The future of aussiefrogs > The Proposal For Keeping aussiefrogs (post#288) > Subscriptions/ Donations Active (post#392) - All threads Merged

Steven King said:
Maybe the rejection of your pitch stung but you don’t want to talk down the thing, do you?
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Certainly, was I not clear about that?
This would not be the first (or even third) special interest internet forum I've watched disintegrate, and I had hoped to try and stave that off. Now I'm more curious how it pans out.
 
I'm not sure if I ever mentioned it, but the guy that runs my only other regular forum setup a system for communities like this to thrive... He setup London fixed gear and single speed. Lfgss.com He goes by Velocio, aka David. He built something called microcosm... I don't know the details. I wonder if @gibgib would consider contacting him, even for a chat. I have no idea really, but i would hate to lose this place.
 
Maybe, the desire to remove content relates to not wanting someone in the future to see how involved you were with those terrible polluting old cars, when you might want to present a different image to people you have not yet met and don't care about, but who might cancel you for some comment you made 15 years previously. Rather like leaving up that photo of the Adolf fancy dress outfit from a long forgotten party only to have it dredged up by some lowlife trying to damage you.
It does seem fairly odd that people are happy to leave something 'up' virtually in perpetuity and only be prompted to remove it when there is a prospect they may not be able to 'unsay' it in future. Better not to post such material to begin with. Also applies to the pm 'shadow' forum a few are running.
 
Speaksgeek is highlighting the desire to keep this place alive, I know we all think that is preferred.

And the mods and GibGib should be congratulated for their work in keeping this place running for all these years.

Members are invested in this. Mods, you have created a community, now the community is expressing a willingness to help. It would be a sad outcome if all this support within the community is discounted if it could help keep the place running. But hey, as this thread has identified the owners / mods don't seem to see it like that, it's not our toy or community but GibGib's.

I feel I'm echoing many where we are all hoping it's not just locked away, we are encouraged by the "something" that is happening, we are looking forward to supporting this place in anyway we can.

VIV LA FORUM!
 
Mais oui!
While I have hope for AF 2.0 I also keep encountering examples of Murphies Law all around me and the sage advice that Murphy was an optimist.
I am a digital incompetent and it takes me a while to find my way through the interweb. So I will need at least a month to work out where the AF's are supposed to migrate to, how to log on, how to lose a pass word, how to fail to load an attachment etc Where to next intrepid froggers?
 
Oh no! Such a shame. I still remember my joy at finding this site after drunken online auction bidding and ending up with a Renault Clio. A car that served me 6.5 years before giving it's life for charity in the Shitbox Rally.


The knowledge on this page is phenomenal, and has no doubt helped keep many cars on the road that wouldn't otherwise be.

It also have me the confidence to buy my childhood dream car. Something I knew nothing about, other than it was a car from the future when I first saw one in 1983. A Citroen CX25 GTi. That was well beyond my skill, but I was able to pass it on here to someone who got it going.

This forum is a great place, and well done on keeping it going 22 years.
 
I’ve been reading all the material about the future of the forum and, like many others, am very keen for the full website to keep going if at all possible. In thinking about it I ended up putting together a proposal that I think would work, as described below.

The proposal is set out below in five sections:

  • Background
  • Key Problem
  • Options
  • Specific Proposal
  • Next Steps.

  • Background
Firstly, to introduce myself, I’ve owned 21 Renaults/Alpines since 1970, all older models ranging from 1958 to 1989. Also a couple of circa 1990 Peugeots. In other words, I’m a huge French car fan and one that has loved aussiefrogs since I first saw it 20 years ago. Even when I haven’t owned a Renault, I’ve usually kept browsing the forums just to keep in touch with the French car world & some of the active site members.

So when I saw the new thread “The future of aussiefrogs” dated 16 May this year and, especially, the very first line – “Aussiefrogs will be closing to new forum posts from January 26th 2022” – my heart sank. It would be the end of a really important era.

Thankfully, in reading the thread it became obvious that there are many people who feel the same way and who offered suggestions or help to keep the site fully functional. I’m in that same category and decided to contact Gerry directly to try to understand very specifically what the problems are. I thought that maybe there was something I knew or had that could help.

Key Problem

I wanted to contact Gerry directly so that I could understand very specifically what the problem(s) are. There’s lots of discussion and ideas on the abovementioned thread but it doesn’t clearly contain this one bit of vital information.

So thanks Gerry for the frank and open discussion. It’s led me to the following conclusions (which you’re very welcome to change or disagree with if I’ve got something wrong!).

Is the problem that:
  • Gerry is tired of running the site – NO
  • He’s not getting enough volunteer help to run it – NO
  • Gerry wants to sell it – NO
  • He wants to make major changes – NO
  • New laws, rules, etc, make it all too onerous – NO
  • There’s not enough users anymore – NO
  • Funding has become a problem – YES
Ongoing funding seems to be the only significant reason for considering the site’s future. While that hasn’t been an issue in the past, Gerry is now at a stage where family & other personal considerations make laying out a significant amount year after year a significant problem. Very understandable after all these years!

The good news is that Gerry and his helpers have all the expertise needed and do it all out of enthusiasm and totally without pay of any kind.

