Member buyout of the 3A page...

[calvinhunt]

I have asked the same questions and I do have the $2500. I have not gotten any answers.

It may be helpful if all of us to got those answers. �Maybe I'm not the only one who is not knowledgeable about the operations of a web site forum. If we ALL had a greater knowledge and understanding of the options, what we are buying and how it is going to work, it may encourage more CJ-3A members to come forward and pledge. �It may also be helpful to keep us updated on the current pledge amount, like the public radio stations do.

[F Bill]

I will do my best to answer those questions, altho they were directed at Jeep Rescue in part....Quote from QuebecJeep on 06/21/12 at 08:18:08:

Hi, What is the cost per year to maintain the site?
 It is minimal according to the figures I have gotten from Jonathan. I do not have access as a moderator to answer this question any more accurately. �Remember , JR was selling the site, and part of any sale is that it would go to a different server/hosting service. �

It would be less expensive to maintain it like it is right now.

Yes, keeping it the same would be the least expensive way to go.However, if we did buy out Jonathan, we would still have to pay the same or similar fees for hosting/domain use, and be limited to the capabilities on the YABB board as far as customization and things like having more appropriate headers and pics on each page.
I would prefer to see Jonathan to be the only owner of the site.

I don't think that is an option. Someone else is going to get the site, whether it is the members as a group, or one individual.
We can give help to maintain it like upgrading the forum and paying the annual fee.

That is part of the plan if we do the buyout...For me, it will be more easier and realistic like this.

end of quoted post....

Fundraising is up to about 950 in emailed pledges. �I have had phone calls from a few guys, emails from others and PM's from others.

We have several ways to go here.....

1. leave it all the same as it is right now, let Jeep Rescue keep trying to sell and accepting whomever it eventually sells to, or the shutdown of the site if it didn't sell. This is the do nothing approach, and not one I would choose.

2: Buy out the 3A site, lock stock, and barrel, and keep it all the same except change the folks in charge. Hire a part time IT guy to handle the transition, fix the bugs, and do minimal changes. Keep the YABB board, and its quirks. Cost of this would be about $1200-1500 including a year's worth of keeping the site hosted. This includes Jonathan's reduced selling price to us.

3: Buy out the site, and upgrade the YABB �board to a better, faster, and more customizable package. �Total cost �is not known right now, and it depends on which new software we choose. Again, we have to hire help to do this. APPROX $1500 to $2200 �cost if I had to come up with a number.

4: Start our own CJ3A board........and abandon this one. � Several of the members have suggested this as the most cost effective way to go. � I have one quote for $800 to do this, we could probably do it for less but then it would be ONLY the bulliten board and no site with a front page and links, etc.... and this would be pretty rude to Jeep Rescue who has kept this place afloat all this time...

4A : � Get our flatfender fix via the already functioning 2A and 3B boards. A poll of the webmaster and members on the 2A page revealed that they did not want to start a separate 3A section. 3a questions and builds are shared all the time over there anyway.

5: A better option any of you have come up with and wish to share with us....


All this is new to me, as I am no more of a computer guy than most of us. I put this buyout idea out there as an option because I didn't see anything happening re the sale of the website and upgrading the software and hosting. �I am learning as I go in this process and I appreciate all th esuggestions that guys have given me privately and in the forums. I really do not want to take over the site myself even tho it kinda looks that way from the outside... .

So what are we buying for our special members only reduced price? (Jonathan has the exclusive right to reveal the exact figure so I will let him post it if he wants...) ....

One: We get to keep the same URL �so people out of the loop can still find us months down the road.

Two: We get to keep all the pages at CJ-3a.com �and add to them as we feel needed. We do need to credit teh authors of all the linked pages, including Jeep REscues own material.

Three: We get to do what we wish with the bulliten board and the information contained within. �


Sorry if it seems you guys were kept out of the loop, it was not intentional and I needed to keep things close to the vest while I negotiated with the parties involved just what they were willing to do.A large factor was just what resources were available via donation, and that is why I asked for the emailed pledges. I also wanted a way to contact you guys off this site in case we had another outage.. Things still need hammering out, and we still need to decide what direction we want to take this. �Like everything involving multiple people, it takes time. �

Thanks to everyone involved. It is still a ways till we make a decision and actually need money if we go that way.


And by the way, if we do go thru with all this, I wouldn't mind some moderation help. I have a job that allows me a lot of free time at night to get online, but during the daytime I normally do not even have Internet access.

At your service,

Bill Foshay

[Forum Master]

Thanks Bill for all your work on this.

Bill has graciously taken the reigns to commandeer the website. In my mind, you are making a contribution to the website and will have "token" ownership. It's impossible for a bunch of you to "own" the website, but you can help maintain it by being a moderator or writing articles, or volunteering to update pages. �I've always said this is YOUR website. However you work it out is up for discussion.

