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Escapee App


Dmitche4

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No there isnt. I wish there were.

It is a forum that contains written words which you are using. What would an app do? I am supposing someone is thinking about the iRV2 app - - just another way of reading the same material and I find it easier to do using the browser with the mobile skin. But since the forum doesn't do anything else but provide a platform, to read and write, why do we need an app?

 

Barb

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Blog: http://www.barbanddave.net
SPK# 90761 FMCA #F337834

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You could do a lot with an app, the problem is will it make enough difference to the membership that they want to spend their dues to develop, support and maintain it.

 

First thought is a function to tie your GPS location to SKP functions and facilities near you. Maybe get it integrated with the Day's End data too if some fee for that can be arranged. An annual route planner that shows functions scheduled and lets you adjust your plans to make as many as interest you.

 

Any bored programmers out there might try their hand at developing one, if it is good you'd get a lot of users and maybe make a few bucks off ads or a paid version that removed the ads. Maybe we could get James (SKP computer guy) to do it, sleep and a life outside your job are optional aren't they?

First rule of computer consulting:

Sell a customer a Linux computer and you'll eat for a day.

Sell a customer a Windows computer and you'll eat for a lifetime.

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Sure wouldn't want to depend upon an app that used the Escapees mobile page with the map for parks since there are parks on that map that no longer give Escapees discounts or are out of business. PPA app works well when traveling as does the All Stays app.

 

The only time I go to the Escapees website anymore is to load more money into our mail account. I suppose an app might be good for that - but only if they make it easier to do - - things like having to type in your name/address each and every time is ridiculous. Would seem to me that after almost 9 years the system should recognize me at sign in and just ask "how much do you want to put in this time".

 

Barb

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Blog: http://www.barbanddave.net
SPK# 90761 FMCA #F337834

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If, as some have claimed, Escapees is trying to figure ways to attract younger people, perhaps an app would be a way to do that? Of course it can't be just a way to interface with the forum. How ridiculous. It would need to provide several things not already available such as Stanley suggested. Perhaps a way to check mailboxes, renew accounts, trip planning. If membership seems to be aging and, as a result, declining, it seems that doing things the way they've always been done is a way to continue that trend.

Trish & Raquel

--------

"Road Runner" -- 2005 Volvo VNL780, 500hp Cummins ISX, Ultra-Shift, ET-Hitch, 198" wb

"Wile E." -- 2013 Heartland Landmark San Antonio

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If membership seems to be aging and, as a result, declining, it seems that doing things the way they've always been done is a way to continue that trend.

 

I suggested the same thing 9 years ago - - "but we've always done it this way" was the response and nothing has changed. Change is a part of natural life cycles and if one can't change then the chance of remaining viable is slim. But, it has been 9 years and the essential things of the Escapees website haven't changed - to ignore doing things easily online is to ignore the future. Doesn't bode well for the organization that NOTHING has change in the way they process payments for mail accounts, etc., in 9 (nine) years.

 

Bab

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Blog: http://www.barbanddave.net
SPK# 90761 FMCA #F337834

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That's a sad commentary on an organization that has held such a vital purpose to so many lives in the past.

Trish & Raquel

--------

"Road Runner" -- 2005 Volvo VNL780, 500hp Cummins ISX, Ultra-Shift, ET-Hitch, 198" wb

"Wile E." -- 2013 Heartland Landmark San Antonio

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The only time I go to the Escapees website anymore is to load more money into our mail account. I suppose an app might be good for that - but only if they make it easier to do - - things like having to type in your name/address each and every time is ridiculous. Would seem to me that after almost 9 years the system should recognize me at sign in and just ask "how much do you want to put in this time".

 

I'd also like to see the Escapees have it set up so you could choose to have them do an automatic charge to your credit card when your mail service balance got down past a certain level. When we were domiciled in South Dakota, that's the way we had our account set up with the mail forwarder there.

 

Or, at least save the credit card information so that I didn't have to enter the information all over again each time.

LindaH
2014 Winnebago Aspect 27K
2011 Kia Soul

 

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That's a sad commentary on an organization that has held such a vital purpose to so many lives in the past.

It would be sad if it were true. While their site has never been on the cutting edge in the past, it has changed in many areas over the past 9 years. More to the point, the current issue of Escapee's Magazine has a completely new website listed as one of the things coming in 2015 so perhaps we should wait to see what that brings?

I'd also like to see the Escapees have it set up so you could choose to have them do an automatic charge to your credit card when your mail service balance got down past a certain level.

We have had our Escapees mail service set up to do exactly that for more than 10 years now, and if memory serves we did that back in 2000.

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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There was an iOS app several years ago. It was called "Escapees Park List" and was created by "RV Expedition Software" in 2008. It is no longer in the app store. I suspect there was not enough demand to support the cost of maintaining it.

 

Or, at least save the credit card information so that I didn't have to enter the information all over again each time.

 

The banking rules regarding retention credit card information are quite strict and are not something that Escapees would want to deal with. See Target, Home Depot, Staples, etc., for other issues.

Line 1 - ends with just the return (enter) key.

Line 2 - ends with shift-return (shift-enter) key combination.
Line 3

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There was an iOS app several years ago. It was called "Escapees Park List" and was created by "RV Expedition Software" in 2008. It is no longer in the app store. I suspect there was not enough demand to support the cost of maintaining it.

 

The banking rules regarding retention credit card information are quite strict and are not something that Escapees would want to deal with. See Target, Home Depot, Staples, etc., for other issues.

 

I don't want them to remember my cc# number, but you're going to tell me that they can't fill in my name/address?

