Topic starter
23/10/2009 6:07 pm
Dear friends,
from my plea for help regarding our video in the "Reporter at Sea" contest (Reporter at Sea - Royal Caribbean Video Contest - Der perfekte Job für Carmen) I received a few (very few) e-mails that are indicating that there might be a misconception here and there abouth the "profits" steamboats.org is making. Hence, they ask me why I'm asking for the favor to vote for our video while I could easily buy us a cruise on the Oasis of the Seas from the profits we're making with steamboats.org ...
Let me clarify this, just in case anyone thinks we're making lots of money with the advertizing on steamboats.org: This is simply not the case at all.
The advertizing you see on the site about pays for the direct expenses such as webserver, domain name and software licenses which sums up to roughly about $ 180 per month. By the way, we're not getting paid for just showing the ads; it's only paying (pennies) when someone clicks on one of the ads, which only about 1% of the visitors do.
Steamboats.org is and always has been a non-profit website which we built up and operate in the evenings and on weekends, spending hundreds and thousands or hours over the years to keep up this place as a meeting point and online community for steamboat and river fans.
Running steamboats.org is literally my only hobby, but it's fun. Your friendship is reward enough for that work and we were never even considering to push in the direction of a commercial website with this.
So I'm not feeling bad at all when asking you for the favor to vote for us in that contest as I think it's a great chance to give something back for all the efforts we're putting into this website; and it cost you almost nothing - just a few mouse clicks - to vote a couple of times for us.
Well, enough with this. Have fun, continue to enjoy steamboats.org. I just thought it's important to mention this just in case someone thought we can make a good living out of steamboats.org and don't need any support ;-)))
Franz
23/10/2009 6:51 pm
Hi Franz: Not long ago Judy referred to some people with less than a 60 IQ. That must be the same ones who e-mailed you. I had always figured it (steamboats.org) was a money loser. Regardless, once again my sincere thanks to you and Carmen on making this forum available to us.
23/10/2009 7:08 pm
Amen!! This website is worth its weight in gold! Wait--no, that won't work--ah, you and Carmen deserve MUCH more than a short cruise for all the work you've put into this. It's very professional; a great forum to educate people--and I've met so many great people through the site! Many thanks to you both! (And Captain Leonie, too!).
23/10/2009 9:40 pm
Amen! I'm sure Steamboats.org is a labor of love, but any monies earned are certainly justified!
24/10/2009 12:29 am
Franz I am that 1% that clicks on those ads! I've even made a purchase from one of the companies!
I think it's amazing what you are doing running this website, I couldn't imagine operating a website of this proportion, I have a hard enough time keeping my simple page updated!
I hope you do win the cruise! You are always welcome to come stay at our hotel, dine in our 4 star restaurant here, and ride the Chautauqua Belle all you want, my treat as a thank you for hosting this great website free of charge to us users.
24/10/2009 12:31 am
Flowers for You ...
Even if Dot/Org was making a killing; so what? Flowers for Carmen and Franz for giving the steamboat world such a lovely, informative, and education website. And PHOOEY to those others.
Or as Grandma Shipman used to say, "My word... I never!"
24/10/2009 8:03 am
Sam, you hit the nail on the head.
24/10/2009 12:32 pm
.org
I'm so sorry to see that some of our so-called steamboating colleagues think that .org is a moneymaker for you. I know of at least one of our posters who has promulgated this misconception (lie) in his emails to some of us in the past. Hopefully he is in a very small number who not only pass this misinformation, but who wish you ill in this adventure. Thanks to .org, we have met many people we never would have, friendships have been formed, and most importantly, THE WORD about steamboating has reached where it never would have without your efforts. Thank you for persisting over the years, and for putting up with some of us computer illiterates too!
24/10/2009 1:39 pm
Franz and Carmen,
My sentiments echo those of fellow dot.orgers who have already responded. Your expertise, interest, generosity and dedication have provided a means for so many in the river community to connect with each other, share information and photos, and promote and preserve the story of steamboating. That you do this as a not-for-profit endeavor is a testament to your love of the river, steamboats, and the people connected with them. Our debt of gratitude to you both is very great. Kudos to you both from yet another of your many appreciative steamboat.org members.
24/10/2009 2:00 pm
Click on The Ads
Since this thread's been posted, I have started clicking onto this website's ads (never did before), and have found some interesting links. Thanks. And it is especially gratifyng to know that each click brings a few additional sheckles into the D/O coffers. It takes money to operate a steamboat, or a steamboat website, so I highly recommend patronizing our sponsors.
24/10/2009 2:02 pm
I fail to see why this is even a topic! Even if there was money being made from this site, which there is not, if one has not been asked for money, what concern is it to that person or others.
I also want to express my thanks for this board, the effort put into it, and the job of moderating it. The last has to be at least on par with hearding cats.