*** 2023 YEAR IN REVIEW. 2024 PREVIEW ***

[Luap McKeever]

Well, happy 25 year anniversary to us. Wildguzzi turned 25 this past August (it was a simple subdomain for the first few years of its life). I never would have believed it if you told me that back then. Anyways, I always like to do a year in review, and a preview. This is a long post, but important.

2024 preview:
I'll get to the review below, but wanted to discuss a preview first; I am going to have a little more free time beginning in '24, so am looking to do some updates/upgrades to both the main site and the forum. The main site is antiquated and needing a serious overhaul. One thing I'd like to do is implement the look and feel of the board into the main site as well.  That would make for a more consistent browsing experience. There's also lots of new security and performance measures I'd like to put into place too, as resources become available.

Do you have ideas or suggestions on thing's you'd like to see changed, improved, or implemented? Are we meeting your expectations of how a forum should be? You can PM me thoughts or reply here. Either way is fine. I'll start my list now .

2023 Year in review:

Reliability:
As far as the forum goes, it's running solid in 2023 with a 99.999% uptime. In fact, the board was only down for a total of 1.4 hours all year long. That's pretty much unheard of and thanks solely to the donations received to upgrade redundancy, automatic maintenance, firewalls, security and so forth. We did have a period of 65% slowness happen in August that lasted a couple days sporadically that was caused by crawlers and spiders that were malfunctioning.  We're only using 24% of our server resources, which is fantastic. That means there's plenty of room to grow.

Admin/Moderators:
I personally logged 154 total hours performing maintenance tasks, averaging 3 hours per week. That number was around 8 hours per week in 2019, so the last few years of upgrades are helping in that regards. I don't have a way to track the amount of time spent moderating, but with 4 moderators doing various tasks, I'd bet that number is equivalent to a part-time job. So we all owe our thanks to all involved in keeping this thing running smooth.

Membership / Statistics:
We gained 571 new members in 2023. That's roughly 2 per day on average. We're setting at 7,460 total members around the globe. I only had to ban 8 members and they were all scammers. So, 8 scammers getting into the board is really a fantastic number considering the 571 that signed up. That's only 0.014% so our security measures are working. Also, our members are quick to pounce on these intruders and report them, so keep up the good work in that regards .

Of the 7,460 members, 2289 were active (posting something) in 2023. We have many thousands that only lurk or search, and that is okay too.

There were over 3 million total searches performed in 2023.

Expenses:
$3,876 is the total basic cost (up from $3,456 in 2022). This cost represents the bare minimum it takes to maintain operation and considering 2023 YTD inflation at 7%, this cost represents about a 1% increase, so that's really not bad at all. I do expect another slight increase in costs for 2024, but have no way of knowing how much yet. I'd bet on 1% again though if I was the gambling type.

Any extra donations will go into a separate fund that takes care of the things listed below:

* Professional American-Based 3rd party support, and consultation.
* Improved technical support memberships for when there are issues beyond my control.
* Application research and development.
* Domain Administration and Services, so that this domain will be around for a very long time to come.
* Maintenance, security purchases and upgrades to keep the site free of malware, viruses, etc.
* Software purchases to improve functionality and ease of use.   
* Software upgrades to better serve both you and I.
* Crash recoveries made seamless due to improved backup resources.
* Administrative Labor

Donations / Transparency:
We had 183 donors in 2023 (27 are recurring monthly). That number is down from 204 in 2022. We didn't completely meet our yearly goal until mid-December which was starting to make me a little nervous, however the rate increase (https://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=119775.0) was unexpected so that's understandable being pushed up a bit. I'm hoping that number can go up in 2024. I'd love to meet our yearly donation goal by the middle of 2024 so any other donations could be put towards the upgrades I'm wanting to do. If all the upgrades happen the way I envision, we will all love those changes.

Please remember that donation badges correspond with which year you donate. This is due to tax reasons. Yes, I have to pay income tax on donations. So if you want a 2024 donation badge, please wait until 2024 to donate.

Conclusion:
I'd like to personally thank each of you for being a member. You choose to spend your time here and that is appreciated. I never would have thought the original ASCII-BBS based board in 1998 would grow into this.

That's all I can think of at the moment. I would like to wish you all a very happy new year, and a safe and healthy riding year upcoming.

Thanks,
Luap

[mhershon]

Print's awful small on the discussion page, Luap, if you ask me...

[Tkelly]

Are you kidding,out of 7000 members less than 200 contribute?I notice some of the biggest posters have never contributed,one of whom was insulted by being called cheap by a parts supplier.I guess the Guzzi owner reputation is well founded in fact.No wonder the dealer network is disappearing.Thanks for keeping this great  resource going,I and the other contributors appreciate it.

[Huzo]

I don’t have any “expectations” at all Luap, but in the spirit that you asked ?
I think it is wonderful the way it is and will rely on others to give constructive suggestions, but I wish there was a tangible way to pass on something to the moderators, reflecting our gratitude.
Thank you for your selfless efforts and I hope your reduced load in 2024 results in some more peaceful relaxation time.
Peter.

[PJPR01]

Those are very interesting and revealing stats…surprising that there are so few contributors…

Curious as to whether the subscription base are folks who have been around for 5 years or more…frankly the dollars and info gained here outstrips what I donate every year…and for that I am grateful.

It would be nice to see perhaps a regional section…( NE, SW, West, Midwest or NW) section to Promote more monthly or quarterly  gatherings…or local meet and greets or ride to eat/chat events …these are mostly done on Facebook it seems.

Thanks to all…

[Beowulf]

Really appreciate this as a resource. It’s been very enjoyable and helpful. It’s amazing how you kept this running.

