After my initial reply I have kept up with all of the other great ideas and comments generated.  Here is one more half-baked idea that maybe someone on the forum can turn into a great idea.   What if a user could post a question that a more knowledgeable person could answer in return for a contribution to the cause.  For example let’s say a question is a real head scratcher and  requires deep knowledge, and a member is willing to pay $50US  for an answer/solution.  The member that answers the question gets some amount credited towards the membership fee while the forum gets the cash.  I can think of  questions that I’ve had over the years that I would gladly have paid an expert to answer.   Here is one example - I had an Avant 55 that died, but I salvaged the working speakers and motorized movement before heading to the recycle center.  I’d be happy to pay for a solution on how this can be reused, wiring diagrams and such. Maybe this is outside the scope of the forum, but it is an example of something where the manuals and schematic don’t seem to be readily available.   Maybe there is a member that sees the question and says that they can answer it for a “b ticket”.  I go to the Beoworld store and buy a “b ticket” for a set price. In some ways this is similar  to buying the postage to mail a prize.  The member that answers the question gets some level of credit from the answer.  Maybe it could be as simple as the “buy Lee and Keith a coffee button”, but it is a payment for someone’s membership.  Anything to keep this site viable.  Cheers.

Radio Paradise is funded  entirely on voluntary subscriptions. Twice (?) a year they appeal for funds via the broadcasts, and by emailing registered or previous subscribers. It's a model that has worked for them for about 15 years, but they do keep adding to their methods of streaming.

Maybe Beoworld can make a twice a year funding appeal in addition to existing subscriptions.

Graham

We seem to have strayed a little from Lee's original question - partly my fault, I know. It's all good stuff, but the real questions would seem to be:

1. Should Lee be paying for the prizes personally - No!
2. Should the website be self-sustaining - Yes!
3. Can we currently afford to run the draw - No.

I think it's that stark. So much as I enjoy the draw, it should stop until either income increases, or we find another way to run the draw. We've all contributed ideas on how to increase income. Unfortunately each of them would require Keith to put in even more hours to add to the site. The priority tasks may therefore be:

1. Find an assistant for Keith
2. Collect more information on the effectiveness of each of our suggestions, perhaps by contacting webmasters who already use those techniques.

Then it might be possible to increase income, and return to a draw - or other incentives. As always, just a few of my thoughts. Mark

Hi Everyone, Few small comments from me whatever they worth it. Clear goal

• In my opinion, true value of Beoworld is in forum where people help each other and in manual/schematics repository. I personally think that both should be preserved somehow and they should be prioritized for that to happen.
• Access to forum needs to stay free of charge otherwise people might not want to engage on it at all.
• There is probably room for improvement with the way how information about wealth of knowledge that is available in manual/schematic is advertised.

Prize draw

• I personally think that possibility to win BeoGram that use to belong to Roger Moore was something truly special. I didn’t win it but this was something really great.
• if possible, decrease to 2 (summer and Christmas). If not possible, suspend it altogether.
• maybe decrease number of prizes that could be won?
• ask people on a forum to donate their stuff they don’t need/use anymore, to be used as possible prizes to win. Surely there are people there who own more than they need and would not mind share joy with others. Those people, if they wish could be named during prize draw if this helps.

Money

• Instead of increasing members fee, add options that are cheaper. If someone needs to spend 1 or 5$/E they might not think much about it. Add cheaper option to gain access to limited number of manuals downloads. For example: 2 downloads for 1$ and 10 downloads for 5$?
• do not increase membership fee but highlight possibility of donating more money if someone wish to do so
• try to figure out a way to connect with distributors, especially one that sell 2nd hand B&O stuff. It might be win-win situation where they can sell stuff that needs some TLC and at the same time point their customer towards Beoworld for help.
• I don’t know how but maybe there is a way to monetize know-how that is available in forum members heads. Maybe after receiving good and useful response to question posted on forum, person who asked question is poked by some automated system to contribute 1$ towards Beoworld website? Might be annoying buy maybe it will generate some money.

Awareness

• when I type in google “B&O help” I can only see links to official B&O site. No mention about Beoworld. It might be possible to influence positioning on Google. Maybe someone with such knowledge could help here?
• when I type in google “B&O manuals” Beoworld is at the bottom of first page (which is OK) but there is also a website https://beomanuals.com/ with what looks like all B&O manuals and they are for free. This kinda kills my idea about charging for them.
• maybe start some sort of campaign on Beoworld forum asking members to tell their friends about its existence? Concept of social network is certainly there. If there is a free way to utilize it, why not.

Longevity

• move forum from home server to some sort of Google, Amazon or Microsoft online service. This should decrease amount of effort that is needed to keep forum alive and stable. Explain the audience cost of it and clarify where contributions to Beoworld membership are used.

No great solutions here. Just some thoughts.

I'm saddened to learn of Beoworld's predicament.

I joined as it was a question of simply having to be involved in something that catered to my passion for B&O product.

I've met many interesting people here as a result,and gained a mass of information too.

Although I've been involved with B&O equipment for nearly fifty years,I'm still surprised by other Beoworld member's knowledge.

I think that you need to capitalise on the value of the resource too.

