RetUSAF

Marc,

I'd be happy to make a $$$ contribution to keep RCU moving on. You've done a great job of creating a great site. I don't post here often, but there is lots of good advice available.

That some of us might like to post on other forums is meant as no disrespect to this forum. It just suits our needs better.

Whatever your final decision, I for one will support you.

(As long as you don't delete my post)...

Doug

Taildrager-inactive

My Feedback: (11)

Its very simple, we have enjoyed a year, free of charge of the best R/C site in the world, now its time to get into the penny jar and help keep this site the greatest in the world. Think of the Moderators who have put in countless hours, I never heard them ask for money for there time, yet we have a a few people that are whining about a couple of bucks a month. I would pay for the whole year if I could get a discount, say $20 a year instead of by the month. Leave the adds, as I like to see what's new. Thanks Marc & Mod's for a great site.

Captain351

One Idea you might not have thought of is to let everybody sign up for free and give them around 6 months or so to look around and decide if they like it enough to spend money on it.

I'm sure you will still loose subscribers but any change you make is likely to do that.

I personally think that $24 dollars a year is a better value than some of the RC magazines I subscribe to. I am dropping my subscription to 2 magazines this year because I think they are manufacturers shills and I want the truth not who spends the most on advertising.

When a new magazine comes in the mail I spend maybe 2 days reading it and then I rarely pick it up again. I spend at least an hour a day on RCU.

My IT Job got downsized too but if I have to cut corners it will be on something other than what I do every day.

Minnreefer

I will admit that I am biased when this subject comes up. My wife and I own a discussion forum very similar to this about salt water aquariums. I totally understand how hard it is to find good sponsors to pay the bills and spend the time taking care of the board. The board does need updates and a lot of work. I am sure that Marc is trying to avoid this option, but there probably is not another option.

I believe that many people on this board spend thousands on different planes and spend money to AMA and money to their flight club. I firmly believe that you get much more info from 1 day at this site then 1 year at a rc club. Just about any question can give you an answer and many have saved more moeny by reading this board then the $10-$30 a year to support it.

My answer is to support the board or leave. If you don't want to support the board, go find another or start your own (see how much fun that is ).

I think Marc is being very resonable in his request.

Jon

SteveW

My Feedback: (36)

Oh for Pete's sake. This is ridiculous. So you might and I emphasize MIGHT have to pay $24 a year to access this site. And you're complaining? I'll bet some of you spend more than that on fuel and props in a week, much less a year.

willmo

as stupid as it sounds, that actually works! i know of several large websites, with 30000 members, in the forums. which actually use that system, you become a sponsor, and you have the ability to post sales in the forsale forums, provide advice, and mention your buisness at the same time.

It works on the trust system, no vendor is allowed to sell on the products on the fourms! unless a sponsor! No vendor can browse the fourms and give free plugs, unless they are a sponsor.

overclockers.com.au works from that very system. BUT they have rack space, and also the bandwidth donated, they are in the middle of the comidico rack, which is the 2nd biggest isp in australia

Tattoo

Just like most of you I am a very busy person. These are my priorities when I have free time.

1. Spend time with Jan (my significant other)

2. Design build and fly R/C airplanes

3. Maintain the Spad website (which we pay for out of our own pockets so that it remains free to anyone wanting to use the information)

4. Visit as many of the 12 R/C forums I choose to visit as I have time for.

#1 makes me a happy man. All the others are just icing on the cake. If one of the 12 forums I have links to on my desk top decides they want my money...that just means I have more time for the 11 forum links that I will then have on my desk top. If any of those forums decide they want my money, that just means I'll have more time for the other ones. If every single one wanted my money, then I would have a lot more time to work on my own web site. If it ever became not worth it to us to keep the Spad site going, that would give me more time to build and fly airplanes. If the government ever banned R/C, that would give me more time to spend with Jan, and time for us to pursue other interests, and I would still be very happy.

In other words, we do what we do because we can. RCU is where it is today because it's free and anyone can come here. It came on line at the perfect time when the need was there. It could have been any of the other ones, but RCU's timing was perfect. Charge for it and you will be giving the other dying forums a new life.

codell

My Feedback: (217)

Seems the hybrid/ala carte option is the way to go. I DO NOT want to pay for use of this site, but looks like I'm gonna have to anyway. So, since I only use about 5% of the stuff here, I only want to pay for what I'm using, not for the 95% I never even look at.

