Donations!

Luv_V8 · **Posted:** Sat Nov 09, 2002 1:03 pm

ok guys, ben and derek work hard to keep this site up and running for us, i am willing to send in whatever i can when i can cause the stuff ive learned on here in just a short period of time is worth all the money in the world to me, but seeings as im struggling to even get stuff for my truck cant give what i think would be appropriate but i know i will send what i can when i can. Just wanted to say thanks to ben and derek for all their hard work, and taking time out of their life to do this for ALL of us.

Later

~Es~

77ssluv · **Posted:** Sat Nov 09, 2002 11:10 pm

Well, i may be prompted to throw a few bucks at someone......something....... Problem is- who, how, what, where.

Just out of curiosity, could someone on the "owner" end of this cool site give me an idea of what part of this site creates costs. i used to have a "web" page and there was a yearly registration. don't get me wrong, I am just wondering about the 'overhead' on something like this. I have absolutely NO idea what the expenses are. I imagine if you didnt design all this yourself, it would cost a nickel to pay to have it done!

I would be glad to contribute if I knew how.
:microwave:

"G"

Ben · **Posted:** Sun Nov 10, 2002 12:53 pm

Hey guys. Thanks for the kind words and stuff.

My opinion is that although donations would be nice, I'd rather see you guys get something for you money as well. The banners give us a little money if you click on them AND buy something, and we have the t-shirts and stickers as well. That way, at least you get something in return.

The site itself was setup by Derek and myself from top to bottom. Derek did all of the graphic layout and design for the main site. The main page, photo gallery, etc., were all his design and creation. I did most of the hardware setup and the bulletin board and chat room setup.

Now that the site is all up and running there are basically two things it requires.

A) Manual updates of the photo gallery, owner registry, and whatever else.
B) Monthly hosting costs.

The updates normally aren't that big of a deal. We have everything set up with templates so additions are pretty simple. The only thing that takes time is sorting through the info and emailing back and forth with members to get complete information.

The hosting costs are a little different than you might think. We don't pay a hosting company to host the site. Instead, the entire site is run from a server here at my house. There's an article about it here. The hosting costs come in the form of a dedicated SDSL 768K connection that runs $99/month. The server also handles a few other sites, although none of them get near the usage that this site gets. So the $99 isn't all incurred by LUVTruck.com, but I'd say it's about 75% of it.

There are a few reasons why I host the site here rather than going with a cheaper hosting solution at a server farm or something like.

No red tape from a hosting company

no bandwidth limits or charges (other than the 768K max of the DSL)
no CPU limits or charges
no storage limits
no hassle about running a MySQL database for the bulletin board and chat room

Total control of the site in all aspects

control of data back-up strategy
control of security
control of hardware being used

Derek and I trade off about who does the photo gallery updates and stuff. Lately I've been taking care of it all.

Luv_V8 · **Posted:** Sun Nov 10, 2002 1:11 pm

Thats all fine and good to receive something for our money, but just receiving something doesnt mean physical objects, i mean i for one as i said before have learned a ton on modifications and other stuff in general, the shirts and stickers cost $ to be made, ok i dont know how much or anything so its still not full profit, i know that most of us including me are having a hard enough time getting the money for our trucks much less having some extra to send but if i can find a part or something that i need in a boneyard that saves me the money that it was gonna cost me right there and then it is avaliable to send. anyway that's just my thoughts.

Later

~Es~

77ssluv · **Posted:** Sun Nov 10, 2002 2:48 pm

dude, anyone who can take in car retro's and high performance, and also turn out a site like this...... HOMAGE!

thanxs for explaining that. sounds interesting. Ill get some stuff soon!

"G"

drummerforhire · **Posted:** Wed Nov 13, 2002 10:10 pm

Just my 2¢... If I decided to send in...say 5 dollars a month or something, not as a fee, but as a donation, I would have no clue what to do with all the luvtruck.com stickers I would have in a couple of months.

77ssluv · **Posted:** Wed Nov 13, 2002 10:38 pm

You know what i think, if there was a financial burden brought to the attention of the rest of us, plenty would step up to the plate. Until then.... lets talk trucks![/i]

Ben · **Posted:** Wed Nov 13, 2002 11:32 pm

My opinion is, any income that the site generates (whatever form it comes in as) would be appreciated and used towards the hosting costs.

I've got mixed feelings on this subject so I'll just toss them out there.

