I'm ashamed of many of the site members - they spend hours on here and contribute financially nothing. We know who you are.
to those who have donated in the past. We know who you are too. 2005 Zambezi TDV6 - Gone but not forgotten
2009 Alaska TDV8 - Gone and much missed.



WINNER - 2009 �Idler Of The Year� Award
Runner Up - 2009 �Just Doing What It�s Designed To Do� Award


DO NOT CLICK HERE!

Very Annoyed wrote:

I'm ashamed of many of the site members - they spend hours on here and contribute financially nothing. We know who you are.
to those who have donated in the past. We know who you are too.

At risk of being excluded from this forum, I beg to differ... There are literally thousands of equally informative and interesting forums on the Internet, that are all completely free of charge for the users - I run one myself, in fact, and am a Moderator on another 'free for users' forum that has over 250,000 members.

Most of these do not even attract advertisers and any costs are paid by the forum owner: For example, my forum costs me less than £100 per annum and I recover most of that in free drinks when I bump into people in real life and the rest is more than offset by the access to information, advice and exchanges that I would probably never get otherwise.

If I am not welcome because I haven't donated financially (and have no intention of doing so), then fine - close my account , but I suspect that you have no idea who you have alienated with this thread...

Another SW - it is not people like you I'm getting at. We welcome users who come and go, get some useful information and pass some on. The members of this forum who post hundreds of posts but contribute little are the ones I'm getting at.

If you can afford to run a site without financial help good on you but we have tried to make this site self financing by encouraging members to buy stickers, shirts etc but the uptake is small. We're not asking for a fortune just the odd sticker to swell the coffers. 2005 Zambezi TDV6 - Gone but not forgotten
2009 Alaska TDV8 - Gone and much missed.



WINNER - 2009 �Idler Of The Year� Award
Runner Up - 2009 �Just Doing What It�s Designed To Do� Award


DO NOT CLICK HERE!

If you're wealthy enough to own and run an RRS then I've no doubt you're wealthy enough to run a web site as a hobby. With all due respect Another SW, this site costs significantly more than yours to keep running.

I don't have the financial ability to fund the site for the good of RRS owners (and the large number of non-owners). I was also recently made redundant, so I hope you understand that I now have even less desire to finance this site out of my own pocket - therefore this site has to be self financing.

It would be fine if when people sold a vehicle or parts through the site then they thought "thanks to RRSPORT for making this happen" and chucked a few quid in the pot, but they don't. Similarly, there seems little support for the site by purchasing stickers or clothing through the shop. Numerous reminders about the shop and donating make little or no difference.

I'm not out to offend anyone, just state some facts.

I welcome all enquiries or leads with regards to sponsorship or other fund-raising opportunities. Like this site? Buy some RRSPORT goodies to show your support!

I understand it is costing you money but seriously, with all the sponsors and few people donating by the sounds of it your still well short?!. Whats the reason the costs are so high? Its not like its a video site eating bandwidth.

Why is the the range rover sport site is the only one where your asking payment? I doubt the fullfat site is pulling in more donations.

I think rather than looking for more money you need to lower your costs?? WINNER - 2008 Best All New Photograph
WINNER - 2009 Best All New Photograph

ViewWise wrote:

I think rather than looking for more money you need to lower your costs??

Or maybe forget the idea of trying to make a living out of it?

I don't have any site sponsors and I don't charge for advertising on my forum. Hosting and domain charges, with sufficient bandwidth for around 250 users online at any time, are just over £100 per annum - and that's only because I chose a 'paid for' forum package to protect my members from spammers. If you don't get more than that from your current sponsors, they are having a laugh!

There are also numerous free solutions out there if you don't mind advertising popping up on the pages from time to time.

It is a nicely laid out site and everything, but charging private users for anything is a non-starter IMO... If you are not happy to run it for love (and a bit of pocket money from Trade advertisers) then it's probably time to let it go...

While I’m aware that this thread is not about introducing a subscription & is instead just asking for a donation to the site when listing an item for sale. I do suspect that this discussion is inevitably going to go down the road of subscriptions.

So….how do I feel about that ??

The way I look at it is, in the past I’ve subscribed to various magazines, some LR related, some not. The magazine popped in the letter box every month & I enjoyed reading them. However, forums, for me, have taken over from magazines, as they are there 24/7 & unlike a magazine, forums offer a “two way” flow of information, discussion of the topics, along with the banter between members & the opportunity to attend social gatherings.

I’m a member of all Martin’s forums, but really only actively post here
& on the D3 site. I’m also a member of a US based RR forum, as well as three airline / frequent flyer related forums. Of all these forums only two of the frequent flyer forums charge a subscription, which I’m happy to pay, as the information & knowledge available is second to none. So paying my subscription for these sites “replaces” the subscription I used to pay for magazines.

