WIX Archives

Re: www.mustanggear.com

Posted by Scott WRG Editor on Thu Dec 12, 2002 07:13:00 AM

In reply top Re: www.mustanggear.com posted by Mikael on Thu Dec 12, 2002 04:15:10 AM

: I agree with you Scott, pop-ups are a nuicance! I'd be hap
: py to run the griffon with contrarottating props on a very
: slow rpm so the process will be rather protracted! ;-)
:
: But as a webmaster you do have some costs associated with
: hosting, domainname etc etc. If you offer a service which
: is greatly appreciated and frequented by many people I thi
: nk it could be OK if they contributed to the upkeep of the
: site they enjoy. As a webmaster you could publish the inf
: ormation in a book which people would have to pay for but
: on the internet everyone expect the same information to be
: availeble for free.
:
: Since I derive a great amount of pleasure from my website,
: contact with people, information etc etc I regard it as a
: hobby as any other (building models or whatever) and take
: the cost personally. Which is fine as long as the cost re
: mains within a certain amount and I have the financial res
: ources.
:
: I think many webmasters take a lot of the cost themselves
: because it is their hobby - but I also think it is ok for
: a webmaster to decide when the site should go "proffesiona
: l" and charge a membershipfee for the service/information
: offered. With a membership fee the visitors can also deman
: d quality, entertainment and service in return.
:
: Just a few thoughts...
:
: All the best!
: /Mikael

The funny thing about the WRG is that it started 7 years ago because I couldn't find a picture of a Ta-152 on the internet. It started off slow but I've continually added items and expanded content. It was cheap the first year, the second year donated space sufficed. Eventually I had to get a domain name and a dedicated web host. Since then I have spent $3-4,000 dollars in the next 5 years maintaining this page. I treat it as a hobby but I do appreciate the occasional donation. As it is I rolled my magazine budget into site maintenance 8 months ago. The only aviation magazines I have bought are the ones with reviews of the site. The only reason I consider any sort of advertising is that I want to see the site grow. The next stage in growth is a dedicated server. This would allow several features including a more dynamic message board software. Unfortunately this is $1,200 a year minimum. However, the concept of making this site a pay site has come up before and has been rejected without consideration. Information should be free. And as long as I here it will remain so (actually after the cancer thing earlier this year there are arrangements in place to keep the site going pretty much forever, even if I'm not around to run it ).

Rant done. :)

Scott WRG Editor

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