[Archived] Important - Please Read

[Ste B]

You may have noticed we were without the messageboard this afternoon.

Service has been resumed, however we will be taking the board offline for a day sometime this week. (Probably Wednesday).

[Al]

What went wrong. It's still painfully slow.

[ABBEY]

GAVs always been like that.

[Ste B]

This site is a victim of its own success.

Our host has moved us to another server.. which means it will be much slower. ( a polite way of telling us to go forth and multiply )

The pressure is for us to upgrade to a managed server at £120 a month.. which just isnt going to happen.

As always, we will come up with something, but with Glenn on hols and me going away at the end of the week, it may be a case of living with it for a while. If I can get the site moved by Thursday, then theres a chance.

I'm hoping to find something that keeps us going for at least 12 months, but our bandwidth and hit count is so high, that unless we get some serious sponsorship in the future, i'm not confident of providing the same level of service.

[Ste B]

I should add..

Please think before you post at the moment.. we need to keep the speed up by not processing one liners which say "I agree", or posts on the word asscociation thread.

I've disabled Avatars, and the online users count. I really dont want to disable the ICBINF, but i'm sorely tempted at the moment.

[Tris]

ok ... £120 per month.

I've never directly contributed money to the site and there must be many more like me who derive a benefit (eg get annoyed when it's gone off line - or even just use the forum to give an opinion) who haven't coughed up either.

Guilt trip time for all of us.

The site has moved from pillar to post in its quest to remain "free to air" and relies entirely upon a group of individuals who give up hours and hours of their time and more to the point their expertise.

When that expertise is used in their day jobs it's charged at hourly rates probably way beyond the above figure needed to run this site for a month.

I'm clearly going to project one message - let's pay for what we use. If it costs £120 / month that's (rounded up) £1500 a year. Let's pretend that the figure of 2500 users is rubbish - it clearly is - let's pretend that there are only 500 users.

3 quid a year from 1/5th of all users ?? ?? ??

OK it won't happen.

Let's pretend there are only 100 users - those that actually write the stuff that the other 2400 like to read - note to myself and the other 99 - we can keep it going for the same as a single bus fare from Blackburn Station to Ewood once a month, just about. £1.10 x 100 x 12 = £1320.00 - very nearly there.

FINALLY AND MOST IMPORTANTLY there's enough expertise and savvy and experience from the regular readership of this site to be able to move it away from personal donations and towards a more commercial financial footing. That absolutely rules out the likes of rivals and footymad and all the others which this site consistently betters.

I have absolutely no link with the people who run this site other than through meeting in concourses and pubs at games, so whatever I say is my opinion and only my opinion.

I'd like to think that there are people out there who can help this site meet its costs without begging from members or bowing to commercial pressures.

PM me (cos I haven't cleared this post with the mods) with any ideas or suggestions ... more importantly - analyse your use of the entire world wide web ... and score this site against the rest of the internet.

Is this site important ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

[northernrover]

Tris, I agree.

Sorry Ste, I don't mean 'i agree' in the sense that that is all i'm going to say on the subject, but Tris is right in most parts.

I dont think its fair to say that there must be posters out there who are more than 'comfortable' in their lifestyles to be able to put $20 or $50 (sorry, cant find the pound sign) into BRFCS.com.

Its not like its their duty just because theyre fans of BRFC and they read this MB, to get their hands in their pockets.

I think its the duty of every Rovers fan that reads this site daily (or at least regularly) to pay up.

I cant imagine anyone would be so tight to not donate at least a quid to the site.

I have to admit, i've never stuck my hand in my pocket to support the site, but if it meant the survival of the site, i know i'd be one of the first, because, as has already been said, this site cant be touched when you see and read the rest of the dross out there.

All admin and mods, put the "support the site" link on every page and people may eventually start to get the message.

Anyway, i'm gonna get back to my lovely lady friend Stella and come back to this post when i can remember what it was about in the first place

and look, i dont even think ive made any spelling mistakes.

i'll check some other time

[Paul]

Nice post Tris. We are very, very grateful to those who have donated to the site and to those who support us with a monthly direct debit, no criticism is intended of anyone - wether you donate or not. There is NO obligation to pay for this site.