Now I’m certainly happy that there is currently no subscription for the RRS & D3 sites & while I don’t know the costs involved, or not as the case may be, of running these sites, in principal I would not have a problem with a subscription based system. I certainly consider the request for voluntary donations to be very fair. As I do the request to make a donation to the site, if your listing an item for sale.

These are great sites, they’re free to use, offer a wealth of information & provide a lot of laughs. Asking for a few bob to help keep them running is not a lot ask in my book.


Rupert

Rupert 2005 Zambezi TDV6 - Gone but not forgotten
2009 Alaska TDV8 - Gone and much missed.



WINNER - 2009 �Idler Of The Year� Award
Runner Up - 2009 �Just Doing What It�s Designed To Do� Award


DO NOT CLICK HERE!

I kind of have mixed feelings on this. On the one hand I have no problem with Martin recovering costs towards the web site or even making a bit on top.

On the other, this forum is big, and no doubt got that way by being largely free. The services and information provided on the site are provided by it's consortium of members not the web site itself. IMO I think there would be better ways of raising cash for the site, maybe with planned events/ fun days/ off roading days/ meets.

There are plenty of ways to raise money when you have lots of members, rather than maybe alienating some of them by enforcing charges. The chances are the likely result will be a severe and sudden drop in private advertising.

All i'm saying is I think there's probably a better way.

I will dontate straight after this post because I've taken a lot of good info from this site so far, that has no doubt saved me cash. That said, as an ex mechanic and self confessed Land Rover nerd (my sport is my 14th LR) , i can probably also give a bit back.................


Hop  Range Rover Sport HSE DYnamic SDV6 Velocity blue 2020 MY
Range Rover sport HSE Dynamic P400e Silver
Range Rover Sport 3.0 SDV6 HSE Dynamic 2016 MY
Range Rover sport 3.6tdv8HSE 2007 Gone
Range Rover sport 2.7tdv6SE 2005 Gone
Range Rover sport 2.7tdv6SE 2007 honey
Range rover Vogue 2005 4.4 - GONE and missed
BMW 535d M sport 2006 - GONE not as missed
BMW X5 4.4 2004 sport - GONE

Take a long, long lead from disco3.co.uk members and pull your fingers out







...Tightwads

hoppy - we have tried to get donations with limited success. We offer branded goods and the take up is small. We have done days out and whilst some have worked others have failed due to lack of interest. If everyone simply bought a sticker or gave a small donation things would continue as they are but TBH getting even the smallest donations from some members of this forum is like getting water from a stone. We should all look at disco3.co.uk to see how ready members are to donate money (or things) when they realise the time, money and effort these sites save them, and whilst we don't expect everyone to donate we certainly should expect more than we currently get. 2005 Zambezi TDV6 - Gone but not forgotten
2009 Alaska TDV8 - Gone and much missed.



WINNER - 2009 �Idler Of The Year� Award
Runner Up - 2009 �Just Doing What It�s Designed To Do� Award


DO NOT CLICK HERE!

DG wrote:

Take a long, long lead from disco3.co.uk members and pull your fingers out







...Tightwads




I would hope you are in the lead! You have three times as many members and vehicle sales than RRS!!

Well i don't have a RRS but a Disco3 but as a user of the site and have sold on site people i have sent in a donation as with out this site kit would not get sold and members would not get good kit i also donate to Disco 3 and support it with events that are on there you have a lot of good info on the site it would be a shame to see it go. If it can be made i will try if not i am up in a wood some where may be over the rain bow
ray@rld-tech.co.uk

Is PayPal the only way to donate or can we use a credit card payment? I don't like to use Pay Pal as I was once ripped off for a few thou through using it on Fleabay.

DG wrote:

Take a long, long lead from disco3.co.uk members and pull your fingers out

...Tightwads

Yeah, that'll work... Insult your customers and expect the donations to come flooding in...

Time for you guys to come out of your insular little World and have a look around on the Internet...

Take 911uk.com for example: 16,000 plus members, more free advice than anyone could possible have a use for, absolutely free for anyone to use and advertise anything as long as it is a private sale (including cars), the members organise great events that 911uk doesn't get a single penny from, and the site is growing all the time... The infrastructure is a lot more sophisticated than this 'off-the-shelf' forum software and the whole thing is paid for by Trade Advertisers and Sponsors (who mostly give member's discounts as well) - and always has been. It even earns the site owner a few quid.

If you can't cover your costs from just ONE sponsor, then it's time you looked around for a new forum provider...