[nukeadmin]

Im not happy with the icon in the forums yet, so this may change to a little icon next to the username or something to denote a user is a subscriber but the subscriptions are up and running.

As of now i'll be honest there are no real benefits, but this is what i intend to do with subscribers:-

Get some bigger window stickers designed and printed and each subscriber will receive one of these.

Chase up campsites and pursue Pussers idea about negotiating with them about discounts for MHF Subscribers

Chase up some accessory dealers etc and negotiate some discounts again.

Remove all advertisements if possible for subscribers in order to make their viewing of the site less cluttered and faster access.

Some other addons to the site once i come up with some

You can read about the subscriptions either by clicking on the link on the left under the Buy Stickers link etc, or click this link:-

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/modules.php?name=E-Solution

There is also a block on the bottom right to be able to buy a subscription. The whole process is automated with no intervention from me so once you have paid you are instantly a subscriber.

The payment is £15 per year and payable via paypal website, you dont have to have a paypal account to pay, just click the button on paypal site to say you dont have a paypal account.

Enjoy

 

[autostratus]

I've never been on to hide and always asked the awkward questions first so here goes.
How many subscribers are you aiming for and what do they get for there money?
I can see the ambition to cover costs which I support wholeheartedly but I would like to know what actual costs we are talking about.

If we get 1000 subscribers (about 15% of the old site) the income would be £15,000
The site server costs were said to be £150 X 12 =£1,800 per year

So. What does the balance of £13,200 do?

Put another way. You only need 120 subscribers at £15.00 to cover the £1800.00

 

[johnsandywhite]

A BIG P*** up at Christmas for all the members attending a special Rally. Just joking. :wink:

 

[88734]

I was banned from another motorhome forum when I asked what the ten pounds was for!

 

[autostratus]

We're off to France next week so if I can't log in when I get back I guess i' m in trouble.

 

[88870]

Good post Gillian, can I add my two pennys worth?

I would guess that there are many hidden costs to running a website like this .. the amount of hours that Nuke puts in for a start.

At present he does it all for free (unless anyone hear is sending him gifts on the side :lol: ), but if he could put it to work and actually make a wee bit of money from it then he can hold off getting a proper job for longer and devote more time to making it even more excellent than it already is!

No one can afford to donate that much time for free really, especially when he is supposed to be out travelling and seeing the sights etc.

I doubt that everyone who signs up would actually subscribe so aiming for £15k in the first year may be a little adventurous - but good luck if he reaches it.

I am sure there are other things like maintenance, new equipment every so often, his own satelite costs to enable him to keep up with the site developments, production of the free stickers etc ... and maybe even a few bevvies thrown in!

I'll subscribe when I finally get an internet connection again (on a friends pc at the mo) ... purely because I have found a site I like :wink:

Also, Nuke did mention other benefits, I may even save more money than I've spent on subscription if the discount at other places comes to fruition.

Whew, i'm all talked out now, this must be pretty much the longest waffle i've had for a while .. i'm off for a lie down, feeling a little light headed 8O

 

[nukeadmin]

Hi all,

well sorted the icon issue, see my little crown next to the username, now onto your comments

Well there are many background costs that i have incurred along the way, some of these things you wont have seen yet, like i have paid out to 2 graphics designers (A macromedia flash specialist and a cartoonist) for new graphics and graphical front end for the revamped campsite database that i was working on until the issues recently.

I do put a helluva lot of time and effort into the site, probably more than any of you realise, for instance over the last week alone i must have spent around 14-16 hours per day every day trying to get things back up, working on the server in the background, fixing bugs etc etc, and as wurz says i do it because its my fave site to work on, my hobby site if you like, but its grown so big and become such a resource that i need to pull some income of some description from it as my spending so much time on this site prevents me working on other more lucrative jobs sometimes

I think the £15,000 is well in excess of what we will get, although i wouldnt mind my experience of this type of thing is that less than 3-4% of members will actually subscribe, at least initially until much more on offer for their funds. and that is taking into account our previous membership of 6500+, out of those 6500+ members probably only 3000 members fairly active and a core membership of <500 are very active.

I would estimate that maybe 5% of those 500 will take out subscriptions for the first 5-6 months i.e. possible income of £375 which wont even cover my costs, however once some weight is behind the scheme and with discounts negotiated etc i believe that momentum will build to the point where we have sustainable income, and maybe even some excess for my income and other enhancements to the site and yes maybe even as John suggested a FREE / heavily subsidised Rally for subscribers sometime.

Only time will tell, its a bit of a risk for me, but i am counting on the popularity of MHF to carry us through

 

[88785]

Merlin - your banned, only joking mate :wink: :lol:

 

[89206]

My forum doesnt cost anything to run.

