The Online Geocacher needs a home!

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

 

Who wants to own a free magazine? The Online Geocacher http://onlinegeocacher.com/ needs a new owner and Publisher. I've pretty much lost interest but a lot of work went into building it, a couple hundred fun geocaching stories have been published, someone should enjoy it.

 

Hosting cost is $19.95/ month but it could be cut back to the free hosting solution when you take it over.

 

I have a couple articles that have been submitted lately sitting in my email that need to be published.

 

Contact me if you want it.

 

Ed Manley, TheAlabamaRambler

edmanley@att.net

205-914-6814

 

[Mr.Yuck]

Who wants to own a free magazine? The Online Geocacher http://onlinegeocacher.com/ needs a new owner and Publisher. I've pretty much lost interest but a lot of work went into building it, a couple hundred fun geocaching stories have been published, someone should enjoy it.

 

Hosting cost is $19.95/ month but it could be cut back to the free hosting solution when you take it over.

 

I have a couple articles that have been submitted lately sitting in my email that need to be published.

 

Contact me if you want it.

 

Ed Manley, TheAlabamaRambler

edmanley@att.net

205-914-6814

 

Bump to get it back on the page. I could never be the owner and publisher, I have too much on my plate as it is. I would like to throw an offer out there though, I have a dedicated server with plenty of free space, and I would consider (bolded for emphasis, obviously) hosting The Online Geocacher, if Ed got another offer for someone to be the publisher and owner. That way the url onlinegeocacher.com would still work, and this owner would only have to shell out $10 a year or so for the domain name. And do all the work, of course.

 

I might add, I'm kind of clueless, so I'd probably need the assistance of one of you IT types out there uploading it, and pointing the nameservers. Or completely idiot proof instructions on how to do it.

[+6NoisyHikers]

I don't know anything about IT, but I'd be interested in editing the articles and other copy if someone wanted to do the internet mucking-about side of it.

[+Spunkie92]

I don't know a thing about doing much of this, but I've always been a good reader and grammar nazi. If my assistance is needed let me know.

[Mr.Yuck]

I don't know anything about IT, but I'd be interested in editing the articles and other copy if someone wanted to do the internet mucking-about side of it.

 

I don't want to speak for TAR, but he is using E-zine software, and the template is all set up. I personally don't think there is any major mucking skills needed after the articles are edited.

 

Any and all people interested should be contacting Ed personally, but then again, I originally rescued this about 4 new threads from being off the first page with no replies. So another bump here, I guess.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I don't know anything about IT, but I'd be interested in editing the articles and other copy if someone wanted to do the internet mucking-about side of it.

 

I don't want to speak for TAR, but he is using E-zine software, and the template is all set up. I personally don't think there is any major mucking skills needed after the articles are edited.

 

Any and all people interested should be contacting Ed personally, but then again, I originally rescued this about 4 new threads from being off the first page with no replies. So another bump here, I guess.

Thanks for the hosting offer but this magazine runs on specialty publishing software.

 

Mr. Yuck is correct. I use PressPublisher, a magazine design and publishing tool (Content Management System) built on WordPress. Adding new articles is pretty much a cut-and-paste affair, so the text can be taken from an email, Word document, text editor, whatever and imported or pasted into the software and it will handle everything else.

 

Changing the look and function of the magazine is pretty much menu-driven and very easy to understand, and the folks at PressPublisher (I think it's called PageFarm now) provide the friendliest and most helpful service I've ever had. Even for the free edition.

 

Anyone curious can create a free account at http://presspublisher.com/ and play with it. Create a magazine or newsletter to see how easy it is to work with. No longer free. See next post.

 

I've never done much editing, just some light spelling and word choice corrections, to keep the articles as close as possible to the true voice of the writer. Therefore receiving an article in my email, reading it, making a few corrections in a text editor and publishing it is usually about a 20-minute effort.

 

If you're still interested let me know.

Edited April 5, 2013 by TheAlabamaRambler

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Oops, not free!

 

I spoke with the owner of PageFarm (PressPublisher). Pagefarm no longer offers a free version but he did offer to keep hosting it for one-third of their normal subscription price, so whoever takes it will pay $10/month plus the GoDaddy-registered domain name fee which is, I think, less than $10/year.

