# What has happened to Alpine Zone?



## BlueBoy74 (Sep 20, 2017)

Half the time the site doesnt work. Bring back Snowlover or Steamboat!


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## Hawk (Sep 20, 2017)

Not to mention the SkiMRV site has ben down for months.  When are they going to fix that?


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## cdskier (Sep 20, 2017)

I haven't had any problems lately on AZ, but SkiMRV not working for months is extremely annoying.


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## Puck it (Sep 20, 2017)

http://www.***************************/


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## ss20 (Sep 20, 2017)

Did anyone personally know Steamboat?  He just stopped posting here and k zone one day.


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## wa-loaf (Sep 20, 2017)

Absentee landlord.


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## shwilly (Sep 20, 2017)

I don't know, but every time Blue Boy posts or is mentioned, I get the Mac Demarco song "Blue Boy" stuck in my head.

So keep on posting! That's a good song.


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## urungus (Sep 20, 2017)

Also the AlpineZone iPhone mobile app does not work with the new iPhone 8/8+/X, and does not work on older iPhones updated to iOS11 (released yesterday). See http://forums.alpinezone.com/showth...le-app-won-t-work-with-iPhone-8-8-X-or-iOS-11

(You can still access the AZ site via Safari web browser)


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## xwhaler (Sep 20, 2017)

Here's your answer


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## thetrailboss (Sep 20, 2017)

wa-loaf said:


> Absentee landlord.



Yep.  Sorry folks.  I think that Nick overstretched himself.  For those that did not hear, he joined his wife's business and is focused on that.  They also just moved to Florida and the "Northeast Mountain Sports" down there are limited to gator wrestling.  The App is not working well.  I know that some of the Mods have been trying to get him, but he has a lot on his plate not to mention a hurricane.  

I am not posting as much either.  Mainly because of the lower levels of traffic and that my connection to the NE weakens every day I am in the Intermountain West.  It has been six years.  Wow, where did the time go?


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## wa-loaf (Sep 20, 2017)

He needs to sell to someone who cares. That or actually put some effort into this. I assume he's got some money invested here and it will slowly fade away as participants move to other forums until he has nothing. So sell to someone who wants to make it work or put some damn work into it.


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## BenedictGomez (Sep 20, 2017)

ss20 said:


> *Did anyone personally know Steamboat? * *He just stopped posting here and k zone one day.*



Gosh, hope he's okay.  I'm sure some folks in the Killington crowd must know who he is.



xwhaler said:


> Here's your answer
> View attachment 22743



Wow.  That's ummmm......really something.


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## BenedictGomez (Sep 20, 2017)

thetrailboss said:


> the *Intermountain West*.



<-------  Had to look that term up



wa-loaf said:


> *He needs to sell to someone who cares. **That or actually put some effort into this.* I assume he's got some money invested here and it will slowly fade away as participants move to other forums until he has nothing. So sell to someone who wants to make it work or put some damn work into it.



Agreed.  Just for proper functionality.   I miss entering all the contests he used to run too (even though I only ever won 1 of them).


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## yeggous (Sep 20, 2017)

What intrinsic value remains? I don't see it, especially given the trends. Growth is the primary driver of valuation.



BenedictGomez said:


> Agreed.  Just for proper functionality.   I miss entering all the contests he used to run too (even though I only ever won 1 of them).



Keep an eye out. There are plans already in the works.


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## wa-loaf (Sep 20, 2017)

yeggous said:


> What intrinsic value remains? I don't see it, especially given the trends. Growth is the primary driver of valuation.
> 
> 
> 
> Keep an eye out. There are plans already in the works.



True, Greg worked his ass of to create value. A lot of that has withered away, but there may still be some value to the name. Also, if someone actually put some effort in with promoting events and giveaways it could still come back.

Should I keep an eye out on this site or the other one ... ? :-D


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## Jully (Sep 20, 2017)

BenedictGomez said:


> <-------  Had to look that term up
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed.  Just for proper functionality.   I miss entering all the contests he used to run too (even though I only ever won 1 of them).



HAHA learned a new term today myself too.

I miss the contests and the AZ challenges, but agree, just more activity and upkeep from the owner would be nice. AZ has name recognition with some ski resorts and plenty of ski enthusiasts. It would be a shame for it to completely dwindle away.


