Hi Gang, 17 years and still going strong. This thread is to thank those who have helped out financially in 2018, most of these folks step up year after year, and have really helped make this possible. Until now, we never had taken commercial advertising for site income.. but this last year, we were approached by a internet outfit that wanted to buy the site, and the offer to buy us out was substantial.. not like "cool, that would be nice to put in the bank" substantial, but "OH MY" type of money.. I was tempted.. After the shock wore off, I looked at Bucy and said "What are we missing here?" If they want to pay that crazy sum to buy us out, there had to be some serious income potential here. Sure enough, with just some banner advertising, we can pay for the site and put away a decent amount of cash each year, as long as things work out with selling advertising, which we have not started yet.. I told Mike we could not do it last year, because we took your money on the understanding that this was an ad-free site, and until we cleared the plate and started fresh again, we had to wait. You will see in the coming weeks and months the ads start to appear. If your curious what it will look like, go check out yellowbullet.com. It will be nothing insane like Facebook is, just a few banner ads that you can ignore, or since they will mostly be from Buick oriented businesses, you might even take advantage of a sale or something from them. I have recieved a few donations already this year, if this new information changes your mind about your donation, just let me know, I can send it right back. I am hoping that after a period of time, we can fund ourselves a new National event.. "The V8 Buick.com nationals"... I have always wanted an independent event for the site, and now it looks like that may happen in the near future.. within a couple of years.. stay tuned.. As always, I thank each and every one of you who help out, year after year. ----------------------- All contributors to the board are now recognized and get these perks: All contribution levels Username listed in Board supporters forum Custom user title Founders Club members have all the perks of the Platinum members, as well as expanded permissions for viewing the board. Platinum members also get the ability to have a larger avatar, as well as a profile picture. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Donation Information Via Paypal- just click the "donate" button in the board header, and follow the prompts.- You can use your paypal account funds, or a CC thru paypal, and you don't have to have an account. Via Mail: Make check or MO out to V8Buick.com Mail to: V8Buick.com 11771 Tigua Road Pine City, MN 55063 Via phone for a Credit/debit card (Visa, Master, Discover, American Express) 320-629-8999 or 10am-8pm M-F, . Please include your username with your donation, and you will be listed in the 2018 contributor list. If you click the "donate" button, your username is automatically recorded. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All donations taken after Dec 1 get credited to the upcoming year. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The List Founders Club($200+) chucknixon sean Buick 76 rtv72 Sluggo Geno ToddsGS Wheelz sixtiesmuscle Platinum Level Supporters ($100-$199) Breakinbuick11 gszinny izanurse RG67BEAST redsixty9 69GS455 RPGators68GS400 71CustomConv PBR400 Larry Gibson Dan Gerber Bruno 71Rivera Johnwwjr Cutlass 2manybuicks Jeff Peoples Gold Level Supporters ($50-99) Devin lightweightv8 roadunnernz cjeboyle wovenweb gokitty rogbo xporcelli 70sportwagon rcolosi Kaule G Stewart sriley531 Bills auto works Silver level Supporters ($1-49) ap1672 bluebuick ap1672 oldgoldbuick BrianinStLouis Skippy597 bballsam MDBuick68 72 Mach 1 tubecatgs larrybpsu Big Ken Storm 1
Happy New Year Jim + Mike! I'm not real sure what to do here. I've always donated to the site since I joined. I used to donate at a high level, Because I figured I would carry some people. I'm not rich, I'm retired I only get SS. It kind of irritates me that everybody who uses this site doesn't donate 1-5.00$. It REALLY irritates me that some people only come on here to only mostly sell...or buy...like...well I'm not going to mention any names! They don't donate. Other people contribute in different ways, with info, trying to help others, etc. A V8 meet would be great! I'm sure many others would like that, too. Anyways...I'm unsure what to do about the donation this year. Do I donate or not? Do you need the $ to keep the site going? I know it's "up in the air" about the advertising at this point. What to do?
