I must say I do like the new s2ki age indication in user signatures. It's much more meaninful in my view than the old gear rankings.

 

I am with everyone with this , this is a great site and probaby the reason i bought my second s2k and i would have no problem paying like 20 bucks or whatever for this to help out the site and keep it going. thnx to everyone on here for their help with my questions and problems.
Jeremiah

 

I agree with many of the above points, both pro and con. I think the donation model would be best. Put up a thermometer and set a target.
I've been here since the 1st day the site went into operation, haven't been around much lately. I;m not one of those people who save posts, but i seem to recall when the site was established, C3 put up the innitial costs, and indicated that he expected to start breaking even within a few months. He figures he'd need about 5-6 sponsors to do that. I seem to recall the expected cost back then to be about $1500 month.
We have alot more sponsors that originally projected, and i hear server space costs are way down from a couple years ago, so why can't we break even anymore?

 

I'm all for a system to help defray the costs of running the system, and think the suggested membership would be fine, with these exceptions:

These features are nearly essential to communicating on this forum, otherwise it is nearly impossible to converse (as apposed to browsing and posting). My feeling is that without these two features being available to everyone you will greatly diminish the contributions to threads.

Also, these two features are gentle "reminders" to use the board, bringing people back to the community, and with a bit of prodding becoming members

 

Your instincts have misguided you I was replying to a portion of dlq04's post quoted below. He suggests people pay for access to sponsor discounts and you appeared to be confiming it in your follow up reply to him.

I probably should have quoted him in my previous reply. Thanks for confirming this is not the case

 

I voted no. I am here because I want to learn about the S2000 because I might want to buy one. I am on several BMW boards and none of them charge anything, and they certainly don't offer less information than S2ki. If I decide the S2000 isn't my thing, then the subscription cost would just be wasted money. I can understand that owners don't mind paying, but mere "Enthustiasts" such as myself might. I certainly wouldn't pay.

 

I would therefore ask you a 2 questions:

1. Don't you think an investment of a few dollars is worth it before you spend 32 thousand dollars?
I'm sure you going to do some research before you decide if your going to purchase a car, be it an S2000 or any other car for that matter. ie:buy magazine, newspapers, etc.....

2. Please show me a BMW board thats as nice and as well run as S2KI.com.

I have yet to see one.

-DK

 

Well, I have just read through all of the posts (not bad for a post whore hey ) and would just like to say that I would be more than happy to donate to the cause.

I would also say that I agree with cthree's idea of allowing non-members to post. When I first visited the board I would not have been prepared to pay to get involved. It is only through being involved and making "friends" with others on the site that I think it would be worth the money.

I am sure that by allowing newbies to get involved and post on the site many of them that would otherwise not have come back will, in the future, feel that it is a service worth paying for.

How are you intending to collect the contribution? Will you be setting up come kind of on-line credit card payment?

 

We are getting much closer to being ready to start the program. We've had to accelerate some development work in the marketplace to accommodate this, I'm trying to not duplicate effort. We are going to be launching a couple of other goodies there at about the same time and yes, members will receive discounts! Stay tuned as you are guaranteed to love the "extras"

We will have several secure payment options including PayPal, major credit cards and checks.

Membership is an entirely voluntary thing. Like TJ says, you need to decide if you feel there is value in it. As the site grows to 10000 members and beyond we are less and less able to satisfy everyone's needs. We are going to be focusing our efforts on the paying members, enhancing the value we bring to them while at the same time making the information available to all to want or need it.

Over the past 2 years we've spent an enormous amount of time, money and effort to develop an S2000 owner community which I feel we've done fairly well. We can do a better job and will continue to try but that takes more time, money and effort. As with most things, the first 80% is the easy part. Reaching out to the owners that aren't Internet savvy is going to be a bit more tricky. We've got some plans and the money raised from memberships, merchandise and other activities will in part be used to continue to build and strengthen the community.

I know I personally pay $X (can't remember how much) every year for SCCA membership for which I receive a $5 discount at autocross. If I did every autocross I would probably make that back but I don't do any. The strength of any organization is based in its balance sheet. The stronger our financial position the more opportunities we have open to us. Being cash-strapped sucks as we can all appreciate I'm sure. S2KI is no different. Living hand to mouth means that we have to pass up many chances to develop globally, nationally and locally because we simply don't have the means to pursue them. It's very frustrating.

S2000 International is not a non-profit organization and we don't have an elected board of directors. This is on purpose. We are not constrained by politics, beurocracy or the overhead and administrative requirements of an NPO. We can act quickly, make decisions and operate with complete freedom. The real question is do we respond to the needs of our members. I think we do. Browse the Site Info forum and see how members influence the direction of S2KI. While other organizations have been mired in controversy, bickering and drama we've remained largely neutral. Profit is good, it's healthy and is the natural reward for a job well done. Being an NPO would dramatically change that equation. Our structure is simple and light weight. No quorums, votes or nonsense. We chat, come to consensus and act. We spend no time on politics internally.

We've worked very closely with the SpeedVentures S2000 Challenge program and will continue to do so, hopefully expanding the event to all of North America and eventually to a real national championship event. I have personally witnessed and experienced a great transformation through this program. If you could have seen us when it started you would be shocked at how competitive we've become and formidable a force the S2000 has become in the sportscar world. We've learn how to drive the S2000 incredibly fast, how to modify it correctly and that information gets passed down to everyone and to the makers of aftermarket products, making them better. Corvettes aren't as scary as they once were, we know we can beat them and how.

We've also seen the incredible growth in local club activities. The events and programs have created friendships that will last a lifetime. We want to do more to continue this growth and bring more members into the fold. It's more than just about a car, ultimately it's about the people. Ed Yu from the Bay Area is in Hong Kong and he's posted about how he has met up with S2000 owners over there who are members of S2KI. I've met people from all over the world, people I would never know without S2KI and my participation in it. No matter where you go in the world there is someone there you can contact and meet, maybe even go for a drive. There aren't many organizations you can join for $20/yr that offer that sort of value. That is my rationalization anyhow.

Some have asked about why it costs so much and frankly I can't give you a concise answer. Did you know that the spell checker cost us $1000/yr? Yes, incredible as it sounds, stuff costs money and many of those costs are hidden and you don't even realize it. There are many features you'll find that make S2KI just that much better than other similar sites and those little things cost money and they add up. Sure we could cut those costs, spend less money and do it on the cheap but then S2KI wouldn't be what it is. I like what S2KI has become and I like what we're doing to make it better. I've heard from so many people that for them S2KI IS the Internet. They spend almost all their time here and that's music to my ears. It means I'm doing my job right. We don't need to spend money on software to monitor whether the site is operating or not. If the site goes down it takes about 10 seconds for the phone to start ringing off the hook with members who can't access it. Trust me, it's a 3 alarmer.

I receive calls every day asking about the S2000. How do I do this? This happened, what does it mean? I feel like I'm Honda's customer service line. I answer every one of those calls, emails and PMs with straight answers and the truth as we know it. I live in Barkinfark, VA, where is the best place to get my S2000 serviced? I tell um. S2KI is more than just the site, it's everything we do. We are a totally independent source of information delivering unbiased and truthful information to past, present and future owners. We do what Honda doesn't and we do it largely for free.

If you agree, then I encourage you to become a member and help support the effort for $20/year. That pays for about 30 minutes of development work even at a modest pay rate if you need a real-world comparison. I make about $0.10/hr doing this job, slave labor by any standard. Rylan and Shelley make nothing at all, they have never taken a cent and in fact I still owe Shelley $360 for the last batch of decals which she paid for out of her pocket.

If you disagree and don't feel that S2KI offers any value, not even $20 worth, then I encourage you to not become a member. I wouldn't feel right about taking money from people to develop a community that they don't want to participate in and that offers them nothing in return.

 

Well said cthree!

As I've said before, I can't understand the mentality of people who think that at best, this board should be run on a 'break even' basis. The membership is becoming quite enormous and it's time to move on. While you quite rightly intend to still cater for those who don't wish to subscribe, it is definitely time to draw a distinction between those people, and those who will support the site in a more tangible form.

As it happens I've been a member for exactly one year today, and in that time I've spent far more time on the board than I sometimes like to admit!! The new photo storage facility is just jaw-dropping in my view. This is a proprietory board as you quite rightly point out, but a lot of the secret of it's huge success is that it listens to feedback from the members.

Good luck moving forward, I'm sure you'll get heaps of support and I sincerely hope you begin to get some of the personal rewards for the time, effort and professionalism that you and others have put into making the board what it is!

Many many thanks!