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## skiberg (Sep 20, 2017)

You might think that if they are going to create a site named Northeast Mountain Sports that they would use a picture of NE mountains. Definitely not NE, almost certain that's Utah's LaSalle Mtns.


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## yeggous (Sep 20, 2017)

skiberg said:


> You might think that if they are going to create a site named Northeast Mountain Sports that they would use a picture of NE mountains. Definitely not NE, almost certain that's Utah's LaSalle Mtns.



Mea culpa. I know this, but have focused my continued efforts on other areas besides the cover photo. That one was stock and easy when I switched from a summer to winter photo.

I'll put aside my other work for the moment and search for a suitable (legally usable) replacement.


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## Smellytele (Sep 20, 2017)

Looks like Mt Washington now


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## Not Sure (Sep 20, 2017)

Nobody asked this question but is there going to be a Summit this year ? I just got the Sugarloaf mailer and it is an awesome marketing masterpiece!


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## snoseek (Sep 20, 2017)

yeggous said:


> Mea culpa. I know this, but have focused my continued efforts on other areas besides the cover photo. That one was stock and easy when I switched from a summer to winter photo.
> 
> I'll put aside my other work for the moment and search for a suitable (legally usable) replacement.




haha just rip the one from this site. It aint like he's gonna notice!


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## benski (Sep 21, 2017)

yeggous said:


> Mea culpa. I know this, but have focused my continued efforts on other areas besides the cover photo. That one was stock and easy when I switched from a summer to winter photo.
> 
> I'll put aside my other work for the moment and search for a suitable (legally usable) replacement.



Are you the weatherman on NMS?


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## drjeff (Sep 21, 2017)

If a bunch of us just became Beach Body coaching clients of Nick and his wife, I'm sure we could get him back around here from time to time! ;-)

Glad for them and their family that they've been successful in their coaching business!


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## MEtoVTSkier (Sep 21, 2017)

wa-loaf said:


> Should I keep an eye out on this site *or the other one* ... ? :-D



I must have missed the memo when it was first circulated. Just remedied that... :wink:


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## Smellytele (Sep 21, 2017)

drjeff said:


> If a bunch of us just became Beach Body coaching clients of Nick and his wife, I'm sure we could get him back around here from time to time! ;-)
> 
> Glad for them and their family that they've been successful in their coaching business!



Oh I thought they were selling Amway


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## BenedictGomez (Sep 21, 2017)

*M.A.G.A.*

*Make Alpinezone Great Again*


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## from_the_NEK (Sep 21, 2017)

Need more young blood. Many of us have been on this board for YEARS and have asked/answered every skiing related question under the sun. The only discussions that drive current conversation are ownership of ski area X and what plans they have.  Now that the Quiros EB-5 scandal has quieted down quite a bit, there has been even less discussion.
It is sad to see the board slowly withering away. However, the younger generation really isn't into message board posting. They have adopted newer forms of social media that are slowly killing message boards across the internet, not just AlpineZone.


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## abc (Sep 21, 2017)

Everybody keep saying people are switching to FB and such. But message boards has a different format different from FB. I haven't seen any decent discussion on the few FB groups I'm in. 

For bragging, FB is great. 

For asking ONE single question a time, FB works too. 

But for multiple discussion?


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## Glenn (Sep 21, 2017)

Wasn't Nick's sister involved in the site at one point? 

As long as the forum is up and running, I'll still check in. I always enjoy the weather reports, TRs and general ski area banter. 

Sure,there are ways ways to improve. But I can't really get wrapped around the axle since this is a product I technically pay nothing for nor have any skin in the game so to speak.


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## Jully (Sep 21, 2017)

abc said:


> Everybody keep saying people are switching to FB and such. But message boards has a different format different from FB. I haven't seen any decent discussion on the few FB groups I'm in.
> 
> For bragging, FB is great.
> 
> ...



I am decidedly in that younger generation and do NOT want to use FB for that. People on FB are incredibly annoying. The completely open format leads to that. Having an intelligent ski community is something I've found unique to ski forums only (and only certain forums at that...).

Reddit is another platform that the younger generation uses, but I hate its interface and the skiing discussions aren't great.


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## KustyTheKlown (Sep 21, 2017)

isn't it just slow because its September? I know I started visiting here again and posting only about 2 weeks ago after not visiting at all june-present. 

