Put your money where your mouth is!!

[Fezz]

I just read this and thought that I should post it!

http://www.optiboard.com/forums/show...162#post328162

Steve has provided the optical community a fantastic resource that has no match. This IS the Premier Online Community for Eyecare Professionals!

I hope some company steps up and supports this great resource. I often get disgusted when I read the Optical Industry News Forum, and see the same corporate names over and over again, marketing their latest and greatest lens, coating, affiliation, or endless self promotion, and yet never stepping up and supporting the very platform that they continue to abuse and take advantage of.

[Fezz]

This would be a great opportunity for a small company to get some great exposure!


I am thinking companies like:

1.) Luzerne
2.) Younger
3.) Acuity Optical
4.) Sutro Vision
5.) FezzJohns
6.) OMS


Come on you corporate suits!! Step up.....don't step aside! Make something happen before something happens!


:cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers:

[Fezz]

7.) 7 Eye Sunglasses
8.) ICare Labs
9.) ICoat
10.) SHAMIR!!!!!

[Fezz]

11.) NAO
12.) OAA
13.) Doc-in-China's companies
14.) JimmyJohns
15.) Rogue Brewing?


ANYBODY????

[Johns]

Well Brother Fezz, you certainly hit a few of those I had in mind. I'd love to see a group of like minded companies group together and have a rotating banner type advertising.

Not mentioning any names, but a group of independent labs could probably pool their resources together to make it work. Or, one lab could have all the exposure for themselves.

Think of all the exposure that so many companies have gotten over the years from this forum! As I write this, company after company come to mind.

When we do a fundraiser, we always warn that those soliciting businesses for freebies should only knock on the doors of those that we do business with, and don't ask for things from merchants we don't support. In that vein, why don't we drop a few PMs to those on this board that we support, and ask them to support Optiboard?

[Jacqui]

http://eyeoverheard.wordpress.com/20...sor/#more-7281

[Uncle Fester]

Fezz- Regarding abuse of the news forum- Didn't mom teach you you'll get more bees with honey than vinegar?

You edit- I'll edit?:)

[Fezz]

Fezz- Regarding abuse of the news forum- Didn't mom teach you you'll get more bees with honey than vinegar?

You edit- I'll edit?:)

Dear Mom did mention that. But, she also told me to call them as I see them and to step up rather than step aside!


Maybe my vinegar worked?

Update:

http://www.optiboard.com/forums/show...735#post328735


:cheers::cheers::cheers:

[Uncle Fester]

Maybe my vinegar worked?

Malted of course.:cheers:

[Borysko]

It costs very little to run a website of this size, believe it or not. I'm in that business so I know.
You guys know nothing about the internet and you buy into the "poor me" crap. This entire site is just a forum, and while it gets a lot of traffic considering the topic, it's nothing as far as bandwidth/db usage goes.
If Steve is paying more than 100 bucks a month for this site, he's getting shafted.
I love optiboard and appreciate what Steve has done, but if he's not MAKING money off this site, he's doing something wrong. It's not my or anyone else's responsibility to keep his hobby site online if he can't figure out how to do it himself.
Sorry, just tired of site owners and their fans begging for handouts.
It seems to be an optician's disease...Give me more money, even if the market dictates otherwise!

[Johns]

It costs very little to run a website of this size, believe it or not. I'm in that business so I know.
You guys know nothing about the internet and you buy into the "poor me" crap. This entire site is just a forum, and while it gets a lot of traffic considering the topic, it's nothing as far as bandwidth/db usage goes.
If Steve is paying more than 100 bucks a month for this site, he's getting shafted.
I love optiboard and appreciate what Steve has done, but if he's not MAKING money off this site, he's doing something wrong. It's not my or anyone else's responsibility to keep his hobby site online if he can't figure out how to do it himself.
Sorry, just tired of site owners and their fans begging for handouts.
It seems to be an optician's disease...Give me more money, even if the market dictates otherwise!

1. I don't see Steve, nor anyone else begging.

2. I don't care if this site cost nothing to run. It has value to me.

3. Making money off this site is all relative. If Steve thinks it can make more money than it is, then he'd be foolish to sit by and do nothing.

[Borysko]

Then give him some money and show us the check. I'm willing to post my exact contribution (zero), so why don't you?

[Borysko]

If Steve thinks it can make more money than it is, then he'd be foolish to sit by and do nothing.

It's making more money than you KNOW about, dude. I want him to make money off the site, but he doesn't need us to pay his bills is all I'm saying.

[obxeyeguy]

It's making more money than you KNOW about, dude. I want him to make money off the site, but he doesn't need us to pay his bills is all I'm saying.

A little presumptuous on your part here to decide what Steve needs or does with the money he makes from here. I don't know, and don't really care where it goes, as I choose to contribute, as do other professionals to continue to share and learn from each other on Steves site.

Obviously, with all that money you make, you have decided not to contribute, and that's fine, it's your choice. Move on and get over it.

And the dude thing, it speaks volumns....:hammer:

[Borysko]

And the dude thing, it speaks volumns....:hammer:

I'm sure it does. Sorry, I thought you were male.

[Borysko]

A little presumptuous on your part here to decide what Steve needs or does with the money he makes from here.

