VBulletin

[Bill Freiburger]

Todd,

How much is the Software costing you?

Can we help with the cost?

Bill

[ToddP]

Bill,

I've always turned away offers in the past, but might consider donations in the future: NOT YET :o

There are a few expenses which I might try to recoup either through donations or advertising:

* The vBulletin Software was $160 + $30 Annual Maintenance.
* Bandwidth Usage has increased dramatically, especially since Norm's board closed down. This still isn't a large expense, maybe $20 a month.
* Phil Ruffin is printing shirts to use for promotions and contests on the board. He's giving me a fantastic deal, but its still an expense. I'll probably make some of the shirts available for sale here, which will bring in a little revenue.

The total cost to run this forum for a year is probably around $750. I know people are more than willing to help share that expense. If I decide to accept donations, I'll only ask for $5 a person for a year. If we bring in excess over the expenses, I'll just buy more stuff and have more give-aways.

Before accepting any donations or advertising, I want to get the forum converted over to vBulletin. I want to setup more of a portal type design which will allow us to have some additional features:

Integrated Chat
Online Gallery
FAQ area, that covers various topics: Blade Stringing, Blade Slinging, Instructors, construction methods etc.

One additional feature of vBulletin is that the board threads can be indexed by the search engines. For example when a person goes to Google and searches "Gyrocopter Blade Setup" If google has searched the site, it will bring the person right to a thread that covers that information. Right now the forum archives are unsearchable by the search engines.

Now that I've rambled on, here is the summary:

No thanks on the donations right now, but maybe soon.

Take Care,

Todd

[gyromike]

Todd,

Have you considered using CafePress.com to sell t-shirts, mouse pads, coffee mugs, etc.?

They make all the products as they are ordered, and take out the cost and send you the remainder.

http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/sell/

I've seen them used for a bunch of online stores for weblogs and such. The P.R.A. uses them also for their merchandise.

Here is the list of products they sell:

http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/products/index.aspx

There's even something for Ron Awad:

http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/products/productdetail.aspx?prodtypeno=80

;D

[Aussie_Paul]

Mike, that one for Ron. Did I see an XXL size on thatpic, or was I oops/Ron dreaming!!!!!! LOL

Aussie Paul.

[Aussie_Paul]

No, the XXL would have to be for Birdy, cow grower/gyro pilot extraordinaire!!!! LOL

Aussie Paul.

[GyroRon]

Are you kidding me? I am a tighty whitey kind of guy! No thongs for me :o