I like the crowd here, even if its a small one. y'all are knowledgable about eastern skiing and deals and I enjoy the banter in season very much. I would assume things will pick up over the next couple months, no?


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## dlague (Sep 21, 2017)

abc said:


> Everybody keep saying people are switching to FB and such. But message boards has a different format different from FB. I haven't seen any decent discussion on the few FB groups I'm in.
> 
> For bragging, FB is great.
> 
> ...



I migrated away from FB.  While I still have an account there and still use it, I find forums are better suited for these types of discussions.  I do think that with the performance issues that people have migrated away from AZ.  In addition,  another Northeast forum has been launched, the traffic there is less than this site but many of the regulars that were here are now on the new site.  Some are also on both.  I have also sought out, other forums that have more traffic like Pugski which seems to have picked up a lot of the Epicski crowd.


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## benski (Sep 21, 2017)

I am a junior in college. The only reason I am not ready to jump off Facebook is important ads I see for student organizations. I would much rather use other mediums.


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## KustyTheKlown (Sep 21, 2017)

facebook has become super depressing for me in the past year (politics). but I keep it because it helps me keep track of events and its the only place I have years worth of photos stored.


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## SkiMom80 (Sep 21, 2017)

from_the_NEK said:


> Need more young blood. Many of us have been on this board for YEARS and have asked/answered every skiing related question under the sun. The only discussions that drive current conversation are ownership of ski area X and what plans they have.  Now that the Quiros EB-5 scandal has quieted down quite a bit, there has been even less discussion.
> It is sad to see the board slowly withering away. However, the younger generation really isn't into message board posting. They have adopted newer forms of social media that are slowly killing message boards across the internet, not just AlpineZone.



I just found this site last year, and I've really enjoyed it, though I agree it seems to be slow...


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## yeggous (Sep 21, 2017)

benski said:


> Are you the weatherman on NMS?



Yes. I changed the user name largely because of the new weather blog I'll be launching in the next couples of days. I've got plans, and have stubbed out the address:

http://www.***************************/weather/


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## skiNEwhere (Sep 21, 2017)

thetrailboss said:


> Yep.  Sorry folks.  I think that Nick overstretched himself.  For those that did not hear, he joined his wife's business and is focused on that.  They also just moved to Florida and the "Northeast Mountain Sports" down there are limited to gator wrestling.  The App is not working well.  I know that some of the Mods have been trying to get him, but he has a lot on his plate not to mention a hurricane.
> 
> I am not posting as much either.  Mainly because of the lower levels of traffic and that my connection to the NE weakens every day I am in the Intermountain West.  It has been six years.  Wow, where did the time go?



Ditto. I am guilty as well. Think this is the first time I've posted in at least 4 months. Kind of a chicken/egg scenario, although traffic has definitely died down slowly over time. 

Everything I post IRT to the East Coast is pretty much in a nostalgic sense, and it seems like there is less and less to contribute over time. 

I'd really hate to see this site go the way of the EpicSki....


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## yeggous (Sep 21, 2017)

yeggous said:


> Yes. I changed the user name largely because of the new weather blog I'll be launching in the next couples of days. I've got plans, and have stubbed out the address:
> 
> http://www.***************************/weather/



First post is live. I hope you all enjoy and learn something in the process.


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## prsboogie (Sep 21, 2017)

SkiMom80 said:


> I just found this site last year, and I've really enjoyed it, though I agree it seems to be slow...



Check this place out if your looking for good conversations and a functional site.


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## JimG. (Sep 21, 2017)

I hope Nick appreciates the still positive feedback that you all give here. 

I don't like FB and prefer this type of forum. I like the crowd and feedback here. I think it's a shame it has been neglected lately.

It just struck me I have been around here since 2004; that's a long time. I don't surf around much and don't frequent other ski forums. 

I hope the place survives.


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## BlueBoy74 (Sep 21, 2017)

Well that answered my question.


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## SkiMom80 (Sep 22, 2017)

prsboogie said:


> Check this place out if your looking for good conversations and a functional site.



What place would that be?


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## moresnow (Sep 22, 2017)

I blame the lurkers.


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## catherine (Sep 22, 2017)

Any news on The Summit?


