- Joined
- Oct 2, 1998
- Messages
- 15,223
With the upcoming move we're going to have a lot of capabilities that we haven't had before; the cloud based architecture will supposedly let us upgrade or downgrade our hardware as needed to meet the needs of the site. We were supposed to have this capability with the current host, but the less said about our current situation, the better. So let's cover a couple topics that have been kicking around in my head for a while.
First thing is search. By and large, search is the crappiest thing about the vBulletin software. For a site this size, search is nothing but problems. People have suggested an alternative, namely Sphinx search, which many similarly sized (or larger) sites use with great success. The main problem with using Sphinx is that we'll lose a couple features, namely sorting by last post time, which I don't think anyone actually uses. The upside is that we'll see much faster response times on the forums themselves, search times will be sped up exponentially, and most importantly the forums shouldn't lock up. Various reports state that the server load using Sphinx is decreased so much that you need essentially half the hardware, but I'll believe that when I see it.
If the search performance is increased while server loads are greatly decreased, I see no reason not to open search back up to all members, not just paid subscriptions. This will benefit sellers, as buyers will be able to find their ads much faster and easier. The flip side of this is that we may see a reduction of paying memberships, so who knows. It could wind up with a net increase as more registered users will find the site "useable" and want to help us stay open. If anyone has thoughts on this, let me know.
With that in mind, if the server loads are lessened, I'll see no reason not to open up a bunch of new subforums. Photography has been mentioned, as well as cooking, and other tangentially knife-related subjects. I've long said that this is BladeForums not EverythingUnderTheSunForums, but as I get older, I realize I need to compromise more, and if you guys want stuff, there's really no reason for me not to be flexible. So, if you have specific suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Be reasonable.
Finally, let's talk banner ads. Personally, I hate them. It's a very rare thing for me to click on a banner ad and buy something, but that's me. At the same time, there've been no shortage of companies who have made offers of purchasing ad space on this site. I've resisted them over the years because I like an uncluttered forum space. At the same time, however, I have to be realistic - the paid subscriptions here do not cover all the bills we have.
There are very few sites out there our size that aren't somehow monetizing their userbase; off the top of my head I can readily name 5 that are in this same industry that have banners going and are much smaller than BFC; the ones that our size and don't have much bigger bankrolls behind them than what I can muster.
I mentioned before that I don't like compromising, but I have to face reality. We get a lot of traffic. A shocking amount. Of that, the vast majority is from people who do not have paid subscriptions. The people who support this site, do so without having to be begged, scolded, or even asked to. There's no reason for you guys to see banners.
The people who don't get paid subscriptions have their reasons, but by and large there's no reason for them to help us indirectly. As such, I really don't feel guilty in using those people to help monetize the site itself; if they aren't contributing voluntarily to help keep the site open with a paid subscription, they really aren't in a position to complain about any advertising we use to recoup server & bandwidth expenses. Please give me your thoughts on putting in banner ads that would only be visible to registered users (members without paid subscriptions), and unregistered guests browsing the forums, and not to members with paid subscriptions.
As always, thanks for your patience and support throughout the years. We're 12 years old this year, and you guys are uniformly great. I love having a community that helps people grow & become better knife users, makers, purchasers & the rest. It's amazing to see someone go from being vaguely interested, to becoming a knifemaker, to having their designs picked up by a major manufacturer. Thanks for letting us be a part of that.
First thing is search. By and large, search is the crappiest thing about the vBulletin software. For a site this size, search is nothing but problems. People have suggested an alternative, namely Sphinx search, which many similarly sized (or larger) sites use with great success. The main problem with using Sphinx is that we'll lose a couple features, namely sorting by last post time, which I don't think anyone actually uses. The upside is that we'll see much faster response times on the forums themselves, search times will be sped up exponentially, and most importantly the forums shouldn't lock up. Various reports state that the server load using Sphinx is decreased so much that you need essentially half the hardware, but I'll believe that when I see it.
If the search performance is increased while server loads are greatly decreased, I see no reason not to open search back up to all members, not just paid subscriptions. This will benefit sellers, as buyers will be able to find their ads much faster and easier. The flip side of this is that we may see a reduction of paying memberships, so who knows. It could wind up with a net increase as more registered users will find the site "useable" and want to help us stay open. If anyone has thoughts on this, let me know.
With that in mind, if the server loads are lessened, I'll see no reason not to open up a bunch of new subforums. Photography has been mentioned, as well as cooking, and other tangentially knife-related subjects. I've long said that this is BladeForums not EverythingUnderTheSunForums, but as I get older, I realize I need to compromise more, and if you guys want stuff, there's really no reason for me not to be flexible. So, if you have specific suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Be reasonable.
Finally, let's talk banner ads. Personally, I hate them. It's a very rare thing for me to click on a banner ad and buy something, but that's me. At the same time, there've been no shortage of companies who have made offers of purchasing ad space on this site. I've resisted them over the years because I like an uncluttered forum space. At the same time, however, I have to be realistic - the paid subscriptions here do not cover all the bills we have.
There are very few sites out there our size that aren't somehow monetizing their userbase; off the top of my head I can readily name 5 that are in this same industry that have banners going and are much smaller than BFC; the ones that our size and don't have much bigger bankrolls behind them than what I can muster.
I mentioned before that I don't like compromising, but I have to face reality. We get a lot of traffic. A shocking amount. Of that, the vast majority is from people who do not have paid subscriptions. The people who support this site, do so without having to be begged, scolded, or even asked to. There's no reason for you guys to see banners.
The people who don't get paid subscriptions have their reasons, but by and large there's no reason for them to help us indirectly. As such, I really don't feel guilty in using those people to help monetize the site itself; if they aren't contributing voluntarily to help keep the site open with a paid subscription, they really aren't in a position to complain about any advertising we use to recoup server & bandwidth expenses. Please give me your thoughts on putting in banner ads that would only be visible to registered users (members without paid subscriptions), and unregistered guests browsing the forums, and not to members with paid subscriptions.
As always, thanks for your patience and support throughout the years. We're 12 years old this year, and you guys are uniformly great. I love having a community that helps people grow & become better knife users, makers, purchasers & the rest. It's amazing to see someone go from being vaguely interested, to becoming a knifemaker, to having their designs picked up by a major manufacturer. Thanks for letting us be a part of that.
thanks for giving the chance to give our input spark, and thanks for having BFC,
