Making the Rotary Forum a paid subscription site

[GyroRon]

Why yell FIRE on a crowded foum Ron? This thread pi$$ed me off. Let me state for the record I dont like RON AWAD. Every thing about this Thead is Ron beating his chest and saying look at me again. It was indicated that Ron started this thread on his own accord and Mike, Todd and others have said noting is going on as yet. RON as Modarator would have LOCKED this thread had I or someone else started it. Games

Jr, just for the record, cause you and several others here think this is all about me..... Let me be more direct and straight to the point.

3 days ago I was called and told that Todd was going to give the PRA this forum and this forum would require PRA membership in order to post here.

Tell me how that would have worked out for you mister JR.

I have scrambled, and spoke to Todd and several of the PRA board members to PROTECT this forum from getting taken over in any way by the PRA.

If the main goal of using this forum for the PRA is to raise money, then this idea this whole thread was about would have been a way to come up with that money with minimal impact on all of us.

You JR assume way too much. If you don't like me then fine, it is not like I will go sit in a corner and cry about it, but before you make your little Ron Awad is the devil posts, take a minute and think about why I would do this in the first place.

It is people like you JR that made me decide to quit my local chapter, and withdraw from being a part of the PRA board, and quite frankly distance myself somewhat from the community as a whole. People like you who for whatever reason just want someone to hate, and will look at anything I do and look to find the most negative ways to look at me and what I have done and what I do and assume the worst.

Maybe nothing would have ever happened without my input, but it sure hurts to go out of my way so much only to have someone like yourself be so ugly in return.

Thank you JR, thank you very much. Thanks for reminding me why I have slowly been moving away from this sport.

 

[barnstorm2]

Why yell FIRE on a crowded foum Ron? This thread pi$$ed me off. Let me state for the record I dont like RON AWAD

Ron only asked a simple question. What and would people pay for access to the forum.

It is certainly an interesting question and I think a lot of people, gave this some thought and found just how valuable the Forum is to them and our community.

I guess it is because it is winter, or maybe it is just because of some of the people in our group are always hunting ghosts and demons under every rock and stone... but I think this thread turned into a much bigger can of worms then Ron expected.

It was pretty clear to me that when he said he did not want the reason for the collection of the funds to be part of the question, and to the more observant you might have noticed the PRA VP strongly voted for a FREE forum.

I was in the group of users when this forum first started and I would fight anything that threated the vitality of this forum with every ounce of energy I have.

There is NO reason to be flying off the handle at Ron or at the Forum administration.

It was a simple poll, and too many people tried to write too much into it.


Also, a good question. How much DO you value this forum. If we can't answer that question in a civil manner what can we discuss?


I think it is an interesting psychological study as well as an important reminder of just how valuable this site is.





I think it also shows another point Ron was interested in. How do deal with the HATERS, Trolls and mongerers that bring issues other than ROTORCRAFT into this forum.




.

 

[GyroRon]

So to everyone else, I am done with this discussion. You guys go figure this whole thing out yourselves. I am sick and tired of putting so much time and effort into trying to help the gyro community, only to have someone like JR kick sand in my face. Todd, I will support whatever you decide to do.

 

[barnstorm2]

So to everyone else, I am done with this discussion. You guys go figure this whole thing out yourselves. I am sick and tired of putting so much time and effort into trying to help the gyro community, only to have someone like JR kick sand in my face. Todd, I will support whatever you decide to do.

Ron, one of the downsides of the "wild west" of internet forums are some of the Haters, Trolls and mongerers.

Perhaps after this THE FORUM COMMUNITY will aid the forum administration in discouraging this kind of behavior?

I for one applaud your willingness to ask hard questions and to look for ways to query the community in how improvements can be made to the forum and the sport. I also commend you for holding your temper so well through some of these posts.


.

 

[getut]

Well with Ron saying some of my posts were "brutal", I hope no one took offense at anything that I said and I hope I presented all my arguments in a thoughtful and logical way and that no one interpreted ME as a hater, troll, or mongerer.

My only regret with anything I said is that the first many posts were left to speculation rather than fact. I assumed the worst of Todd and for that I apologize. I will always be a big enough man to admit when I was wrong and I am very happy to say that I was.

