Saintsational needs YOUR help!

battye · Post: # 593141Post **battye** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 6:25pm

Hi!

Damien (known as "saintsational" around the forum) has for many years been paying out of his own pocket for everything to do with Saintsational, but has been unable to devote as much time to the site in recent times. As you may be aware, this has resulted in a slight restructure of the administration.

There are many fees associated with running this website, and with webhosting - the costs associated with having the website hosted - coming up for renewal later this year, Saintsational needs your help to cover them! Money fundraised will also go towards giving the site an overhaul, including a brand new website (we are considering new features like articles, player profiles, etc... later this year I will create a topic where you can make suggestions for new features) and a full upgrade of the forum software.

If you have any ideas for ways of fundraising (business sponsorship, personal donations, a Saintsational barbeque, etc), please post in this topic or if you wish you can contact me privately by PM; we are open to all ideas.

Thanks,
Saintsational.com administration

Mr Magic · Post: # 593148Post **Mr Magic** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 6:30pm

Maybe it would be good for all to see what type of money you are looking for?

Being a relative novice to Fan Forums I have absolutely no idea what is involved in keeping a fan Forum (like this excellent one) going?

Dan Warna · Post: # 593150Post **Dan Warna** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 6:35pm

Perhaps a fundraiser?

A social game, or a BBQ or a bowling night and what not, with some $$ to whoever takes over from damien or to contribute to damien.

I missed the last one, must 5 or 6 years ago organised by AwayintheUSA was it?

anyway a suggestion.

saintsrus · Post: # 593161Post **saintsrus** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 7:02pm

Make it a fee to join, it would get rid of the trolls

bergsone · Post: # 593168Post **bergsone** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 7:07pm

May be a amateur boxing night,sure a few on here would not mind evening up,any way i will make a small donation,Details ?

degruch · Post: # 593170Post **degruch** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 7:11pm

I'd be happy to chip in...if all of us did, it wouldn't take much to cover the hosting of the site, I guess. I'm enjoying seeing what other Sainters fans have got to say (for the most part), so would love to help keep it going.

BakesFan · Post: # 593171Post **BakesFan** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 7:12pm

saintsrus wrote:Make it a fee to join, it would get rid of the trolls

Sounds like the easiest way to do it.. If the site admin sets up a bank account specifically for Saintsational it'd be simple for members to pay, giving their username as a payment reference. It worked pretty well for the player sponsorship.

What are the costs involved? What's the cost per user/member?

saints11 · Post: # 593173Post **saints11** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 7:15pm

BakesFan wrote:
saintsrus wrote:Make it a fee to join, it would get rid of the trolls
Sounds like the easiest way to do it.. If the site admin sets up a bank account specifically for Saintsational it'd be simple for member to pay, giving their username as a reference.

What are the costs involved? What's the cost per user/member?

but you can't just kick us out if we're not willing to pay and if we've already been here for a while

BakesFan · Post: # 593186Post **BakesFan** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 7:23pm

There's no such thing as a free lunch, my friend... and those of us who have been here the longest should probably pay the most.

There's an idea... How about a free membership, but charge a fee per post (5 cents)?

Armoooo · Post: # 593187Post **Armoooo** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 7:24pm

Personally I don't think it would have to come down to having to pay for memberships, I like the idea of a fundraiser and a paypal account set up for donations...

How about google ads? We would get enough traffic to make a bit of money from them I would have thought.

Also I love the idea of upgrading the website, it sounds fantastic, I would love to help out in any way... Is there any chance of bringing back On The Couch, I can't remember who used to do those threads but they were fantastic...

Shaggy · Post: # 593190Post **Shaggy** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 7:26pm

I wouldn't complicate it.

Do your budget and ensure it is more realistic than AF's.

Make a sticky asking for donations and watch the money come in.

DON'T have a fee for joining the site as it will stop most newbies from joining particularly the youngsters.

saintdooley · Mon 23 Jun 2008 7:31pm

a forum game next week with a team who also has a bye? melbourne/richmond/carlton/essendon ..or maybe collingwood and from there all their scummy fans fan go off to the Lexus and watch the swans v pies game.
$5 fee to play and all should be good.

saintbrat · Post: # 593209Post **saintbrat** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 7:46pm

BakesFan wrote:There's no such thing as a free lunch, my friend... and those of us who have been here the longest should probably pay the most.

There's an idea... How about a free membership, but charge a fee per post (5 cents)?

mmmmmmm may not encourage posters

Ghost Like · Post: # 593216Post **Ghost Like** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 7:50pm

A barbie always sounds good if we can find a generous butcher and a publican who may wish to donate some damaged stock or supply us liquid refreshments at cost that we can then on sell.

Or

I don't know much about how on line stuff works but can we arrange for an on-line auction and if any of us have some St Kilda memorabilia we wish to put up (that we no longer use or have need for) then what those items go for can go into the site. Someone's junk will be treasured by another Sainter so it doesn't necessarily have to be a collector's item.

casey scorp · Mon 23 Jun 2008 8:02pm

Mr Magic wrote:Maybe it would be good for all to see what type of money you are looking for?

Being a relative novice to Fan Forums I have absolutely no idea what is involved in keeping a fan Forum (like this excellent one) going?

Good question - what is the cost that needs to be covered?

esaint66 · Post: # 593230Post **esaint66** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 8:03pm

Ghost Like wrote:A barbie always sounds good if we can find a generous butcher and a publican who may wish to donate some damaged stock or supply us liquid refreshments at cost that we can then on sell.

Or

I don't know much about how on line stuff works but can we arrange for an on-line auction and if any of us have some St Kilda memorabilia we wish to put up (that we no longer use or have need for) then what those items go for can go into the site. Someone's junk will be treasured by another Sainter so it doesn't necessarily have to be a collector's item.

I think rather than an on line auction maybe we could arrange a meeting in person so we know exactly what we are paying for.
But this may cost us more than it makes us

saintsRrising · Mon 23 Jun 2008 8:21pm

As mentioned above.....what range of $ are we talking about?

A few hundred...or a few $thousand????

If it is just a few hundred I would be confident that there would be enough of us to chip in pretty quick...

golden hawk · Mon 23 Jun 2008 8:28pm

PUNT ROAD END sell car stickers for $5 i think they do t shirts too not sure you could do that as a fund raiser

Armoooo · Post: # 593242Post **Armoooo** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 8:29pm

I love the stickers idea, however this would take a LOT of effort, would be great if we could get it happening though...

saintbrat · Post: # 593243Post **saintbrat** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 8:35pm

golden hawk wrote:PUNT ROAD END sell car stickers for $5 i think they do t shirts too not sure you could do that as a fund raiser

atleast three time over the years - or maybe more there has been talk of caps. shirts, stickers etc

Zippy · Post: # 593248Post **Zippy** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 8:44pm

A few years ago we had a fundraising dinner. BackfromUSA managed to get JOhn Beveridge to come, and they auctioned a couple of signed items. I still have the cap I bought with most of the list from back then's signatures.

battye · Post: # 593250Post **battye** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 8:44pm

The cost of transferring, upgrading and building the new site is obviously a one-off thing, with webhosting being the ongoing costs, paid yearly.

To give people an idea of what is needed, I think $2,000-$3,000 would be enough to cover two years of webhosting as well as the upgrade. Ideally, there would be a little excess to cover any unforeseen issues (sometimes you need to purchase extra bandwidth or upgrade to more RAM etc).

To everyone concerned about charging registration fees (or fees per post, which incidentally is unheard of), there is no need to worry. I have always been against compulsory registration fees.

There have been some great ideas so far, thanks for the input!

aussierules0k · Mon 23 Jun 2008 8:52pm

fonz_#15 · Post: # 593260Post **fonz_#15** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 8:57pm

i would gladly chip in, whatever way is required.

wolfpup · Post: # 593271Post **wolfpup** » Mon 23 Jun 2008 9:17pm

battye wrote:The cost of transferring, upgrading and building the new site is obviously a one-off thing, with webhosting being the ongoing costs, paid yearly.

To give people an idea of what is needed, I think $2,000-$3,000 would be enough to cover two years of webhosting as well as the upgrade. Ideally, there would be a little excess to cover any unforeseen issues (sometimes you need to purchase extra bandwidth or upgrade to more RAM etc).

To everyone concerned about charging registration fees (or fees per post, which incidentally is unheard of), there is no need to worry. I have always been against compulsory registration fees.

There have been some great ideas so far, thanks for the input!

happy to chip in.

i am not sure if this site is hosted in australia but some US companies offer really fantastic deals for web hosting with your own share on a dedicated server.
something like $300-400 US for 2 years with effectively unlimited bandwidth.

with the australian dollar being so strong its worthwhile looking at as an option.

let me know if you need further info.