In order to survive I need this site to be able to pay for itself. Even with the very kind support of our Pub Members, I have been paying out about 70% of the costs to operate this site from my own pocket. (Remember I do not get paid to run this site, I do it as a labor of love. We have so much history here that I want to preserve and keep online as well as move forward as the industries change and expand.)
A big way we use to pay our bills was with ads.
About 5 weeks ago I pulled all the ads except for the Google Adsense ads, as the ads that were being displayed were CRAP. Some contained Malware and others hijacked people browsers telling them had to call Microsoft Support to unlock their PC's.
The purpose of ads was to pay the bills, not scare people away. But since I killed all those ads 5 weeks ago our earnings have tanked.
One way we can survive is to find ONE (and only one) Site Sponsor. This sponsorship would cost $5,000 for the first year. But that company would be our exclusive sponsor. I do believe that after 22 years we can safely say we are a well moderated site thank to all our volunteer staff so we can be considered a safe site for almost any company to advertise on.
But until that happens (and if that ever happens) I need to generate money for the operation of the site.
With that said today I entered into an agreement with an ad agency that specializes in forums. And in researching them they are HIGHLY recommended. And they are very familiar with our forum software Xenforo, in fact they made a plugin which automatically places the ads and puts them in the best places... and best part is it does it without cluttering up the entire site. With our other ad agencies they were placing them all over the place and it was a F'ing mess.
Over the next few days I will be working with them. As I work with them some folks may see ads who are not supposed to (ie our pub members). If this happens post here for I can go and fix things.
Thanks for your understanding.
A big way we use to pay our bills was with ads.
About 5 weeks ago I pulled all the ads except for the Google Adsense ads, as the ads that were being displayed were CRAP. Some contained Malware and others hijacked people browsers telling them had to call Microsoft Support to unlock their PC's.
The purpose of ads was to pay the bills, not scare people away. But since I killed all those ads 5 weeks ago our earnings have tanked.
One way we can survive is to find ONE (and only one) Site Sponsor. This sponsorship would cost $5,000 for the first year. But that company would be our exclusive sponsor. I do believe that after 22 years we can safely say we are a well moderated site thank to all our volunteer staff so we can be considered a safe site for almost any company to advertise on.
But until that happens (and if that ever happens) I need to generate money for the operation of the site.
With that said today I entered into an agreement with an ad agency that specializes in forums. And in researching them they are HIGHLY recommended. And they are very familiar with our forum software Xenforo, in fact they made a plugin which automatically places the ads and puts them in the best places... and best part is it does it without cluttering up the entire site. With our other ad agencies they were placing them all over the place and it was a F'ing mess.
Over the next few days I will be working with them. As I work with them some folks may see ads who are not supposed to (ie our pub members). If this happens post here for I can go and fix things.
Thanks for your understanding.
