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[Stavros]

As Martin has allready said the change in server is going to cost him and Bradders money,hang on a minute chaps why should they be out of pocket.we all have great enjoyment from this forum in shared knowledge and  plain good humoured fun,well sometimes !!!.
Seriously though I propose that we should pm Martin for his address and contribute something towards the cost,if for example we all gave and this is only an example say £5 it would raise well over £4000 TOWARDS THE NEW SERVER.Martin pm me with your add and I will start the ball rolling with £20 come on lads,follow suit

[Colin Bishop]

Quite agree! I get a lot of pleasure from the Forum and would be happy to help toward the costs.  However I would think that only a proportion of members would actually contribute and I haven't a clue as to what the actual operating costs are.  Just say for instance 50 members contributed £10 each - would this make a significant difference?

[Stavros]

Well every little bit helps,why shouls Martin have to pay fro our enjoyment

[Colin Bishop]

Quite right Stavros. My view is that any contributions should be given on a "no strings attached" basis. We can rely on Martin to run things the way they should be.

[Stavros]

EXACTLY well said that man.Myself and Welsh Druid were disscusing this on sun at the lake and we both agreed that this was a good idea,I know that not everyone can afford to contribute but what the heck,we will never know who they are and we don't really care do we.What about some of the traders also giving a contibution it all helps,we all know who they are cos they are on he froum as well and do get trade as a result of the forum etc.I was talkng to a friend who does computer stuff and what he said was that a server costs in the region of £1500  so lets all help Martin.,Martin does a FANTASTIC job so LET US ALL SUPPORT HIM

[Stavros]

What a star

[Colin Bishop]

Let's have some input from Martin. What does he need - or want?

[Wetwater]

Let's have some input from Martin. What does he need - or want?

Come on Martin, don't be shy. 

[warspite]

where / how do we send the dosh

[laserblue16]

Psships. What a gentleman you are, just wish i could afford the same, but with limited funds i will have to send a little less. Send your address martin and a cheque will be on its way( and i'm a fairly new member).

[Shipmate60]

Totally agree lads.
I too enjoy this forum and miss it when it isnt available.
Count me in for a contribution.
BUT
Lets see what Martin WANTS.
It is after all his site and I dont want to change that in any way, but will be a month till I come back.
Martin what do you want?

Bob

[Jankers]

Martin,

We seem to have gotten here as a result of our own usage of the site
so it does seem appropriate that contributions be allowed.

I hope you agree, please Pm me your addy  so that a sum may be sent.

ps  I'm old fashioned, cheques and postal orders; not Paypal.

J.

[cbr900]

To everyone who has posted on this thread well done, and I would like to join you Martin tell us what you need ....



Roy

[tigertiger]

Great idea, and very supportive.

It is a thorny issue, but with a long term view, I think it may be time for the forum to go 'proffesional'.  :-\
Perhaps it is time to start considering an appropriate business model.

It could be run as a 'not for profit organisation'. Funding coming from advertising.
Funding from the memebership doesn't work, as if you have to pay to sign up you would not get any new members.

I have no experience of marketing websites :(, but perhaps one of the other members does. :

[White Ensign]

I`d second all forespeakers, but first of all we need some feedback of Cpt. Dobey aka Martin....
In that case I would throw some Euros in the pot...

At the moment I think that Martin needs to catch up some sleep.. 

Jörg

[Malc Reade]

As Martin has allready said the change in server is going to cost him and Bradders money

I seem to have missed Martin's original post on this subject - can't find it?

I'm sure that Martin would agree that before we all hand over our life savings to him, deserving though he may be, we could all do with some information as to what the costs actually are, and how this would amortise across the willing contributors?  tigertiger is correct in that there wouldn't be any new members if payment was required.

I would be happy to contribute something in addition to the advertising costs that Reade Models has already paid if necessary, particularly if Martin updates the font for our advert in line with our corporate logo as discussed?

Regards, Malc

[centaur]

Although I'm not a great contributor to the forum, I do get considerable pleasure from reading all the comments and I do benefit from the collective wisdom and experience of forum members.   As far as I'm concerned,  this is well worth paying for and I shall be delighted to make a monetary contribution in order to keep the site running.

