Discontented

Matteo Escobar

Matteo Escobar

Gold Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2002
Messages
4,143
I'm not trying to bite the hand that feeds my desire for blade info, but I feel like Spark has dropped the ball again. If I added up all of the days that Bladeforums has been down in the last year, it must be close to a month. Will I ever see a month credit to my gold account? No. This may seem petty, but why the constant down time? Spark should use some of the Gold membership money and get things done correctly, and quickly. Bladeforums is a great site that I value, and has done everything else right.

That's what I think. If you think I'm off base please make your case.
 
Hmmmm.....

That's odd. It would seem that you are complaining that you aren't getting enough value for your gold membership dollar. And while that may be the case, I'm pretty sure you made it a point to call me cheap a couple of weeks ago for not seeing the benefit of a gold membership.

So... which is it? Is the membership not worth it or are you being cheap?
 
Oh lord, let's not start this again ;) Since Matteo had the balls to bring this up, I'll weigh in I guess. This is the only messege board that I give money to, and I frequent 5 others weekly if not daily, and they have never been down as much as this one has been. Now, I don't pretend to know the complexities of running a BBS and it could be that Spark is trying to do the absolute best that he can as far as equipment and software upgrades and that does cause problems from time to time. New stuff always has bugs and he seems to do something new regularly. I do not feel "ripped off" and I know that Matteo DID NOT use those words. I am just saying that I have made way more than the $60.00 bucks (2 years gold) by being able to sell and trade here, so I try to keep that in mind. I do miss it when it is down that's for sure.

edit: because I left some word out. :confused: That's what drinking at 0440 will get ya, but it's all good :D
 
I think Kevin is a great guy for putting this thing together. I know I barely have time to browse it, much less run it. This too is the only forum I support. I think you have to go through growing pains to improve, and that's what happened. I mean, at least it wasn't off-line for two weeks... :rolleyes:
 
I think Sparky does his level best for these forums and I agree with mamba, growing pains are a part of every venture and there is a curve that you have to go by. I can't wrap my pea brain around what it takes to make this thing work, so I am glad someone does. I am sure neither the technology nor the know how to do this stuff comes cheap. Perhaps it is that our measly $35 (or whatever it is) a year is barely enough to do it right. I am not qualified to say. What percentage of Blade Forums users actually pay to use the forums compared to those who don't? Access slows the works down regardless of whether you ante up or not, doesn't it?

That being said, I think your point should have been made in another, more appropriate forum. As I see it, it is hard enough keeping the discussion on Busse knives at times. You could have posted it in the general forum and the posted a thread linking us to your original, if you wanted the Busse folks to have a look see and weigh in.
 
Personally, I will be reactivating my gold membership next week. From experience I DO know what it takes to maintain critical high-availability data resources...and it sure as heck is a 24x7 job. The larger you get the more variables come into play.

I use these forums every day and should not have let it expire. Spark deserves my $30 for using the services he provides.
 
How many other forums you frequent have over 1 million hits a day? BFC is huge...and it takes an incredible amount of money and time to keep working. The money from paid memberships only covers some of the cost....and he doesn't even force us to pay (like me right now). This reminds me how much I need to add my support.

Spark works his a$$ off for this forum and certainly makes no real money from it. I'm really thankful...and yes, I can handle a few days down here and there. Discontented? Be appreciative of what we have.
 
With regards to downtime, here's when we were down:

April (one weekend when we moved from Florida to Kentucky) and moved to BETTER SERVERS (again!)
August - RAID Card went bad (I was out of town on family matters). Down for the weekend.
Feb - we tried to install more RAM to make the forums better and wound up burning out the motherboard. Down for 3 days.
This weekend - Down 21Mar for forums upgrade with resultant database failure. Back up 22MAR
This instance - Down 24Mar because of a hardware failure. Back up 26Mar when an entire new server came in

In the past year, I've spent close to $40,000 out of my pocket on this website with close to $20,000 of it being on hardware. That's money I could have spent paying off my mortgage, on a site that doesn't even cover it's own bills, breaking even, or (haha) paying for my time & effort. I too would love to have 100% up time, but that costs money. I pay enough already for our 98% uptime - 100% would cost you a lot more than most are willing to pay. Nightly tape backups cost money - a lot for a site our size. Multiple redundant servers cost money. 24 hour dedicated tech support costs a LOT of money. I pay for as much as I can without inconveniencing you all.

