just curious...

[watson007]

Has anyone seen this before? I wonder if there is any truth to it and if so , Is that a bad thing ?

Lucrative Private Business for Profit?

Watson

[Goin camping]

Yeah this place is a business for the owner. He made a business decision to finance and build this site and he keeps paying to upgrade it too.

I hope he makes a profit or this place is gone.

You can either donate or not. Purely your choice.

[jerrypeterma]

that was some interesting info. I wondered about the donations. the jokes were great
Take care

[purman]

Sounds like they are a little pissed of they didn't think of it first... Hey you gotta make a living some how.. Wish I would have thought of airforums.com.... Then I could spend more time in my airstream...

I support because I receive and if someone makes a living of that, good for them, no hard feels here...

[kposey]

More power to Andy. I have learned more about Airstreams from this site than any other place, and I have owed Airstreams for 14 years now. I hope he is making profit from this. The information I have gained from this site is invaluable. Donate if you wish. But, in my opinion, Andy has earned every cent. Thank you for your support.

[watson007]

I just wanted to know more...the guy who posted it made it sound bad.
I have learned more here in 2 weeks than in the last 20 years !
Thanks
Watson

[Jim & Susan]

“Jim”, the owner of that other site seems to have a rather large ax to grind, eh?

AndyR, the owner of this site is a completely legitimate business man. And as far as I know, he’s never passed himself off as anything other than that. This site is a business, not a “non-profit”. Again, that has always been true. I guess that other guy doesn’t understand some basic business principles. FOR profit vs. NON profit seems pretty clear to me.

At any rate, I used to be one of those “Unpaid Volunteers” that “ran Andy’s business for him without pay” blah, blah, blah. And I was very happy to do it. The time I spent as a Moderator is small payment for all of the information I’ve gleaned from this site. I could never have restored my Overlander without Airforums.

Keep it up, Andy. I hope ya make a mint!

Jim

[2333]

I think the moderators do most of the work keeping the site clean, friendly, and operating well, I may be wrong, that's just my impression.

Are they all volunteers or do they at least get some "benefits".

If they are volunteers, couldn't we find a way to "donate" to a moderator fund?

[Stefrobrts]

We're volunteers, and we're happy to do it for nothing. I've seen some forums that weren't so well managed, and things can get ugly without some rules being enforced. AndyR has set up a very good set of rules for the forums, and we enforce them, and luckily we don't have to do anything for 99% of the members here. The main rule is be nice to each other, and I think that comes naturally for most Airstreamers (unless you get them talking about axles)

I wouldn't have my wonderful trailer without the help I've gotten here. Well, I might have it, but it wouldn't be as wonderful as it is now. Everything I did to it, and all the great friends I've made with it, are directly a result of the forums. I'm happy to volunteer my time to the site, I don't get any compensation of any sort for it (except for a good feeling when I help someone), and I don't have any problem with AndyR making a profit from the site. I think it's a great site, and he does a great job with it.

[juel]

I would be awash with ignorance and still looking for parts and information if this Forum was not available. Now I'm having the time of my life with two very, very nice Airstreams, one I found right here in the Classifieds. I have made some good friends here. So Andy had a great idea and is profiting from it. Heck, so did Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. This is still America isn't it? This is where folks are still free to have great ideas and make all the money they can legally make from those ideas. I didn't have to donate, but I thought I would because I've gained from this site and I paid a little back for all I've gotten.

[bkahler]

Profit or Non-Profit, doesn't matter to me. The knowledge I've gained by being a supporting member has far outweighed the cost of my "donation".

I've spent hours searching the various sub forums for tidbits of information and I'm sure I'll continue to spend untold hours looking for answers to problems that I have with each of our Airstreams. I also find it enjoyable to be able to answer a question posted by someone else. It makes me feel like I have in a small way paid back those thousands of other posters for their help.

Very few if any forums will last long if the owner doesn't make some sort of profit. It costs money to maintain a high speed connection and the servers required to host a forum such as this.

Thanks Andy, enjoy your travels .

Brad

[Wayne&Sam]

Originally Posted by bkahler

Profit or Non-Profit, doesn't matter to me. The knowledge I've gained by being a supporting member has far outweighed the cost of my "donation".d

I can agree with that but if it is for profit then there really is no excuse for it taking months to get the stickers.

[ROBERT CROSS]

And who is the richest man in the country, are we supposed to be pissed at him too.

More power to Andy, and keep your WAD grow'n.

As far as the mods go, just keep up the GOOD work.

No hard feelings here.

[purman]

I doubt anyone here has hard feeling if Andy makes money of this site.... Someone is just pissed they didn't think of it.... Darn anti capitalists..

[TBRich]

I've see this guy's whining before...it hit me as so much bunk and/or sour grapes oph his part. This site would not be here without Andy seeing that it is and I think it's great if he can make a buck from it...more power to him! We are not forced to contribute. We do it because we feel we get far more than our contributions amount to...at least I do. Keep up the great work, Andy...and Moderators, too!

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by Wayne&Sam

I can agree with that but if it is for profit then there really is no excuse for it taking months to get the stickers.

The person in charge of mailing the stickers is another volunteer. He uses his free time (and he has a full-time job as well) to get them out to you. If you don't get them in a reasonable time, let one of the mods know, we have had issues with the ordering and upgrading before, and yours may have gotten lost under a pile of stale electrons somewhere.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, what's the point? My understanding of this article was that there were "1.5 Million hits" and one miss. If this person doesn't like Andy or his forums he doesn't have to visit them much less donate.

[3 Dog Nite]

I've learned how to make many repairs on my Airstream. This could'nt have been done as cheaply without the advice of the many Airforumiars out there. I've even fixed items with Andy's free hints. My donation was given with a smile on my face.

[purman]

I sent the guy an email. not rude at all, just saying it is a free forum, he doesn't have to use it if he doesn't want to... That I received invaluable information from it and thats why I support it... But don't understand his whining, as it doesn't say it's a non-profit.

[richinny]

having been the host for a small forum for quite a few years i'll put my .02 in.

any forum takes a lot of time and effort. advertising does not pay much these days. a forum as well run as this takes more of the above plus $$$$.
i pay to host that forum i have and to keep it ad free but the usage is minimal. if you can have a site this large, busy and wonderful and you make money on it, it is well deserved! when andy r starts trading in a 34' slide-out every year for a new one, i'll reconsider donating, but i probably would anyway because i'd like a set of stickers!

p.s. i happened to start visiting another site that is also a "social knowledge" site. it is nothing like this site but i hope someday it will be!