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Hi,
One thought that struck me after the “Li’s Xmas” thing last year is that we should really pay him the money for the hosting. He charges £200 a year for normal hosting and, given the heavy traffic that UKW is getting I feel it’s only fair to pay the man properly/ Apart from that I feel guilty about the efforts he’s gone to over and above the call of duty for us.
So I propose that we send him the money on the first anniversary of UKW’s inception and continue to do so.
Any comment?
K.
Re: Use Of Funds
Yes, I agree totally.
At the end of the day the guy is running a business and his support is excellent, lets not forget that UKW and the mailing list have been hosted for free for a very long time due to Ken’s friendship with Li.
I know from asking Li to host my new site the service offered by him and his staff is unrivalled.
Untill such time comes that we can use our own server, which is unlikely in the near future, it is only proper that we should pay for the hosting as UKW now generates some funding.
Dave.
Re: Use Of Funds
kwatt wrote:Any comment?
Agreed, a very good use of funds indeed. Hosting a site like this anywhere else would no doubt cost a lot more anyhow!
Martin
Re: Use Of Funds
Perhaps we should shove all our money in this pot to ensure the database no longer goes ‘belly up’ for lack of space and loss of vital info?
With the greatest respect to Ken and the endless hours of his life devoted to this site anyway, it needs greater investment for it to continue its upward climb. The something big you have started Ken needs more funding I reckon.
Martin
I’m working on several angles, the problem is time as I still have a business to run and a young family to look out for and spend time with, which is a hard balancing act sometimes.
We’ll see what the coming months bring but the suggestion is a valid one and I see the logic in it. The nightly backups I’ll be asking Li about this evening most likely.
K.
Re: Use Of Funds
Just an Idea so dont shoot me down, but why cant we let Li advertise his web hosting services on the site as most of the trade are well aquainted with this site now and must surley realise that the Lad has done a good job of keeping this site up and running.
Although I may not be as prolific with my posting as some I can assure you that I log on to the site at least twice a day EVERY DAY and have never found it down yet. Which is more than I can say for B.T.
Ken will confirm that I have Baddgered him on a weekly basis to close more of the site off to people who are not willing to contribute towards its
upkeep and to at least recompense in some small way the tremendous amounts of time and effort put in by our admin team.
Ken,Dave we all know your not in this for the money, but can either of you put your hand on your hearts and say that the amount of time & effort you pair have put into this site has not caused you some grief from your respective partners & families ?
You would’nt expect one of your employed engineers to work for nothing and IMHO niether should the members of UKWHITEGOODS expect it from you.
I’m sorry to aire this in public it’s just that I would like to guage the opinions of the other subscribing members of UkWHITEGOODS.
My Main reason for doing this is that I am aware of additional services that you would like to bring to the site and it would seem to me that we are now at a crossroads with the site. DO you let the monster grow even more and develope it further.
because if you do you are looking at a full time committment to the site either from yourselves or someone else capable of the day to day administration. Let’s face it, with the best will in the world this could not be undertaken by well meaning part time enthusiasts whilst running your own businesses. Therfore it would require funding for which you will require more subscribing members than you have at present.
The main reason for this IMO is that too much access to this site is given for free.
I Feel that people never really fully appreciate or respect anything that they are given to cheaply.
As a group we have a great wealth of hard earned experiance, skills, technical information, business contacts,ect.ect. and it pain’s me sometimes to see it all given away for nothing to gifted amatures.
If I have offended anyone with my comment’s then I appologise in advance as it is never my intention to give offence just thinking out loud.
I do feel however that these are pertinant questions that need to be addressed before we could move this site to the next level.Regards as ever Del
Re: Use Of Funds
Spot on Del,
I fully agree with all you say but I think you should choose your words more carefully.
Del said “Ken will confirm that I have Baddgered him on a weekly basis”
Behave yourself, I thought you were a bit suspect at the last UKWG meet but who would think you were inclined this way ???? 😀 😀
John
Re: Use Of Funds
Del wrote:The main reason for this IMO is that too much access to this site is given for free.
I Feel that people never really fully appreciate or respect anything that they are given to cheaply.
As a group we have a great wealth of hard earned experiance, skills, technical information, business contacts,ect.ect. and it pain’s me sometimes to see it all given away for nothing to gifted amatures.I agree with that sentiment Del but I figure the whole basis of UKW’s success is built around FREE usage for all. And as we discussed the matter at Sibson the only possible way direct funding could be generated was through a voluntary scheme such as we have here and now. Perhaps what we could discuss is the possibilty of placing “Trade Technical Information” within this forum thus somewhat forcefully inviting many more to join us. However I think that too would have the opposite effect.
