Hello,

I had joined this site back in October for a different reason than most but have thoroughly enjoyed being a member of this community and seeing all the comraderie. I had never really built a model before then and was quite pleased with myself after doing so - thanks in large part to the help from the members of Armorama.

It really saddens me to see when there are so many needs and so little money. Jim had mentioned earlier that to migrate to a different hosting solution the monthly fee would be roughly $300/month. If I am not exact on the usage - don't be too harsh on this post - just read Jim's thread on what the $300.00 is needed for.

One idea, which was a good idea, was to support the advertisers of the site and there have been threads about this and will definitely help.

Another idea is tobuy Armorama merchandise which is another great idea and looks real cool.

I will tell you though, nothing gets to the heart of it like a direct contribution to the site which means 100% of your contribution goes to the need at hand versus a percentage.

I know many people have also given direct contributions in the past which was a terrific idea as well.

I will tell you that many different communities outside of modelling communities are toying with the idea to charge a yearly membership fee and this thinking is becoming a trend. While I think this is perfectly reasonable, especially for a site like this, I realize that many of the users of this site are very young people and may not be able to afford to pay.

I did the math based on paying a $300 monthly fee - it would only take 120 of us to contribute $30/year to the site. If there were 240 of us, it would only be $15/year. You go out to dinner it would cost you maybe $60 right there. Go to NY City and it is $150 for two people - I'll send a receipt from last week to you if you want to check on this

More to the heart strings of people here - one photo-etch accessory would be at least $20.00. Could you sacrifice that to help support such a great site?

I am not very vocal about this stuff in front of everyone because it isn't necessary all the time and I do try to help out behind the scenes but this time I thought it important.

If others think this is a good idea, lets really talk about this - if Jim blesses it - let's get some firm commitment with a worst-case scenario being a contribution of $30.00/year. Maybe Jim can come up with a special patch for those people?

Anyway, I hope I didn't offend anyone with this post - just one person's idea on how to help. I just don't think it is good to make Jim worry about the money issue all the time - I'd rather have him focus on delivering the best vehicle (including performance) for delivering this site to us on a day-in and day-out basis.

How would you feel if one day you type in www.armorama.com and it is either not there or takes forever just to get to the main page?

Thanks for listening, GR8Voyager

The problem with this is that Jim does not want to make this a pay site. We would lose too many of our members because not everyone is willing to pay for another membership when they might already be paying IPMS or AMPS. We had a contribution drive a few months back so that we would have the resources to pay for the upgrade, but that is all Jim was willing to do. I know of several men who had the money to contribute more than just a few dollars and I know one who did contribute a sizable amount but Jim is adamant that this site needs to pay for itself through sales and advertising, and his money was returned. I am happy to help out whenever I can and am constantly trying to bring new content to the sight as this is what Jim truly wants us to contribute. This constant flow of new content will draw the members and conversely the advertisers. We were quite lucky to have Lee Lloyd, the King of PE , contribute an article on PE benders. I know there are companies out there that are seeking to use Lee's Tiger in their advertising. I know Lee myself and think he is quite a great guy and that his contribution to the site can also help to get advertisers here. If you want to help out the sight, my opinion is that you should seek out every opportunity to make it the best sight possible, and then, when the advertisers do come, you will have truly helped out in the best way possible. If Jim would let us contribute more monetarily, I would (hint-hint Jim), but since he chooses not to, I will support the sight in other ways.

Rob

Personally, if the amount is something like pointed out by gr8voyager, I'll be more than glad to contribute. I agree that in a perfect world the site should be able to pay back himself through advertising/sponsorships. I used to own a financial site who was exceeding 17 million page views per month (certified by Nielsen) and I can guarantee you that amount of money I was able to raise was just ridiculous and absolutely not worth the effort. The money started to come when we decided to give extra content and get payed by subscribers... Now with Armorama I don't think is the case to transform it in a pay site because I'm not that sure that people will be willing to pay for accessing hobby infos. What I think is to put in place a permanent (I acually don't know if bthere's something already in place) system to collect contribuitons/donations from the people willing to do that. I think this can work and people who contribute/donate shoulde receive back a patch/ribbon independently of how how much he/she contributed because 5 bucks given from a 14 yo weekly allowance are much more worth than 1000 bucks from a millionaire...
Ciao

Fabio,
Wow...17 million page views. I am impressed.

Thanks for all this feedback guys. I have a plan for offering something of a "pay-plan" in the near-future. But it will be tied with the new Photo-Post gallery and will allow members to have more storage space on the site. Hopefully that will provide the needed "balancing-out" revenue for the new hosting.

So everyone knows (from me) I am really excited about getting the site on a really powerful server that will really allow us room for growth. I have a plan to start up some "attention-getting" marketing efforts that should really bring users back to the site (if they ever left) and should show vendors that we mean business (literally!). All in good time I guess.

Cheers,
Jim

Sounds great Jim.
But as GR8Voyager said, some of us would be lost without the site. Just know that we support your efforts 100%. You're the boss. But also know that if you ever need some more tangable support we're just waiting for the word.
Thanks for a great site.

Supporting Armorama has become quite a topic recently. While I personally would pay a yearly subscription (in a heart beat) I totally understand and support the reasons for keeping it free. We have a huge membership and there are a lot of newcomers who would potentially be lost if there were a fee.
I like Jim's idea and look forward to it.
Here is my two cents

On my way to work I listen to my local Public Radio Station (NPR). They get a portion of their operating funds from their listeners who donate money.
The way they get money is to have a donation drive. I looked back at the recent effort to go through Paypal and offer a donation to help the move to a better server. I then thought - why don't people just donate at random. Well we're human and we don't finish some kits without a dead line and we don't donate money with out a 'kick in the butt'.
Maybe we could have a donation drive similar to NPR. This would totally be Jim's call (as is everything ::silly me::). Thats my idea and I'm stickin' to it.

Slodder - that was kind of the direction I was aiming at and was suggesting maybe a medal/patch or something to commemorate those that give. I probably wan't clear enough on that point. Wasn't suggesting a fee-based subscription for everyone who joins - just contributions from those who can afford to do so.

Jim - you ought to really think about this - even if you provide storage for a fee, there are always other costs that come up - I think everyone trusts you with the money - you have always been upfront with us.

GR8Voyager