Member Sponsorship

[GatorBeetle]

Originally Posted by CyberGreenBaby

This may be a stupid question but would going through and deleting the people who joined a long time ago and were only on the day they signed up and never posted help at all?

No, this is an issue of current usage. If they were only on the day they registered, they are only taking up a small amount of storage (for their account.) This an issue of the priority a service provider gives your site (thus the number of simultaneous connections it allows) and how much is paid for that service.

Jeff has maintained this site, much out of the goodness of his heart and the love of VW for MANY years...unless something changes, in the area of income, this is going to be the theme around here.

While I don't want to speak for him, I know from Jeff's previous posts, he does not want to make NB.ORG a "pay as you go" site. It is clear from the changes which he made with the VB upgrade and server switch, that while Member Sponsers got some "perks" it is still a free site. Jeff would be taking on quite a bit of risk if he upgraded now based on a donations with no plan for a steady regular income. While it is an unfortunate situation, I understand Jeff's position. He, like the most of the rest of us, is not independently wealthy, and keeping this thing small is the best bet, because if it grows to something bigger, and the money which allows that growth dries up, the ORG will cease to exsist at all.

There either needs to be a steady and sustainable source of $$$, or this is the situation we must live with.

As far as registering the chat...there are other options, which apparently work as several ORG'ers have reported. Give Jeff a rest on that. He is not obligated to provide web based chat at all, folks!! Also, if you need to chat, there are other places you could go. Just my $.02...

[iScott]

What about sponsors? I could deal with a few banner adds here and there. I dunno. I'm sure it's been discussed before, but figured I'd throw it out there.

I don't want it to seem like we're beggers... I really love this place and I want what's best for it. I'm willing to give my time, effort, and (if need be) hard earned cash to make it happen any way I can.

[jcroft]

Originally Posted by iScott

What about sponsors? I could deal with a few banner adds here and there. I dunno. I'm sure it's been discussed before, but figured I'd throw it out there.

I don't want it to seem like we're beggers... I really love this place and I want what's best for it. I'm willing to give my time, effort, and (if need be) hard earned cash to make it happen any way I can.

I've been trying to get sponsors. I used to have sponsors. They all dried up a couple years ago. The novelty of the car has worn off and I don't seem to be able to get sponsors anymore. Everyone once in a while I'll get one for a couple months, but it's certainly not reliable enough that I can sign a hosting contract based on it.

I really do appreciate your wanting to help. Running a size that does 60GB of traffic every month is a high dollar fare. Hell, some of the newspapers my company has don't do that much traffic on their sites. If you have ideas of how to afford it, I'd love to hear them. But, I assure you I've already tried advertising. It won't work for this site anymore.

[GatorBeetle]

Originally Posted by iScott

What about sponsors? I could deal with a few banner adds here and there. I dunno. I'm sure it's been discussed before, but figured I'd throw it out there.

I don't want it to seem like we're beggers... I really love this place and I want what's best for it. I'm willing to give my time, effort, and (if need be) hard earned cash to make it happen any way I can.

I am with you 100% Scott, but even if 20 of us "promise" to send Jeff $20 a month for the site, so he can upgrade service, what happens when ten of those twenty buy Toyotas (GOD FORBID) and forget about VW, let alone Beetles?? Would you be willing to sign a contract for a year with a service provider not knowing if those 20 people have the same commitment to the site as you? I love the ORG too, but cannot see putting my personal finances on the line like that.

I think the sponsors have dried up...Jeff might have a different answer, but I am afraid that is the case...and again, same problem...you get a sponsor for six months...what happens when they are not happy with the traffic generated by their ads...they pull them, and you are obligated to the service provider again.

[jcroft]

Originally Posted by GatorBeetle

No, this is an issue of current usage. If they were only on the day they registered, they are only taking up a small amount of storage (for their account.) This an issue of the priority a service provider gives your site (thus the number of simultaneous connections it allows) and how much is paid for that service.

Exactly right. We are not exceeding our bandwidth or disk space limits at this time. We're on a shared sever (there are other sites on it too), so resources must be split amongst them. To make a more real life comparison, this is like if you were using so much water that no one else in your city could take a shower. What do you think would happen? The city would probably limit the amount of water you're allowed to use. That's exactly what's happened here.

Originally Posted by GatorBeetle

While I don't want to speak for him, I know from Jeff's previous posts, he does not want to make NB.ORG a "pay as you go" site.