No web site costs. No server costs.

All free.

 

[nukeadmin]

My forum doesnt cost anything to run.

No web site costs. No server costs.

All free.

lol well thats as it may be dishmop, but mhf is a fully dynamic website, sitting on a backend database, with a fairly large bandwidth consumption mostly due to the galleries. It isnt just a forum

Plus MHF is hosted on my own dedicated server, not a shared server with 1000s of sites running on it, and soon it will be running on 2 seperate servers (One DB Server and one Web Server) with a replication path to another entirely seperate server offsite so not quite in the same league i think

 

[Bazbro]

Will those who have already freely donated receive an acknowledgment of their donation by setting it off against this subscription?

 

[nukeadmin]

Will those who have already freely donated receive an acknowledgment of their donation by setting it off against this subscription?

This is a doozy, atm i have no records of any previous donations until 1 week ago, and my one problem is trying to fudge the system to accommodate this as i would have to recover the data from the old drive, and then manually work out how much each donator had paid, deduct this from the subscription fee and then work out the remainder, create a seperate transaction solely for that person and so on.

The other thing is that back dating like this will also lose a considerable amount of income for the site.

If the general consensus is that members who have donated feel they are dissapointed in that they have to take out a subscription after previously donating then i will try and put something together for this once i get the old hard drive back (Looking like i will get the data recovered on Thursday).

Please post in this thread your feelings on this subject....

 

[Pusser]

I won't be able to do my bit until I get back of holdays mid June but do my bit I will. Personally, I think it's non of my biz if Nukes makes a fortune, a modest income or bugger all and I'm happy to send in my sub when I have it as I get hours of entainment. If I had one worry, it would be the possible reduction in the number of posts from the casual posters which very often are interesting, funny or even critical and in many ways the forum is the honey that keeps people coming back time and time again. I am wondering if the forum should be open to anyone that just logs in properly and the databases, albums,chat and similar stuff members only. And of course, discounts for stuff and sites would not be available. But once we can get enough sites to discount sticker holders, then the sub is paid for in a very short time. I don't think a newbie will pay a sub just to find out the likely hood of being gassed while using the porta pottie.

 

[nukeadmin]

I am wondering if the forum should be open to anyone that just logs in properly and the databases, albums,chat and similar stuff members only

Hi Pusser, thx for your comments
the forum will never change from how it operates now, i.e. anyone can join mhf for site and start posting in them.

as for the other aspects of the site, i am still not sure atm whether it would be wise restricting access to them, i think these core aspects of the site are what helps it grow, but i intend to research other new functionality which would for subscribers only

 

[88741]

I have donated in the past and will continue to do so, like Pusser I think anything Dave gets from the site is brilliant, he has worked very hard in the past, especially when the site has had problems in the past.
My thoughts are, this site is a lot, lot better than all the motorhome mags put together and I am happy to give to the site what a subscription to the magazines would cost. I am aslo happy to start my subscription now and not be concerned about the money I have paid in the past.
Think the ideas to give subscribers 'value added' is a sound one, would hate to see the site subscription only.
I think that this should be treated like a charity in peoples minds, if you want to support the site (and Dave) then do it, if you don't want to for whatever reason fine, that's your perogative. :wink:

 

[88785]

I'm with you Helen,.....but don't tell the wife !!!! :wink:

 

[Pusser]

I'm with you Helen,.....but don't tell the wife !!!! :wink:

Back of the queue matey, ...back of the queue. I was here first.

 

[88785]

Damn, thought you wouldn't notice :lol:

 

[Bazbro]

I echo what Helen and Pusser have said.

This site is the "people who post", with Dave acting as the catalyst.

My fear is that £15 is a lot for some people (casual visitors), it will turn them away, and we will all be worse off as a result.

I, too, am happy to subscribe - I get more enjoyment from this site than all the magazines that I subscribe to - but maybe £10 or even £7 would be a more 'encouraging' figure? A single-figure sum is psychologically more appealing, too!

This is your site Dave - the decision's ultimately yours, so good luck from a supporter.

 

[89206]

It isnt just a forum

Have I missed something then? No disrespect to anyone but what else is it?

I can well understand the work which goes into this. I ran three forums from my website. Not the free Invision ones but PHP with their own databases. Cost was £35.00 per year.
SBMCC started with a free one and still wanted to charge for the use of it. Damned if I am going to pay to GIVE help.

One thing I would like to suggest. The buttons. ie "reply" and "submit." They take a bit of searching for if one has been used to looking at the more usual larger type and also the symbols at the top when writing a post. Can you just change them to say what they are as opposed to symbols.