Last reply for the night. Remember, you are many and I am one.pjamesk wrote:I'm in two minds about this offer.
On one hand I see what people are saying about it being free and open. And going with a membership type option to raise money for ongoing maintenance.
But to take you back to several forum topics about the fee /no fee (or whatever you want to call it) that came about for the funding of a new server that eventually ended up being the current donation drive.
These posts revolved around what you could or would get for your membership buck there was a lot of indecision about it because we already get so much for nothing. So it does come back to "what would I get for my subscription that I don't get now" (not that I'm taking this topic there, please not again). With this in mind to offer much more would mean a bigger server at a bigger expense?
With the increases that C@W was indicating, 6 signups per day, this site is going to grow but how many would want to pay? it would be interesting to know what % of gc users pay.
On the other hand I see that GCA could grow with sponsorship and can see that sponsorship of "cache of the year" type prizes could increase the quality of some caches. It doesn't matter whether a cache is published on gc or gca you will always get crappy caches. It's up to the existing cachers to educate the "newbie's". With sponsorship money this could be done with special events and with good marketing.
So I'm still on the fence with this one but leaning towards the yes side. Its a bit hard to make an educated decision without all the info but I can understand why you cant say anything.
It would be good to know is the marketing only directed at geocaching or is geocaching only a small part. This could make a difference to the amount of people directed to gca.
The ownership is an issue......
I wish we had of been approached a couple of months ago and avoided the donation drive and the awful pain that will come should be get a sponsor. But if wishes were money, er, I'd be rich
We will never know how many GC users pay. They of course have a larger customer base so they can afford a lower % rate of payers.
If someone could take up the cause to get a true Senate representative, say one from each state and territory, we could give more information to those people. We just never got the senate up and running. Of course, we would be bound by their decision, so we would need to fair an equitable about setting up the senate. If someone would like to do that, I'll watch with interest.
Good marketing and special event are a most excellent idea.
I believe, though our discussion was short, that it was Geocaching Australia ONLY as the approach.
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