Bandwidth/ membership issues.

I always suggest giving 1SKS a try first, as it is Spark's shop, and the sales there do support the forums.

Keep in mind, though, that we have subscribed Dealer members here, who pay a hefty amount of money to advertise & promote their stuff, and we should also support them, so they continue to renew their dealer memberships.

Visit the dealers area in the exchange forums, and support the dealer members by purchasing your knives & equipment from them.
 
I'll move this thread to the appropriate forum (Service & Support). The reason that didn't get done before now is I was offline. (I have no actual life, but I do have some downtime occasionally....) :)

I'll try to answer as many of the other questions posted as I can as soon as I can.
 
I guess the most important question is what happens to the money you pay for a membership. All of it goes toward the expenses of keeping Bladeforums going, and it isn't enough. Right now it's just about covering the monthly bandwidth charges with nothing left over for upgrades as Bladeforums grows.

We don't want to pressure anybody to join, but if you do that helps keep Bladeforums going. Doing business with 1SKS helps, too, as it's 1SKS that takes up the slack, and doing business with the Dealer Members and Knifemaker Members and the Gold Members who trade in the exchange forums here all helps too.
 
I have to go with Mongo on this one.
My guess is that Spark is not the FORUM FAIRY, and so, is in no way related to the TOOTH FAIRY.

How long are we going to expect him to put this place under our pillow?
 
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
Click to expand...

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...


So,,if Spark is makin a profit, you shouldn't have to support the Forum?? It doesn't make a damn if Spark is crammin' cash in his pockets,,, the price is $30 bucks. $2.50 a month. 8 cents a day. This is supposed to be a community,,participate.
 
I have never understood the reluctance of members here to financially support this forum. I have seen a whole bunch of excuses, but none of them hold water. Even the "I'm a poor student" doesn't cut it in my book. It seems that many of those that say that they can't afford to buy a membership here are quite often posting about that new knife they just bought. Kind of blows the "don't have enough money" BS right out of the water.

$20.00 or $30.00 a year is a pittance and anyone that uses this forum should be willing to support it to these levels. I have seen many members that have hundreds and even thousands of posts, that are not doing anything to help with the costs of running this place. I am sure they all have excuses that they feel are valid.

It is time for the people that really do care that BladeForums remains a high quality place to learn about knives, to get off of their asses and do what is needed. Is it so hard for people to understand that this is an expensive site to operate?

And to those that always pipe up that they hate the feeling of being pressured into becoming a paying member, cry me a river. That's just another pile of BS.

For those checking the forum out, don't worry about paying, but if you decide to become part of this community, show your support by anteing up the funds that will help guaranty that BladeForums will be here for you in the future.

Edited to tidy things up.
 
The day this site makes a profit, I'll be happy to announce it. Until then, you can rest assured that it's still firmly in the red and not anywhere near breaking even.

Between Premium, Gold, Knifemaker & Dealer memberships, we barely cover bandwidth costs. That does not include labor, servers, software, etc. The rest of the cost is born by 1SKS alone.

As previously stated, the server we are on right now was bought in May of last year. 18 months ago. We'll have to get another one to get us back up to speed again - possibly clustering it with the current server to spread the load. Needless to say, it's not cheap, and it's not easy, and it's not free by a long shot.

This site does not make me money. It costs me money. Folks, I don't drive a new sports car, or live in a mansion, or bathe in champagne. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I'll be happy when this site just pays for itself. After 4 years though, I'm beginning to doubt it ever will.

I'm not going to encourage you to get a membership. If $2.5 a month isn't worth your the time you spend here, nothing is going to convince you otherwise. Likewise, I'm not going lower the rate for Gold memberships down to $10 - we'd need 2000 renewing memberships yearly just to cover the hosting costs; and that figure is nowhere near reachable.

I'm not looking for a single "Holy Grail" of a solution for making the site pay for itself. I'm working on several.

I'm not going to ask anyone to join - I'd rather have 1 paying member who wants to be here instead of 10 who felt pressured or guilted into joining. You just have to realize that it's just a matter of what you want to get out of this site.

Kevin
 
How do I upgrade to Gold. I can't take the guilt of having cheaped out and only become a premium member. I just figured that I tend to buy knives pretty well, but I haven't even tried the "sell one" thing yet. Although a buddy is supposed to buy one of my four BM 941 variants (which I'd never of bought before coming here). Lets see if I can actually part with it?

So is there an upgrade available from Premium to Gold, or do I have to wait until my renewal and do it then?

If it'll help with the clustering thing, I have a bunch of Intel 10/100mb Nics sitting gathering dust I'd be willing to contribute. And a smelly old , er I mean Celeron CPU (slot 1, 400mhz).

jmx
 
The way I look at it is, If you really enjoy this place and find yourself coming back all the time, then spring the $20-$30 to get a membership. I may never use the benefit of selling on the forums, nor ever PM someone, and I don't really have any pics worth posting, But I love this place and couldn't even imagine being gone more than a day or two at a time without coming back here to see what I missed.

As a basic member I was able to complete a number of great trades, bought a few knives at great prices, learned more than I ever thought possible about knives and met a few people I would like to call friends. If $30 is going to help to forums, even a tiny bit, then I can pass on buying one knife and get a paid membership.

