Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Members Only

  1. #1
    Senior Member karlusmagnus's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    NY
    Posts
    1,498

    Members Only

    What is the possibility of getting a members only section, at the very least for membership issues. I figured a thread, titled as such, will shine some light on the other questions I raise below, so forgive the ambiguity of my thought process.

    Questions that I have and would like to see actioned/responded to/debated are the following type of items;

    Members List
    Club Budget - what is budget? (1000 members, or 700 members, times x $35 or $45?). How is it spent?
    Needs of club? What does it need in terms of revenue? skillsets? Tasks that could be performed? Help etc?
    Contacts for Officers? Coverage for officers in case they need some time off, or become overloaded with work.

    Website Issues? How to improve speed? How to share burden of technical tasks/moderation etc? Adding capabilities such as photo resizing and ability to upload larger pics and let software manage size issues

    Magazine Issues? Are there areas that need more help than others? Is too much of a burden falling on some people (probably yes, in regards to all areas of the club, and not just the magazine)

    Future Development? Issues previously raised such as non-profit status? Development of the site in regards to technical excellence, with the site hosting more sections on the history of models, the parts used, the mods made so that the site will be the de-facto knowledge source for all issues related to the early 911's.

    Members only areas? How to encourage membership while not initiating pay-to-play type areas? Keeping things as open and fluid without restricting too much of what is good and has worked.

    Chuck ... yourself, Mike, John, Bob, and many others do trojan work behind the scenes, and this in no way is meant to detract from that. I just wanted to open up as many issues as possible for debate, and if some of these issues are pertinent only to members, perhaps a Members section, for discussion of said issues. It does not necessarily need to be private, or anything.
    That is why I posted this in Membership area, as opposed to General Info, or other such areas.

    Hopefully others will chime in with ideas. I saw the slow server thread, and the offer of semjon to host the site, and thought that perhaps collectively we can achieve some "quickwins". Not all suggestions will work, or will be as helpful as initially thought, or will inspire collective agreement, but hopefully they will stimulate an honest thought process.

    Karl.
    Karl: E911SR #792 ; RG #420 ; GS #7

    '72T Coupe - Sepia Brown

  2. #2
    Senior Member Gumby's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Pine Bush NY
    Posts
    642
    This is a very tricky question...The health of the forum seems to be great but as Karl has stated, but to few maybe shouldering the load (I wonder what the founding fathers vision was/is?)...Where are "we" and how do we get there (future)... my 2 cents. Ron
    Ron




    1973.5 911T
    1974 BMW R90/6
    1986 Carrera, Plan "B"
    1987 BMW K100RS Motorsport
    2004 BMW X3 6 speed manual transmisson

  3. #3

    For what it is worth...

    Obviously the registry would benefit from an increase in paying members. The saying "you get more bees with honey" should remind us that if we incentivize people to step up and become paying members...it benefits all of us. My "thumbs up" on a members only section has nothing to do with my interest (or lack thereof) in politics of the registry, or even administrative activities...I think creating a members only "place" might serve to intrigue (for a lack of a better word) the non-members to "pay to play". Sort of a ..."hey what's behind that closed door". It has nothing to do with exclusivity...( I don't even own an S and I can't claim an RGruppe number!)... bottom line, this is a resource we all benefit from. Paying speeding tickets is not a privilege, this is.

    Speedo
    registry# 1283

  4. #4
    Senior Member super9064's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Maryland
    Posts
    1,184
    Its human nature to feel that if you are contributing, every one should, but I feel that forcing someone to become a member right off the bat is a huge mistake and the forum will suffer. It takes some time to discover the value of this site, and lets not forget the name "Early 911S registry" makes many people feel, they don't want me to register, I don't have a 911S. the fact is
    " this is the early 911 fan club"

    I live in Maryland, we locals have a regional Md., Va., D.C, Porsche site Called "Dorki" ( don't ask) its free but donations support the site. Those who donate have member benefits like being able to post larger format pictures, ie. I don't have to resize all my pictures at another site before I can post them.

    Check it out, they may have some ideas that will work here as well.

    There is the link to the site:

    http://dorkiphus.net/porsche/index.php


    FAQ membership:


    Help keep Dorkiphus running and ad-free

    Donate via PayPal: donations@dorkiphus.net


    The intent of this post is the outline how sponsorship works on Dorkiphus and answer some of the questions I get asked all the time.

    Dorkiphus is a 100% member supported BBS. All of the money needed to keep this site running comes from donations sent to me by BBS members. This means we don't sell commercial ads to local shops, etc. The upside of that is that you can speak openly about experiences with any of the local shops, dealers, parts suppliers, etc., without worrying about the mods deleting your posts (like they will on the other, well known Porsche BBSs) because you offended the advertisers.

