Thread: The new vendor / classifieds program

Well, as my conclusion in the last thread, They shall ask and structure a plan, as-needed.

Certainly we would respond at that time.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

The biggest shaving forum on the web seems to have done very well with it. We're number two, but we try harder.

I am not a big time net user, so humor me, Who is the biggest save forum on the net?

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Well, as my conclusion in the last thread, They shall ask and structure a plan, as-needed.

Certainly we would respond at that time.

I would definitely contribute/sponsor/support $$ on a yearly basis.
SRP has been an important part of my life and I want it to continue for another 10 years.

I like the donations idea, which is something we may need to implement in the near future.
Doing several things at the same time is rarely a good idea, so we'll first process all the feedback.

I will put all suggestions so far up for discussion among staff today. In a couple of days we'll post the results

Looking like I was mistaken in assuming all this time that the forum was supported by srd, as part of the company's regular operating costs.

Originally Posted by KenWeir

Looking like I was mistaken in assuming all this time that the forum was supported by srd, as part of the company's regular operating costs.

A lot of people assumed that, far from the truth.

SRP is incorporated, precisely because we wanted to implemented a paid vendor program and support initiatives to support the site on a monetary basis. It took a lot longer to get things started. Without incorporation, everything would have to be done using personal accounts which is just a financial mess.

That said, the owners of SRP are also the owners of SRD.

I remember when we ran a fundraiser (donations based) for a new server, largely cause I helped run it and we went through my PayPal account. The fundraiser was a success. I'm sure if we asked again, it would be successful again. I never got involved in much Dev stuff, but I remember how it goes on the backend from my modding days. I totally understand that the site is run by volunteers who effectively donate their time.

Absolutely. It's something I am in favor of as well.
However we have to approach it a bit differently this time. We are no longer on that server, we're using a hosting service that costs X per month. So when we have the classifieds program running and the vendor program, we know the budget we can expect for the next year, with a supplement from the banners and the paid advertising.
That's when we know if we have a deficit and how much we need to raise to break even.

Running our own server was cheaper when we could host the hardware for free on an existing internet connection. Eventually we had to pay some facility to coloc our server, and that was much more expensive. And when you buy your server, you are also the person responsible for replacing it and doing hardware maintenance which can be a real problem.