By the way, I also have some Brand New D-Link PCI 10/100 cards lying around. I doubt Spark may have any use for them, But I would be happy to send them as well. Cheers
 
I just stepped it up a notch to premium membership. Hopefully I did it right. I may just be a dufus but it confused me for a while.

Even though it's not the max I think my small offering is better than none. Afterall I do have 600+ posts...so it was due time...
 
Yes Spark, I believe you could have thousands of renewing members at $10.00. Even two thousand memberships would mean a LOT more cash than you are taking in now at current rates. Although a few people have signed up at Gold and insist the price is reasonable, I and many thousands of others were shocked by these rates. There continues to be, obviously, some amount of resistance to these price levels.
 
I am not going to sit here and argue with you guys, If $30 sounds like an unreasonable price to some, Well I guess I am not going to convice them otherwise. But I just imagine that the Blade Forums didn't exsist, Then I quickly shelled out the money, This place offers more than any other site online for knife knuts, and it costs money to run.


In my past, I have been a member of several non profit organizations and just as BFC, any organization needs money to run. Most of these organizations I am refering to had monthly fees, most around $5 a month. You would not believe how many people claimed they didn't have the money come dues time, yet that night they were able to buy a case of beer, or the next week they were buying a new gun.

It comes down to how valuable you think this place is. If you susbscribe to a knife magazine you will pay way more and in my opinion, I get more out of BFC than any magazine.

(This is not directed at anyone, no one take offense to this)
 
Originally posted by PhilL
r...I guess "Cheap SOB" wouldn't be PC.
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:eek: OMG...8¢ A Day!!!!

Let's changed that to "Cheap POS"

My subscription tto Blade magazine has run out after three years, and besides from looking at pics of knives while I'm in the can I can't think of one reason to resubscribe. Don't get me wrong I think Blade is a great magazine, but I get more out of BFC in a day then I get out of the magazine in a month. If there's a new model knife from one of the manufacturers I'll see it here 6 months before it's in the mag, and usually I'll be able to get a first hand evaluation of the knife and ask questions of the maker and manufacturer as well, (Example: OVB/Fisk Bowie). I will admit I'll flip through Blade at Barnes & Noble and read Ed Fowler's Knife Talk article, but Ed & Angie Fowler are right here on BFC and not only can I ask them questions I can e-mail them if I want.

That's another thing, the people, (makers, collectors, dealers, manufacturers) that I've come to know because of BFC is IMO priceless...8¢ a day...don't make me laugh. If you've been here more than a couple of months and posted questions or opinions, made some friends, learned something, bought or traded for a new knife and still don't think 8¢ a day is nothing, you're either an idiot or totally FOS.

Unlike TBG, I am talking to YOU personally...and you know who you are. Stop making excuses and pay the fare, this bus is running out of gas. You Freeloaders are messing it up for the folks that really care about this place. If you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem.
 
Come on Phil stop holding back and tell us how you really feel.:p
For me this place is almost solely responsible for fueling my collecting.You can tell me there are other forums that are free well this is the largest and most active and in turn the most expensive.Spark said he runs in the red and that is just not right.Anyone who has traded or sold has profited from this site.So why the hell shouldn't the guy that does all of the work here make a profit.He isn't even breaking even, think about it.This place offers more opportunities to interact with collectors ,makers and dealers than any other place ,decide what that is worth to you.
Rant mode off ,I need more Prozac. :D
Stan

Edited for some of my horrid grammer.
 
You mean to tell us that even though you've been here since June of 1999 and have "contributed" 278 posts, that you cannot see why it is important to help support BFC? Come on, $30.... I bet you got that sitting in your change jar. I'm sure you have gotten something out of your last 3yrs and 4 months here. I'd sure like to hear from those "thousands of others" who are "shocked" at these rates. Do you really have any idea how ridiculous this sounds?
:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 
These Freeloaders...Parasites if you will are sucking the life out of these forums? Sucking up bandwidth and contributing little or nothing here.Reducing the features and services for the active members.

[Now, I'm not talking about the FNG's or the makers that make this place better for their participation.]
 
Averageguy- Although a few people have signed up at Gold and insist the price is reasonable, I and many thousands of others were shocked by these rates.
Click to expand...


If it were not for this Forum, I would not own the knives I now own. I would have been stuck with the BA's of the world. This Forum is a wealth of knowledge and products that I would have never known about without its existence.
It's understandable if you can't afford to join,,it is however, ridiculous to suggest that it is simply not worth it.


Phillip
 
Hey Spark!

you're right about the multifaceted approach to funding the site. I re-upped my gold just to help the forums, but we can all see how many members really are here daily. The 10,000+ total is just that-a total of every membership but is not the one's that really frequent this site regularly. That total is probably about 1,000, maybe 2,000 as a highly unscientific guesstimate. $30 memberships will not float this ship!

So,...how about bringing back some monthly drawings like L6 used to do? Maybe hitting up the members and any generous dealers or makers with a little excess inventory that's a little dusty to give away? $1 or $2 per entry might help some as well. I always like to enter!

Hank:cool:
 
Raffles are a no-go due to the complexities of state law. It'd cost more for the paperwork and record keeping than it'd be worth to do the raffles... sorry.

Averageguy, the $10 gold membership isn't going to happen. Sorry. It's been discussed before.

Kevin
 
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