All members, please read (AGAIN) **EDITED V2.0**

My only concern is that, as we all know, the system does tend to keep "forgetting" our identity (I had to solve a Recaptcha puzzle to post this) so when we sign in I hope it manages to remember we have paid our annual fee!

@graeme-ogg The dues are being recorded on a separate file outside of the system.  Not subject to the technical issues here that we are working to fix.

Oh, good.

Posted by: @jkuvakas

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Dear Club Members:

The diecast.org site is a custom site that requires maintenance.  We used to pay for this maintenance with the Auction commission and fundraisers.   We have not had any auction sales for a few years now, and we do not have any money to continue the website maintenance.  The website is currently experiencing a critical error and we need to hire IT immediately to keep it up and running.  We are implementing an annual $25.00 dues to members now to cover this expense.   The forums will also move to be private and only viewable to paid Club Members after log in.  All members, please send $25.00 USD by Paypal to club@diecast.org.  Please include your name and preferred e-mail in the message field when you send your dues. 

• E-mail club@diecast.org and request an alternate payment method if you do not have a PayPal account.

  Going forward the annual dues will continue to be this very nominal charge of only $25.00.  If anyone would also like to make a donation to the club, that would be greatly appreciated.  Please send any donations to the same club@diecast.org PayPal address. 

We will work to add some perks for the members.  Exclusive models and discounts, model giveaways, raffles, etc.   The first perk that will be exclusively for Club Members, is a code for 15% off all pre-orders from our retail partners at Mint Models mintmodels.com or Legacy Diecast legacydiecast.com that you will receive after you pay your dues.   For almost 30 years, the Club has been the best community for model car collectors, and we all need to keep it going.

 

Thank you!

The Diecast Zone Model Car Club

 

** Addendum:

To pay by check

Send $25.00 USD and make the check out to The Diecast Zone.

Send to:

The Diecast Zone

16 Walker Way, Suite 4

Albany, New York 12205

 

We also just had Legacy create a way to do it on their website for us in case people only want to pay their dues by Credit Card.   Link:

https://legacydiecast.com/fine-scale-models/the-diecast-zone-membership/p/33088

  I would be happy to support the forum in well more than the mentioned $25.00 but I have some concerns.  I would be disappointed if I was not able to forward a forum link to a certain topic to friends who might be interested in it but are not members.   I understand with a private website that would not be possible?   Also I do Google searches and sometimes photos  turn up from the forum which can be accessed.  If that is no longer possible the forum would loose a valuable function for me and it makes it near impossible for some potential new member to learn about us.   Comments appreciated.

 

Posted by: @john-quilter

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Posted by: @jkuvakas

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  I would be happy to support the forum in well more than the mentioned $25.00 but I have some concerns.  I would be disappointed if I was not able to forward a forum link to a certain topic to friends who might be interested in it but are not members.   I understand with a private website that would not be possible?   Also I do Google searches and sometimes photos  turn up from the forum which can be accessed.  If that is no longer possible the forum would loose a valuable function for me and it makes it near impossible for some potential new member to learn about us.   Comments appreciated.

 

John, my response on the Lounge post on the same question:

"John, currently, I understand that the club intends to make the forums completely private for paid club members. It will just be a slow process so that we can give every member a chance to join and pay their dues before it actually becomes private.

 

We will let potential "new members” have a try-out period before they have to pay dues, so not to stifle new sign ups. We can slowly allow people to join as members with a grace period before they pay there dues; hoping to gain their sign-up during the grace period."  

 

I quite understand the financial position diecast.org finds itself in, and have happily paid the new annual fee.

However, the longer-term ambition of turning our forums into an almost invisible closed shop or “gated community” seems a little distasteful and mean-spirited. There is a need for the forums to remain visible to potential new members who discover the forums by chance through casual browsing or google search or by recommendation, and I agree with John Quilter that closing the shutters completely to outsiders could be counter-productive.

And how would it work in practice? At the moment, on those annoying occasions when the system forgets who I am, I can still browse the forums and presumably the system treats me an as “anonymous guest” with “read-only” access. The same obviously applies to any other casual visitor. Most forums seem to allow “read-only” visits, with registration (and payment of a fee where applicable) only being required if you want to be an “active member” with the right to post or answer a thread.

So could the system eventually be set up to say to new visitors “Hey, you want to see if these forums are of any interest to you? Sorry, we are a private closed community and you have to register and pay a fee before you can even find out.” And does the system have the ability to identify and record the e-mail address of any visitor who doesn’t log in, and could it then send them a message saying “We see you have browsed our forums five times (or ten times, or whatever) without registering and paying a fee, so you are now blocked from viewing our forums for evermore?” (Unless you cough up the entry fee.)

The solution that Tony P. seemed to be suggesting, of allowing a “tryout period" before requiring payment for permanent membership, might be more practical, but seems to conflict with the stated longer-term aim that “the club intends to make the forums completely private for paid club members.” So that means we would end up as a completely shuttered community with “Keep Out” signs all round, and how does that create a welcoming atmosphere to attract the new members (including, hopefully, younger members) we need to keep us from turning into an isolated, shrinking group of aging fossils?

My vote (if anyone is asking or listening) is to fund the forums from the willing contributions of loyal “active” members, but to continue to allow free “read-only” access to casual viewers in the hope that will gain their interest and lead to new registrations in the course of time.

I look forward to seeing other views on the subject.

Posted by: @graeme-ogg

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My vote (if anyone is asking or listening) is to fund the forums from the willing contributions of loyal “active” members, but to continue to allow free “read-only” access to casual viewers in the hope that will gain their interest and lead to new registrations in the course of time.

  

Very well stated, Graeme.  I hope we can be more flexible in at least access if not actual posting.

 

A few thoughts. One, there's only a few folks who post regularly. I can see the ones who don't dropping out if asked to pay. This at a time when some keep saying "we have to grow our hobby" or some such. Remember there's bunches of 1:43 newgroups on Facebook, and they're all free. Same for MAR which, as Graeme suggests, rely on voluntary contributions to keep sending out news just about every day.

Second, a suggestion. How about anyone who hits at least $250 in actual sales on the "Buy etc." forum gets free membership for a year. That would be your $25 right there since surely the incremental website cost of a sale should be quite low.

While the go-forward plan didn’t invite alternative solutions, I’d be interested in knowing what an annual funding goal would be. And if we hit it, we’d be able to keep the site open to everyone. Like what others have shared, I’m concerned that if we close the site off from non subscribers, we will lose the opportunity to attract new people to the content found through public searches. I’d be willing to give more to keep it open to all. 

As would I.

Done! Happy to help and as Bob J. said on Forum 24, it's a bargain.

I too will cough up some dough to continue these excellent forums!   But I also worry that if it is behind a paywall, no new members will be able to find us.  

On the bright side, it looks like they have already fixed some issues.  I now get an email notice when new forum43 posts are made - I signed up for that at the beginning but never received any.  Also all my new, un-read posts are now in bold - they never showed up that way before (google chrome)!!! 

Funnily enough, I've  also started getting email notifications when anyone replies to one of my posts or comments. Not something I signed up for and I just find it annoying, so I went into "My profile" and clicked "Mute mentioning emails" (the blue bell icon).

But I guess other folks might welcome the heads-up.

Graeme makes some excellent points.  I'll gladly pay the dues but we need to find a way to grow membership or the annual fees will become excessive over time as us old farts go to diecast eternity and the number of members shrinks.