Future options - possible features for contributing members.

What additional features would you be willing to pay for at Pilots of America?

  • More private messaging space (current limit 150)

    Votes: 2 6.9%

  • Ability to change own title

    Votes: 2 6.9%

  • Your own pilots of america dot com email address

    Votes: 11 37.9%

  • Larger avatar/profile picture

    Votes: 2 6.9%

  • Other - post as a reply

    Votes: 3 10.3%

  • Ability to be "invisible" (not shown on Who's Online)

    Votes: 1 3.4%

  • I'd chip in regardless of features.

    Votes: 21 72.4%
  • Total voters
    29
Greebo

Greebo

N9017H - C172M (1976)
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Retired Evil Overlord
In the long term, we do anticipate a need to solicit funding on a voluntary basis to help cover long term operating expenses - especially as we continue to grow and our bandwidth and server power needs increase. In the interest of long term planning, I've already started looking into the "next steps" for upgrading.

This is a preliminary survey to just test the waters, so to speak, and get a feel for what our options moving forward might be.

My current thinking is to follow the model of another popular site I'm familiar with, and offer up additional features to users who contribute to the operation of the site. The poll, therefore, is asking you what additional features you would most be interested in having access to - enough so that you'ld chip in a few bucks towards the ongoing operation of Pilots of America.
 
Chuck, I didn't see any features in the poll that I think I would use. However, I believe I would contribute to the care and feeding of POA regardless of additional features, those listed or others. Thanks for getting us up and running!
 
Thanks Greg - I added a poll option to reflect that choice. :)
 
Ah, how nice! But I already voted "other" before that option was available, so the tabulation statistician will have to torture the data to make it confess to the desired results.
 
Thats no problem. I like torturing data.

Oh, and for the record, before anyone asks... NO existing features will be made pay-only. Pilots of America is committed to being a publicly open forum free for all to use. We simply are looking at ways to give a little extra to users who are willing to chip in to keep things running. :)
 
In round numbers, what sort of cash do you expect to need to keep this running per month? An order of magnitude will help define the issue.
 
Greebo said:
In the long term, we do anticipate a need to solicit funding on a voluntary basis to help cover long term operating expenses
Click to expand...

Chuck & POA Mgmt.,

Have you considered selling advertising?

If AOPA membership stats are any indication, a pool of pilots would be considered the marketing mother load.

Participants,

Would advertising turn you off to this space?

Len
 
The first major step-up in server power will be going from a shared/hosted solution (where we can share the server with up to 100 other sites) to a "virtual server" where we the server has a max of 5 sites on it including us, and we each operate our own configurations.

The hosting solution is something around $10 a month right now - very reasonable and I've been really impressed with the hosted service so far.

When we get ready to move to the virtual server, it will jump up to approximately 5 times that amount.

None of the above includes software licencing and support costs, spell-checker per-use fees, domain registrations, or add-ons like traffic info and email addresses.
 
Len Lanetti said:
Chuck & POA Mgmt.,

Have you considered selling advertising?
Click to expand...
No.

Not No, we never considered it.

But "No, no way, no way in hell, over my dead body, will PoA.com have banner ads, pop up ads, or other forms of intrusive advertising."

Would advertising turn you off to this space?
Click to expand...
It would me, and, well, to be blunt, that's about all that matters on this question. ;-)
 
Greebo said:
In the long term, we do anticipate a need to solicit funding on a voluntary basis to help cover long term operating expenses - especially as we continue to grow and our bandwidth and server power needs increase. In the interest of long term planning, I've already started looking into the "next steps" for upgrading.

This is a preliminary survey to just test the waters, so to speak, and get a feel for what our options moving forward might be.
Click to expand...

Y'al need a marketing department. Currently ~100 people present at any time, all well heeled and all certifiable aircraft whores. The answer is to sell side bar advertising space. Give me a 15% sales commision and I might consider the job. "Hey, Miss Intensive IFR training school--we have a hot thread asking about IFR courses. $100 gets you a banner add over the lead in post. $50 gets you a side bar add. ;-)

Ed
 
No, we don't need a marketing department. But Chuck is concerned with the costs ahead. __P_ is not supporting us, ya know....
 
