Guest Enzo Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 hey guys, not been on since feb,health, work and personal life issues were mounting up. some of you know, most of you dont...then after all of that shite with the disruption to the site and all the angry disgruntled members/traders thought id take a wee sebatical to get a clear picture in my head about what was happening with ukscwith splinter groups, other rival sites apearing, gossip, hacking scandels, fb arguments aswell as the whole mod team threttening to walk etc + the downtime to the site for different reasons in no order uksc was at its lowest eb a few months agowas pretty testing and even thought about closing the site down as it was far too much grief, was very easy to stay/walk away with a big f you to everyone but if you knew me in person im pretty guilty of being neorotic at times. when the old site went down, so did it the thosands of hours i spent tweeking it here and there to make the place different to all the other forums, it was all gone over night, which was a big blow to deal with from an adiction point of view.anywaysive checked into the back end a few times though and have seen the great lengths that have been taken buy our mod team whilst we are away.we have an amazing group of guys onboard now.but what this thread is really about is the downtime today,when i bought the dedicated virtual sever for this site, along with it brought a hefty additional cost, so we could have the best performance off of my shared server that we were currently on.so hey presto job done, we had a new site and with an array of minted new features aswell as a lightning fast board for the first time in ages.things were good for about 6 weeks, all along might i add our popularity never weighned which i find weard considering the unrest that were involved.then we ran out of disc space on our new virtual server, i must stress to traders this was nothing to do with the actual forum board just the plain usage amount that the site was taking up due to its popularity, we were jumping in at the deep end and did not really know what type of usage we would have,so when down, matt (socks) tried a few things including pearing back what we had on the server, which worked for a day or two until we went down again so the only option was to upgrade the disc usage which also had a dishearting cost associated with it.i never really factored in the costs of running this site when it got this big, and im now left out of pocket + in order for me to move the site forward with vision i have i need to start recouping the costs, and effort that ive put into this site. iThis morning i had to pay the latest bill of 200 quid to get uksc back up again, simply down to non payment of my account,now unfortunatly ive not had any donations since the old site went down out wiht that even if i did they were never enough to cover the associated costs and now where near enough now.i hate to say this but since buying the dedicated virtual server and having to get the disc space increased i will have to start charging members for the use of the siteso far ive spent well over 600 quid since the end of jan/start of feb out of my own pocket not inlcuding new mods for the board, skins i want to use and paying for a new perpetual licencesince ive put into this site for ni on 8 years id really like to start seing some of my hard earned back, this is where most of my resentment towards uksc lied when i was away, me paying and everyone moaning.so a payed membership skeem is the only logical option to charge everyone to use the site something like a tenner.obviusly there will be associated perks for this and we will not alianate the standard memberbut nothing is set in stone but if everyone could read this and use this thread for feedback thoughts coments or critsims in regards to what the general masses thinkplease post your voice here............ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Azz Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Bargin for the knowledge on here i reckon ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ro55ifumi Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Totally understand and agree, we need to sort out things in line with other forums.Just a few thoughts, i for one have always paid on what ever site i have been a member on.John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
micky boy Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 As said on fb ill happly keep paying aslong as it keeps the site alive Quote Link to post Share on other sites
200bhp starlet Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Don't know about everyone else but I don't mind having to pay as I personally would be lost without this site The only downside I can see is if people pay and the site goes back down for whatever reason it will cause arguments lol I understand if we pay it goes towards keeping the site running so there shouldn't be any problems End of the day a lot of us have donated so what's the difference ;) Lewis Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Michael! Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 i think its only fair:D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
drongo boi Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 tbh every other owners club seems to do it so y not when i was on the 106 owners club if ya signed up as a payed member ya got a tax disc holder a members card and a couple of club stickers. also there was a paying members only part of the fourum. so that could be something to think ofbut i dont mind paying as other people have said. been lost without the site lol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
_shaun_ Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 to be honest when i first joined i knew nothing about starlets or the workings on most turbo cars. now am in the process of building my own engine and its down to this site. the reason i donated to start was because the site is easily worth it.paying to sell on the site i agree with but for buying i dont think its such a great idea that would then limit the audience your actauly selling to and if your just looking for a little cheap bit for your car u might have to pay more for the ability to buy it than the actual part costs.good to see you back geo hope you will be back on more often now and ill have no issues at all paying any membership costs u choose to do Quote Link to post Share on other sites
morgey Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 as said i dont mind paying, its a good forum lots of info and knowledgable members that are worth having access to, obviously the perks for paid members would be a given, maybe try getting a few websites that can give discounts, on standard parts like discs and pads service kits etc.im sure you guys will let us have a say in what should and shouldnt be accessable to unpaid members Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jimmymac101 Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 The best car forum ive ever been on id be happy to pay £10 a year i like what ro55ifumi said about stickers ect Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shorty Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Im up for that. at the end of the day we all use and love the site. is only fair we all pay to keep it going. theres other forums i have been paid member of that are total shite compared to uksc but if a site charges and you want to join you will pay lol it that simple. and being one of if not the biggest starlet forum im certian people will be happy with thier purchase!!What ever it takes geo, plain and simple. one in, all in! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DevonGT Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Happy to pay. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hou Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I agree with quite a few of the comments on here and on the FB page. IF you go down the paying route you need to also get the trust from members that they are paying to keep the site alive and be transparent with the costs. Knowing the payments just the traders make it seems to me that you are paying far far too much for this site.Surely it makes sense, and I know you won't like it being said, but after the guy has worked his ass off to bring this club back along with you, that you speak to Matt. Yes still pay for hosting elsewhere and get a backup transferred there daily so you always have a backup plan, but this site is taking up too much cash.Your other option is what about a similar donation system to Civic Life? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GT_Dave_ Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Ive not been a member on here for long nor been to any shows with you guys YET!! But id be more than happy to pay a members fee if it means keeping things running smoothly. I think the site is spot on and there soo much useful information on here,it would be ashame for it to close down Quote Link to post Share on other sites
StarletMad Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Was originally a paid member but didnt pay last year because forum was up and down.If you could promise we could have a 24/7 access obviously apart from update time etc then im sure 90% of members would more than happily pay £10.I will certainly Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Starbuck Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Didn't Matt say he'd host for free? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
templar2007 Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I am payed member now and a payed member on other sites so wood pay no matter wot its 15 now so will save money lol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Taggy Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I thought we did pay for the site in terms of membership, or would this be in addition to that?I thought i had to pay a yearly membership anyway???and im not fussed at all the site went down, shit happens, it got fixed move on!I dont mind paying either, i noticed some sites charge shit loads for yearly membership, £15 a year sounds like a bloody bargain! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ricky@Race-Tech Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Why don't you/didn't you take Matt/Socks up on his offer of free hosting? Surely that'd sort all these problems with you not being able to afford to pay the bill? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PhilGT93 Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 can totally understand where your coming from and for the services, tips and help with anyting you can get on here im sure most people would be willing to pay a little bit each to keep it up and running to a high standard ino i'll pay for it Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rinseep82 Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Ied be moor than happy to pay to use this site Worth every penny Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Enzo Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 @ ricky its not as simple as that, i spoke to matt at length about this the last time the site went down when we ran out of disc usage, it would be too complicated to do if i wanted him to host it id want him to host all the sites i have, and he would have to charge for that.and its not about not being able to afford to keep the site running, far from it,i feel i should get something back for what ive done, its only natural Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hou Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 You might want to phrase that a little differently Geo as that makes it sounds like you are just trying to line your pockets, which I am sure isn't the case!Surely Matt will still be far cheaper than your current hosting provider to host all of your sites?What are the membership costs/fees/trader costs on those sites? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Enzo Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 no i dont think i do actually hou, i know exactly what im saying...2 broken long term relationships, 8 years worth of costs, 1000s of hours spent, because of this site, na im pretty sure i know what im saying.im only speaking about uksc, the other 3 sites are small with no traders on a shared severuksc is on a dedicated virtual server. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matt1878 Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I'd be happy to contribute towards keeping the site up and running as it has taught me all I know now about starlets and other things too! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.