Posted by Barry Stellrecht (yak@…>)
I’ve done some (slightly smaller) web hosting myself, including a total of about
10 sites, although the largest of the bunch probably gets less than ~10k
visitors per month, and half of them get ~100 visitors per month or less, so I
know at least enough to be dangerous and have opinions, and here they are:
-
I agree that the needs of a Freedom owners group could be hosted on a cheap
server, or on spare bandwidth from somebody’s hosting account…I could
probably make a similar offer myself had somebody not beat me to it. [I
recommend that somebody just pay for it, and if others feel like throwing in $5
or $10, pay them back, but not spending a lot of energy on it] -
Advertising would pay for some stuff, but it is probably more effort to
manage than it is worth. I personally would rather personally pay ~$100/year
than do the work necessary to bring in a similar amount of web advertising. And
with advertising you don’t want to manage either a shortfall (who pays?) or a
surplus (who gets it, or where does it go?) If traffic drives hosting costs up
over $20/month, it looks better, but there probably aren’t enough Freedom owners
to do that! -
If we switch away from the yahoo group, we could go with either a mailing
list or forum software. -
There are free, simple to administer mailing lists–mailman is on all web
hosts that I’ve used so far. -
Message boards like vbullitin or phpbb seem to require more server resources
than plain websites, and also more maintenance as well, as far as I know,
although I’ve not managed one. They also need to be kept up-to-date because old
versions often have security flaws that could get the forum hacked. -
(THIS IS THE BIGGEST ISSUE FOR ME!) Mailing List vs. Web Forum:
I use mailing lists to “keep up” and be slightly involved on a topic (like the
Freedom list, but I usually scan all the messages unless I get so far behind I
have to give up on the old ones. If I’ve got some knowledge I often throw in my
$.02.
I use forums to search for a specific answer to a question, or post a specific
question, but have just about never offered help to somebody else’s problem on
one.
IF WE SWITCH TO A FORUM, my usage pattern will change. Now I read or scan
everything and occasionally respond. Forums are much more of a bother to keep
track of what you have and haven’t read, so I’ll probably give up on reading
everything. Certainly when I start sailing and my connectivity gets more spotty
I’d give up on it.
Yes, I know there are RSS readers and email solutions for forums, but I’ve yet
to find one that works well for me.
Besides losing attention of folks if we change, we’ll also lose members who
don’t bother to switch, although that would happen with any shift.
Barry
P.S. Regarding your categories…this group seems to ramble from one topic to
another pretty frequently, so keeping them straight will be a challenge!
Geoffrey Schultz wrote:
I’ve created a “straw” version of the forum on my web site. Once a
general consensus is reached that this is something that people want
to do and like the general structure, I’ll obtain a domain name and
transfer access to it. Yod can access it athttp://www.geoffschultz.org/phpBB3/
Right now visitors are allowed read-only access to the forum. If you
want to post, simply register an account and log in.Please remember that the structure is not cast in stone. I’m more
than willing to make any changes that users want.I’ve created a basic set of sub-forums within the main forum. There
are as follows:Electronics
Engines and Mechanical Systems
Rigging and Sails
Manuals and Documentation
Photographs, Drawings, Etc
Cruising Discussions
Racing Discussions
Random Chatter
Buy, Sell or Trade
Events and Announcements
Forum News and FeedbackPlease suggest any changes/additions/etc within the “Forum News and
Feedback” section.Please give this a look and feel free to speak your mind.
– Geoff
–
s/v Flutterby, Freedom 33 cat ketch (becoming a junk rig)