A
Adrenaline Revolution
Well-known member
I don't get paid to surf at work!
Work computer...Very very fast.
Home computer....Very very slow.
SNOWEST FORUMS: Member Comments on "Letter to All Members"
- Thread starter Adrenaline Revolution
- Start date
- Status
Work computer...Very very fast.
Home computer....Very very slow.
I'll Bite
I was one of the first members of Snowest 10-11 years ago.
The best its ever been was the first 3 years, times change. I remember many people lamenting for a pay site to weedout the riffraff, myself included, so ......... I spose I will put my money where my mouth is (Those that know me, know I have no problem with that).
I have been waiting for this & now that the trigger is pulled,I gotz this to say.
I will Pay and Stay, however - I gotz a few burrs under my saddle to speak out about;
#1. Moderators with a Sledding related business, MUST GO!
#2. Members that pay are due having a BIG leeway on $hitdisturbing (Profanity not included). This is afterall a family site. But if I use the word $hit, it should fly, I mean heckfire, it's in the DICTIONARY!
#3. Sure would be nice to have all our original post counts.
I was one of the first members of Snowest 10-11 years ago.
The best its ever been was the first 3 years, times change. I remember many people lamenting for a pay site to weedout the riffraff, myself included, so ......... I spose I will put my money where my mouth is (Those that know me, know I have no problem with that).
I have been waiting for this & now that the trigger is pulled,I gotz this to say.
I will Pay and Stay, however - I gotz a few burrs under my saddle to speak out about;
#1. Moderators with a Sledding related business, MUST GO!
#2. Members that pay are due having a BIG leeway on $hitdisturbing (Profanity not included). This is afterall a family site. But if I use the word $hit, it should fly, I mean heckfire, it's in the DICTIONARY!
#3. Sure would be nice to have all our original post counts.
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Well I for one (of many) am glad that all of this is getting sorted out.
Many of you know me and my dedication to this forum, to helping people where I can and sharing the information that I'm fortunate to be exposed to with the members of this forum. So, Hopefully you can see that I don't make "knee jerk" reactions to things nor do I bend easily to satisfy others.
Just like you, I will be paying for the service when that transition happens. For me, I couldn't look other members in the eye and say that I'm rowing the same boat as them if I didn't. And... for such a small amount compared to my normal daily activities I'm very happy to pay to have such good access to other members, the camaraderie and information on this site.
The charity that I have participated in, and from, with fellow SnoWest-Forum members has been a life changing experience. Whether that was helping Sawyers niece Gracie get over her life threatening illness, learning more about people like EricW who Daily make a contribution to the world he lives in, having many members last year GIVE parts to get a young man back on the snow... or mourning the loss of people that have changed our lives like Rick Ward....
The PEOPLE on this site DO make this site... that is why I want to be part of it for years to come and the price of a 12pack is not going to get in my way of keeping that as part of my life.
So, before you say "Moderators get free "dues" " ... Even if they did.... I'll be paying the same as you regardless as part of my own decision to support this site. I WILL BE PAYING when we get to that point....REGARDLESS. To me, it's worth the price of 1/3'rd of a gallon of 2-smoke oil.
The issues of speed, search-ability and other performance related items will be a thing of the past with the new equipment.
There will be some great options to add entertainment, communication and connections to the forums that will make it easier to communicate and find what you need here.
These early changes to the layout of the forum that Christopher has been trying out, that seem to be frustrating to some, will be refined in response to our suggestions as members.
From my viewpoint, Christopher & SnoWest is putting in a massive effort into making this a better site for us. His is a thankless job that, by definition, will have a target pasted to his back for quite some time while the changes are made.
Christopher has a "tall order" in front of him... He'll need to bring the site back up to speed, and fix many of the technical and communication issues on this site. I'm not a computer specialist... but Christopher, NeatBrian and others at Harris are... They are on task right now and we should see some results in the very near future.
So hang with me here... Christopher has already told us that the priority is to bring these forums up to speed... We get a FREE trial run of this after the new servers are brought online and we get to see just what is possible for this site.
We also will get to have many free aspects of this site even AFTER the "dues" kick in.
For as long as it's free... lets not "write the script" here.
With so many challenges facing the snowmobile community in the West, I believe that Christopher and Harris Publishing will be stepping up to the plate in a major way to act as good stewards for a sport/hobby that gives us all a lot of enjoyment!
You will have to make your own decision on whether or not you want to stay... But please, make that decision based on what this site can give you in return for your investment.... not spite or anger... there is enough of that in the world today.
IMO... the proof WILL be "in the pudding"
I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to chime in here today... lots of heartfelt family issues to deal with today that make me appreciate what I have and who my friends are!! Pray for snow so I can come and visit you guys this winter and make some NEW friends... nothing better than sledding for that to me.
