NOTE - THIS IS WORK-IN-PROCESS as the site is in Beta.
TCG is a site configured to allow users to be social in storing data that is useful to document ownership, as well as treat vehicles, project chronicles, maintenance chronicles, and receipts as digital assets. The idea behind the site is that your receipts and ownership records, as well as project documentation, is a value-add that can be used to substantiate your ownership, as well as interact with like-minded enthusiasts.
TCG is currently in Beta. This means there will be occasional changes and updates, and we'll do the best we can to be transparent with these changes so that there are no surprises. While in Beta, the data storage and For Sale areas of the site are currently free. The plan will be to keep document storage and vehicle chronicling free to registered users, and possibly charge a modest fee for For Sale listings and advertising. We want to be up-front with our stakeholders, as we do not want you to be reluctant to do the work of chronicling your ownership, and then later have to pay for it.
TCG will not resell user data, and may have the occasional ad or two to help pay for things. We are not trust-funders (not that there's anything wrong with that in any way...!), so we have to pay for running the site. If and when the site grows and matures, we're sure to have bills to pay, so we want to be as transparent as possible as to how we plan to do this. We realize that a site is only as good as its stakeholders and constituents, and on this note, we're also planning on adding a Q&A and Suggestions Box to the site. When that's ready to go we'll let you know.
So how does this site work? Site functionality and understanding how you can utilize the site for yourself will be documented below.
- Vehicles as Unique Content
- Background Docs by Vehicle
- Vehicle Projects
- Vehicle Maintenance
- Vehicle Receipts
- Access Control
Anonymous users have limited site functionality. They can see published content, and any content that an authenticated user decides to share on the site. Anonymous users are restricted from sending sitewide contact notes to authenticated users, and cannot post any content.
We suggest registering as a user on TCG. See this link for setting yourself up! Note that registration is approved by Administrators, so it may take up to 24 hours to receive your registration.
Authenticated Users have all basic site functionality, and can upload their content within the site as they please. Getting started with uploading content starts with adding a vehicle, which is the cornerstone of the user's content within the site.
Authenticated users can also add comments, review the profiles of other authenticated users, and send sitewide contacts to other users. This makes the site a social experience, and one we're hoping is enjoyable.
TCG trusts that the user community can manage itself, and treat each other with respect and kindness. We have a zero tolerance policy for any content that is outside the scope of a positive community, and will ban and delete users if necessary. Just be nice and there won't be any problems.
Content is the posted media of any site user, including administrators. We do have some administrator-level users that will be adding News and various other content to the site, in addition to managing their own vehicle content and associated metadata.
As previously mentioned, only authenticated users can add content. As also noted, we trust that authenticated users will only add content that is appropriate for the site.
The Common Gear uses SSL to establish a secure, encrypted link between the client and the server. This ensures that the data hosted on The Common Gear is private and secure. The Common Gear also keeps all site files and configuration updated for all current best practices associated with security and site protection, data retention, disaster recovery, as well as requires a strong password for authenticated users. However, The Common Gear does not guarantee that you may lose data, either during an upload, or during the course of using the website from any of the various possibilities associated with data loss. The Common Gear is not responsible for your uploaded data, and is not responsible for user misuse. THE COMMON GEAR IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENT THAT YOU POST, AND THE SITE IS USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
There are various content types for the site - Vehicles, Background Documents, Projects, Maintenance, and Receipts. We very strongly suggest if you want to make your content publicly-facing that you remove any personal information from your content. THE COMMON GEAR IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENT THAT YOU POST, AND THE SITE IS USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. We do not plan on approving the content, and are relying on the community to report content that is not fit for the site.
You can keep your content from being seen publicly by default. Only you will be able to see your content, and if you choose to send it to the world, below is the process to do so:
In the Vehicle post (your content hub), click "Anonymous User" under the "View Any Vehicle Content" in the first checkbox. Checking this makes all content associated with this vehicle, as well as the vehicle, publicly-facing. See below for the screenshot:
- If you wanted to share your content with all authenticated users, you would leave the default settings under "View any Vehicle Content".
- If you wanted to share your content with a specific user or users only, you can do this too. What you'd do is add the username to the list of users you would like to share, and uncheck all boxes under "View any Vehicle Content". Note that you cannot uncheck the Administrator, as by default, this user has access to all content:
- TCG DOES NOT RECOMMEND GRANTING UPDATE OR DELETE ACCESS TO YOUR CONTENT TO ANY USERS. THIS COULD WRECK YOUR CONTENT.