Annual costs of maintaining an Amphicar (Forum) ...

[mike_israel]

The short answer is $650 per year.

The amphicar forums have now been up and running, in some for or another, for 20 years. Back then, there was virtually no information on Amphicars available other than giving Hugh Gordon a call. We started on ListBox back in the Jeff Sweet days of the club, moved to YahooGroups in 2001, switched to forums in 2008 and have gone through several updates since then. Today we have almost 32,000 messages and 659 registered users (some who have probably moved on or passed on).

Having just gone through our latest software update(s) I took a look at the ongoing costs to run the forums. Expenses run around $650 per year and include:

• Hosting (recently upgraded) at $240 a year
• Core licence renewal at $75 per year
• Spam prevention services at $50 per year
• Image management (handles lossless compression and related) at $90 per year
• Other "add-on" licences at $150 a year
• Misc costs like domain registration, SSL certificate, etc. at $50 per year
• I treat the many hours of time as a $0 dollar cost
• Probably forgetting some other things.

So, how is this funded? Remember, the forums are independent from the IAOC so your club dues do not come this way. Reality is that we rely on voluntary contributions.

Several forum members have generously contributed over the years (some multiple times). Contributions in 2018 totaled $325 which is half the cost of annual operations, That is greatly appreciated and, when I at times have been tempted to pull the plug and just let Facebook own / sell everyone's data, it is these individuals who make the effort worthwhile.

That said, if the 20 year archive of information you find here has been of value to you, and you have never contributed or it has been several years, why not consider making a donation. Any amount helps offset the costs. Go to the "Donate" link at the top of the page of click here.

Thanks again for continued support. This is mostly a labor of love but it does come with bills.

 

[topless51ford]

Hi Mike, Thank you for your work. I just sent in a modest amount couple of weeks ago. Jerry

 

[mike_israel]

Hi Mike, Thank you for your work. I just sent in a modest amount couple of weeks ago. Jerry

Jerry. Yes and thank you. Every bit helps. I just dropped another $125 for a graphic designer to create a new header (coming soon)

You can see donations for 2019 if you scroll down and click "View". Yours is included.

 

[SNOWBIRD]

Mike email your Address and will mail a Check.
Tried on line but would not take my US Canadian credit card,
Gord@Amphicar.ca

 

[gzink]

The short answer is $650 per year.

The amphicar forums have now been up and running, in some for or another, for 20 years. Back then, there was virtually no information on Amphicars available other than giving Hugh Gordon a call. We started on ListBox back in the Jeff Sweet days of the club, moved to YahooGroups in 2001, switched to forums in 2008 and have gone through several updates since then. Today we have almost 32,000 messages and 659 registered users (some who have probably moved on or passed on).

Having just gone through our latest software update(s) I took a look at the ongoing costs to run the forums. Expenses run around $650 per year and include:

• Hosting (recently upgraded) at $240 a year
• Core licence renewal at $75 per year
• Spam prevention services at $50 per year
• Image management (handles lossless compression and related) at $90 per year
• Other "add-on" licences at $150 a year
• Misc costs like domain registration, SSL certificate, etc. at $50 per year
• I treat the many hours of time as a $0 dollar cost
• Probably forgetting some other things.

So, how is this funded? Remember, the forums are independent from the IAOC so your club dues do not come this way. Reality is that we rely on voluntary contributions.

Several forum members have generously contributed over the years (some multiple times). Contributions in 2018 totaled $325 which is half the cost of annual operations, That is greatly appreciated and, when I at times have been tempted to pull the plug and just let Facebook own / sell everyone's data, it is these individuals who make the effort worthwhile.

That said, if the 20 year archive of information you find here has been of value to you, and you have never contributed or it has been several years, why not consider making a donation. Any amount helps offset the costs. Go to the "Donate" link at the top of the page of click here.

Thanks again for continued support. This is mostly a labor of love but it does come with bills.

I made a donation, sadly my first after many years of enjoying the fruits of Mike's labor. If there are any International Amphicar Club officers reading, can't the club donate the balance required to make Mike whole? If not possible to do w/o members input, can this be voted at Celina annual meeting? Club had a very good year last year w/ the transmission raffle driving revenue from ticket sales and lapsed memberships being renewed. 20 year effort from Mike and most of us see this as an unofficial extension of the club. Thanks Mike! So much information would be lost w/o your efforts. Greg Zinkosky, Michigan

 

[AmphiMeg]

Perhaps Disney's Boathouse could become a site sponsor? They must benefit from this site and the IAOC? Do they contribute back to either?

Meg

 

[mike_israel]

Thanks to all who have contributed. We have had several repeat contributors as well as some 1st timers. As noted, everything that comes this way goes to expenses and / or new features and functionality. Pretty close to having 2019 fully covered.

To answer earlier question / Idea. Sponsorship is not a bad idea so long as it does not mean overwhelming site with ads. Thus, would likely need to be a single, larger sponsor like a boathouse or Hagerty. I don't think anyone is getting rich exclusively restoring amphicars. It is a labor of love and the folks we know all do provide support to the forums.

I can't speak for the IAOC. Boathouse is not a supporter at this time although they are certainly welcome to become one.

So, thank you all for the continued support of this ongoing effort.

 

[Mark Richardson]

Mike,
I also want to thank you for the work over the years. We are lucky to have this resource as I can remember when we did not.

Maybe we can set up a tip jar at the Eagles in Celina to donate to the Forum or perhaps donated parts for the raffle proceeds could be for the cost to operate this website. I have a couple items I can start the ball rolling with.
I was a little sad to see Amphicar.net finally bite the dust, but I understand why.

 

[mike_israel]

Thanks Mark. Fortunately, the forum members have been very generous in providing support over the years. In some years that was really helpful since, like many of us over 50, my career just ain't what it used to be.

I think the IAOC has done an awesome job with new site. I was looking to move this forum over to the IAOC but the new platform could not import all of the threads other than as PDF files. Likewise, I was concerned about a proprietary hosted service. Yahoogroups, listbox, and the other proprietary services hosting the original amphicarforums all closed down. Migration was never easy or 109%. Yahoogroups and Photobucket deleted thousands of forums along with decades of data. So yeah, I will eventually pass it on but I am very protective about ensuring the many, many years worth of information are kept whole.

Best regards.

Mike

 

[SNOWBIRD]

Hi Gord-(Mike.. can you get in touch with him)

Ralph..(rwf@bsrq.org)

I think we met at Celina a long time ago. I finally got a car and am doing some light restoration.

I have seen your postings on amphicat770.com, but unable to join it. It won’t work for new registrations. Something is wrong with the “back end” on the authentication captcha.

Do you know how to get in touch with the person running that site? I just need to get signed up as a new member somehow.

 

[mike_israel]

Hi Gord-(Mike.. can you get in touch with him)

Ralph..(rwf@bsrq.org)

I think we met at Celina a long time ago. I finally got a car and am doing some light restoration.

I have seen your postings on amphicat770.com, but unable to join it. It won’t work for new registrations. Something is wrong with the “back end” on the authentication captcha.

Do you know how to get in touch with the person running that site? I just need to get signed up as a new member somehow.

Hi Gord,

Ralph is set up and should be good to go. I also fixed the Captcha issue which no one had reported until now. Thanks.

Mike