jon Posted April 1, 2003 Posted April 1, 2003 Good morning Sprayers and Sprayerettes, Geez Tim and Jon, something sure looks different around here? What the hell is going on? Is this some sort of April Fools joke? Well no this isn’t a joke. So before everyone gets all bent out of shape let’s first start with a story. Two and a half years ago Tim and I were on a climbing trip in the North Cascades. Somehow I came up with this stupid idea to start a climbing website. We had all these cool ideas, some of which we eventually did and others we didn’t. Trade beta, sell and buy gear, post pictures. So armed with the new “cascadeclimbers.com” domain (cascadeclimber.com was taken) and a $17.95 per month hosting plan we got to work. The original intent was to develop a route reporting database, similar in idea to what WTA had but obviously much better. Sitting at my house in front of my POS 200 mhz computer that had no cover Tim and I designed an Access database that would lay the foundation of our route reporting database. I went through the Nelson books and occupied the database. While I was hard at work Tim was surfing porn and came across the idea of buying and installing the same message board that frequented his porn sites. He explained we could use this instead of our database for route reports. But what about being able to search a X mile radius for all the climbs that were Grade II I replied Slightly skeptical I went along with the idea. We built up the website with various things like links and topos and this message board. I sent an email out to the UW climbing club list that has filled up my email for too many years. Tim sent out an email on the Microsoft climbing list. The monster was born. It’s strange how such a simple idea and a little work has become something so huge. While we had an idea this site could be useful and thus used by a lot of people we never had a clue that it would become this popular. Things like Pub Clubs and Ropeups never even crossed our mind. Spray and Horsecock and Snafflehounds and Teddy Ruxpin and Sauna Sausage. Dan’s Dreadful Direct and Goran Kropp and Rainier Speed Ascents. Who would have ever guessed? Well what was once a cheap hobby that took up a little time has now become an expensive endeavor with an inbox full of email from people who can’t seem to login. It is still a lot of fun for us, but in the fall we came to the realization that if we continued to grow at the current rate we’d have to figure out a way to afford the increasing hosting costs that were soon to plague us. Luckily for us this whole affair has been relatively inexpensive and there have been some very generous people who have donated to help out with the expenses. One of the goals when we started the site was for it to become somewhat self supporting, not dependant on any one individual either for running it or incurring the costs. So enter the advertising idea. Tim and I have never been keen on the banner ad idea. This site revolves around the contributions of the users so the last thing you want to do is have a bunch of annoying flashing graphics and popup ads. So for a long time we just sat tight until we really had to make a move. In the winter I came up with the Hot Deals idea, something I stole from another outdoor site. I frequently went to this website to check out what good online sale prices where out there, the rest of the site actually really sucked. What I liked about the idea was that while it was advertising, it was something that you actually were interested in seeing, I mean who doesn’t like cheap gear? The idea started to develop. Up until now there was really a lack of a targeted way for small local shops to advertise. Many of these places can’t afford advertisements in Climbing and R&I, and the newspaper is hardly reaching your target market. I know climbers who haven’t even heard of some of the best shops in town! So opening the Hot Deals to local shops and giving them affordable advertising, making a little money to pay our website costs, and giving the users something that was palatable. Sounded like a good idea that would benefit everyone. Would the users go along with it? Beyond paying the costs of running this site there are some ideas we are going to explore. We plan on making contributions to the Access Fund for projects in Washington and Oregon. A similar thing will happen in B.C with their access group. We plan on providing funds for purchase of hardware for the safe repair of unsafe anchors and bolts. We will be introducing a new gear review system shortly that is very cool. These are a few ideas and we will be thinking off more, ideas are definitely welcome. Oh yeah and we will be getting a dedicated server to run the site here very shortly. So love it hate it there it is. There still a little work that needs to be done but it’s pretty much there. If you guys see a deal and end up buying it, or go to the shop for a first time because you saw it here, please let these retailers know that you heard about it here, let them know that this is paying off for them. Any questions or comments or suggestions please feel free to reply to this thread or you can send me a private message or email. Jon Quote
