man...the winter blues is a coming.. - Maxum Boat Owners Club

seapuppy · 01-13-2008, 02:59 AM

ok....so it's already here!!...I've had the christmas break off and haven't had the boat out since before thanksgiving....I've gone to the boat at the marina almost every weekend to check things out and make sure the pwr is still connected...nothing frozen over or the boat hadn't fallen off the blocks......I'd do some work on it..drain the bilge ...give it a hug as I left to go back home...it's literally driving me crazy...
so..to get my boating fix..I come here and to the bayliner owners club..and the other maxum website....to my surprise..they went with another isp ...now ...to join ..you have to pay them 75 bucks per year to go online and learn very little....
question for you guys........is that something you'd be willing to do??..cuz I can't justify 75 bucks for a website that is difficult to navigate and doesn't really provide alot of help........that site is owned by one person I think and he's being really rather limiting ....
so...what do you think of that other site...??....

Brit Rider · 01-13-2008, 03:10 PM

A) What site is is?
b) Helll no! $75 is a rip off! I hate how some forums try to charge to go on there.. its not in the nature of what a forum is. A forum in my opinion is a place for shared discussion and learning... not for some guy to profit off other peoples knowledge! If he wants to profit he should run some advertising and sponsorship. Sounds like a tool to me. A forum can rake in ALOT of money, but not from memberships... thats totally the wrong way to tackle it IMO!

It's a shame more don't frequent the forums here.. I'm sure it could be an awesome resource if it weren't for the limited membership. I did make suggestions in the suggestions area but the guy who runs this place hasn't even replied. I'm not sure he has that much of an interest in it to be honest - it's not that i don't appreciate the forum but it could be so much more for so little effort!

zt260 · 01-13-2008, 06:59 PM

i tend to frequent 4 sites this one the other maxum site,the boc and ybw motor boat forum,i know on the boc you have an option to support the site @ $15 a year which isnt too bad but if you dont join your not excluded from the forum.$75 is taking the piss especially on a site that has limited traffic,(imo) its a shame when maxum sell a boat they dont list the forums that support their boats to the purchasers.

Aquia Cruiser · 01-13-2008, 06:59 PM

Asking me to pay for a forum would remind me of the Chance brothers; Fat and Slim

seapuppy · 01-14-2008, 12:39 AM

I also belong to the BOC.....been a member for something like 8 yrs now and have learned alot...but....I was a member of this site and the one that just changed to pay...

http://www.maxumowners.org/

this site is outragious to charge 75 bucks.......

I spoke with the owner of our maxum site...we've talked a few times and he's interested in selling this site....I don't have 5k to purchase and I'm afraid if he gets tired of it ..he'll just shut it down....I've been trying to promote this site as much as I can but as a moderator...I don't have the knowledge nor the money to invest in the site...this could be a great place..similar to the popularity of the BOC (Bayliners owners club)....but again...I'm kinda limited on what I can do.....but I'm really hopeful this site continues and I will continue to support this site.........
the BOC has a minimal costs to it's member...15 bucks and you get a photo album.....again...voluntary....

racer2c · 01-14-2008, 01:12 AM

I've been a member of a Champ Car/F1 board for almost a decade. The owners (husband and wife) deflect offers of 'dues' to a charity in the boards name. One of the competing boards takes a voluntary membership payment and in return you get your name in green and can access the 'super secret insiders forum'. Woopdeedoda.
The motorcycle board I'm a member of has a $10 a year voluntary fee and in return you can download scanned shop manuals.

Web hosting these days is such a small amount of money (I always carry an account and I don't even have a website. One of those 'someday i'm going to..."things.

If site costs are the issue I have no problem with the owner asking for donations to keep things 'afloat'. I also have no problem with paying a premium if there is something worth while in return such as a sponsorship from West Marina where members would get 10% or 15% off purchases (the motorcycle board does this with great success. They also have give aways such as tires, helmets etc all down through sponsors who get to put their banners on the site. But that board has a huge amount of members (42K). I just checked and there were 844 members logged in at that second. Sponsors won't be interested in a site that usually has 3 people looking at it or even 30.
Asking $75 for a site that has little traffic is arrogant.

FYI...The 'PayPal' button on the bottom of this page is for the Maxum Owners Club.

Brit Rider · 01-14-2008, 09:15 AM

Seapuppy - He wants $5K?!?! Wha? If this was a rich resource fine but there's barely any content.... Anyone could setup a rival site to this and with a little advertising it could match the content in a matter of months...

I'm on a couple of large forums like wakeboarder.com, wakeworld.com, mini2.com and all those ar ehuge resources that are totally free - but the owners use the website as their jobs.. they make a really decent chunk of change out of advertising deals, discount boats etc..

seapuppy · 01-14-2008, 01:08 PM

BR..
I agree that it's a bit hi....but look at the number that has visited this thread already....51 people have hit this thread...only 6 have posted...
so...it gets traffic...just no posting....as to the cost...I couldn't tell you what or how to set up a site...so......for me...if I had the cash..I'd buy it to keep this site going....it beats paying the 75 per head on the other site just to watch people argue or cuss eachother out....,,,, :shock:

racer2c · 01-14-2008, 01:48 PM

5K?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I missed that one!!!!!!!

I mirror Brit-Rider, I greatly appreciate this forum, but let's be honest about a few things;

1) as has been mentioned, there is very little traffic on this site. There are quite a few threads of useful info but not to to the point that it justifies a 5K price tag.

