Isn't this what we pay a yearly dues for???!!!

No offense, but our $40.00 fee each year times over 1000 members equates to 40,000 a year in dues. Where is that moneyu going????? This should be enough to pay for the site and more. I run the NJTACC and never the less our membership is less but we charge NO DUES!!! Our site is up and running and doing fine.

I would really like to know where the money is going!!!!

Don O'Neill, Jr.

President of the NJTACC

A site of this size (and hits) costs more to host than ou think. Did you also notice the banner saying sccoas is sponsering the mn12 nationals?

You know....I have websites that deal more bandwidth and hits than this place. Just one of my sites has over 50,000 unique IPs a day (on average) and sends out over 15Gigs worth of data. This is no big deal. This place can't even handle 40 to 50 unique users at a time (This is the user# that i see when it gives me the damn server to busy error), then it's setup all wrong! Poor connection and crappy hardware!

Sure, money is spent on other events....but a new server runs about $500 MAX (I'm talk'n a really nice one off ebay). You can't tell me that the SCCoA doesn't have $500 in it's books...oh, wait, it doesn't 'cause it's already been taken and spent on whatever the owner feels like. (Prove me wrong!!!)

Richard,

sccoa.com is 1.7GB and uses 47-50GB per month and averages 5,000 unique visitors per day.

What is on your site? Is is static html? or are there read/writes to a large database? What functionality is included in the applications you run? Are the sites dynamic?

The setup for sccoa.com is correct (from linux, to PHP, to mySQL)and the connections are fine. The issue is with as you put it, the "crappy hardware" which is not enough to handle the load the forums put on the server when the amount of users gets too large.

Instead of complaining and telling me that I have it all done wrong, why don't you provide me with your solutions?

Who is your service provider, what do they offer? How much do you pay per month and what do you get?

Here is what we have:

http://www.communitech.net/products/dedicated/specials/

we have the CT#4 special with an added 45GB of bandwidth and we pay $98 a month.

Help me to help you, in the end, everyone who uses these forums benefits.

Ron

You go ,Ron

You got it going, some times no matter how hard you try,someone has got to pi$$ in your Wheaties. You got the page up and running and all you get now is this crap. Lets all try to help each other,rather than make remarks that are not very nice. Go ahead and blast me now if those who like to blast,but the bottom line is. without good help and a bit of praise once in a while it is hard to do a good job. I for one can deal with the busy sign once in a while.Lets all try to help,not just slam....Rich P.S. if someone wants to take this up I will be at the mn12 nats. and my door is always open....

It could be

I think most people who have complained are upset about not knowing how their money is being spent. It's one thing to see that X amount of dollars are going to print Chargin Thunder and Y about of dollars are spent on the website but I've never seen that. In the light of recent posts being made, I think Chargin Thunder should stop. I feel that a member vote should take place so members can vote on what their money is being spent on. I mean, isn't SCCoA about it's members? Maybe the Nationals would be a good time to do that. Actually, the Nationals might prove interesting with the recent posts flying around lately.

Oh, yes, I'm a paying member. I'm not mad at anyone but I sure would like to know how the money is being spent. Bill's and Ron's time is worth something but how much. Are they paying themselves? Maybe, maybe not. Does anyone know? The SCCoA just has a lot of unanswered questions.

blkthndr said:

*Deletes name*,

sccoa.com is 1.7GB and uses 47-50GB per month and averages 5,000 unique visitors per day.

What is on your site? Is is static html? or are there read/writes to a large database? What functionality is included in the applications you run? Are the sites dynamic?

Click to expand...

Several of my sites are just pure HTML. These are the sites that get very few hits. The sites that get the most hits are PHP and ASP in format and use MySQL. My database files for one site are over 2Gigs in size before I archieve them off each month. The functionality is much greater than here. It's actually a stats page for a game called Counter Strike. I run it for 5 CS servers. Each server sends me a log entry for every action that is taken in the game. That log entry is slapped into a database in MySQL. Someone comes to the page and MySQL is spooled and the PHP page dynamically gets the requested information. You have all sorts of stats. Players of the day, minute, hour. Best killer, top person with each women and action that can be done in the game. This means over 30 daily awards. From there, when you click on someone's name you get interesting data. (I.E. how many kills, who they were against, all of the maps they've played and they're kill ratio on them, weapons they've used and how many kills with them, etc). Lots of data.

Another site I have going has streaming media, webcam, and static images. This site generates the majority of my traffic. btw---try running a few webcams off one PC. WHAT FUN! hehehe

The setup for sccoa.com is correct (from linux, to PHP, to mySQL)and the connections are fine. The issue is with as you put it, the "crappy hardware" which is not enough to handle the load the forums put on the server when the amount of users gets too large.

Click to expand...

This is cheap and easy to overcome. May I point you to a rather nice server, which is similiar to one of the servers I own currently. <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2042739663">Ebay Auction</A> Now, that will MOST certainly handle anything this site can throw at it, and about 2 to 5 other sites just like this one. If you need more HD space, that's easy with that SCSI setup.

