Welcome to November (Nov 2nd 2020)

[hotairballoonist]

It’s been a while..

I have been busy with Dr. appointments, scans, blood tests and more.  I have been getting my exercise doing projects around the house, working on vehicles and accomplishing things I have wanted to do for a long time.  My rehab has been going very nicely and I wish to say thank you to so many who have been checking in with me regularly for updates.  There have been a few issues with my recovery but I am still one of the very lucky ones to survive the stroke.  Daily I am able to do more and more and normal is slowly slipping its way back into my life.

Emails

Our email system suffered a glitch and was down.  We have a mass mailer installed on our server.  With over 1000 members on the site, when we send out a newsletter our server sends out hundreds of emails in a matter of seconds.  The mass mailer also stays busy with the Follow Feature on the site sending out email notifications for calendar events, club newsletters, user posts and replies and more.  We are glad to say the mass mailer system has been fixed and is working well.

Video Tutorials

We have been upgrading our Video Tutorials.  We originally created many tutorials using Flash.   The Flash software system has been outdated by most browsers.  We have been adding NEW video tutorials made with the MP4 format.  The MP4 format allows them to play on almost any device.  Stop in and have a look at some of the new videos.  If you have features of the site or something you need more information about send us a note at Info@HotAirBalloonist.com and we will create a Video Tutorial for you.  Remember we are posting new videos all the time.  There is a section on the main page that shows the latest (NEW) video tutorials.  Have a look!

Speaking of Video Tutorials

We have a couple of new video tutorials that are worth the few minutes to watch.   “Starting a topic”  This video shows you how you can start a topic on HotAirBalloonist.com.   “HotAir.app map files”  This video shows how easy it is to download map files for use with the HotAir.app.  Lastly and most important is “The Follow Feature”  This feature is one of the best on the entire site.  The follow feature allows YOU the member to choose exactly what you want to know about.  Taylor the amount of email interaction by the specific topic or event you want to know about.  Turn OFF the items you no longer want to follow.  If you take the time to watch any of these videos, please watch “The Follow Feature”

The Twitter Promote.

We have some new software on the site now.  We allow members to promote their posts on our twitter account.  Say for example you post an item for sale in our Equipment 4Sale section.  With one click you can post that item on the HotAirBalloonist.com twitter account.  First thing we would like you to do is follow the #HABalloonist on twitter and next if you have an item for sale or you post a topic in any category hit the Twitter Promote button up near the Follow Button.  Don’t forget to follow your post too!

MAPS

One of the items we have talked about in the past has been Map Files.  We have an entire section of our Download Center dedicated just for flying maps.  If you have map files for your flying area and you would like to submit them so that others can share them please send them to us.  We will take any files you may have.  GPX, KMZ, KML and more.  We can also keep your file private using membership levels and even creating a private club for your area.  With a private club, YOU choose who can have access to your files.   YES there is a video tutorial on the Club Feature on HAB.

As always, thanks for taking the time to read and…

Thank you for all you do for the balloon world.

Be Safe, Have Fun and Stay Healthy.

Jeff A Thompson