Keep OffroadSC alive and local

#1
Off-road enthusiasts throughout South Carolina realized a need in 2010 to unite various off road groups, clubs and vendors in South Carolina. Brooks Bickley, who had been a moderator of a local Jeep forum, partnered with Jmediagroup, a South Carolina based off-road/jeep media company, to found and promote a consolidated presence for ALL off-roading interests in a forum setting. This initiative would specifically target South Carolina as a core group.

Over the past 7 years the OffroadSC.com community of over 1400 members has created nearly 6000 unique threads and over 70,000 posts. While the forum has been a self-sustaining community as a whole, it has not been the revenue stream that Jmediagroup anticipated and is no longer viable to their business plan. During the last several weeks a group of forum members have been working with Jmediagroup to purchase the rights and assets of OffroadSC, to insure it stays local and available

In December of 2018, a 501(c) Non-Profit was founded to be the holding entity for OffroadSC The group of forum members leading this initiative have the experience and knowledge needed to migrate from a commercial to a community product.

Since the creation of this forum social media and the way we access it has changed, users are now more focused on handheld devices and convenience. This has been evident on forums of all types. OffroadSC.com was originally built on the vBulletin forum platform. Vbulletin software has never fully embraced a mobile interface native to its own interface and even with several add ons and plugins such as tapatalk, the vbulletin forum software has become outdated and has not kept up with needed updates.

A group of OffroadSC members has offered to manage the forum as a community, shifting the operating cost away from a commercial entity and distributing the tasks among the group. Their plan involves new mobile friendly forum software (xenforo) that will allow easier updates and create more flexibility in the services offered to members. But they can’t do this alone.

The Non-Profit “Offroad in SC” has negotiated with JMediagroup to purchase the rights and assets of OffroadSC.com to continue the community legacy. Offroad in SC has secured partial funding for the purchase, but a $2500 deficit remains. We are under a tight deadline to raise the remaining funds and complete the transaction before January 31st 2019.

Below is an outline of the Donation Levels that we have identified to help reach the goal by the end of January. All donors will receive a donation acknowledgement letter. Please help make this help make this community easier to use and sustainable for the future.

Donation Levels

$50 - Level 1
● 1 year Supporter Membership
● Name listed on the Donors page
● Limited Edition OffroadSC Supporter decal

$150 – Level 2
● 2 year Supporter Membership
● Name listed on the Donors page
● Limited Edition OffroadSC Supporter decal
● New Logo Limited Edition OffroadSC Shirt (Graphics Coming Soon!)

$500 – Level 3
● Lifetime Supporter Membership
● Name listed on the Donors page
● 3 ) Limited Edition OffroadSC Supporter decals
● New Logo Limited Edition OffroadSC Shirt (Graphics Coming Soon!)

(Vendor Sponsorship available PM 97TJGuzzy for more information)

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(Jmediagroup has agreed to allow us use of the OffroadSC Paypal account for these donations, until ownership has been transferred)

[Posts are disabled on this thread, however feel free to post on the "Future of OffroadSC Thread"]

Brooks, Tripp, Larry, Nick, Greg, Chris
 
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#2
Thanks to all who have Donated (1/14/19 - 3:30p)

Tripp W.
Mike C.
William W.
Wilson A.
Jody W.
William A.
Austin D.
Greg W.
Grant B.
Nick A.
Scott P.
Larry B.
Quarry Town
 
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#3
we have made huge leaps toward our goal, but we still have a ways to go. If we can get the funds raised before the 15th, we can start the transfer to the new software sooner. Thanks to all who have donated. We are doing some tweaks on the limited edition shirt design and we will have them out to printing.
 
#4
We have begun the transfer and created a new account for the Non-Profit. We have reached the purchase price and are looking to complete the fund raising to pay for the new Hosting and Forum Software. Thank you for everyone that has donated and been a supporting member over the years. We will be announcing when the full migration will occur, but it may be a little rocky for a week or two while we update. Please keep checking back for updates! See you on the other side :grinpimp:
 
#5
We will notify when the actual transfer will occur. We ask for your patience during this time of transition to the new software. it may be a little bumpy. Please post up in the technical section at the bottom of the forum if you have any problems arise.
 
#7
Our Goal is to transfer the site over this weekend. We will have to take the site down for up to 48 hours to complete the transfer. When we relaunch we will be on a much more mobile friendly site. That being said, we are looking at eliminating the Tapatalk function, as the site itself will function easily in a mobile browser. Please post any questions or comments in the Comments and Suggestions forum at the bottom of the main forum page. Link here: http://www.offroadsc.com/forumdisplay.php?26-Comments-amp-Suggestions
 
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