BajaNomad - Baja Board Game

Baja Board Game

Osprey - 4-21-2011 at 06:37 PM

Baja Board Game

An old pal of mine from Loreto, Bud Callen, dropped in unexpectedly and surprised me with his idea of a new Baja chat board. He’s been a Baja Nomad member for many years and he knows a lot about blogs, boards, and communications.

He laid out his plans for a new board called Baja Buddies. He told me he plans to charge $50 per month for use/subscription. Since I had been a member of the free Baja Nomad board for many years I told him he might have a hard time getting new members. He had some answers for me about that I didn’t see coming.

Bud looked for the day when the owners of Baja Nomad might give up or sell out and then, he would be ready to lure the traffic to his new site and maybe get some new ones.

“Jorge, after watching the traffic on Nomad for the last couple of years I’m convinced that there are thousands who would pay the $50 bucks if Nomad went away. Here’s my thinking on the matter. The hard core who would move have no choice. They need to have an outlet --- there are literally a couple of thousand who would pay any reasonable amount to have a continued avenue to vent their particular spleens.

Let me explain who they are not: they are not people who fish the Sea of Cortez or the Pacific Ocean. They have never surfed or clammed or crabbed. They don’t know a thing about Baja California or Baja Sur. They do not wind surf or kite board. They do not own a home or a business in Baja. Yet they post on the Nomad board several times a day, week, month from their keyboards in Seattle, Yuma and Boise.

They are in company with people who live in Tijuana and have never left the border. They are people who last fished the waters of the Gulf of California in 1989. They are people who drove to Cabo in the 90s, got drunk and now crowd the board with their rants about how things have changed for the worst.

There are thousands of oldsters who loved the Baja when they were young, strong, robust – those who can’t let the memories go. Many have never been back between youth and old age but relive the past through the board every day. Scores or hundreds more are now mired in the place and can’t get out – too old and broke to move, get to a newer, softer place to die. They haunt the board like grouchy old sea ghosts.

All the others, the young pioneers and the culture friendly baby boomers, the salt water athletes will pay because they are Mexico’s last hope. They will only be happy when they are giving – they can certainly do that with or without a chat board but it makes it a whole lot more worthwhile if and when they can share their charity, their joy of giving, with likeminded people.

There are those who would pay hundreds, if not thousands; some poor souls who need extra love and affection, recognition. You can tell them by their post count, the thousands of pictures, the non-Baja stories and travelogues, the virtual catalogues of their lives in real time, then last week, last year, when they were 20, 12.

Some feature themselves as writers, poets, philosophers and who knows what other internet groups would accept their sometimes artless stories, sonnets or outcries.

So, Jorge, what do you think?”

“I think I’ll go in the bodega and see if we have another bottle of Tequila. I know I got a tree full of limes and time to do some serious mullin’ over what you have come up with. Did you just race down here to lay this on me before you forgot it?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

[Edited on 4-22-2011 by Osprey]

vandenberg - 4-22-2011 at 08:21 AM

:lol:

David K - 4-22-2011 at 08:26 AM

Nomad isn't the only game in town... if something happened to it, we have Baja Gringo's www.TalkBaja.com forums to continue... and it is free... as are other forums on Baja... just none have the volume of posts and information as Nomad... which became the leader after Amigos de Baja suddenly went dead back in 2003. No other Baja forum comes close to Nomad with daily activity... Thanks Doug for keeping it alive!

cabo3100 - 4-22-2011 at 08:35 AM

50 a month give me a break hows the economy in your crazy mind

Osprey - 4-22-2011 at 10:03 AM

Cabo, you're a relative newcomer with 42 posts so I temper my thoughts with that in mind.

1. Do you not see $50 dollars per month value in having access to the Nomad board?

2. Maybe if you see what the board does for the members, what the members do for each other, for our Mexican hosts, the synergy that sometimes springs up to remind us of our common humanity you would might retract your statement.

3. If you personally don't have $50 a month to spend on fun and community and enlightenment it might be because you need every centavo for beer and dog food and if that's the case your comments could have been posted that way -- no shame to be busted.

My Loreto buddy's idea was that all proceeds (except operating costs) would go to Wounded Warriors and the Mexican Red Cross. After a while, as members post, their monthly dues are reduced and then go away completely. The board would grow only by word of mouth since if you don't pay, you can't lurk. Just for serious Bajaphiles, not debate junkies or trolls. It would be a great way to advertise Baja businesses and to them the $50 bucks could come back tenfold with a tight group of proud member/givers. I know, it's a crazy idea. My pal gets them all the time. He drinks.