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## Not Sure (Sep 22, 2017)

catherine said:


> Any news on The Summit?



http://www.cloudmont.com

New site this year


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## SnowRock (Sep 22, 2017)

I lurk more than I post, but have always appreciated the hyper-local knowledge of east coast mountains you get here. I chalked up the slowness to the general summer malaise but have noticed a few functionality issues visiting time to time lately.


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## TheArchitect (Sep 22, 2017)

I'd hate to see this place go away.  While I'm more active on Pugski I do come here every day to check things out.  I really like having a site with the primary focus being the northeast.


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## abc (Sep 22, 2017)

I usually don't visit here regularly in the summer. I think that's true for many. So I'm not too concerned with the low traffic. 

What I'm concerned is the increase in "technical difficulties" on my occasional visits. Some days, the forum became "read only" because posting was close to impossible. This, following last winter's frequent outages, will drive users away for good if continues into the coming winter. 

So, I hope it'll get corrected and the site continues. After what happened to epicski.com, ski forum are not something to be taken for granted.


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## snoseek (Sep 22, 2017)

I just now am starting to think about skiing.

Most of the time this board has existed I've been skiing elsewhere than the northeast...then again every so often I do like to spend a winter back home and I'm sure my days of Northeast skiing are not done. I define the term "home" pretty loosely anyhow. I hope that doesn't change moving forward. I do like to keep up with whats going on back there and am genuinely excited when you get the good stuff back there. If you go through the emotional roller coaster as a skier back in the Northeast, well then by god you better believe the highs are extra high!

I've met a ton of really fucking awesome people over the years from here. All different walks of life which is maybe my favorite part of the whole thing. Some really really excellent skiers/riders as well. Nick if you're reading this pass this joint along. Puff, puff, pass.


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## VTKilarney (Sep 23, 2017)

I don't think that this place will die soon, but it will most certainly continue to degrade unless something changes.


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## jimk (Sep 23, 2017)

I think this thread proves there's still life, but yeah, after the epicski demise, some redundancy with NMS is a good thing, a very good thing.


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## skiNEwhere (Sep 24, 2017)

VTKilarney said:


> I don't think that this place will die soon* unless Nick stops making money off of it*, but it will most certainly continue to degrade unless something changes.



Fixed it


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## skiNEwhere (Sep 24, 2017)

Siliconebobsquarepants said:


> http://www.cloudmont.com
> 
> New site this year



Hah. I was in northern Alabama for 2 weeks this past January and was hoping to ski there, but it was too warm. Apparently they blow snow like crazy when it's cold enough, it lasts a couple days before it all melts, then they are closed until the next coldfront


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## Jully (Sep 24, 2017)

skiNEwhere said:


> Hah. I was in northern Alabama for 2 weeks this past January and was hoping to ski there, but it was too warm. Apparently they blow snow like crazy when it's cold enough, it lasts a couple days before it all melts, then they are closed until the next coldfront



Wow, how can they possibly make any money?


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## prsboogie (Sep 24, 2017)

SkiMom80 said:


> What place would that be?



Sorry thought the link dropped in. http://www.***************************


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## skiNEwhere (Sep 24, 2017)

Jully said:


> Wow, how can they possibly make any money?



I feel like it's almost the novelty of skiing that brings business in that region. The ski area is only a few acres as well so it's not like they need to blow that much snow.


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## prsboogie (Sep 24, 2017)

TheArchitect said:


> I'd hate to see this place go away.  While I'm more active on Pugski I do come here every day to check things out.  I really like having a site with the primary focus being the northeast.



http://www.***************************


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## VTKilarney (Sep 25, 2017)

skiNEwhere said:


> Fixed it



How much money can a website like this make?  And doesn't everyone use ad-blockers anyway?


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## yeggous (Sep 25, 2017)

VTKilarney said:


> How much money can a website like this make?  And doesn't everyone use ad-blockers anyway?



A site *like this*?

I'll let other with more direct knowledge comment. The key to maintaining profitability is probably the lack of reinvestment. If you believe this isn't a growth market, then financially your best decision is to keep it on life support and keep cashing the checks. As you mention, ad blockers have eliminated most of the up side. That's why most newspapers are paywalled when in the past they were freely available.

