Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

Sir-


I just voted with my wallet. $20.00 in greenbacks to you via "Paypal". It would be gold, but I'm fresh out of coin money, so I hope you will accept currency ... ;)

Y'all have been an immense resource of knowledge and advice for my impression as well as savings to my wallet as to what NOT to buy. This site is valuable, so why shouldn't anyone donate or pay a fee to use it?

Thanks for your help in this hobby. I do so love to browse your website.


Your obed't and most humble servant-

I remain- Johnny "Reb"

[Rob Walker]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

Gents,

Absolutley, I donate anyway but for the information available here and the ability to retreive and share research is invaluable. $10 is a very nominal fee for what is provided here. I do however understand that a fee, any fee could be a hardship to some but as it has been said several times here information is not always free. There are other resources both off and online that can be accessed for free for those that could not afford it, plus it seems that much of the information here would still be available although limited to non-subscribers. So I cast my vote with the "Go For It" lot.

[paulcalloway]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

As I have suggested before, I think that you might consider selling CD Rom backups of the forum. You would consequently eliminate any fear of losing the information that has been gathered here.

The problem here is I'm not sure how to put it on a CD and make it searchable.

I can put the files on there for sure but going through those mysql files is confusing and messy. Most computers won't be able to handle loading the mysql files because their several hundred megs, which is like loading a 75,000 page document in Word. And there is also the issue of private folders which I don't know how to keep out of there.

The address to send donations is ac.donations@gmail.com

[mrgrzeskowiak]

Thats alotta $$

I was wondering, since this is all web based, what costs are there? Besides a new server.. I dont want anyone jumping down my neck about it.. with 5000 members and with a possible $25,000 at 5.00 and $50,000 at 10.00 what could you possibly need anywhere near that much more money to do? Not that you would get everyone to donate.. Please advise

[Suppelsa]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

I would be more than happy to pay a user fee.

[1stMaine]

Re: Thats alotta $$

I was wondering, since this is all web based, what costs are there? Besides a new server.. I dont want anyone jumping down my neck about it.. with 5000 members and with a possible $25,000 at 5.00 and $50,000 at 10.00 what could you possibly need anywhere near that much more money to do? Not that you would get everyone to donate.. Please advise

Mike,

From what I gather, the fee-based membership would include all of the current access. Non-paying members would have certain areas and/or functions denied. That's the way several sites I belong to function.

As to costs, it's not just servers but bandwidth, hosting fees, etc. There's also associated costs such as environmental controls (read air conditioning and electricity) that add up over time as well. Software lisences aren't cheap either.

Regarding the 5K members, if you figure that maybe 10%-20% would actually sign up as paying members, that knocks down the available cash quite a bit.

Respects,

[paulcalloway]

Re: Thats alotta $$

I was wondering, since this is all web based, what costs are there? Besides a new server.. I dont want anyone jumping down my neck about it.. with 5000 members and with a possible $25,000 at 5.00 and $50,000 at 10.00 what could you possibly need anywhere near that much more money to do? Not that you would get everyone to donate.. Please advise

We don't need nearly that much money but we won't get nearly that much participation.

The site has 5,000 members "on paper", but 1,285 of those havent logged in since 2004. I expect to purge those in the next few days. The rest of the numbers whittle down pretty quickly until we're left with about 1,600 who have logged in in the last 30 days. Of those about only about 600 have actually made a post.

[ley74]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

No problem whatsoever. Charles is probably reading my very thoughts.

The "left coast" is a nice place to visit but...

Don Smith - I did wave as I flew over.

Looking forward to getting back to Old Virginney.

[mrgrzeskowiak]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

I would be willing to pay 10.00 for annual membership.. These sites and forums have ALOT of information...

[DannyJoe]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

Absolutely! Regardless, I will continue to make an annual donation.

[LindaTrent]

Re: Thats alotta $$

Of course I voted yes. :D

The problem with books and magazines is that far too often the research becomes outdated within a year (sometimes even before it goes to print), or the author is unavailable to the general public, or is just hard to reach to discuss documentation.

What's so cool about the AC forum is the posters know ahead of time that they should be able to back up their statements with documentation. Unlike a book or a magazine, the AC forum allows instant communication between the "author" and the reader. Within minutes of a post a reader can contact the original poster and see how he/she came to his/her conclusion.

It also allows people to ask questions and get answers not within 30+ days, but within minutes or hours, and those answers are generally given by some of the best researchers in the hobby.

I love the AC forum, and I would gladly pay whatever is decided upon to keep it up and running. I'm here probably a total of 2-3 hours a day, and to lose it would be well, hmm... a lot more time for me to do other things. Nah! Other things can wait. I need my AC fix . :wink_smil

Linda.

[Art Reid]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

As Paul said, there is a way in place for one to contribute to the forum now. All those who say they would gladly pay a subscription could certainly make a donation now and accomplish the same thing. So instead of posting saying you'd be willing to pay, go ahead and do it.

It's the old adage, "Put your money where your mouth is".

Just sent $10.00 through Paypal as well.
If it goes to subscription no problem, I'll pay it again, this has become my favorite site on the net.
Thanks for all the hard work!
Art

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

One encouragement to the broke students among us (I remember those days well!): A $10 fee per year works out to about 84 cents a month. My kids find that much on sidewalks in our small town (and toss it into the family fun pot.) There's also the option of hitting the blood-plasma place and making one sale--and subscribing for three years. :)

My vote: yes, a small fee would be worthwhile.

[Craig L Barry]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

There are pros and cons to the approach suggested. Personally, my vote would be in favor of it as a nominal membership fee is a good litmus test to identify those with the requisite degree of interest and expertise, and if too much money is somehow generated the excess can be donated to battlefield preservation easily enough.

The Watchdog operates as a non-profit 501(c), as distinct from most other publications mentioned previously which operate for profit. The editors and staff fully support the portion of the hobby interested in getting it right with any funds after publishing expenses going to battlefield preservation. As Paul Calloway pointed out, there are costs associated with producing publications just like there are in maintaining the Forum here. The Watchdog's mission coordinates well with the intent of the A-C Forum, and so we support that through the Approved Vendor fees. That approach makes sense. I would liken it to the question being presented here about a small membership fee to all participants that use the site to offset expenses. It seems a sensible way to proceed given the current economic realities, doesn't it? This is essentially a club, how many clubs have no membership fees?

In addition, regardless of what is decided, my small personal contribution of $20 is coming via Paypal. A minimal amount considering what I have gotten back in terms of hours of entertainment, comraderie and enlightment, as well as a fair number of contacts from fellow enthusiasts whose opinions and perspectives I gain from and greatly respect.

[mightyreb]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

$5-$10 is a small price to pay for the amount of well researched information found here. we would be paying far more in time & effort to get the same info thats readily at your finger tips within seconds...i for one would be happy to pony up

steve hutton