Need your opinions (site related)

[Dabz]

Ok as most of you know this site was set up by me and Mac on Jan 1st at which point we both chucked a bit of money in to set up the forums software, get it hosted, buy the domain and advertise on google (which is where a lot ofpeople have found us!). We're now at the stage where we're still getting excellent results from the google advertising (which I've limited to £10 per month), but the forums are getting a bit slow and aren't displaying properly for some users at times.

I think this may be because of the type of hosting we have, which I'm interested in upgrading before we get much bigger. Obviously there's a small cost implication with this.

A lot of clubs charge a membership fee but I'm not really comfortable with doing that - we don't have anything to offer for the money just yet! (although we're trying to secure some good discounts etc). I've looked into advertising on the forums but I know from past experience that this doesn't ever make any money (maybe 50p/month hehe) so that's out the window.

So...not sure whether it'd be out of order to ask for donations or whether we should keep funding it ourselves. I'm not asking people to pledge money here...just wondering whether it would look wrong if maybe we set up a paypal account and collected the odd 50p when people have it spare to put towards upgrading the hosting etc?

[BB]

Although I haven't been a member for long I am thoroughly enjoying the camaraderie on here and would like to see it continue and improve. I thought it was the system in here causing problems this afternoon as I also lost connection with an external server, but presumably it may have been this system as well as it has been darned slow this pm and was no quicker when I was at home for lunch.

If you are going to upgrade systems presumably it will be easier now than if we get a lot more people on here? or doesn't that make a difference?

Obviously none of us want you guys to be out of pocket after all although you (presumably) set it up for fun you are not a charity!! Membership fees could be difficult at this stage as you say. Advertising on some sites & forums can drive you nuts unless you have a good pop up blocker.

What are other peoples views?

[Dutch]

I have no problem setting something up to pay over a little money each month.
I am guessing you are only talking £1 - £2 per month and if it can help me with my bike, gain me some friends and organise some good days out then i am all for it.
It may give us a little buying power too as when negotiating with suppliers you can say that not just anyone can join and if you give us membership numbers then the suppliers can check it and not be out of pocket either.

How many people have actually joined up??

Put it to a vote or something. Come up with 3 great ideas E.g
1) Membership fee for joining £5 and monthly fee £1 - £2
2) No membership fee but must apply to management for membership number and fee of £1 - £2 per month
3) Ask it like you have and for people to contribute when they can. (dont think that will work but i could be totally mistaken)

The only thing i will say from an accounting point of view is you must try and run it as a non profit organisation otherwise there will other things that will make your life complicated very quickly.
You and Mac could start up a bank account for the site where it takes 2 signatures to take money out but you could have your DD's coming out of there for ease.
Let me know if you need any help setting it all up :)

[SkyJawa]

There seems to have been a lot of issues with the Internet altogether since last night (global DNS lookups got stuffed I think as Google and Ebay were down) but seems to be settling down now :)

I don't have a problem with a Paypal account being set up :)

[Rich_aka_Baldspeed]

I am sure Baldspeed Racing could make a donation

[Dabz]

As you say BB, it's going to be far easier to do any upgrades now than when we (hopefully!) get busier and bigger, so I'm quite keen to try this server upgrade in the near future. We're not talking about much money too so I think it'd almost be daft NOT to try it - if it still doesn't work then we can reasses it.

The more members we get, the more negotiating power we'll have to go to people asking for discounts, which would benefit us all!

As has been said, we set this up for fun and to meet other bikers as we didn't know many other people with bikes at the time, and it's proving to be a really good friendly forum! I don't ever see it becoming a for-profit organisation as that's not the idea behind it, so any money we took through dnations, meberships or however would be put back into the site in terms of the ongoing hosting and advertising.

The joining fee may be prohibitive to some people...I'm very keen on encouraging as many bikers to start chatting as we can. I do have an idea for an ongoing fee though - perhaps a 'members only' forum area, discounts to apply only to those people, etc. I really don't want to put anyone off joining though - if everyone could chat here for free it'd be ideal!

perhaps we should run on donations for now and think about ongoing fees once we get bigger?

Dutch - as our resident accounts guru I'm just going to send you a PM with some questions!

[Dutch]

I am off home now and not often on the internet at home as it is only a 56k connection but i will try and find some time to answer everything you send to me.

Have a good weekend everyone and i will speak to you next week as i have a 4 days weekend!!! yipee!!! :):):):):)

[BB]

4 day weekend? Alright for some!! ;)

Back to the thread, yes need to encourage people to chat bikes & subsequently meet up. Joining fees, especially on the web may well put people off, even if there is a members forum and members discounts. A lot of people a a little wary of stuff they cannot see until they pay for it. If you got them face to face in a bar its a different matter!

[R1chie]

some options:

1. ask for voluntary donations from members. if a bit short at a certain time start an appeal!

2. 'power' membership fees a la scoobynet meaning the 'power members' would have access all areas on the forum. normal members wouldn't. gives a little bit of an elitist regime though.

3. advertising. obviously BB is a good one for this. if at a certain point where the level of membership is quite high, selecting a couple of companies to sponsor a section (no pop ups though)


I think as it stands now, it would be best to simply do donations. if we have a get together at least once a month (meet/rideout etc), funds could be collected then. either that or nominate a treasurer and set up a paypal account for the purposes to fund the site.

here endeth my two pence worth

[Dabz]

I think that's probably the way to go - I'll run it past Mac when he's about and get the ball rolling...then start lookign into the server upgrade to hopefully end your problems!

[Mac]

Morning ;)

Have to say I'm really impressed with how this has taken off. If a bit quiet at the beginning I've noticed a huge difference in the number of posts this last month. For the better of course.

I think we've covered quite a few options here. Lots of other forums call members who have donated 'sponsors' and like GG has said they can have access to all areas. ie Own little separate forum etc etc.
Maybe like a loyalty scheme too. Based on contribution to the club etc.
So like Bronze, Silver, Gold member status etc
I think paypal account would be a good one to go with. The only problem i could see with asking for donations at meets (bit like Youth club in the old days..lol) is that not every one will attend and some may bit miffed to find its the same people contributing every month.
As i've said in a previous thread, we started this forum to meet fellow bikers, have fun, learn some new skills, enjoy our bikes and to ride safely. You get out of it what you put into it.

Ninja, I think you've pretty much hit the nail on the head there. I would DETEST pop ups and will not be having any of those on this site.

Any nominations for a treasurer then? Ninja your not allowed as u've got so many job titles as it is...ie Heart Breaker...lmao