To just transfer the admin functions from Gram to me (or whoever) would be free.
Who (if anyone) it goes to is Gram's choice & his alone. He owns the name, domain & all content.

I have free hosting available. OK it's not free but my employer is willing to put it on his account.

Revenue shouldn't need to come primarily from subscriptions but offering some premium level of access & hosting might offset the actual cost of keeping whatever is online up.

Having a store attached to the site could generate enough to keep the place going.
My employer just registered BuyYamahaParts.com & we're offering OEM parts online now so a simple link there could track how much traffic actually comes from the forum so any revenue earned that way could show the forum to be self-supporting.

Merchandise could also be offered as long as everyone with a color printer wasn't trying to undercut the site's efforts at sustainability.

~~

As far as how to continue, I think the general consensus among the few techs bouncing ideas in the technical forum is at this point to use the domain "www.roadstarclinic.com" to host a completely new forum from scratch. The old site that we're using now would be archived but become static. Meaning you could read & search threads & discussions from the past but adding comments or other content would be a total dead end. Only the new site with higher security & control would allow anyone to post anything.

I just started these threads because I saw a lot of "maybe someone should..." but no progress.
In the end, Gram is the only one that will make the decision on how or if the forum continues in any form at all.
I hope it does, whether I'm part of managing it or not.

I would be ok with 25-50 bucks.

BubbaKahuna wrote:
To just transfer the admin functions from Gram to me (or whoever) would be free.
Who (if anyone) it goes to is Gram's choice & his alone. He owns the name, domain & all content.

I have free hosting available. OK it's not free but my employer is willing to put it on his account.

Revenue shouldn't need to come primarily from subscriptions but offering some premium level of access & hosting might offset the actual cost of keeping whatever is online up.

Having a store attached to the site could generate enough to keep the place going.
My employer just registered BuyYamahaParts.com & we're offering OEM parts online now so a simple link there could track how much traffic actually comes from the forum so any revenue earned that way could show the forum to be self-supporting.

Merchandise could also be offered as long as everyone with a color printer wasn't trying to undercut the site's efforts at sustainability.

~~

As far as how to continue, I think the general consensus among the few techs bouncing ideas in the technical forum is at this point to use the domain "www.roadstarclinic.com" to host a completely new forum from scratch. The old site that we're using now would be archived but become static. Meaning you could read & search threads & discussions from the past but adding comments or other content would be a total dead end. Only the new site with higher security & control would allow anyone to post anything.

I just started these threads because I saw a lot of "maybe someone should..." but no progress.
In the end, Gram is the only one that will make the decision on how or if the forum continues in any form at all.
I hope it does, whether I'm part of managing it or not. BubbaKahuna, So by starting from scratch and archiving the old content could there be a link on the new site to the old content? I also think that a two level deal would be good for the forum. Free you would have limited access, maybe the $20 per year gives you something that free would not to entice more people to member in this way. I would have no issues with $20 per year. Maybe after admin costs are taken from paid member fees any remainder could be invested in merchandise for the store. But by having a store are we then asking somebody to take more of their time to run that part. You also didn't mention if by starting from scratch would one person be able to run the site or would multiple people be required to limit the time used for operation. I would like to thank you for offering to try to get this done. I don't know if there are others that are working on this with Gram but if so thank you also. Hope it will work out where the site can stay open. Littlebull

I think it's good 25-50 a year, keep learning to do it yourself.
It is my humble opinion.

I would be willing to pay also.

I'm good for whatever we're doing,
but I think only the ones that know this site will offer to jump in, but for how long?

I think this will turn in to a telethon every year to keep the lights on..

We have less than 40 members on now, I'm not sure what would change to get even more members once it moves to a pay model.

Hey Mike,

Another perspective on the counts.....

While I can appreciate the stats of members and guests. It doesn’t accurately reflect my visits.... I pop in and out at least a couple times a day to see what’s new, and I rarely hang around long unless I’m searching through the archives for something specific or I’m working some maintained, repair or mod.
Being open access to members I also never log in unless I have a contribution to make, and that’s not often and comes in phases.
While your checking out the stats at various times take note of who is logged in. Do members log-in and just stay logged in throughout the day because they didn’t actually log out, even though they are not currently active? Or does it continuously change as members come and go throughout the day?
And know that guest count could be compromised with members like myself that do not log in but just check in and go.

Ride safe ~Phil

pbirk wrote:
Hey Mike,

Another perspective on the counts.....

While I can appreciate the stats of members and guests. It doesn’t accurately reflect my visits.... I pop in and out at least a couple times a day to see what’s new, and I rarely hang around long unless I’m searching through the archives for something specific or I’m working some maintained, repair or mod.
Being open access to members I also never log in unless I have a contribution to make, and that’s not often and comes in phases.

And know that guest count could be compromised with members like myself that do not log in but just check in and go.

Ride safe ~Phil

You have a point,
but don't forget that the members that always show logged in, the ones that don't just log out, skew the results the other way.

Let's assume every guest is a member that did not sign in, that gives us 50 right now.
I know the numbers go up and down during the day, but I have been looking at them at different times and days, and I know what the numbers used to look like, and I do not see anything encouraging.

And think about so many of the people that were "regulars" that you aren't seeing now.
Go back to the big Celina list, the buddies you rode in with, and look how many only pop in once in a while now.
We're at the point now that it is rare to even see more than one Mod on the forum, and many rarely show up at all.

Part of it is a self fulfilling prophecy. It is announced the site is closing down, you figure there is not much going on here now, and you quit showing up.

Things have changed, we now have "New Forum Posts" that were put up a week ago.
That used to clear out every hour.

I hope it works out too,
but if money alone could fix this a check would have been written a long time ago.

Take Care,
Mike

Just another thing from my point of view. Ever since the photo bucket crash, it is extremely hard to post pictures. I'm a visual person and like to see what I'm talking about. If we can migrate to a platform that maintains all of what made this place the best around, the friendliness, the knowledge, the welcome feeling......but make it easy to post and show pictures and links, then I am betting we gain membership. This site, the way it's operated is old school, archaic. Right now trying to get the younger guys who seem to like forum situations involved is kind of like asking them to join their grandpa's social security club......a modern platform that incorporates all of our values is the ticket to succeeding here I think.

I'm in either way for whatever funds I can sling this way.

I think putting dollar amounts out there right now is putting the cart before the horse. I think that whom ever is going to do the work to keep things going will have to come up with an amount that it is gonna take to to migrate to whatever system and other cost involved is gonna be. IMO that is the only way we will know whether or not it is possible to keep going and how much it will cost to keep going in the future.