From New Owner of Zealot

Sky Seeker

Well Established Member
Hi Sky Seeker,

To answer your questions:

1) The programmer is the biggest cost. He charges based on a project and then for ongoing maintenance which is on a time basis. To date I have paid $1,200 for the migration and on a weekly basis he drops in and charges on what needs to be done.
2) Hosting & storage is $80 / month. This includes 6TB of transfer a month which is sufficient for large resource files to be viewed/downloaded etc
3) Xenforo & Addons - This all varies on what the add-on is but that was a one time purchase plus yearly licensing fees. $644 spent
4) Backups - I have not got a cost on this but that's what our task is for this coming week. This will be an additional monthly cost plus any programmer costs that are associated with implementing daily backups.

I have not made any models, the more I read about Zealot the more I am entertained about it and will try one day but for now, I have 20+ other forums to save and those admins are eagerly awaiting for me to basically replicate what I did with Zealot so I have a lot to do plus my regular job on top of everything else.

Take care,

Darius

Thanks for sharing this with us Darius. Understand about the regular job bit. Do what you can when you can. If you share your particular type of interest, maybe one of us can find a beginning model to get you started someday.

Then the fun begins.

Sky Seeker
 

Revell-Fan

Co-Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Darius, thank you very much for these infos and insights. I like your goals. In fact, yesterday Rhaven and I had a chat and I casually mentioned that model builders as a whole are a dying species. Of course there will always be some who pursue the hobby but demographics and personal interests shift, similar to action figure collectors. Most collectors are in their 40s (like me ;) ); many kids of today are more into new media. So it is always good to obtain new members and to pass on the skills and enjoyment papercrafting offers. Videos are GREAT to do that. People are fascinated to see something come to life and this is what creates interest and fascination. Once you have started building your first paper model, I'm sure you will never let it go. The HUGE advantage of paper is that it is very versatile. You can basically build everything from it, the sky is the limit. And it is affordable and readily available. :)
 
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admin

Administrator
Darius, thank you very much for these infos and insights. I like your goals. In fact, yesterday Rhaven and I had a chat and I casually mentioned that model builders as a whole are a dying species. Of course there will always be some who pursue the hobby but demographics and personal interests shift, similar to action figure collectors. Most collectors are in their 40s (like me ;) ); many kids of today are more into new media. So it is always good to obtain new members and to pass on the skills and enjoyment papercrafting offers. Videos are GREAT to do that. People are fascinated to see something come to life and this is what creates interest and fascination. Once you have started building your first paper model, I'm sure you will never let it go. The HUGE advantage of paper is that it is very versatile. You can basically build everything from it, the sky is the limit. And it is affordable and readily available. :)

Yes, I totally agree with you. And what I was thinking to pull the younger crowd is to possibly have some of our members have models with what’s popular with the generation:

Minecraft - this demographic is HUGE to say the least and spectrum of users is so vast to where we can obtain a lot of users plus it’s simple (everything in Minecraft is a square).

I can start a zealot YouTube channel and with the permission of our great admins, they can post such videos from the membership onto the zealot channel and thus link the actual how to back into Zealot. It’s a full circle but it’s a subject that is popular, has dedicated users like us and we can organically grow...

Thoughts?
 

Rhaven Blaack

!!!THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!!!
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
I think that the YouTube channel would be a very good idea, especially for those who want to make tutorial and/or build thread videos. Not only that, but I feel that this will be a great way to draw other people into both the forum and the model building hobby as a whole!!!
 

zathros

*****SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR*****
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Hi Sky Seeker,

To answer your questions:

1) The programmer is the biggest cost. He charges based on a project and then for ongoing maintenance which is on a time basis. To date I have paid $1,200 for the migration and on a weekly basis he drops in and charges on what needs to be done.
2) Hosting & storage is $80 / month. This includes 6TB of transfer a month which is sufficient for large resource files to be viewed/downloaded etc
3) Xenforo & Addons - This all varies on what the add-on is but that was a one time purchase plus yearly licensing fees. $644 spent
4) Backups - I have not got a cost on this but that's what our task is for this coming week. This will be an additional monthly cost plus any programmer costs that are associated with implementing daily backups.

I have not made any models, the more I read about Zealot the more I am entertained about it and will try one day but for now, I have 20+ other forums to save and those admins are eagerly awaiting for me to basically replicate what I did with Zealot so I have a lot to do plus my regular job on top of everything else.

