a new meeting place on the web; somewhere to chat, ask questions, discuss subjects technical and trivial, share a joke, get the latest news, sell, buy, and more.
If you're familiar with web forums, by all means go straight there; but please read the forum policies before posting. If you're not familiar with web forums, or want more information, read on!
A forum's a community - an extension of the DSG onto the internet. The website's good for getting information out there, but it's essentially static and pretty one-way; we put the information up, you look at it. A forum is much more like a chat at a show or at the pub, or a phone conversation; it's two way. It's not a substitute for conversation, and we wouldn't want it to be - but it does mean you can ask a question of or start a discussion with a wide variety of people at once, wherever they are and whenever they're available.
The forum's split into several sub-forums for different subjects; as well as general discussions there are DSG and forum announcements, sales and advertising, an events forum where you can discuss, suggest and make arrangements for upcoming shows, a motorsport forum, technical and historical discussions, vehicle histories and registers, and places to chat, moan, have a joke and more.
Some of these are open to all, some to DSG members only. You can go straight there and start reading, but if you want to start a new topic or reply to an existing one - or view the members' forums - you'll have to register with our partners, Yuku.
To register, follow the link; you'll reach a page that looks like this:
Fill in the information required and click to continue; on the second page you'll finish registration and pick a user name. The user name will be shown next to each message you post; it can be a 'real world' name or nickname, whichever you like. Once you've registered, you'll be given a profile page where you can fill in any information about yourself you like - or none, if you don't want to; though we'd encourage putting a bit of blurb about yourself so everyone knows who they're talking to. Remember your profile is public, though; don't put sensitive personal information, such as your address, there.
There's a lot you can do with your profile, if you want; Yuku lets you customize the appearance and layout, pick alternative user names, and more; but you can also leave it just as it is if you want.
Once you're at the main page of the forum you'll see all the subforums, grouped by subject - general, technical, registers, and so on. Click on the name of each subforum and it'll take you to a list of the current discussions in that forum.
Posting a new topic, and replying to existing ones, is pretty straightforward; click on the 'New Topic' or 'Reply' buttons and you'll get a edit box to type your reply into. You can also add photos or illustrations, make your text bigger, smaller, coloured and so on. If you just want to tap out a quick comment without bothering with all that, use the 'Quick Reply' box at the bottom.
If you need more information, there are 'sticky' topics - permanently pinned to the top of each forum - to tell you about that forum, and there is general information and frequently asked questions in the 'announcements' and 'help' sub-forums. If you've got any questions, post them in the 'forum help' section & we'll help as much as we can.
Some of the sub-forums are restricted to DSG members, mainly those that have information that might be misused if it was in the public domain. To view them you need to be a member of the DSG and registered with Yuku, and you have to apply for access to them.
When you first try to get into these forums, you'll see a page titled 'Apply for membership'. Type in a message letting us know who you are and your DSG membership number and submit it, and we'll get you in as soon as possible; although there may be a day or two's delay. You don't need to apply to every members' only forum separately; we'll get you in to all of them.