Newbi asks What is the real cost. Admin

[IZINBARD]

Fit like an foos yer doos (Hello to all, how are you)

A few questions on internet high finance.

I have been a member of and using the 400greybike forum for about 3 years now, and 2 years of the site it grew from. It is The best site in the UK for samller bikes, but mostly covers 400 cc grey imports, Admin read owner of the site has spat the dummy re the cost of upkeep for the site, and pulled the plug on it, stating that he owns it and can do as he likes as only he and a handfull of other members of the forum have contributed to the cost.

So how much does it cost to run a site such as this, and do your costs go up as you membership grows,

I am also a member of Aberdeenbikers.co.uk web based bike club, and usually wait till everybody is shitfaced on a club night out then hit all the usuall suspects for a tenner for club funds, whidh then gets sent round to the admin dude to help keep the club going. this donation can range from 50 quid or so to several hundred.

This service can not really be carried out for the 400greybike admin dude as the site is internet only with very few meet ups.

I Look forwards to hearing the sites views and comments,
Izz,

“b****cks” said b****cks

[imperialdata]

First off, welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear you have problems with another site, I’ll try my best to help.

I created this site in 2003 mainly as a hobby, I’m very much into bikes, and to learn a specific type of programming language ASP. To get the site off the ground I needed to advertise and it was quite difficult (and still is) to get high up in the search engine rankings. How often do you do a Google search and go to the 50th result you get back? So the site takes up a lot of work in the promotion and andvertising. I usually do reciprocal links, ie if someone has a site which is worth of linking to, I email the admin and ask if they would like to exchange a link. This helps the search engine ranking – their logic is if more people link to your site then it has to be good!

In the early days, I didn’t ask for money and paid out about £80 from my own pocket. This gets the website hosted on a server which is fairly slow but does the job. As more people join, we get photos posted and more text in the database so the server hosting the site can’t cope. This coupled with the fact they put some adverts of their own on there meant I had to change server quickly. I guess I pay out in excess of £150 a year now for a quick server, reliable hosting and a bit of advertising. I would like to go to the next stage where I can automate some of the tasks, ie verifying emails, newsletters etc but this would cost more. A few months back some members suggested asking for voluntary donations via Paypal. I did this and although some members contributed, most have not. I don’t force the issue, I still think it is personal choice and I don’t treat members any differently if they do not contribute.

For me, the way forward is to get more members actively involved in the site. I am self-employed and some weeks I struggle to find the time to maintain the site and still have some quality time with my family. A few guys I appointed moderators have done an excellent job in running the forum in my absence. Perhaps you would like to have a go and see what it entails? We’d be glad to have some more input and fresh ideas, perhaps a grey import section could be started for you and your friends to post into.

Send me an email if you like on [email protected]

[GSX Rat]

ID – see pm

I slept with faith and found a corpse in my arms on awakening; I drank and danced all night with doubt and found her a virgin in the morning.
Aleister Crowley (1875 – 1947)

Blackboard paint – Covers a multitude of sins!

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