Posted by lance_ryley (lance_ryley@…>)
Hi folks,
over the past few months I’ve watched this group take off - albeit,
mostly because of migration from the FY2003 group, which goes through
massive spam phases. I think it’s time to chime in a bit on how I
view this group and where our efforts should lie in the future.
First and foremost, I am not opposed to people advertising their
boats, gears, and services in the forum as long as a) it is on-topic
and b) the subject includes the words “For Sale,” or “Commercial,” or
something so that people who want to only read the technical posts
can do so. Likewise, if a member represents a sail maker, or a part
supplier, or any other commercial venture, I feel it’s appropriate
for the person to express their opinions, services offered, etc. with
the caveat that they clearly state their affiliation/interest in the
vendor or service. While I don’t want to commercialize the group,
even the newest of our Freedoms are getting on 15 years or more, and
as such, finding quality replacement parts, revamped systems, etc.
will become more and more important, especially considering
that “Legacy” basically provides no factory support any more, and
good yards that know what a Freedom is are few and far between (with
some notable exceptions). Having bought two and sold one Freedom
without broker intervention, and recognizing the limitations of the
Yahoo Groups site, I think this group provides an invaluable forum
both for those looking and selling. With the current free technology,
it’s probably more appropriate for people to build their own selling
sites (as I did) and publish links here than to try to use yahoo
groups as the primary source of information.
About FOG:
Those of you who have joined recently probably don’t know that this
group was originally a nontechnical refuge for those of us who
thought an Owner’s Group might be a good idea. We originally
envisioned something along the lines of the Nonsuch group, with
resource listings, etc. for members. When it became clear that the
other group was becoming inundated with spam, we opened up this one
to keep the spirit of sharing and technical discussions alive without
having to weed through all of the body-member-enhancement ads (if
only they could figure out how to make my mast bigger… 
In any case, I agree in principle with the idea of a dedicated web
site for people interested in Freedoms. I think that with the low
cost of web site hosting, we may be able to do this without having to
form an organization. I’m hesitant to formalize any kind of
membership fee for the site, because the inevitable questions will
be, “what’s my money buying me?” and “can we really trust Lance with
our money… (or whomever).”
As I see it, the technical issues are a larger issue, however.
Running a website requires pretty much a dedicated web designer and
administrator, and for something of the scale I’ve already heard
proposed, it probably can’t be someone who ‘dabbles.’ If there are
any pros out there who want to volunteer their time and efforts, let
one of the moderators know and we’ll see if this fish swims. In the
meantime, the moderators of this group are committed to ensuring we
remain spam-free and provide the best information we can about the
boats we enjoy so much.
Lance
“Glory”