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Date Posted: 08/20/03 11:41am
Author: zzzza
Author Host/IP: 68.6.61.35
Subject: Re: A proposal...please read and comment
In reply to: BudMan 's message, "Re: A proposal...please read and comment" on 08/20/03 6:50am

...now that the Loco board is up and running, do you think it is worth 1) changing the well-known address;

Well, in the Loco's case this wasn't an issue--because of layoffs we lost the guy that knew how to run the board. It was disappearing no matter what. On this board, that is one of the big questions. It's fairly easy to email a bunch of the links sites and get them to change the addy. Also the Voy board wouldn't vanish--I could change it so that a link to the new board would be huge across the top. Also, if anyone searched the ezBoard system (which is pretty popular) they'd find the board easily. Go here and type-in "UCSB". Anyway, once all of the current posters and lurkers bookmarked the new site I don't think the address issue would be a big one.

BTW, I registered "Cal Poly Mustangs" on the ezBoard network, so this is where the site would be (it's fresh outta the box and unchanged right now)...

http://pub151.ezboard.com/bcalpolymustangs

You could also access it with the following URL...

http://go.ezboard.com/bcalpolymustangs

do you think it is worth....the money;

I do, if everyone pays a little. :) Of course it would be nice to get a few more "yeas" or "nays" to figure out where we stand. There have been three things I remember people wanting out of this Voy board: 1. faster speed/less sluggishness 2. the ability to register a nic 3. the ability to more easily post links and use html. ezBoard will take care of all those things. Perhaps people would check/post more often if the speed issue was taken care of. It's also ad-free. More on that in a bit.

do you think it is worth....pimping for money (assuming the enthusiasm dies at some point)

Do you think the enthusiasm would die at some point? If everyone who regularly visits and posts on the board gave $10 a year, everything would be great. Anonymous donations are also possible for those lurkers who don't want to be known.

do you think it is worth....the loss of archived posts

Well the current archives here only go back to last December and those would remain intact. I'm pretty sure an ezBoard would have "deeper" archives once they fill.

I for one am kinda old school in that I think free BBS sites are typically good 'nuff if there is someone who is dedicated (like you) administratin' and the participants generally police themselves well, etc. Until someone can point out to me features that are worthwhile (to me) on the pay BBS sites, I frankly prefer to do it on the cheap. That is not to say I wouldn't pay--I just won't pay without seeing some benefit for my $10 or $20 spot.

The main thing for me is the speed (or lackthereof) of the current board. Voy has promised upgrades and I think it's better than it used to be but who knows how long that'll last or if they'll even keep the service free. In fact they are the only free board around that doesn't have pop-ups (although the banner is still up top).

Also, can you help me understand why costs would increase along with the site hits? It seems to me, the more hits, the more the site can demand from advertisers, hence the less we participants should have to pay. Am I not comprehending something simple (wouldn't be the first time!!)

Take advertisers out of your equation and you'll understand. :) The board wouldn't have any advertisers (which is cool) so we're paying for what we get.

Here's ezBoard's pricing setup. What they do is let you sign up for an introductory package ($10 for 3 months) and then monitor your hit-levels during that period. After that you can buy one of the packages listed based on your hit levels. The UCSB board is currently still in the intro period and to buy a 6 month package would be $38 at the current hit levels (which are low because it's summer, although once the package is in place it won't matter if we exceed the "estimated" level).

If anyone really wanted to save the board money, you could also buy and ezSupporter package for your account. This would mean that your hits wouldn't count on the total for the board.

Finally, as for administrating a new site, I'd be interested if the regulars opt to go that way. Problem is, like BMF, I'm not in SLO anymore (with apologies to Hairy Nuts, I just moved to Bakerstucky last week!) and, I'm not exactly a computer whiz. What goes into administrating such a site?

There are different levels of admin. The simplest would be "moderator" which can edit and delete posts. The other is "administrator" which has access to all of the code. It can be as involved or simple as you want (since I can do all of the setup and code). At a minimum it would be nice to have a couple people to "patrol" and bounce ideas off of.

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