Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Greetings.... all you SDAR members.  Just wanted to touch base with everyone here.  Some things have changed over the last few months here on the forum.  The torch has been passed on to a new site leader here, as Adventure Bum (Mike, ADV Bum) has had other things going on in his life lately, and has decided to focus on those things that are most near and important to him.  So I have accepted the offer to run the website, as of yesterday.  I hope that with the support of our members, we can keep this local legacy alive and running strong.

My background for this task comes from running one abandoned website, and being a global moderator on another local website.  I have been with SDAR for 14 years, and have seen a lot of changes over the years,  some good, some not so good.  With the advent of social media sites, forum style websites have been declining as people favor the ease of going from their page or news feed to a page that caters to and provides to some degree, a convenient alternative to regular forums.  However, these pages fail at organizing information in a neat and easily searchable format.  So there will always be a need for forum formats for those die hard enthusiasts looking to research for a ride, technical information and other topics.  It is important not to let our type of forum fade away.

SDAR is unique because it is designed for local people, real people who will probably be seeing one another and riding together, as opposed to large open forums, where a bulk of the members will only see each other on line.  We are community, and more than just cyber community.  I have been going over some of the upkeep costs of the site, and have found  that has become pretty expensive to maintain.  I am hoping that we will retain and increase our number of supporting members, and that we can increase our sponsoring advertisers to keep things running smoothly.

If anybody has any questions, or needs any help on the site, or also has any helpful tips or information, I will be available.

  • Like 5

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

First, many thanks to Mike ADV Bum for all his hard work with SDAR over the last few years !  Your dedication was greatly appreciated. 

Mimi, thanks for agreeing to take this on and help keep SDAR alive.

Just for everybody's curiosity, I analyzed the costs of running this site.

It's about $2500 per year, and if we remain a Corporation then it's another $800 per year.

The costs never used to be a problem since our Desert Dash event in February made just enough profit to cover the costs, and/or we were working and had extra money to finance SDAR when needed.

Since we couldn't put on the Desert Dash in 2021 and don't know if we can yet in 2022, we're lucky if we have a couple hundred bucks in the bank.

Right now, I am using finances from my trip money (the World trip I'm on right now) to keep the site alive, but if we don't start to generate enough revenue soon, I'll have to stop financing the site.

Hopefully, for those of you who enjoy and see the value in SDAR, many of you will continue to support us. Also, I hope some people will step up to help Mimi with organizing rides, meetings, events, etc. I am confident Mimi can do a good job and she knows a lot of people in the motorcycling arena.

Possibly some people can come up with different ideas to help us raise money to keep the site going.

Thanks to everyone who has helped and supported us in the past, we really hope to keep SDAR going for years to come.

One more thing, if you're in the San Diego Adventure Riders Group on Facebook, please post some links there to your ride reports here, and if you see people in the FB group looking for places to ride and people to ride with, please tell them about our forums so we can get more people participating here on the forums.

Thanks !

KTMrad - Randy Lazar

SDAR Founder 

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Mimi, thank you for taking on this monumental task.  I have been on SDAR for a long time and have met some amazing people here.  It's been interesting to see the changes over the years, who knows what we have to look forward to next.  Anyway, I hope we can continue to foster the fun environment that SDAR has been known for.   

See ya'll on the trail, my friends! 

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Mimi - aka: "Double D". Good on you for stepping up! Thanks! I tried using the "DONATE" button on the front page of the website but, cannot get it to cooperate and accept a CC donation?

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
30 minutes ago, Dress4Less said:

Mimi - aka: "Double D". Good on you for stepping up! Thanks! I tried using the "DONATE" button on the front page of the website but, cannot get it to cooperate and accept a CC donation?

It's PayPal only, we'll have to remove the credit card logos and/or get setup to accept credit card donations.

When using PayPal,  please hit the "sending to a friend" or "gift" button so we don't get charged a fee. And please put your real name and site nickname in the comments so we know who you are...thanks.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hello, congratulations and thank you for stepping up.

I'm a CTO on a technology company and I've been involved with computers for 30+ years now, so I seriously thought about stepping up, but since I'm very new here, I didn't think it would be a good idea. The forum needs someone with many years of history of collaboration, so I'm glad to see you taking this position.

I would like to offer you any technical knowledge I can contribute and assist to continue improving the site.

 

Cheers!

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 minutes ago, padu said:

Hello, congratulations and thank you for stepping up.

I'm a CTO on a technology company and I've been involved with computers for 30+ years now, so I seriously thought about stepping up, but since I'm very new here, I didn't think it would be a good idea. The forum needs someone with many years of history of collaboration, so I'm glad to see you taking this position.

I would like to offer you any technical knowledge I can contribute and assist to continue improving the site.

 

Cheers!

We still need an IT person to take over managing the Linode/Linux Apache server running Debian. Of course we are willing to pay someone either hourly or monthly.

