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    Join us on March 29rd, 7pm EST

    for the CBEC Virtual Meeting

    All EYO members and followers are welcome to join the fun and get to know the guest speaker!

    See the link below for login credentials and join us!

    March Meeting Info

    (dismiss this notice by hitting 'X', upper right)

Fund Raising Season 2021-2022

Sean Engle

Your Friendly Administrator
Administrator
Founder
Oh no....a another year has passed! :egrin:

Welcome to Fund Raising Season 2021-2022! Each year we come to the owners to ask them considering supporting the site and chipping in to help pay the expenses of running and maintaining it. EricsonYachts.org is not a commercial site, does not charge for the information it disseminates, nor does it depend on third party advertising to pay it's bills. Since 2004 we have made a single annual request for donations, and typically these, in number, have been sufficient to cover the cost of the URL, hosting, software and other associated costs that keep this site running. Those wishing to support the site can do so via the Donations Policy Page:


In this, our second year of the COVID pandemic, we move into our 21st Year on the web as the leading source for information and community on the Ericson Yacht line. In the last two years, we managed to move from our old vBulletin platform over to this new Xenforo platform, and it appears to be running in a healthy and stable manner. We also managed this summer to team with the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce to provide Certificates of Origin for all Ericson Hulls on demand. These certificates are used when an owner wishes to move to the boat to a foreign port and requires documentation showing the hull was constructed in the United States and thus avoid excessive import taxes, etc. Additional information on this new service may be found here:


This year we also got rid of our 'internet roommates', moved to a dedicated server and had Elastic Search installed. Elastic Search is a separate search engine which will index our entire database, and allow for easier searches and locating of information. Our move to a dedicated server was one of the requirements to set this product up and get the plug in working (the plug in will actually provide you an advanced search window to utilize). The other requirement will be increased diskspace for the indexes and associated items. That, and since our migration, traffic and new memberships have grown considerably (about 15%, which is considerable for us); so we need to upgrade for additional disk space as we are starting to run out of room, etc.

The other issue is that the Elastic Search engine and it's parameters are command-line driven (in Unix, I think) and I have to take some time to sit down and go through it to get it configured. All this said, once these additional space requirements are resolved and I get past my next Architectural Record Exam (for my license - I am half way through them as of this writing) at the end of month, I will dedicate some time to resolving this. Hopefully by this spring we'll have the new search engine in place and running and you guys can tell me what you think.

Anyhow, I hope that everyone (and your families) are healthy and happy. This last year has in many ways been even more trying than 2020, and I am hopeful that moving forward things will begin to improve, etc. Best wishes to you all - and thanks again for your continued support of EricsonYachts.org!

Happy Holidays!

//sse
 
Last edited:

mjsouleman

Sustaining Member
Moderator
Sean,

Two ideas:
1. Would you mind attending the December 10th virtual meeting and give a fund raising pitch?
2. Get Christian to be a guest speaker and restrict attendees to donors only. Everyone asks me to have him guest speak so it is a great incentive.

Mark
 

william.haas

1990 Ericson 28-2
Hi Sean. I’ve often wondered if having a “Supported By” page listing the usernames of those who donate (with an option to remain anonymous) would encourage donations similar to the listing in a Playbill. Just a thought…

Happy Holidays to you, your family, and all of our fellow Ericson owners and enthusiasts.
 

Sean Engle

Your Friendly Administrator
Administrator
Founder
Sean,

Two ideas:
1. Would you mind attending the December 10th virtual meeting and give a fund raising pitch?
2. Get Christian to be a guest speaker and restrict attendees to donors only. Everyone asks me to have him guest speak so it is a great incentive.

Mark
Uhhhhh I don't give pitches anymore since I left the Sales world back in the 90s.... What I do now (as an architect) is deliver bad news to owners that their wants/expectations are higher than their project budget is.... :p

I'm not sure restricting to people who donate is such a good idea. Our site has people on it who have tons of money and others who have zero/very little money. I don't want to be part of an exclusionary process of have/have nots...
I will attend the meeting on Dec 10th and will be happy to mention it...but no pitches... :egrin:

//sse
 
Last edited:

Sean Engle

Your Friendly Administrator
Administrator
Founder
Hi Sean. I’ve often wondered if having a “Supported By” page listing the usernames of those who donate (with an option to remain anonymous) would encourage donations similar to the listing in a Playbill. Just a thought…

Happy Holidays to you, your family, and all of our fellow Ericson owners and enthusiasts.
Yeah, that's been under consideration, but then it would be another element to maintain, and it would also create an atmosphere of those who do and don't contribute. And yes, I've also had people who wish to remain anonymous on the contribution, which I've respected... I'll give it some thought though...

