[Guest]

Guys

I have to say this is one of the best sites on the web.



I just can't wait to get home each day to check things out in here.

I have only been here a short time and you have all made me feel so welcome!

Always answering my questions and offering advice.

You guys are great too.

Finally does it cost money to have this up and running, who's paying for it?

Cheers

 

[Scott]

Sel, at the moment we still have a month or two of free hosting and after that I will be paying the bills. I was originally going to chase a bit of sponsorship for some prizes to give away to members but members have suggested to me that they don't need giveaways so I will have not have any sponsors at this stage as I think commercial posts on web forums kill a site quickly.

The site was originally created by Phil Nelson (The Mariner) to promote his kayak fishing online shop. He had to close down the business and the forum due to health reasons so I decided to run with the forum as it promotes the sport that I love and is a great resource for yak fishos new to the sport and some free entrainment for all of us.

Catch ya Scott

 

[hairymick]

Sel, at the moment we still have a month or two of free hosting and after that I will be paying the bills.

Hi Scott, There are plenty of us here who also love this forum. I am prepared to contibute financially to help offset the running costs. I am also certain that there are many others here who feel the same way.

Hi Sel, Thank you. I can in no way take any credit for this forum but thanks anyway mate.

 

[Blaen]

Hi Scott, There are plenty of us here who also love this forum. I am prepared to contibute financially to help offset the running costs. I am also certain that there are many others here who feel the same way.

Hi Sel, Thank you. I can in no way take any credit for this forum but thanks anyway mate.

Agreed Mick and Scott, though I have only been here a short time I would be more than willing to contribute to the site's maintenance.

G'day Sel and welcome to the boards

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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[Blaen]

Agreed those little text google adds are fine and easy enough to ignore, it's those ones that pop a new explorer window that I hates :twisted:

 

[Davey G]

i agree that i would also be willing to 'pay' for membership of this forum if that's what it took to keep it viable in future. I'm sure that I'm not alone in appreciating Phil and Scotts dedication to creating this site and keeping it alive, but I sure as heck don't want to feel like someone's out of pocket because they have taken on this responsibility.

An idea for future consideration....Perhaps there could be a couple of different levels of membership to cater for all users. Free membership - allows limited browsing / limited posting rights (max of 20 posts?). Bronze Membership -$20 per annum which allows unlimited browsing and posting rights. Silver Membership - $25 per annum which includes unlimited posting/viewing/chat access plus some stickers etc? Gold Membership - $50 per annum all above plus an official AKFF shirt.

Of course this would require all members to then make a decision on how valuable this site is TO THEM. However it may be a way of offsetting costs and creating a real membership.

Anyway, that's just a thought. In the meantime, good work guys, keep it up 8)

 

[Guest]

I cant argue with Sel, we do have a great forum going here with a diverse bunch of guys from all over Australia, as well as a few for NZ and the US who all make great contributions to the site.

I like Davey G's idea re: membership, if it could be done without too much trouble/administration without becoming too large of a burden on our Administrators.

Even if we don't go down the membership route, I'm still happy to make a contribution toward the hosting/admin costs each year....

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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

 

[Davey G]

yes I agree. my suggestion was a 'worst case scenario" - the options if and when the site becomes reliant on some sort of revenue.

Obviously the site will continue to be most popular if free and unlimited access is offered to all users. Lets hope that continues to be the case.

 

[Guest]

Scott,

Maybe when it nears time to pay our hosting fees you could start a thread somewhere where you can post details of the costs, and maybe provide some bank account details and a suggested 'donation' amount for members to use as a guide with a view to making a voluntary contribution towards the sites running costs?

 

[HiRAEdd]

With the cost of the hosting with, Webstrike is it? I believe that a token amount from those core members that wish to donate should cover the cost each year. Correct me if I'm wrong Scott, it it $84/year for hosting? $84 from a large-ish pool of regular members shouldn't be hard to get. Just give me a cool little icon or something next to my avatar as recognition and you've got my money

On a side note, it's a shame the Australian Kayak Fishing Forum has to be hosted in the U.S. Don't get me wrong Scott, not having a go at you at all, more the fact it's a shame that hosting within our own country is more expensive than serving it from half way across the globe :/

 

[Booligal]

Scott,

It would be worth you having a look at the Australian XP Media Centre Community site who accept donations and have things like special tags if you donate and a donors only forum as incentive. Here is the link:

http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/

Go to the support us link". They currently have 102% of their target. I reckon it would work here a treat. They do run some advertisments though.