[Edited on 4-22-2011 by Osprey]

[Edited on 4-22-2011 by Osprey]

mtgoat666 - 4-22-2011 at 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Osprey
all proceeds (except operating costs) would go to Wounded Warriors and the Mexican Red Cross.

what do wounded gringo warriors have to do with baja?

i think poor mexicans are more deserving than gringos with disability checks - not sure why mexico should be sending charity money back to the USA

Cypress - 4-22-2011 at 10:27 AM

$50 to participate? I quit smoking when the cost of a pack went to 45 cents. And this forum is not as addictive as nicotine, close. More like keeping track of an ex-girlfriend. Not that you want to pick up were you left off, but more to reinforce your decision to move on. But, it'll be a good way to get rid of the riff raff. :yes:

Osprey - 4-22-2011 at 10:35 AM

Cypress, you would not be offered a membership. Just a track of your Baja trips, current involvment, positive attitude would preclude you from sending in $50 bucks ( or a lot more ). Just for serious Bajaphiles with positive attitudes, open minds -- I bet I can find 50 posts under Cypress telling the world there are no fish in the Sea of Cortez. Wanna bet?

Osprey - 4-22-2011 at 10:37 AM

Goat, are you dense? The money would be split between U.S. Wounded Warriors and the Mexican Red Cross. The board would/could help Americans and Mexicans. Duh?

[Edited on 4-22-2011 by Osprey]

[Edited on 4-22-2011 by Osprey]

mtgoat666 - 4-22-2011 at 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Osprey
Goat, are you dense? The money would be split between U.S. Wounded Warriors and the Mexican Red Cross. The board would/could help Americans and Mexicans. Duh?

[Edited on 4-22-2011 by Osprey]

[Edited on 4-22-2011 by Osprey]

collecting charity donations in mexico to distribute charity funding in USA is ridiculous.

Osprey - 4-22-2011 at 11:04 AM

Another remark that removes you from the membership list of Baja Buddies. Goat, charitable internet businesses operate thru the ether. Their donations come from members worldwide and are given to worthy worldwide causes. Duh? Now, go away please.

If you live in California, do you suppose you couldn't send charity money to Chile? If you leaned they had disaster there and you could afford to give, wanted to give, why wouldn't you?

longlegsinlapaz - 4-22-2011 at 12:38 PM

Osprey, I think I like Bud! But just in case he gets to drinking & forgets about implementing his plan, maybe BN could consider a variation on Bud's plan, including Bud's designated donation recipients of Wounded Warriors & Cruz Rojo. The following is submitted for consideration:

1. Charge per post

2. Double fee for pics posted a second time.
3. Triple fee for each pic posted 3 times
4. 4 X fee for each pic posted 4 times
5. 5 X fee for each pic posted 5 times
6. 10 X fees for each pic posted 10 times
7. 25 x fees for each pic posted 25 & so on
8. Retroactive fees on all prior posts & no further posts allowed until account is current.
9. Potty-mouth fee $5 USD per word, regardless of cutesy spelling to intentionally circumvent profanity check.
10. One free "get-out-of-jail-card" for arguing with Osprey, escalating scale penalty thereafter.
11. One warning for:

second occurrence permanent exile to Off-Topic.

12. Members in good standing receive full voting privileges to implement one 30-day time-out, further infractions earn permanent exile to Off-Topic.

Hmmmmmm....Looks like a 12-Step program....or is that name taken?

:lol:

Cypress - 4-22-2011 at 12:51 PM

Osprey, So much for any opinions that don't go along with the flow. Typical liberal attitude. Kick me to the curb! Go for it! :yes:

Dave - 4-22-2011 at 01:22 PM

I'll be your first advertiser. I've got a metaphor/parable/allegory detector I've been working on. Thinking it will be a big seller.

Skipjack Joe - 4-22-2011 at 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by longlegsinlapaz

1. Charge per post

Wait... Aren't you a resident?

You probably meant 10 pesos per post.

DENNIS - 4-22-2011 at 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Cypress
it'll be a good way to get rid of the riff raff. :yes:

I don't know. I think Gull has money.
Anyway....I'd pay the 50 smackers just to watch Jorge talk to himself....as he did in the first post. Fleshing out characters is the ammo of the author.

Osprey - 4-22-2011 at 02:40 PM

No, Dennis, there really is a Bud Callen, a Nomad in Loreto. Maybe I'm spelling that wrong. It could be Collins. We just call him Bud. Can't give you his Nomad handle of course but it's something like Kingfisherman8083 or something close to that.