I would hope that everyone agrees that this website has intrinsic value, whether it's the tech section, restoration pages, or the forum. I wish I could just give the website to someone (I've tried, no one has the time to take on the responsibility - 2A Page, 3B Page, Jeep Chasm, Bob W), but this website represents years of hard work, research, and $$. If someone wanted to make it a revenue generating venue, they could easily pull in $5k a year. I've turned down plenty of advertising offers and sponsorships. �If you think this website has no value, then you need to walk away.

This transaction is an open book and I have answered everyone's questions, both in public and in private. It's cut and dry. The sale of the website includes the domain name, full website, and forum. �MY cost is $20/year, plus my time, which I no longer have as evidence in the lack of updates. �I will not pay someone to do this work for me, nor will I pay for software to update the site or upgrade the forum. �It's time to cut ties and move on. �

Hosting costs can vary, but it shouldn't exceed $20-$30/month at most.

I have lost free hosting. I've had it good for too long, and I am not going to pay for hosting for a website I can't maintain, update, or administer. Folks, I am an active duty Marine with 3 kids and a pending move to Japan, I am not a retiree with tons of free time.

For the those complaining that the website was down for a day and is a "sign to come," that's ridiculous. That's the first time the site was down in 5 years. �Get outside and get some sun!

The bottom line is that I have dropped the price FOR THE MEMBERS to a token amount. �All I ask is that my written pages remain attributed to me. Other than that, the sky is the limit on what you guys want to do with the website.

Happy Jeepin'
Jonathan

[athawk11]

Johnathan,
I appreciate your position. Even more, I appreciate what you have done for the 3A community. �I do visit the 2A page, but always feel just a bit like an outsider there. �I'm not sure why.

 The 3A page is home for me. I've shared failures and successes here and have grown to admire the regular contributors and newer members alike. �I want this site to continue, and to grow. �

Money I can offer. �I wish I had more time... and IT skills.

Best of luck to you, your family and for the move over seas. �And most of all, thank you for your service to the greatest country on the face of this planet.

Tim

[Carls_jeep]

Thank you Jonathan for your service to our Country. May life be good to you for serving.

I think we need to keep the old site and current site data for reference if possible and I hope we can collect enough money to purchase the site and rebuild it. I hate to see it die and I'm sure you do to because you put a lot of work in it.

[Dez]

I Don't believe that multiple people should own it. I think the buyout members should get maybe a larger private message inbox, Ability to upload pictures through the forum and maybe a special title that says supporting member or gold star by the name etc. Ive seen several forums fall apart because a owner felt he was miss treated etc. Id like to see a forum setup like Pirate4x4, or zukikrawlers or the 2a page.

[F Bill]

I Don't believe that multiple people should own it. I think the buyout members should get maybe a larger private message inbox, Ability to upload pictures through the forum and maybe a special title that says supporting member or gold star by the name etc. Ive seen several forums fall apart because a owner felt he was miss treated etc. Id like to see a forum setup like Pirate4x4, or zukikrawlers or the 2a page.

Russ from NJ owns the 2A page. He deals with all the admin issues, and has a few different moderators for different sections.

What do Pirate and Zuki do??

Pretty much what we are proposing is myself and our hired gun will be in charge of the admin issues, we will sign up a moderator or two and solicit help rebuilding tech faq and 3A information faq sections at first. �No specific person will be the actual owner...If the site were to be transferred to someone else eventually when I move on, (Heck everyone moves on eventually, its life, ya know) it would be another member in good standing.

The big nut to crack is the buy of the site from Jonathan (Less than half of the original price BTW) and the �costs to improve and update, which we will have to hire someone to do (UNless there is an experienced webmaster in our midst who would like to volunteer..I am not qualified and would probably have the site down for the count as soon as I tried to fix the simplest thing. My computer experience is in the signmaking trade, and not in webhosting. Heck, when I started, we had stacks of computer cards and programmed in Basic and Fortran.


We pretty much have what we need now to buy the site, in verified pledged funds. �We are still a little shy of what it will take for a minimalist transition, wherre we keep the YABB board and the old board. �IF we want to go modern and update further...we are still about $600 shy .

$1000 in email verified pledges received to date. No actual money collected yet but it should start soon.

EDIT JR has given me permission to share that the buyout amount is now $1000 for us instead of the original $2500 ...

[F Bill]

And also if there is any way to do it on the YABB board, there will be SPONSOR memberships. What the benefits will be for a sponsor member are really up to suggestions and the limitations of the software.

Several have suggested a yearly donation.. One thing about that, if you have someone who is just thinking about getting a 3A , they wouldn't be able to joint the conversation unless they paid....I think that would be pretty limiting.