What ever you do, don't let the site die or become the next RCO. Do what it takes to keep it alive and thriving, it's too much fun to let it die. And if anyone thinks that if RCU gets "inconvenient", some other site won't come along and steal everyone away to a new free site, it will happen. RCU did it, RC XYZ will do it next year. Charge me if you must, but please be gentle with me, or I may bail on you.

BingoFlyer

I for one will not pay for using RCU! I have never used the site for selling or buying anything and I have only posted one question on RCU and in my judgment the answer I received was flawed.

For the most part I try to answer questions using my fifty years of R/C experience.

Frankenthumb

My Feedback: (2)

I simply wont pay. I can't offer any suggestions because I'm no business expert. I'm just saying that if I have to pay to use this site I'll go elsewhere.

Pitty.

BTW, the "You pay for other stuff, so you should pay for this too" argument is so flawed, I don't know where to begin

Frank

packfan88

My Feedback: (2)

Ive read the posts on this topic and have to suggest you put up a new poll.
My opions are, i dont buy or sell anything on rcu or ebay. I come here only for information and interactive type responses. I fyou have to hock advertising space to keep it running, by all means go for it. Paying for rcu is not in my future.

Since you prolly have the information you wanted on which of the three possible option you have, you might want to post a new topic with a new poll.

Something like:
If we go with _____ option will you
a- leave rcu
b- stay and pay
c- share passwords ...j/k

Ross Kean

I have read most of this thread and I thought I would add my $0.02. This site is great; by far the best single RC site on the net. It is easily "worth" $15.00 per year but I doubt that many people will pay! You'll get some of the hard-cores but I bet the vast majority of the current members won't stay on and the rate of newcomers joining will drop to a trickle. WHY? Because many of us have come to believe that our activities on the Internet should be free! (Didn't say it was reasonable) I guess I would probably also seek out new turf if asked to pay.

I believe that the "flavor" of RCU would change very quickly. People won't be tolerant of downtime or slow response if they are paying! They would look at it as a service rather than an open resource for productive discussion and information - maybe a club would be a better description.

I don't know your best solution! I can tolerate banner ads and I often look them up out of interest. Too much advertising or the dreaded pop-ups would send me running in a hurry. Slow response would also be a problem. If its a pain to wait for every page, I go elsewhere.

The simple fact is that there are tons of free RC websites available. They may not be as slick as RCU with pic posting, PM, excellent forum moderators etc but they'll take up the slack if RCU goes "PAY". Would hate to see it happen!

I had a look at the "stats" from the polling and believe they are skewed by the fact that the people who are particularly concerned here are the "hard core" users I referred to above. I'll bet that a large proportion of the members of RCU are only occasional visitors who could care less - these guys are not much represented by this poll and would simply fade away if required to cough up money.

Ross

AirGar

My Feedback: (7)

My guess is you'd lose half of the current members....maybe more.

I could afford it, but I wouldn't pay. There are far too many other great "free" sites, and not just R/C.

The general public gets nickled and dimed to death, and personally I get tired of everyone trying to stick their hands in my pockets.

You have the option and right to charge, and I have the option to leave.

You've done a great job with this site, and best of luck when you make your decision, whatever it is.

Gary

pinball-RCU

Personally, I would pay for RCU, probably (I did contribute), but with so many big organizations failing to find a successful Internet business model, I have grave doubts whether it would work for you. I do not pay for any other Internet service, and I have simply stopped using many that tried to get me to pay, or got very obnoxiously advertising-based (Weatherbug, for example).

If you went to a strict pay-to-play model, I would guess you'd get maybe 5% of folks to subscribe, and none would renew because there wouldn't be enough activity.

If you went to a model where the first month was free or something, I think you would spend so much time policing it, with people starting over, and when can they get it free again, etc., that you would go mad. I'm not sure technically how you'd prevent serial free-loaders, since many folks have dynamic IPs, and sites with proxy servers all use the same IP address. But without free access, how would you get new people?

I agree with Tattoo (I usually do). The beauty of the Internet is that it's really hard to corner the market for long. If RCU disappeared tomorrow, I might go back to rec.models.rc.air, or I might just hang out at the Spad board, or I might write letters to the editor. And probably, somebody somewhere, just like you, might think it would be cool to start a free forum service (like you, not realizing that success would become their enemy). Most likely they would be more specialized than RCU, just like the Spad forum today. By staying small, they would stay within the resources of the operators.

Have you considered that having paying customers is a whole different ball game? They all of a sudden become incredibly demanding. Now that they pay, do they care how many jobs you work? Do they care how much bandwidth costs? How understanding are they when the server is down? Do they get upset and go elsewhere when the proprietor takes controversial stands concerning the AMA (hint, hint)? (Answer, yes they will.)

