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

This site and this group of people have been an invaluable part of my French car journey. It's difficult to believe I've only been here for 17 years - how did I miss the first 5 ? ! There are no comparisons, and it will be a very sad day when I can't post stupid questions here and receive genuine, helpful and knowledgeable responses at 0300 in the morning from other 'Frenchies'.

Thanks so much Gerry for all the time spent on keeping this place running for so long - we all owe you a debt.

Cheers

Justin
 
22 years... Bloody hell, that's making me feel old! End of an era.
 
I can’t say much more than what’s already been said.
To Gerry and the moderators who kept us all behaving mostly reasonable, the friends and acquaintances I’ve made and the help offered from others experiences is appreciated and this knowledge bank will be sorely missed.
 
Yes thanks for the time and effort from all who supported this site and those who participated, especially the moderators and behind the scenes volunteers that helped in keeping it as the best resource and a great meeting place for all those interested in French cars.

It has been a great meeting place and the start of a lifetime of enduring friendships with many that met through this site. When one looks back at what has been achieved with this site the overall and over arching effect is that, we all want it to continue so that others can enjoy the "excellent" that this site gives and the hope that whatever and whoever goes forward in the future will be on balance of probabilities be even better with the experience and support of each and everyone of us.

Thanks Gerry and thanks to that loyal band who helped and supported. In time a book should be written about the trials, the tribulations and yes the ups and downs we all lived through. In the past we could all drink to that!!:cheers:

Ken :)
 
This is really a great loss, especially for the mechanically less skilled like me - the quality of advice and support available has always been first-rate and I have learned an immense amount. Still quite a way to go though, so it will be missed.

The original conception was excellent and it has functioned really well and been a massive asset to all. I rather suspect that running it has been a major undertaking and I am deeply grateful for your efforts.

I do hope that a substitute can be made or found, but I doubt whether it will be anywhere near as good

Many thanks for everything

Andrew
 
The Bush Mechanic will have to go walk about in January
 
Wow!

First up, my personal thanks to Gerry for initiating the concept and keeping it going for all these years.

Like many before me on this tread, the closure will be a huge loss. There would not be a day go past, where I don't log on a couple of times...

To all those who have helped me with your advise and encouragement with my restoration/s, I thank you as well. There is going to be a massive void in the knowledge bank.

Hopefully, there will be a lot of swapping personal contact details amongst members over the next few months.

I have met and befriended some great people over the last 8 YRS.

Cheers,

Dan
 
I started reading AF when I was in Europe building and running race cars. When it was time to return to Aus i became a member, as I would be building, when I got back. I was formulating projects before I even got to Aus. Little did I know I would be building for others as well.

It has been a great place to see what and how others build their cars, and a great showcase for some of the projects to come through my shop, and expose to true enthusiasts of the French Classic Manufacture. RERs are my true passion, but all the Renault cars of the '50s, '60s, '70s, and even some '80s are in my DNA

Thank you all the administrators, and all the members, and contributors. You have all made a very exceptional website.......
 
Very humbling reading all this, we have a great bunch behind the scenes here.

It is mostly a financial decision, but also time related too.

I no longer have a business running separately to prop this loss making venture so the money to operate is coming from our family budget. There is zero income from the site.

The changes in technology & security requires me to relearn my yearly processes to keep everything safe & patched.

There is no “other” alternative site in mind at all.
I was kind of hoping someone else might start one from scratch. aussiefrogs can link to it.

All data will remain here as text/ media on aussiefrogs.com site only, (ie. not transferred elsewhere unless business, security & privacy are met fully) and will give the option to opt out individually if you don’t want your posts to remain weaved in the history, etched on a tablet on a simpler form of non-editable aussiefrogs webpage!

It may be difficult to remove your info after we close, but impossible to put it back on
 
Gerry there have been many offers by a number of members in the past offering financial assistance to the continued operations of this unique resource.
I think the responses here regretting the end of Aussiefrogs now requires a rethink by the management of a donation based continuation.
 
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Ohhh... wow...

This is a shock...

I m lost for words...

Can we atleast get an idea of the type of dollars needed to keep this wonderful site going...

A donation based support structure shouldn't be overlooked...
Maybe a bronze, silver and gold membership structure...
$50, $100, $200...
Or whatever...
I d happily pay $100 to $200 a year especially if excess funds raised could somehow then be donated forwards each year to a member chosen charity...

Cheers

Dino
 
It's very easy to create a free forum. I've done it before and I have friends who run some of them.
Usually the only financial issue is the cost of stopping ads, which is how they get you, but that's in the order of $10 per month.
So then you need someone to click all the preferences and later to vet the constant stream of spam and dodgy applicants that usually have strange numerical email addresses from some of those foreign places like Russia .
After that you need some moderators with level heads who have the ability to maintain civility .
Generally though with these kinds of forums the posting rules are enough to keep civil people civil.
I think it's admirable of Jerry to decide to keep the locked forum as a static archive though finding specific info using searching has proven difficult to impossible over the years in my experience. I wouldn't suggest for a minute that it shouldn't be kept, but the most valuable aspect of the forum is having the living active contributors who can walk people through problems and spark all kinds of interactions.
So I propose that some of us should get together on a forum topic to discuss how and who should get to manage such a forum.
I personally would be very happy to set one up but I wouldn't want to hold the reigns so to speak. I would think someone fairly young would be much better, a mature person in their 40's with enough energy and passion to handle what might be dished out at times, but understanding that there would be maybe three or four moderators who everyone trusts to be cool and helpful.
Otherwise I'm sure some of you out there already have ideas on how it could be done.
But if you want my input let me know and we can talk it over.
This is assuming that Jerry really has had enough. If however it's just the keeping up of the site then maybe he would like to stay at the helm with a little help from his friends, and this of course would be ideal and I would love to help on that basis also.
 
I would like to thank Gerry and the team for their tireless work over the years. I doubt a day has gone past in the last 18 years or so that I haven't logged on at least twice. Aussiefrogs has been an invaluable resource...especially when tackling some of the more challenging problems with cars that most mechanics prefer to avoid.
I agree with pgti6 - a small annual contribution to keep Aussiefrogs running would be money well spent. There is nowhere else with the wealth of knowledge and the enthusiasm for French cars.
 
I reckon we kinda owe it to the forum...
What price does one put on the type of entertainment as produced in the pond by the likes of pj810... or the incredibly valuable advice as given by DavidS in the Citroen forum...so many valuable contributors with such a vast amount of shared knowledge...
AF is an incredibly valuable resource but it has become more than that... the human interactions that are the many thousands of posts shouldn't become inactive memories...
It's just to good to lose... we need to remember some of the members no longer with us...
What would they like to see happen...
And how can we make those wishes come true...

Cheers

Dino


ps... I m still a bit freaked out...
 
I am deeply sad although I appreciate a non advertising model does costs money to run and not to mention time to maintain. Previously when I used to drive Japanese there was once upon a time too a site non advertising to support members, I remember we used to have regular competition with prizes donated by members ( new items mind you) to encourage traffic and experimented with local businesses related to the brand and car for small little banners, it went on for awhile and the site was novated to another member but then eventually it was closed, it was a good decade though and I appreciate the time and other resources the mods and owners of this site puts into this. Obviously it cannot go on forever. As an aside it is just one day after my birthday this site will decommission.
I dunno where we would find support esp since the makers do not provide a very good support network anyways.
 
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