I am a member on a VW board, whee sponsor members get for their $50 a year , a bigger PM box, premium ads with more pictures, and a little star next to their name.  That site has over 70,000 visitors. (It is so busy that while you are browsing one page of new ads, three or four new ads get posted...unreal and maybe too big for us.. )


Another issue is the one of outside advertising.. On the main page I wouldlike to propose a small banner ad, much like you see on the G 503 site... It would have rotating jeep related or automotive businesses, and clicking on it would get you to their website..THis would reduce our costs and help pay for the professional help running the board. Once you click on a thread, it will not be there until you go back to the  forum indexes.  Thoughts??  (Again, subject to the limitations of whatever software we end up with, I dunno if we can even do it with YABB..

Keep the suggestions coming!!

[Carls_jeep]

Only a fool would think that their donation to save the site makes them an owner. By that I mean, so I pay my $100 and then what? Do I get something to show ownership, NO, do I have special privileges, maybe, can I sell my share to someone, NO, and only a fool would buy it. All of us that have pledged money, and it is only a pledge now, should be doing this out of the kindness of their heart and the desire to see the site continue. So, am I a fool for pledging $100, I suppose some would say yes but I don't feel that way because I learned a lot from this site while I was trying to get my Jeep in shape and am still learning. I visit other Jeep sites but I like this site best. It is the most laid back and friendly Jeep site.

Now, as to the pledges of money. If you pledge a given amount then for God's sake pay up that amount or more. Many times people will pledge and never pay, please don't be one of them. If the deal goes through, please pay your share.

I see nothing wrong with a $5 dollar membership for full privileges on the site. A visitor could have posting rights for maybe 3 or 4 months and then be required to join. I am a member of a tractor site like that. They do however, have a life time membership fee and I paid that because I like the site and the people on it.

One thing that irritates me about the CJ2 site is when you click to make a post you can only view the last post. Many times I want to reference other posts in the thread and have to open another page to view the site on. PLEASE don't do that on the new site, keep it like it is here now.

Several forums I am on have dealers listed at the top of the opening page that roll through the list and they have a line for the dealers to click on to view all of the dealers on one page. I like that a lot. It would not bother me if there was a dealer add at the top of every page but I sure don't want them up and down both sides like some forums have.

[F Bill]

I see what you mean about the reply posting, Carl. � Here you do get the entire last page of posts, a multi page post you still only get one page, and the 2A page you only get the one post, UNLESS....you use the quick reply form at the bottom of the actual posts...

The only drawback I can see to the quick reply is that the smiley list is not accessible for more than one smiley.

(EDITED for heat induced typos...Only a fool would work on the attic in this weather, so guess who is in the attic today.lol. )

[Forum Master]

. So, am I a fool for pledging $100, I suppose some would say yes but I don't feel that way because I learned a lot from this site while I was trying to get my Jeep in shape and am still learning. I visit other Jeep sites but I like this site best. It is the most laid back and friendly Jeep site.

Thanks for that, that makes me feel good as that has always been the intention of this website and forum. I hope it stays that way.

[Carls_jeep]

Jonathan, I can't praise you and Bill enough for the way ya'll handle the site. This is one of a few sites that no one comes back with a smart alack reply when you make a mistake and Lord knows I make several.

I really hope that we can get enough contributors to keep the site. I am a retired machinist, mechanic living entirely on Social Security with only a few odd jobs for spending money and this year has been very lean. So, if I can scrape $100 together to save the site others should do as well or better towards funding the buyout.

I am sure Bill would accept a donation paid quarterly or monthly. I mean, if we really want the site isn't it worth the effort? There must be a way to make everyone aware of what is going on. I suspect not many are reading this thread.

If everyone of the 243 members gave $10 we would have $2430.

[p3ferris]

I am

[Forum Master]

Don't worry, it sounds like you guys are pretty damn close to the amount needed.

[Gunslinger]

Guys, I'm wondering, I think most of us are pretty busy, we all like this site and want to keep it going, thats good.  But as Bill has indicated, it takes some doing to keep it up with moderators and IT support.  Quarterly or monthly donations were mentioned and I think that could turn into a billing and collections nightmare for someone, and I hate to see that much effort go into the admin work.

 I'd like to throw out there that a lot of what I've learned and passed along came from some of the various vendors that I've dealt with; guys like Louie Larson at Willys World Wide, John at Midwest Military, Army Jeep Parts, Walcks and a host of others.  I'm suggesting that we allow enough ad space for these guys and others like them, use that money to pay for a professional IT guy to keep the site going from the Tech side, do the updates and all the stuff ( I Know some of these guys and they are all contractors at heart, some night work is pretty common for them).  Then we just need a couple moderators and a guy to be the "TMFIC" like JR does for us now.  I think we need to generate a revenue stream to keep this easy to manage is all I'm sayin.