On one hand, the hosting costs aren't really a finacial burden on me right now. I also use the server for some personal sites so I can't claim that this site is responsible for the whole $99. I also enjoy helping other LUV owners share knowledge with eachother. I read the boards daily and have learned useful information from other owners on a regular basis. So, I think the money is going to a worthy cause and is well spent.

On the other hand, if the site were to generate enough income to pay for itself I would be extremely happy. That would be money I could use towards other things. But at this point I don't think it's realistic to assume that the site will ever pay for itself. I've assumed the financial responsibility of the site and I will continue to pay for it until I'm unable to or unwilling to. I don't see either happening in the near future so "Until then.... lets talk trucks!".

djewett · **Posted:** Thu Nov 14, 2002 12:49 pm

My 2cents - Not sure how the decals are moving, but I have to date got about 5 t-shirt orders, and by the time my wife and daughter get done taking their cut, (for helping) I think I have been able to produce about $3.00 profit since we started selling them. Not exactly what I envisioned, and my guess is people just don't dig them, and that's cool. Both the decals and shirts were to help provide a few dollars to help offset Ben's costs, and to spread the word about the website. I am wondering if I should just give up on the t-shirt thing? Anyway one thought I had, is the website could always use some support, monitary is great, but also people can donate time as well, in some way. For example maybe one of the members is really good with web content stuff, like jazzing up the website, or creating some scripted features to use on the website? Travis (Luv4me) for example takes care of the decal sales 100%, which is a major help!!! I don't know how much time Travis puts into them, but I am sure it is time taken away from doing something else, like wrenching on his truck! So if there are members that have a skill, or just want to pitch in, let us know.

Also at the very least I think all of us Chevy LUV owners owe a great deal of thanks (and lots of cash donations lol) to Ben for footing the bill for this website. We put everything into it knowing it's only real value would be to bring us Chevy LUV owners together to share notes, thoughts, and knowledge. I think it has done just that, and even sparked what may have been the first ever "LUV truck meet". I hope and feel that every LUV truck owner that visits this website gets one thing and that is insparation.

D.

argusknows · **Posted:** Thu Nov 14, 2002 2:25 pm

I bought a couple of shirts and several stickers.

I think they are great and they definitely were NOT expensive.

I agree they are a great way to advertise and promote the site.

Thanks for offering these items and for the time all of you have put into making this site such a success!

Mike

Luv_V8 · **Posted:** Thu Nov 14, 2002 5:34 pm

I GOT SKILLLLZZZZ LOL. I can do the html coding and all that but here recently have been doing so much it has become a draggg, but on the other hand i can produce images as well, .gif, .bmp of course but extravagant ones at that, so u need a sig, or banner anything like that lemme know whats up and ill go about putting it together. let me know

Later

~Es~

77ssluv · **Posted:** Thu Nov 14, 2002 6:40 pm

Why dont you just post a button or link somewhere so anyone can dump a little ccccaaaasssshhhhh into it. make it visible. Its really no big deal. you should benefit from hosting a site like this. Just throw in a button somewhere. Call it a support button.

I'm blown away by this site, you should pocket some ccccaaaasssshhhh for your creation. I will now step out of your business, and sent you both a big THANX for the site.

dave

Luv_V8 · **Posted:** Thu Nov 14, 2002 7:07 pm

yah there ya go, god idea just drop in a link that has say home address for those of us not old enough to have CC or to poor to have a bank account lol for money orders and the info to dump it into a paypal account etc.....

Ben · **Posted:** Fri Nov 15, 2002 12:02 am

A banner would be great. I just threw one together to put over at Chappy's S-Truck. Link here http://members.lycos.co.uk/JChapoton/phpBB2/index.php

I'm not all that happy with it. If you want to come up with something in your spare time, that would help me out.

Luv_V8 · **Posted:** Fri Nov 15, 2002 9:33 am

Ill see what i can come up with gonna be going out of town saturday and working on truck the rest of the weekend but if i come in before dawn ill see what i can do lol

Later

~ES~

djewett · **Posted:** Fri Nov 15, 2002 10:05 am

Yeah a cool banner would be nice! Thanks for stepping up to lend a hand V8!

djewett · **Posted:** Fri Nov 15, 2002 10:06 am

Also if anyone is a php guru we still need to get a "submital form" that users can use to submit info and pics of their rides, anyone ever done this type of thing?

Grimace · **Posted:** Sun Nov 17, 2002 7:23 am

well, i have never done any type of site management or anything, but if you need a bouncer for the unruly types, (you know you are out there) i am your man.

LUVTruck.com

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