Like Rocky and JR though, I do wish this thread would have started with full disclosure of the ideas that were being tossed around and nothing was firm yet. I feel that the rational discussion that has been taken place on page 8 and 9 on in this thread could have started at page 1. People make better decisions, not just about what to say, but also about when to say it, when they are fully informed.

 

[CLS447]

OH MY GOD !!!!!!!!!!!

What the hell is wrong with everyone ?

A simple poll ! Let's start another.....

Which hand do you use to wipe your ass ?

 

[JRB549]

Why didnt you start this thread with post #122 instead of all the BS. It would have been CLEAR to ALL instead of the way you did. I dont care who thinks I'm wrong in this matter. I do support this forum, this sport, it's efforts, flyins, airports and it's members and cost isnt the issue, either it is paid membership or not I'm not goin anywhere. America I love it.

 

[GyroRon]

Robert, remember, I told you PRIVATELY over the phone that your posts were brutal! I didn't blast you on the forum. I didn't say I hate you, I didn't say you were just pounding your chest looking for attention.

Sure I could have said in post #1 that I was looking for input on would people be willing to pay a small membership fee here, that could in turn be given to the PRA. But then by saying that, the answers won't be about would you be willing to pay a membership fee, but instead is the PRA deserving of your money.... and would spur a hundred different directions of raising money for the PRA..... and the original question would not get a unbiased responce.

I got carried away in my responces in this thread. Sorry.

And I tried to explain at least once, that Todd and Mike and the PRA board were not part of this thread, this was strickly my idea to get feedback on, so they could take a look at what people said and how people voted and use that feedback towards coming up with whatever they decide to come up with to help this sport out.

I can see how so many people have walked away from this sport and this community over the years. You guys will string a guy up to a stake and hose him down with Gas and light it up at the drop of a hat. I have wasted far too much of my time with this whole frickin thing.

 

[Exterminator]

Way, what a bunch responces.... some good, some bad, some just plain scary.

Let me explain my purpose of this thread and poll.

There has been talk over the last few days of finding ways for this forum to be a avenue to help out the PRA finacially.

In this talk, there has been several ways discussed, for the forum to help out the PRA, some ideas were pretty extreme, others were so minor it would have been almost unnoticeable.

The idea of a user fee was strickly my idea.

It would be a way for the forum to directly inject cash into the PRA without the PRA taking over ownership of the forum or requiring PRA membership to post on the forum.

If everyone who posts here paid even 5 bucks a year to post here, this would raise a ton of money. Enough to really be able to turn things around at the PRA.

The purpose of this poll was not to see would you be willing to help out the PRA, it was plainly to ask if no matter what the reason, would you be willing to pay to have access to this site.

If I had told you the idea of the user fees was to raise funds for the PRA, then in my opinion that would radically change and alter the results of the poll. Maybe more people for user fees, maybe more against them....


I felt like it was better to flat out ask, would you pay to post here on this forum or not. A simple question requiring only a simple answer.......

Then depending on the results from the poll or the responces, explain the reasoning behind the poll, and then start a new discussion for other ideas on how this forum could generate funds to help out the PRA.


But.... sometimes you can't just ask a simple question here and get a simple answer from some people. They want a full explaination. They assume too much.

As Exterminator said, this poll was taken out strickly by myself, this was my idea on a way to use the forum to help the PRA.

I am sure that if brought up for discussion, between all of us, we could come up with 1001 ways to use the forum to help the PRA. This was one way. Feel free to come up with and post your ideas.

Your intentions are honorable, Thank you....

SL

 

[barnstorm2]

OH MY GOD !!!!!!!!!!!

What the hell is wrong with everyone ?

A simple poll ! Let's start another.....

Which hand do you use to wipe your ass ?

No, then people will freak out wondering what you are going to do with your poop!! :whip:

 

[Brent Drake]

I have strong feelings about this.

I would be VERY worried that new comers to our sport would not want to pony up even $5 just to say "hello any gyro people near me, or can any one help with one simple question".

So in that respect I say NO it must be free.

However, what I would support is FREE READING of the entire forum but perhaps a small nominal donation required to POST IN THE HIGHLY TECHNICAL discussion areas.

My 2 cents.

I agree with Tim on this. Pay to post maybe. But free to read. I think this forum does a lot for gyro safety.

 

[Terry]

OH MY GOD !!!!!!!!!!!

What the hell is wrong with everyone ?

A simple poll ! Let's start another.....

Which hand do you use to wipe your ass ?

Too innocuous.

 

[Brent_Brown]

ozzy forum

ozzy forum

So if this becomes a paid for site do the people that add knowledge to the site get paid royalties? Or a percent? for their hard work.

Hey…. wait a minute we could invade the ozzy gyro website, do they charge??? Lol

http://www.asra.org.au/smf/index.php

I try getting on and joining the ozzy forum but I never get a reply that my info is good so I can't log on.

And I say keep this forum free and sell the airport.

 

[CLS447]

Neither, I use toilet paper !

Flying gyros is fun !

Who wants to send in a donation ?

Why is it easier to argue than to assist ?

What would Jesus do ?

 

[Resasi]

The reason the poll was staged in that way was to me simply a way of evaluating how important/valuable an asset to me personally this forum is.

It is valuable (invaluable) in a number of ways.

1) It is a means of gathering a very small world wide like-minded group of people together to meet converse, exchange ideas and experiences in our sport and to become friends.

2) It is a means for the inexperienced and new to the sport to get access to experience and guidance from the senior members.

3) It is a means of quickly promulgating warnings, alerts, new regulations and SAFETY, SAFETY, SAFETY.

For this reason I was prepared to contribute/pay some money, at that stage assuming that it would go towards paying for the site expenses...or some cause that would benefit us all. I do know that Todd has never done it to make money.

Now I know the reason I can also understand why Ron did it the way he did. Simply to try and get some idea of what it might be worth, in this case for the PRA, donated by Todd in a manner that would obtain that information without bring the politics into it that would probably have occurred if he had been upfront.

I do not believe that Ron has done anything underhand or shifty. I do believe that he has acted in the best interests of both Todd the PRA and indirectly all of us who do benefit from this website, what it represents and all our interests.

As a group we do have the usual wide variation of individuals some of whom may not get on with others. As a forum, and I belong to a few, it is relatively polite and amiable. There are occasional squabbles and disagreements, where are there not. I am simply grateful that this Forum exists, thank you Todd, and there are people who do things for the benefit of us all, in this particular case, like Ron, thank you Ron.

 

[Harry_S.]

hwell: Both...alternately. :focus:


Cheers

 

[Jazzenjohn]

Judging by how heated the replies have been, it's easy to see how important the Forum is to people.

 

[MichaelBurton]

I got a long distance call last night from a man that said he finds the forum to be of great value and would contribute and read the form even if he had to pay. He will never post and asked me to do it for him. He wanted to be sure I knew that this was an important resource for him.

 

[cgmg]

Ron,

You did what you thought was the right thing, so ignore the whiners and haters. They obviously don't enjoy what little life they do have, and want someone to share in their misery. Can't imagine why anyone would feel the need make this a personal issue. Small minds, maybe?

I just checked the numbers, based solely on your original question, "would you be willing to pay something(multiple choices there) to participate in this forum?" With 95 people voting, 86%, a whopping majority, said yes.

Screw the reasons why they said yes, they did. No ands, ifs, or buts. My guess is the 14% who voted no wouldn't be missed much. The people who really see the value of this forum, and want it to succeed, have voted to put their money where their mouths are.

Again, forget about the naysayers and whiners. You made an attempt to try to improve the PRA, and that's the important part.

I've enjoyed watching you mature over the years. Hopefully you'll agree you were pretty obnoxious in your early years in this sport. Now I see you as one of the promoters of the sport. One who's willing to give rides to newbies, freely share your wealth of knowledge with anyone, and now, willing to stick your neck out here, where all the whiners seem to congregate, and propose a change to something that might make a big difference to the PRA.

For those of you who don't like Ron, or don't want to contribute financially to see your beloved sport grow, please feel free to start your own forum, where you can be the boss, and run your forum any way you like.

I'll stick with Todd, Ron, Mike, and Scott, thank you very much.

 

[Jazzenjohn]

Yeah Mark, I agree completely!

When you look at what Ron has actually done for the PRA, and what Ron has actually done for the Forum, and what Ron has actually done for the Sport, Few people have done much more, and few people have had more people bitching about them. I think it comes with the territory, the doers will always be nitpicked by the armchair quarterbacks.