Popular Post thewoodwhisperer Posted September 16, 2015 Popular Post Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 Hey folks. Just wanted to bring you into the loop on something I've got cooking up. First, a little background info. This forum continues to grow and in hopes of providing better overall service, I moved the forum to a separate server. Obviously TheWoodWhisperer.com enjoys its own share of traffic and problems so it felt good to de-couple the two sites. Unfortunately, this setup costs me more money and that's why there are now more ads. My goal was for the forum to simply pay for itself and break even. Unfortunately, ads pay crap so the end result is I'm about $60-$70 in the hole every month. While I have no intention of making major profits from this forum, I do have trouble justifying a consistent loss.This leaves me with a couple options: bring the forum back to a shared resource environment (which is not ideal by any means) or come up with a plan B.Plan B is to implement a Supporter "subscription." For a very small fee, you can help support the forum with the added bonus of having ALL ads removed. I'm thinking $2/month or $20/year. We can try it for a year and see how it goes. If enough people subscribe and the forum begins to pay for itself and then some, we can lower the price next year.So in the coming days, we'll have a new "Store" available here in the forum. You'll find one product with an option for monthly or yearly. Those who subscribe will receive a nice SUPPORTER icon under their avatar. But subscribing is completely optional and by no mean a requirement for participation. If anyone has ideas for other "perks" we can implement that don't require extra work on my part, I'm all ears. I'll put up another post after the store goes live. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 I will support either way. Maybe raffle off a guild project to one lucky supporter (assuming you get enough supporters to justify), or you could enter supporters in one of your monthly giveaways. It seems you are trying to decouple things and don't want thewoodwhisperer.com to be subsidizing the forum, so I understand why you might not want to do that. but it would help and overall does build your brand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 I'm down with this Marc. Good idea. Sent from my SM-P550 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 I'm for it. Count me in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 I'm in as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 What they said.The ads that have been on the forum are no bother at all, but I'd be happy to pay if that works out for the better good of the forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 I'll do that. I hate ads with the passion of a thousand fiery stars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 Don't want to sound all lachrymose & sentimental here, but of all the forums I lurk in and participate in, this one is a particular jewel. Both in its content and the (semi) civilized behavior of its members. Worth keeping vibrant & financially healthy.Frank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikemenifee Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 sounds fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodbutcher74 Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 If that's all it takes, I'm in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mzdadoc Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 I'm in. Don't mind the adds since they're what I was looking at anyway. Let me know when I can subscribe and I will.One idea if I could be a little selfish is just unleashing one guild build a year but not to affect the guild build program have it expire each year or time set by Marc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Immortan D Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 I'm in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 count me in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 I'm In! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cancelleri Posted September 17, 2015 Report Share Posted September 17, 2015 I'm in as well. As someone who has run larger forums in the past back in my WoW days, server costs can get a bit much. I'll help support forums. Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boatworks Today Posted September 17, 2015 Report Share Posted September 17, 2015 (edited) I'd buy that for a dollar! (Well, $20 / Yr is good too )... Totally Understandable Edited September 17, 2015 by Boatworks Today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virginia Mark Posted September 17, 2015 Report Share Posted September 17, 2015 I'm in as well, happy to help support the forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodenskye Posted September 17, 2015 Report Share Posted September 17, 2015 Even though times are tough at the moment, I enjoy the forum and will do what I can to support it. $20 is a reasonable price in my opinion. Maybe the people that do contribute can come up with a couple of woodworking topics and every six months have a video demo or something to help with educating us. I know this is more work for you Marc but could generate more subscribers which in turn will help the forum in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattSC Posted September 17, 2015 Report Share Posted September 17, 2015 Sounds like a good idea to me. Maybe you could give everyone a sticker ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted September 17, 2015 Report Share Posted September 17, 2015 That's less than $0.50 per bf. I'm in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post wtnhighlander Posted September 17, 2015 Popular Post Report Share Posted September 17, 2015 I'd rather spend $20 to socialize here than to be paid to use Facebook. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Bob Posted September 17, 2015 Report Share Posted September 17, 2015 Me too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cochese Posted September 17, 2015 Report Share Posted September 17, 2015 I'm in. Just have to figure out why I can't access the forum on my computer from Chrome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted September 17, 2015 Report Share Posted September 17, 2015 Me too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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