Feedback Request Donations + New Monthly Donation Meter

[tarster]

So if clicking is possibly frowned upon.. But viewing is good.. Would a system that refreshes the page on a 60 second interval and the clear cash be a good thing.. Or would that end up putting to much extra traffic on the servers? And if you wanted to host in house the offer is still open if you want a free server. Just saying..

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

So if clicking is possibly frowned upon.. But viewing is good.. Would a system that refreshes the page on a 60 second interval and the clear cash be a good thing.. Or would that end up putting to much extra traffic on the servers? And if you wanted to host in house the offer is still open if you want a free server. Just saying..

This sort of thing isn't new, ad's of this type etc. have been around over 15 years, doing that would be obvious to the tracking, don't bother.

 

[Joe Link]

So if clicking is possibly frowned upon.. But viewing is good.. Would a system that refreshes the page on a 60 second interval and the clear cash be a good thing.. Or would that end up putting to much extra traffic on the servers? And if you wanted to host in house the offer is still open if you want a free server. Just saying..

Completely forgot to mention the server offer! Wouldn't be able to use it since our servers are hosted remotely, but I do appreciate the offer.

As for refreshing ads, I've looked into that but it's a gray area. To be honest I want to be fair to both those who advertise directly as well as the ad networks which run here

 

[AMProducts]

Completely forgot to mention the server offer! Wouldn't be able to use it since our servers are hosted remotely, but I do appreciate the offer.

As for refreshing ads, I've looked into that but it's a gray area. To be honest I want to be fair to both those who advertise directly as well as the ad networks which run here

Honestly, it wouldn't be too difficult to set up a mirroring system, then again chances are the bandwidth isn't the expensive part, it's the fact that the server is sitting in a rack in someone's datacenter burning up AC. Plus working out all the HDD space and all that.

Big thing I'm kinda wondering now that I think about it, do you purge sales history? So after a "WTS" post has been complete for a year, is it removed from the DB?

 

[Lilhigbee]

Had to log out to see what the site looks like with ads. Personally I wouldn't object if there was an ad or two that came up even when logged in. Not some obnoxious flashing screaming thing, but something that filled in the empty spaces, like below the Site Stats or maybe a short wide one across the top below the header. Keep to smaller-file ads so they don't affect load time much. I appreciate not having the ads, but if it helps keep the site alive, go for it.
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[Joe Link]

Honestly, it wouldn't be too difficult to set up a mirroring system, then again chances are the bandwidth isn't the expensive part, it's the fact that the server is sitting in a rack in someone's datacenter burning up AC. Plus working out all the HDD space and all that.

Big thing I'm kinda wondering now that I think about it, do you purge sales history? So after a "WTS" post has been complete for a year, is it removed from the DB?

Yeah the bandwidth and storage aren't too bad, it's the administration/maintenance cost that really adds up. The more complicated the setup the more expensive it is to admin/maintain. We keep it as simple and as straightforward as possible. Posts actually don't take up many resources. We keep old WTS posts around to serve as a historical pricing reference and to attract new people from search engines. Deleting this old info would cut our visits by a large margin, which is one reason we try to encourage people to not edit the ad with 'sold' once the item is no longer available (closing it adds a notice to let people know).

Had to log out to see what the site looks like with ads. Personally I wouldn't object if there was an ad or two that came up even when logged in. Not some obnoxious flashing screaming thing, but something that filled in the empty spaces, like below the Site Stats or maybe a short wide one across the top below the header. Keep to smaller-file ads so they don't affect load time much. I appreciate not having the ads, but if it helps keep the site alive, go for it.
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You don't see ads because you're a Gold Supporter

Bronze and Silver have fewer ads, non-supporters see the same number as those who aren't registered.

 

[Velzey]

One thing we need to work on is not deleting the final sale price! So many times I go to reference an old ad only to find that it has been edited amd marked sold, and the sale price is also gone.. So it serves zero purpose!

 

[AMProducts]

So I just got out of the shower, and as happens in the shower, I had a good idea.

Publish an E-book every year featuring the best posts on selected topics, maybe make some edits and clean-up for publishability, but do it as a big compendium of QA for the year.

It takes some time to produce, but distribution isn't a problem, if done right it could have a big audience with the crossover with prepper and gun rights communities.

 

[parallax]

If i missed it, I apologise,, but why dont we offer a lifetime membership option on the donations section/ membership upgrades.?
its probably been hashed before at some point in time on the forum, i just couldnt find it.

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

It's like the NRA, lifetime membership gets people to cough up a large sum of money, but that's it, then they need to badger people for contributions.

As i see it, lifetime memberships are only good for "i need a lump of cash right now" - they burn the bridge of recurring income.

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

Alright, just allowed myself 30 seconds (as a savvy computer user) to find the membership/contribution section on the webpage.

It took me 40 seconds of looking, to find the "Account upgrades" link which was under my name/login info.

Whilst i agree that it's clearly something associated with your account, this link needs to be somewhere *far* more prominent, i don't even think it should be on a drop down, i believe it needs it's own button up there.

Also of related note, the monthly supporting member price obviously contributes more than the one time supporting member cost of the same level. This is what i was referring to in the previous post, up front Vs recurring.

 

[Joe Link]

Though I wrote and thanked each of you already, I want to take a moment to say thank you again to those who've donated this month. We received twice as many donations this month vs last month, hopefully a trend which will continue!

I'm really looking forward to the drawing next month

If i missed it, I apologise,, but why dont we offer a lifetime membership option on the donations section/ membership upgrades.?
its probably been hashed before at some point in time on the forum, i just couldnt find it.

We actually do have them setup, they're just disabled right now. My original thought was to reserve them for donation drives once a year or something. Looking at my notes now, that doesn't make much sense

It's like the NRA, lifetime membership gets people to cough up a large sum of money, but that's it, then they need to badger people for contributions.

As i see it, lifetime memberships are only good for "i need a lump of cash right now" - they burn the bridge of recurring income.

Alright, just allowed myself 30 seconds (as a savvy computer user) to find the membership/contribution section on the webpage.

It took me 40 seconds of looking, to find the "Account upgrades" link which was under my name/login info.

Whilst i agree that it's clearly something associated with your account, this link needs to be somewhere *far* more prominent, i don't even think it should be on a drop down, i believe it needs it's own button up there.

Also of related note, the monthly supporting member price obviously contributes more than the one time supporting member cost of the same level. This is what i was referring to in the previous post, up front Vs recurring.

I couldn't agree more about the location of the donation/upgrade information. I'll pin that for the new version!

You're also right about the monthly vs yearly donations, but for whatever reason the monthly subscriptions just don't work all that well for us. I figured it'd be easier to spread it out each month, but I do think the once a year payment is easier.