Yeah, I would definitely prefer not to. I've made the claim in the past that this site will always be free, and I'd love to be able to stick to that.

Originally Posted by GatorBeetle

It is clear from the changes which he made with the VB upgrade and server switch, that while Member Sponsers got some "perks" it is still a free site. Jeff would be taking on quite a bit of risk if he upgraded now based on a donations with no plan for a steady regular income.

Yep, that's right. In order to do it, I'd need to have several months in a row in which donations exceeded whatever the hosting cost would be, so that I was absolutely confident I'd always be able to pay the bill at the end of the month.

Originally Posted by GatorBeetle

As far as registering the chat...there are other options, which apparently work as several ORG'ers have reported. Give Jeff a rest on that. He is not obligated to provide web based chat at all, folks!! Also, if you need to chat, there are other places you could go. Just my $.02...

I appreciate that, but I will happily take the blame on the chat. I should've registered it ages ago. I got screwed out of $50 by them and was hoping I'd get it back, but I realized several months ago that wasn't going to happen. I need to bite the bullet and get it registered it. I'm not really obligated, but I've said I would and I should.

I'll get it done.

[GatorBeetle]

Originally Posted by jcroft

I will happily take the blame on the chat. I should've registered it ages ago. I got screwed out of $50 by them and was hoping I'd get it back, but I realized several months ago that wasn't going to happen. I need to bite the bullet and get it registered it. I'm not really obligated, but I've said I would and I should.

I'll get it done.

I have heard you commit to that before. My only point, Jeff, is that based on all you do, the chat is a really minor thing for people to be on you about. I haven't been here since the beginning...but I have been for awhile...there would be no ORG if you had not commited to it for all these years. There are other options for the chat, which work...there are really just bigger issues right now.

They did screw you on that license, though.

[iScott]

Keep the ideas coming, friends... And THANK YOU, JEFF for staying on top of this. You da man!

[PhoenixRising]

Originally Posted by GatorBeetle

I am with you 100% Scott, but even if 20 of us "promise" to send Jeff $20 a month for the site, so he can upgrade service, what happens when ten of those twenty buy Toyotas (GOD FORBID) and forget about VW, let alone Beetles??

Hey now...I still love VW, and I hang out here, with my two Toyotas...

FWIW, I find this site one of the best sites around, just for people meeting other people. I am not sure how it happened, in this day and age, but for the most part, this part of the internets is a peaceful space...I go to Toyota sites, and it's sort of brutal out there.

I like this place. I wish I had a idea of what to do to help Jeff.

[GatorBeetle]

Originally Posted by PhoenixRising

Hey now...I still love VW, and I hang out here, with my two Toyotas...

I know, TJ, no offense intended...it was an example only. I have to admit you are the person who came to mind, but becasue you have stuck around. I feel the same as you, but Jeff can't make long term plans based on that.

[kaiser]

i just sent my donation in via paypal.

great site, keep it up.

[Darkstar]

Just Paypal'ed my donation!
That was alot easier than being 'jumped' into a gang!

[Atomic_Knight]

I just PayPaled my Easter donation...

So, Happy Easter NewBeetle.org!

[Atomic_Knight]

How long does it take to get your MS status?

[FallinApartBoy]

ok i sent in my payment. thank you!!

[from Margaritaville...]

Originally Posted by FallinApartBoy

ok i sent in my payment. thank you!!

Good job there, FallinApartBoy...

[2003TurboGurl]

I sent mine in, too. 'bout time, huh?

[k8thegr8]

Originally Posted by Atomic_Knight

How long does it take to get your MS status?

Good question. I sent mine in a while ago, and still no MS status. I forgot about it till now.

[k8thegr8]

Thank You

[Hambug]

I also donated on the old forum (user name is still Hambug) Also, are any of the pics available from the old forum? wawalker did a mod on a trailer hitch with pics so it fit a Turbo S and I'm really in need of those pictures.

Thanks1

[Hollywood]

Jeff,

Just sent you an email and PM. Just donated last evening, and the org still refuses to post my pictures "Full Size". They post full size initially, and then when I come back to the thread a few minutes later, they're reduced to "thumbnail" size. Other in the same thread(s) are able to post "Full Size" pictures, the same as mine.

Can you please help?

"Hollywood"