There is of course a growing element of the "something for nothing" mindset,that won't pay for anything,but I suspect that there are other's that would be prepared to pay a token amount in respect of help received,or simply to donate to keep the site active?

Beoworld certainly needs to consult with web marketing experts,to look at way's to generate income.I'm amazed that there is no advertising onsite,this is often the sole reason for having a web presence,and surely could be utilised sensitively?

I certainly would'nt object to an increase in subscription fee's,and the prize draw is a bonus,not an incentive.Why not have a random tickeded unpredictable  draw,to keep people guessing.

I'm sure too,as other's have suggested, that we could donate item's from our own collections,as indirect contribution?

I've found Beoworld to be an invaluable resource over the years,and I wish the team the best for the future,and hope that you can continue

Nick

Hi Lee & Keith,   first of all big thank you and cheers to both of you. You do and have done an amazing job for an extremely long time with this forum. I can totally understand your reasons about the price drab but I think this is a good time to change some things. First of all I think the price draw is great and should stay in one or another way. Second I think this could be the time to rethink things and restructure some things. Why? Because B&O changed, people on the forum changed and as you said things for yourself changed. Perhaps this could be the time for Beoworld 3.0? I mean the current Beoworld is amazing but perhaps people want something different. These are things I could think about (just some brainstorming).

• General things
  • Where will the forum be hosted in future?
  • How much will this cost
  • What will be the core system of the forum? Wordpress etc.
• Manpower
  • Is there enough admins to handle everything?
  • Can some people help with certain things without full admin rights?
• Financing the forum
  • Are the current levels of membership the right ones?
    • What differentiates these levels?
    • level cost - will more people be willing to join the silver level if it is cheaper?
  • Ads on the page?
    • Perhaps bronze level will have ads on the page and all other levels only the sponsor and no ads?
  • sponsorships
  • b&o affiliate store? If members buy from a Beoworld affiliate store (or b&o partner store) they get a free gold membership?
• Content
  • What content do people expect?
  • new categories/structure for the forum? Something Like Home Automation
  • Perhaps there is a differentiation between old and new b&o stuff?

  These are just the 2 thoughts I had while walking the baby. I think in general the one or other poll would help to get numbers behind those questions.   In general I thing neither you or Keith should be paying a cent for this page as you donate us all so much of your free time. Thanks for your amazing work!

Just a quick post to say a big thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread, and to the small number of people who have given some generous donations immediately after posting. You know who you are - and it's incredibly appreciated.

Some very interesting comments and ideas, which gives Keith and I plenty to go on.  I plan to meet with Keith soon and we can dissect them all.

For now, the Spring Draw will be going ahead - and then maybe the next one being the Christmas Draw. After that, perhaps just one in Summer and one at Christmas - or just Christmas. Either way I've always really enjoyed giving lovely B&O away to true enthusiasts. It's been a pleasure over the years to see so many genuinely happy and grateful winners of prizes I've always done my best to source.

So, once again, thank you all. I'll take notes of all responses and when I meet with Keith we can work our way through them.

Please don't stop with your thoughts though. Keep adding to this thread :)

Keith: OMG.  You really shouldn't.
Lee and Keith: Thanks for everything you do.

I'd suggest an annual prize, if and only if funds allow.  And Lee, you should never ever dip into your pocket.

With regard to my comment to Keith: the reason I was away for years is because I was out cruising on a yacht.  We owners of Amel sailboats kept in touch via an active webforum.  This forum was for many years hosted by Yahoo Groups, so there was no cost to the "organization" such as it is.  In 2019 it was transferred over to Groups.io.  The group remains healthy and all sorts of advice and manuals are freely given.  Every few years even a meetup has been organized, and all because of the group's camaraderie.

What does this have to do with B&O?  Well, if you think the B&O market is becoming rarified, how does a French brand that makes less than 100 yachts/yr sound to you?  The Amel forum also has no factory sponsorship whatsoever; in fact, Amel has at times competed by making its own but only for new product buyers!

Look, you could preserve the front of the website for membership upgrades and manual library... and push off the forum to a cloud platform.  Having the front of the website would help you maintain the search engine SEO.  And there is no law saying that you couldn't extract the "top most-attended posts" and also repost them on beoworld.org as read only as a tool to maintain SEO; users interested in that "headline" section would click thru to the forum.

Around 2013 on the Amel forum there was a proposal to do a self-host like Keith does, and to abandon Yahoo.  I supported that idea until I got a little private talk from one of the "elders" that they didn't want to go with self-hosted precisely because if the volunteers retired for whatever reason, the community would die.  I desisted in quiet disagreement but now I see the complete wisdom of these people and am glad they had a foresight some of us didn't!

Thanks again for all you do, fellows.

I echo what many others have already posted - Thank you and Keith for all the work you have done. I can't spend nearly as much time on line lately, but I appreciate all the knowledgeable exchanges we find here. I vote for a nominal increase in the Gold Membership and a Christmas prize draw only, and with modest prizes only. You've put way too much of your own funding into past draws. Thanks for reaching out to us.

I'm late to this post. I'm lucky enough to have won a prize on a number of occasions. It's always great to win, but keeping the website around comes first. If that means the prize draw has to go or the membership price will be increased, you've got my support.

Thank you for reaching out to us.