Now that the survey is complete

[Rickskymaster]

Now that the survey is complete, I would like to throw out a "Straw-man" as to an idea for everyone to react to as it concerns an "Unofficial dues" proposal.

If we had two levels of contribution:

The first would be $10-15. This gets you a designation by your name in some way that you have contributed, no other special status. For discussion, we will call this the Bronze level of participation.

The second level would be $20-35. This level gets you all of the above plus you get access to Kevin's special area of Skymaster photos. Safe to say some of you could not find this of interest, but I am assumming the majority will find interest in this section.
This would be called the GOLD level and it would also be designitated as such. If I need to go into more details on the special area of Photos, please let me know.

What I think I heard us say in what we are trying to accomplish:

1) To have as many people participate as we can, 2)acknowledge them for their contribution, 3)and secure the funds to keep the board up and recruit new members into this great association.

I hope that this draws as many people to respond with comment and different ideas as to how we can grow the membership and keep Kevin whole at the same time.

[bede1@msn.com]

I would have no problem with the $20-$35 dues. This website has been of great help solving problems and saving much higher costs in the shop, lots of knowledge exists here and the few dollars spent to keep it going is worth it in my book.

[Francisco]

Dito!

[kevin]

Rick having declared the survey complete, I have a couple of thoughts:

First, the way I read the survey is that while a small number of folks find the site very valuable, and would be happy to pay for it (thanks folks), most visitors to the site did not vote. From this, my previous conviction is reinforced. This site will remain free, no membership charge. I believe it is in ALL of our best interests to have the maximum number of people using the site. Its primary value is as an information exchange, and if access is limited, the value of the site to all will be reduced. I think all of us are tired of being nickled and dimed on the internet. $9.95 a month for this, $24.95 per month for that, etc. So I think that if there were a membership charge for this site, most folks would just move on to the next web page without even looking at the rest of the site.

I am grateful to Rick for the concept of donations, rather than fees, and for his suggestion on how to recognize those who have donated by changing their name display on the message board. I don't have time to implement the code on the site for that now, but someday I will do so. Until then, anyone who contributes to the site will be listed on the Acknowledgements page. Unfortunately, there were about 25 contributors to the site that sent money for the service bulletin subscription that Cessna welched on permission to post. All of them asked to just leave their contributions with the site, rather than receiving a refund. But I did not keep a record of who contributed. If you were one of them, please send me private email to remind me, and I will put your name on the acknowledgement page. And thanks again to all of you for your contributions.

As far as blocking access to the pictures, I don't think I can do that without violating the permissions that I received from many of the picture sources. I am grateful for what you are trying to suggest Rick, but that particular suggestion is not going to work.

The best outcome, I believe, for increased donations, would be to have money to promote the site to all the 336, 337 and O-2 owners worldwide. A U.S. mailing will cost on the order of $1500 to $2000. For now, all contributions received will be placed in a fund to do this mailing.

The more Skymaster Owners and Pilots that use the site, the better for all.

Those are my thoughts. I am very open to alternative suggestions, comments, thoughts, complaints, etc.

Kevin

[WebMaster]

Getting the 'word' out to all owners would benefit us all.

[stackj]

I'm in!!! I need a mailing address.

[kevin]

The mailing address for contributions is:

Kevin Mackenzie
39860 SW Snowcrest Dr.
Cornelius, OR 97113

Thanks folks.

Kevin

[stackj]

The check's in the mail.

[kevin]