Anchor
- Thread starter jeffk
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2001
- RO Number
- 3813
- Messages
- 9,936
This whole "anchor vs. non-anchor" thing is assinine!
Just like our health care system, NO ONE gets turned away or refused information because they don't have an anchor. I, for one, rarely even look to see if an RO has an anchor.
If someone asks a question, and I think I can help, then I'll do my best to help.
There are other forums (THT for one) where the moderator affirmatively pushed contributors to harass those who didn't in order to get them to "contribute". To Les' credit, when the idea was first suggested, he refused. We prevailed on him, or this site might no longer exist.
If you don't think that the information you get here is not worth $20 (what else can you get for that amoung in boating?), then don't "anchor up". If, as I do, you think this site provides an invaluable service to fellow boaters, then it's the best $20 you'll ever spend on boating.
I do agree, that there needs to be some quicker way to get RO's their anchors once they contribute.
Just like our health care system, NO ONE gets turned away or refused information because they don't have an anchor. I, for one, rarely even look to see if an RO has an anchor.
If someone asks a question, and I think I can help, then I'll do my best to help.
There are other forums (THT for one) where the moderator affirmatively pushed contributors to harass those who didn't in order to get them to "contribute". To Les' credit, when the idea was first suggested, he refused. We prevailed on him, or this site might no longer exist.
If you don't think that the information you get here is not worth $20 (what else can you get for that amoung in boating?), then don't "anchor up". If, as I do, you think this site provides an invaluable service to fellow boaters, then it's the best $20 you'll ever spend on boating.
I do agree, that there needs to be some quicker way to get RO's their anchors once they contribute.
Capt Bill1. I for one, do not consider any of your contribution is worthless, matter of fact, I enjoy reading them, please do not think your contribution is worth less than $20, heck, I don't even have anything worth than a penny to contributed on this site. I supported this site because I've learned so much about boating from knowledge people who spend their valueable time to contributes to this site, the people like you.
Let me tel you from 1st hand experience times 2.
The costs of running a forum is not all that expensive. So the number of RO's here more than cover the cost of the basic fees.
One of my forums I built is absolutely free to run. I don't charge a single penny for membership and I don't take donations. I sell nothing & I even don't allow advertising! Its free so I pass it on. The only thing it costs for me to run it is the domain name & hosting. I just pay for it and its over.
Many of my members keep worrying about how much it costs and offer up donations. If there were huge costs involved I might consider some type of membership fee.
But even if this site was free to les to run.... which I'm sure its far from that.... donating to a sites well being never hurts. Sometimes there are legal issues that need someone to pay for them.
Its smart for forum owners to bank every penny they are charging for the time a legal issue pop's up.
I have seen members on other sites that have been there for years and years quit a site because the admin was going to charge 10 bucks a year for membership. And these were technical sites where the members could go out and make money from the answers they asked in a panic from a job site!! Talk about stupid is as stupid does!!
Some are just penny wise and dollar foolish in more ways than one.
Fini
The costs of running a forum is not all that expensive. So the number of RO's here more than cover the cost of the basic fees.
One of my forums I built is absolutely free to run. I don't charge a single penny for membership and I don't take donations. I sell nothing & I even don't allow advertising! Its free so I pass it on. The only thing it costs for me to run it is the domain name & hosting. I just pay for it and its over.
Many of my members keep worrying about how much it costs and offer up donations. If there were huge costs involved I might consider some type of membership fee.
But even if this site was free to les to run.... which I'm sure its far from that.... donating to a sites well being never hurts. Sometimes there are legal issues that need someone to pay for them.
Its smart for forum owners to bank every penny they are charging for the time a legal issue pop's up.
I have seen members on other sites that have been there for years and years quit a site because the admin was going to charge 10 bucks a year for membership. And these were technical sites where the members could go out and make money from the answers they asked in a panic from a job site!! Talk about stupid is as stupid does!!
Some are just penny wise and dollar foolish in more ways than one.
Fini
Capt. Bill1
Active member
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2000
- RO Number
- 2017
- Messages
- 6,127
Thanks.
I find all of the comments interesting and diverse. Personally I made a decision not to pay for play, with that choice I only have basic access. That is fine with me.
If Les is hosting the site on his own, IT CAN BE VERY COSTLY. Servers, T1's, DS3, UPS, Air Conditioning, Maintenance, Upgrades, Electricity, etc.
That being said, the trend today is to rely more on the "cloud" for these services.
Personally I think associating Boatered & boatfix is fine and good practice. It provides added value to the boatfix buyer.
