RE: ANS and the future of the list

["Stadmeyer, Francis" <stadmef@pweh.com>]

I'd be willing to put up some cash.  The list has saved me bunches 'o
money and provided lots of technical info (some of it even about Audis
and cars)

Frank Stadmeyer

>----------
>From: 	Dan Simoes[SMTP:dans@ans.net]
>Sent: 	Thursday, September 11, 1997 9:48 AM
>To: 	audi_mail@mailexcite.com
>Cc: 	quattro@coimbra.ans.net
>Subject: 	Re: ANS and the future of the list
>
>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
>ANS Communications 		http://coimbra.ans.net/dans.html
>100 Manhattanville Road                 (914) 701-5378 (voice)
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>