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Would you donate a nominal sum of money for upgrading to modern commercial software?
$0 10%  10%  [ 6 ]
$5 7%  7%  [ 4 ]
$10 12%  12%  [ 7 ]
$25 43%  43%  [ 25 ]
$50 17%  17%  [ 10 ]
$100 7%  7%  [ 4 ]
$1000 2%  2%  [ 1 ]
$10000 2%  2%  [ 1 ]
Total votes : 58
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PostPosted: June 30th, 2021, 1:59 pm 
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Location: Marathon/Superior
MyCCR is invaluable to me. I would donate but I'm not rich enough to make a donation that would really impact such a project. I'm assuming we're talking about thousands of dollars. It can be really hard to get donations...if a fundraiser went well and 100 people donated an average of $50, is that really enough ($5,000) for the project and related maintenance? How much are we talking?

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PostPosted: June 30th, 2021, 10:30 pm 
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kamaniskeg wrote:
I would enthusiastically donate towards site maintenance! Communities like this one are a dying breed; to have ownership and control over your entire operation and archive is a thing of the past that needs to come back.

I second that.

kamaniskeg wrote:
I would also consider donating regularly via a Patreon type platform to make myccr ad free for everyone, or at least to the point where myccr could choose a handful of advertisers/sponsors that are relevant to the community and move away from AdSense.

I second that as well; I would gladly donate a small monthly amount for this site - with one caveat: I don't think having anyone flagged on the forum as "supporting member" or somesuch would be right. I'd like to think we're all equals here, regardless of our personal financial circumstance or proclivity to make donations.

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PostPosted: July 1st, 2021, 9:16 am 
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I put in for a small amount but I am wondering what amount would be needed. Any idea?

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Last edited by wotrock on July 2nd, 2021, 6:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: July 2nd, 2021, 5:39 am 
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Location: HFX, Nova Scotia canada
PacketFiend wrote:
kamaniskeg wrote:
I would enthusiastically donate towards site maintenance! Communities like this one are a dying breed; to have ownership and control over your entire operation and archive is a thing of the past that needs to come back.

I second that.

kamaniskeg wrote:
I would also consider donating regularly via a Patreon type platform to make myccr ad free for everyone, or at least to the point where myccr could choose a handful of advertisers/sponsors that are relevant to the community and move away from AdSense.

I second that as well; I would gladly donate a small monthly amount for this site - with one caveat: I don't think having anyone flagged on the forum as "supporting member" or somesuch would be right. I'd like to think we're all equals here, regardless of our personal financial circumstance or proclivity to make donations.


Yes to all. This site has been a valuable resource for myself and the group that I canoe trip with. Information on trips that would be difficult if not impossible to find elsewhere is mostly readily available on the site. There is a massive amount of information and knowledge here and I am thankful for it.


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PostPosted: July 3rd, 2021, 10:06 am 
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Location: Freeland, Maryland USA
eberlym wrote:
It has been suggested to initiate a fundraising campaign and raise money to upgrade to modern interface software.

myccr.com is currently coded using the modular freeware Drupal 8.0, which has many limitations.


I contribute financially and offer raffle prizes to the other canoe site RHaslan mentioned, and would certainly contribute to CCR to keep it healthy and running. CCR may be the last canoe site standing.

Mailing raffle prizes can be a PITA; every year I have a couple handmade things in the raffle, and pray that I don’t have to pay $20 to ship a $5 trinket to Canada.

My concern with switching to different internet/message board software is much the same as elGuapo and Yarnellboat. With a different page appearance, different features, different ways of posting messages and photos and searching, maybe even needing to set new ID’s and passwords, I think some posters would drop out in frustration. I guarantee disgruntled yearnings for the CCR of old would be expressed; people generally don’t like it when the old familiar suddenly changes.

I know that some (most?) software providers require a licensing fee, and many need yearly, or even every six month, software updates. vBulletin software requires frequent updates, performed by a paid IT guy, and even then every update seems to screw something else up.

I’ll contribute financially whatever is done, and still post to CCR, even if this old dog needs to learn new tricks.


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PostPosted: July 4th, 2021, 8:00 pm 
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Location: Newmarket, Ontario Canada
Quite frankly, I am still thrilled with this version.. the 3rd upgrade from Richard Munn'sOntario Canoe Routes. Anyone remember the long, looooooong threads that went right down off the bottom right of the page? At the time it was novel (1994)
This site is well organized and easily searchable, and the format is easy to read.

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PostPosted: July 5th, 2021, 7:51 am 
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Location: Freeland, Maryland USA
I am admittedly a computer dinosaur, but if moving CCR to different web hosting software is seriously contemplated a significant amount of research may be required to select new software that is dependable and well-supported, with some promise of a future lifespan.

There are at least a couple message boards dedicated to discussion of web hosting software among other topics.

The other canoeing board mentioned, which has had continuing issues with hacks and failures, runs on vBulletin. Those problems seem to rest not with the Admin or IT support, but the increasingly flawed software itself.

https://www.avforums.com/threads/vbulle ... d.1793735/

https://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1710545

With Facebook as the 900lb gorilla in the room message board hosting may become less and less relevant.

I think about past photo hosting platforms; Community Webshots simply pulled the plug; if you were lucky and acted quickly you managed to retrieve your photos as a disorganized zip file, in no order, with no captions. Some people had tens of thousands of photos, in albums, with captions, on the canoe side including well documented trip reports and how-to tutorials.

PhotoBucket didn’t pull the plug, but if you wanted to maintain access to your photos it would cost you $450 a year; I can’t imagine they had many takers.

Flickr went from free to a more reasonable $50 a year to who-knows how much in the future.


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PostPosted: July 5th, 2021, 5:38 pm 
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There's two "softwares" in play here. The forum software, the front end, which is what we all see and interact with when we visit, runs on phpBB. I see no reason to change that.

The backend, however, is what is under consideration, and that's where Drupal's limitations are coming in to play, as far as I understand what's being considered.

I don't think Eberlym is suggesting moving away from phpBB. It would be a nightmare. Rather, he's suggesting a change to the back end Content Management System, which while no small amount of work, should not force us to inordinately change the interface we're all familiar with.

Mike McCrea wrote:
With Facebook as the 900lb gorilla in the room message board hosting may become less and less relevant.
Don't forget that Facebook can go the way of the dinosaur too. MyCCR and Ontario Canoe Routes before it has been around longer than Facebook, and may well outlast it.

I also don't think we're looking at moving to a different hosting provider (and Emberlym, do correct me if I'm wrong), but changing the CMS system that runs the site. The two are separate entities, as is the front end (phpBB) that we interact with.

I can help with database migrations, fixing broken links, integration issues, that kind of thing, I just wouldn't be of much use in the design of the look & feel (which I hope would be very close to what we have now).

cheryl wrote:
Quite frankly, I am still thrilled with this version.. the 3rd upgrade from Richard Munn'sOntario Canoe Routes. Anyone remember the long, looooooong threads that went right down off the bottom right of the page? At the time it was novel (1994)
This site is well organized and easily searchable, and the format is easy to read.

I DO remember that!

Mike McCrea wrote:
My concern with switching to different internet/message board software is much the same as elGuapo and Yarnellboat. With a different page appearance, different features, different ways of posting messages and photos and searching, maybe even needing to set new ID’s and passwords, I think some posters would drop out in frustration. I guarantee disgruntled yearnings for the CCR of old would be expressed; people generally don’t like it when the old familiar suddenly changes.

I know that some (most?) software providers require a licensing fee, and many need yearly, or even every six month, software updates. vBulletin software requires frequent updates, performed by a paid IT guy, and even then every update seems to screw something else up.

I'll second both Mike's and Cheryl's points (and elQuapo's and Yarnell's). The site works quite well as it is, at least from a user perspective. It may be lacking some more modern features, but it works quite well. I'd hate to change the interface much, as I agree, there would be significant misgivings, should we do that.

As for fees, both Drupal and phpBB are free software, and Drupal has several alternatives that are also free, so I don't think the licensing would be much of a burden, if at all. There's a lot more free software out there than you think - and lots of it extremely well supported and accepted at large.

If we need new ID's and passwords, I would consider the "upgrade" to be an abject failure. That's a showstopper, in my books.

And as for needing updates... all software needs updates - and I mean all of it. There is no escaping that, no matter which way you cut the cheese. What matters is how often those updates break things. As mentioned earlier, what usually ends up breaking things during upgrades and maintenance is the customizations. They have a funny way of biting you in the ass. So I'll reiterate my earlier point that, should we upgrade the site, overly custom work should be avoided.

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PostPosted: July 6th, 2021, 1:24 am 
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Excellent post PacketFiend, I'm in agreement with 99% of it (at least!).

One other thing which I'm not sure how overhauls of the site would impact.

The SEO for the site is excellent, threads posted here can be found on page one of Google EXTREMELY quickly. A few years ago they would be in the top 5 entries, I've notice that lately they are not being ranking quite so high but still to get to page one as fast as they do is excellent and no doubt brings tons of new users (perhaps not new members).

It doesn't matter how much info is here if new people can't find it via a Google search.

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PostPosted: July 7th, 2021, 5:00 am 
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For small (?) amounts of money this is a simple site that allows pretty much any organization to collect donations via the internet. Created by artists as I understand it, and passes along 100% of the donations.
https://ko-fi.com

Who Uses Ko-fi?
Artists, Writers, Podcasters, and all kinds of creators use Ko-fi. It can be a simple tip-jar, a place to build a membership community or a super-easy way to sell products and commissions with just a link! Ko-fi is for anyone who wants to start making an income directly from fans of what they do.
FROM https://ko-fi.com/about.

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PostPosted: April 5th, 2022, 9:06 am 
I put in a donation of a certain amount for past myccr events, not future events, thus I have no interest in what you do with my donation. What I need is a mechanism for payment.


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PostPosted: April 6th, 2022, 12:08 am 
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Joined: November 16th, 2007, 1:11 pm
Posts: 176
Location: Mid-coast Maine
Absolutely would make a donation. The problem with trying to raise $ from paddlers is that though our hearts are pure, chances are good that most of us have spent any $ we have on canoe trips, recreational ...stuff... or divorces brought about by the previously mentioned purchases.

For those who pine for ye olden days - how many paddlers does it take to screw in a light bulb? All of them. One to screw it in, and the rest to sit around and talk about how good that old bulb was... Your favorite rivers constantly change, so can websites.

Agree that SEO is critical.
Agree that info should not be behind a paywall for anyone.
Disagree that donors should not be recognized. Recognition is important to some folks - especially those who can make large gifts, (which is not I - see para 1 above) and encourages others to do more. There are also a lot of businesses that make a lot of money off the paddling community - wouldn't hurt to provide better ad space for them, and charge them more for it. Or maybe hyperlink anytime a brand, outfitter, or business is mentioned in a post.

Consider seeking a grant? This database is, in effect, a historical record and archive of very unique (and rare) experiences - some of which cannot be replicated today. In the US, a group like the NEH might consider a grant to upgrade and sustain the site to preserve the history within it. A group like American WW or Nature Conservancy might partner with you on the grant and provide professional support/hours/writing/editing, etc. There is also scientific info to be gleaned from the posts here - a record of flora and fauna, water levels, & weather reports might be interesting and worthwhile to nonprofits studying the ecology and/or the effects of climate change over time, and therefor might well be worth keeping.

Just food for thought.
Christian

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PostPosted: April 6th, 2022, 8:18 am 
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the only issues i have noticed with the site are
A) image sharing system is preventing many from sharing images they want to share
B) the pm comment box can cut off certain buttons, or/and typed text
C) the site 'times out' if typing a longer post, and you can lose that post and attachments (if you managed to attach in the first place).

i have not noticed any other issues.
i think the site is perfectly good the way it is, aside from the said issues.

you may not even need donation to fix the first issue.
hopefully admin can respond to what has been proposed for that here
https://www.myccr.com/phpbbforum/viewto ... 16&t=49198

i believe in fixing problems, not in giving things new looks and smells,
ABC can be minor mosquito bites compared to the possible horse fly bites with a forum built all new.
i would donate a good sum, sure. i'd be wary about what happens, though.


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PostPosted: April 6th, 2022, 8:40 am 
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I'm no longer able to trip but I still paddle and I visit this site daily to vicariously enjoy the trip reports. I would miss this site should it ever disappear. For that reason I would gladly donate $10 and perhaps more if we didn't meet the required amount.


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PostPosted: April 6th, 2022, 10:21 am 
depending upon perspective: 1 CAD = 0.80002 USD or 1 USD = 1.2500 CAD. To adjust or not to adjust, that is the question.


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