How we can support this site? - 4WD Trip

01 Feb 2017

It is really sad and quite off putting the way we as members voice our opinions on this forum. We all are on here for the same reason, to 4WD meet people, grow in skills and generally have a great time with others who enjoy the same. I have rea......

Yeh but it's been funny as to read..and opinions on the internet, as the saying goes... they are like a******** and everyone has one.

This is an internet forum, not a club, that is what you get.

cheers.

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01 Feb 2017

Alex (AlexPatrol) wrote:

Yeh but it's been funny as to read..and opinions on the internet, as the saying goes... they are like a******** and everyone has one.

This is an internet forum, not a club, that is what you get.

cheers.

Thats exactly rite mate , since this asking for money (donations) has started like it was a new idea not just something that never got mentioned because of this exact reason , its not a club its just a very kind good idea that someone came up with that helps everyone find people to go 4wding with , its not about being nice or not being nice , im sure nobody would mind donating 5 dollars a trip or similar that goes without saying and in the end would also well cover it , with a thing like this donations and stuff should go under the radar . also people nead to stop being little bitches and emailing admin every 5 minutes and telling him stuff that people write on here because if they care at that time they would read it , this website is based on the forum , I am guilty of writing stuff on here that I shouldnt but when I do it it gets removed within minutes . just lately this has changed everything this do gooder money thing , its all people talk about . I was on a trip a few weeks ago and people are discussing what the money goes on and how could it cost that much bla bla bla and thats absolute rott , I believe this has caused so much trouble , next time just bring an apple for the admin . mate what a little bitch fest , also this thing about people being nice if it was aimed at me or Garry , Garry is nice the only thing that made his original comment look bad was people jumping on the band wagon and as for me I tried to be nice to everyone but there is no way im going to crawl around anyone weather its the admin or who ever .

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01 Feb 2017

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01 Feb 2017

I think a lot of that criticism was directed at me, and fair enough. I really shouldn't swear at people.

Anyone that knows me will tell you I'm quite happy to say to your face anything I'll write on here. I always call a spade a spade.

In response to Chris, "does it matter if someone has 36in tyres?"

Well sometimes yes it does, without getting other parts of the vehicle modified it extends the braking distance. I can't remember the numbers, but it was something like 30-50%.

So yes, I do get stroppy when others do dangerous things.

Mostly people do these things thinking it's fine, and that's the worrying part, they don't understand how dangerous they have just made their vehicle.

Anyway if this is to be brought up again perhaps a modifications thread would be better.

BTW there is nothing wrong with modifying a vehicle as long as it gets passed by a VASS engineer.

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01 Feb 2017

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Allan (allanmac)

01 Feb 2017

Winston (Winston_FJ) wrote:

A few hundred raffle tickets and couple of hundred stickers.

Whilst your approach to a membership fee sounds ideal, we want to keep the site free. That was the purpose. To provide a free forum for members to join or host trips.
......

Thanks for the info Winston; more sold than I expected. Ok, you want to keep the site free, but are looking at a 'premium membership scheme'... No disrespect, but cannot understand who would benefit from that, but will wait for the details before further comment. I go back to my earlier post basically saying 'Keep it Simple' and not try to invent the wheel. This is just a 4wd forum, not a business, so keep it that way and to be perfectly frank, I doubt the majority of members really care, or are interested in, new innovations etc etc. They want this site to concentrate on its main agenda; 4WD TRIPS, so why make huge changes. Kelvin has added various things that are rarely used, so that must tell us something. (again still think part of the issue is that many aspects of the site are not user friendly; many have said similar.)

The original post was 'How we can support this site', ( yes it did go off track a bit...), and the general consensus from the few members who have posted is they are all willing to support the site by doing the simple and easiest thing possible; pay some sort of fee/donation to help cover the site costs. Geez, $20 a year to be involved in trips is 'sweet bugger all' and so easy to impliment, so why not give it a try? At the very least, put up a poll along the lines of 'Would you be prepared to pay a annual fee to participate in trips?' stating that this fee will be used soley to help offset liability insurance and site operational costs; with a YES or NO; simple. By the number of responses received will give you some idea of how many are passionate about this site or just here to make up the numbers.

Dave (Stoops)

01 Feb 2017

The best way to help this site is numbers - numbers attract sponsors. Sponsors couldn't give a shit about who's calling who a dickhead ( not a good thing to happen) or who is running a 6" lift with 40" tyres(also not a good thing to happen)they could not care less about the content. Sponsors care about how many members we have and how many of those members actually use the site, so a discussion like this is good to generate the numbers but I really think the tone (mainly the swearing)can be kept down and don't name and single out individuals. In the short term if anyone feels they need to donate, you can do this by buying raffle tickets or merchandise. But we really need to generate more interest in the site, run more trips, more discussions on the forum to encourage more members.