Ed Guthrie said:
Y'al need a marketing department. Currently ~100 people present at any time, all well heeled and all certifiable aircraft whores. The answer is to sell side bar advertising space. Give me a 15% sales commision and I might consider the job. "Hey, Miss Intensive IFR training school--we have a hot thread asking about IFR courses. $100 gets you a banner add over the lead in post. $50 gets you a side bar add. ;-)
Click to expand...

Ed,

15% is pretty cheap, that's a lotta cold calls at $100 gross revenue each.

:<)

POA Mgmt,

Not trying to be confrontational here but let's say that AOPA webboard comes back with rules similar to POA's and enforces those rules. Access to the AOPA webboard is included with my AOPA dues as it was prior to last week. Given that, why would an AOPA member contribute to the POA board?

Not saying that I wouldn't personally but besides the bounds of friendship and fellowship what is the driving factor for contribution?

Len
 
I am having a problem with other sites that have ads right now. They are remoted ads I think, because the site stops loading while the ad site is free! So you wait many minutes for the ad to load before you can access the next message. Ads wouldn't be too bad if they were low bandwidth, originate from POA and not elsewhere, and not intrusive.
Otherwise, where do I send my 20$? Wait a minute, I read somewhere the vBulletin software goes for $5K!
 
Len Lanetti said:
Not trying to be confrontational here but let's say that AOPA webboard comes back with rules similar to POA's and enforces those rules. Access to the AOPA webboard is included with my AOPA dues as it was prior to last week. Given that, why would an AOPA member contribute to the POA board?

Not saying that I wouldn't personally but besides the bounds of friendship and fellowship what is the driving factor for contribution?
Click to expand...
Well, without knowing what AOPA plans to offer with its new software, it's very difficult to speculate. However, I have difficulty believing that AOPA will be offering space to put up pics of your plane, a member fed links database, calendaring functions and private messaging with the new software. This is assuming they continue using the Akiva software which, even in the new version's beta, didn't support those options. Those are just the features that come at PoA for free...the "paid" features we might add later would be add-on benefits.

Of course, if AOPA decides to save the $$ of Akiva and go for something more feature rich and less costly like vBulletin, all bets are off.

If AOPA's new and improved forums become the ultimate online community, and we continue on with a membership of about the size we have now, then there won't be a need for us to move up to the next hosting level. Of course, we're not interested in "competing" with AOPA - we're trying to build a membership on our own merit. That's why we're developing plans for spreading the word about our existence by other means than other message boards. :)

If they don't, and we continue to grow, well - no contributions are mandatory in any event. There's no guarantee we'll get enough contributions to cover costs even if AOPA doesn't re-open their boards and everyone from there ends up over here.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I read somewhere the vBulletin software goes for $5K!
Click to expand...
Where'd you hear that?

The vBulletin licence cost $160 and the annual support cost is $30. :)
 
I have no problem with donating $ to help out. Two things strike me though:

1.) I DO NOT LIKE the idea of any options that make one "invisible" or in any way obscures who is here and what they are doing. Why hide if you have nothing to hide?

2.) Any thought to running this on the "cheap?" Scrounge a server from someone on the board (there must be more IT folks here) and get some bandwidth from "alternate" sources - Someone's office, etc. All the admin tasks could be performed remotely... Any idea of what the current bandwidth utilization is?

Just a few thoughts...

S.
 
Last edited:
sshekels said:
2.) Any thought to running this on the "cheap?" Scrounge a server from someone on the board (there must be more IT folks here) and get some bandwidth from "alternate" sources - Someone's office, etc. All the admin tasks could be performed remotely... Any idea of what the current bandwidth utilization is?
Click to expand...
It's been considered, since a few of us have that ability. The bigger hosting services offer more server and bandwidth for a reasonable amount of money, plus redundant circuits, tech support, etc..
 
Chuck -

I chose chip in anyway, but two thoughts come to mind. Maybe logo stuff -- hats or whatever, and also, maybe some kind of notation indicating that a member is a dues paying member to maybe shame others into paying...
 
Late to the party but I would like to see a library like the old AvSig had on Compuserve years ago. Would also love to see archives. I know that adds burden but if we were wishin' ;-)

Len - However AOPA comes back, I doubt seriously they will apply 5-6 human resources to moderate the site.