Attitude Posted April 1, 2003 Posted April 1, 2003 Ha. Ha. Ha. Good joke. Ya gave it away with the line about finding the idea of the message board on a porn site. Porn sites don't have message boards. It's hard enough typing with two hands. Quote
allthumbs Posted April 1, 2003 Posted April 1, 2003 Not true...what about the lesbian chat line? Quote
jon Posted April 1, 2003 Author Posted April 1, 2003 Attitude said: Ha. Ha. Ha. Good joke. Ya gave it away with the line about finding the idea of the message board on a porn site. Porn sites don't have message boards. It's hard enough typing with two hands. Actually the whole story is true, Tim saw the software on some porn sites and ended up getting a license. Quote
vegetablebelay Posted April 1, 2003 Posted April 1, 2003 Keep in mind that Scott'didas was doing this from way back on his site. Quote
freeclimb9 Posted April 1, 2003 Posted April 1, 2003 vegetablebelay said: Keep in mind that Scott'didas was doing this from way back on his site. And how much success is he enjoying? If'n yous want to make a little dollar, why sell someone else's stuff (besides the fact that drop shipping, or earing a percentage is easy). Print up some Ts and sweatshirts and get one onto the skinny body of Avril Lavigne in her next video. Cha ching. Quote
chucK Posted April 1, 2003 Posted April 1, 2003 Just one itty-bitty request...could we have the quick pix box be above the hot deals box? Quote
sk Posted April 1, 2003 Posted April 1, 2003 this may only apply to me in wich case you can ignore me. But I am a contributer and choose to not have the side bar. So i had to log out to see the hot deal... Tim, can you make a clickable hot deal thing if there are more people who are interested? I like to be able to see what the hot deal is, but I don't like the side bar (sorry Tim) BTW I think this is a good idea. you guys have a great thing going here and as far as I am concerned you ought to be making bank on it Quote
Dave_Schuldt Posted April 1, 2003 Posted April 1, 2003 Go for it Jon. If this works like you say it will help PMS and 2nd Acent ect.... Quote
jon Posted April 1, 2003 Author Posted April 1, 2003 There will be a summary page where all the deals will be shown, I just didn't get it finished last night and I was up til 3 am working on this. There will be a link on the front page to this summary. I hopefully will have this done tonight. For the time being you can use this link which is the same as the sidebar. http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/adtest.php You could reactivate the sidebar, it is only on a few pages on the message board but that's up to you. Quote
JayB Posted April 2, 2003 Posted April 2, 2003 Sounds like a good idea to me. Cheap exposure for local shops, a way to make the site more self-supporting, and a way to take a bit of the burden off of the founders. Quote
Fejas Posted April 2, 2003 Posted April 2, 2003 this is sweet... I have other site were i go to check hot deals, and now I don't have to... what a way to hord all my attention... Quote
Attitude Posted April 2, 2003 Posted April 2, 2003 I know these are great deals because of all the !!!!!!!!!!!! Quote
jon Posted April 3, 2003 Author Posted April 3, 2003 All right you freakin gapers here is the unfinished summary of all the Hot Deals. Got to wait for Tim to get back to help me put this where I want it. Hot Deals Summary!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote
jon Posted April 3, 2003 Author Posted April 3, 2003 People were asking about this so I just wanted to make sure everyone saw it. Quote
Dr_Flash_Amazing Posted April 3, 2003 Posted April 3, 2003 This thing is a good idea. Next time some Metolius shorts or a matching chalk bag/belt combo with deluxe toothbrush comes up, DFA will snag it. Gracias, hombres. Quote
Dr_Flash_Amazing Posted April 3, 2003 Posted April 3, 2003 Hey, rbw, do you know if Metolius makes clothes any more? (DFA knows that, by the way, which is why he figured some of their closeouts might turn up as a "HOT DEAL!!!!") Quote
texplorer Posted April 3, 2003 Posted April 3, 2003 Those metolious shorts the @#$%. I have a pair I wore everyday for a month. Do they still make those? RBW?? Quote
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