ads in every thread?

[Rolex]

I think only a user's gallery should remain. I have also noticed (since the random gallery started) that lots of pics have been posted by people I've never seen on the boards in the time I've been here.
Why not delete all those pics if the member hasn't been here in 6 months or a year. It seems some guys join a forum, load it up with their pics, and never return. Not worth keeping, IMO, since no information can be obtained from them.

 

[msly]

Some guys have spammed long and Hard to get there Avatars.. and now your going take them away.... You Bastard! LOL

 

[FastEddy]

Some guys have spammed long and Hard to get there Avatars..

Let them spam the RCNT PayPal account once a month.

The success of this forum has become a financial burden, sad but true.
In order to keep it going we need to make some changes.
I have gotten a few PMs and IMs from people that don't understand how the Internet works. They for the most part think everything on the Internet is free and are unwilling to pay for using it. Just to let you guys know, the site will still be free and a bulk of the information here is, and will remain free for the taking.

We are only asking that people who want more then just the information help support the site. The Avatar and Sig seem to be the Holly Grail. Everyone wants to have them. At this point people post pointless crap and spend their time just to get one. Now they can have one within a matter of a day or so. The price that will be asked for a month amounts to the same as buying a soda or two. A soda lasts 10 minutes, your avatar will last a month.

As far as the gallery goes, I don't want to see any of the photos go away. I say leave everything. If someone has photos they want to retrieve, let them contribute. I see nothing wrong with leaving the random gallery images for people to view. If they click on one they should get a nice screen explaining the benefits of membership.

Movies,
Thats up to WoodiE. Talk about bandwidth! I posted a few movies in my personnel web space and got the crap knocked out of my transfer for the month. If we have enough bandwidth it will be a great addition and add a lot of value to being a contributing member. Only WoodiE knows the what we are capable of in respect to bandwidth and the ability to keep the site running smoothly. I would hate to be back to the speeds we are at now because 50 members are trying to upload or view movies while others just want to read or post a thread.

If you guys haven't figured it out yet I am all for charging to use the extra features of the site. Using the site will still be free for everyone, if you want the extras great, just remember most things worth having aren't free.

 

[msly]

Let them spam the RCNT PayPal account once a month.

You left out my LOL which would let people know that I am joking... but all kidding aside. I agree that the site can be a finacial burden and Michael is a regular guy just like the rest of us, not some corporation. RCNT is a community like any other, if people want to see the community thrive they have to kick in and help. If they want it to die, a sure fire way would be to not be involved or care.

sLY

 

[FastEddy]

LOL

...

 

[msly]

...

Much better LOL

 

[WoodiE]

I agree the sites content will remain free just as it always has however just like Eddy already pointed out extras such as the sigs, avatars, and gallery will have to be paid for.

The reason I suggested starting new in the gallery would to avoid confusion on why people who are not supporting members have images in the gallery. Also wants the new system is in place regular members won't be able to do anything with their current images unless they are supporting members. That means they can't remove or change them, what's there is there. Thus the reason I suggested starting over as those images will be just sitting there.

In regards to movies and bandwidth, we've got a lot of bandwidth right now. Once the new system is in place I'll upload 4-5 movies that's a few megs in size and we'll see how well it does as well as how much bandwidth is used. This way we might have a better idea of how the site is going to do.

We're still a little ways out from having everything in order as of right now I'm just trying to get all my ducks in a row to make it as smooth as possible. Along with that I'm going to try to get all the old reviews articles back on our new system as I've just upgraded the front page with the newest software over the weekend. A lot to do and still a lot more waiting to be done.


-Michael

 

[HumboldtBlazer]

The site is very slow, if ads fix it I am all for them. Slow sites make me browse elsewhere. I think it is a good thing the ads are incorporated into the threads now. Maybe someone will actually click them besides me now.

 

[FRIDGE]

you guys think the site is slow on broad band connections? huh you ain't seen nothing yet just start dialin' up again. how much do you need to donate to become a contributing member? to use the avtar ad what not duwhicky... one more question when you donate a certain amount of money do you get access to like other parts to the forum?

 

[FastEddy]

We will have an announcement sometime in the next week or two to clear it all up.

 

[SkyMaxx]

WoodiE, I am currently hosting a few active videos ranging in size from 3MB to 100MB. If you want some bandwidth information for starters, let me know. Note, the vids are linked to here on this site and one other site...and the traffic is reasonable.

At any rate, any bandwidth related to movies might be best served on a dedicated server...as any pull (especially if multiple users pull at he same time) on a file of serious size will bog down the main site if it hits the same server. Just food for thought.

Let me know if you have any questions...

 

[msly]

When Imbroken and I put up some of our videos I noticed that the bandwidth usage usually spikes the first day then tapers off. I also did notice a few times that my bandwidth useage would go up on some months, a long time after the orginal posting of the video, and after tracing it I would realize that someone found the video link for the first time and posted the link in another forum.

 

[rocknbil]

I think some of you may be confusing "pop-ups" with Javascript alerts.

I'm getting a Javascript error on every single forum index page , reply pages, and other areas but not in the thread itself:

"google_ad_width is undefined"

 

[WoodiE]

rocknbil, I've never seen that error at all however I've made a few quick changes so maybe that will help.


-Michael

 

[bigfreak]

I'm glad I finally found this thread. Sorry Woodie for the PM. (probably have a few to deal with LOL)

Anyway, I, for one, would gladly pay $5/month. I wouldn't mind the scale that DarthRacer suggested (it's cheap LOL), but I don't think it's practical. 40 * $5/month yeilds the target $200/month for a dedicated server. Finding 40 solid members will be hard I think, but not as hard as finding 200 supporting members.

Good luck with all the changes WoodiE, let us know when we can start signing up. I'm sure you'll need some beta testing time.

 

[mcvickj]

Some guys have spammed long and Hard to get there Avatars.. and now your going take them away.... You Bastard! LOL

LOL. That was the first thing I thought of too!

I have also noticed the slowness of the site during the last few days.

I am all for having ads on the site. Just as long as we don't have those annoying ones that induce seizure.

With regards to the paid benefits. The most I would be willing to spend is $30 for the top tier.

 

[rocknbil]

rocknbil, I've never seen that error at all however I've made a few quick changes so maybe that will help.

Me neither until yesterday but it appears to be gone now.

Just FYI I just dropped a last donation to a Tsunami relief fund and the free dinero is gone for this month, but count me in next month to try and come up w. something.

As for sigs - I notice my text-only one is gone but IMO it probably wouldn't be worth a monthly fee for me to keep one.

Seems to me the ones who are all hot about having sigs and avatars are the younger crowd and many of those don't have credit cards or jobs. That is, those with the most motivation have the least means.

 

[CorradoPsi]

so what are the "gold member" tags I'm seeing now?

 

[Arrow]

i would love to know too

 

[ImBroken]

Those are the RCNitroTalk contributors... The site is going through some changes at the moment, so be patient, & this will all be explained in detail....