This time I can actually afford to do that!

Is he BACK or is he back. He used to be a part owner previously right? I hope Lecter takes up ownership partly as he is committed to this site. But loyal would help as he also knows how to run a site.

It depends on what the goal is. I was asked to come back and see if I would be willing to get involved.

Seems to me that the primary goal is to make sure the forum stays alive.

Given that a number of members have already pledged they are willing to contribute financially, it shouldn't be difficult to create some means of doing that (like a Paypal account or something? I dunno).

Given the money in place, the site needs new ownership and someone willing to take on technical oversight.

Once that has been settled, discussions of whether to expand the site's base or not could resume. At least IMO.

Lect, can you create a Global Announcement Thread for Donations to get a running tally on donors/donation amounts?

Since there's no external drive for donations, using any sort of crowdfunding platform doesn't seem applicable. So I'm assuming paypal would be best. The goal should be to raise enough to fund the site independent of ad-revenue for the first 12 months (rounded up to $1000), in addition to additional funds for a dedicated IT person to handle any of the technical issues that may/will arise. That amount, I'm unsure of.

Who is the richest member? I think Magnus and Excel seem to have a firm "money is no problem" attitude, so they could donate a couple of hundred each no sweat.

agree, it may be easier IT-wise for non-IT owners to migrate to a cloud hosted forum provider such as zifboards or proboards.com. starting a new forum on pro boards is free, and it looks like they also offer a paid subscription service via forums.net for migrating existing data from worldofkj.com. some IT work would be needed to do the migration, but afterwards there should not be any IT expertise needed day-to-day.

Otherwise I'd think it's crucial that someone with IT expertise such as bl1222 is part of ownership, as it could get really expensive and difficult to retain hired IT help long-term. this 2011 site suggests $75/hr, though there may be cheaper overseas options, particularly if primary language of communication is non-English. http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1099758

We should have at least 5 members willing to donate $20-$40 dollars per month.
Come on guys that's nothing. I spend that on nightly drinking after work.
Let's get this shit started!

If we were to migrate to another forum, I'd readily offer a finished, but unused forum on my own website. I'd just change the language setting to English and it's good to go. The technical side is already being taken care of, so there is no problem there and the server is not expensive at all.

That being said, even though I would personally probably benefit from that solution, I see it as the last measure. Before that, I want to keep the forums alive the way they are now.

Yeah, I don't want some dodgy German forum.

At least it is on a website that gets more traffic than KJ did in its heyday

oy weh...

Still travelling the U.S. so I didn't see this until now...

Should all fail, I could establish an English language forum at my page (just as Lecter offered), but it wouldn't be the same, as much of what is going on here is not compatible with European or German laws...

Germans to the rescue!

It seems like WOKJ will be fine after all. I mean, with so many donations, I bet Karl is having second thoughts.

Suggested new name: Die Welt des Herrn Doktor

Yes, we need to stay in America.

Would a new name be possible?

Money's never been an issue, it's an issue of time. As I've mentioned, the server only costs ~$900 a year, and the ads offset over half. I just can't spend the time on the server anymore, so someone else has to step up so I can pass the torch. (once passed I'll pull a big bucket of lighter fluid out from behind me and go out in a Goldie like shouting match with someone )

We really need to change the header picture.

cant we look at what Alex is suggesting. forums.net if it supports data backup would be ideal as it may not require dedicated IT support.

Looking at plans even enthusiast plan would be $400 an year and it would be lot more modern with tapatalk support(mobile app). If it can support Google Adsense then we may not have to pay that much either.

It is definitely something to keep in mind, een though it would kind of be weird, after all the years, not to go to WOKJ and, you know. Also, when some members, who have not been around for years, happen to want to return one day (does not happen often, but it does happen), they will not find us anymore.

Also, migrating there would also mean giving up any website/main page plans for good. One should at least keep that in mind.

Ok. That would be a problem. We could just have server alive with one page to redirect to new forums :-)

Other way Cant we keep a basic site alive and use professional forums to manage that side. So that would be best of both worlds. If we decide to expand the main site(not sure if that will happen considering it never happened all these years).

The main site would not be a big argument for me either, but it is at least a small factor to be kept in mind. Not sure how the suggestion to keep the website and use professional forums would work without causing significantly higher costs, though.

As I said, however, it is definitely an option to be kept in mind because if we do not find an IT person to dedicate himself/herself to the website, that might actually be the only option.

I think the Google Ads estimate from Eagle is only achievable if the boards are kept as they are. Migrating to a new forum, even with all the content backed up and taken with us, will almost certainly mean less traffic because people will not be able to find us. Some people (even regulars) will drop off, and all the other thousands that have accounts (of which some do come back from time to time) will not know where we've gone. Clicks and impressions are what makes money from the ads, and traffic affects that.

Yeah, but migrating somewhere else would also mean significantly lower costs anyway. Just saying.

True.