You are doing a great job by the way!

Cheers
Mark

 

[Scott]

Guys just a couple of quick comments. Firstly I want users to never have to pay to enjoy this site. Nothing is free these days and I am determined that this site will always provide free entertainment and advice for both users and guests. While I agree that it is a shame that the hosting is in the US, we haven't yet had a second of downtime to my knowledge and they offer cheap hosting.

It seems that their servers struggle a little bit sometimes as far as bandwidth is concerned but so far I am happy with them. This may change in the future but ethically I cannot change now after enjoying close to 12 months of free hosting as that is just wrong in my opinion. Anyway I am glad you all like the site and the credit must go to the vision and foresight of Phil the Mariner for starting the ball rolling.

Catch ya Scott

 

["G.W.K"]

hi all,
This is a just a thought but have you tried getting sponsorship or a grant from a federal or state gov department. perhaps the DPi here in Qld might find this site interseting or customs or coastwatchers .or you could try Port authorities. It would be a good opportunity to get their logo exposed and without getting bombarded with adds .anyway I'm sure someone would jump at the chance.Good luck

 

[The Mariner]

Hi Everyone,

The site was originally created by Phil Nelson (The Mariner) to promote his kayak fishing online shop.

Yes, that's kinda true. I did see the forum as a sales tool but it wasn't the main reason for starting it. The No.1 reason was to promote the sport in Australia & try to bring the smattering (at that stage) of kayak fishermen together if possible.

The Google AdWords can be an expensive advertising option (that's why I didn't go down that path when I had my business) that, I believe, would cost more that their worth.

To better promote the site in my opinion it would be better to go down the route of effective website promotion via good search engine submission & ranking.

If it's funding, rather than paid memberships etc. which MAY get nasty with the A.T.O. etc. then maybe a 'click here to donate via PayPal' I have often seen on freeware sites etc. may be a better option.

 

[hairymick]

G'day Phill. Welcome back mate.

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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QlpoOTFBWSZTWUBv1SgAAHZfgAASUef+UqziXKo/7//gQAI7NxrRphqnqeiZNNTExDajTQA0AAABqMTTIQmkAabUAABpoMgImk9KMjTJhDEwI0wgYE0MBKaJNACp4p7TTVDRo8p6gDT1B6nkBMASrKlxED8LK/nlHoTs56zkQo8fUhN+QnsJQjIDkQEl2cmqobVqvvpJvoisTpVSKUzqdWCx1kUbUJkkZyRYoR63OLPhNJthZzDxncKHpukmYz2tiYQ7QxJJ4V7DyJDalmkolhBJBwNVMs2mv7BSpae3rPZpsso1gkQ0FHWtm1jvTJCQc3c48t0uBZKqkIRvTbEdbv97saJ8nKjlZFnNP0lNiRNxFDHfXwgP+K99cMWFUx6EeD0MkS1JidpC8cPolpwlhMfhKCKhQq6cJGmzBFGfSlfzMSidFuK/uCrsd2G60u0VSOFs+yXpogooIcI4FASgWm/uuJXj7U0HUcaFqTSLnqD3zyJdKfXntjIM04wmU6n8CkEIhPhYhiQ0PvBT1tgdefpuEqcOWIwiu0xoCpMPRFZDZLCQ6YLKb6mqFMRbZhOggfjHorZ210l0kmgoqOtm6CZz7ZGy7a9zObCrPCe/KjJGuu08pekglBO53NU/b4cdJFz0iZ4aNqtsmRjjFKTScs7bTTJoxWKynk2POuQVg9+4RCWgoIEF+EBnkJh1fc2CrJGGNJvUHwogUqHvV5brVM7zsmadQ5LXNymQ3at7yeNek7V7LIPHyLNEKWouFaZndSYtSmjOZKUcUkMzqFSBv8XckU4UJBAb9UoA

 

[Shoey]

I have no problem tipping in where necessary, as would most of the regulars here but will it be reliable? It would be a shame for someone to have to personally contribute the whole amount to keep this site running. My 2 cents worth, is some form of AKFF merchandise that can offset the expenses in running the forum. I know Scott and the other moderators arent looking to profit from this site, so if we did a run of stickers, caps, or whatever and added an extra dollar or so, then we can all contribute and wear our contribution proudly. Any profit generated can either pay for web hosting in advance or be put back into the site somehow.

 

[BJT]

I like Shoey's idea because it's simple and you don't have to go to all the trouble of adds or sponsers and stuff like that.