Many of you know me and my dedication to this forum, to helping people where I can and sharing the information that I'm fortunate to be exposed to with the members of this forum. So, Hopefully you can see that I don't make "knee jerk" reactions to things nor do I bend easily to satisfy others.
Just like you, I will be paying for the service when that transition happens. For me, I couldn't look other members in the eye and say that I'm rowing the same boat as them if I didn't. And... for such a small amount compared to my normal daily activities I'm very happy to pay to have such good access to other members, the camaraderie and information on this site.
The charity that I have participated in, and from, with fellow SnoWest-Forum members has been a life changing experience. Whether that was helping Sawyers niece Gracie get over her life threatening illness, learning more about people like EricW who Daily make a contribution to the world he lives in, having many members last year GIVE parts to get a young man back on the snow... or mourning the loss of people that have changed our lives like Rick Ward....
The PEOPLE on this site DO make this site... that is why I want to be part of it for years to come and the price of a 12pack is not going to get in my way of keeping that as part of my life.
So, before you say "Moderators get free "dues" " ... Even if they did.... I'll be paying the same as you regardless as part of my own decision to support this site. I WILL BE PAYING when we get to that point....REGARDLESS. To me, it's worth the price of 1/3'rd of a gallon of 2-smoke oil.
The issues of speed, search-ability and other performance related items will be a thing of the past with the new equipment.
There will be some great options to add entertainment, communication and connections to the forums that will make it easier to communicate and find what you need here.
These early changes to the layout of the forum that Christopher has been trying out, that seem to be frustrating to some, will be refined in response to our suggestions as members.
From my viewpoint, Christopher & SnoWest is putting in a massive effort into making this a better site for us. His is a thankless job that, by definition, will have a target pasted to his back for quite some time while the changes are made.
Christopher has a "tall order" in front of him... He'll need to bring the site back up to speed, and fix many of the technical and communication issues on this site. I'm not a computer specialist... but Christopher, NeatBrian and others at Harris are... They are on task right now and we should see some results in the very near future.
So hang with me here... Christopher has already told us that the priority is to bring these forums up to speed... We get a FREE trial run of this after the new servers are brought online and we get to see just what is possible for this site.
We also will get to have many free aspects of this site even AFTER the "dues" kick in.
For as long as it's free... lets not "write the script" here.
With so many challenges facing the snowmobile community in the West, I believe that Christopher and Harris Publishing will be stepping up to the plate in a major way to act as good stewards for a sport/hobby that gives us all a lot of enjoyment!
You will have to make your own decision on whether or not you want to stay... But please, make that decision based on what this site can give you in return for your investment.... not spite or anger... there is enough of that in the world today.
IMO... the proof WILL be "in the pudding"
I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to chime in here today... lots of heartfelt family issues to deal with today that make me appreciate what I have and who my friends are!! Pray for snow so I can come and visit you guys this winter and make some NEW friends... nothing better than sledding for that to me.
Funny, you people delete the statement I made about how you created a problem that needed fixing, then magically my name changes until I tell everyone what kind of BS it is that you people play these childish little games.
The idea that that was an accident is complete bull****(self edited, don't get too excited)
you can lie to me all you want, but nobody else's name changed when this "glitch" happened.
Is it money or the LACK of money?? I have never seen a rich man robbing a convenience store, but those without money are swayed to evil out of desperation.
Do you really expect something for nothing and people to provide you with that something to get no compensation.....get real.
S
suitcase
Well-known member
Wooowww
Just read the post about the new Snowest and where it is going and the cost! 10 bucks for one yr. subscrip. That is nothing, I have been reading all The BASHING on here lately, and I admit that at first I was sucked in by some of the few whinning older members and it is the same few that I see stirring the pot. And maybe they have the right to, don't have any information on there issues. I'm new to this site as of last yr. and don't know what it was like before, but I must say other than it being slow,(Which I know will be fixed in due time). This site is very informative, and very useful to many many people. Snowest has alot of very good benefits for it members and viewers. So in my opinion having to help with the survival of snowest by paying a 10 dollar fee for a yr. well I'm O.K. with that, after all the info that I get from here well more than covers that cost. And for another thing all of us on here have at least one 10,000 dollar sled, 30,000 dollar truck, and a 4,000 dollar trailer, so the 10 bucks you spend for a site like this one in nothing save a months worth of beer cans. You will spend way more than that on a phone bill to get some of the questions answered, by calling your fav. dealer. I don't think there should be the big circus on here about this. If a person does not like the idea then you have the choice. I'm sure some of you will very much dislike this and for that I'm sorry. Don't try to tear the forum down because of your dislike.
