Tom
Administrator
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2005
- Posts
- 52,001
I've watched this discussion for several days without commenting, but I figure it's time that I, as the forum owner, chipped in. I appreciate the comments, and will take them under advisement. However, almost everything I see posted here is opinion, some of it inaccurate or speculative.
FWIW this forum has never charged for access in the last 21 years we've been around. However, when we moved from our prior host (Compuserve/AOL) to the Internet almost 10 years ago, I was personally on the hook for the costs.
We have a very small number of forum members who have generously dipped into their pockets to contribute to our costs, some 1-time and a number annually or more often. Some of these folks respond to Betty Brewer's efforts to impose a "rally tax" at the annual Quartzsite rally, while others use the Donate button above, and a few have mailed or handed me a check. I really appreciate the support of all these folks, and can't begin to thank them all, although I respond individually & privately to individual contributions and post a public message to thank rally contributors.
Contrary to the apparent belief of some folks, I've never attempted to make a dime out of this forum, although I've spent my share of all-nighters dealing with sever, software, and related issues. I budget and manage the expenses conservatively, with one eye on our future resource needs and expenses. I don't normally solicit ads, but have been approached by several businesses at different times.
The 'income' derived from donations and paid advertisements is used for the benefit of our forum members; In addition to funding our increasing resource demands, it pays for other benefits for our members, some of which may not be obvious, and to ensure the long-term viability of the forum.
As a little background, Compuserve 'forum owners', aka 'business partners', prior to my time were paid quite lucratively, but that all ended just before I took over the forum. They (the forum owners) didn't need to worry about resources or costs, as this was all taken care of by the host.
I've been approached by a number of 'commercial' entities to purchase this forum, some on multiple occasions, some of the offers being quite lucrative. However, although I always listen to what would-be suitors have to say, I've turned down every offer. My belief is that our members would not like the outcome if I sold out, not the least of which would be a plethora of ads.
To answer one question that came up ... our forum software has a built-in "subscriptions" capability, and it can be configured with other functions to allow or limit forum features, including the display of ads. I've consciously avoided enabling subscriptions.
FWIW this forum has never charged for access in the last 21 years we've been around. However, when we moved from our prior host (Compuserve/AOL) to the Internet almost 10 years ago, I was personally on the hook for the costs.
We have a very small number of forum members who have generously dipped into their pockets to contribute to our costs, some 1-time and a number annually or more often. Some of these folks respond to Betty Brewer's efforts to impose a "rally tax" at the annual Quartzsite rally, while others use the Donate button above, and a few have mailed or handed me a check. I really appreciate the support of all these folks, and can't begin to thank them all, although I respond individually & privately to individual contributions and post a public message to thank rally contributors.
Contrary to the apparent belief of some folks, I've never attempted to make a dime out of this forum, although I've spent my share of all-nighters dealing with sever, software, and related issues. I budget and manage the expenses conservatively, with one eye on our future resource needs and expenses. I don't normally solicit ads, but have been approached by several businesses at different times.
The 'income' derived from donations and paid advertisements is used for the benefit of our forum members; In addition to funding our increasing resource demands, it pays for other benefits for our members, some of which may not be obvious, and to ensure the long-term viability of the forum.
As a little background, Compuserve 'forum owners', aka 'business partners', prior to my time were paid quite lucratively, but that all ended just before I took over the forum. They (the forum owners) didn't need to worry about resources or costs, as this was all taken care of by the host.
I've been approached by a number of 'commercial' entities to purchase this forum, some on multiple occasions, some of the offers being quite lucrative. However, although I always listen to what would-be suitors have to say, I've turned down every offer. My belief is that our members would not like the outcome if I sold out, not the least of which would be a plethora of ads.
To answer one question that came up ... our forum software has a built-in "subscriptions" capability, and it can be configured with other functions to allow or limit forum features, including the display of ads. I've consciously avoided enabling subscriptions.