He's a straight shooter -- beyond just the money he needs to run the thing he was hoping to rope in about 1000 regulars >> $50,000 U.S. a month to go to those two charities. He said he sees how badly some Nomads need the outlet, the sense of community, the sense of belonging they don't have anywhere else -- at work, at home, with their families, etc. There would be three levels of Off Topic but it wouldn't be called that. The lowest level would be for non-Baja stuff, the second to spout off, vent about politics and the world today, the third would be for death threats and virtual guns and sabers (at dawn, with seconds).

DENNIS - 4-22-2011 at 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Osprey
There would be three levels of Off Topic but it wouldn't be called that. The lowest level would be for non-Baja stuff, the second to spout off, vent about politics and the world today, the third would be for death threats and virtual guns and sabers (at dawn, with seconds).

But....But, Jorge....all of those activities are fun and noble, but only when used with an element of surprise. Everything is diluted and lost if they're assigned rooms.
It has to be spontaneous and tasteless...even insulting when necessary. the activities which you mention are the hallmarks of a free [ reasonable anyway] society.
We Americans are known for dropping the bomb. It's our legacy handed down to us from some guy in a Gay airplane. It's our heritage.
We are a free people and we shall overcome.

OK..Nomads. Let's all sing along with Joan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkNsEH1GD7Q

.

[Edited on 4-22-2011 by DENNIS]

DanO - 4-22-2011 at 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS
Anyway....I'd pay the 50 smackers just to watch Jorge talk to himself....as he did in the first post. Fleshing out characters is the ammo of the author.

I'll second that.

Misread

MrBillM - 4-22-2011 at 03:33 PM

At first, I thought it said Baja Broad game.

Having been a longtime paying Player (when 50 Bucks went farther) in THAT game in TJ, Ensenada and San Luis, I was interested.

bajalera - 4-22-2011 at 04:02 PM

Way to go, Osprey! I'm gettihg set to b-tchabout the dumbasses who have converted Margaritas into Slushies.

DENNIS - 4-22-2011 at 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by morgaine7

So could Pass-Out.

Cute.

Osprey - 4-24-2011 at 02:15 PM

Dennis, Dano, I do talk to myself sometimes but not on this thread, not on something serious like this.

Here's more on the guy. You can't make this stuff up.

Bud

Bud came down to Baja California some years ago on Spring Break. Had a blast in San Felipe, wound up in the calabozo and finally spent 34 days in the lockup in Mexicali. He told me he learned a lot of Spanish in there but the words didn’t do him much good when he got out and tried again later for a safer, saner Baja experience.

He said he thought he could have been back on the street the next day because he believed the charge was just drunk in public but a guy in the tank with him died from internal bleeding and somehow that changed everything. There might have been more to it because Bud never talked about that long lost episode except one night when we were both way out there on some Los Mochis gold.

If he reads this he’s probably gonna take my head off but Bud’s a Tennessee boy so as you might expect he’s a Jack and coke head. When we camped at Concepción I sometimes had to move my sleeping sack way the hell down the beach because behind that stuff he becomes a moon-howler – you would think a big old redbone had waltzed into a moonlit clearing surrounded by a dozen coons in the puckerbrush.

When it happened it brought me to a state of personal danger because that bay, those beaches, something, used to give me a case of the wobblies and it was not a good time for me to be moving around in the semi, demi dark alone and unsure of my purpose or my plan. Some hours later the morning sun seemed to blaze with a punishing brightness but if truth be told I felt some relief in it.

When he worked in the states (off and on, mostly off) he went from hall to hall hiring out as a “Cowboy”, a grader operator. Eventually that trade molded his social character and capabilities because the language of the dirt trade is narrow and sometimes exclusive. I needed some translation from time to time. Once, in a bar in La Paz there was a very attractive young thing at the bar I was admiring but Bud said “Zoned Commercial”. Translation: working girl.

Another time when I tore up the front end of my Toyota pickup way out in the boonies he said “We’re gonna need some Obtainium for this one.” Tranlation: Obtainium is the perfect material to fix the broken part – it is from another planetary system.

He always seemed to have pockets full of money but in a bar he most generally would only buy the drinks for us by proxy – that is, when he went to the men’s room I would order the drinks and slide his money to the bartender. He was very reluctant to allow that to happen often and eventually he developed some semi serious bladder problems.

Bud treated any new female companion of mine as though she was property held in common and sometimes I was so busy protecting my territory and options the prize was lost to both of us. It was like a game to him. He could never imagine the terrible things that could happen to him if he broke the rules of the game (such as they were).

He is probably the most patient fisherman I’ve ever known. Even today I bet if we were out there trolling right now he would be snoring away until and unless one of the reels went off, then he would bolt upright and grab the one singing before I could move a muscle.

