Forum costs, maintenance and advertising

[n1ck]

Hi all

The last few weeks have obviously posed some questions about the long-term sustainability of the forum.

It has become clear that the website needs some (alot of!) work to ensure it's ability to stay live and online, administered and moderated but most of all, functional.

Outside of the general monthly costs (which are substantial already - domain, hosting etc) the last few months have become increasingly expensive to maintain, troubleshoot and resolve issues with external developers and service providers. It appears likely that these costs and expenses will grow as we identify more and more issues within the website's infrastructure.

What are your thoughts on admin adding a few advertising placements to allow for some revenue to be generated while keeping the forum free to use, which would then go back into the forum maintenance costs?

At its current levels website traffic wouldn't be anywhere enough to even cover costs, however it might help.
I understand it's not ideal, but at the end of the day we are here rather keep the forum alive and grow it further, than let it die and disappear.

Please let me know what you think?

Thanks

[Yorkeys]

Hi all

The last few weeks have obviously posed some questions about the long-term sustainability of the forum.

It has become clear that the website needs some (alot of!) work to ensure it's ability to stay live and online, administered and moderated but most of all, functional.

Outside of the general monthly costs (which are substantial already - domain, hosting etc) the last few months have become increasingly expensive to maintain, troubleshoot and resolve issues with external developers and service providers. It appears likely that these costs and expenses will grow as we identify more and more issues within the website's infrastructure.

What are your thoughts on admin adding a few advertising placements to allow for some revenue to be generated while keeping the forum free to use, which would then go back into the forum maintenance costs?

At its current levels website traffic wouldn't be anywhere enough to even cover costs, however it might help.
I understand it's not ideal, but at the end of the day we are here rather keep the forum alive and grow it further, than let it die and disappear.

Please let me know what you think?

Thanks

Sure. Be really interested in what audience advertisers think/know we are.
Also multiple posting of same words and flogging a previously stated opinion should incur fines.

[The_Dud]

Could you also add a 'donate' button somewhere for those who are willing to throw in a few dollars?

[The Fireman]

Please excuse my limited knowledge of the interwebby but are there any less expensive platforms out there that require minimal maintenance ?
where you could simply swap the data base over to ?
again asking as a pleb in these matters.

[n1ck]

Could you also add a 'donate' button somewhere for those who are willing to throw in a few dollars?

It's (i think!) possible as i've seen similar on other websites however the forum software is somewhat inflexible so not sure if there's an exact plugin/extension that would work for our site.

[CQ SAINT]

I'm willing to contribute and as long as I don't have to wait for an add to finish to read or post, go at it with the advertising, I reckon.

[Saintmatt]

Much like Malware, Spam and Phishing filters and security ... is there a Vortex one commercially available? That'll save heaps on database clogging and bandwith hogging.

[n1ck]

Please excuse my limited knowledge of the interwebby but are there any less expensive platforms out there that require minimal maintenance ?
where you could simply swap the data base over to ?
again asking as a pleb in these matters.

I did have this discussion a few times over the last week or so, but really looms as a last resort as we would lose all history, posts, topics, users etc with a clean install of a new software.

Definitely open to options!

[The Fireman]

Please excuse my limited knowledge of the interwebby but are there any less expensive platforms out there that require minimal maintenance ?
where you could simply swap the data base over to ?
again asking as a pleb in these matters.

I did have this discussion a few times over the last week or so, but really looms as a last resort as we would lose all history, posts, topics, users etc with a clean install of a new software.

Definitely open to options!

Retaining that data is important but at the end of the day not vital if we are to continue as a group

Anyway thanks for the great work you do

[Vortex]

Don't ruin the unique position the phpBB site has in the AFL community, it's our town square where the content is owned by the people so I'm sure donation based funding will suffice as it always has.

What are the current running costs.

[Rubyjo]

Let's do a credit raise.

[skeptic]

This place is very special in its own little corner of the universe. Reality for me is that I’ve been posting here for 20 years, since high school to be exact. I’m loathe to allow advertising as this is one of the few little corners on line that has stayed free of it… but if it’s the difference between keeping the doors open rather than not then so be it. Otherwise yeah… let’s chip in.

Perhaps we could make it sporting…
Vortex is so confident in his lack of confidence in Sharman, perhaps he could donate $1000 for every goal he kicks

[ausfatcat]

Approximately how much a year does it cost? a donate button is a idea.

[bigcarl]

Approximately how much a year does it cost? a donate button is a idea.

Yep, I’d be happy to donate to keep it going.

[Banger9798]

Some site have two tiers - paid members and there is no advertising for them, but casuals get the version with advertising.
If possible a money raise would be preferred to any advertising.

[Vortex]

This place is very special in its own little corner of the universe. Reality for me is that I’ve been posting here for 20 years, since high school to be exact. I’m loathe to allow advertising as this is one of the few little corners on line that has stayed free of it… but if it’s the difference between keeping the doors open rather than not then so be it. Otherwise yeah… let’s chip in.

Perhaps we could make it sporting…
Vortex is so confident in his lack of confidence in Sharman, perhaps he could donate $1000 for every goal he kicks

1k for every year he is on the list might be more affordable.

Keep the phaBB software and make it donation based and it will be fine.

A very unique town square and must be preserved as a public space where the content is owned by the people.

[saynta]

I am fine with what ever you decide

[SaintWiki]

I ticked yes for advertising but will that provide enough revenue to fully maintain the site? Although this is an old fashioned forum system it is light to load and what everyone is accustomed to and seem comfortable with. Is there an option within the system where paid up members have posting and commenting rights but still allowing visitors viewing rights on all of the posts for example? If so perhaps is it also worthwhile thinking about?

[JR23]

Advertising is fine and donation button is a good idea. Keep up the good work .

[JR23]

Advertising is fine and donation button is a good idea. Keep up the good work .

[n1ck]

One of the things we need to be aware of is that despite what is available on a bunch of other sites and destinations, the phpBB software is quite inflexible and doesnt have the same scale/scope of options available as say a wordpress site or custom built website.

In theory ANYTHING is possible, but in the short term my preferance is to do what's necessary to keep the lights on at a minimum and at the same time keep working towards the inftrastructure improvements that will make this forum sustainable again in the long term. A cursory look at plugins for our forum there arent many options for a donation process that can be easily developed/integrated in the short term but I am more than happy to continue looking at these options.

I honestly don't want to get into the commercial details but based on what I've seen over the last few months generally the ongoing costs are around $110-$120 monthly depending on US currency, plus the yearly domain associated fees, and then any other extra support costs through the service provider, THEN additional development work which has already accrued about $300US over the last two-three weeks and I expect these are the costs that are ultimately going to be the most significant, most complex and hardest to forecast/predict.

The last thing I would want to to is turn people away from the forum - my goal is continue growing the audience and the community here - so would of course look to limit exposure to intrusive advertising to an absolute minimum.

Hope that all makes sense.

[Vortex]

continue growing the audience and the community here

This is the starting point with any business case for finding a revenue source.


How do you envisage growing the audience enough for it to produce and income?


The donation system can be via EFT as it has been in the past.

keep it simple.

[Scollop]

I don't think you have to necessarily incorporate a donate facility within the current website

Very easy to just create a Go Fund me page or something similar and we just donate a bunch of money there.

Make sure that you specify some money could come back to those who donate by way of competitions. If funds are allocated towards a few competitions each year that also provides more incentive to donate.

[Vortex]

I don't think you have to necessarily incorporate a donate facility within the current website

Very easy to just create a Go Fund me page or something similar and we just donate a bunch of money there. That should keep things ticking over for a while (at least several years) and you could have a portion of funds allocated towards a few competitions throughout the year

good suggestion,

the advertising model is not viable and will steer the site into a very undesirable direction.

The donation system can work without needing any software technology as it has in the past and the gofundme page is a brilliant idea also.

Get it setup N1ck and get the donations flowing immediately as it doesn't sound like too much money needs to be raised annually to keep the site running

[The Fireman]

So this place has cost $100 a mth for the last 20 yrs ?