Take care,

Darius


That is one full plate. We are all so Thankful for the interest and support you have given this forum. I think a YouTube channel is a great idea!!:)
 

McGee

Cory
well this is quite a welcome and awesome change.
I am not able to be here very often at all these days over past few years, and just recently tried to come visit again and was routed to that whole taptalk thing and boy what a nightmare that set up was.
Finding that it is now once again more user friendly with more great features coming down the pike, was a pleasant surprise.
I cant say that I will be able to visit and contribute as often or regularly as i was able to some years ago, but I hope I can.
thank you again for saving the Zealot forums.
 

zathros

*****SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR*****
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Ya know "Z", sometimes I think I'm just a tag along... I may look at a lot of things, and I truly admire a lot of the build quality some of y'all display, but I'm nothing special, just "Joe Average" Your comments always make me either laugh or sit back and think... I I wouldn't dream of missing them.



Miccah, honestly, you are a staple of this forum. Your even keeled nature, always kind and encouraging remarks, what more can anyone ask for. :)
 

zathros

*****SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR*****
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Hi Sky Seeker,

To answer your questions:

1) The programmer is the biggest cost. He charges based on a project and then for ongoing maintenance which is on a time basis. To date I have paid $1,200 for the migration and on a weekly basis he drops in and charges on what needs to be done.
2) Hosting & storage is $80 / month. This includes 6TB of transfer a month which is sufficient for large resource files to be viewed/downloaded etc
3) Xenforo & Addons - This all varies on what the add-on is but that was a one time purchase plus yearly licensing fees. $644 spent
4) Backups - I have not got a cost on this but that's what our task is for this coming week. This will be an additional monthly cost plus any programmer costs that are associated with implementing daily backups.

I have not made any models, the more I read about Zealot the more I am entertained about it and will try one day but for now, I have 20+ other forums to save and those admins are eagerly awaiting for me to basically replicate what I did with Zealot so I have a lot to do plus my regular job on top of everything else.

Take care,

Darius


Thank you for this breakdown of prices. Of course, that does not include your human effort. In a sense, I am bumping this thread, in case anyone glanced over it.

I believe that if a lot of millennial born people and others, if they could get their attention away from their phones, and build objects of their desire, and interest, they would find their idle hands giving them 3 dimensional thought, and this kind of thinking, especially which in the end gives you a corporeal object to hold and remind you of the experience, nurtures the brain, in a way that benefits individuals and society as a whole.

Look at the great masters of music, art, and literature. How many centuries later their work is held up, and it was done with their mind and hands. :)
 

dr_tetrode

Active Member
Darius,

Again, thank you! I joined a little before the TapTalk issue (being polite) and I have really been enjoying exploring this forum. I am beginning modeling, and having fun sharing. As to the quality of this forum, this is the only forum I have ever recommended to my grandchildren. And that says a lot to the the members who are courteous, calm and well mannered, let alone the wealth of knowledge that is being shared!

I would be willing to assist by writing, not sure what I could write about, but if someone would suggest things, I could get started. I am willing to take on things that I have not done, yet.

Scott ;-)
 

Papa Mashy

Masher of paper
I think the YouTube idea is great!
Given the traffic here, with a decent SEO plugin the site could be a top search engine return. Add the you tube channel where we could add techniques and pop culture builds - minecraft is good, but there are many other video games with potential. I'm thinking Fallout series, Elder scrolls e.t.c. Even just having videos based on that content will bring in the hits on YouTube and that could be a very big earner if the subscriber base can be built.
Loads of people out there wanting stuff from favourite games...
As said. Full circle, could gain members and could gain revenue from YT. Win, win..

Thanks for the rescue of the site Darius. The user base here didn't deserve the Tapatalk treatment.
 

THE DC

Highly Esteemed Member
Thanks much for the update and commitment to tis forum.

And to start you right, an Irish Blessing:

May the Road Rise to Meet you,
May the Wind be at your Back,
My the Sun shine warmly upon your Face,
And the Rains fall gently upon your Fields,
And until we meet again,
May the soft Moonlight be there to guide you back to your Door...
 