    Our biggest cost is hosting, obviously. We pay a premium for very good hosting services that keep this site running quickly and with very few server outages. A couple years ago I tried going with one of the cheaper, high volume hosts, and it was a disaster. Just as with pretty much everything else in life, you get what you pay for. Other expenses include software license fees and hookers and drugs for the admins.

    1. How do I donate?
    At the top of every page is a big yellow "Donate" button. Click it, it will take you to PayPal and you can send in your donation. Easy peasy lemon squeazy.

    2. What if I don't have/like PayPal?
    Send me (Jazzbass) a PM. I'll send you my home address and you can mail me a check. I used to have my address posted but my wife got tired of all the Dorkiphus groupies stopping by the house all the time.

    3. What do I get for being a sponsor?
    You get a couple things. First and foremost, you get that warm feeling in your soul knowing that your money went to a noble cause such as this. Not good enough you say? Well, there are a couple other things:

    - Image upload limits are dramatically increased - for 20k per image to 400k. Ever see guys complain that their images are too large to upload? 99 times out of 100 they're not sponsors.
    - PM space goes from 75 messages to 500.
    - You get that cool green "Sponsor" tag under your user name, and avoid getting the ugly "Freeloader" tag

    There are also unsubstantiated rumors that sponsors get their technical questions answered quicker (and correctly), get higher marks from their DE instructors who are typically Dorki sponsors themselves, lose 20lbs, and all of the sudden become irresistible to the opposite sex. These are probably just urban legends, though... probably...

    4. Yeah - what's the deal with the "Freeloader" tag? One minute it wasn't there, and the next minute it was. Why have you singled me out?!?
    Relax, no one has singled you out. What happens is, when you join Dorki you have no sponsorship status. You get a 199 post grace period. Our thoughts are if you stick around for 200 posts, it's probably time to cough up to help the board. If you cross that 200 post threshold without becoming a sponsor, well then welcome to Freeloaderville - population: you. Understand, no one is picking on you in particular. Want to get rid of that ugly tag? Simply click the yellow button above .

    5. How much do I have to send in?
    As much as you feel the site is worth to you. Your donation amount is not made public and no one but me knows what a cheapskate how generous you are. Typical donations are in the $20-$25 range.

    5a. Do those little Porsche crests under my user name indicate how much people have donated?
    No. Those are directly related to the number of posts a person has. The more crests a person has, the more of their short and precious time on this earth they have wasted on this dumb car website.

    6. When does my sponsorship expire?
    Never. Once you are a sponsor, that never goes away. You can, of course, donate more than once. In fact, in the 3 years the board has been sponsored, most of the longtime members have donated 2, 3 and even 4 times.

    7. OK, I sent in money - but my sponsor tag didn't show up right away
    Nope, it didn't. The reason why is simple - I'm lazy. Too lazy to set up an automated PayPal/sponsorship script. So, the process is a manual one. I check PayPal, see your donation, come back and make you a sponsor. I usually get it within a day or so, but sometimes I get busy at work and forget. Please, by all means, send me a PM to let me know you sent a donation. I'll get your account credited ASAP.

    8. I'm a sponsor, and I want to advertise this product I'm selling/cars for the dealership I work at/etc...
    Sorry, but Dorki is a non-commercial board. Even if you are a sponsor, you can't promote your business via "for sale" posts, etc, without my permission in advance. When will I give permission? If I feel you're offering the Dorki community a great deal. For example, a member who sells brake pads put together a great group buy for some new Hawk track pads. Members that bought pads in this deal saved about $50 a set. This is the kind of thing I'll agree to, because it helps the board membership as a whole. But what I won't agree to is letting you sell your "insert product here" at MSRP or typical street price just because you're a sponsor.

    So, if it's for a commercial enterprise, ask me before advertising. Or don't be surprised if your ad is deleted.

    9. If I get banned, do I get my sponsorship back?
    No. Sorry.
    Rob Abbott

Similar Threads

  1. Active Members
    By Eade Hopkinson in forum General Info
    Replies: 16
    Last Post: 04-23-2014, 08:18 PM
  2. do members here know about Toolhaus.org?
    By EARLY911ZOO in forum General Info
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 01-10-2008, 04:47 PM
  3. Replies: 2
    Last Post: 05-16-2006, 07:10 AM
  4. UK Members
    By BOYER73S in forum General Info
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 07-27-2005, 09:30 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Message Board Disclaimer and Terms of Use
This is a public forum. Messages posted here can be viewed by the public. The Early 911S Registry is not responsible for messages posted in its online forums, and any message will express the views of the author and not the Early 911S Registry. Use of online forums shall constitute the agreement of the user not to post anything of religious or political content, false and defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise to violate the law and the further agreement of the user to be solely responsible for and hold the Early 911S Registry harmless in the event of any claim based on their message. Any viewer who finds a message objectionable should contact us immediately by email. The Early 911S Registry has the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary.