That time has come - please read

[Steve H]

Long sigh..........How many times have we done this now ?.

Newsletter: I'm with Bill, we can publish on the site and if you want to waste paper then print it yourself. Its also expensive.

Membership fees: We've done this one to death see THIS

Chairmanship: My feeling is the club needs the following from a chairman

a) A likeable Figure head who is capable of talking bollox.
b) Capable of coordinating a TEAM, whilst giving the members the freedom to make their own decisions.
c) Capable of delegating
d) Follows through and finishes things they have committed to.

Graham as I see it a) is a no-brainer. You are capable of b) and c) but you will really need to let go of things and trust people. As for d) you don't need me to tell you the answer to that.

Possibly not a popular opinion, but its not the first time and I doubt the last.

Steve
 

[Steffan]

I am with Steve H.

This is blatant attention seeking GC..now get a grip and get on with it.

Now there, that was my pastoral response - shall I give you my non-pastoral response?

Steffan

[guest7]

I'd say that it's actually a cry to step back into the shadows...

Anyway, without going into dull details, the club needs a certain amount of money per year to keep things running smoothly, The only reason we have been ticking along is because we had healthy funds in the bank and we haven't been spending anything on newsletters. How do other internet-based clubs raise funds? What benefit do they offer for paid membership?

If we were to charge around £5 a year, what would members expect to get for that?

Also, the one task that really needs sorting is to take care of the membership lists. Pat did a very good job at this, but felt he couldn't continue. The job entails keeping the membership list up to date, posting out club cards and MAG cards, etc. Anyone? please...

GC

[guest987]

I've offered before, I'll offer again. I'm happy to run the merchandise side of things, Tshirts etc. This will generate income for the club and will go towards the running of the website.

Rob.

[Andy M]

If we were to charge around £5 a year, what would members expect to get for that?

In perspective that's 10p a week which is very little. I'd expect the chat area to be in someway locked to keep out spammers and people who hadn't paid (obviously with a decent trial period for new members FOC etc.). A quarterly PDF download newsletter type thing would be nice but not really a must if we had a web area for "articles". If we can include MAG insurance so it's safe to have the odd rally, even better.

The other internet "clubs" I know work as follows:

GS club (or ******s to other ex-members): Pay to unlock the site, articles posted as and when, meets run as a business.

HUBB: Website free, articles posted as and when, meets run as "advertising" events for the expedition organisation side. "Tip jar" for anyone who feels they've got out more than they've put in.

ADVrider: Website free, articles as and when, meets run ad hoc by members, the whole lot supported by a photo sharing website owner.

Given our own specialist style and interest, I'd say 10p a week would represent very good value without preventing any expansion of numbers.

Andy


 

[Steve H]

I have been trying to think of ways in which we can restrict access to the forum based upon membership, but still attract new membership by allowing non-members to view the forum and get a feel for what the club is about.
Just to be clear we havent decided to restrict access or re-instate memberships I am just looking at options

Option 1: Non-members can view all boards within the forum but cannot post untill they have a paid membership. (Can be done with an existing mod)

Option 2: Non-members can view all boards within the forum and are allowed to post in the 'Chatter' board up to a maximum number of posts, after which they have to be a member. (Needs some coding effort on my part)

Option 3: Non-members can neither post or read the forum. This doesnt encourage new members as they cant see what the club is about. (Easy to implement)

Anyone have an opinion ?.

[guest18]

Personally I'd say options 1 or 2. I'm erring towards option 1.

[guest868]

As a relative newcomer, can I proffer an opinion?
I've been member of another internet based bike club before, who had a free to use main section of the forum, and a 'pay to enter' members section. I was a member for two years I think, but found that the members section didn't contain anything of great merit, and of the other sections I found that I was offering technical advice etc in them to newbies and had no problem with that, but felt that I was giving out more than I was getting back if you follow? I don't think it worked as a formula, unless you really wanted to be part of the cliche.
I see nothing wrong with the club having a membership fee of £5 (purely as that's the figure being bandied around), but I think to restrict a section of this site will hamper the growth of the club.
As a technical aside, unless you have permission for manuals and technical literature to be shared, then charging to access them would land you in pretty hot water I should imagine.

If you want the Fee to give you something, then simply view it as being towards the upkeep of this as a resource.
Just my thoughts.

[Steve H]

Shedbrewed,

So to summarise your response. No restrictions placed on non-members and rely on peoples goodwill to buy membership on the basis it keeps the club running.


Club events should really be restricted to club members so it might be worth restricting access to this, what do you think ?

Steve

[guest868]

Shedbrewed,

So to summarise your response. No restrictions placed on non-members and rely on peoples goodwill to buy membership on the basis it keeps the club running.

Yup, if something is worth it, people will pay for it.

Club events should really be restricted to club members so it might be worth restricting access to this, what do you think ?

Steve

If it is a 'Club' event and not a 'Forum' event then it would be restricted access. You only need to put 'Thumper Club members only' in a topic title to get the message across.

[SteveC#222]

A quarterly PDF download newsletter type thing would be nice but not really a must if we had a web area for "articles".

Andy

Provided that we agree to an online only format so I don't have to spend ages chasing printers and stamping and posting, I'll do a Quarterly Newsletter.

(possibly a Magazine later depending on how it goes).

[guest40]

I also use  Forum which runs out of the USA for the Honda Silverwing.

I believe this is totaly free  I'll ask the administrator and get back,

I'm back, this is the one from the USA

http://www.forumotion.com/
http://www.silverwing600.com/


the Perth branch of the Ulysses Club uses a similar system.
http://ulysses-wa.info/

These seem to work well and Ulysses one has been active for 5 years+

[Steffan]

Steve,
personally I think that effectively the forum is the club. Make em pay to post and pay to rally other events can be organised ad hoc by mutual agreement. eg: someone fancies camping in north Wales, posts dates people come as and when. Annual rally is an official "club" event therefore attendees pay maybe a members and non-members rate.

Steffan

Fiver a year is OK by me.

[guest7]

Just for the purpose of clarity I am doing some chatting off-forum about this and I will report back when I have the relevant figures etc.

Nothing sneaky, just too dull for airing.

GC

[guest24]

A quarterly PDF download newsletter type thing would be nice but not really a must if we had a web area for "articles".

Andy

Provided that we agree to an online only format so I don't have to spend ages chasing printers and stamping and posting, I'll do a Quarterly Newsletter.

(possibly a Magazine later depending on how it goes).

Oooh, quarterly newsletter - will it have a glossy cover....