We can talk and hook someone up with our current IT guy Mario who is willing to help us out thru this transition phase.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
2 minutes ago, padu said:

Hello, congratulations and thank you for stepping up.

I'm a CTO on a technology company and I've been involved with computers for 30+ years now, so I seriously thought about stepping up, but since I'm very new here, I didn't think it would be a good idea. The forum needs someone with many years of history of collaboration, so I'm glad to see you taking this position.

I would like to offer you any technical knowledge I can contribute and assist to continue improving the site.

 

Cheers!

IT is not my strong suite, so any help you can offer there will be greatly appreciated.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
30 minutes ago, KTMrad said:

It's PayPal only, we'll have to remove the credit card logos soon.

Got it...thanks!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you Mimi for stepping up.

I don't think we need board members here as that can sometimes be more cumbersome than anything.  But . . . I would encourage you to gather a few grey hair members here, and some IT minded people so you can both inspire and be inspired with solutions, ideas, etc.

I'm happy to help if, when, and where I can.

Kelly

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This is great news, thanks Mimi and congratulations to SDAR!

 

Donation inbound.

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Double Down on above comments.  You can count on our support as you move the site forward.  You have the skill-set to make us better than ever.

 

PS. Thank You to Big Mike for carrying the torch this far.

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
21 minutes ago, Dress4Less said:

Got it...thanks!

Donation sent...

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for taking on this responsibility.  Thanks also to Mike and Randy for all they have done over the years. Looking forward to many more years to come for this group.  Donation sent. 

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Good on you, Mimi!  I'll stay reading from Utah and wish you all the best!

I've been fortunate to meet and chat with Mike on a handful of occasions and have always enjoyed those conversations; thank you also, Mike, for all you did, and best wishes as you focus on other things! 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Mimi you are the perfect person to keep this site going. Thank You and please reach out and keep everybody posted on what is going on so we can suport you. 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

While I cant help out on the tech department I am always happy to host tech or get together days at my place and we have used that as a means of raising donations for the site as well.

All work that is provided by myself and others is done free of charge with the expectation that a donation that the person feels is suitable for the work done be made to the site.

That said I will be happy to host such a day in Oct if we get word out and people understand its not just a tech day but also a psudo SDAR meeting and such.
We have been talking about this for a couple of months but nothing has materialized (by BBQ I mean Ill cook hotdogs ;) )

Also I think if you were to send out a separate email to all of the members explaining the situation and solicit a donation (Include the details of how to in the email) you might find a lot of people would step up. I would since for me the donate button here has been very sketchy for me in the past.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
5 minutes ago, DSM8 said:

While I cant help out on the tech department I am always happy to host tech or get together days at my place and we have used that as a means of raising donations for the site as well.

All work that is provided by myself and others is done free of charge with the expectation that a donation that the person feels is suitable for the work done be made to the site.

That said I will be happy to host such a day in Oct if we get word out and people understand its not just a tech day but also a psudo SDAR meeting and such.
We have been talking about this for a couple of months but nothing has materialized (by BBQ I mean Ill cook hotdogs ;) )

Also I think if you were to send out a separate email to all of the members explaining the situation and solicit a donation (Include the details of how to in the email) you might find a lot of people would step up. I would since for me the donate button here has been very sketchy for me in the past.

Good idea.  I just checked the donation link and it looks pretty straight forward...except for the fact that donations can only be made via paypal link and not with a credit card.  I have done a little research on the Paypal link in the past, and have found that if you have a personal account (no cost to you), you can't have any pay options other than bank transfers.  If you set up a business account (paid service), you can have credit card links in that account. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you Mimi for taking the reigns.  I am recovering from Covid.  When you are in the hospital and they tell you that you have a 50/50 chance of making it, this can be eye opening. I have a family and many things that need to be done with priority.  I love SDAR and always will. Not going away, just stepping back a little. 

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
19 minutes ago, ADV Bum said:

Thank you Mimi for taking the reigns.  I am recovering from Covid.  When you are in the hospital and they tell you that you have a 50/50 chance of making it, this can be eye opening. I have a family and many things that need to be done with priority.  I love SDAR and always will. Not going away, just stepping back a little. 

Mike! Damn big man...sorry to hear you got the "bug..." I wish and hope for a full and speedy recovery for you. Is there anything that the SDAR peeps can do to assist?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you Dirt Dame, your knowledge and expertise is always appreciated. 

Randy, and Big Mike, A very sincere thank you for setting the foundation to build upon.

Old timers, always great to learn from you, AND ride with you.  Mac

My pleasure to Donate  :) 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Mimi,   Thank You for making the sacrifice to make SDAR move forward.  

This has gone down pretty quickly so please forgive this question about finance.As we hit the Donate Button and send money, are you the financial secretary (or whatever title)  at this point?

    In Support,  Dave

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×

Important Information