[MCAT]

Count me in, just need details on how and were to send donation, just need Martin to comfirm
as when money is involved it might create problems for Martin, but I'm sure we can get around that,

Martin having met you at Warwick last year, I have no qualms on donating to the site whats so ever
do you have to purchase a sever or pay a yearly rental to the Host, if rental it may spread the cost
and people may be more willing to help,  after all this time around we are trying to help Martin
kept a very good site which he created going at the moment,  Martin I think we all know how
much you have done for us already so as an earlier post said don't be shy,

[ambernblu]

As well as throwing my hat into the ring along with many others, in terms of some financial contribution to the Forum operating costs (and also of course for virtually the same reasons that others have voiced) its also probably worthwhile mentioning the following points at this juncture too :

Firstly, tigertiger is correct in that potential Forum members would view paid membership as a NO NO! (Sad to say - but true!)  :-\

However, the contribution would have to be a set amount to be paid equally by all members - otherwise, imagine what the Forum would become if it was funded from a few existing members! Clearly, Forum members who were only able to contribute a small amount or were unable to contribute (for whatever reason) anything at all, would feel themselves as second-rate members. On the other hand, members who had contributed the most... well, we're all human... you don't need me to explain the pitfalls here. Surely we don't want to have a 'top-dog financial hierarchy' - its bad enough being 'promoted' for the number of postings!! 
                       
So in my view, Forum membership has to continue to be perceived to be equal... otherwise it will simply just decline and fail - and I'm certain Martin is aware of that fact.... eg how difficult do you think it would be to ban someone who has a paid a fortune to air his views on the Forum...? Mmmmmm!! Extremely dodgy! 

Anyway, worth thinking about - but I'm all for sending 'something' though as necessary (but I wouldn't be prepared to mention the actual sum involved bearing in mind what I've said above!)  :-[

But as others have already said, we also need to hear what Martin needs from us..... Cheers, Brian

[Colin Bishop]

Some good points there Brian. Particularly the one about banning a large contributor! There could be ways around this based around the shareware principle. If you like what you get then you contribute a specified sum. The other point would have to be that contributions are made with no strings attached as I said earlier. Just say for example that the contribution was set at £10 and maybe 100 members choose to pay it - there's £1000 towards the costs. No pressure on people to pay, it's purely voluntary. Of course the fly in the ointment could be tax issues fror Martin so it could get a bit complicated and he might not want to get into that scenario. Still, all the expressions of support on this thread ought to give him a warm feeling at least!  :)

[RickF]

Hi guys,

Great to be back. I would support the idea of a voluntary contribution to forum running costs, but Colin has a valid point regarding taxes. I am sure that there are ways round this, which probably the organisers/treasurers of existing clubs have already found. Or we could register as a charity.

However, all this is going to make even more work for Martin, so I think that, having made our position clear, we should now wait for his response.

Rick

[Welsh_Druid]

When I discussed this with Stavros on Sunday ( he's beaten me to it starting the thread  ) we had no intention of suggesting, as some people have implied, that there should be a compulsory charge for using the forum or even a fixed amount for voluntary contributions.  We just thought that many people on the forum, like us, might wish to contribute, no matter how much or little, to Martin's running costs.

If one person gave more than another - so what ? Thats up to them and could not influence their particpation in the forum activities. We would not wish to have any acknowledgement on the open forum anyway.

A simple gift of whatever an individual might wish to give would have no tax implications.

Don B

[sinjon]

I made a donation to an American model boat site some months ago, a good site, I don't use it often but I would hate to see it go.
I made my payment via pay pal, I think keep it to donations rather than membership fees, just a gentle reminder once a year, count me in.

[riggers24]

Many moons ago I suggest a donation scheme and Martin didn't want to go along that line because he had the adverts coming online but now I think Martin has to rethink this. There is too many of us wanting to contribute so we can support you in keeping this forum the best on the web, which I think we all agree on this.IT IS.

Many of use use paypal so that could be a very easy way to pay Martin.

So Martin, let us help with the cost, we don't want you to be out of pocket as it has been mentioned in a couple of different threads over the time, "this is a hobby".

Marc

remember I am going to Warwick and I will twist your arm until you agree

[meechingman]

How much a year do we all pay for our boats, radio gear, club memberships, petrol, snacks etc etc just to enjoy our hobby? [And that's not including the 'bribes' to 'her indoors' for putting up with the hobby - and us!] The answer is probably a heck of lot, and this forum is certainly part of my enjoyment of the hobby, so count me in when it comes to coming up with something to help pay for its running costs. Paypal sounds like a good idea and, yes, the tax aspect needs to be covered, for Martin's sake.

Keep up the good work, Martin, and let us help share the financial burden. 

Andy G