Happy Holidays to you and yours also - stay healthy.

//sse
 

Stuart 28-2

Member II
Oh no....a another year has passed! :egrin:

Welcome to Fund Raising Season 2021-2022! Each year we come to the owners to ask them considering supporting the site and chipping in to help pay the expenses of running and maintaining it. EricsonYachts.org is not a commercial site, does not charge for the information it disseminates, nor does it depend on third party advertising to pay it's bills. Since 2004 we have made a single annual request for donations, and typically these, in number, have been sufficient to cover the cost of the URL, hosting, software and other associated costs that keep this site running. Those wishing to support the site can do so via the Donations Policy Page:


In this, our second year of the COVID pandemic, we move into our 21st Year on the web as the leading source for information and community on the Ericson Yacht line. In the last two years, we managed to move from our old vBulletin platform over to this new Xenforo platform, and it appears to be running in a healthy and stable manner. We also managed this summer to team with the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce to provide Certificates of Origin for all Ericson Hulls on demand. These certificates are used when an owner wishes to move to the boat to a foreign port and requires documentation showing the hull was constructed in the United States and thus avoid excessive import taxes, etc. Additional information on this new service may be found here:


This year we also got rid of our 'internet roommates', moved to a dedicated server and had Elastic Search installed. Elastic Search is a separate search engine which will index our entire database, and allow for easier searches and locating of information. Our move to a dedicated server was one of the requirements to set this product up and get the plug in working (the plug in will actually provide you an advanced search window to utilize). The other requirement will be increased diskspace for the indexes and associated items. That, and since our migration, traffic and new memberships have grown considerably (about 15%, which is considerable for us); so we need to upgrade for additional disk space as we are starting to run out of room, etc.

The other issue is that the Elastic Search engine and it's parameters are command-line driven (in Unix, I think) and I have to take some time to sit down and go through it to get it configured. All this said, once these additional space requirements are resolved and I get past my next Architectural Record Exam (for my license - I am half way through them as of this writing) at the end of month, I will dedicate some time to resolving this. Hopefully by this spring we'll have the new search engine in place and running and you guys can tell me what you think.

Anyhow, I hope that everyone (and your families) are healthy and happy. This last year has in many ways been even more trying than 2020, and I am hopeful that moving forward things will begin to improve, etc. Best wishes to you all - and thanks again for your continued support of EricsonYachts.org!

Happy Holidays!

//sse
Hi Sean,

Do you mind telling the total annual cost to run the site?
 

Sean Engle

Your Friendly Administrator
Administrator
Founder
Hi Sean,

Do you mind telling the total annual cost to run the site?
It varies from year to year - but has increased in the last year to go to a dedicated server and will increase again when we get more disk space. Historically (before we migrated) it was less than $1k a year. Last year it was twice that because of the migration and developer help I hired. My guess at this point is that will be likely be the same this year (under/at $2k) with the planned upgrade and additional software.

So, it's not every expensive; but of course, none of that covers the time spent on it either. And, the last time I checked, I was being billed out at $150 an hour....so there's that... =)

//sse
 

Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
Sean,
Your consistent dedication to keeping this site working well has been very evident over the years. We have all benefited so much from the helpful advice provided here.
Thanks!
Frank
 

southofvictor

Member III
Blogs Author
Sean, thanks for all your effort maintaining this site and thanks to all who contribute. It seems like a great resource and community. I’ve been been on for a month or so as we’ve considered purchasing an Ericson and I’m really impressed.
 

Sean Engle

Your Friendly Administrator
Administrator
Founder
Sean, thanks for all your effort maintaining this site and thanks to all who contribute. It seems like a great resource and community. I’ve been been on for a month or so as we’ve considered purchasing an Ericson and I’m really impressed.
Thanks so very much! The emboldened words above are music to my ears, and the very reason this site was created in the first place. I hear from owners with statements like this, and they make me very happy, as extending the life of the Ericson line is the underlying goal of this site and community.

That said, while I can create the vessel, the container if you will, for this site to exist - in reality it would be nothing without the owners who come here and interact with each other that really makes a difference. I may have created the pot - but YOU guys are the stew that everyone enjoys and finds so useful.

So my thanks goes out to people like Loren, Christian and all the others who have been here so long and have contributed so much. That also goes to those owners who are either no longer on this board or no longer on this planet. The relationships that are created on this site are so important to me - all of us, really - and comments like that above should make us all very happy.

Happy Holidays!
//sse
 
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Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
Hi Sean,
Donation sent by Paypal (it really is an easy process, even for us seniors!). Not a huge contribution, but if we all send a bit, it will add up. :)
Thanks again for all your work to keep this site going so well!
Frank
 
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