I can speak with some experience on the economics of well maintained, modern ski forum site. It loses money every month. I've been keeping an eye on the bottom line and believe the key to long-term sustainability will be to derive some alternative revenue stream besides the primary ad-supported content. I have to pay for a modern software platform, stable cloud-based hosting, mobile apps, promotions, and content development. If you don't have a passion for it, then it's not worth the effort. Which brings up back to a *site like this*.


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## benski (Sep 25, 2017)

yeggous said:


> A site *like this*?
> 
> I'll let other with more direct knowledge comment. The key to maintaining profitability is probably the lack of reinvestment. If you believe this isn't a growth market, then financially your best decision is to keep it on life support and keep cashing the checks. As you mention, ad blockers have eliminated most of the up side. That's why most newspapers are paywalled when in the past they were freely available.
> 
> I can speak with some experience on the economics of well maintained, modern ski forum site. It loses money every month. I've been keeping an eye on the bottom line and believe the key to long-term sustainability will be to derive some alternative revenue stream besides the primary ad-supported content. I have to pay for a modern software platform, stable cloud-based hosting, mobile apps, promotions, and content development. If you don't have a passion for it, then it's not worth the effort. Which brings up back to a *site like this*.



Alpine zone defiantly makes more money. If you google northeast ski forum Skimrv.com and a link who's description is all Korean except "alpinezone.com" comes up.


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## cdskier (Sep 25, 2017)

benski said:


> Alpine zone defiantly makes more money. If you google northeast ski forum Skimrv.com and a link who's description is all Korean except "alpinezone.com" comes up.



Being high on a google search result doesn't mean a site definitely makes "more money".


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## BenedictGomez (Sep 25, 2017)

cdskier said:


> *Being high on a google search result doesn't mean a site definitely makes "more money".*



Yeah, especially given all you have to do is pay GOOG some extortion money to get up to the top of the search results.

And BTW, anyone remember the below scene in _Vacation_ where Chevy Chase's character is getting his car fixed, and he asks the mechanic how much it costs, and the mechanic says, _"well, how much you got?" _

Most folks don't realize this, but that's not really all that dissimilar to how GOOG operates its' fee model.


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## benski (Sep 25, 2017)

cdskier said:


> Being high on a google search result doesn't mean a site definitely makes "more money".



True but it means NMS is probably only getting click from readers of this thread, limiting its growth for now. I think reading this thread is the only reasonable way to find it.


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## benski (Sep 25, 2017)

BenedictGomez said:


> Yeah, especially given all you have to do is pay GOOG some extortion money to get up to the top of the search results.[/video]



You think Nick pays for higher search results?


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## yeggous (Sep 25, 2017)

benski said:


> You think Nick pays for higher search results?



Maybe. He uses Google Ads, so they have an incentive to drive traffic to sites that use their ad network.

And the results also vary based on platform, your history, etc. Here are my results to the query "northeast ski forum"


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## BenedictGomez (Sep 25, 2017)

benski said:


> You think Nick pays for higher search results?



No idea.   It's possible there are no payers for the likely search string in that area given how niche something like "northeast ski forum" etc... is, and somebody has to be at or near the top after all.


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## VTKilarney (Sep 25, 2017)

BenedictGomez said:


> No idea.   It's possible there are no payers for the likely search string in that area given how niche something like "northeast ski forum" etc... is, and somebody has to be at or near the top after all.



I just did a Google search for "northeast ski forum" and not a single Adword listing came up - so I doubt that anyone is paying to be at the top of the page for that particular search.  

Surprisingly enough, the same is true when I search for "northeast skiing" and "northeast ski area."  

Frankly, thanks to Adblocker, I've never seen an ad on this site let alone clicked on one.  Surely I am not the only one out there.


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## cdskier (Sep 25, 2017)

VTKilarney said:


> Frankly, thanks to Adblocker, I've never seen an ad on this site let alone clicked on one.  Surely I am not the only one out there.



I don't have adblocker, but the ads that do exist for logged in users are very minimal (one banner at the top and bottom of the page that I've never clicked on...). And usually the one at the bottom is so far down the page that I rarely even see it. I think if you browse the site as a guest you see many inline ads in the middle of threads.


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## Smellytele (Sep 25, 2017)

cdskier said:


> I don't have adblocker, but the ads that do exist for logged in users are very minimal (one banner at the top and bottom of the page that I've never clicked on...). And usually the one at the bottom is so far down the page that I rarely even see it. I think if you browse the site as a guest you see many inline ads in the middle of threads.