Your case is exactly why I wanted to wait, and lay out what is going on as we go forward Frank. I would say wait, and see if a bunch of ads start showing up. If that materializes, then you know we are ok.. right now, I have not sold one ad, so we are at the same place we always have been. In any event, I would never want anyone to give more than they are comfortable with, but I certainly have always appreciated your high level of support in the past. It's the guys like you that have taken the burden off of me, so I don't have to support this thing completely. I laid this out on the phone to another long time high level contributor here last week, his feeling was that he would donate regardless of what advertising we were able to sell, his words were "I get way more than $... worth of enjoyment from the site a year". Thanks JW
Ok...thanks Jim! I'll see how it goes. I know it's your baby, you started it and it would be hard to turn it over completely. Personally, I really have no problem with the ads, they're actually pretty good for people looking for parts. Especially new people that don't know where to go to get stuff. People are always asking where can they get this or that for their Buick. So if there's a link to CARS , T/A or Todd's site or the rebuilders, then they can whack the link and see what's there. I agree with what the OP you spoke to said, too. I also get a lot of knowledge, entertainment, etc. from the site. I understand this is not your real job, you can't work on stuff and be a salesman, too. If you could get only $1.00 from each + all the members and non-members, we could buy a clubhouse!
Jim, I have been a member for ten years. This is my first year to donate, not really sure why it took me so long. This site has provided a wealth of information for me. As well as providing an avenue for which to buy and sell Buick related items. I would say I've bought much more than I have sold. As I looked through the supporters list for 2017, I noticed an absence of names. Namely the members who sell many, many items on this site. That is really too bad, anyone selling like some of these guys should drop at least a hundred towards the cause. I look forward to seeing the ads, I think it could be a good thing. Best regards, Allen Mandeen
I love the idea of a national event. Since this has become the place for anything pertaining to Buick, an event would be awesome. 17 years is NUTS! I remember stumbling upon this after the GSCA site spit the bit one day. As you're well aware, I've been here since. This site has been a conduit for all the Buick related moves I've made over the last 17 years. From the exposure my old 72 Stage 1 got due to the eBay forum to my recent purchase, which got me back in the game after what seemed like an eternity, this board has been somehow involved. As for ads, like Frank mentioned - if they're going to be geared toward this hobby, I say go for it. It'd be cool to be able to click on a banner that takes you directly to Cars or TA or Todd's website and as long as they don't bring the site to a screeching halt.
Put my donation payment thru. This site is too valuable to go unsupported, even to someone like me all the way over in New Zealand. Everyone should have their credit cards out
Jim, this sounds like a fantastic opportunity. Not just to finance the board, but to get another event going. Should this not come to fruition you can count on my continued founders support. Keep us posted.
Just opened thread to donate and saw the news. I am not surprised of the substantial offer. This is an amazing site with insane traffic and its for one reason and that's how its managed and operated. If ownership/leadership would change, I could see it going down hill fast so its best you will maintain control. I'll hold off donating for now but if anything changes and donations are needed I will be ready. Thanks and may God Bless in the New Year!
Jim, How will you go about selecting advertisers? Will you be offering these to the commercial dealers / sellers on this site, or is this something a banner ad company will be populating with related content? The reason I'm asking is that an organization that I am a part of is making quite a bit of money (10k/year) by having one banner ad company advertise on the website. However it took some time to get the unrelated advertisement content removed from the listings. Mail order Russian Brides was not compatible with our 401C3 mission statement Also, what will happen with the perks for contributing? Would you consider a "paid membership" vs. (non-paid) "forum user" program? Maybe a nominal donation to keep the kind of perks that were offered before? Or maybe just a single tier membership like $xx.xx for larger avatar, PM space and moniker under your name? I'd have no problem with that, and the extra $$ would make any future events that much better. I've only been here for a couple years, but as soon as I realized the amount of support and tech knowledge the site and members had to offer, I knew it was something I wanted to support monetarily and have been a contributing member for 2 years now. I've learned so much, it was more than worth it.