Just my two penny's
Just read the post about the new Snowest and where it is going and the cost! 10 bucks for one yr. subscrip. That is nothing, I have been reading all The BASHING on here lately, and I admit that at first I was sucked in by some of the few whinning older members and it is the same few that I see stirring the pot. And maybe they have the right to, don't have any information on there issues. I'm new to this site as of last yr. and don't know what it was like before, but I must say other than it being slow,(Which I know will be fixed in due time). This site is very informative, and very useful to many many people. Snowest has alot of very good benefits for it members and viewers. So in my opinion having to help with the survival of snowest by paying a 10 dollar fee for a yr. well I'm O.K. with that, after all the info that I get from here well more than covers that cost. And for another thing all of us on here have at least one 10,000 dollar sled, 30,000 dollar truck, and a 4,000 dollar trailer, so the 10 bucks you spend for a site like this one in nothing save a months worth of beer cans. You will spend way more than that on a phone bill to get some of the questions answered, by calling your fav. dealer. I don't think there should be the big circus on here about this. If a person does not like the idea then you have the choice. I'm sure some of you will very much dislike this and for that I'm sorry. Don't try to tear the forum down because of your dislike.
Just my two penny's
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Right now ... God is telling me to eat and have a beer!
I'll join you!
5x the brains, 10x the money... could start snowest deuce !!!!!
It's $10 per year, or $30 for 3 years, no?
There are ways to mitigate the problem. It's broadband future, you'll have to learn all the tricks to view it through dialup eyes!
A quick, immediate example is browsing (read only, unfortunately) via the archive:
http://www.snowest.com/forum/archive/index.php
You'll have to load the actual site to post, but it's something you can use right now.
Mean time, if dial up is your only option, I'd recommend using Firefox plus a couple of plugins. Firefox has these great plugins like "noscript", "adblock", and "flashblock". All this heavy stuff is then blocked and not loaded by your browser. I don't personally use them, but this may be your answer to wring every bit out of your dialup connection.
Here's another thing though. Looking at the list, the only thing that I see that should directly affect your dial up experience surfing the forums is when people use the embedded video feature. Myself, I'm a big fan of this on other forums I frequent, and am very much welcoming it. I'm willing to bet though that this is a feature that you'll be able to disable, much like disabling avatars, signatures and images in the img tags.
That said, getting a membership isn't looking too beneficial to you, which I'm sure is more what you're saying now that I think about it (or probably said somewhere back in the bajillion pages I didn't read...)
Edit: Busy place, lot of posts made in the time it took to write this.
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i feel the forum members that stick around will take a hit from people that ditch as in knowledge not on site . i don't know if ill stick around i like the site and pay for both mags but just like anything else there's 10 more right around the corner for free. not bashing i just feel your gonna lose alot of people
There is no doubt but that we WILL loose some people. But...
I think once things settle down and word gets out, we will also start picking up people that have avoided the site for years now because of the unending bickering and complaining.
A
Adrenaline Revolution
Well-known member
Points taken but please get your facts straight.
First, The fee will be $10 PER year for the existing, "old" members who stay with the forum. That's $30 for 3 years.
Second. For new members AFTER the initial year of old timers paying dues the fee goes up to $30 per year or $90 per 3 years.
That's the way it reads in the original post, Get it?
Third, THE AMOUNT IS NOT THE ISSUE.
It's been said time and time again but I'm willing to pay and see what transpires. This will just not be the only site I use anymore.
Most of the Washington guys that I ride with have already left to the "Other site" that we can't even name anymore because now there is a software program that automatically changes the name to SnoWest,
We all have tens of thousands tied up in our little winter hobby so yes, any one of us can afford it.
S
suitcase
Well-known member
I agree, that is the way with any club that has to move in a new direction.
I see new people show up everyday, and there will be new ones to replace those who choose to leave.
Let me be clear: Most (not everyone) of us don't care about paying ~$10 - we're more than willing to contribute for what we use and support SnoWest and Harris Publishing - on a voluntary basis!
I don't subscribe to the magazine direclty, but I buy them at our local retail outlet at a higher than subscribe price - to support both HP and a local business for every eddition - Snowtech & AMSnow too.
The implications of taking this forum to a "Pay Site" mode are the overwhelming concern.
This WILL have a overwhelmingly negative effect on the larger community in numerous ways.
So far, our likable but stubborn new administrator seems to have a tough time understanding this community and their desires.
Furthermore he simply has created a plan that DOES NOT reflect the desires of many of his most invested users.
We DO NOT NEED MORE BELLS AND WHISTLES!!!
Some, limited well thought out features would be appreciated.
He has already proven to us that changes he has imposed have had a very public and well documented negative impact on the performance and usability of this forum.
I'll give him a 20% discount for the impacts due to HP's sub-standard server setup.
