Mudderoy
09-05-2013, 12:05 PM
When :xjtalk: was conceived it was a beautiful vision of a friendly place people could come and post questions, comments without the fear of being called stupid, or worse.
At first we were even giving away stickers to all that wanted them. BOY THAT GOT EXPENSIVE FAST! :D
Then reality hit. The servers cost a couple of thousand dollars, the monthly Internet connection was $70, etc...
We muddled forward. Hell we even had 3 months of good give aways that totaled about $1000!
We put Google AdSense up on the site and soon we were seeing about $10 a month in revenue! Not much (especially since you have to get to $100 before Google cuts you a check!) but that made the Internet only $60 a month!
Thankfully that's changed and now through Google AdSense the monthly Internet is covered! :bacondance: Plus it's gone up!
About a year into running the site people were asking how they could contribute money to the site. We refused, thanked them, and just ask they tell people about xjtalk. Eventually we put up a way that people could contribute. It was important to us that people understood collecting fees isn't why xjtalk was here, and donations, subscriptions were very much appreciated, but NOT REQUIRED! That is still the case.
We've never pushed the subscription thing. If you saw it in the store, or asked we'd direct you to where you could subscribe, and several have!
Recently I was reminded about a project I was going to do but put off and forgot about. Ad blocking software detection! So a little research and foul language and BOOM! we have ad blocking software detection running on the site.
We're not going to tell you to turn off ad blocking, obviously you don't want to see ads and having that forced on you is just going to piss you off. It would me, so what I did is to remind you of an alternative. Subscribers don't see the ads. You'll still see the banner ads in the upper right hand corner. Those are the vendors that directly support the site! But you won't see the rest of the ads.
The idea is simple. If you like xjtalk, why not support it? You can support it by NOT blocking the ads, or becoming a subscriber and the ads will be blocked for you by the site.
I have started a conversation with the staff about ad blocking software, and subscriptions as an alternative. Looking for ideas about how we can get a good balance. Two suggestions so far have been annual subscriptions, and lifetime subscriptions.
We already have annual.
I've asked them, and now I'll ask you. What do you think of all this? Is $2.50 a month just too darn much for a monthly subscription? How much should it be? We do currently have a annual subscription, $30 a year, I believe. Any interest in a lifetime subscription? How much should that be?
As always thanks so much for coming here, and well I'm sorry you're having to go through these growing pains with us. I know how to build, configure and run servers. Doing all this people stuff I don't, and that's where I need your help. :patriot: :beer:
At first we were even giving away stickers to all that wanted them. BOY THAT GOT EXPENSIVE FAST! :D
Then reality hit. The servers cost a couple of thousand dollars, the monthly Internet connection was $70, etc...
We muddled forward. Hell we even had 3 months of good give aways that totaled about $1000!
We put Google AdSense up on the site and soon we were seeing about $10 a month in revenue! Not much (especially since you have to get to $100 before Google cuts you a check!) but that made the Internet only $60 a month!
Thankfully that's changed and now through Google AdSense the monthly Internet is covered! :bacondance: Plus it's gone up!
About a year into running the site people were asking how they could contribute money to the site. We refused, thanked them, and just ask they tell people about xjtalk. Eventually we put up a way that people could contribute. It was important to us that people understood collecting fees isn't why xjtalk was here, and donations, subscriptions were very much appreciated, but NOT REQUIRED! That is still the case.
We've never pushed the subscription thing. If you saw it in the store, or asked we'd direct you to where you could subscribe, and several have!
Recently I was reminded about a project I was going to do but put off and forgot about. Ad blocking software detection! So a little research and foul language and BOOM! we have ad blocking software detection running on the site.
We're not going to tell you to turn off ad blocking, obviously you don't want to see ads and having that forced on you is just going to piss you off. It would me, so what I did is to remind you of an alternative. Subscribers don't see the ads. You'll still see the banner ads in the upper right hand corner. Those are the vendors that directly support the site! But you won't see the rest of the ads.
The idea is simple. If you like xjtalk, why not support it? You can support it by NOT blocking the ads, or becoming a subscriber and the ads will be blocked for you by the site.
I have started a conversation with the staff about ad blocking software, and subscriptions as an alternative. Looking for ideas about how we can get a good balance. Two suggestions so far have been annual subscriptions, and lifetime subscriptions.
We already have annual.
I've asked them, and now I'll ask you. What do you think of all this? Is $2.50 a month just too darn much for a monthly subscription? How much should it be? We do currently have a annual subscription, $30 a year, I believe. Any interest in a lifetime subscription? How much should that be?
As always thanks so much for coming here, and well I'm sorry you're having to go through these growing pains with us. I know how to build, configure and run servers. Doing all this people stuff I don't, and that's where I need your help. :patriot: :beer: