Re: ANS and the future of the list

[Dan Simoes <dans@ans.net>]

Nick kindly suggests:

> Why dont you set up a donation pool to keep it going "On it's own Turf" How much
> do you need if it is a money problem or is it mostly a time problem either way I
> am sure there is a solution 

That is certainly one of the things I've been considering.
To elaborate a bit on my plans, I am hoping to turn it into a 
fee-based service, hopefully a one time fee, with the remainder
of costs being covered by advertising and other sources.

Some of you grumbled in the survey I took a few months ago
about not wanting to ever pay for the list.  Look at it this
way - how much have you saved by getting parts from a vendor
you heard about on the list?  How much grief have you saved 
knowing that a certain dealer sucks?  And how glad were you
to find a source of information and experts that can answer
most tech questions?

Granted, not everyone is interested in knowing how to change a 
timing belt on a 84 4ksq.  Others don't have the money to buy
a 98 A4 and then go blow another $5000 on tuning parts - those
folks are heading over to Jet's site, or maybe AudiCar.

My goal is to turn the list into a type of online club, where 
there is something for everyone, with enough bang for the
buck where if it does cost you $20-30/yr to belong, you
would never once question the value (unlike other Audi clubs...)
Archives, multiple lists, better web pages with detailed tech
writeups, product reviews, etc.  When I say advertising, I mean
banners and things like that.  I will NOT turn this into 
European Car ("product of the month" - see ad on page 12).

To do all this, I first need a domain (got it) but I need to know
that AoA is not going to swoop in and shut it down at some
point because of trademark violations or something similar, as
was the case with the Audi Club of America (so they tell me).

Once I have a domain, I need to set a machine, get an internet
connection that is up all the time and large enough to carry
all this traffic.  Just to give an idea of costs, we're talking
$10-15000 in hardware, and about $600-800 a month for the
connection.  It is doable, and I am still trying to make
it all come together.

Hang in there a bit longer - I realize that I've been promising 
and promising, but it will all come together.  Meanwhile, 
carry on as always!

| Dan |
-- 
Dan Simoes                                dans@ans.net
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