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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2018 18:39:00 GMT -5
A few of us have been around here since there were four of us talking to each other. Good times by the fire in that winter, except for John's comments.  There's been a lot of growth since then. Most don't know it but the founder of this site, sparks , is paying for it out of his pocket. I definitely believe we need to do something about this by pitching into the kitty, whatever we can. What I don't know is how to address it or how Justin would like us to move forward? Any suggestions would be appreciated. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2018 18:45:11 GMT -5
There is a way to have your own paypal.me link that sparks can set up. makes it easy and some of us can drop a few each time we think about it.
Also patreon, but I am not clued in on that
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Post by trailboss on Jun 16, 2018 18:53:27 GMT -5
Justin really keeps things humming with the equipment he has on hand.  |
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Post by Darin on Jun 16, 2018 18:55:19 GMT -5
FYI ... it's Justin, not Jason.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2018 18:56:38 GMT -5
Jason really keeps things humming with the equipment he has on hand. Yeah but even that old crap he's using still costs jack man. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2018 18:57:30 GMT -5
FYI ... it's Justin, not Jason. Yup, my bad. |
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Post by Darin on Jun 16, 2018 18:59:44 GMT -5
Most of us here probably ascribe to the notion "just don't call me late for dinner"!  |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2018 21:18:10 GMT -5
How about periodic auctions to benefit the site? When a pipe or tobacco was sold the donor could mail it out after payment was confirmed.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2018 22:05:09 GMT -5
Mike, that sounds interesting and fun. I could go along with straight donations or that.
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Post by Dramatwist on Jun 16, 2018 22:31:16 GMT -5
I am more than willing to pony up to keep this place alive. Great thread.
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Post by Stanhill on Jun 16, 2018 23:32:21 GMT -5
Jason really keeps things humming with the equipment he has on hand. Where do you put the dime in to make it work..? |
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steveinny
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Post by steveinny on Jun 17, 2018 2:53:18 GMT -5
A paypal link for donations would work.
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Post by Legend Lover on Jun 17, 2018 3:04:45 GMT -5
In a photo forum of which I was a member, you could pay an annual subscription of a tenner or so and it allowed you to set a profile picture and signature or status under the profile pic.
That worked well I think. Ie. An annual subscription to allow for extra perks. It doesn't exclude new members, but ones who want more of the experience can subscribe to get it.
Question is... How much are we talking here? How much does this cost annually to keep up?
If we had a number then it might help in ideas.
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Post by Matthew on Jun 17, 2018 13:39:50 GMT -5
Jason really keeps things humming with the equipment he has on hand. Where do you put the dime in to make it work..? You REALLY don't wan't to see the "slot". |
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Post by sparks on Jun 17, 2018 21:16:34 GMT -5
It’s nice to see so many people willing to kick in. Reminds me what a great group of people we have here.
I have always been opposed to asking people to pay for this place, but as we grow, costs rise. The other alternatve was leveraging the traffic we have to get some advertisers.
As far as costs, they fluctaute a little based on traffic, but lately have been running about $70 a month. The chat room is another couple hundred a year. On top of that, we have costs for security certificates and the domain, which I would have to check on the cost of.
It’s not ridiculous expensive, but it adds up.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2018 0:12:55 GMT -5
Couple points on this. Been thinking of it on and off today. I do think however we do it sparks should set up a paypal.me link. He can post it a couple places throughout the forum. To get one all you do is sign onto your account and activate it. Not sure how Mike thinks the auctions should be, and the "however" is fine with me, but Sparks would benefit from a link either way so the money can go to him. Also, some that may not be bidding or selling might want to drop a couple here and there. Yes, people do that. I have two monthly donations withdrawn from my account and there are a few situations where I drop some extra if I have it. I've run other people's boards before and had no idea of the cost. Set up my own a few times, but it never grew to this. I had no idea that it was this expensive. Had not @10furlongs brought it up I would still be clueless, so thanks to Mark and double to Sparks |
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Post by sparks on Jun 18, 2018 10:40:50 GMT -5
OK everyone, if you go to the homepage, on the left side below the search box you will now find a donate button.
If anyone would like any more details on the costs of the site, feel free to ask. I want this to be as transparent as possible and certainly don't want anyone to feel their funds are ever misappropriated.
Any excess funds collected beyond our operating expenses, will be used toward giveaways, etc.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2018 12:17:52 GMT -5
Done. Don't spent it all in in one place man.  |
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Post by scrooge on Jun 18, 2018 13:11:04 GMT -5
Easy enough.
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Post by papipeguy on Jun 18, 2018 21:46:13 GMT -5
I'm in.
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Post by trailboss on Jun 18, 2018 23:06:09 GMT -5
Jason hammers away at keeping the website running, Justin gets all the glory...you cannot see it in the pic, but there is an anklecuff on the right leg....a day of reckoning from the twin.  |
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Post by trailboss on Jun 18, 2018 23:06:58 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2018 23:13:16 GMT -5
Feels pretty 'durn' good. |
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Post by sparks on Jun 19, 2018 8:55:54 GMT -5
Wow. Thank You all for the generosity, both the one time donators and those that set up recurring monthly donations.
All of your contributions have covered almost 6 months of our hosting costs. Very much appreciated.
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Post by jeffd on Jun 20, 2018 11:15:00 GMT -5
Some thoughts:
I would not be opposed to some small tasteful banner ads on the welcome page. (In the lobby.) Not crazy or moving around, but a small stationary ad would not offend me. (The slippery slope is not an inevitable slope.)
Secondly, I would wear a Briar Patch ball cap with pride. Would be fun to see others at pipe shows.
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Post by Legend Lover on Jun 20, 2018 11:28:51 GMT -5
Some thoughts: I would not be opposed to some small tasteful banner ads on the welcome page. (In the lobby.) Not crazy or moving around, but a small stationary ad would not offend me. (The slippery slope is not an inevitable slope.) Secondly, I would wear a Briar Patch ball cap with pride. Would be fun to see others at pipe shows. I would second that. |
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Post by sparks on Jun 21, 2018 10:55:41 GMT -5
Gear is a real possibility, though any sort of profit on that is usually pretty small.
I'm not opposed to advertisers, I'm just don't want to be beholden to them. I need to reach out to a few and have the discussion though. Great source of revenue.
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Post by haebar on Jun 21, 2018 11:38:38 GMT -5
I like the addition of the Donate button. I second @truculentfrog's idea of an auction of sorts once a year to raise funds for the upkeep. We do it Cigarbum.com and it is lots of fun and all the proceeds go to the site.
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joeman
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Post by joeman on Jun 21, 2018 12:01:31 GMT -5
Justin, I think it's thoughtful to consider using some overflow funds for possible giveaways; however, I think you may want to consider Paypal banking the funds which come in, because donations in future months / years might not match what comes in this month / year. You may need some of those overflow funds in the future. I like the giveaway idea...just don't give it all away. ;-)
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Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2018 13:43:05 GMT -5
if it comes to advertising pick and choose. Don't accept a whole Google ad package like the old PSF did. When the Java app is overly aggressive, the site can get hinky and become problematic for the user.
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