New Site Features - your suggestions?

[Werner]

What about the guide, Werner?  A voluntary contribution link for each download?

This was planned anyway, but the plan was to call for contributions to a charity

[termietermite]

This is all getting horribly complicated, whatever.  Any moneys donated to the site in whatever form, might have a knock on effect on other charitable donations.    Is an extra couple of pounds on the costs of the t-shirts going to come anywhere near to the amount the site is going to need?  I guess that's what we need to know.

[Kpy]

This forum is a community of racing fans with a common interest in the Le Mans 24 Hours. We exchange information and ideas and help each other out with tickets we don't need (at cost or as a swap). Some members, like Termietermite, Werner and Gilles before he moved to Dijon, do an enormous amount of work in  providing really useful information. The site provides the infrastructure which makes that exchange of information possible.
I really have no idea how the forum could be adapted to fund the forum, as any payment for registration, or posting would just be a discouragement. In fact, if you look at posting over the last couple of months there wouldn't be much of it if it had to be paid for- the meetings at Sebring and elsewhere would be arranged by email, pure information provided by Termie and others would have to be found on the ACO site or other forums, and the jokes and trivia would dry up.
I know that there's more to CA than the forum, but that's not somewhere I ever look, and I'm not at all sure that it can provide a service which a large volume of fans will pay for.
Merchandise can be tricky in that it involves holding stock which may or may not sell - me I'd pay not to wear a Le Mans Teeshirt or own a Le Mans mug of any description, but that's personal taste. As at last night Delboy had orders for 86 teeshirts and 9 mugs, how many would CA have to sell, and at what price, for a decent profit to result?
Charity is a separate issue, but lots of us have a charity budget for our favourite charity/ies, and then make impulse donations to charities which grab our attention through the year.

[Andy Zarse]

This forum is a community of racing fans with a common interest in the Le Mans 24 Hours. We exchange information and ideas and help each other out with tickets we don't need (at cost or as a swap). Some members, like Termietermite, Werner and Gilles before he moved to Dijon, do an enormous amount of work in  providing really useful information. The site provides the infrastructure which makes that exchange of information possible.
I really have no idea how the forum could be adapted to fund the forum, as any payment for registration, or posting would just be a discouragement. In fact, if you look at posting over the last couple of months there wouldn't be much of it if it had to be paid for- the meetings at Sebring and elsewhere would be arranged by email, pure information provided by Termie and others would have to be found on the ACO site or other forums, and the jokes and trivia would dry up.
I know that there's more to CA than the forum, but that's not somewhere I ever look, and I'm not at all sure that it can provide a service which a large volume of fans will pay for.
Merchandise can be tricky in that it involves holding stock which may or may not sell - me I'd pay not to wear a Le Mans Teeshirt or own a Le Mans mug of any description, but that's personal taste. As at last night Delboy had orders for 86 teeshirts and 9 mugs, how many would CA have to sell, and at what price, for a decent profit to result?
Charity is a separate issue, but lots of us have a charity budget for our favourite charity/ies, and then make impulse donations to charities which grab our attention through the year.

I have to say I'm broadly in agreement with KPY. I don't see a desparate need for change. I know the site and forum need paying for, maybe it could operate subsidised by a voluntary gift system. Not online, oh no, i mean a bucket going round on mad friday.

[Lawnmower Man]

I have to admit I've not read every post in this thread.  But in general I think there is merit in most of the points.
IMVHO those of us that are regulars here wouldn't mind chipping in a few quid to oil the wheels.  The real cost at the moment is being covered by one or two people and that's not really fair.   Time is also being donated by folk like Smokie and Steve and I guess Djet.  The T-shirts, Stickers and Flags are organised by a volunteer.  Lots of people contributed to the CA Guide last year.

I like to add an idea to the pot.

Make Club Arnarge a real club with a membership fee.    Membership would not be compulsory. 

What would the benefits of membership be?

1) Club Members T-Shirts would have some words or Logo to indicate membership. 
        Non-members would only be able to obtain "Replica" T-shirts.  I think DfH do that.?

2) CA E-mail address. Like Your_Nick@clubarnage.com (I'd be happy to host and administer that.)
   The email would have web access and the normal IMAP and POP too.

3) There might be a way to indicate a person is a Member on the forum like the different stars the Moderators have.

4) It may be possible to have a "members only" area on the forum.

May be others can think of other items to add to the list.


Without knowing how much cash is needed to keep CA afloat it's difficult to know the best approach.  One can get a server for as little as £10 a month.  But the one I know of has a limit on the amount you transfer so that may not be realistic. But at that cost we only need 12 members paying a tenner.  Of course if we get 120 members it's only a quid.

Should we start a poll to see how many would be willing to be a member at various prices say £10, £5, £2 and £1?

t.

[fagey]

seconded...