 

Barb

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Blog: http://www.barbanddave.net
SPK# 90761 FMCA #F337834

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Barb, if you are using IE, you may be able to save your form data so it will auto complete some entries. Chrome offers the same option. Could be you have that option turned off or Escapees needs to do better labeling on their input fields to trigger that fill. I'm not sure if Safari or Opera has the fill option.

 

Lynda, I really hate the idea of any vendor keeping my CC# readily available. Too many stories of compromised data out there to give me a warm and fuzzy.

 

Beginning to suffer from cabin fever and have a serious case of hitch itch.

Berkshire XL 40QL

Camphosting and touring


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Safari autofills, but the Escapee site doesn't seem to trigger that. And it is the SAME set up that has been there for at least 9 years. I realize that the site works for them and that Escapees really feels that IT isn't a big part of their operation - - but if ANY firm expects to maintain business in the coming years, then they need an IT presence, not somebodies part-time job.

 

Barb

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Blog: http://www.barbanddave.net
SPK# 90761 FMCA #F337834

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There are lots of things Escapees "could" do to make their website and business interactions smoother. They have done "some" things over the last 16 years we have been members, but as Kirk said, they have never been on or near the leading edge of technology. Some for reasons I understand, and some for no really good reason. BUT, I have reason to believe that we will see some good changes with the new technology website.....so lets take a wait and see attitude.....that would be my suggestion.

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail
2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it)
2022 New Horizons 43' 5er
2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhome 
2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU
No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units
2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar power
www.jackdanmayer.com
Principal in RVH Lifestyles. RVH-Lifestyles.com

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We have had our Escapees mail service set up to do exactly that for more than 10 years now, and if memory serves we did that back in 2000.

 

How did you accomplish that? It's certainly not a choice...that I've seen, anyway...on their website when I go to my mail service account.

 

And, just as an FYI, I'm using IE, but it also doesn't autofill on the Escapees website, although it does on some other websites.

LindaH
2014 Winnebago Aspect 27K
2011 Kia Soul

 

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You can call the service and set up auto refill. But in this day and age when we get new cards every few months because some store has been hacked, I'd rather decide which card to use and how much to refill when I do the refill.

 

Barb

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Blog: http://www.barbanddave.net
SPK# 90761 FMCA #F337834

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How did you accomplish that? It's certainly not a choice...that I've seen, anyway...on their website when I go to my mail service account.

As I said before, it was long enough ago that I don't recall the details, but I do know that there was a paper form which I filled out and mailed to them. I suggest that the best way to find out would be to call the mail service and ask them.

 

Phone: 888-580-8444

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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You have to fill out a form. We have had it that way forever, it seems. When we had to cancel a card I think we had to fill out the form again....but I could be wrong about that aspect.

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail
2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it)
2022 New Horizons 43' 5er
2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhome 
2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU
No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units
2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar power
www.jackdanmayer.com
Principal in RVH Lifestyles. RVH-Lifestyles.com

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Having the same encryption level as banks is wonderful... So Did Target, Home Depot and a bunch of others, encryption is not a magic wand you can wave over something and make it secure. The NSA had their stuff a lot more secure than banks, oopsie that leaked out too.

The whole system, humans, hardware, software and interconnections all have to form a secure system in order for the data to be secure and no matter how good the last two get that first one is always going to bite you.

There are audit systems out there to help folks secure their data or enforce minimum standards:

PCI: https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/ or their about page


The Register on PCI http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/17/pci_revamp_after_target_home_depot_breach/

"There will absolutely be more data breaches in 2015 – possibly even more than we saw in 2014 due to the booming underground market for cyber-criminals around both credit card data and identity theft. Compliance doesn’t guarantee an organisation won’t be breached, but meeting compliance requirements and staying ahead of today’s evolving threat landscape significantly mitigates an organisation’s risk," he concluded.

PCI DSS has been the established payment card industry standard since 2006. Many infosec watchers have historically criticised PCI as simply offering a minimal security baseline, containing such advice as "use an antivirus" and "protect cardholder data", rather than adopting a more risk- or business-focused approach. Merchants are obliged to adopt the standard in order to avoid higher card processing fees in general and tougher fines in the case of problems.

Compliance for small merchants is possible through self-assessment but larger firms are obliged to hire independent Qualified Security Assessor to run independent audits.


For an aspiring cyber-crook a mailing service could be quite attractive since all the ID needed to steal an identity is all there.

First rule of computer consulting:

Sell a customer a Linux computer and you'll eat for a day.

Sell a customer a Windows computer and you'll eat for a lifetime.

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I suggested the same thing 9 years ago - - "but we've always done it this way" was the response and nothing has changed. Change is a part of natural life cycles and if one can't change then the chance of remaining viable is slim. But, it has been 9 years and the essential things of the Escapees website haven't changed - to ignore doing things easily online is to ignore the future. Doesn't bode well for the organization that NOTHING has change in the way they process payments for mail accounts, etc., in 9 (nine) years.

 

Bab

 

If you keep up with your Escapees magazine you may have noticed in the board message that Escapees is currently under a complete redesign of the website. The new site will address many of the current issue we have and you can also expect to see several upgrades as a whole. We can't wait to share with you what we have put a countless hours into in the near future.

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I still would love to see Escapees enable Tap-a-talk. Very little maintenance but makes it much easier to use on the phone when we are not connected to the internet with the computer. Every other forum I belong to uses it.

2007 Arctic Fox 32.5 rls for full-timing, now sold.

2014 Sunnybrook Sunset Creek 267rl for the local campgrounds now that we are off the road
2007 Silverado 2500 diesel

Loving Green Valley, AZ (just South of Tucson)

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