Chuck - I would pay for email and a small (5-10 meg) web hosting area to post my stuff. I would dump my current email and web host, pay you a premium and still feel warm and cuddly about myself. At the numbers you are quoting this will definitely be a minor deal for me.

I love this place and I love the attitude around here. Sooner or later we'll stop walking around on eggshells so much and it we'll all get comfortable exploring the boundaries.
 
Chuck and Bruce ..

I'll be happy to contribute and don't need to be enticed by additional
features. You guys have done a fantastic job here. I don't particularly
care for advertising and given the choice would say no to it. But it's
existence wouldn't keep me away anyway.

I feel like AOPA bent us over the horizontal stabilizer so to speak,
and am very thankful that the POA team was there to pick up the
ball.

Maybe just put up a PayPal link for anyone wishing to contribute to
use. Or an address where we might send checks.

Thanks.
 
Dan Deutsch said:
Chuck - I would pay for email and a small (5-10 meg) web hosting area to post my stuff. I would dump my current email and web host, pay you a premium and still feel warm and cuddly about myself.
Click to expand...
I find this idea intriguing.

The email is already in the plans - but providing some web space is something that I hadn't really considered, although its certainly permitted within our provider's terms.

I'll add that idea to the list of potentials...
 
I personally hate advertising on web sites especially pop ups. I currently block pop ups. I think the idea of selling merchandise with the PoA logo is a good one and it's also advertising the site. Such as a baseball cap with the PoA logo on the front and www.PilotsofAmerica.com on the back. Cafe Press can set all that up for you. I don't know what the business details are but the B&A site has that now and I'm sure Moxie can tell you all about it.

This is a great site and I'd contribute to it's maintenance without special privileges.

Jeannie
 
Jean - I hate web advertising too. As long as I have any say in it there will never be popup or banner ads. We MAY someday (if we're lucky) have an "Our sponsor's" page, maybe, but I doubt it. (For one, it doesn't cost us so much we need corporate sponsorship - unless we start doing our own advertising beyond the word of mouth/brochure/merchandise sort).
 
RogerT said:
Maybe just put up a PayPal link for anyone wishing to contribute to use. Or an address where we might send checks.
Click to expand...
Just send the checks to my house. I'll make sure to buy Chuck dinner when I see him. :froggie:
 
Greebo said:
Jean - I hate web advertising too. As long as I have any say in it there will never be popup or banner ads. We MAY someday (if we're lucky) have an "Our sponsor's" page, maybe, but I doubt it. (For one, it doesn't cost us so much we need corporate sponsorship - unless we start doing our own advertising beyond the word of mouth/brochure/merchandise sort).
Click to expand...

Are banner ads the ones that sit across the top of the site, kind of where the POA logo is now? If so, those don't bother me. IMHO, they aren't really any different than ads in magazines, and I can ignore or read them as I wish.

Ads I hate are pop ups, or other crapaliscious things that distract me or get in the way of my reading the site, like flashing graphics or fireworks, etc.
 
This is a very pleasent sight. I am very new to this way of sharing Aviation interests and most of all learning from others. I would be glad to contribute and do not need any special returns. It is a nice place to come to.

Thank you

John J
 
Greebo said:
Jean - I hate web advertising too. As long as I have any say in it there will never be popup or banner ads.
Click to expand...
No ads - never!
I would gladly pay for no ads.

Did I mention no ads?

Sponsors? Slippery slope...

How much I gotta pay for no ads?

Did I mention no ads?
 
Dan Deutsch said:
Chuck - I would pay for email and a small (5-10 meg) web hosting area to post my stuff. I would dump my current email and web host, pay you a premium and still feel warm and cuddly about myself. At the numbers you are quoting this will definitely be a minor deal for me.
Click to expand...
When you say web hosting...

Do you mean something on the order of:
http://www.dandeutsch.pilotsofamerica.com (this link is bogus) where you'ld actually host a subsite?

Or are you just looking for a place to store files for referral from elsewhere? Something you can just link to? Like your own personal folder in whatever picture gallery system we establish?
 
Chuck:

AvSig is $20 per year. They just bill me. It's not a big deal. I wouldn't use the extra things you offer, but am happy to donate (pay a fee). Didn't see a manner in which to just pay for an annual subscription, but will if you set it up (or can just pay for something I don't use.

Dave
 
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