The key problem therefore:

Is there a way to raise some funding contribution to Gerry’s efforts each year without spoiling the very things we all love about aussiefrogs?

Options

The aforementioned thread canvassed pretty much all the possibilities for this sort of funding. Here is my summary and thoughts on each one:

  • Prominent paid banners – been tried and was quite unsuccessful
  • Advertising – also tried & is fairly hit & miss, especially these days with Facebook & other alternatives. Also can easily spoil using the site.
  • Affiliate Links – needs a much bigger membership to have much impact.
  • Subscriptions – fairly widely used on forums – not tried because Gerry is not keen on asking people for money and also danger of reducing site users and activity.
  • Donations – Also hit & miss, and need to keep asking, but a small number of people, including myself have offered.
Looking at the above list, there is in my mind only one way to go – a well thought out subscription model, supplemented by some donations from people who want to add further support. In fact some members have already suggested this. Typically, the quote below reflects many people’s thoughts (apologies to the author but I didn’t note who it was!):

“I'm a member of another online group that is a one-man-owned website. (Vintage appliance collectors.) It has free access to its main forums, but subscribers get access to more information, plus two different "off-topic" forums, private messages, classified ads, free from on-page ads, plus other benefits I don't remember. Subscription is US$12 per year. When you subscribe you can also add a donation. Might be a useful model?”

In the thread Gerry has made it clear he doesn’t like the subscription model. However in discussing it with him, he would likely go for it if members choose to get behind it and if it’s well enough designed to not reduce the number of site users and general activity.

Specific Proposal

So, the proposal is that we keep aussiefrogs forums fully operational via the establishment of a subscription model based on the following key parameters:
  • Annual subscription fee
  • Fee initially set around $20 - $30 annually
  • Donation facility for members who want to help a bit more
  • All subscribers, paying and non-paying, get free access to all forums and facilities exactly as they operate now, ensuring no loss of users or activity
  • However, there may be advertising on free subscribers’ access, while paid subscribers access will have total freedom from on-page ads
  • Payment will be via Paypal (as the Xenforo forum software already has Paypal integration).

Next Steps

I guess that depends on Gerry and his helpers but I’m sure some positive feedback would help!

Cheers everybody,

Alby
 
Agree wholeheartedly Daniel. If it wasn'for Aussie Frogs and the friends and contacts I have made through it I would have been up that well known creek long ago. Instead I have saved another 203 of which I am rather proud and mostly because of you guys. To you, Poubelle and I lift our berets....'Merci' and thanks for a great site!
 
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There's a weakness with advertising avoidance used as a subscription incentive.

If a user doesn't know how to remove site ads he deserves what he gets on so many other sites. Many simple paywalls or endlessly repeated nags and popups are easily bypassed. Others are defeated by javascripts or CSS with minimal knowledge. The tough ones have to make every reader a member-subscriber .

Some of the UK car forums reserve downloading material from links to logged-in subscribers, as their incentive.
 
Hi @Alby ,
I very much appreciate you contacting me back in August to just offer info & support from yourself as a successful business owner.
The ideas & the way you analysed & presented a possible workable solution made this new funding model easier to present to the Moderators & Admin & base our needed changes off.

Judging by the feedback from the "Future" thread, it seems that most, if not all members want the site to continue ;)

We do need to pay the bills however, & many of you have indicated you would be willing to help pay for the operation costs.

As Alby has suggested above, there will be a subscription option, set at $25 per year through the Xenforo system, (our forum software), which will add you to a new usergroup.
There will also be a "Donation" option which allows smaller amounts of donation, however anything above $25 will put you in the new usergroup as above.

If you do not wish to pay there will be no major changes with your AF experience either! You may see an advertisement banner & have a few features reduced. This will not be significant.

I'd like to thank the Moderators especially @David S @DoubleChevron @pugrambo @vivid @ & especially, especially my Rock Admin @GreenBlood for always being available to call & chat to when things got a bit tough! Thanks Mate :)

The mods all worked together on a solution based off Alby's suggestion quickly & checked my wording for me in new rules material & just general cross referencing.

Over the next few days I will implement the above so there will be some changes each time you visit. I hope I don't break anything! I just did a backup. I will elaborate more on the deets here later too.

The rules have changed again so you will all need to click "Accept" again before you post once that is sorted. :deal:

That's all for now. Onwards & upwards for aussiefrogs.com
:party:
 
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This thread may be past & irrelevant.

Look to here for future enlightenment:

Proposal for Keeping Aussiefrogs Forums going Full Speed Ahead!

I’ve been reading all the material about the future of the forum and, like many others, am very keen for the full website to keep going if at all possible. In thinking about it I ended up putting together a proposal that I think would work, as described below. The proposal is set out below in...
www.aussiefrogs.com
 
Well done. Like I said a few times, we all need to get off your back and let you figure something out. You weren't likely to sell or destroy something that you and the mods have spent more than 2 decades nurturing for other people's benefit.
And good work Alby.
 
Brilliant!!!
Thanks to all concerned. $25 plus (optional) is priceless compared to the expertise and general knowledge sharing obtained on this forum.
Cheers,
Dano (Dan)
 
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