Ron Burke wrote: > > Nice of you to ask.... > > I could give you some information on hosting.... cost and stuff like that > > I threw up what I thought a out line of the web page might be... > > I have Met and Talked with Tom he is interested in gathering the mail from > the list and adding a searchable link so you could search for keywords and > read all the old mail that has that word in it. > > Also a 337 data base. > > If I were the Web Master, I would like to see a sight with all the standard > stuff, But I would like to get as many state reps out there that could set > up (and maintain) a state page... In addition I am real excited about the > foto restore and maintaince..... I would like to not only see coupes fly but > be maintained well. > > I am a computer professional, that also has a ISP, and WEB consulting > business, and I use the Coupe for business. Our starting price for a web > site like the one I invision starts at $25,000 and goes right up to "OH MY > GOD, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING" > > I would like to see this Coupe site be more than just a Photo gallery, but > be a place for information and to meet with other Coupers. Since I have > found this list I have been to the Oregon, and Washington Coupe meets... It > was just to cool to hit the run up area with 2 coupes to the left and 2 to > the right, Tom has a true yuppie coupe do not get me wrong I would love to > rebuild mine like that. I hope to get some more pictures of it. this thing > does not look like it did in 1946, but does look like it was built > yesterday. > > I would be willing to help in anyway I can to get this going. BUT I do not > play power games and will NOT hold up a project because one person doesn't > like it. > > I could host the site, and I have had some contact with the guy that has > Ercoupe.com... hoping to beg or buy use of that URL.... > > but Coupes.com might be available... > > I will re-digest the mail you sent, but if you have any more questions or > comments please let me know.
Thanks for your response, Ron. To start with, I'm very inclined to be with you on not playing power games. I think this project could be created and maintained on a pretty friendly volunteer basis. Yeah, we'd like to have the $15,000 job but there's no way the club will fork out that much money. When I first started editing Coupe Capers in '91, it was done for free just as Skip had done it for free more or less for 20 years. After a couple of years, I was spending 50 hours a month on it and asked the club to pay something -- $250/issue. They're now paying Carolyn $250, I think. Rather than trying to buy Ercoupe.com, how about if we put a claim on Ercoupe.org? or Coupe.org? or Aircoupe.org or something along those lines. I know that the .com suffex would probably be the first choice of people who just try something, but I would hope we could get a friendly mutual reference from ercoupe.com as well as from the other coupe sites. In my fuzzy knowledge, there is some cost in registering the name Ercoupe.org or whatever. There would also be monthly costs for the web site disk space. Are there costs per hit or per meg of download or anything like that customarily charged? Then there's the cost of the expert layout and design. I looked at the Short Wing Piper page and the 120/140 page and I was impressed with their layout. However, are we now to the stage where we can make a frames-only page and get everyone? I'm kind of inclined to go for a bit simpler layout to avoid creating blockages for people with primative software. I do want at least a medium classy visual appeal and *excellent* readability. All that bumps into the means of creating the page. We need one or many volunteers. I think there needs to be a webmaster for the page who can bring us together. That person would need to have the time available to coordinate the efforts of others and, when others fail, to sometimes get it done himself. I'm inclined to be one of the "others" who provides content, helps update some stuff and perhaps maintains some sub-pages. If pressed, I could be the webmaster but I don't yet know enough to do that right and do it easily. I like the ideas you listed: > I have Met and Talked with Tom he is interested in gathering the mail from > the list and adding a searchable link so you could search for keywords and > read all the old mail that has that word in it. That sounds very good. We have a dynamic discussion going on the list and I personally like the list format for that kind of back and forth. > Also a 337 data base. Definitely! But I think the club would want it put behind a member ID/password system that would encourage membership. We would probably want to have descriptions of each 337 out on the public area as an enticement for people to join and get access to the 337s. > If I were the Web Master, I would like to see a sight with all the standard > stuff, But I would like to get as many state reps out there that could set > up (and maintain) a state page... In addition I am real excited about the > foto restore and maintaince..... I would like to not only see coupes fly but > be maintained well. > I would like to see this Coupe site be more than just a Photo gallery, but > be a place for information and to meet with other Coupers. Yes. Here's a longer list of possibilities: 1. Fly-in list (public) 2. Restoration section as you described (public?) 3. State pages for any states that can muster the support. At least one page per region even if we have to do the web page stuff ourselves. (public) 4. Detailed history of the plane (public) 5. Type certificates (public) 6. Accident information and causes (public) 7. Ads from club vendors. (public) 8. Maintenance articles and FAQ (members) 9. 337 database (members) 10. STC database with information on where to get rights to the STC. (members?, public?) 11. Up-to-date searchable membership list (from Carolyn every month) (members?) 12. Members ads as printed in Coupe Capers -- put on-line on mailing date of Coupe Capers (members) 13. Current articles from each Coupe Capers -- put on-line on mailing date of Coupe Capers (members) 14. Old articles from all back issues we can get on disk. ?chronologically with index? (members) ... 296. Cross-links to all other Coupe sites and other aviation sites 297. Photo gallery with descriptions and perhaps bios of owners. Small file size photos to save space. (This group is at least 20% a social club.) (public) 298. News about people in the club. 299. Club business items 300. Method to buy club paraphanalia on-line? Or just referral to the person who sells club stuff. If I were doing this, we would be registering the name, renting space and access and we the members would be doing all the work as best we could. And I don't know what the costs would be. I'd like to start, at this point, to open the discussion up to any other member of the list who would like to contribute at any level. I'll re-post some of this discussion to the list as a seed to get participation started. Thanks for your participation. Feel free to volunteer to be in charge of the site! And be careful what you wish for. If you were hosting the site, Ron, how would you see the break-down of the site and the work involved? How about the costs? By the end of the month, I'd like to have a formal proposal ready to send to the board of directors. Since I brought up the subject at the Board of Directors meeting, I also seem to have volunteered to coordinate the proposal. -- Ed Burkhead East Peoria, Ill. N3802H, 415-D
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