Social Networking for Boat Stuff

[Stoutcat]

Re: Social Networking for Boat Stuff

Hi Chris,

I think your car club is on to something, and I think we can learn from you. What would be our next step?

Alan

 

[chrismarion]

Re: Social Networking for Boat Stuff

To get things started you would need to decide how you are going to run this social site. Is it going to be paid for monthly, annually or a free site (Yahoo groups, etc) ? If its going to be a Dot Com site, you could do what my forum did orignally. You get vouched in, better make a contributing donation towards the site. If you had each person that is an FNG (F'nNewGuy) donate $10, you could pay for a domain with 10 members for a year or more. Or make it annual? Whichever works for you, but thats what I would decide first. And that brings me to my next point, you need a "founding fathers" or "Congress" so to speak to make the decisions as a group for the site. I would start there. Atleast 5, makes it a democracy.
I honestly believe this would be a great idea, not only for marine parts. Think of the possibilities you could use this for. Say you have a motor two states over, get a member to bring it halfway for you. You dont have the cash to throw him for gas, but you do have some cloth or resin he could really use. Throw him that and a +1 for when he needs something. Also could work great for other items purchased online or classified. Give the member a cashiers check, let him cash it and take the cash to the seller. Prevents any scam of money fraud or keeping the item and cash. Gets it out of the sellers hands. You guys can pretty much think of any situation this would benefit.

1) Form a founders or permanent few that will hold the spot untill they are out, old, whatever and a new person would be voted into that spot when that day comes.
2) Decide wether its a pay site or free user group
3) *If pay site* Site member who is also the site controller runs the site. He/She however is not on the councel. A neutral party.
4) Just a message board? Or other extra stuff on it like a forsale section between the members. Give the members a first chance, might sell it quicker plus it keeps the family mentality going. On ours, members dont pay full price like outside the forum would. That includes items you could get at a discount from you work. A perk if you will.
5) Set up the rules, how to get in. No bull clause! Reputations should be worth something.
6) Complete names with address' mandatory with membership. No other tidly names. You should be located if something went down.
7) Decide how big you will let it grow, or keep a certain growth percentage annually. Believe me, something great will be wanted by many. And then when you cant control the amount of people, chaos will happen.
8) Voucher system, membership only granted if you are vouched by a respected member and councel grants access. Your little pet FNG screws up, goodbye to you both.( May sound a bit paranoid, but your messing with peoples property/money/reputations)
9) Member number system, shows your seniority. Your entrance number stays with you untill you part ways and isnt given to the person next inline. Your member #231 will be yours, then dead after you leave or get banned.

I mean, thats the first things I would do. Discuss this with the people you believe would be great at getting this started and want to be a part of it. Word will spread. YOU DONT, however, GIVE ANY INFORMATION FROM THE SITE TO ANYONE OUTSIDE THE MEMBERSHIP! Best analogy is the fight club line. I can tell if I were a member and this got started, I would purchase more items the are farther away.

Just my .02

 

[Stoutcat]

Re: Social Networking for Boat Stuff

Hi,

Chris, thanks for your input on this... Thoughts... Just my .02...

* I'd strongly suggest that we really steer clear of members handling $$$ in transactions aside from buyer and seller through something like PayPal and eBay.... That way, if there is a problem, PayPal and eBay can get involved.

* As for a founder or council members... That's a tough one... Off the top of my head, I'd say that it's going to take an interested someone with a pretty reputable resume and a lot of time (years and 1,000+ posts) on this forum...

* Maybe there's a way to ensure security and make this profitable for iBoats.com as a side benefit... Suppose that there are three requirements to be met before a person can become part of our hypothetical network. First, the person will have to be recommended by a trusted member. Second, we'll have to have adequate info about the person to contact him if one of his trusted friends messes up. Lastly, a person has to join "iBoats.com Prime". "iBoats.com Prime" would basically be a service modeled after "Amazon.com Prime". (You pay $100/year, and for that fee, you can buy most stuff off Amazon.com and not pay for the shipping. {And yes, that includes safes and table saws and other heavy stuff.} That would eliminate the issue of people trying to "fraud" their way into our social network. My wife and I have Amazon.com prime, and wouldn't trade it for the world.) And, Amazon can partner up with iBoats to make this happen.

* On the other hand, a free group would be good too... Thought's? Buehler?

Alan

 

[redfury]

Re: Social Networking for Boat Stuff

I guess the question is going to be what the target demographic is going to be for this kind of set up. I'll use myself as an example. I'm only working on the one boat, and it's a slow go ( been 3 years and I've only gotten it torn down, and not all the way yet! ). I would be less willing to jump onto a network for $100/yr simply because it would not benefit me on a receiving side..however, I'm certainly the type to help move things around when it was possible.

However, a free site would make operations difficult unless you had a member that was willing to pay for and run the site. I could see paying a one time membership fee....and then perhaps a Paypal donation button on the site with yearly "membership drives" that would allow those that can pay a little to help with operating costs. Anyone willing to participate in such a site would be the type to donate to keep it going, even if they didn't have a lot to add to the pot...every little bit would count though. I see a lot of sites that do that and they always meet their operating cost quotas if they are a decent site.

There should also be a participation requirement. Inactivity without explanation would result in the governing board to decide if the member should be removed from the network...weeding the garden if you will. Just a simple email or phone call to confirm their status ( things happen that you can't control, so I'd hate someone to lose their hard worked status due to an unforeseeable event ).

 

[ryanmitton]

Re: Social Networking for Boat Stuff

BTW, you can see that I use my real name here as I do everywhere. I got nothing to hide and that's how it should be.

agreed. and I would be part of this network. I live in Calgary, alberta canada and I frequently drive (with extra room) to Kamloops BC, Edmonton Alberta, and the transcanada highway between Calgary and Dryden Ontario. About twice a year for both.

I"ve been thinking myself about if there is a business opportunity in providing bargain, but not timely, shipping that essentially caters only to Kijiji (in canada kijiji is bigger than craigslist, and ebay). Setup a pickup/drop off locations in each main city you pass trough, and say you hit it once per week and do a big circut.

Just thinking out loud but I would be more than happy to help out fellow boating and fishing enthusiasts in the areas from Calgary to Kamloops, Edmonton, or east to Dryden Ontario.

I would join your network and I would provide some serious accountability info like a CC# or a scan of my drivers license. I don't have anything to hide either.