Penguin muted recently that he thought membership ‘to our trade forums’ was in decline and I have noted a number of absentees of late myself. It is likely therefore that UKW will have to maintain a forward heading for the forseeable future in the fervent hope of encouraging even more to join BEFORE we start asking for them to dip into their wallets.
I try to do my bit to put a lot into the site, making it more interesting and informative in the hope of encouraging folks to check out the site regularly. I believe that unless this site gets more from its regulars many will go in droves through lack of information anyway. Darned if you do danged if you don’t I guess 😉
Martin
Re: Use Of Funds
There is no real slow down in the forum or the posts in it Martin, in fact quite the opposite. The average posts per day (remember this is taken since the site went live) has risen from about 4 a day at Christmas time to 8.48 per day, I just checked it. P45 simply didn’t know that members of the public could hold an account and, even if it were trade only, there’s still about 250-300 members when you remove the public. Predomenantly the site is used and viewed by the trade.
Due to time constraints we don’t check the IP addresses of visitors too much these days, there’s just too many to track, but we are all too aware of Whirlpool, Maytag and many others within the industry watching the site but without proper access or even holding an account.
The number of trade members continues to increase albeit at a slower pace. The number of general public members also continues to increase, faster than those requesting trade access and there are rather a few there I suspect are trade customers but have not requested access to the forums. 🙄
The notion of blocking the tech stuff off to non-members is a thorny issue and one that I, personally, don’t think is needed at this time and I believe it would do more harm than good to institute. That’s not too say that if the time was right for it I wouldn’t consider it seriously it’s saying I don’t think it’s the right time for such a change, nor do I know if it ever would be right to do so.
Free usage of the site is all very well and good and I don’t intend to change that, but any additional things that we get up to will not be done for free as, quite simply, none of us can afford to work for nothing. UKW was started as a hobby more than anything else to get people talking but, more importantly, thinking and sharing ideas and experience. We’ve moved on from there and the whole idea is evolving, what into I don’t quite know yet though. 😕
The percieved slow down in posts is just that, percieved, the reason is simple; there’s nothing major going on in the contract side to inspire the posts.
As for taking money to run the site, I have always maintained that if it reaches the stage where it adversly affects my business and therefore my ability to earn then I am faced with two choices. I either employ someone to remove much of my daily chores from me or I step back a bit from UKW. Sadly, last month it did affect my business and that’s the reason I’ve been a bit quieter as I have to get the business back on track before applying more time to UKW.
As for my home life, yes it has affected it adversly to a degree and something I’ve also had to address this past month or so. So much so that I will not be attending the upcoming DASA meeting as I owe my family a lot of time at this point and they have to come first I’m afraid.
Running UKW for both Dave and myself is a pleasure to do or we wouldn’t be doing it and I have an enormous respect for those that are willing to invest their time, knowledge and information on the site. Hopefully it pays off and all the members get something back from it, if that happens then it has served its purpose to a large degree.
K.
Re: Use Of Funds
kwatt wrote:There is no real slow down in the forum or the posts in it Martin, in fact quite the opposite.
Good news indeed Ken and congrats on the sites high Internet rating by the way. In spite of all the good positive news I will still continue my input then (It obviously isn’t putting them off at least 😉 )
😉 Martin
I’ve meant to answer this for days. 😕
Yeah, well UKW took another upwards jump on Alexa the other day, now we’re inside the top 300,000 sites according to the stats. With any luck it’ll continue.
Any input is good IMO, even if I (or others) don’t agree with it personally, but then I’m pretty much able to argue my point’s when it comes to it. 😉
K.
Re: Use Of Funds
I’ve come up with an absolute belter of an idea as to what to do with our funds……………..A RETIREMENT HOME FOR EXHAUSTED, CLAPPED OUT SERVICE ENGINEERS!!!!!!!!!!!
A place we can all go when our time has been served to the full. A spot by the seaside, Eastbourne or Torquay maybe? Sunny all year round, close to the shops, a walk on the beach maybe every now and then (if you’re up to it?) With its own communal canteen, launderette and TV lounge. Those that can still drive can park their vans in a secure compound overnight, those that can’t will have free access to electric motability machines.
Just think of the many fireside chats we could enjoy talking about how they used to make washing machines in our day……..At teatime we could flick through old twintub photo’s…..HAPPY DAYS!!!!
What of my £5 a month to UKW I thought? Now if that was invested (collectively by us all) in property in the form of the UK’s first ever WASHED OUT WASHING MACHINE WONDER HOME?????….brilliant investment opportunity OR WHAT EH?
Just a thought :rotfl:
Martin
Re: Use Of Funds
Martin wrote:Torquay maybe?
Nooooooooooo
Stay away from me you madman ! :rotl:
Dave.
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