The future of this site
Original post
Hi everybody,
It has become necessary to shift this site to a private server sooner rather than later. That means that there may be some disruption to service this weekend. I know there have been a lot of disruptions recently, and this shift is intended to alleviate those issues.
As a consequence of this move, hosting costs will rise considerably to somewhere around $200 per month. I can no longer absorb hosting costs myself, and I am forced to establish a sustainable business model. Options include:
* donations, one off ($7 will pay for everybody to use the site for a day)
* donations, recurring ($3 per month is less than half the cost of a digital Wilderness magazine)
* advertising
* site sponsorship
All supporters will be acknowledged on the site. There may be some rewards associated with supporting the site, such as reduced (or no) advertising.
Regarding advertising, this has been low on the priority list with the new design. I need to address it now.
Having said all that, I think the future of this site is bright, and I am committed to keeping it flying. Indeed I have plans to grow the site substantially, and the private server is the right platform for that growth.
Thanks everybody for your endless patience.
Matthew
How many members does this site have?
Targeted advertising shouldnt cause too much distress to members but what portion of the costs will it pay?
donations From the above figures $3 per month to make $200 is about 70 members at a guess. For whats here thats a fair figure but maybe we should do more to promote the site as well.
Hi Geeves, in the long term, I expect that advertising might cover the full amount. In the short term, I expect that it will take awhile to ramp up to that level, and that advertising would be about 25% of that amount. Of course, I will cover whatever remains, but that's not a good long term plan.
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| Forum | This website |
|---|---|
| Started by | matthew |
| On | 15 February 2013 |
| Replies | 3 |
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