Do forums or don't do forums.

Salty John

Salty John

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www.saltyjohn.co.uk
Do forums or don\'t do forums.

YBW - why don't you decide whether or not you want to host forums? I can't believe you allow your image to be so degraded by your failure in this area.
Surely this regular Friday evening collapse of the system results in reduced sales of your magazine, reduced interest in your websites and dissatisfied advertisers who believe that hosting a healthy forum environment separates you from your competitors?
 
Re: Do forums or don\'t do forums.

Quite agree..it can be slow at times,but usually will recover. This is a FREE forum...Stop moaning!!!!
 
Re: Do forums or don\'t do forums.

I quite agree that it's a wonderful facility, which is why it's so frustrating that YBW allows it to be the poor relation of their portfolio.
I'm trying to make the point that advertisers view the hosting of these fora as a positive benefit, an advantage over their competitors, a reason to advertise in their magazines rather than those of their competitors.
By demonstrating such an ongoing lack of concern at the malfunctioning of their forums our hosts indicate that they don't accept this marketing premise.
 
Re: Do forums or don\'t do forums.

It isn't a free site. Do you think YBW is a charitable institution?
This site operates because of your support - demand quality, don't accept mediocrity.
 
Re: Do forums or don\'t do forums.

A good point re advertising John,but every sailing magazine you pick up nowadays carries adverts from the same companies,so I don't know if the fact that YBW hosts a forum like this will influence decisions by advertisers.
I don't know how much an internet facility like this costs to run,I'm sure that someone can come up with some figures ,but I have gained a helluva lot of information from this forum. In fact it has made buying and running a boat feasible for someone like myself who had virtually no knowledge or experience up until a few years ago.
I think it is a crying shame that some forumites choose to use it as a vehicle with which to insult and abuse other users.
Rant over. Have a nice weekend everybody..despite the *****y weather.
 
Re: Do forums or don\'t do forums.

As far as I'm concerned it's free. My contributions are free and I frequently receive free advice and info from others like me. Once signed in you can stop any advertising and although there is the occassional poster who's trying to take advantage and advertise their wares, it's refreshingly 'clean'. I get a little frustrated at times by the slow running but when you work with networks and servers that 'crash' alarmingly often like I have to waiting a little for the forum to 'sort itself out' is no great hardship and what's the hurry?
I'm not moaning.
 
Re: Do forums or don\'t do forums.

[ QUOTE ]
It isn't a free site. Do you think YBW is a charitable institution?


[/ QUOTE ]

It's free from where I am sitting!!
 
Re: Do forums or don\'t do forums.

The money is made by online advertising here, largely to the 'anonymous' users who visit the site in large numbers, and see more adverts than those of us that are logged in.

according to press releases, ybw was the first of the IPC website stable to make a profit, if I remember correctly from a few years back.
 
Re: Do forums or don\'t do forums.

Interesting comment about the site "paying for itself". I notice that the Seagull site is considering closing down due to server resources tied up & a lack of advertising revenues as there are so few people clicking thro' these days.

Now I know the numbers on there are a fraction of those on here & the resource issue is more pressing for a "one-man" organisation than for a mega media conglomerate. But it does indicate that there are "hidden" costs for our hosts.
 
Re: Do forums or don\'t do forums.

I trust your comment regarding the use of the site to insult and abuse other users wasn't directed at me!
I can't speak for other advertisers but I do strongly believe that the forums contribute significantly to the appeal of the IPC sailing titles. If IPC didn't understand this they wouldn't host the forums and they wouldn't publish extracts from the forums in the magazines.
I can't believe that an organisation with the resources of IPC can't solve this persistant problem; I know Dan wants to and we should support his efforts by demanding that they do so.
 
Re: Do forums or don\'t do forums.

Depends what you mean by hidden costs?

There will be server racks, which will service the entire ipc stable of websites and forums. A large team of IT personell behind the scenes, maintaining, applying security updates, coding, making changes, testing, putting into development and live. The internet access costs for the access to the server farm. The personel required to moderate here. The sales and marketing team, admin, finance and accounting. Don't forget legal, everytime some manufacturer asks for a thread to be taken down. Hardware updates will be required once in a while. As will overheads of buildings and associated costs, the costs of running employees etc.

The overheads will be huge, but they will be pretty much standard for any large website provider with a multitude of websites and forums.
 
Re: Do forums or don\'t do forums.

For goodness sake.
What on earth are you going on about? Really.
This is a fairly useful site with, potentially, a wealth of information. Who really cares if it's a little slow at times?
And if it takes a little sideline advertising to keep it free for us, then so be it.
If you have nothing useful to contribute, then please don't come on here whining and moaning. Keep that for some unfortunate bloke down the pub (who'll buy you another half of mild then leave, no doubt). Leave this site to those of us who are genuinely interested in talking about boats.
 
Re: Do forums or don\'t do forums.

I was asked a question. I answered it.

I know rather better than you what a wealth of information is available, I provide some of it, and have been doing so for many years.

What is your problem? This particular thread was about the forums, not about boats.
 
Re: Do forums or don\'t do forums.

[ QUOTE ]
I trust your comment regarding the use of the site to insult and abuse other users wasn't directed at me

[/ QUOTE ]

Absolutely Not! Sorry if you got that impression....I was referring to some extreme comments and abuse that have been circulating recently.
 
Re: Do forums or don\'t do forums.

It's free, it's 'entertaining', and it's informative, some of the time.
Presumably IPC justify the expense and attract advertisers somehow, although I can't say I ever look at any ads.
If it's slow, I go and do something else (which is usually far more useful but perhaps not as interesting).
 
Re: Do forums or don\'t do forums.

Good for you. You're great! I was replying in general, not to you. Though you clearly appear to be a yachting Guru. Blimey, there really are some ego's on here..................Does it really matter????

I'm an engineer with 30 years of sailing experience and I'm afraid I fail to see what the issue is here. Maybe the words "more" "out" "get" and "sailing" should be debated rather than server down time and advertising priorities.

This is, after all a boating related forum.

By the way, it really tickles me how worked up you've just got over all this!! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Sorry, this is directed specifically at Brendan S.
 
Re: Do forums or don\'t do forums.

[ QUOTE ]
For goodness sake.
What on earth are you going on about? Really.
This is a fairly useful site with, potentially, a wealth of information. Who really cares if it's a little slow at times?
And if it takes a little sideline advertising to keep it free for us, then so be it.
If you have nothing useful to contribute, then please don't come on here whining and moaning. Keep that for some unfortunate bloke down the pub (who'll buy you another half of mild then leave, no doubt). Leave this site to those of us who are genuinely interested in talking about boats.

[/ QUOTE ]

Brendan I get the impression that the above was not directed at you personally.I think that Jimlad may have clicked on the "reply" button on your previous post intending his comments to be general.
 
Re: Do forums or don\'t do forums.

"I was replying in general,not to you" Well done Jimlad...you got there first!!!!

Have I been Lakesailored?????
 
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