Kentucky Kingdom Online to Merge with Amusement Park Authority

[Austin]

As some people know there was a big meeting with staff and others last night over the proposal we was offered. Well its finally time that I can announce everything since you've been in the dark for so long.

Starting March 1st we will hopefully be 100% moved and set up under the name Amusement Park Authority. Once we move to our new domain we will turn www.sfkkonline.com into a redirect to www.amusementparkauthority.com. Anyway let's cut to the details.

Staffing: This will pretty much remain the same with minor changes. First, coasterguy3014, the owner of APA, will become a admin as a co-owner. Second, I will be seeing if any of our staff wants to stay with us or leave. It's completely voluntary so we aren't forcing them to make a decision.

Focus: General theme park/coaster site. Sort of like TPR.

Technical details: Move full forum, posts accounts and all to the new domain. We will stay on the current hosting plan so we save money and can transfer the forums and etc easier.

Graphics: I was sort of thinking of a contest to design the logo. Which means a rough sketch, but if you want to make it you can. It would help us get an idea on what it should look like and etc. I don't expect graphics to be done by March 1st so I anticipate we will move using most of our sfkkonline graphics then switch them out as we get new ones.

Rules: Merge ours together then make revisions as necessary to fit the site.

Billing: Me and coasterguy3014 will split the current hosting costs. We plan on adding Google ads occasionally throughout the year to help generate revenue. After we have earned enough that it passes what it costs to renew hosting we will take around 10-20% of income and split that with coasterguy as he is a co-owner. The other 80-90% will go towards improving the site and into a reserve fund to pay for our next hosting contract.

If you're asking who APA because you never heard of them it's because they just opened a month ago. Coasterguy is a professional videographer and is interested in photographer also. We expect this will help take both of us to a new level and make this the best theme park site out there. We have our aim on TPR now. We don't want to be like them, we plan to be better than they are.

Also as of the end of this post I will be renaming my account from Tigerace81 to Austin.

If you still have any question about this feel free to message me and I will gladly answer your questions.

-Austin

[Shayne]

Thanks for the welcoming Austin. Hello guys, like Austin has said my name is Shayne and am responsible for the current work on APA. We will offer video podcast and more documentary work with the merge happening. And by the way clear things up. I am a professional videographer who also does photography on the side. lol. You flip flopped them Austin.

[Austin]

Oh sorry lol. I believe together we can achieve what other sites cant.

[Shayne]

So are we going to hear any opinions about this from you guys. Don't forget this is also YOUR coaster space. Any encouragement is only going to push us to strive harder to produce more information and media.

[Sfguy]

What'll happen to the Arcade?

About the merge, sounds good! :)

[nitrofan]

What'll happen to the Arcade?

About the merge, sounds good! :)

Haha, the arcade should stay the same as it is now. (with the exception of adding games)

[palmer]

-Will I have to re-register when we transfer over to APA or will I have the same basic information?

-What (if there is any) spots in the staff may be open when we merge?

-What is the basic mind set of APA? (as in sfkkonline.com is about SFKK/KK)

[nitrofan]

-Will I have to re-register when we transfer over to APA or will I have the same basic information?

-What (if there is any) spots in the staff may be open when we merge?

-What is the basic mind set of APA? (as in sfkkonline.com is about SFKK/KK)

-Your account and all other info should stay the same. We should have the forums with all previous posts that we have before the switch.

-Staff spots will all depend on who on the current staff wants to stay. Coasterguy3014 is becoming a co-owner of the site and will become an Admin, but otherwise staffing should stay pretty much the same. Austin will make an announcement if something happens and we are looking for staff.

-The basic mindset of APA will be a ganeral coaster site. It has pretty much been decided that we are going to treat SFKK just as if it were any other park, but that may be changed if a lot of members want to have a "SFKK History" section of some sort. That will be up to Austin though.

[Shayne]

To answer your questions Palmer, No you should not have to re-register for the new site. All the information should remain intact. The staffing issue does not have an answer at the current time because we are figuring out who is staying and who is leaving. When/ If we do open up for staffing opportunities, we will hold an application process to find the best candidates.

Now APA was an idea created by me (Shayne) with a certain mindset. I've been a coaster enthusiast for roughly 7 years now. In this time I have become one of the most knowledgable enthusiast in the New England area. So I wanted to create a site that offered general amusement industry news without being just another one in a crowd. Now certainly other sites have been around for years that have a similar design such as coasterbuzz.com just to name one. Now wanting to differentiate myself I came to the conclusion that this site MUST be different. Being a photographer and videographer gave me the advantage of being able to offer in depth video work for this site.

The goal of APA is to bring an in depth insight to a website that has not currently been seen. Throughout the year we will be in touch with many parks and offer video podcasts, documentary work, and also other interesting goodies that have yet to be announced. I wanted to be able to create an area where the average amusement park goer along with the more seasoned enthusiast was able to learn from my experiences to create a larger enthusiast community. That being said this summer will be an exciting season as we will have some exciting guests.

[Austin]

Like everyone else has said we haven't yet asked around about who wants to stay or leave. So until i get that done we don't have any official openings. But we will offer non-moderating jobs most likely to help cover the country on each region to stay up-to-date with each park, sort of like screamscape does. We will have more details on that later on.

The arcade will remain intact but I will improve it. New games will not be added until people start using it more. Why add games when people don't play half of the games we have? That's my only frustration on adding games.

Our mindset is to cover all theme parks/coasters in depth and provide a place to learn about the industry, parks and rides. Nitro is still working on the B&M article but is nearing completion.

An update on the purchase:

I have reviewed all domain pricing on our host and we will be even more safer once we have moved. It will cost $14.95 to register a new domain but I plan to spend $24.90 total. An extra 9.95 will hide contact information on our new domain. This will ensure that our contact information is hidden on WhoIS so it will reduce spam and increase security measures.

[Austin]

Another update, probably the last until the weekend, I have decided to forgive all infractions against any member of the site.