So you’ve joined? How much did it run you? Also, do you know the founders and trust them with your money?

OK so it might be a little bit risky to give someone your money when you don’t know anything about them, however, it’s easy to figure out the maths on this one…

120 quid per person x 5000 people = £600,000 for the first year at least… now, if you run this well, keep people happy, and keep them interested for 3 years (in line with the published the plan), you could get that for years 2 and 3 as well, so it’s probably a better prospect to run this scheme for 3 years without ripping anyone off for the best part of £2 million than to have 5000 people out for you blood.

just a thought.

Trixie, I couldn’t tell from your comments if you are for or against this project. Yes £600,000 is a hell about of money, but I am assuming that all of this money is put into the running of the community?

Whilst I think this is a great idea, I think alot of people are cagey about the idea. I’ve discussed this with a number of people and there comments have been very much like James - how do you know what the money is been spent on?

I’m for the project…….. so much so I put my money where my mouth is and I’m 1 of the 5000

The money will be spent on facilities on the island (sustainable and removable), running the island and the upkeep of the guests, and some investment in local Fijian projects.

I’m sure that some people (including the founding members) will be drawing a salary from the subscription fees.

The Project is unique and a certain amount of trust is required, but as much as it’s an eco project, and global tribe, it’s also a business opportunity for the founders, one that will be MORE lucrative to run as a business than to run as a scam. (see above comments about running it for the full 3 years rather than scam in one year) - obviously in my opinion.

Thanks for your comments and clarifying a few points Trixie

I think my points previously sounded negative - they weren’t meant to sound that way - I was just looking from another point of view. I’m certainly excited about this project, and I’ll be putting my money where my mouth is soon enough.

Do you work with the founders or would you rather not say?

I will post an update on the project soon on my travel blog and see if this generates some more interest. I certainly think that blogs like this can help because of the RSS feeds are used by thousands of news sites and people using it in their RSS reader.

No Darren, I don’t work with the founders, nor do I know them, I heard about the project and thought it a great idea.

I invoked a certain amount of trust and laid down cash, I subscribed for 2 years.

Personally, I think that the initial members of the tribe are mainly from the UK and therefore not particularly global, nor perhaps ethnically diverse, however I’m hoping that that will change with more members, as I think the more diverse the tribe the more interesting the points of view.

Perhaps this will be a “virtual Pang(a)ea” whichever spelling you prefer.

http://www.tribewanted.com or http://www.myspace.com/tribewanted for more information about Tribe Wanted

or http://www.myspace.com/trixie_b_100 for me

I came across this website yesterday. To be honest both as a business model and as a concept I think this is brilliant. I am surprised by the interest that has been raised. It seems that these are two people who have had an idea and want to go for it. Fantastic. Personally I would rather support people who have been creative rather than people who do nothing, on the dole. We dont question Branson what he does with his profits? We dont think about what Bill Gates does with his billions when we by another microsoft package. These guys have millions and millions. The reality is that tribewanted will get about £600,000 to £1million, I have worked out. But the cost of accomodation, insurance, VAT, feeding 5000 people, plus the running of the project. I doubt that they will make much from this venture. What they will make money on is being the founders of an incredible project that as one paper said, could change the face of tourism. Much respect to them for that, the deserve it.

I dont know these people, I found the site yesterday and have followed some sites on this today. I havent signed up yet but I am very much tempted. This is such a clever idea. Sorry for offering by two-pence worth. I just think its great and people like this should be inspired and encouraged.

Are these two guys from Nigeria? Or are they ex-ENRON employees? Or have they just chanced to read about the South Sea Bubble? What a clever idea: $4,320,000 (Australian) for providing a pit latrine on a desert island (5000 suckers x AUS$288 a year x 3 years) - well, chuck in a few green coconuts and even I would grin the big BULA Fijian smile Oh, and before I forget, will these two guys have to pay U.K. income tax on the $4,320,000 before they exile themselves in South America?

Read more at http://www.thejemreport.com/mambo/content/view/265/68/

I concur with the Jem Report which states, QUOTE Having done nothing but research Mark James and his previous failures on the Web and in the offline world, I’ve come to greatly pity him. I’ve no doubt that Mr. James is not a scammer, and he seems to be charismatic up to the limit of his short-sighted plans. He has a talent for getting a respectable number of people excited about his ideas, but according to a source close to him (and as is suggested by the trail of dead Web sites in his wake), Mark James has historically been unable to follow through with the business aspect of his plans after he has attracted a following. Perhaps that’s where Ben Keene comes in. UNQUOTE Let’s see how things look in September!

Yes, Darren, thanks for reminding me, they are indeed a LIMITED company: limited in their personal liabilities by the extent of their capital contribution which could be as little as a couple of quid. What bothers me a great deal why they require FULL upfront payment (for as much as THREE years upfront) when the start of the project is not even certain. Why couldn’t they just have asked wannebe tribe members for payment of a TOKEN fee, OR if FULL payment is so much required, ensure that this money is placed in a trust account with an independent third party. Will there be a 100% refund of all moneys paid if the project does not get off the ground?

Darren, isn’t it a pity that neither you nor I am willing to risk our money on this deal so perhaps we’ll never know how it panned out - or perhaps we should keep in touch with Trixie and ask her in six weeks’ time?

Your reasoning starts to get faulty, Darren (you’ve done pretty well so far ): if there are setting-up costs which must be met out of upfront membership fees, then there can’t be a 100% refund, can there? So what will the deductions be? 5%? 10%? 50%? 100%? In short, will people get their money back? And as for the socalled “fuss”? There is no point making a fuss AFTER the horse has bolted, is there? The time to ask questions is NOW!

The Jem Report has just posted the following entry:

QUOTE Currently Tribewanted has collected enough money — about $183,000 — to pay for the $90,000 lease on the island. One of the founders has already left England to move to the island full-time. This should be a major concern for Tribewanted customters, especially since Mark James’ previous business idea was for people to pay for him to take an extended worldwide vacation.

I believe that the conditions of the trip to Fiji will change on September 1, or shortly before. Tribewanted will say something like, Well, we tried, but we only have 1200 people. So we moved to the island for 3 years — thanks for your money! — and if you 1200 want to fly out here and hang out with us for a week, well, that’s cool, but we don’t have quite enough money to feed you, so bring a little extra.

And many of those customers will be fine with that.

UNQUOTE
So as you can see, the membership moneys so far collected are needed to pay for the lease of $90,000 - a pittance to the Fijians, by the way - so where are the 100% refunds going to come from if this doesn’t get off the ground?

Why anybody would want to join such an uncertain scheme and pay good money for the “privilege” of digging their own pit latrine and building their own shelter is beyond me. If you want a pristine beachfront in a tropical environment, there are heaps of other places. Take Tonga, for example, and look at http://www.tongaturismo.info/to04b.htm for some really cheap but comfortable accommodation right on the beach. I’ll be at Billy’s Place (no, this is not a commercial plug and Billy doesn’t know about it; he hasn’t even got a website on which you could contact him) on Ha’apai in September - see you there? (You may have to save up again after just having given your last few dollars to the “Lost Tribe”

I enjoyed reading this blog:
http://blog.hackingcough.com/2006/06/at_least_they_c.htm

Sorry, Darren, didn’t mean to. Just extremely surprised at the gullibility of people. If you are fascinated and want to read a real life story of somebody who achieved his dream of living for several years on a desert island, buy yourself a copy of AN ISLAND TO ONESELF by the now deceased Tom Neale - see http://www.riverbendnelligen.com/books.html . A great yarn! I’ll be in Tonga during August/September and out of reach of the internet, so the news of the success or otherwise of the Lost Tribe will reach me a little later. if it does go ahead, it’ll probably finish up looking like Torremolinos on a Saturday night

Even if the project were seemingly to get off the ground, the promoters would more than likely never be called upon to deliver. Why? Because of the huge atrition rate involved. After some cooling off, quite a few members would drop the idea of spending a mosquito- and sandfly-bitten week on an island with no infrastructure. Drop-off rate? A third? Very few people could fit in with the tight one-week time slot offered by the promoters to visit the island. And there wouldn’t be much flexibility offered as to when you might rock up to the island. After all, with just 52 weeks in the year and a maximum of 100 members on the island at any one time (imagine a hundred city-slickers on an island miles away from McDonalds, with only elemen tary sanitary arrangements and the barest of essentials, existing on the burnt offerings of some beachside barbecues - the mind boggles!), and 5000 members queueing up for a time slot, there would be only ONE slot on offer. Take it or leave it! And I would suggest that those who are joining up have got demanding jobs (or else they wouldn’t had had the wherewithal in the first place to lash out a fairly substantial sum of money to chase this dream) which means little flexibility in being able to accept the time slot allocated to them by the promoters. Drop-off rate: another third? Of those who actually arrive, many will rush back to the mainland and the nearest Holiday Inn after the first day and night exposed to the elements. Those remaining will be smoking something heavy (if only to ward off the mosquitoes or be down to their last penny having spend their holiday-savings on just getting there and will have a rough time of it. Paradise Postponed! (with apologies to John Mortimer)

Marquis de Rays - http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A060012b.htm - eat your heart out!

Darren, what questions did you put to tribewanted? It would appear, from their media statement, that tribewanted have not answered some of the concerns expressed here and on many websites. There are many questions that want to be answered and tribewanted have a duty to answer them.

Quite so, RW, not the most penetrating type of journalism, is it? If all Englishmen had displayed this lack of fortitude, they wouldn’t have gone much beyond the Isle of Man by now.