My company offers (4) levels of membership, the first level is free and the highest level is hand selected to only the best of the best.
If Les is hosting the site on his own, IT CAN BE VERY COSTLY. Servers, T1's, DS3, UPS, Air Conditioning, Maintenance, Upgrades, Electricity, etc.
That being said, the trend today is to rely more on the "cloud" for these services.
Personally I think associating Boatered & boatfix is fine and good practice. It provides added value to the boatfix buyer.
My company offers (4) levels of membership, the first level is free and the highest level is hand selected to only the best of the best.
CaptainNoah
Member
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2007
- RO Number
- 27175
- Messages
- 15
I estimate their are 700 paid members here by counting all the "members" in the members list. That's $14,000 per year. Even the most expensive server hosting fees at godaddy are $420 per month or $5,000 /year. That includes bandwidth, A/C, maintenance, electricity, everything. Looks like boatered makes a profit to me.
- Joined
- May 25, 2003
- RO Number
- 11591
- Messages
- 1,986
I never knew that Les had an accountant looking after his Financial affairs on here???...
To be quite honest...I don't care if Les makes 1 buck or 1 million on this site...The 20 bucks I pay each year is worth a million bucks to me...The advice that I have received from others on here is worth a million to me...
The friends that I have met on this site are priceless...
To be quite honest...I don't care if Les makes 1 buck or 1 million on this site...The 20 bucks I pay each year is worth a million bucks to me...The advice that I have received from others on here is worth a million to me...
The friends that I have met on this site are priceless...
Folks can speculate all they want. People who know me know that I don't lie. When I say that we aren't turning a profit, that's exactly what I mean. Insurance alone is more than the server costs. I can tell you one thing - it's not costing CaptainNoah a penny.
I think "someone" said that BoaterEd & BoatFix were not connected or related..
Seems to me that when I log onto the forum that BoatFix has top billing, its banner is bigger than BoaterEd and is top center where BoaterEd is left side.
Also is there formal education here? It says "dedicated to boater education" right under the BoaterEd logo.
Seems to me that when I log onto the forum that BoatFix has top billing, its banner is bigger than BoaterEd and is top center where BoaterEd is left side.
Also is there formal education here? It says "dedicated to boater education" right under the BoaterEd logo.
- Joined
- May 25, 2003
- RO Number
- 11591
- Messages
- 1,986
Ah Liz...There's somrthing about a women with that Moth Ball scent that drives me crazzzzzzzzzzyyyyyyyyy..
(while on a boat)
SeaHarley... I do See Harley's anchor. Really, its there. I'm thinking the problem is on your end somehow.
Now, back to the original discussion....
I have an anchor because several years ago when the whole contribution thing came up I made a personal choice to contribute some financial support to BoaterEd. My decision alone, no one else's and, while I would hope that we continue to have sufficient contributers to insure the site is up and available, I don't give a squat about whether another RO makes a decision not to do so. Like Hogan, I rarely notice if someone is anchored or not... don't really care. If a thead interests me, I'll follow it. If I feel I can contribute something constructive (or maybe witty) to a thread, I'll do so. Anchor-schmanchor.... don't care!!! However, if I do notice a new contributor I will try to take a moment and a few keystrokes to thank them for their additional support or the site.
BTW, the whole Bob thing was initiated by Bob's active campaign against contributing money to any internet site, not by an anchored RO. It was his personal policy and preference and that's OK. The problem arose when he raised the debate a few octaves and then took some heat for it as well as for some other weird posts. IMHO it's fair not to contribute financially or to do so... personal choice; it is not fair to criticize another RO because they do or do not contribute financially.
Now, back to the original discussion....
I have an anchor because several years ago when the whole contribution thing came up I made a personal choice to contribute some financial support to BoaterEd. My decision alone, no one else's and, while I would hope that we continue to have sufficient contributers to insure the site is up and available, I don't give a squat about whether another RO makes a decision not to do so. Like Hogan, I rarely notice if someone is anchored or not... don't really care. If a thead interests me, I'll follow it. If I feel I can contribute something constructive (or maybe witty) to a thread, I'll do so. Anchor-schmanchor.... don't care!!! However, if I do notice a new contributor I will try to take a moment and a few keystrokes to thank them for their additional support or the site.
BTW, the whole Bob thing was initiated by Bob's active campaign against contributing money to any internet site, not by an anchored RO. It was his personal policy and preference and that's OK. The problem arose when he raised the debate a few octaves and then took some heat for it as well as for some other weird posts. IMHO it's fair not to contribute financially or to do so... personal choice; it is not fair to criticize another RO because they do or do not contribute financially.