Never knew there was one at the bottom 
The one at the top is usually some site that I have recently gone to.


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## ALLSKIING (Sep 26, 2017)

wa-loaf said:


> Absentee landlord.


Unfortunately yes 

Sent from my SM-N950U using AlpineZone mobile app


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## MEtoVTSkier (Sep 26, 2017)

cdskier said:


> I don't have adblocker, but the ads that do exist for logged in users are very minimal (one banner at the top and bottom of the page that I've never clicked on...). And usually the one at the bottom is so far down the page that I rarely even see it. I think if you browse the site as a guest you see many inline ads in the middle of threads.



Yeah, I'm not using ad-blockers on this browser, and I've never noticed the one at the bottom either. The top one is usually something I've shopped for, or am in the process of shopping for, so it doesn't bother me either.


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## Domeskier (Sep 26, 2017)

Alpine Zone really wants me to buy a $300,000 wristwatch.  And visit online gambling sites where the grand prize appears to be a Russian mail-order bride.  If only there were a way to figure out what people visiting a website dedicated to discussing skiing 365 days year might be tempted to buy.


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## benski (Sep 26, 2017)

Domeskier said:


> Alpine Zone really wants me to buy a $300,000 wristwatch.  And visit online gambling sites where the grand prize appears to be a Russian mail-order bride.  If only there were a way to figure out what people visiting a website dedicated to discussing skiing 365 days year might be tempted to buy.



I have been in the Netherlands the for the last month so now it tries selling me dutch products in dutch. Right now i have a cell phone company I can't even buy without a Dutch bank account.


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## BenedictGomez (Sep 26, 2017)

Domeskier said:


> * If only there were a way to figure out what people visiting a website dedicated to discussing skiing 365 days year might be tempted to buy.*



Well, there is a website dedicated to figure out what you might be tempted to buy, it's called Facebook.


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## SkiingInABlueDream (Sep 26, 2017)

I find the ads are a lot less intrusive here than at NMS.


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## yeggous (Sep 26, 2017)

SkiingInABlueDream said:


> I find the ads are a lot less intrusive here than at NMS.



That would be good feedback to give. They have a thread dedicated to these type of comments.


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## MEtoVTSkier (Sep 26, 2017)

yeggous said:


> That would be good feedback to give. They have a thread dedicated to these type of comments.



But what sub-forum. Way too may sub-forums to hunt thru to find stuff. Not everything needs to be taken out of "General Discussions" and given its own sub-forum. It makes it take waaay too long to pass thru, see what's new, read it, and be on your way... hint, hint


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## ALLSKIING (Sep 26, 2017)

VTKilarney said:


> How much money can a website like this make?  And doesn't everyone use ad-blockers anyway?


I can tell you for a fact that back in the day it was a nice second income. Also free lift tickets and gear. It also had enough value to be sold for a good amount of money.

Sent from my SM-N950U using AlpineZone mobile app


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## SkiingInABlueDream (Sep 26, 2017)

yeggous said:


> That would be good feedback to give. They have a thread dedicated to these type of comments.



Done, thanks.


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## cdskier (Sep 26, 2017)

MEtoVTSkier said:


> But what sub-forum. Way too may sub-forums to hunt thru to find stuff. Not everything needs to be taken out of "General Discussions" and given its own sub-forum. It makes it take waaay too long to pass thru, see what's new, read it, and be on your way... hint, hint



So true...I much prefer all skiing related topics in one forum instead of numerous sub-forums. 95% of the time here on AZ for example I only refresh this specific sub-forum that this thread is in and never look at any of the other sub-forums.


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## ALLSKIING (Sep 26, 2017)

catherine said:


> Any news on The Summit?


Checking on that.

Sent from my SM-N950U using AlpineZone mobile app


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## ALLSKIING (Sep 26, 2017)

ALLSKIING said:


> Checking on that.
> 
> Sent from my SM-N950U using AlpineZone mobile app


Looks to be on again this season! Ethan at SL is working on the details. 

Sent from my SM-N950U using AlpineZone mobile app


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## wa-loaf (Sep 27, 2017)

ALLSKIING said:


> Looks to be on again this season! Ethan at SL is working on the details.
> 
> Sent from my SM-N950U using AlpineZone mobile app



Do it in March this year!


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## MEtoVTSkier (Sep 27, 2017)

You'd think a different mountain would be in order. Same thing year after year?


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## ALLSKIING (Sep 27, 2017)

MEtoVTSkier said:


> You'd think a different mountain would be in order. Same thing year after year?


No other mountain would come close the the price SL gives.

Sent from my SM-N950U using AlpineZone mobile app


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## BenedictGomez (Sep 27, 2017)

MEtoVTSkier said:


> *You'd think a different mountain would be in order. Same thing year after year?*



Think of it more as a cheap skiing boondoggle than an actual attempt at a forum gathering.


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## MEtoVTSkier (Sep 27, 2017)

ALLSKIING said:


> No other mountain would come close the the price SL gives.
> 
> Sent from my SM-N950U using AlpineZone mobile app



Sounds like somebody needs to lean harder on some other mountains! :wink:

You'd think any of the Peaks resorts would be willing to step of by now...


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## MEtoVTSkier (Sep 27, 2017)

BenedictGomez said:


> Think of it more as a cheap skiing boondoggle than an actual attempt at a forum gathering.



Lol!


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## deadheadskier (Sep 28, 2017)

MEtoVTSkier said:


> Sounds like somebody needs to lean harder on some other mountains! :wink:
> 
> You'd think any of the Peaks resorts would be willing to step of by now...


Lot of moving parts.  The biggest thing is Sugarloaf doesn't require a room block.  So, the deal gets offered to us with no guarantee on our end regarding attendance.  Zero risk.

Other places that have been spoken with in the past include Killington, Sugarbush and Jay.  All packages were more expensive and required room blocks.  

Now that Peaks owns Hunter, maybe they are worth a look.  I don't think many AZ members are going to have an interest in Mountain Snow or Attitash on weekends.  Wildcat would be great, but no lodging options are tied to the ski area.  You would need to stay at Attitash

Sent from my XT1565 using AlpineZone mobile app


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## WJenness (Sep 28, 2017)

yeggous said:


> A site *like this*?
> 
> I'll let other with more direct knowledge comment. The key to maintaining profitability is probably the lack of reinvestment. If you believe this isn't a growth market, then financially your best decision is to keep it on life support and keep cashing the checks. As you mention, ad blockers have eliminated most of the up side. That's why most newspapers are paywalled when in the past they were freely available.
> 
> I can speak with some experience on the economics of well maintained, modern ski forum site. It loses money every month. I've been keeping an eye on the bottom line and believe the key to long-term sustainability will be to derive some alternative revenue stream besides the primary ad-supported content. I have to pay for a modern software platform, stable cloud-based hosting, mobile apps, promotions, and content development. If you don't have a passion for it, then it's not worth the effort. Which brings up back to a *site like this*.



I just whitelisted your site in my adblocker.

Hopefully it helps, even a little.

-w


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## Nick (Sep 29, 2017)

Hey guys, Summit IS happening, I have been talking with Sugarloaf. Expect an announcement by mid-october(ish). Yes I will be heading north from sunny Florida (haha, never thought I'd move here but here I be!) to ski with you guys. 

I've been MIA obviously. We moved, my wife's business is all-consuming. I got laid off from my job in June and started a new one and it's been ridiculously busy. I've been traveling a ton for work which makes my schedule crazy. 

When I started with AZ I had a job that required ..well.. minimal input. I also didn't have any kids. So I could spend the entire day just dicking around in the forums with everyone. Right now I'm just not at that phase, and I apologize for not communicating clearly what is going on. 

I can promise to keep the servers running, the software updated (including the mobile apps) , and the summit going, so we all have a place to chat and go. AZ isn't changing, going away, or anything like that;  it's just I won't be as active in sitting online arguing about whether or not to bring back GSS. :lol: 

Anyways -hope you guys are doing awesome. If something on the site is borked shoot me an email and i'll check it out. nick@alpinezone.com.


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## Nick (Sep 29, 2017)

wa-loaf said:


> Do it in March this year!



March is actually probably a great time, maybe we will switch it up this year.


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## Nick (Sep 29, 2017)

Hawk said:


> Not to mention the SkiMRV site has ben down for months.  When are they going to fix that?



