More Bandwidth and Revenue Needed

[derobert]

Oh! so for example if I donated money whenever,
I don't have to worry about donating every month if I don't make a pledge?

Just select 'annual/one time' (whichever it is called now), then you'll only have to worry about donating when you want.

[DarkNinja75]

Looking at the donation stats, I was wondering how annual donations are distributed. Is that one time donation just split into the 52 weeks of the year and evenly distributed and counted per week, or does it only count for that week that it was donated, or is there some other way that it's done?

[madbunny]

I like a lot of the ideas that I saw, like:

Changing the journal code to include webstuff and pictures (phpbb?)
Changing the video description pages in a similar way
OT for donators only.
Cumulative donation titles.
Maybe a top Donators list.
Different file size caps for donators.
Bandwidth caps.
File Ques

Some more ideas:

You could limit the total number of downloads for non donators to something like 1-3 videos a day.
Add a longer timer for downloads with a message pointing out that you wouldn't be looking at that timer if you'd donated.
You could make the donation stats less technical looking. I don't even notice it anymore (pgdown, click proceed).
Display your donation stats on the same page as downloads, or at least make them way more obvious.
Avatars for donators could be larger than non-donators.
Make the differences between Donators and NON donators much more apparent, through pop-overs that remind users that they COULD be enjoying XYZ benefits.
Allow download accelerators for members on dial-up.
Download resume for members on dial-up.]

I like the idea of keeping the site running by using the member donations much better than having ad support. Targeted ads might work, but it seems like once you start doing that you'll be convincing a lot of people that the site is then ad supported and thus, makes it's own revenue.

[yuppa]

OT for donators only.

well thats a good idea. Id actuallly donate.. (some dont as in protest to the deletion of said OT forums)

anyway th elist madbunnt made was cool. in need of some revisions.. cause someones bound to say nevermind if they keep getting popp ups or penalized for Dling a vid.. No fans no site right?

[lordroba]

How to boost donations!
(My new banner)

[Phade]

Hey,

I think at one point you said you were thinking of doing the additional paperwork... any progress on that? It'd also let us keep money from year to year w/o paying obscene taxes, right?

I spoke with the accountant about that. Becoming an actual registered not-for-profit would not save us anything extra with taxes as opposed to our current setup, would cause much more paperwork, and would cost us more to file each year. The benefits, in this case, do not seem to outweigh the cost. It could be a NC thing, but I'm not sure.

Phade.

[dj_ultima_the_great]

Hey, to make sure I understand, hypothetical situation: let's say we put madbunny's ideas (which, by the way, I hate) into effect, and I do the annual thing to avoid those monstrosities. Since I'm on a college student budget, I decide to send twelve dollars to be "Not Really a Leech." Do I actually have to send twelve dollars, or will any amount smaller than that save me from being pwn3d by constant pop-ups and middleman pages reminding me of what a cheap bastard I am? For a year, of course.

(I apologize if I sound sarcastic or irritated with this post, but implementing some of the suggested ideas just seems stupid to me. Most of them don't significantly change a donator's privileges; however, what's being suggested for non-donators aren't restrictions. They're outright punishments, and that will make this site a hell of a lot less fun than it is now. In other words, if this goes forth, all your fanbase are belong to Kazaa! )


- Jen

[thecactusman17]

So I've gone through this thread a ways, and while I'm certain that absolutely no one cares, here's my thoughts.

Ads. Not necessarily google ads, and certainly not those flash-heavy monsters that Fileplanet (oh, how I hate it so) has a habit of using. But there are more than a few websites which have managed to put some decent ads on their sites without driving away customers. Hell, Penny Arcade (www.penny-arcade.com) went for years without ever having a single animated ad on their site, and are currently one of the largest webcomics and video gaming sites PERIOD. Their current ads are never exceedingly intrusive and are ALWAYS ON-TOPIC. This is because "Gabe" and "Tycho" actually take a look at each and every ad submitted to them. they only select the ones that a gamer would be interested in, and that they personally would not be annoyed to see on a site.

Certainly, it would be a simplified matter for a site with over 300,000 registered users to say "hey, we have here some advertising space for anime and music companies who want their products ogled by a few thousand visitors a day."

Other than that, I must beg that if you are going to qeue download lines, please do what you can to make them short. Fileplanet is a prime example of what not to be: lines rarely under twenty minutes long at all but the deadest of hours for non-subscribers, never mind if there's a popular file out (when the lines may jump to as high as five or six hours or more). It becomes incredibly aggravating, and I think that many people would leave before even trying the site.

[DecemberChaos]

When i go to sakura-con in seattle we alway's have an AMV contest, why not try to set something up with the conventions to get donations. I'd be mre than happy to spend a couple of hours at the convention trying to get some moola. put out a table an hour or two befor and after the contest, even if it's only ten bucks, every penny counts right?

[madbunny]

When i go to sakura-con in seattle we alway's have an AMV contest, why not try to set something up with the conventions to get donations. I'd be mre than happy to spend a couple of hours at the convention trying to get some moola. put out a table an hour or two befor and after the contest, even if it's only ten bucks, every penny counts right?

I think the point is that, while yes it is nice to get extra revenue for the site, what's really the issue is that it should be 'reasonably consistent'.
As someone else pointed out there are over 300,000 members. if only 1/3rd of those people sent in 1.00 each this wouldn't be an issue.
Heck, I'm not sure what the actual numbers look like but I'd be willing to bet that the actual number of people that donate is probably about 1 person out of 20, or less. The idea is to increase that number without impacting the open and free feeling that the site currently enjoys.

As for my list, I wasn't suggesting that the site implement ALL of them! That would be horrible. I was really sugesting that the differences between donating member and NON donating members be more apparent. Ultimately, the site has to do what is needs to stay afloat. I can see from Phade's posts the he really wants to minimize the whole impact on the site, so I'll trust that he, and the others will do their best to keep the site not only running, but a fun place to be a member of.