Dave (Stoops)

01 Feb 2017

Oh and my Jeep has a factory fitted sway bar disconnect so I'm guessing it's perfectly legal to sway bars disconnected Offroad

Dave (Stoops)

01 Feb 2017

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Matthew (discomatt)

01 Feb 2017

Sponsers will not be interested thats for sure, 4x4 Earth, the biggest 4wding forum in the country can't get decent sponsership and is haveing exactly the same $$$ issue, it costs about $500 / month to keep them going but thats with over 50,000 members and millions of hits so I cant imagine a small forum like this would cost anything like that.

Another issue with sponsers is it stops honest and real life reviews, if something is crap its crap but if a crap company puts in $$ we all have to say how great they are, not sure about anyone else but as far as I am concerned, screw that.

Paid membership is another thing, personally I saw it at AULRO and now very rarely go there because it is like a boys club, cost big $$ to get decent useage and not worth it IMO

As far as some of the name calling and bickering, some here have real issue when others put forward an opinion, wake up people thats what forums are for, sharing experiances, thoughts and opinions, you don't have to agree and there is no need for the few that get so sooky when they have a different opinion to others. Sadly there are a few princesses who take stuff as a personal attack then turn things into a personal shit fight, grow a set and move on.

Personally I think a $2.00 - $5.00 donation from every member who joins a trip would more than cover costs per year or if you thought you would join more than say 10 trips a yearly donation to cover the years trips.

BUT that would then creat more legal and tax issues because its not a registered charity and if paying to go on a trip all leaders would legally have all sorts of issues.

Speaking of insurance and legal issues is it possible to see the insurance cover note and policy PDF?

Allan (allanmac)

01 Feb 2017

Dave (Stoops) wrote:

Dave, what is the obsession with having huge numbers?. As Matt said, if a site with over 50000 members cannot attract sponsors, how is this site going to?. If a potential sponsor did look at the forum, they would say; "not interested, no activity here". Agree that it would be great if the forum had more activity, but again, most members are not interested. Just look who has posted comments on this thread, mostly the ones who post something on a semi regular basis. Personally, a site with 3 or 400 members who are consistently active is far more appealing than a site with 1000s of members with most having little imput.

Matt, dont think the 'pay by trip' is the best option, but if that is the general consensus, go for it. I just wonder how the $$$ would be collected, by the trip leader on the day or a participant pays before being confirmed on the trip; could get all too hard.

A bit dissappointing that many of the longer term/active members have not put up suggestions or comments; says to me that most dont really care one way or another if the site continues or falls over.

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01 Feb 2017

I think cutting costs needs to be looked at.

$2400 a year for hosting the website seems ridiculous.

I have two websites and they cost me about $100 a year each, but they don't the traffic/storage requirement this one does.

Insurance for trip leaders..... well 4x earth and 4wd action doesn't have it as far as I know, so why is it really needed here?

Was there a business plan drawn up at the start? Have costs gotten out of hand? Has expected funding never worked out? Where was that funding expected to come from?

Allan (allanmac)

01 Feb 2017

() wrote:

I think cutting costs needs to be looked at.

$2400 a year for hosting the website seems ridiculous.

I have two websites and they cost me about $100 a year each, but they don't the traffic/storage requirement this one d......

Mark, to the best of my knowledge no other 4wd forum has insurance for Trip Leaders. I think you have hit the nail on the head with 'expected funding not eventuating'. Nobodies fault, sponsors are not interested in forums anymore. Have said my bit, so no more to say......for the time being......

Matthew (discomatt)

01 Feb 2017

Yes you are correct 4x4 Earth has no insurance cover for trip leaders but 4x4 Earth do not promote or run trips so they ( the site owner Patriot, James ) is not liable for anything and they keep it that way for good reason...

Allan why don't you think a user pays system would work?

At the end of the day I don't even understand why we are covering this topic, it was set up to be a free site as mentioned numerous times and those who set it up would have know it would cost so no unexpected surprise ... Has it all of a sudden become more expensive or are people now wanting to line their pockets?

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01 Feb 2017

Matt, 4x earth have a trip section, you can post a trip there so I don't see the difference.

Just the trip format software here makes it easier to run a trip.

I suggested to Kelvin ages ago to sell/lease that software to other clubs, many sports/clubs could use that.