I just logged in there and it is resolving, what is happening on skimrv? I know we had an issue for a while with it being blacklisted because of some hack but that was fixed


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## Nick (Sep 29, 2017)

BenedictGomez said:


> <-------  Had to look that term up
> 
> 
> 
> Agreed.  Just for proper functionality.   I miss entering all the contests he used to run too (even though I only ever won 1 of them).



That's the part that's really tough for me right now. I apologize for that. 

Running contest, the AZ Challenge, even getting the posts up in the news site. That took me hours every single day and was a manual process.


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## cdskier (Sep 29, 2017)

Nick said:


> I just logged in there and it is resolving, what is happening on skimrv? I know we had an issue for a while with it being blacklisted because of some hack but that was fixed



Try clicking on a thread. You'll get a database error. This started a few months after it was fixed for that hack.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone


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## teleo (Sep 29, 2017)

cdskier said:


> Try clicking on a thread. You'll get a database error. This started a few months after it was fixed for that hack.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone


Skimrv has been dead for months.  Check the last post date there.  Would be nice to see it back, but with such a long outage, not sure it can be revived.


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## Glenn (Sep 30, 2017)

Good to see you back Nick! Sounds like a lot of activity. Hang in there.


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## catherine (Oct 5, 2017)

Yes!


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## gorgonzola (Oct 25, 2017)

free GSS!


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## MEtoVTSkier (Oct 31, 2017)

So I'm guessing that Nick didn't fix http://forums.skimrv.com yet. None of the 16-17 posts show up...


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## cdskier (Oct 31, 2017)

MEtoVTSkier said:


> So I'm guessing that Nick didn't fix http://forums.skimrv.com yet. None of the 16-17 posts show up...



Nope...still broken. He probably never saw my response to his post above about what was actually wrong. It seems he just saw the forum was "up" but didn't try to open any threads (otherwise I'd have to assume he'd see the same database error issue everyone else sees).


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## conwayeast (Oct 31, 2017)

Any updates on the dates for the summit?


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## Jcb890 (Nov 1, 2017)

Jully said:


> I am decidedly in that younger generation and do NOT want to use FB for that. People on FB are incredibly annoying. The completely open format leads to that. Having an intelligent ski community is something I've found unique to ski forums only (and only certain forums at that...).
> 
> Reddit is another platform that the younger generation uses, but I hate its interface and the skiing discussions aren't great.


I'm not sure if I fall into this demographic or not as I turn 33 this December, but I don't like FB discussion groups or Reddit either.


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## bdfreetuna (Nov 1, 2017)

Reddit is only good for T_D

Message boards remain a desirable platform, the only problem really is growing the user base. Reddit has both lowered people's standards but also moved us towards the concept of a universal topic platform.


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## Harvey (Nov 7, 2017)

VTKilarney said:


> How much money can a website like this make?  And doesn't everyone use ad-blockers anyway?



No idea how much it makes now with ad blockers, but Greg tried to sell the place to me and at the time the revenue he claimed, was real money.

Greg told me the formula was 4 x One Season's Ad revenue = selling price. He made it sound like it was an established formula.


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## VTKilarney (Nov 8, 2017)

Harvey said:


> No idea how much it makes now with ad blockers, but Greg tried to sell the place to me and at the time the revenue he claimed, was real money.
> 
> Greg told me the formula was 4 x One Season's Ad revenue = selling price. He made it sound like it was an established formula.



That surprises me.  It just goes to show how naive I am when it comes to internet commerce.  I would have guessed that this website was a glorified hobby and that the revenues weren't a whole lot more than expenses.


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## yeggous (Nov 8, 2017)

VTKilarney said:


> That surprises me.  It just goes to show how naive I am when it comes to internet commerce.  I would have guessed that this website was a glorified hobby and that the revenues weren't a whole lot more than expenses.



It all depends how much you invest back into the site. If you invest zero then I can see making a profit. So far I have yet to break even at Northeast Mountain Sports, but I keep spending on new things. It is sustainable until the wife sees the bills.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone


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## Whitey (Nov 8, 2017)

yeggous said:


> It is sustainable until the wife sees the bills



You just described skiing in general. . .


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## benski (Nov 8, 2017)

yeggous said:


> It all depends how much you invest back into the site. If you invest zero then I can see making a profit. So far I have yet to break even at Northeast Mountain Sports, but I keep spending on new things. It is sustainable until the wife sees the bills.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone



Hope you make some money during the winter.


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