Hats off to the moderators...

[Wotname]

Maybe CF is a cult or is it just sailing / cruising in general is a cult like activity. Cults normally operate on the principle that followers will work for free to further the leader's ambitions of power and control...




OK, OK - for those without a sense of humour - it's just a joke folks.



And thank you to the mods for not deleting this post

[ChrisJHC]

I’m a member of a few forums outside of sailing.
The ones that I come back to regularly all have strong moderation with the rules being well known and adhered to (and enforced).

This mostly consists of keeping topics broadly on topic and away from the big no-nos (typically politics and guns).

Thanks for your efforts, mods, and long may you prosper!

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

What a GOOD idea, Mike! Would you like a part time job as an agent for us?

Seriously, if we got paid, well, it would be a job, would it not? And I gave up jobs and working and all that to go to sea many years ago, don't see a reason to change that status now.

But thanks to everyone for the kind words. They help take the sting out of some of the PMs that we get from less grateful folks.

Jim

It is a job Jim, as in a task and a responsibility you commit to doing. Yes, you can walk away at any time, but that wouldn't change if you were receiving recompense.

The site owners here explicitly do not provide this services for free. But if you prefer to give your work away you, as an individual, could always donate your payment back to Social Media Corp.


Chotu, you can play with whatever assumptions you want. All I know is that this is a for-profit corporation that relies on free labour. I don't mean to take this thread off on some silly tangent, but your argument is exactly the same one I've heard all my professional life. Business owners always cry poverty.


ADD: I'm with Wotie!

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by Chotu

The most rough estimate of the site’s traffic this past month at 1.8 million visits a month and 4.1 page views per visit, assuming $1 per 1000 ad impressions puts this site at approximately $80,000 annual revenue before expenses.

Very crude estimate.

BUT! You can cut that number in half to $40,000 as a more typical revenue. Boats are hot right now due to it being boating season in the Northern Hemisphere and their popularity due to pandemic issues. As recently as November 2020, the traffic was half what it is today.

From a $40,000 more average annual revenue, they have some hosting to pay, some ads of their own to place so they drive traffic to the forum from people searching for things like “yanmar” and whatnot. Probably $5k? I’m not sure that cost.

But they do have contributing members that pay an unknown amount to the site.

Then the site owner has to live so taking a salary would be important. Anything left after the salary is subject to business profits taxes. Any salary taken is subject to income and employment taxes.

I’m not sure there is room in an ad revenue based model like this to pay the mods anything that wouldn’t be more insulting than just volunteering.

We get paid in virtual chocolate bars. So far I've put on 10 pounds (unfortunately those pounds are NOT virtual)

sigh

[Chotu]

Well, it’s not a wildly huge revenue generating business model. It IS poverty. Small Businesses and one person businesses are not huge money makers as you’re thinking. There are numerous regulations, licensing, mandatory equipment, facilities, supplies, taxes, fees, etc etc. Aren’t you a solopreneur? An author? If you hire out some boiler plate wording to India, or a bottom job on your boat, or even a haircut, do you have a huge budget to play with for paying them?

That’s why my attempts at getting some help with my boat through this forum have failed too. I can’t afford the compensation and benefits people have asked for. They have their own boats and some have retired from careers. I can’t compete with that level of expectation.
I am limited to unskilled help from Craigslist. That’s what I can afford. Barely.

Maybe the Cruisers Forum supporters that donate to this for-profit endeavor (which I think is a little weird) should have all their donations going to the mods instead. A little like a patreon type thing.

I’d sign up to support that.

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

It is a job Jim, as in a task and a responsibility you commit to doing. Yes, you can walk away at any time, but that wouldn't change if you were receiving recompense.

The site owners here explicitly do not provide this services for free. But if you prefer to give your work away you, as an individual, could always donate your payment back to Social Media Corp.


Chotu, you can play with whatever assumptions you want. All I know is that this is a for-profit corporation that relies on free labour. I don't mean to take this thread off on some silly tangent, but your argument is exactly the same one I've heard all my professional life. Business owners always cry poverty.


