How much are you willing to pay for a host??

[Thom Emery]

I mostly agree with you Finney. Most folks will not take the time to have a look around before asking a question.

What I wanted to do is post a more detailed description of what a larger site has to offer for those here, who have never seen a good example of a highly designed site. I have no objection to an unchanged BBQ 4 U forum at all. I do think that a better forum software could serve us well. Some even have an "Ignore this member" feature. I bet that would be popular.

The only thing that this forum really needs to be more user friendly is for it to be Road-mapped. That would make a huge difference in finding info from the past and categorizing great threads.

Some Road-maps could be:
Classic threads
Building a fire
Smoker mods
Brining
Lump vs. Briquettes
How to piss off Bryan S while talking about Brining
Klose vs....oh never mind :roll:

You forgot the I was banned somewhere else threads

 

[Uncle Al]

Who knows maybe Susan will come back ??!!!???

Al

 

[DATsBBQ]

Has Rempe ever banned some one? :?:

 

[Puff1]

Has Rempe ever banned some one? :?:

I thought you were

 

[Finney]

One person.... sort of.

 

[Griff]

One person.... sort of.

Well, that response pretty much begs another question.

Griff

 

[Finney]

no it doesn't :roll:

 

[DATsBBQ]

I was once banned from the women Marines BEQ. Then again, so were all the guys.

 

[Shawn White]

A few expected benefits I see on switching to a pay service and why I bring it up from time to time:

1. recoverability: I expect a pay service to make periodic backups and be able to restore the site if a roll back is needed or the site crashes for some reason. Some forums would be worse to lose than others, imo General BBQ, Grilling and Recipes are the core of the site and if it came to a choice those are the ones I would choose to backup. If the freebie service will deliver a periodic backup that can be imported anywhere it would be less of an issue.

2. reliability: I expect a pay service to provide guaranteed uptime like >97%

3. guaranteed bandwidth: I expect a pay service to provide a suitable amount of bandwidth

4. better tech and admin support: for features and dealing with problem users

5. they actually have a budget for dealing with things like continued security updates to protect against malicious hackers

6. ads: not a big concern but hey, it is nicer if you don't have to look at them

General: would sure hate to see us lose the contents of the board due to the failed business model of a free site. Not saying it's gonna happen, I guess it's always been a gnawing concern. It's also not to say a pay site can't fail and go *poof* too, but I expect more accountability from them (like a notice they are 'closing in 60 days, pls find another provider') and with careful selection I think the odds are greatly reduced of this happening.

Collecting if we move to paid hosting: it has to be Donations based instead of monthly subscription based imo ... give because you wanted to and be happy about it. Don't want to see people thinking they get 'special treatment' because they pay for the service. ie ... you break the rules you can still be banned even though you paid.

Could also try to work out something with vendors kinda like Chris uses Amazon at TVWB. Pit Manufacturers? Guru folks? Texas Pepper Jelly? Wolfe Rub? (heh heh). BB4-U gets cash for traffic or sales referrals kinda thing.

 

[DATsBBQ]

Rempe could fine folks! The fines would reinstate a "Banned" person and fund the site. Thom should get his checkbook out right now....

 

[Helen_Paradise]

I'll use one site as an example, but their are many I know of that the exact same thing happens.
I'll go on the record as saying that the Virtual Weber Bullet website (website, not forum) is the best one place to learn everything you ever wanted to know about using a WSM without every asking anyone a question. But, I will bet you that at least 75% of the people that are members of the forum might have glossed over it once and then never looked at it again. Every question that is asked on the forum about a technical issue of cooking with a WSM is already thoroughly answered on the website with text and pics (sometimes video). But the same questions keep getting asked and asked again. It makes me want to pull my hair out when I go to their forum these days.

I have the whole site saved in a zipfile on my computer at home. When I need to know how to do something...I look it up. When I want/need an opinion or something specific...I ask on this site. Sometimes I'll use the search feature...but then I have to sort thru the threads and find the one I need or am looking for.

Absolutely agree with this comment:
"The only thing that this forum really needs to be more user friendly is for it to be Road-mapped. That would make a huge difference in finding info from the past and categorizing great threads."

Just my thoughts...

 

[Nick Prochilo]

I think you should form a committee to study the problem.

What problem? Seems like all systems go here!

 

[Green Hornet]

If the tally means anything 50 votes so far and 84%like it the way it is. It may not be "the masses have spoken", but "the close knit group has spoken". It is not about the number of members, I think we have a lot of quality to make up for that.

 

[DATsBBQ]

Golly gee. I think that if the site were to evolve to a point where everything now is free but certain advanced tools. features and/or access to the thoughts of the bbqgods (TheModerators/+Guest) -hey a pay-blog, how about that.?

The pay side could easily offset the basic hosting costs. If someone was interested in trying to turn a gator into a Klose :twisted: , they could argue it out here in the privacy of a "Gentlepersons Q Club".

Do Pay Pal, that way the Grand Moderator (Rempe) can't be the bad guy.

Heck, now I could get serious about a weekly CERAMIC gig :?:

 

[Greg Rempe]

Shawn, just to settle your concern...this free site backs up nightly and uses 5 different servers across the country...99.99% uptime! If something were to happen to this forum overnight it would be restored to how it was prior to a hack job! NICE!!

 

[Captain Morgan]

Let's form a committee to form the committee.

 

[Shawn White]

Shawn, just to settle your concern...this free site backs up nightly and uses 5 different servers across the country...99.99% uptime! If something were to happen to this forum overnight it would be restored to how it was prior to a hack job! NICE!!

that's great Greg, this host has been fantastic so far in terms of bandwidth and reliability as well, it was a good switch

 

[Puff1]

Let's form a committee to form the committee.

Then have another committee rate the committee that was formed by the committee to form the first committee

 

[DATsBBQ]

All this talk got me off the dime and I'm switching hosts for ncre.biz. The new cost costs the same, uses SharePoint services so I get more features out of my website software and I will get more storage and bandwidth (like I need it).