I ......Posted By Joe Bruessow |
This post may get me in hot water with some folks but I will post it anyway... 
First of all, Sam, there are other free sites... "Astrofieds" through Astronomics; "Astonomy-Mall", and "Cloudy Nights" all offer free Classifieds. Many years ago Astronomy-Mall and this site were about the same size in terms of classifieds... but this site has mushroomed in size since Mr. York took over.
BTW, I have used Astromart since long before Mr. York bought it/ took it over in the late 1990's. Don't know exactly what was involved when he took it over other than the original gentleman (whose name escapes me) found it took too much time to maintain any longer. I believe that maintaining this site is a full time job.
In the mid-90's this site was a lot simpler... less commercial and yet was still a very nice site. Since Mr. York has taken over he has changed many things, and IMHO many of the changes are good but some are not so good. I personally miss the simpler, less commercial version of Astromart where we were not ridiculed for not buying from one of the Astromart sponsors.
I feel that if Mr. York is not making enough money or losing money off of the roughly one hundered sponsors and several hundred individuals who financially support this site, he should start cutting back. I am not a finiancial consultant so I may not be best qualitfied to make financial recommendations but cutting back and simplifying seems a logical way to offer this site with the basics rather than all of the "special features" it now has.
I am fairly certain that if this site becomes a pay site the previously listed free sites will get a lot more traffic, which results in the opposite effect that Mr. York desires... less traffic and exposure.
First of all, Sam, there are other free sites... "Astrofieds" through Astronomics; "Astonomy-Mall", and "Cloudy Nights" all offer free Classifieds. Many years ago Astronomy-Mall and this site were about the same size in terms of classifieds... but this site has mushroomed in size since Mr. York took over.
BTW, I have used Astromart since long before Mr. York bought it/ took it over in the late 1990's. Don't know exactly what was involved when he took it over other than the original gentleman (whose name escapes me) found it took too much time to maintain any longer. I believe that maintaining this site is a full time job.
In the mid-90's this site was a lot simpler... less commercial and yet was still a very nice site. Since Mr. York has taken over he has changed many things, and IMHO many of the changes are good but some are not so good. I personally miss the simpler, less commercial version of Astromart where we were not ridiculed for not buying from one of the Astromart sponsors.
I feel that if Mr. York is not making enough money or losing money off of the roughly one hundered sponsors and several hundred individuals who financially support this site, he should start cutting back. I am not a finiancial consultant so I may not be best qualitfied to make financial recommendations but cutting back and simplifying seems a logical way to offer this site with the basics rather than all of the "special features" it now has.
I am fairly certain that if this site becomes a pay site the previously listed free sites will get a lot more traffic, which results in the opposite effect that Mr. York desires... less traffic and exposure.
If there are fees... might as well head on over to the other major auction site. 
