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 We need your help...
walkscotland.com has been online
since 1999. Over that time the website has seen many changes but the one
factor that has always remained the same is the free access enjoyed by
site users to our ever expanding collection of walks, mountain routes,
multi-day trips, advice features, news, gear reviews and links. The cost
of maintaining the website and providing new material has been in part
offset by advertising and other projects, primarily book publishing. To
reduce costs no one that works on the website receives any payment. It's
all done for the love of it.
To date we've avoided the route some
other walking websites have gone down of charging a fee for access to our
walks and other information. The site is produced by hillwalkers keen to
share their favourite routes with others. However, faced with mounting
costs, such as hosting and domain name fees, software and computer
hardware expenditure and licensing fees, we have had to review our
operations. In short, the website has to make some money to survive.
Increasing the amount of advertising
is clearly the most obvious option. However, experience has shown us that
advertising quickly clogs up the pages and makes the website slow and
frustrating for you, the user, to navigate. To bring in additional revenue
we'd have to plaster as many pages as possible with ad banners, reducing
the download speed quite considerably, bad news for those without
broadband. Alternatively we could implement a subscription service,
charging for access to the site.
Instead we've come up with a novel
scheme which we hope will support the website and make it a more enjoyable
experience for you to use.
...and we're thinking
outside the box here
We've stripped out all our existing
advertising, leaving clearer, cleaner pages which will download much
faster. The site now carries no advertising at all and, if things work out
as we hope, will not do so again in the future.
So how does that help fund
walkscotland.com? It doesn't, which is where you come in. We've launched
our own appeal, but we're not after your cash. Instead we're looking for
donations of unwanted outdoor gear and equipment. It doesn't have to be
the big stuff, or up to date, anything will be gratefully received,
whether its an old pair of gaiters, a hat, a nylon anorak or a scuffed
pair of out-grown boots (if you're sending socks, please wash them first
though!). It's really up to you.
We've identified an outlet where we
can sell stuff on cheaply to novice walkers and outdoor enthusiasts on low
budgets. Income from this will be used to fund the website and any excess
will be donated to an outdoor charity.
As an incentive, everyone who sends
something in will be entered into a free prize draw. The winner will
receive a brand spanking new Berghaus Paclite jacket, worth £160!
Get rummaging and send your items of
unwanted outdoor gear to:
James Carron (Editor)
walkscotland.com
Suite 68
17 Union Street
Dundee DD1 4BG |