Forum Future

[t700bes 1]

6 hours ago, bristolbaron said:

The same annual price as CCGB membership but without the events/sprinter/Christmas cards? 
The only benefit of membership seems to be being able to post (and therefore contribute) to the forum. Considering over the past few years I’ve only posted a handful of times this doesn’t seem to be the most effective way to engage people. 
If you shared the actual losses you’d made over the past few years I’m certain you’d have more people willing to donate, but to state ‘my time isn’t free’ as a reason for the forum not to be free to post on when so many alternatives are out there doesn’t create the same level of generosity, from me at least. 
It’s your forum, do what you like with it, but it seems to have been run into the ground and now the expense of getting it going again is falling at the feet of those that have contributed the most. 

Thanks for your comments, 

I haven’t just used my time not being free as a reason. I’m not going to go into every single cost but here are a few to get you guys thinking.

Hosting, in order to host something like this, it’s about £80 a month. The Forum software itsself just cost £600 and will require a renewal fee every 6 months which is over £100, Cloudflare, that’s £10 a month.

To put that in context:

Year 1:

Hosting - £1080

Software - £700

Year 2:

Hosting - £1080

Software - £100

This is super high level, gone are the days you can get money back through GoogleAds, Skimlinks etc and I’m guessing that’s why most Forums are failing and shutting down and why CCGB are looking to join forces. On overage the income on the forum has been £500 a year ish (30 ish paying members).

Hope this helps people start to understand the need to make some changes to keep us going!

Thanks

[ger040 3]

just signed up - thanks

[Jim 2]

I do worry that £15 a year is simply going to be too tall an ask. We always struggled in the CCGB to make £15/year seem a fair price and as @bristolbaron says, there were at least tangible benefits such as dedicated event and merchandise managers, the magazine (which admittedly was sporadic at times!) - all of these cost money to produce. The magazine for example was many hours of time to put together but then around £700 of printing and postage costs per run. 
I do obviously hope more than anything, that the forum continues. I've been a part of it from, virtually, the very start and I'd like to hope have contributed in meaningful ways.. though probably used way more than my share of server time! But I think people, even more so today than ever before, thanks to the likes of Facebook basically expect all this stuff for free. I worry that things like forums will only ever continue to operate on little more than goodwill and the generosity of the owner (be that financially, or in time invested) and I think it's always going to be difficult to cover the costs. 

I also apologise in advance for saying this, I'd also say that I find the notion of monetising the work of others on things like the Wiki, which was provided (at the time) in the spirit of community and the open exchange of ideas and knowledge, a little bit unsavoury. There's a lot of folks who gave their time and knowledge, freely in the past who are no longer active. So for that to go behind a paywall now is.. well.. I'm not so keen on that. 

Again I appreciate you have bills to pay to keep this place operational but I'm really not sure if paid access to the forum itself is the best way forward.. and that the costs to keep the forum running should be approached in different ways. Be that a little sponsorship, merchandise, etc etc. 

[Dogma 10]

Loving the new site great job and we also have Tapatalk access back.

 

I feel an extra donation coming the forums way.

 

 

Many thanks

 

 

 

[Dogma 10]

There don’t seem to an option to donate extra only to sub membership?

[Dogma 10]

Ok I guess you don’t want or need my money.

[easypops 8]

1 hour ago, Dogma said:

Ok I guess you don’t want or need my money.

Toby probably hasn’t seen your message mate, I’m in here multiple times a day but I don’t think he is , he’s probably far saner than I am too🤪😂

[Dogma 10]

Toby probably hasn’t seen your message mate, I’m in here multiple times a day but I don’t think he is , he’s probably far saner than I am too

 

 

No worries cheers.

[t700bes 1]

If people would like to donate. Please feel free to send money to [email protected] via PayPal.

It’s always appreciated, thanks

[oneohtwo 8]

Might have missed something, but what's the procedure for subscribing?

[t700bes 1]

10 minutes ago, oneohtwo said:

Might have missed something, but what's the procedure for subscribing?

https://the-corrado.net/subscriptions/
 

Thanks for the support

[Keyo 47]

Hi Toby out if interest how many paid members are know subscribed. ? Cheers. 

[t700bes 1]

31 at the moment! Which is great

[fla 9]

Like others Toby, really appreciate the time, effort and dedication you've put in. Fantastic work.

Just a quick question, is there any link or tab that shows just the new posts or updated threads?

 

Finally i think it could help for people to have say 1 months free access and after that once they realise the value of the forum to pay their subscrption?  Would that be easy to manage at all?  You can see my website management skills, well frankly, dont exist!

[Dox 23]

1 hour ago, fla said:

Like others Toby, really appreciate the time, effort and dedication you've put in. Fantastic work.

Just a quick question, is there any link or tab that shows just the new posts or updated threads?

 

 

Top left, click "Activity", then "All Activity" below left

[Dox 23]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mooG60 11]

On ‎2‎/‎24‎/‎2020 at 2:25 PM, t700bes said:

31 at the moment! Which is great

I signed up last week. I'm presuming it went through ok and you have received my payment?

 

[t700bes 1]

2 hours ago, mooG60 said:

I signed up last week. I'm presuming it went through ok and you have received my payment?

 

Yes, you are a subscriber! 😀

 

Thanks

[stuarttaylor37 13]

Re subscribed, thanks for keeping it going Toby

[mooG60 11]

5 hours ago, t700bes said:

Yes, you are a subscriber! 😀

 

Thanks

Ok that's great.

Thank you for your hard work.

[culshaw 1]

Hey @t700bes,

I've got a recurring corrado forum payment in paypal but it says I'm not a subscriber, can you help please? 🙂

[culshaw 1]

Also it looks like I can't start topics, but can reply here, but can't reply to my thread in members gallery 😞

[Keyo 47]

How many paid members are we upto now Toby ? 

Cheers. 

 

[Dox 23]

18 minutes ago, culshaw said:

Hey @t700bes,

I've got a recurring corrado forum payment in paypal but it says I'm not a subscriber, can you help please? 🙂

Have you paid since the forum was rebuilt earlier this year? If not you need to re-subscribe and message toby to refund the non transferable payment to the old forum (if you want to).

[Cressa 44]

Toby,  can we have the Wiki back please 😁