For that matter, members surf here without having to be barraged by ads, having to wait between pages, with 6 years worth of knowledge available to you. All I ask is that someone contribute a measely $2.5 a month to help me out. 2 months worth of membership is still LESS THAN A MOVIE and you guys spend a lot more than 2 hours here in 2 months. I don't beg, or cajole, or demand you join, instead, I prefer it be a matter of honor.

So, if you feel you aren't getting your money's worth(!) step up and say so. I'll be more than happy to refund anyone's subscription.
 
This whole experience has convinced me that I need to get off my duff and break out the Master Card! I've been a free-loader long enough!
Ever ask yourself "why does Spark do it?" Its not because the forums are a cash cow, of that, I'm certain!

Anyway, Congratulations and Thanks to Spark for getting the board back up!

:D

Wow - Spark is quick. Added that reply while I was doing mine :eek:
 
...with the majority opinion on this thread - GREAT JOB SPARK and keep up the good work.

(I bet this forum could be up 100% of the time, but then it would cost at least double if not triple what it costs to be a member today - right Nemmy?!)

Contender

PS - I started writing this before Spark weighed in....had a feeling that this was anything BUT a 'cash cow'. Thanks again Spark !
 
I frequent a few other sites but I depend on BF to stay in touch. More specifically I depend on this Busse forum for my much needed INFI fix. I do feel that I have the right to a certain level of expectations of this site but I don't feel that I have been slighted by the recent performance shortfalls. It is possible that the General forum may be a better place for your complaints but you should voice your opinion, none the less, because that is what we are here for. I hope this forum continues in the quality performance it has had in the past and I will continue to enjoy it.

(Did that sound too smarmy and ass kissey? Maybe I won't make that second pot...)
 
Well said Spark! I spend so much time here, I wouldn't mind paying a bit more for the quality we receive.
 
Spark said:
contribute a measely $2.5 million a month to help me out.
Click to expand...
errr ahh, i'm going to have to sell half of my infi to cough up that kind of membership dues.

don't think i'm cheap but i'll just stick with the gold.... thank you :)
 
AH, these are the moments that make the membership worth it.

2.5 million a month, ROTFLMFAO................

Spark, while we may not always say it directly, our continued presence here speaks to the content and quality of the site.

Thanks.

Mike
 
damned, it's hard to ditch you, let me know when you go on vacation so i can spice this joint up!!
 
Funny how we each look at things from different perspectives. I've been using these forums for some time now - free of charge - and received immense enjoyment from bladeforums. I'm becoming more and more aware of the effort and financial cost carried by Spark and feeling more and more guilty everyday because as a basic member I don't contribute to the cost. Hmmm, I going to have to think about this - to pay, not to pay, to pay, not to pay. :(

Whatever my decision, my sincere thankyou Spark for these forums. :)
 
I'm not sure what you would expect for 2-3 dollars a month, service quality-wise. Do you expect 100% uptime? Knowing something about how to run a high-availability website, I can tell you that 10,000 people paying $2 a month probably won't cover a 100% uptime system design, believe it or not. And I'm sure there are far less than 10,000 gold members. Problably more like 1000.

Seems to me we are not paying for a service when we get our gold memberships, but we are making a donation to the owners/maintainers of the site. As such, I really don't have expectations for availability. Just hopes and understanding when things don't go well.

I, for one, will be renewing my gold membership when it's time, recient outages notwithstanding.

AdamK
 
Speaking of Gold membership, does the program notify the member when membership is due again? Or do you wait for it to revert back?
I’ve clean forgot when I became a Gold member. :D

Btw, I feel that the dollars it costs to become a gold member is a very small sacrifice for the enjoyment and enlightenment the program brings to the user.
Ian.
 
Click on your name in a post and choose public profile for your renewal date.
 
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