Funding of forum

[Bob Gardner]

Dave,

Looks like Jxxxxx is one of those who won't thank me for my twenty minutes of research on his behalf nor my written answer. I'm getting fed up with this! The lack of gratitude seems to becoming endemic.

I'm sure most of the people who don't respond to my answers are polite people who love their children and have good manners, so that if in real life I held a door open for them, they would thank me. But good manners seem to be redundant at our particular computer/human interface.

I read of something which might be related, generically rather than specifically, in last week's New Scientist magazine where a prof from Oxford University observed that his students seemed increasingly to retain little memory of their work. He concluded that students could instantly google most aspect of their studies and so found that holding that knowledge in their memory was largely nugatory. In consequence, he observed, the standard of degrees they obtained might be in gradual decline.

Perhaps we should levy a charge for each answer we provide, such as one US dollar, one GB pound or one Euro so that people value our advice!

With kind regards,

Bob

[Dbahnson]

I agree with your sentiments, Bob, and share your frustration with the apparent lack of appreciation for your efforts.

I pay all of the expenses for hosting and maintaining this forum and spend a lot of time answering queries (although no where near the time you spend in researching!). Similarly, PMdec and perhaps a few others contribute willingly in difficult identification research. I have avoided trying to make it a paid service, but I have considered instituting a PayPal contribution system which would be used to distribute as a gift to contributors at year's end. I don't even really care about the amount of a contribution, but it would at least reflect some appreciation for the work that is done here and might help sustain the forum into the future.

I will say, the majority of posters do show appreciation for the information you provide, but it is frustrating when even a few don't. That's particularly relevant when one considers that accurate establishment of a propeller's use routinely increases the market value of the item.

[Bob Gardner]

Dave,

I had you in mind whilst drafting this post. I suspect that few of those who find this website would be aware of the time, effort and financial cost you made bringing this marvellous website into existence. (It's marvellous for me because it provides a constant supply of data and occasionally photographs of props and their decals which are new to me).

Therefore I propose:

1. That we request a small sum from every visitor who wants our advice but no charge at all for anyone who merely wishes to view the website.

2. I suggest that the entry fee for requesting information should be ten US Dollars.

3. All this money to accrue to you.

In parentheses, I have at the back of my mind a tale of a friend of mine who sold antique clocks. Tired of people who asked his advice and never thanked him, he introduced a fee of about ten British Pounds, mainly to deter anyone from asking him for advice. To his surprise it increased the numbers.

He was initially rather embarrassed when occasionally he had to tell a customer that almost nothing was known about the eighteenth century maker of their clock. But his customers were content. They had paid for his time and advice and accepted that little was known.

With kind regards,

Bob

Postscript; Pierre-Michel. What do you think?

[Dbahnson]

Funding of forum

After many years of providing 100% free research and advice (with no income from annoying web advertising) we have embarked on an effort to fund this project into the future. We are currently working on a process to accomplish that end and welcome any suggestions from members.

This all originated with frustrations by contributing members about lack of support for the tremendous amount of research work that is often put into answering questions. Those discussions follow in this thread.

[Dbahnson]

I like the suggestion, Bob. Let me do a little checking into how to implement it effectively. Do you suppose we should establish a "donor page" listing the usernames of members who have donated? We wouldn't need to publish the amount of contribution, just that it had been made and accepted. Another option might be to create a category of "contributor" instead of "registered member". That would have the advantage of any respondent being able to instantly see if that member had at any point made a donation and respond accordingly.

[mpu737]

Dear Bob and Dave,
As a new member to this forum, please allow me to comment on your above posts.
While I understand your sense of frustration in receiving some acknowledgment of the time and cost you both put into providing the resources and information on this site. I would like to remind you that judging by the large number of views (often in the 100’s) of many of the threads here, the information you have provided is enjoyed by many others, other than the intended recipient.
Perhaps it is the impersonal nature of the internet and that the vast majority of visitors to the site are readers and not posters that makes feedback on the worth of your time difficult.
It may also be that some may not check back in for days at a time.
In any event the information posted by you can become a valuable resource for years, as I have found following my recent prop purchase and my researching on this forum.
So please don’t give it up yet.
(For the record would be more than happy to contribute to cost. PayPal?)
Kind regards,
Mark.

[Bob Gardner]

Hello Mark,

Welcome!

If you have time tell us the data stamped on your prop and send us a photograph.

With kind regards,

Bob

[Bob Gardner]

Dave,

I'm not in favour of asking for donors. There are overtones in the word donor which suggest a voluntary action. Better, I think, to set a standard fee for carrying out research for someone. And no charge at all for people who wish to view the website. I think the people who ask us for information or advice will value our advice more if they have to pay for it. I'm sure they will be more grateful than their mute predecessors.

Being a theoretician, rather than a hands-on guy, I have no idea how to do this. Perhaps it is as simple as asking the customer to pay ten dollars into your PayPal account.

I think that we should try it for a few months and then reassess.

All the money accrued should come to you until your costs in establishing this website are met.

With kind regards,

Bob

[pmdec]

.../...

Postscript; Pierre-Michel. What do you think?

I don't know... It is exactly the same on the French forums I look at: Too often, no answer after identification.

I ask for specific pictures: no picture, no answer... And picture are my pay even if more often they are very far from high quality.

I don't make any more search for questions on theaerodrome forum: those people are too condescendant...

Regards,
PM

[Dbahnson]

Well, I still like Bob's idea about requesting that a member somehow pay into the system if he/she is expecting research to be done in response to a question. Bob is generous to suggest that any donations go to me, but I don't really need the money and I'd prefer to split any revenue up among the three of us. It's more a token of appreciation than a source of income anyway. I'm not sure that "donor" bothers me as much as something like a "fee", which carries some implication of a contractural arrangement with attendant expectations.

I think the bigger incentive for me is for the long term. If this forum can be a source of a (small) profit for someone then it's much more likely to extend beyond my "active years". Someone will need to take it over eventually and it's likely the only true incentive to do that will be some financial incentive.

We're not talking about a large sum of money either way. On the other hand, I've come to recognize the huge value difference between an original, identifiable, authentic propeller and some of the junk that shows up instead. For anyone owning the high end propellers, information banks like Bob's books and this forum help establish those values at realistic levels.

[mpu737]

Hi Bob,

Thank you, any info on my prop would be greatly appreciated.
I have posted some details and photos in another thread here:

http://woodenpropeller.com/forumvB/s...ead.php?t=3857
(Sopwith Scout Prop Help).

I agree with the comments that a lot of the info you provide helps to establish the “Provenance” of a prop and can potentially improve its value should resale be considered.

Regards,

Mark.

[Dbahnson]

Test.