Sudsy

Well-Known Member
Darius, welcome and thank you for investing in us. Zealot has been a fire starter for my creativity over the last year since joining up. This community embraces all media and model genres and does a wonderful job of presenting each of our projects for the world to see and discover. I started out with Warhammer 40k sci-fi models here, and then get drawn into the vehicle forums, and end up reading about trains or 3D printers hours later (well, when I have hours to spend...). Best of all, I have only received good advice that is sincere and useful. Only fun sarcasm, not prideful boasts. Overall, the best forum user base I have encountered to date.

-Sudsy
 

snowmanX

Member
Thank you everyone for the well wishes! Here are some of my goals to accomplish by end of year:

1) Front page of zealot will have plenty of articles and how-to videos

2) Google will re-index us so we can show up in search - right now if you search for "paper modeling" we are nowhere to be found on google. Please send me any other keywords so when we write articles, we can properly write for those key words.

Next Year:

1) My main goal is to bring back the 50k registered users back to our site and to be active on an ongoing basis.

2) Obtain dedicated sponsors

3) Obtain new members (the millenial'ish folks) - this is an art in and of itself and we cannot have this art die as our members progress in age. We need to have some type of mentorship to where maybe we host an online class on Zoom or maybe have some introduction videos on making your first paper model.

I like the goal to bring in millenial'ish folks-- I was born in the early 80s and on paper fall into the early years of that generation. The real challenge for "us" is the time to build as we are all early to mid-career in our age group. But, getting these folks now means dedicated modelers later!
 

spaceagent-9

Right Hand Man and Confidant
Moderator
Hi Darius! I have been paper modeling for about 12 years now. Developing OCD reaction to stress thanks to employment, I really dig in and work on this hobby, and I am actually making progress these days. Thank you for revamping this forum, we had a few problems once in a while despite what the admins and volunteers tried to straighten out, so I am looking forward to using this new format.
 

zathros

*****SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR*****
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
I like the goal to bring in millenial'ish folks-- I was born in the early 80s and on paper fall into the early years of that generation. The real challenge for "us" is the time to build as we are all early to mid-career in our age group. But, getting these folks now means dedicated modelers later!


I think the challenge lies in the creation of the "I want it now" desire passing idea being passed down to the subsequent generations. Small steps every day yield a much larger project, and self satisfying personal best, and personal best does not ring so much these days, as many people project outwards on their achievements, looking for praise outwardly. This has been the case for ages, and the people who do the small steps are looked at as being genius' or gifted, the descriptors go on, when most of the time, it just takes that first project to get that understanding. IMHO :)
 

daishi

Well-Known Member
Darius,

Welcome to the forum and thank you for saving it. I really like the improvements I can see. Looking forward to post my new builds here when I get there.

DaiShi
 

lons fede

Active Member
Hi Everyone - I just wanted to introduce myself to you. My name is Darius and I wanted to thank each and every one of you for your patience during the migration to the new Zealot website.

As a debt holder, I acquired most of crowd gathers forums. I had two decisions to make:

Decision 1: Shut it all down and try and sell the domains
Decision 2: Reinvest, double-down and try and make it work by overhauling 22 forums

Luckily, I chose Zealot as the first forum I'd concentrate and build upon. It's a rather large task for just one person to do. Having amazing Admins and users makes all the difference in the world. I personally want to thank John (Zathros) for his guidance as he was instrumental in guiding me as to what the community wants and needs. Together, we were able to break away from Tapatalk and reclaim our independence.

We will be adding more features to Zealot in the coming weeks. One feature that will help us, is a donation box. This will help with offsetting the costs of me hiring an independent programmer who is maintaining the virtual server as well as constantly maintaining the website. I still am paying out of pocket and as we gain more users and traction, we will be in a better position to ask for sponsorships. Until then, whatever you can do to help will directly benefit Zealot (not me).

I apologize that some features were not migrated over properly and it is something that was out of our control. The good news is that I am committed to making Zealot a premier destination for the modeling community. We will be adding a front page with articles as well as HOW-TO'S and also feature our users work on the front page. Again, I will need the help of this community to help write articles. So please introduce yourself and feel free to let me know if you are able to help write articles.

It's an honor to serve you all and hope you can help spread the word (even a simple email to a friend or a previous user) will help us grow our base.

Respectfully,

Darius


Greetings from Argentina .
I congratulate you Darius for your work. If it wasn't for you, he would never have found this great forum. I am a recent member and hope to contribute and learn a lot in the future.
 
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