- Joined
- Oct 2, 1998
- Messages
- 15,143
Hey Folks!
I'm writing this message to give you a heads up on how BladeForums.com is doing, where we're going, and how it affects you guys.
Here's the sit-rep: BladeForums.com is currently passing in excess of .5gB per day, sometimes hitting .75gB. That's per day; broken down, we're hitting close to 20gB per month, and it's only increasing.
As you know, we've grown extremely fast. So fast that we've overpowered the server we're currently hosted on, a legacy P100mhz from the dawn of time.
We're the busiest site they host on this server (we currently use up to 50% or more of it's resources), and we rival some "adult" sites they host in traffic. No kidding. You've seen how much power we use yourselves; it's the reason why the search and edit features don't work.
As a result, we have bought a new server which is currently in route. We were supposed to take delivery of it yesterday, but it was DOA. To quote the techs, "Flowerpot it". The company is replacing it with a better model for the same price: a PII 350mhz with 576mB RAM and lots of other bells and whistles. It's a powerful server, but it came at a cost as well, several thousand dollars. We should have it on hand by next Tuesday, and BladeForums.com should be on it by next Thursday, God Willing and the creek don't rise.
Here's where it starts getting tricky. Our ISP notified us that we would have to start paying excess bandwitdh charges starting this month. We were going to be hit with a $6000 excess fee, but we've worked out a deal now where we should get the bandwitdh we need. Thus far, our out of pocket costs for this site has been close to (or over) $1000 per month. Add in the cost of the new server, and we are rapidly becoming a very expensive site to maintain.
That is part of the reason why we have been running sales lately, because we need to find a way to make this site pay for itself so that it can remain free to you guys. We've been trying to hold off for four months now, but it's now at the point where we must take action.
Let's keep this straight: We aren't fools, we know that if we turn this into a pay-to-view site, it will die, and die quickly. No if's, and's or but's about it. That's not what you guys want, nor is it what we want.
We also don't want to head in the direction that other sites have taken and turn this site into strictly a sales tool for our parent organization. That would limit our scope and compromise our ideals, two things that would adversely effect the atmosphere here.
In order to keep BladeForums.com from turning into a liability, we must try to find other ways of generating income, without compromising our ethics, or your trust in us.
So, we're working with companies to try to get you guys deals on knives, which we know you want, and will help us alleviate the overhead of running BladeForums.com, something that we all want. So far, we've seen a lot of interest in the BladeForums.com Native. REKAT has offered the SIFU, and a few other companies have stepped forward with offers for other unique knives for us to pass onto you. You'll also notice we've had some hard to find items, or close outs, for very special prices. Rest assured, we will not start carrying standard, in production products, we have no intention of competing with the dealers who we are trying to help. We're going to try to spread things out so that you guys aren't hit all at once.
Right now it may seem chaotic and like we are going for the "full court press" because we are trying to play catch up and pay some of these unexpected expenses. Very shortly we will be offering hosting options for knife companies, and FYI, the prices will probably just cover the bandwidth cost for the site, if that, but we are offering it as a service.
We are also considering other revenue generating activities to help take this site in the direction it needs to head in. Ideas like a voluntary membership fee which would get you a BladeForums.com shirt (or other BladeForums.com merchandise) and would help take us to the next level. We have a lot of features we would like to add for you guys, site-wise, but we don't want to prematurely let the cat out of the bag on this.
In summation, we're becoming a victim of our own success, and we are taking steps to help prevent us from being shut down. You guys have supported us a lot in the past and we appreciate it. We know that you'll support us in the future as well. We just ask that you please have patience and hang tight, and with your help, we'll grow into something even greater soon.
Thanks for your support,
Spark
------------------
Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com
Insert witty quip here
I'm writing this message to give you a heads up on how BladeForums.com is doing, where we're going, and how it affects you guys.
Here's the sit-rep: BladeForums.com is currently passing in excess of .5gB per day, sometimes hitting .75gB. That's per day; broken down, we're hitting close to 20gB per month, and it's only increasing.
As you know, we've grown extremely fast. So fast that we've overpowered the server we're currently hosted on, a legacy P100mhz from the dawn of time.
As a result, we have bought a new server which is currently in route. We were supposed to take delivery of it yesterday, but it was DOA. To quote the techs, "Flowerpot it". The company is replacing it with a better model for the same price: a PII 350mhz with 576mB RAM and lots of other bells and whistles. It's a powerful server, but it came at a cost as well, several thousand dollars. We should have it on hand by next Tuesday, and BladeForums.com should be on it by next Thursday, God Willing and the creek don't rise.
Here's where it starts getting tricky. Our ISP notified us that we would have to start paying excess bandwitdh charges starting this month. We were going to be hit with a $6000 excess fee, but we've worked out a deal now where we should get the bandwitdh we need. Thus far, our out of pocket costs for this site has been close to (or over) $1000 per month. Add in the cost of the new server, and we are rapidly becoming a very expensive site to maintain.
That is part of the reason why we have been running sales lately, because we need to find a way to make this site pay for itself so that it can remain free to you guys. We've been trying to hold off for four months now, but it's now at the point where we must take action.
Let's keep this straight: We aren't fools, we know that if we turn this into a pay-to-view site, it will die, and die quickly. No if's, and's or but's about it. That's not what you guys want, nor is it what we want.
We also don't want to head in the direction that other sites have taken and turn this site into strictly a sales tool for our parent organization. That would limit our scope and compromise our ideals, two things that would adversely effect the atmosphere here.
In order to keep BladeForums.com from turning into a liability, we must try to find other ways of generating income, without compromising our ethics, or your trust in us.
So, we're working with companies to try to get you guys deals on knives, which we know you want, and will help us alleviate the overhead of running BladeForums.com, something that we all want. So far, we've seen a lot of interest in the BladeForums.com Native. REKAT has offered the SIFU, and a few other companies have stepped forward with offers for other unique knives for us to pass onto you. You'll also notice we've had some hard to find items, or close outs, for very special prices. Rest assured, we will not start carrying standard, in production products, we have no intention of competing with the dealers who we are trying to help. We're going to try to spread things out so that you guys aren't hit all at once.
Right now it may seem chaotic and like we are going for the "full court press" because we are trying to play catch up and pay some of these unexpected expenses. Very shortly we will be offering hosting options for knife companies, and FYI, the prices will probably just cover the bandwidth cost for the site, if that, but we are offering it as a service.
We are also considering other revenue generating activities to help take this site in the direction it needs to head in. Ideas like a voluntary membership fee which would get you a BladeForums.com shirt (or other BladeForums.com merchandise) and would help take us to the next level. We have a lot of features we would like to add for you guys, site-wise, but we don't want to prematurely let the cat out of the bag on this.
In summation, we're becoming a victim of our own success, and we are taking steps to help prevent us from being shut down. You guys have supported us a lot in the past and we appreciate it. We know that you'll support us in the future as well. We just ask that you please have patience and hang tight, and with your help, we'll grow into something even greater soon.
Thanks for your support,
Spark
------------------
Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com
Insert witty quip here