Want to own and run this forum?

markaa · #1 (**permalink**) 06-13-2009, 11:09 AM

As I no longer travel to Asia so much (living in Spain and Portugal and having two young children makes it difficult), I am no longer active on my own forums as I once used to be, which is daft. It is sad for me but it no longer seems appropriate for me to continue.

So I am going to offer this domain (travelforum.org) and web site to others if anyone is interested.

What I intend doing is to sell the domain name openly on a service such as Go Daddy Auctions – so if anyone here is interested in bidding let me know so I can point you in the right direction. Then if the buyer wants to take over the site as an ongoing concern, they can – I will give them access to my hosting account and the admin area for this forum’s software.

If anyone is interested, there are costs involved past buying the domain name from me (hosting costs and forum software license - about $275 for hosting per year and several forum software options which you can find on vbulletin.com - I bought the software but there are renewal costs to keep it up to date) BUT you can easily make money from it by having links to what are called affiliate accounts with hotel room wholesalers such as Agoda (Planet Holiday) and HotelClub; every time someone clicks your affiliate link to one of the wholesalers and then books a room with them, you earn a nice commission!

If no-one wants it (as a sensible price) then I will continue to operate it, no problem; I just thought it might be better for the users as a whole to have someone active in the area operate the site. So do not stop posting / coming here, I am simply proposing a change of owner and will continue operating the forums as they are if one is not forthcoming.

Mark

Alison · #2 (**permalink**) 06-13-2009, 09:46 PM

I know where you are coming from but just because you don't visit so often doesn't mean that the forum is any less worthy. The integrity of a forum is down to the person who runs it. The many compliments show that you are doing a great job and it would be a lesser place without you

markaa · #3 (**permalink**) 06-14-2009, 06:21 AM

Thanks for that Ali and let me stress I am not closing the forum. I used to post all the time, now I post very little, so things have changed for me. I just thought it would be better for someone more involved to take it on and over. Someone who has the drive and energy to add and improve, rather than just log in and maintain it as I pretty much do these days. For me I would love to travel to Thailand and perhaps Bali again, but we have plans to see other places first. Our plans for Thailand are to meet up with friends, not do walkabout / go as tourists, so even then...... If someone better for the job is not out there, then you will be stuck with me, no problem