Instead of complaining and telling me that I have it all done wrong, why don't you provide me with your solutions?

Click to expand...

I have publically offered assistance prior to this. I have posted on this message board when it was going up and down, up and down, about the linux and SQL problems. No request for assistance was returned or asked for. How can I help when no questions are asked and no help is requested? (I do not go through and read all of the threads here either....if you did request help on another one, I didn't see it).

Who is your service provider, what do they offer? How much do you pay per month and what do you get?

Here is what we have:

http://www.communitech.net/products/dedicated/specials/

we have the CT#4 special with an added 45GB of bandwidth and we pay $98 a month.

Click to expand...

I run everything off my home connection. It's the same bandwidth as a T1, only newer technology (SDSL). I live right beside the CO and I get 99.9% of my proposed bandwidth. I use speakeasy.net and I really enjoy it, I currently run all of my websites off it (over 10 now) and rarely do I have people complaining about slow bandwidth (just people with OC-3 or higher). Looking at your server, it's not the internet that's the problem.

Help me to help you, in the end, everyone who uses these forums benefits.

Ron

Click to expand...

Well, I gave you a link to a MUCH better server for a really good price. Check out his other auctions, as he has more for sale. Watch them closely and become a sniper and you can get it for pennies! (not literally obviously). If you need assistance on the new hardware, which ones to get, how to set it up, etc, just give me a shout.

Re: You go ,Ron

pro street rich said:

You got it going, some times no matter how hard you try,someone has got to pi$$ in your Wheaties. You got the page up and running and all you get now is this crap. Lets all try to help each other,rather than make remarks that are not very nice. Go ahead and blast me now if those who like to blast,but the bottom line is. without good help and a bit of praise once in a while it is hard to do a good job. I for one can deal with the busy sign once in a while.Lets all try to help,not just slam....Rich P.S. if someone wants to take this up I will be at the mn12 nats. and my door is always open....

Click to expand...

If it was an occasional poblem with the "server is too busy to service you, slave" response (heh), then I wouldn't have a problem. Half of the time I can't view this place from 3:00pm PST till 12:00am PST. That is insane. I have offered assistance before, so that point is moot. I can only offer, it's up to someone else to accept it and run with it.

I have now responded to his request for assitance (again) and hopefully I have given him a few pointers. Who knows how it'll turn out!

I've been wondering how many people use the forums and the rest of the site but aren't SCCoA members and don't pay the $40 per year that the members pay. Maybe if some of these people contributed we paying members wouldn't need to shell out more money. Frankly, I would be very hesitant to pay more knowing that there are probably quite a few who pay nothing and use the forums more than I do. And, I also would want to see an accounting statement of the SCCoA budget before paying any extra.

Most people do not want to pay becuase the 40 dollars goes to god knows what...? Last i checked most clubs were owned by there members and were accountable for the dues and where they go... just aint the case here. No one has any idea. Clubs are also supposed to be a democracy, but you dont see that happening here either. Now for me In canada 40 US is like around 70 bucks Canadian... I sure aint paying some nameless face i am never going to meet, 70 bucks, when I have no idea what the money goes to... Its much better spent on a few cases of beer.

Cool...I play CS all the time...

Though I still get my ass handed to me alot. What is the address to your CS site, I didn't see any mention of it on your site there, or did I just miss it?

Mike,

That's why I think the members should vote or something along those lines. It's time for the SCCoA paying members to step forward and make a stand. What I mean by that is, making suggestions on moving SCCoA forward. Should Chargin Thunder stop? I think it should. Dues should go towards the site and what it represents. Others may see it different but at least let's hear from the members on what should be done. To me, Chargin Thunder and the SCCoA forums are two different issues and should be handled differently with members being able to voice their opinion on each one.

Bashing it won't make it better, but good ideas can

Most of the issues with the SCCoA, that presant, and past members feel is the money/ownership in general. The server is just one of the smaller issues. I'm sure I speak for many people when I say we enjoy the SCCoA very much, but there are things that people don't feel comfortable with. Like the 40 bucks per year, multiplied by the number of members (is that even public info?). It adds up to a nice chunk of change, and people want to know exactly where it's going if you want to call this a "Club." Which I honestly don't feel it is. A club has elected officials, voted to their particular position by it's members. A club opens it's books to it's members, all the books. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind paying the "dues" but show me where it's going if this is a true "club." If there's nothing wrong with the books, then what is the problem in opening them? Many of us also don't feel comfortabe with the same person owning the club, and the parts business as well. Many see it as a conflict of interest. You can say it's separate, but it will never truly be separate until two different people run the two different "businesses." Believe me, I'm not saying this to stir the pot, but if you want suggestions to make the "club" better for all of us, these are just some of the major issues that have taken MANY of our former members elseware, and the trend DOES continue. I don't think these issues are going to just fizzle out this time IMO. I think the place to start would be to hold an election for club officers. Many, if not all issues could be solved just by this alone
AGAIN, I'm not here to piss ANYONE off...especially Ron. NOTHING that I'm saying here reflects on Ron. He has gone above, and way beyond his duties as the webmaster, and continues to do a wonderful job IMHO. This is just members voicing their opinions on the "club." As far as Chargin Thunder goes, I enjoy it, but I'd rather see that money go into the club. Wouldn't it save a bunch of money just putting the issues of CT on the website? Maybe password protected, so that it's only available to members? We have MANY, MANY members who have great ideas to make the SCCoA the best Bird/Cat club by far....why not put all these good ideas to use? Lets pull together, and work all these issues out....it can only make things better for everyone involved, and after all...isn't that the whole idea behind a "club"?
Sincerely,
Jeffrey John Steinert
SCCoA member 1040

