I'd like your feedback on a couple topics: Search, Subforums, Banner Ads

I pretty much agree with everyone. Banner adds for non-paying members is a very small price to pay for the wealth of information you are getting FREE here.
Search should stay as is. Not perfect but more than enough to start looking for some answers about something.
I would also like a cooking forum (It would help with the Un-official BF Cookbook ;)) and kitchen knives one too.

Thanks again for all you do Spark.
 
Chiller2 said:
I don't mind ads even as a paying member IF they are relevant and not overly invasive this site http://www.defensivecarry.com/vbulletin/ is a good example of what I think is acceptable.The ads are out of the way and relevant to the users of the forum.
Click to expand...

C2,
Are you referring to how the ads are all listed together under the heading Forum Sponsors up toward the very top of that page and under Sponsored Links at the bottom of the page?

If you are..... that is not bad at all.:thumbup:
I would amend my .02 and say I would have no problem with that at all.
In fact it could even be helpful.

The things I hate with a passion are the ones that pop up and/or run across the screen at the top of every page. :mad: ;)

The way they are done on the page your link went to.... is clean and neat looking. Not distracting at all. :thumbup:

My .02.............. again....... ;)
 
If you are going to have banners then you should disable the large flash ads people have in their sigs. :thumbup:
 
Search - I'd love to see faster searchs with everyone being able to use them. On that note, as long as I can afford it, I'll be a paying member.

Sub forums - I have no opinion on this

Banner ads - For non-paying members, I don't see the harm. If you don't like, get a membership or learn to avoid clicking them. If they help keep this great site going, I'm for it.

Thanks for this forum Kevin (Spark)
 
teacher said:
C2,
Are you referring to how the ads are all listed together under the heading Forum Sponsors up toward the very top of that page and under Sponsored Links at the bottom of the page?

If you are..... that is not bad at all.:thumbup:
I would amend my .02 and say I would have no problem with that at all.
In fact it could even be helpful.

The things I hate with a passion are the ones that pop up and/or run across the screen at the top of every page. :mad: ;)

The way they are done on the page your link went to.... is clean and neat looking. Not distracting at all. :thumbup:

My .02.............. again....... ;)
Click to expand...
Yes those are what I am talking about.
 
Banner ads are a fact of life these days. Like telephone lines, they mar the view, but after a while, your brain becomes desensitized and just doesn't take much note of them. If it helps the site stay solvent and running more smoothly, why not? Especially if you can make them go away with a modest donation.

DD
 
I am too lazy to read through the pages, so apologies if this has all been covered.

How about doing something like AR15.com? They have little icons that look pretty tasteful, and dealers/manufacturers can purchase them if they want them. Their banners are not too obnoxious either, and fit well with the site.

I've asked for this before, and I know you have considered it, but I think offering Dealers their own forums would be a great idea. You can be guaranteed that I would purchase one, and I'm guessing others would as well. The For Sale sections for Dealers see little action, so I would greatly prefer to have my own area to play in.

Also, what about BF merchandise? Sites with way, way less traffic have provided livings for multiple people off of simple stuff like t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, etc.

One last suggestion: raffles/auctions. I'm sure plenty of dealers and manufacturers would be willing to donate stuff in return for some advertising or just prominent mention in the raffle/auction thread. Make sure you consult a lawyer about raffles or giveaways though, since there are all kinds of legal considerations.
 
I read most of this thread. On a few of the business forums that I belong to, if you're a paying subscriber Google Adwords and Banner Ads are invisible (don't know how they do it) but free subsciptions see them and hopefully click them for forum revenue.

I certainly don't understand why you don't have a prominent ad for all to see - that points toward your website Spark??

One thing that aggravates me as a user is people who will re-post or "quote" a huge picture of a knife/knives over and over again throughout a thread. It has to be a real strain on servers as images generally have huge file sizes.

This could be addressed in a sticky and very tolerant admonitions by Moderators would, over time stop this practise.

I think search should remain a privilege for paid membership. It's why I bought my 1st basic membership! I mean c'mon non-paying members can argue the case all they want. It still costs about the same to go to MacDonalds 1 time than it does to be a paid supporting member of this great forum for a whole year!!

Thanks - you guys are coming up with great suggestions. ;)
 
I'd like to mention that I bought my "ghetto purple" because of WSS, a forum that I absolutely love, without it I'd be a non-paying member.

I personally have no issues with banners, if they're knife related I'd probably click and go look.

I'd like to thank you for this awesome place!
 
Yes to banner ads for non-paying users (in my mind they aren't members at all). In fact, my biggest pet peeve of this entire forum is the number of non-payers who have post counts in 4 figures, or even higher. Many of them have a lot to contribute, but it's just wrong to use the forum so much, and not support it at all monetarily. I mean, IT'S ONLY TEN BUCKS !!

I don't know how you could enforce it, but I would like to see a limit to the post count of registered users. Once a number of posts is reached (maybe a couple hundred, max) you have to ante up or get banned. Literally, anyone who can afford a computer can afford the $10 for a basic membership. Just my .02.
 
storl said:
I am too lazy to read through the pages, so apologies if this has all been covered.

How about doing something like AR15.com? They have little icons that look pretty tasteful, and dealers/manufacturers can purchase them if they want them. Their banners are not too obnoxious either, and fit well with the site.

I've asked for this before, and I know you have considered it, but I think offering Dealers their own forums would be a great idea. You can be guaranteed that I would purchase one, and I'm guessing others would as well. The For Sale sections for Dealers see little action, so I would greatly prefer to have my own area to play in.

Also, what about BF merchandise? Sites with way, way less traffic have provided livings for multiple people off of simple stuff like t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, etc.

One last suggestion: raffles/auctions. I'm sure plenty of dealers and manufacturers would be willing to donate stuff in return for some advertising or just prominent mention in the raffle/auction thread. Make sure you consult a lawyer about raffles or giveaways though, since there are all kinds of legal considerations.
Click to expand...

I like this idea :) When I had my dealer membership I had suggested a "dealer" forum somewhat like the one you mentioned :thumbup:
 
Please give me your thoughts on putting in banner ads that would only be visible to registered users, and not to members with paid subscriptions.
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Good idea.

I would like to see search as a paid function of membership.
We are all spending real money on knives.
Basic membership is $10.
Enough said?
 
I think having Banner Ads that are limited to non-paying members would be great. I love that Bladeforums isn't cluttered by ads. If paying members aren't spared the ads, then I think placing them at the bottom would be ideal, or at least have them static and not annoyingly "active".

In light of the above, I think it'd be good to open up Search to non-paying members as a compromise for the ads. I use google to search the site on occasion, but I actually use the search feature here more. The search feature makes it easier for me to look for a specific word in a thread title, or a thread by a specific member, or limiting the search to a specific subforum, etc. I think having that feature open to new guys might help lessen the redundant threads. If the ads aren't limited to non-paying members though, I say the search function should be kept to paying members.
 
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I gotta agree with black mamba , I've posted a copplea' times now and then ( It might be 6 months before I post or 5 in a day) but if you have 4 figgures on your count you must be spending some time here so pony up.

make it easy for overseas members to pony up.

As for ads them selves, any decent popup blocker will kill popups - I haven't seen one in about 3 yrs so i didn't even know that places had them any more? But a banner on the top or bottom is no probs at all

Subforums, I would come here more often , thus pay , if there was a subfourm on bayonetts . They are bladed most times - think Sig 57. Yes, I know that the custom / comercial makers wouldn't have mutch interest but theres alot of us out there that do collect . The cooking / camra ones seem logical too .

thanks guys - Wack
 
I agree that banner ads for non-paying members is fine. For me, the things I've learned here is worth way more than the price of admission.

Spark, you've got bills to pay, and it seems like you've found a way to do that without impacting the folks with paid subscriptions. Win-win.
 
neeman said:
...We are all spending real money on knives.
Basic membership is $10.
Enough said?
Click to expand...

+1. My feelings about banner ads, search, and sub-forums have already been stated by the majority of members who have already posted. For non-paying members, it's a good idea: it will either encourage them to buy a membership, or it will give you a little money from the ad.

That said, thank you again Kevin :thumbup:
 
I've said it before elsewhere, but if you look at how much you spend on a subscription to your favorite knife magazine, and then look at how much you learn from that compared to this site, there's just no comparison. (Apologies to my bud Steve Shackelford, but it's true.)
 
Spark - First of all thanks for asking.

Banner ads for non-paying members makes sense...and if they can be given the search (or some limited form of search) feature in trade then all the better...as long as it doesn't slow things down.

Yes, I believe more sub-forums would work out better. For example, the W&SS forum would benefit from a gear related sub-forum, and perhaps a sub-forum for items of a more informal and personal nature. When the community gets large enough there may be a need for additional sub-forums.
 
The best thing about BF for me is not having banners.
I am for not having banners for paid memberships.
Make sure non-paying members now that they will not have banners when they pay and then blast their brains out with banners.
Betters/faster search. of course. Less hardware == less cost, go for it

More subforums: great. I would love to see more of the boys and girls here have input on other forums. It gives me more on this forum so I don't have to go elsewhere.

good luck on it.
 
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