Obviously everything was working fine before the Grand Plan Version 1.0 was implemented, so planning and foresight has proven not to be a strength.
At this point, I'm not convinced we can change our friend Christopher's mind, nor have much influence on his choices for this site.
After all, the infrastructure that operates this site is under his control - effectively HP's.
The unfortunate part is that Christopher seems to be a likable and accomplished character, and is clearly passionate about contributing to this site which is of itself a wonderful asset!
The tragedy is that no matter how many posts from how many users, we can't seem to crack his thick shell and reach him!
For this, SnoWest and its users will likely pay a dear price in the closeness of the community, the quality of its content and ultimately its success over the long run.
36,000 registrations may seem like a lot - and it probably provides a feeling of false comfort going into Grand Plan 2.0, but I can assure you that sites such as these come and go in a NY minute if managed contrary to the users input - and that is exactly what I see going on here.
We don't need Video Chat and Malls, other useless FaceBook & Twitter crap!
We want less of the site between us and the information exchanged here.
(that's so Steve Jobs!)
<<Only thing that will change any minds on this is the freemarket.>>
Isn't that a beautiful thing! (with the emphasis on FREE)
Maybe an alternative offering is in the making that has some more allegiance to the concepts and community that made the original SW great.
One thing that our pal Christopher doesn't seem to have much perspective on was the camaraderie that evolved early based on the general nature of the few select forums that started this community - the evidence is that the General Snomobiling forum is lost in the mix.
That used to be the primary area - now everyone is scattered.
I remember when the Animal Ride brought EVERYONE together to read a thread - regardless of geography or sled brand - that is kind of closeness and feeling is largely LOST! Why? New Administration that doesn't seen to listen or care and sees SnoWest's forum as a short term retail play.
That community aspect has been largely lost with the minutia of subdivided forums.
/Nuff Said.
MtnDoo
I don't subscribe to the magazine direclty, but I buy them at our local retail outlet at a higher than subscribe price - to support both HP and a local business for every eddition - Snowtech & AMSnow too.
The implications of taking this forum to a "Pay Site" mode are the overwhelming concern.
This WILL have a overwhelmingly negative effect on the larger community in numerous ways.
So far, our likable but stubborn new administrator seems to have a tough time understanding this community and their desires.
Furthermore he simply has created a plan that DOES NOT reflect the desires of many of his most invested users.
We DO NOT NEED MORE BELLS AND WHISTLES!!!
Some, limited well thought out features would be appreciated.
He has already proven to us that changes he has imposed have had a very public and well documented negative impact on the performance and usability of this forum.
I'll give him a 20% discount for the impacts due to HP's sub-standard server setup.
Obviously everything was working fine before the Grand Plan Version 1.0 was implemented, so planning and foresight has proven not to be a strength.
At this point, I'm not convinced we can change our friend Christopher's mind, nor have much influence on his choices for this site.
After all, the infrastructure that operates this site is under his control - effectively HP's.
The unfortunate part is that Christopher seems to be a likable and accomplished character, and is clearly passionate about contributing to this site which is of itself a wonderful asset!
The tragedy is that no matter how many posts from how many users, we can't seem to crack his thick shell and reach him!
For this, SnoWest and its users will likely pay a dear price in the closeness of the community, the quality of its content and ultimately its success over the long run.
36,000 registrations may seem like a lot - and it probably provides a feeling of false comfort going into Grand Plan 2.0, but I can assure you that sites such as these come and go in a NY minute if managed contrary to the users input - and that is exactly what I see going on here.
We don't need Video Chat and Malls, other useless FaceBook & Twitter crap!
We want less of the site between us and the information exchanged here.
(that's so Steve Jobs!)
<<Only thing that will change any minds on this is the freemarket.>>
Isn't that a beautiful thing! (with the emphasis on FREE)
Maybe an alternative offering is in the making that has some more allegiance to the concepts and community that made the original SW great.
One thing that our pal Christopher doesn't seem to have much perspective on was the camaraderie that evolved early based on the general nature of the few select forums that started this community - the evidence is that the General Snomobiling forum is lost in the mix.
That used to be the primary area - now everyone is scattered.
I remember when the Animal Ride brought EVERYONE together to read a thread - regardless of geography or sled brand - that is kind of closeness and feeling is largely LOST! Why? New Administration that doesn't seen to listen or care and sees SnoWest's forum as a short term retail play.
That community aspect has been largely lost with the minutia of subdivided forums.
/Nuff Said.
MtnDoo
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Its more than just that though.
There is a real wealth of industry players out there that don't touch any of the sites for professional reasons.
We expect to bring many of them into SnoWest in the coming months as things change and settle down here.
We believe, we will have content that no other snowmobile site has ever been able to offer.
- Status