 

Folks tend to try to help when they know that you're doing something for free solely for the enjoyment of others. Aside from having the best CMS on the net these guys rock!

Edited April 5, 2013 by TheAlabamaRambler

[Mr.Yuck]

Oops, not free!

 

I spoke with the owner of PageFarm (PressPublisher). Pagefarm no longer offers a free version but he did offer to keep hosting it for one-third of their normal subscription price, so whoever takes it will pay $10/month plus the GoDaddy-registered domain name fee which is, I think, less than $10/year.

 

 

I've actually got a hot tip on GoDaddy. Put the domain name, or transfer, in this case, in your shopping cart, and take the process almost to the end, but don't pull the trigger. This is, as far as I can tell, the only way you can see how much it's going to cost you in the first place. Then when you actually don't buy it (or request a transfer, in this case), they send you a 25% off coupon code to complete the transaction. Shh, don't tell Danica.

[tttedzeins]

Google will host it for free and you can use the current domain name

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Thanks all! Several folks have contacted me and we'll work something out one way or another.

 

Finding someone dedicated to keeping it going, free to users and ad-free, who don't want to sell the membership list and won't use it it to become an opinion blog is a chore, but I will do that or keep it going myself.

 

One thing that would help me or anyone else get inspired about maintaining the monthly cost is to have some cachers submit their geocaching stories! If I could get just one new article a month submitted I would feel more that it's worth keeping. I doubt (without looking) that we've had four articles submitted in the last six months.

 

The number of subscribers (subscription is free, it just gets you an email when a new article is posted) and the site's traffic metrics tell me that it is popular, folks do read it, just very few contribute articles to it. I've never understood why. Folks come to forums and tell their stories but won't send them to the magazine. Maybe it's the sense of community or the feedback that they don't get from a magazine article, I don't know.

 

Cachers really do want to read about other cachers experiences. I don't know why folks are hesitant about telling them.

 

I have noticed that of the several folks who have asked about taking it over none have ever written an article for it, so that confuses me about their motivation. We'll see how it works out. Maybe instead of a change of ownership what it really needs is folks writing or encouraging others to write for it.

Edited April 7, 2013 by TheAlabamaRambler

[+6NoisyHikers]

 

I have noticed that of the several folks who have asked about taking it over none have ever written an article for it, so that confuses me about their motivation. We'll see how it works out. Maybe instead of a change of ownership what it really needs is folks writing or encouraging others to write for it.

 

Guilt trip much?

 

Our caching trips are fairly benign - tending to be kid-friendly terrain - but if you are okay with that, I'll put a few articles together. Actually... I just had a great idea. "Caching with Teens: You don't want your Mother to DIE, do you?"

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I have noticed that of the several folks who have asked about taking it over none have ever written an article for it, so that confuses me about their motivation. We'll see how it works out. Maybe instead of a change of ownership what it really needs is folks writing or encouraging others to write for it.

 

Guilt trip much?

 

Our caching trips are fairly benign - tending to be kid-friendly terrain - but if you are okay with that, I'll put a few articles together. Actually... I just had a great idea. "Caching with Teens: You don't want your Mother to DIE, do you?"

Simply pointed out a fact. If that makes you feel guilty in some way I can't imagine why!

 

Seriously, sorry if it came across that way, that was not my intent. No one should feel obligated in any way. On the other hand it's like any other resource - use it or lose it. There's not much point in keeping a magazine of geocaching stories going if geocachers aren't contributing their stories.

 

Yes, I am sure cachers would like to read your stories. I know I would. Send 'em when you got 'em.

Edited April 7, 2013 by TheAlabamaRambler

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Talking to folks about it has made me realize that I really do want to keep it going, The host dropping the price made it possible.

 

So thanks to everyone who considered it or made suggestions, I hope to see some articles come in, but I'm keeping it. If we get enough articles coming in that I can't keep up I will contact some of you who offered to edit and publish them.

 

I'm asking a Moderator to close this and if we want to talk about the mag we can use the thread that's been open for years.

Edited April 7, 2013 by TheAlabamaRambler

[Keystone]

Good news!

 

Closing thread at topic starter's request.