[inditx]

Great work!
Count me in for another donation year, after tomorrow of course.

COME ON YOU CHEAP GUZZISTAS PONY UP!

Ok Im done
inditx

[kingoffleece]

2024 donation done.  Amazed at the small number of donors.
THX a million for what you do here.
Best
KoF

[Luap McKeever]

Thanks for all the ideas moving forward. I'm starting a list and then will determine feasibilities and go from there. On the donation thing, I never intended for this to be a contest. I do not want to put any guilty pressure on anyone to donate. Not everyone can and I fully understand that.

Keep the ideas coming,
Luap

[Moparnut72]

If a motorcycle is affordable a small donation should be easy to do. I do a small monthly donation using PayPal, pretty painless. Luap couldn't you do a not for profit status with the IRS. Our local gun club did it, a sympathetic CPA did ours for no fee.
kk

[Luap McKeever]

If a motorcycle is affordable a small donation should be easy to do. I do a small monthly donation using PayPal, pretty painless. Luap couldn't you do a not for profit status with the IRS. Our local gun club did it, a sympathetic CPA did ours for no fee.
kk

I probably could, but the costs to setup ($1000 to $1500 on average), the daily paperwork and constant filing and reporting of contributions is less than appealing to me. It just sounds like more backend work and that's not what I want to do at all. I would rather be riding

[Luap McKeever]

I've received lots of great ideas so far. KEEP THEM COMING! Nothing ventured, nothing gained...

[faffi]

"Subscribed" to monthly donations.

As to suggestions; I would like to have more emojis to choose from, as most of those available now are kinda, uh, weird? In addition, having the possibility to like posts is also something I would welcome. But neither are of high importance.

[twodogs]

Thanks for what you guys do, donation coming. 

[Johncolleary]

Awesome site has helped me so much through the years.   Keep up the great work!   Maybe people should donate a fraction of what they save in repair costs from the information supplied by the members of this site!!!  My donation will be forthcoming.

[blu guzz]

Thank you for posting this.  I am ashamed that I have not sent a donation so I just did.  I get much enjoyment from this site.  Thank you Luap for your efforts.

[geoff in almonte]

I probably could, but the costs to setup ($1000 to $1500 on average), the daily paperwork and constant filing and reporting of contributions is less than appealing to me. It just sounds like more backend work and that's not what I want to do at all. I would rather be riding

Perhaps there is a Legal Beagle or Hell's Accountant member who could set this up?  For free?  I says, snapping my red suspenders.

Just a thought.

Cheers!

G

[jkguzzi]

Luap has created a chart in the top right hand corner of the page for donation progress. As he has mentioned before he would like that completed by mid year. Let's all make that happen this year.

[JJ]

QUOTE:  Are you kidding, out of 7000 members, less than 200 contribute? I notice some of the biggest posters have never contributed...

I thought that statistic was pretty "anemic..."     

Nothing worse than a "cheapskate"...and especially ones who really have the means....

[jkguzzi]

How does a member with thousands of post who proudly lists the 5 or more bikes they own never donate? It doesn't take much. If the 200 Club, that's what I'm calling us, gave just $20 that's Luaps $4K.

[Moparnut72]

How about the 27 Club of which I am a member. I will bet just about everyone here has some sort of subscription to a streaming service or something similar. My subscription to Spotify is the same as to what I donate here. Painless and I come here at least twice a day and I may use Spotify a handful times a month. Which would I give up first, doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure that one out. I am sure Luap mainly does this out of the goodness of his heart. Come on guys make it easier for him pony up something and get your name off the wall of shame.
kk

[Vagrant]

Thanks for what you guys do, donation coming. 

I've been sending $25 for as long as I can remember. This year I doubled that knowing how expensive stuff is and how much I get out of the forum!

[kballowe]

Pay up suckas !

[Canuck750]

I am happy with the way things are, after more than a decade WG is still one of the pages I check most every day. Hats off to the moderators who keep this site focused on all things Moto Guzzi and motorcycle related filtering out all the politics, culture issues, religion etc, is such a breath of fresh air.

I am disappointed that so few donate to this brain trust of information.

To think that donating even $20 is too much for some people yet they have no issue owning 3, 4 or more motorcycles 

[Bulldog9]

Just Donated, but forgot to note my Screen name. Came from Steve Pratel. Also see I didn't donate for 2023 (duh), so second coming.

As for suggestions and upgrades/changes to the board interface, I'd suggest keep the main board for the larger discussion, but add a couple sub boards i.e V100 Series, CARC, Tonti, Loop.  Not big deal, just an idea.

Happy New Year all.

[JJ]

C'mon  now...Christmas is OVER!  Time to donate and help support Luap and team in 2024....

[Canuck750]

It is sad to see that by the most current update, donations are still lagging far behind what is needed to keep this fabulous website fully funded.

To those that don’t hesitate to post here, but have not donated, $10 or $20 goes a long way if all the ‘regulars’ contributed.

[Luap McKeever]

All, we're about 25% ahead of where we were this time last year as far as donations go. I want to thank you for that. If we keep up this pace and get where I want us to be, I'll be able to hire a developer to help consolidate the main site into this same look and feel as the forum software. That'll make everything look and feel the same. It may not be 100% possible, but I'm going to give it a shot.

I'd also like to implement a database of pictures of members' rides, maps, etc as long as it don't interfere with the servers performance. 

Just thought I'd give a little update.

Thanks again,
Luap

[Guzzistajohn]

OK I'm guilty as charged, just setup a paypal account. When Aunt Esther says jump, I ask how high! 

[ital4me]

Thanks for all you do sir! I am pleased to be back.