2) This board is built with PHPBB2. This is open source which means it's FREE to anyone. I've made numerous message boards with this software and I can literally have one up and running in under 5 minutes. It's quick and free but not nearly as robust as a product like vBulletin Version 3.6.0.

3) Domain name value. Here is where it gets debatable. Maxumownersclub.com. Is there value to this? Sure. How much? Well, I was a web designer for a billion dollar company for 8 years, and a computer geek since the 80's so I have at least a small insight into domain name value. As it stands I would be willing to pay no more than $100 as it stands this second. I would go $100 for each 100 members. With sponsors this changes dramatically however, but again it all depends on the kind or traffic, membership and overall reputation. Any monetary value is in the name and the name alone. There is no monetary value to the message board or the threads it contains.

racer2c · 01-14-2008, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seapuppy

BR..
I agree that it's a bit hi....but look at the number that has visited this thread already....51 people have hit this thread...only 6 have posted...
so...it gets traffic...just no posting....as to the cost...I couldn't tell you what or how to set up a site...so......for me...if I had the cash..I'd buy it to keep this site going....it beats paying the 75 per head on the other site just to watch people argue or cuss eachother out....,,,, :shock:

51 views on a thread is not much SP. You, BR and myself probably account for about 35 of those views. Plus keep in mind search engine spiders make page hits also.

seapuppy · 01-14-2008, 03:09 PM

Well...I'm not savy on any level of making a site...I only know that the owner and I have talked a few times about this site and his plans...the main thing is that if we go with sponsers...then it gets crazy and we start getting pop ups and stuff like that....which I dearly hate.......so...I'm at a total loss as to what to do next...I was hoping 2 things would transpire....1) that if he decided to sell his domain..then we as members would step up and buy it..thus making it a member ownership site and we can do whatever we'd like...be it sponsor'd or not...change the look or not or whatever voted on...
2) more members would come from the other site due to the cost of his exorbatant fees and we'd get increase membership and hopefully the site would take off giving members alot more bang for the buck...ie experience and advice.....

those were my thoughts but it seems that it may just go by the way of the dodo if this site is given up.....just my thoughts... :?

racer2c · 01-14-2008, 03:50 PM

When the owner is at the point where he wants to drop this board, let me know and I'll make and host one. You can be the mod.

The real expense comes into play with bandwidth usage. This board would have to have hundreds of members per day posting hundreds of threads per day with tons of pictures before it would require more bandwidth than what I have at this point.

As far as the domain name, just adding some relevant meta tags would generate more than this site currently is. FYI...This site isn't using meta tags.

Or in other words, a new site name like "Seapuppy's Seaside Maxum Club.COM" with a few search engine tags and word of mouth would probably be at least back to where this site is within a month, like BR said.

seapuppy · 01-14-2008, 04:56 PM

ok..ya lost me already...meta what?? :? ...is that rubber band usage or what??.... :shock:

haha....really...I'm dumb when it comes to this stuff....but if your interested in starting a new one if the owner bails on this one...grab my email addy and keep me informed.......like I said..I don't mind moderating...I just couldn't tell you where the choke is on this thing to get one started!!

Brit Rider · 01-14-2008, 06:26 PM

Also, having asome sponsors has nothing to do with pop ups! which I think should be banned all together!

It would just mean some google advertising at the side of the page, and maybe a couple of pay per click banner ads dotted around.

I think advertising can get a little heavy sometimes but a little bit brightens the place up and gives readers more places to explore.

racer2c · 01-14-2008, 06:48 PM

With the amount of traffic here we should probably just start a Yahoo or Google user group until the membership justifies a stand alone board.

Cost = free.

zt260 · 01-14-2008, 08:25 PM

So how do you get more visitors or members there must be hundreds if not thousands of maxum owners out there who dont know this site exists,be aware that i,am also a bit dim when it comes to computers :?:

seapuppy · 01-14-2008, 11:05 PM

that's been my quest since i got on here...i tell every maxum owner I know ....so...I've even invited a few others that don't own maxums to check us out....it's either we're not having big fights or no beer... :?

heck if I know :wink:

any suggestions would help out....

tglee · 01-15-2008, 01:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by racer2c

When the owner is at the point where he wants to drop this board, let me know and I'll make and host one. You can be the mod.

..... like "Seapuppy's Seaside Maxum Club.COM" .....

I like this idea the best. Especially the name.

swilson · 01-15-2008, 02:31 AM

Just to let you know that I have enjoyed this site. As a new maxum owner last summer the site has helped me with the questions I had. Since I am new to power boating I cant give a lot of advise, but, its nice to have you guys available for the questions I have.

It is to bad more owners dont use the site. I found it by randomly searching the internet.

Keep up the good work.

Flying_Maxum · 01-19-2008, 12:47 PM

So much internet content to sift through out there, I found this site by doing a search for "Maxum owners site". I was a previous member of the Chaparral members site, but it was hosted on the Manufacturers website. That alone probably helped them get a ton of traffic. It would help to be affiliated with Maxum or have a link to this site on theirs, or have the local dealers refer Maxum owners over. I know I have learned a good bit from this site and have chimed in when my limited knowledge has allowed, if this was a Mustang site I wouldnt be able to keep my mouth shut! I hope this site continues to grow. If we have any savvy and capable users out there that could make up some window stickers promoting the site, I would buy one.