IMPORTANT NEWS ABOUT 5PUNK.CO.UK

Post by **Joose** » May 2nd, 2007, 18:26

I would be more than happy to stump up the £12 a month for the site. Now that I have a job I've been meaning to contribute financially to the upkeep of the place anyway.

Im buggered if im paying £300 for the privilege though.

As for "runnning the site", I think whoever gets it is going to be best off largely leaving it to the mods for day to day stuff (they are doing a cracking job of it at the moment), and letting the community as a whole decide on other things.

Post by **TezzRexx** » May 2nd, 2007, 18:31

This is a sad day for Daddy Wey to hand down

But yeah, i'd like it if there was a collective group managing 5punk, with one elected leader.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » May 2nd, 2007, 18:35

Joose wrote:Im buggered if im paying £300 for the privilege though.

THAT. (I'm not gonna rant here, but I find that fucking insulting, narf)

Joose wrote:As for "runnning the site", I think whoever gets it is going to be best off largely leaving it to the mods for day to day stuff (they are doing a cracking job of it at the moment), and letting the community as a whole decide on other things.

That - Any changes made to 5punk should change absolutely nothing on the day to day level, with site-wide agreements for some stuff, maybe a responsible adult for the overall leader position

Post by **FatherJack** » May 2nd, 2007, 18:56

I too have a Dreamhost unlimited thing I'd be happy to carry on paying for, buy a similar domain name for and give all existing admins the rights they require to continue as we were - assuming they'd be happy to do so, but 300 notes just for the name seems crazy.

So crazy infact, that I suspect WEY is going for the April, May, June and July Fool, like Holly did with Queeg.

Chickenz · Post by **Chickenz** » May 2nd, 2007, 18:58

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:A responsible adult for the overall leader position

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Post by **Joose** » May 2nd, 2007, 19:24

M4niachicken wrote:

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

pffffffffffffft

eion · Post by **eion** » May 2nd, 2007, 19:30

Joose wrote:
pffffffffffffft

THIS.

stroudy1 · Post by **stroudy1** » May 2nd, 2007, 20:03

I think £300 notes is fair. I know im a relatively new 5punker and a close friend of wey but i think we should all bear in mind wey originally set this up and despite having a young family and very little time he has still managed to keep the site looking mint and well used on a regular basis. I know alot also has to do with the fact that there is a great community spirit on 5punk, but lets give the man his due's rather than just saying he's trying to rip someone off. there's what almost 600 members on this website which is 50p per person, i don't think thats too much to pay to keep hold of the 5punk domain name which we all know and love!

Post by **deject** » May 2nd, 2007, 20:14

M4niachicken wrote:

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I'd love to do this, but have neither the time or money to do so myself.

Woo Elephant Yeah · Post by **Woo Elephant Yeah** » May 2nd, 2007, 20:45

I should have said in the first post, as already mentioned the pot for the next years hosting is now full, and I don't intend to keep that money, it was donated by 5punkers, and is rightfully there ready for the next years hosting. (Can you pay in advance for Dreamhost hosting? If so I'll do it now)

The reason I am selling the site, is that there is great potential to make money out of a site like this, however more importantly, the site needs someone that "owns it" otherwise it will inevitably fail.

This is an extremely difficult decision for me, and I'm buggered if after all these years I'm just going to give it away for free, after all the hard work I have put into it.

The major reason I can't just hand over responsibility to the existing admins is that I'm sure none of them would want to actually take overall responsibility for it.

I have setup and managed 4 communities in my time, only one of which was a lot larger than this, and I know 100% that without one individual who owns/runs it and makes the ultimate decision, nothing will happen and things will become stagnant.

It will be like the Peoples Front Of Judiah in Monty Python, where everyone has the opportunity to say something, but nothing actually gets decided.

I'm not asking for "money on top of the hosting" as Berk has made out, I'm offering the entire community to someone who is willing to pay for it.

The tiny little bit of Google advertising I added to bottom of the front page has made $20 in a month, and if you were to add that to the bottom of the forum on 5punk, I'm sure it could make a lot more than that.
I'm not saying it should be done, but it's a possibility if someone would like to make money from the site.

Almost everyone I have spoken to outside of 5punk (family, friends, colleagues & 2 web designers) have stated that they think it sounds like a fair price for something as popular as 5punk is.

Honestly, I don't want to upset anyone by doing this, but I feel it's the only way this site can continue to be what it is without eventually falling apart into nothing. If nobody wants to buy it, then I guess I will have to think of something else, but I would never just shut down 5punk, that would be utterly wrong and insulting to everyone I know on here.

Really, I don't think selling a website such as this for the same price as a bloody graphics card is that disgusting!

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » May 2nd, 2007, 20:46

stroudy1 wrote:Stuff.

What you say is all fair.

But as soon as WEY put the site up for sale/bidding, it became a commercial thing, as in whoever pays more gets the site. which doesn't strike me as good for 5punk or the community, just good for wey.

However, if he'd talked to the admins about putting a new person in charge, wanting some cash to cover the hosting/domain etc and stepping back from the site as the owner, that'd have been reasonable and I'd have no issues with it or putting some cash towards wey.

Post by **FatherJack** » May 2nd, 2007, 20:51

stroudy1 wrote:I think £300 notes is fair. I know im a relatively new 5punker and a close friend of wey but i think we should all bear in mind wey originally set this up and despite having a young family and very little time he has still managed to keep the site looking mint and well used on a regular basis. I know alot also has to do with the fact that there is a great community spirit on 5punk, but lets give the man his due's rather than just saying he's trying to rip someone off. there's what almost 600 members on this website which is 50p per person, i don't think thats too much to pay to keep hold of the 5punk domain name which we all know and love!

