On January 19, 2007, Mike, AL2N started the "Island of Misfit Hams". To say that the years since have been a bumpy ride for the forums is a major understatement. Many members have come and gone... too many departed as silent keys. Management has changed several times... ditto for "ownership". "Ownership" barely has an application in the real world in regards to the forums, as the site has a very low dollar value.
While that is true, the site has a very high sentimental value. This is confirmed by the very loyal core group who has supported the forums for many years in one manner or the other, be it via active posts and contributions to actual financial donations.
It seems that amateur radio related forums have suffered a steep decline in active membership and activity. They may deny this, but traffic at QRZ is very low compared to what it used to be. eHam also seems to be losing serious contributors these days. HamIsland is no exception... since the 1st of the year, the daily number of posts/comments has averaged less than 4. The statistics indicate 1,427 members, with 222 being considered "active". I'll need to review the criteria used by the software to determine what constitutes an active member. I do note that, on an average day, only 1 or 2 dozen registered members visit the site in that 24 hour period. No matter how you interpret those figures, less than 4 posts per day is very, very low. When compared to server expenses/software/domain registrations, we're looking at a cost of over $1.00 per post.
Donations are on a similar path. Here are the numbers from Jan 1, 2021, to today:
That "shortfall" is coming out of my pocket. That, my friends, has been the norm for as long as I have pushed, fought, and committed to keeping us on the web. Looking back, I can recall 4 server migrations, a software upgrade to vBulletin, and 4 "owners". We currently recognize 3 owners on the main page, but I count that group as 1 for the sake of discussion.Code:Donated: $ 35.00
Fees: $ 1.62
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Net: $ 33.38
Jan - Jun: $569.70
Net Donations: $ 33.38
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Shortfall: $536.32
Clearly, none of this is sustainable. Even though I never expected the site to net any sort of profit, it is becoming insane how much money I have put into this. My only goal was to provide a forum for fellow amateur radio operators to communicate common interests without being hassled by strong-armed forum administration.
Going forward, I will be turning everyday operations over to an interested party soon, a person who has new ideas for the site. I feel that I have carried my share of the burden long enough. I intend to stay active here in whatever manner is deemed necessary. There is no hard timeline for this transition at this time, but it is inevitable.
Changes are required to make this worth the effort. First, and most important, all of our members need to become more active. With over 200 active members, it isn't realistic to accept that nobody has anything to contribute in the vast number of topics discussed here. There are several forums dedicated to the technical aspects of the service with excellent signal to noise ratios not found on other forums. We have forums dedicated to other hobbies and interests, and are always open to suggestions regarding new forums, within reason. We are nearly at the point now that we are at forum overload, with just too many different forums for one site. We don't want to emulate QRZ with their endless list of forums and sub-forums, many of which are totally ignored by their members.
Photographs! We need more! Field Day, Contests, antennas, shack photos, pet photos, and photos which are simply meant to be shared. I will look at the allowable size for images later today, and will increase those limits, within reason. We won't allow a 4240x3200 12MB JPEG that will "blow up" the forum layout on any sized monitor, but we'll find a happy medium.
Donations... ever since I have been involved in donations here, it is always the same 10-12 individuals who pony up. And, like I did when Jeff was the owner, some contribute too much. It has never been expected that a few individuals would shoulder so much of the financial load. I personally never expected that I would have to consistently assume so much of the financial burden to keep us going. I'm not complaining, but I am grumbling a bit because, frankly it's getting old.
So, lets see some comments on this, and a hell of an increase in the overall commenting activity in the forums. As always, I'll leave donations up to the individual, and will state that any donation is greatly appreciated.
73,
Luke - ad4mg
