Some changes to the forums

[Steve Care]

Originally posted by Richard B
Flash git!

Cheers richard

Is it not a new credit card were getting??


NOW THERES A GOOD IDEA THE MORE WE SPEND ON OUR RIBNET CARD THE LONGER THE SITE STAYS FREE!!!

[John Kennett]

Originally posted by nickjaxe
Looks like I will just be reading in future, £30.00 for 6 months to much for me, I dont have a prob with adds.

Originally posted by Keith Hart
Go for paid advertising on the site. Keep it free to use . . . Being a free site is what encourages new members.

Originally posted by Steve Care
Charging to post would be a bad idea as you may read a thread have a very good answer BUT not be willing to pay £30.00 to give a member the answer he needs.

It looks like I may not have been as clear as I thought!

The proposed changes would only affect posts to the "Buy and sell" forums, not any others. These are advertising forums, and it seems fair that people advertising should make a contribution.

I have no intention of changing the general forums at all. It has always been my firm belief that these should be completely free and open. This will always continue.

Originally posted by Ian
The forum isn't the place though IMHO, the trade directory is the place to charge. If you're listed/advertising in these you should pay for it.

Basic entry to the directory will always be free, as limiting the listing to paid entries would reduce the usefulness of the directory. I do intend to offer enhanced "paid for" listings as well though. Watch this space!

John

[Suzuki416]

I understood it John, but did you have to spell it out for Manos...



Pete
(where's that Falcon Picture now then!)

[tim griffin]

i would be happy to pay, for advertising, though how much you want to charge, should be looked at, in detail, this is a great place to chat,and learn something new everyday, some real characters post here and as its free,,it will continue to grow
like the idea of buying ribnet teeshirts mugs and stickers.
tim
www.griffmarineservices.co.uk

[Aging Youth]

Hi John,

IMHO, I realise that the time and effort put in by yourself has made this a excellent site, thank you.

I for one have made so many new friends and contacts; long may it continue to do so.

I am in full support of charging for Buy/Selling thread and for advertising as you are providing the facility to do so.

Merchandising is also a good way of self financing is this avenue worth exploring I am sure that the Ribnet Penants, T-Shirts Ect, will cointinue to sell as new members sign up.

Regards

Kevin.

[aligator]

Hi John,

your ideas to charge for small ads seem fair to me, where else can you advertise unwanted items to a target audience for free,

As for commercial companies
Any company looking at the site can see from the forum how proactive a group this is in terms of serious boating ,and a small
popup must surely be of benifit to all concerned.

I do like the idea of more burgess, teeshirts ect or even a sticker
it would be nice to identify fellow members on the water and also increase awareness of the site.

Alistair

[Cookee]

John - Sounds OK to me - sign me up for a traders thingy then! Also happy to quote for burgees, clothing and the stickers!

And then you can have one of the first BananaSharks with the profits!

[Headhunter]

John

As a fairly new member I am very impressed with your site.
Of course it is nothing without the posts of members.

We all have become used to using the site for free, so if we have to pay in future, in whatever form, what can we expect for our money?

One idea I have is for the reference section. A glossary of Rib and other water usage terminology would be helpful especially for newcomers. Also a directory where problems previously discussed could be filed in an FAQ section. Plus an indexed section of previously posted URL's which point us to suppliers of relevant items or items of interest.

Perhaps those people that have the very occasional item to sell could be allowed to post say 4 small/low value items for sale per year.

On the other hand Ribs/engines etc advertisements should incur a charge. I realise you currently have a voluntary system in place for Rib sales via the forum which must be difficult to police.

What about a free number of posts after which membership has to be paid for? Thereafter access to the reference section and other info is free.

If such a fee is set too high, most will probably not join; if on the otherhand the fee was say £10 the majority might sign-up.

Can you analyse how many views members with low posts have made in order to find out the number of casual users who look a lot but contribute a little? This may help determine how many would pay a membership fee.

Enough for now I'm sure.

John

[Manos]

John for avertising banners please count me in.
Cheers

[gingercoastie]

I'll go for the RIBnet branded items, I am a sucker for anything like that.

[Brian]

I'm with Kevin on this.
Read/write/post pictures for free.
Charge for small ads Buy/Sell
Accept enhanced trade ads on a chargeable basis. (Though pop-ups are a pain).
Merchandise if YOU wish.

[Jon Brooks]

Originally posted by gingercoastie
I'll go for the RIBnet branded items, I am a sucker for anything like that.

Hey we do a great line in Icom branded kit
hats, bags, shirts, cd holders etc.

Check out the wesite

www.icomuk.co.uk

Bugger is that an advert?
Best get my credit card out now!

Kind regards

[Daniel TD5]

seems to be some intrest in ribnet merchandise mugs stickers hats polo shirts maybe. i like the club idear join and get a free
sticker or pen with such a high member ship you could ask the traders
for discounts for rib net members then every one would want to
join

would like a mug and sticker to go with my new boat when i find
it

[John Kennett]

Originally posted by Jon Brooks
Hey we do a great line in Icom branded kit

I'd like some Icom branded merchandise, so we could probably do a deal.

One of those Icom branded IC-M601s would be nice

John

[Manos]

However saying all these I think that the RIBNet engine forum needs a BIG upgrade.

Have a look at those two forums to see what I mean

ITALIAN BOAT & RIB FORUM

GERMAN RIB FOPRUM

DIVING INTERNATIONAL FORUM

Regarding advertising have a look at this one

FRENCH RIB FORUM

[John Kennett]

Originally posted by Brian
Accept enhanced trade ads on a chargeable basis. (Though pop-ups are a pain).

There will never be pop up ads on RIBnet

I'll start another thread about possible ideas for advertising.

There definitely seems to be a demand for more branded items though, so I'll look into that further.

John

[Jon Brooks]

Originally posted by John Kennett
I'd like some Icom branded merchandise, so we could probably do a deal.

One of those Icom branded IC-M601s would be nice

John

John

Give me a call here and we can chat through what we could do for Icom Merchandise for the site.
01227 741741

As for a M601 if you want to part with approx £555 I am sure I can sort you one out and throw in some free stickers!!

Regards

[John Kennett]

Originally posted by Manos
However saying all these I think that the RIBNet engine forum needs a BIG upgrade.

Have a look at those two forums to see what I mean

I've had a look, but I have no idea what you mean. Sorry!

John

[Manos]

John I mean afe more smiles (rather than the basics), on the Italian forum for example you can upload a number of photos (say 7 or 8) on the same page without having to post each photo individually, on the German forum they have built all these little things like the lighthouse, on the Diving forum they have a huge date bank of smilies.

I'm not saying that this forum is not good but I think a small update would be nice.

[John Kennett]

Originally posted by Manos
John I mean afe more smiles (rather than the basics . . . I'm not saying that this forum is not good but I think a small update would be nice.

Ah, I thought you were talking about a section about engines!

I personally think that there are plenty of smilies already. There are also sites where you can link to lots of others like this but I would much rather people concentrate on content rather than more fluff!

The forums will be upgraded though. As I mentioned in the first message on this thread there will be an upgrade to the latest version of vBulletin which I hope will meet with everyone's approval!

John