If it's true he's leaving, then it's better to choose a successor (at least initially) from amongst the existing admins who have the best idea on how to keep 5punk, 5punky and to keep it running so well. I also think it would be wiser to select a new domain owner by voting who would be most trusted, rather than who has the most ready cash.

If he needs the money for his new family, that's perfectly fair enough - but I think a whip-round from all of us to say "thanks for an excellent job well done" would both be more in the spirit of what he started, and probably net more than £300.

Edit: some of this was written before WEY's post, so I'd missed the bit about continuing hosting charges, but I still feel they could be gotten more easily from a number of people, rather than an individual.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » May 2nd, 2007, 20:54

FatherJack wrote:If he needs the money for his new family, that's perfectly fair enough - but I think a whip-round from all of us to say "thanks for an excellent job well done" would both be more in the spirit of what he started, and probably net more than £300.

So. fucking. hard.

cashy · Post by **cashy** » May 2nd, 2007, 21:00

FatherJack wrote: If he needs the money for his new family, that's perfectly fair enough - but I think a whip-round from all of us to say "thanks for an excellent job well done" would both be more in the spirit of what he started, and probably net more than £300.

This may be true, but then we have no real leader. If somebody pays £300 for this site then that person is more than likely going to make sure it stays healthy, but if nobody claims ownership of it then theres a chance everybody will say 'oh balls the sites been hacked again, i'll wait till somebody else sorts it'.

£300 seems more than fair to be honest, there has been a great deal of time and money gone into this website. Expecting WEY to just throw it into the middle of the room and say 'enjoy' is a bit daft.

Woo Elephant Yeah · Post by **Woo Elephant Yeah** » May 2nd, 2007, 21:02

Thanks Cashy, you're bang on there, although you probably summed it up better in 2 lines than I ever could.

Post by **Dog Pants** » May 2nd, 2007, 21:05

FatherJack wrote:If he needs the money for his new family, that's perfectly fair enough - but I think a whip-round from all of us to say "thanks for an excellent job well done" would both be more in the spirit of what he started, and probably net more than £300.

I mentioned that earlier and I think it's perfectly fair. I'd also like to reiterate though what WEY (and me previously) said about the site not being ruled by comittee, as I think it's the biggest risk from that plan of action. One person needs to be the owner, who 'gets' 5punk and who has some vision and ambition for the site. If you want something by donating other than keeping the site alive and 5punky, then you'd be doing it for the wrong reasons.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » May 2nd, 2007, 21:25

I totally agree. We need a new leader, not a stop gap or a committee.

Post by **Joose** » May 2nd, 2007, 21:30

Look, im not being funny, but what you are offering here really isnt a commercial interest. There is no way that 5punk could be turned into something that would make a £300 investment reasonable without killing the community. Like you said, the small advert on the fron page netted $20. so for that to even cover the £300 would take at least two years. When you take into acount hosting charges, it wouldnt even break even (and yes, that is taking into account a years hosting charges already being taken care of). In order for there to be enough advertising on the site for it to actually make money, it would piss the community off so much that a lot would leave, which would bugger the income from the advertising. So lets forget about it being anything to do with being a potential money spinner, because it really isnt.

Which means that the £300 buys you...what? The right to be in charge of 5punk, essentially. As you yourself have said, it needs constant attention to stop it stagnating, as well as time to administrate and deal with things like the recent haxxings. As well as, potentially (presuming the hosting funds might run out at some point) stumping up the cash to keep it going. Which means that it is volunteer work. You dont make someone pay £300 for the rights to work the counter of your local Oxfam, do you? *That* would be daft. As is the idea of charging someone to take up a job. By charging for the right to be the owner of 5punk, all it means is that the people who are likely to be good at the job wont want to pay to do it, and the people that would want to pay for it are the kind of people who just want it so they can say "I ARE TEH KING!" This is *exactly* the kind of people you *dont* want running a community.

So how about this: give the rights to 5punk to someone who is willing to take it on and that everyone (or at least a majority) agree will do a good job, and 5punk will have a whip around for monies to give you as a thank you for setting up what is, after all, a cracking community. That way we get a 5punky-leader who would actually do the job well, and family-WEY gets to buy new shoes and food

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » May 2nd, 2007, 21:34

Joose wrote:Stuff

That

Post by **FatherJack** » May 2nd, 2007, 21:43

Dog Pants wrote:I mentioned that earlier and I think it's perfectly fair. I'd also like to reiterate though what WEY (and me previously) said about the site not being ruled by comittee, as I think it's the biggest risk from that plan of action. One person needs to be the owner, who 'gets' 5punk and who has some vision and ambition for the site. If you want something by donating other than keeping the site alive and 5punky, then you'd be doing it for the wrong reasons.

I misunderstood about where the money was going, and for that I apologise.

I could afford it, and at least for the forseeable future would be happy to keep it a non-profit making venture. I wouldn't mind the responsibility of being the nominal leader, but I am a preternaturally self-concious individual and would not want to do so without the agreement of the majority of active members.

I have a lot of time to give to 5punk, but not all of it - I have a family and a job, and they will have to come first in some situations, so I couldn't do it without help - obviously excellent work already done by the admins continuing would be essential, and perhaps someone to act as treasurer and make sure the bills are paid on time might be a good addition.

Also, does anyone know where I could get a inexpensive crown?