Thanks guys, I was hoping not to get too much backlash with this announcement, looks positive so far.. I think it will be good for everyone, I think we are squandering a valuable resource here, that can be used to further everyone's enjoyment of the hobby. I personally would love to have 20K plus to just "gamble" on hosting a big event, and that is exactly what it is.. and you have to go into it with that mindset. Maybe we break even, maybe make a couple bucks, maybe lose a couple, and we might lose our shirt.. But you simply have to have payouts for racers and trophies for car show folks, regardless of if you have sponsors or not.. Sponsors should just make the payouts and trophies bigger and better. Kevin, We are going to directly sell advertising to related vendors, starting with the Buick ones, and then branching off into other auto related businesses. I have verbal commitments of interest from several of the bigger vendors now. Right now we are putting together the packages for the vendors, and will announce them here also, so that anyone with a business on the board now, can jump in. We are looking to do small starter packages, up to more elaborate long term stuff, Right now, just banner ads, but we certainly may get into the click thru stuff as we go on here. I absolutely refuse to turn our board over to any kind of banner ad company.. they have approached us in the past. We will be keeping our velvet gloved fist firmly at the controls here.. And we are looking into contributor perks and possible special "paid sections" of the board, I am open to ideas and input. I don't like exclusionary stuff, I am more of an open source type guy. And in case no one noticed, I took the PM "perk" section out.. this software does not allow me to limit converstations (PM's).. so everybody has unlimited ones.. I was unaware of that until just recently. Thanks for the feedback guys. Keep it coming. JW
2018 donation sent via PayPal. My Grandmother stayed glued to the "soaps" every day. I've got V8Buick.com. Same difference.
Jim, I have no doubt you'll keep the members best interests in mind. Too much has happened (crashes, etc.) and you and Mike have invested way too much time, effort and money into this vast Buick resource to just hand it over to someone waving cash in front of your face - to do just that. I'm confident whichever direction you decide to go will benefit everyone. This is such a great board. I've made so many friends, learned so much, (sort of) found my dream car and am honored to be one of it's super moderators. V8Buick has somehow become a staple in my life. That may sound weird but it's true.
My vote is - Go for it Jim! You and your team have worked hard to build and maintain this site and protect the tight boundries and borders of content. Congratulations! As a loyal contributing member since only 2006, I also feel some ownership in V8BUICK site success and staying owned and managed by "Buick Bretheren" and not some .com company who will allow anything for the dollars. Hopefully the site stays BUICK family friendly and doesn't turn into the yellow bullsh*t site eventually. My annual contribution will be sent for 2018. Happy New Year! MarkO
I have been a member for quite a while but only active for a few years. I haven't donated in the past but always felt I should. So, banner adds or not I have sent in a donation. Jim, get what you can I say. A V8Buick event would be amazing, I only hope I can attend once it happens. Keep up the good work. Cliff
Jim, sent my donation yesterday. Keep up the great work. This site has made my obsession with 1967 GS400 vehicles bearable giving me lots of contacts or answers and parts. Have a prosperous and safe 2018.
Jim, True enough, this is a great page. I too, have made a few local friends here. RIP Captain John Kemper... as well as some pretty far away friends. I plan to make a trip to Vegas this year to meet up with Premier 350 from down under. I have gained much knowledge from this site, and shared some. Bought and sold a few parts too. Also because of this site, I am driving the best classic I have ever owned. Advertisers or not, I'm off to make another donation now. Thanks All and have a Happy and Healthy 2018!
I'd definitely be interested in a banner ad. I'll also re-up for my vendor spot on the board...although I always forget when that is due Nearly all popular discussion forums have some sort of ads going on. I think this is the right decision for you...especially when it comes to relying solely on donations to cover expenses of this board. I'm considering cutting back a lot of my web stuff because it is just a money suck. The AACA forums have banner ads at the top of their pages. They don't bother me a bit.
We would be interested in an ad if it is possible to regulate it to the state where we are licensed to sell (we're an insurance agency and represent Hagerty and American Modern for antique & classic vehicle (auto, motorcycle, boats...). Is it possible to only show it to folks in Ohio?
I’ll keep this short...Jim, I’m glad you are the one making the decisions. You are sticking to the best interests of the forum members. And I truly appreciate that.