I too am becoming a little dissapointed by the lack of financial disclosure in this club. I added an extra $10 to my $40 dues to renew my membership earmarked for the BBS and have yet to receive any confirmation that the money made it to Ron.

I don't mind paying my share but I won't be sending any more money to SCCoA until I know where its going.

David Neibert
SCCoA Member 858

I think Jeff and everyone else is on the right page here. It's not so much the $40 it's not understanding where $40 X 1000 (or whatever) goes.

I can see Bill and Ron's perspective when people bitch and are not willing to help, but what I'm hearing in all these posts is "Let us Help" we want to be an active part of things.

Also all the lip flapping amongst ourselves in the world isn't going to change things, we need to talk to Bill and find out what he wants to do. If he wants things to remain the way they are then alot of us will just never be happy, if he is willing to modify things then we need to talk to him about what can be done.

Bill, talk to us. There is no mud slinging here. We know the kinds of efforts you and Ron make, we want to help. Not talking to us is simply letting the wounds fester.

Again Bill please talk to us.

I think Bill is avoiding these posts. So far this is the third thread I have read on this subject and no response out of Mr. Evanoff!

[color=66699]Greenbird LX...The Premiere (or "gold") Sponsor of the 2002 MN-12 Nationals is the TCCoA. The SCCoA IS a sponser but on a lower level, like a "silver" sponser which is usually much cheaper than the cost of the Premiere sponser. Either way, yes, it did cost the SCCoA money, but to say that the cost of the site, newsletter, and a silver sponsership comes close to what the membership dues per year add up to is naive IMO. If I can be proven wrong, that's fine, but there's nothing to say differently so far.
I donated 15 bucks for the new server, although it would be nice to know why it could not be paid for with membership funds. Regardless it shows that I'm willing to help (along with many other members), but I think if they could show us why they couldn't afford it to begin with, many others would have been willing to donate a few bucks as well. It's just a good example of how members that have been around a while feel. Some might take these recent posts as threatening, but it just shows me that the members care about the club a great deal. Kind of like Americans caring enough about their country to stand up and be counted. One or two people/members can't really make a difference, but together we might have a chance to change things for the better of everyone.
-Jeff[/color]

mustang

I never knew so many people felt the same way that I do about the dues issue. Again, I run a car club and again, the membership is only 60 people. I also run car shows and help run the Garden State Regional Mustang Club, charter club of the Mustang Club of America. This is a VERY LARGE CLUB. I have available to me the financial records of the MCA anytime I want as a member. I really would like to know what is happening with our money.

I also realize that printing a newsletter of the size of Charging Thunder is quite a bit. I also realize that a lot of personal work goes into it. I think that we should start to think about having Charter Club presidents and reps that can represent the membership. These people then could answer to the club members directly as needed. I know that I would feel better with this in place.

I also would like to know, are the SCCOA people staying at Carslile on the club???? How about the trip. Is the membership footing the bill for trips and food and miles???? I know that a club of this size is registered with the IRS. There are tax returns to be done and expenses to be deducted. Are the people running this place getting off scot free???? All I know is that the SCCOA is held as a great club due to the fact that the MEMBERS make it that way!!!!!! At Carslile, The New Jersey Thunderbird and Cougar club had 14 club members there. That's 14 cars!!!! Our website is still under construction, and it cost very little. Maybe Jim O'Neill, our webmaster should talk to you. I would be happy to foward his number to you to help with this.

I, in conclusion, would like to see the financial records for our club posted on the website here and let the members see what we are paying for. The mid-west nationals are a great Idea and I also realize that they will be coming to different areas around tht country. I just don't want to see the people that run the SCCOA and the ones who OWN the Super Coupe Performance business, get off with not paying for anything on the trips and the rest footing the bill. As a Union rep, I would be held on a stake for doing this!!!!!!!!

I really think that we need to fess up to what is going on. I absolutely think that that dues are appropriate for any large organization and if the people running it are needing help, it is a labor of love. Let's help chip in.

So, let's do the RIGHT THING!!!!! Post what our money is being spent on and where it is going.


Thanks again,

Don O'Neill, Jr.

President of the New Jersey Thunderbird and Cougar Club.

Local Union # 164 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

[color=66699]Anyone else have any suggestions? It would be GREAT if our concerns were at least addressed. Even if nothing is done I think we should be told that we're kicking dead issues here. I hope that's not the reaction we get, but it's still better than none, and at least we'd know.
-Jeff[/color]

yeah so much for the response back from Bill