Who wants to purchase A.org?

[amigadave]

Thread title says most of it.  If you are interested in becoming part of a group interested in purchasing A.org, please voice your intentions here.

If you just want to do some more trolling, or have nothing positive to contribute, please move along.

We shall see if this goes anywhere.

[amigadave]

I already gave Wayne my offer, next move is his to make. Considering the current global economic crisis and the long draw out Amiga crisis (not Wayne's fault) it was a very fair one.

Would you be interested in being part of a group purchase and allow group input on decisions regarding the running of the site, or are you only interested in buying it as a sole proprietor?

[amigadave]

That's my only real reservation about the idea, tbh. It's bound to cause some friction. You'd want to draw up a formal idea for the site management first that people agree to before handing over any money. I don't think a site like this should be run by an ad-hoc collective of people that have paid for it.

Being a financial stakeholder in the site shouldn't mean you have undue influence in how it is run, IMO.

I understand your concerns and the spirit of your post, but the decisions must be made by some person or group, unless every little decision is to be put to a vote on the site, which I think is impractical.  From that point of view, the paying stakeholders should expect to have some say in how things are run, or appoint a manager, or group to make most of the decisions.  Larger decisions could still be put to a member vote.

The reason I started this thread was to start these kinds of useful discussions and hopefully find a solution to keep this site running smoothly and as respectfully to honor its past as possible.  I am glad to see the participation so far and the interest.

I have no desire to "Take Over" the site, but would be interested in becoming more involved and helping it to continue to improve over time.

So, let us all make it happen.

Edit:  I agree that all the discussion and by-laws, or rules should be spelled out and finalized before any money changes hands.

[amigadave]

I am leaning toward putting my support toward creation of a U.S. based Non-Profit organization which would purchase and run the site pretty much as it has been run in the past.

That would be my 1st preference, but I am open to any solution which will keep this site and this community active and growing if possible.

Edit: The only reason I suggest in being a "U.S." based non-profit organization is that I am in the U.S. and the current owner (Wayne) is in the U.S., but I realize that there are more members of this site that reside outside the U.S. than inside the U.S.  This would not prevent members from outside the U. S. from being part of, or even the manager of the U.S. non-profit organization, as far as I know so far.

[amigadave]

How would that work exactly?

Well, I need to do more research, but I had started to research the creation of another non-profit organization months ago and I have some resources on the subject that could be helpful.

This thread is intended to discuss the topic of EXACTLY how all of it would work, before any decisions or offers are made to Wayne, but if we want to do this, time is of the essence because there are other offers on Wayne's table already.

[amigadave]

To all in this thread,

I have a drafting deadline to meet and cannot spend endless hours watching and replying to posts in this thread today, tonight and probably most of tomorrow, but that does not mean that I am dropping my interest in moving forward with the group purchase of Amiga.org for the full purchase price that Wayne is asking for.

I will return to reply to many of the posts here Friday night or Saturday morning when my drafting job is completed and submitted to the Bldg. & Safety Dept.

I like some of the responses I have seen and hope that I can work with some of you to make this happen.  I do not even care to be the primary person to organize this if someone else wishes to step forward and take the lead.

I would like to get some feedback about the possibility of creating a non-profit organization and having such entity complete the purchase, or see suggestions for other ways to set up the group which will purchase and run this site.  I am interested in being a part and contributing, but I am sure there are better qualified individuals to act as manager and/or webmaster here after the purchase.

I will donate between $500 - $1,000 myself toward the purchase.  If someone else who has a few minutes can put up a running total from the posts in this thread so far and also check the previous thread that Wayne started and see if any donations are missing from this thread that should be included, it would be helpful and appreciated.

I will be checking in and reading this thread, but probably won't have any time to reply or comment for the next 36 hours.

Thanks again for all the constructive comments.  For the silly ones, I don't mind humor, but for the negative ones and those still questioning the reasons for the sale or the amount, please don't bother.  That discussion is already over as a sale price has been set and agreed upon and the only thing to be set up now is who will run the site, how and how the money will be collected (that is, if we can collect that amount, but I am confident we can and will).

More later,

[amigadave]

Ok, I've been out in the field (literally) for several weeks to come back and see this thread title.  Is A.ORG getting yanked?  Stolen?  Did we not reserve the what-ever-its-called-so we-can-have-the-name-Amiga.ORG only to have it stolen by Spanish Fem. Nazi?  Please shed some light as The first few post in the thread don't...

TANKZ!

To explain, read the thread from Wayne regarding the future of A.org.  He wants out, but has no intention of closing the site, so he wants to sell it to an appropriate buyer who intends to keep it running (hopefully much the same way it has been run for the past 15 years).

[amigadave]

With this [ATTACH]142[/ATTACH] maybe we can make some headway toward organizing the structure that will support the site and be responsible for the purchase and maintenance of the site for the future.


Edit:  Who wants to work with me in setting up a Non-Profit organization to purchase Amiga.org, set up a 3 to 5 member Board of Directors who will elect a new webmaster, keep or elect new moderators, and be responsible for answering to the thousands of members here when they complain?  I do not wish to be the only member here working on setting this up.

2nd Edit: If one of the moderators, or Wayne wants to set up a way to accept nominations for the Board of Directors for the Non-Profit organization that could use the voting engine of the site, that would be acceptable to me.  I will just assist the Board in setting up the Non-Profit organization as a free consultant, or as a Board Member, if elected.

[amigadave]

There seems to be quite a few members who support the idea of a non-profit organization purchasing (with donations from members here) and running Amiga.org through a Board of Directors who would elect a WebMaster as the main guy responsible for keeping the site running, with help from others as needed.

If you support this idea, please indicate such.  I think the first order of business would be to select, or elect a Board of Directors and I suggest that it be 5 persons, as a 3 person Board would be crippled if one or two of those persons were not available due to unforeseen reasons, or if they were to resign.

If the moderators, or Wayne cannot set up a nomination and voting system to elect these 5 Board members, perhaps we should set up a separate thread to do so, and select a end date and time for casting votes.

What do you all think of this plan?\

Wayne? Karlos? Can you set something up to accept nominations for Board Members and then set up a poll to vote on those nominated members?

[amigadave]

I posted my congrats to Wayne in the other thread, but will add it again here.

Glad it all worked out and I look forward to finding out who our new benefactor is.