Bud is really a great guy and tries hard to hold up his end no matter what the deal is. When he stayed with me last year he washed my dog, Tino (he took him to the beach), he painted a small patio end table (he threw my new brush in the trash when he was finished) and he filled up the car for our trip to San Jose (used my boat gas).

He’s always thinking. He thinks way outside the box. You’ll see if you meet him in some bar in Loreto or Mulege one of these days. Bud’s a character alright. See if he goes to the men’s room. You’ll know what to do.

vandenberg - 4-24-2011 at 02:45 PM

Osprey
Are you the reason the rumor is going around that Doug is contemplating a per post fee, starting July 1st ?
Nothing as steep as Bud's, but still, the freebee is gone. And likely a much higher post fee for non residents, which would be nothing but fair. :biggrin:

Barbarosa - 4-24-2011 at 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DENNIS

OK..Nomads. Let's all sing along with Joan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkNsEH1GD7Q

Wow! What is that, 50 years old? Damn close. It's just so cool to have archives like that now.

krafty - 4-24-2011 at 03:24 PM

Great story, Osprey-I wanna meet Bud!

DENNIS - 4-24-2011 at 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Osprey
You can't make this stuff up.

Now you're quoting Hemmingway. :light:

If the New York Times

Gypsy Jan - 4-24-2011 at 04:03 PM

Can't figure out how to not lose money, even with a forced online subscription service, how is this guy going to get people to pay $50 U.S. for an online subscription that will only appeal to a very narrow market pool?

Mark Zuckerberg is a billionaire in his twenties because Facebook subscription is free and his business model is the broadest of all, providing a convenient outlet for horny teenagers; that is what brought in the dollars.

But, what do I know?

[Edited on 4-24-2011 by Gypsy Jan]

[Edited on 4-24-2011 by Gypsy Jan]

Osprey - 4-24-2011 at 04:23 PM

Jan, do you really want to start the Osprey thinking about any potential involving money and horny teens?

Bud's deal is only for gen yu wine charities.

Disculpame, Osprey

Gypsy Jan - 4-24-2011 at 04:27 PM

I had no intention to insert impure thoughts in your mind.

[Edited on 4-24-2011 by Gypsy Jan]

[Edited on 4-25-2011 by Gypsy Jan]

Osprey - 4-24-2011 at 04:54 PM

Thanx for that Jan. All my filters are down when I go on the Nomad forum and I'm very vulnerable. Who knows what could happen?

bajaking76 - 4-25-2011 at 07:59 AM

No thanks, I'll pay to go live my own life than read about someone else's on a forum. Besides...$50 of gas..that'll get me to San Quintin from San Diego right? :biggrin:

Osprey - 4-25-2011 at 08:08 AM

King, a look at your past posts show that you asked for a lot of information from board members and got it. What's that worth?

bajaking76 - 4-25-2011 at 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Osprey
King, a look at your past posts show that you asked for a lot of information from board members and got it. What's that worth?

well, I thanked them....or should I send them a check?...I want to believe that helping others FREE OF CHARGE when it comes to information, in this case BAJA and blood lines would be a positive experience for the individuals involved. I know I would help if asked; FOR FREE....honestly you are annoying; I say good day to you sir.... :rolleyes:

[Edited on 4-25-2011 by bajaking76]

Osprey - 4-25-2011 at 10:09 AM

Okay, here's your chance to help me. FOR FREE. Tell me how you can tell us you have a life and we don't, then when I call you on it, you say I'm ANNOYING YOU.

There's a helluva lot more than just information flowing back and forth between Nomads -- how about friendship and caring and aid of every kind, caring and sharing and group cooperation that brings good and helpful things to members and deserving Mexican kids and others in need.

bajaking76 - 4-25-2011 at 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Osprey
Okay, here's your chance to help me. FOR FREE. Tell me how you can tell us you have a life and we don't, then when I call you on it, you say I'm ANNOYING YOU.

There's a helluva lot more than just information flowing back and forth between Nomads -- how about friendship and caring and aid of every kind, caring and sharing and group cooperation that brings good and helpful things to members and deserving Mexican kids and others in need.

Que!? and I do have a life....your talking about friendship?...It comes with price tag....$50, right? I don't need your friendship Osprey and that of your cronies...I will do what I do and do it my way. I will help when I can but it will come from me and my ego will stay were it has always been....in check.

Osprey - 4-25-2011 at 11:04 AM

Too bad King. If you could reign that ego in, give, get and hold your judgemental position until you know the forum better your angry loner thing might mello out = you might just one day say "Hey, I like being part of something special".

vandenberg - 4-25-2011 at 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by soulpatch
See, the fishing is getting better in the Sea of Cortez.
ZZZZZZZZZ! love the sound of a hook up!