ADD: I'm with Wotie!

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Maybe the Cruisers Forum supporters that donate to this for-profit endeavor (which I think is a little weird) should have all their donations going to the mods instead. A little like a patreon type thing.

I’d sign up to support that.

Nothing weird about it in my opinion.

You pay to participate in CF with your time waiting for ads to load, with money to pay for the bandwidth consumed by all those ads and irritation in being bombarded with pages loaded with adverts.

I pay 15 bucks a year to avoid that time waste, cost and irritation (especially the last ). It's definitely a worthwhile investment in my case.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by StuM

Nothing weird about it in my opinion.

You pay to participate in CF with your time waiting for ads to load, with money to pay for the bandwidth consumed by all those ads and irritation in being bombarded with pages loaded with adverts.

I pay 15 bucks a year to avoid that time waste, cost and irritation (especially the last ). It's definitely a worthwhile investment in my case.

I see!

I thought the people paying had the same experience as is commoners, but were donating to the cause.

Gotcha.

[MicHughV]

Commercialism is everywhere....we are inundated, nay suffocated, by someone trying to sell you something..it's reached insanity point now....with commercial spam calls now invading the cell phone industry besides TV....I rarely watch TV for any reason for the simple reason that TV is all about commercials these days....with any programming being the "filler"...it used to be the other way around..

CF, while also covered with advertising, does not really interfere with anyone's enjoyment of this forum, one can simply turn a blind eye to it...as I'm sure most of us do....it is mostly peripheral noise to me.

To do a moderators job, on one's own time, without pay, is a telling story of those that do it.

This CF wouldn't last a week without the moderators, simple as that. It would turn into a slug fest of opinion's and personalities.

We should take up a collection and buy the mods a round of beers....!!!

[Leee]

CF is one of the very few sites that I can tolerate, admittedly my tolerance level is low. CF comments are generally polite unlike 90% (wild guess here) of forums. Good work and thank you.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Adelie

Yep that’s us. Attachment 239799

SOLID!

(Ok you have to have been a fan of that old show.)

[Tayana42]

I want to add my thanks to the moderators as well. I really appreciate this forum and the work of all of the moderators.

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by Eclectic Always

Seen the Covid-19 containment forum, have you?

Seriously though, yes, the mods here are awesome. It’s a thankless job and no matter what a mod does someone is unhappy.

Kudos, team.

Well, there HAS to be SOME drama out there.
Frankly, even there Most All have been civil, only slightly animated.
It's gonna get better, as we all get out on the element we all agree we love so much
Go Sailing
SV Cloud Duster

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Well, it’s not a wildly huge revenue generating business model. It IS poverty. Small Businesses and one person businesses are not huge money makers as you’re thinking. There are numerous regulations, licensing, mandatory equipment, facilities, supplies, taxes, fees, etc etc. Aren’t you a solopreneur? An author? If you hire out some boiler plate wording to India, or a bottom job on your boat, or even a haircut, do you have a huge budget to play with for paying them?

That’s why my attempts at getting some help with my boat through this forum have failed too. I can’t afford the compensation and benefits people have asked for. They have their own boats and some have retired from careers. I can’t compete with that level of expectation.
I am limited to unskilled help from Craigslist. That’s what I can afford. Barely.

Maybe the Cruisers Forum supporters that donate to this for-profit endeavor (which I think is a little weird) should have all their donations going to the mods instead. A little like a patreon type thing.

I’d sign up to support that.

Judging from the overbearing Advertisements posted here SMC is doing just fine.

SV Cloud Duster

[Stu Jackson]

1. I agree, thanks to ALL of the moderators. I have been "gently" contacted by some over the years, and all were well deserved!



2. Aha - thnx to mods becomes analysis of business model for volunteers. So "typical" for this forum --- thread drift!

[DMF Sailing]

Thanks for expressing this sentiment, Mic.

As a new-to-this-forum person, I appreciate both the old(er) salts and the moderators.

Especially the ones who are both. Which is why I support the thing.

(I always assumed my $15 went to the Mod Squad Liquid Motivation Fund. Does it not?)