Bandwidth/ membership issues.

J

J. MacDonald

Joined
Jun 8, 2000
Messages
3,140
Lately the bladeforums.com server seems to be having some capacity problems. It seems that it's not so much a bandwidth problem as a problem with server hardware. This problem needs money to fix it.

I like this place and I'm willing to put at least a little money where my mouth is.

Tonight I stepped up to premium membership to help the cause.

How about you?

jmx
 
I finally did what I thought was impossible, I passed on a knife and finally got a membership, Thanks for reminding me guys.
 
Hopefully it will help Spark and the site in general. These days during peak hours, I can't even get it to load.

A business needs capitol to survive. Spark can't afford to host this community forever with so many coming here for free. The hardware and pipeline costs are too high.

C'mon guys, lets step up for Blade Forums. It's our place.

jmx
 
Spark and BFC does need your support and that means becoming a Paid Member. It's always been my opinion that anyone who hasn't paid up should have "GUEST" under there name rather than Basic Member...I guess "Cheap SOB" wouldn't be PC.

It's funny, but it seems when there's problems here it's always some BM that complains first.
 
Looks like the membership debate is going to get heated up again.
I've said this before.

Give us the forums the way they used to be - unrestricted access.
Give us a more reasonable price - say $10.00 or $12.00 annually.

Given the circumstances above, I am confident one third of the active members would sign up within a month. In time it's likely a majority of active members would become paying members.

For this money I would not expect to be able to post silly little images under my user name (or anywhere else in a post). And I would not expect Bladeforums to host pictures. Perhaps for an additional fee members could have access to these bandwidth consuming features.
 
Averageguy, how about posting in the selling, trading, and wanted forums? That seems to be a real problem, as people are always trying to dodge having to pay a membership fee and posting their ads in other forums.
 
i'd say the costs of membership are extremely reasonable(and htis is coming from a poor college student. :) ) The amount of information I've learned in only 2-3 months on here would easily offset the cost. So soon as I sell a knife excpet knifemaker membership to appear under my name(if weather stays nice I'll finish up sheath for this knife and sell it monday).

But yeah, anyways, get memberships people. Or stop sucking up the bandwidth and play somewhere else. ;)
 
As a suggestion, maybe the streaming graphics in the avatars should be scrapped to save bandwidth. I think we could all live with something a little simpler.
 
knifenerd, the avatars are limited by size and they're just animated GIF's, so there's no real streaming involved. It's probably not a problem, since most people have their browsers set up to save the file locally anyway.

If and when I hear Spark encourage us to get a Gold Membership, and that in doing so I will directly improve the performance of the BFC servers, I will get one.

So Spark, could you please make a more definite statement on how the cost of our memberships is being used to alleviate the server problems?
 
I have read this thread and agree we should support this forum. I just bought a Gold membership. I've received more value than that in only the short time I've been here.

Ron
 
If you were to get a table at a knife show it would cost you more than a years subscription as a Gold Member. C'mon people, cough it up!
 
Originally posted by AlphalphaPB


If and when I hear Spark encourage us to get a Gold Membership, and that in doing so I will directly improve the performance of the BFC servers, I will get one.

So Spark, could you please make a more definite statement on how the cost of our memberships is being used to alleviate the server problems?
Click to expand...

I'm not Spark, but I will offer up what I know.

BFC has outgrown it's current server capacity, and I believe the current server is just barely a year old. It was purchased, I believe, using the membership dollars.
Membership dollars also are used to pay for the actual net connection, software upgrades, and Sparks time in maintaining it all.

The membership dollars alone are not enough to fully support this site as it stands now. Spark must kick in his own money, which is derived from sales at 1SKS, to continue operating BFC.

Bottom line here, folks, it that your membership dollard go directly into keeping this place operating.

BFC needs a bigger server, but the purchase of said server isn't going to happen unless Spark has the membership dollars he needs to make that purchase.

I hope this explains some things for you all.
 
I'm new here, and I haven't even decided if i really like this place yet. I'm still reading and posting and trying to get a feel for the forum. If i was forced to pay a fee to use and something that i couldn't even try out, I wouldn't bother coming in the first place. Whereas if i enjoyed this place after staying a while I would definately consider paying the nominal fee, the lack of pressure to pay the fee alone would make it seem more desirable. I'm sure most, not all, people will feel that way.

Seeing paying members bitter about Basic Members not paying is kind of discouraging, I know i dont feel as welcome here when i see posts of that nature, and it can discourage people from getting a paying membership.
 
Lately the bladeforums.com server seems to be having some capacity problems. It seems that it's not so much a bandwidth problem as a problem with server hardware. This problem needs money to fix it.

I like this place and I'm willing to put at least a little money where my mouth is.

Tonight I stepped up to premium membership to help the cause.

How about you?

jmx
Click to expand...

Perhaps then we could see more active moderation, as well, such as putting off topic threads like this in other forums.


JK
 
I agree with Corwin. I'd like some more info. Who is Sparks, how much time/money does he spend on this site, what is the history of this site, etc. What do we get here that we wouldn't get somewhere else.

Thanks.
 
Ya want my .02? Well tough if you don't. I upped to Gold after one of the members made mention of post numbers. Something along the lines of: if you have more than 100 posts (pick any darn number) you are no longer "just trying BFC out" and have more than likely become a contributing member... you should support your forum and pony up the measley $30 or so to attain at least Gold status. Think about all the knowledge you have obtained, all the advice, and a daily laugh or two. I have gained so much from BFC. I have a confession to make... Hi, my name is Mongo, and I am a knifeaholic. I have BFC to thank for making me so. And I feel no need to ever seek a cure.
My .02, if you want to flame me for my opinion, I reserve the right to call you a cheap b@stard if you do.
Mongo
 
Spark is the owner of this site.

This site was created in October of 1998 by Spark, and the former owner, Mike Turber. they left knifeforums after a bitter war with the former owner of that site. (I'm trying to recall the story as best as I can, so if I'm missing some info, please add it!)

Spark also owns One Stop Knife Shop www.1sks.com which supports this site financially.

Keep in mind, folks, the cost of operating a site like this is very expensive, and Spark does it for the most part from the profit he makes at 1SKS. Costs include:

The T-1 line.

New servers when capacity is exceeded. (Like now)

The software, and upgrades (which I know is several thousand dollard alone)

Spark's time maintaining this place.

Jedi Knife;

The moderators here are all VOLUNTEER . We do not get paid, nor do we recieve any other form of compensation for doing our duties. I personally volunteered to be a moderator to help keep this a high quality site, as well as keep it running fairly smooth. I love this site, and have learned so much here, so the least I could do is help keep it running. More moderation isn't the answer, and frankly, none of us have the time to be here 24/7. I work a full time job, and I have a family. I only have so much time to be here, and I know the other moderators are in the same basic situation.

You folks can help keep this place open by becoming a paid member. No one is required to be a paying member, so if you are a new person, and you have discovered that this might be a great place to hang, then you should make a committment to help keep this place open by becoming a paying member.

Keep in mind here, folks, that is is very expensive to maintain this place, and Spark may not be willing to continue to foot the majority of the bill on his own forever.


(edited to add a line)
 
I have noticed that members are always offering suggestions as to where to buy this or that knife. I used to do the same, myself. I now check with 1SKS to see if they sell it first, then I post a suggestion as to where to look for that knife. I believe that we should not be using Spark's forums to suggest other, competitive, dealers. At least we should not be doing so while Spark is having problems and needs to raise money to support the forums. What do others think?
 
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