I don't care what he does with the money, and never implied I care.
You aren't addressing my point that you can run a site like this on the cheap; instead you want to make it personal.
If you want to give someone money just because they please you, I'll start a site praising opticians and await your contributions.

[Johns]

It's making more money than you KNOW about, dude. I want him to make money off the site, but he doesn't need us to pay his bills is all I'm saying.

That's where I beg to differ. Why shouldn't the founder, and the one who maintains, monitors, and directs this site be able to make a living at it? And yes, I thinks it presumptuous to decide what is fair for someone to make.

You don't happen to work for a third-party plan do you?

[Johns]

Then give him some money and show us the check. I'm willing to post my exact contribution (zero), so why don't you?

Everyone that has posted to this thread has already written a check, with one exception...

Do you want to guess who that person is, or should we tell you?

[Borysko]

I WANT Steve to make a good living at this! I just don't think the paradigm of begging from users and corp. sponsors is the way to go.
I obviously like the site or I wouldn't be here, and back when optiboard was started it was a big effort and I appreciate that.
My entire, complete, total point is that this site doesn't cost that much to run.
If I'm wrong, Steve can come on here and show us exactly what it costs to run every month (which one would normally do if asking for donations like he does with the "pros-only" board).
I'm saying it really doesn't cost that much to run a site like this. That's all. If that statement alone hurts you, well...Grow a pair.

[Borysko]

Everyone that has posted to this thread has already written a check, with one exception...

Do you want to guess who that person is, or should we tell you?

I STATED VERY CLEARLY THAT I HAVEN'T GIVEN A DIME AND WON'T.
Yes, post that up, it will be quite a revelation.

[Borysko]

I just noticed John's "my small-minded friend" bit...
I thought personal attacks were not allowed here, but I was apparently mistaken.
I'll post my real name and address and set up a meeting if you're up for it, pal.

[Johns]

I STATED VERY CLEARLY THAT I HAVEN'T GIVEN A DIME AND WON'T.
Yes, post that up, it will be quite a revelation.

Fezz
The Man, The Myth, The Legend
OptiBoard Gold Supporter
Occupation: Dispensing Optician

Johns
Sinner
OptiBoard Gold Supporter
Occupation: Dispensing Optician


Uncle Fester
Compulsive Truthteller
OptiBoard Silver Supporter
Occupation: Dispensing Optician

obxeyeguy
Beach Bum
OptiBoard Silver Supporter
Occupation: Dispensing Optician


HarryChiling
ATO Member
OptiBoard Silver Supporter
Occupation: Optical Wholesale Lab (other positions)

Jana Lewis
Is it November yet?
OptiBoard Silver Supporter
Occupation: Dispensing Optician





We all have free will. We have chosen to support Optiboard. If you choose to not support, that is fine, but I see no reason to rally against it.

[HarryChiling]

I remember when the idea of a subscription was floated to the big man. His response was "no", Steve didn't do this for the money. Regardless a few started to put a paypal link in our signatures and started to send a few dollars here and there as consideration for the amount of work that went into this site. He eventually added the subscription service by request from the members. He has tried to add more value to these memberships without any promting from members, like the blog, the album, and the option of no ads. This site is a very successful forum however if we go back to th late 90's when this site was small and hostign space wasn't as cheap a hosting is nowadays and domains names weren't a dime a dozen as they are now he took a great risk in fronting all the money to keep this experiment going for all these years. Lets's look at the compettition.

Anyone remember www.visioncareforums.com at one point they had an enormous amount of traffic and content and coudl have contended with optiboard, the administrators were lazy and the forum gt erased fro some odd reason and all of a sudden the members disappeared. We take the uptime of this forum for granted, when was the last tiem you logged on at 2:30 in the morningn to see Fezz up posting durign a late nite pee. :D This site obviously has redundancies built in to prevent downtime these cost money and time and effort.

I promote joining as a memeber here for the value that can be gained from the members forum, simply that. My reasons go beyond that lik the ability to perform research fairly quickly and accurately ont he drop of a dime. The ability to connect with some of the brightest minds in our industry. Many here take that last thing for granted how many times have we seen a simple question here from an optician making "on avergage $10/hr" being answered by MD's, OD's, and PhD's. Matter of fact their are many posts where that $10/hr person is playing with professionals way above their pay grade, like me. What business do I have in a dialog with some of the minds here?

Borysko, stick to the funny posts and try not to get kicked off this forum again, and please don't insult me by acting like I don't know who you are and you don't know who I am.

[Jana Lewis]

I just noticed John's "my small-minded friend" bit...
I thought personal attacks were not allowed here, but I was apparently mistaken.
I'll post my real name and address and set up a meeting if you're up for it, pal.

Wait.. you posted that Johns should "grow a pair" and then you have the audacity to whine about personal attacks? Whut?

:rofl:

[bob_f_aboc]

As long as Steve isn't funnelling money to the Taliban, I don't care what he does with the $5/month that I send. What I do care about is bettering myself in my chosen carreer by interacting with people that I would never come into contact with if not here.

Like Harry said, there are posters here that range from mcticians to doctors and everywhere in between. I honestly wish I had local access to this kind of personnel, but given the wide range of experiences here, that is nearly impossible.

I will continue to support OptiBoard as long as I am able to find useful information and pleasant(?) people to interact with.