Personally while I think a small joining fee is perfectly acceptable I do think it would put off some people joining which is detramental to a healthy forum, the more views, discussions, banter the better. However I like the idea of a contribution on selling on here, i sold my zed yesterday and it cost me nothing in advertising so I will be making a decent contribution to the forum which will include a joining contribution as well as I have gained a lot of ideas etc from reading on here, so if voluntary contributions are enough to cover the costs then just charge for sales as has been said if it ain't broke....
Im going to say something controversal
- Thread starter Beedub
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My opinion on the 'joining to sell' thing has changed completely tbh. As long as someone puts some effort in to an ad, responds positively to questions and comments - which should also try to be positive - then I see no problem with forum members benefitting from people who come to a Z4 forum to sell Z4's or related bits. If they take the piss with a price, or stick up an eBay link and no more, then they deserve what's coming to them IMO. They're not the sort of person you'd want to do business with anyway. It's not like there are serial sellers who come in here and try to treat it like a free ebay, right ? And if they did then I am sure our mods would spot it, if we didn't first.
I'm not a fan of paying, I think it will limit membership and drive people away, as said by many above. Though we should all donate more, myself included....
I'm not a fan of paying, I think it will limit membership and drive people away, as said by many above. Though we should all donate more, myself included....
Bing said:
It's a good point you make Bing but how many people say "yes I must donate later when i sit down" either to the forum or charity etc then forget to, so if costs are not being covered by voluntary donations then it has to come from somewhere else, e.g. sales for example.
I don't know what exactly we'd be paying for. I don't think you can start suggesting people pay for a forum without understanding why, or how much, and what for, and what it might add/help/save/improve...
Not being funny, but running a website costs little to nothing these days, i fully understand work goes into maintaining and upgrading it, and hosting will no doubt have some MRC, but it's not bank breaking, a few donations a year should suffice.
If the mods/owners/admins need assistance for running costs, or management duties, they can ask, and we will no doubt provide. It's lovely that you guys (me included) love the forum to the extent of outwardly trying to help it without prompt, but really, why not wait until there's prompt from the admins - and then we can treat it like a proper business, they outline what running costs are, we work out as a forum what we need to do to solve that, and maybe somewhere along the lines some volunteers might appear to assist with running things.
Before anyone gets shitty with me for suggesting we don't all cough up money, to qualify my opinion - I should add i'm a sysadmin by trade, and pretty well versed with all things web, hosting and even phpbb. Worst case i have a spare webserver that could run the site for free, and i'd happily volunteer my time to assist. Realistically as the site has been running some time, chances are we're(they're) paying over the odds on old hosting rates unless it's run privately.
Basically, lets hear what admins need, if anything, and we can solve any problems or concerns before they arise. Feel free to PM me for whatever too.
Not being funny, but running a website costs little to nothing these days, i fully understand work goes into maintaining and upgrading it, and hosting will no doubt have some MRC, but it's not bank breaking, a few donations a year should suffice.
If the mods/owners/admins need assistance for running costs, or management duties, they can ask, and we will no doubt provide. It's lovely that you guys (me included) love the forum to the extent of outwardly trying to help it without prompt, but really, why not wait until there's prompt from the admins - and then we can treat it like a proper business, they outline what running costs are, we work out as a forum what we need to do to solve that, and maybe somewhere along the lines some volunteers might appear to assist with running things.
Before anyone gets shitty with me for suggesting we don't all cough up money, to qualify my opinion - I should add i'm a sysadmin by trade, and pretty well versed with all things web, hosting and even phpbb. Worst case i have a spare webserver that could run the site for free, and i'd happily volunteer my time to assist. Realistically as the site has been running some time, chances are we're(they're) paying over the odds on old hosting rates unless it's run privately.
Basically, lets hear what admins need, if anything, and we can solve any problems or concerns before they arise. Feel free to PM me for whatever too.
I have donated a few times, however probably not enough times in the years I've been a member.
I don't think its a good idea to start charging a fee, you would lose a lot of people (information is generally very easy to find on the internet and this isn't the only place to get z4 help and info) and the forum would change a lot and I really don't think that would be for the best.
I think we should all remember to donate a bit more often, I'm sure Jim would appreciate it very much.
I don't think its a good idea to start charging a fee, you would lose a lot of people (information is generally very easy to find on the internet and this isn't the only place to get z4 help and info) and the forum would change a lot and I really don't think that would be for the best.
I think we should all remember to donate a bit more often, I'm sure Jim would appreciate it very much.
shortfuse 2
Senior member
nice one carol I agree with you on that 
ben g said:We pick our 15 plate fiesta st3 up on the 2nd March. Can't wait to drive it back
I've been busy buying parts :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:
going for the mountune mp215 , turbo back exhaust, cobb engine mount, and a few other tasty bits, want a totally civilised hot hatch but it seems 230hp is easily and reliably achieved! that would be a stonker with its weight. i collect mine Wednesday.
The nav was excellent.
I am on a couple of forums and one I used to be on (Autbahnstormers) did have a small joining fee but for that you got a quarterly magazine and good discounts by using the membership card at Vauxhall dealers , another had a voluntary donation scheme which they asked members very rarely to contribute to , I am going to sit on the fence on this one at the moment but in the meentime will make a small donation to my local Air Ambulance 8)
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