I think the only working model is the one you have now, but with a bigger push for donations. Would it be possible to become a non-profit, so donations would be tax deductible? I'm thinking along the lines of public radio. Twice a year you could do a really obnoxious week of begging people to send in money. It might work.

Culverson

My Feedback: (14)

I have known Marc a long time, he thinks only of the end users as #1 here on the site. He updates, keeps fresh content and reviews rolling in frequently. Having a fast site is important to him, only because it benefits the users.

I think Marc is mainly asking for input, as he always has..do we support what he had worked diligently developed for us? I will help....out.

4*60

My Feedback: (41)

I have to agree with Nitrowoman quoted below. I retired early because I got tired of the taxman and realized I could live on a lot less with no ratrace involvement.

Every service that I have used online that went the subscriber route has lost me.

I can get the benefit of over 100 years of RC air at our Wednesday coffee get togethers, locally. And it is excellent advice and the guys enjoy giving it to me whether I heed the advice or not

I have learned things here, but some of the info is flawed. I have also helped people a bit, including saving some hundreds purchasing unsuitable goods, saving them from some of the flawed info. They've appreciated it, and sent emails to indicate that, but I don't think they've donated to RCU. I think they should have!

I have grumbled about the ads occasionally, but I also click on them occasionally and can live with ads if they provide this quality of site. Less bashing of product may be warranted to keep advertisers. People can be a little more subtle in their criticism and still get a message across.

We all should be able to understand the Western model, paid by advertising, sometimes misleading, often overstated, but we live with it as a good model.

If my keeping my criticism in check provides you with more advertisers and an income out of this excellent site, so be it.

Nitrowoman quote:"Is $10 or $20 a year for an excellent site too much? No. Will I spend $10 or $20 a year for it? No. If I can save $2/month on say..100 things (and I do try), I've saved $200. That is almost my entire monthly hobby allowance. You see, it's not you, it's all things combined. Good Luck. I don't want to lose one of the highlights of my day."

Furyflyer2

My Feedback: (117)

Where would that be???

Tronjo

Marc,
I have no problem paying for value recieved. I cannot believe all of the tight,whinny babies that won't pay 4 cents an hour to come to this site. Then why are you here people?? Is your time not worth 4 cents andhour???
give me a break.
Ron

ChuckAuger

My Feedback: (12)

I think Marc is an astute businessman.

An astute businessman doesn't start a business without a business plan.

He started a great website that filled a niche, hawked it on every street corner and waited to see if it would float. He invested his time and resources to see if the business plan would work.

Now that it has become so big, it is time for the business to step in.

It's not a case of a hobbiest starting a webpage and suddenly realizing it is just too big and has to ask for money.

You don't take out ads in the glossy's to promote a fancy..you advertise to sell a product. He has advertised his product, now it is time to see if it will sell.

I applaud the entrepreneurial spirit...I'm not putting Marc down for trying to turn a profit...shoot it is a great business plan!

Model airplanes are a tiny niche in the world market...there are certainly more lucrative markets to get into as far as internet website hosting goes. To carve out an existance in this market is quite a feat.

It's just the "golly gee guys, this thing is costing quite a bit to run" thing I find a little patronizing.

It wasn't something that just happened..it is the fact that his business plan worked and now it's time to make it a business.

All of course IMHO.

Ross Kean

I think name calling is unnecessary and inappropriate. We were asked to provide an opinion and I resent your offensive remarks.

Ross

Barland

Seems simple, the hybrid option gives choices, and perhaps some income to operate this site. The free users, and nothing wrong with that, put up with the ads and those that want to pay their own way can get ad free access and cover the balance of the cost plus something for those that make this thing work.

I understand those that want it free, especially the casual user or visitor, those of us who rely on this site as a resource to share info should find it worth an annual fee.

WHERE DO I SIGN UP............. Thank You

blabree-RCU

My Feedback: (2)

Hybrid!
Look and limited posting for free
Pay for heavier use, but a reasonable amount.
An above poster is correct. There is a lot to be learned from advertisments about new products and even how things are done .

blabree

Joss Stick

My Feedback: (1)

Me too. And if I had to pay to have somebody call me names, then I'd really be upset.

Rossan

I voted to pay. I would as I think the site is a great resource.

Obviously, though, you will lose a lot of membership if you start charging for a previously free service. What drop in usage have you bugeted for if you start charging?

nun45

My Feedback: (1)

been nice knowing y'all, later.---henry