As the owner of the R90sWorldnet (I started it maybe 20-25 years ago, truly amazing and gratifying you guys have hung in there for so long), I was contacted recently by the host of our group, io, who told me it would cost $20 per month to continue to support our group IF we wanted io to continue to store all our emails, pictures, etc., as our volume has risen beyond the free threshold, and from now on more data than this threshold will mean data will be automatically deleted.
I posted to the R90sWorldnet asking for feedback about this from the R90sWorldnet members but only received one response, from James Marciano. We spoke yesterday and he offered to pay the $240/year for one year to keep things going as they are, thank you James, that is very gracious of you!
I don't feel it is right for James to do that and I am unwilling to pay myself, for several reasons:
No one else sent me any thoughts about this which?infers there?is little/no interest in saving member data, or you don't know what to suggest to do about it.
and
There is a better alternative which is as follows:?
The Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners, see
(Upfront: I have worked with and for this group for many years and am currently the president,?the Grand Pu-bah ?.) Ha...
If you go to the VBMWMO site above, and cruise around you will find an immense amount of information; we host Bob (Snowbum) Fleischer's site for instance, as well as John's Beemer Garage and more), there is a buy/sell area (members only, to keep spammers out), all the club magazines are digitized, readable and searchable for all 50 years, you can see tons of information such as the owner's manuals (some in both English & German), repair manuals, electrical diagrams, engine oil routing, videos, model information such as VIN range and...
The Forums, where model ranges are presented so members can ask questions from the experts. *Including* the area called "The Incomparable R90S" which I added as the R90S model is pivotal and crucial in BMW's history. And like you, I really love the R90S.
Why am I telling you this? Because I feel this is a better alternative since the VBMWMO has unlimited storage capability available, so *it will store everything*, from all emails, to all pictures, just everything us R90S members will post.?
AND it is all searchable!
We think we can move all the data from the R90sWorldnet to the VBMWMO site under Forums, the Incomparable R90S :-) so that is good.
You can join the VBMWMO?as a paying member (preferred, we do have mounting costs) and you will receive our quarterly magazine (digital if you prefer).
Or
You can join for free, in which case you won't receive the magazine or have access to the Buy/Sell area (again, to keep out spammers, they won't pay to join.)
If we do this the?R90sWorldnet?will go away because we will then have a better alternative and there is no sense in having duplicate?venues.
Please send me your thoughts,?ideas, suggestions, anything at all.?
Thanks,
and
Thanks again to James Marciano for taking the initiative to look into this and contact me about it.
I'm looking forward?to hearing from you,
Best,
Mac Kirkpatrick
Glenmoore, PA
"After all, what is adventure, but inconvenience, properly regarded?"
C. Donahue