The brutal facts behind the finance are:

4 members support us with a monthly direct debit and have done for two years

Two years ago 98 people pledged to support the site with a donantion, ONLY 27 ever paid up. Those who donated raised £492 for the site.

The sale of books, badges, Amazon link etc. When buying books or badges many people paid well over the asking price. A polo shirt is on the way. The problem is time spent raising money is out of all proportion to the amount raised.

Add these scraps together and we have enough to run the site for about a year IN ITS CURRENT FORM - not at £120 a month. Our target has always been to have enough in the bank to fund 12 months. The theory being 12 months should be long enough to solve problems.

Regular payments are much better than one-offs - we need to know our income. A Standing Order for a few pounds each month is fantastic. If you want to help the site don't spend all day posting about it, take two minutes to make a payment to:

BRFC Supporters - (cheques payable to this name)

PO Box 381

CHORLEY

Lancashire

PR6 8ZW

Direct Debits, Standing Orders and Bank Transfers can go to:

Account Name: BRFC Supporters

Account No: 67367260

Sort Code: 05-01-31

Bank: The Yorkshire Bank (sorry guys )

[adopted scouser]

I've got no problem coughing up a few quid to sponsor the site.

Can I make a suggestion ?

More people would sponsor the site if their avatar has the word "Sponsor" underneath it in red.

Try it, you might be surprised.

[Manchester Blue]

I think AS has a real point here. I appreciate it might look like you are highlighting those that haven't contributed but what's more important here. The running of the site or the feelings of a few over-sensitive souls. On another site that I visit they have a roll of honour listing everyone who has contributed every month.

I'm not suggesting that but to be fair I have never contributed to this site but have gained an immense amount of pleasure from it. Why have I never contributed? Partly laziness on my part and also because apart from buying badges i've not seen much in the way of mails or the like asking people to contribute so maybe didn't realise it was a big issue.

I saw Pauls post after Tris's had already made me feel guilty and rather than send a cheque off I did exactly what Paul suggested and set up a standing order. Now if I saw everyone else with a little sponsor sign and I hadn't contributed I might feel a little guilty and feel the need to give something back.

[Al]

Fiver on it's way electronically. Let's know if you need more later and a suggestion as to what amount you would need per month on standing order.

[Paul]

I've got no problem coughing up a few quid to sponsor the site.

Can I make a suggestion ?

More people would sponsor the site if their avatar has the word "Sponsor" underneath it in red.

Try it, you might be surprised.

We do have a plan that covers this but we are desperatley trying to avoid ANYTHING that could be divisive, elitist etc. Fundamentally we want the site to be "free to air" but it is becoming very difficult. The site is simply too popular for its own good, at the same time sponsorship is difficult because the potential market is very limited.

Manchester Blue

i've not seen much in the way of mails or the like asking people to contribute so maybe didn't realise it was a big issue.

Until this week it wasn't a big issue. The money was ticking along quite nicely. Suddenly, for the third time now, our hosts (different one each time), has looked at the traffic and is putting on pressure for more cash.

The very minimum costs will be:

Hosting Fees 12 x £120 = £1440

PO Box number = £60

Domain stuff = £100 estimate

Suddenly we need £1600, minimum per year.....that's an awful lot of badges

[CAPT KAYOS]

More people would sponsor the site if their avatar has the word "Sponsor" underneath it in red.

Think this is a good idea Admin/Mods

Coming back to what Tris/MB have said, I have not contributed either (think I might have been one of those who said they would initially ) but due to this and that have totally forgot or down to pure laziness and probably because I do not have the internet at home yet.

No excuse - and I agree - but although I know a few of the Admin and Mods on here and talk to them at games and new that we strugggle for funding at times, I didn't realise it was that desperate.

For the sake of a pint S/O shall be set up from the one and only 'Capt' around here.

Come on members lets do our bit as I am sure you will agree, there is no better MB around than this one.

[AndyC]

I've got no problem coughing up a few quid to sponsor the site.

Can I make a suggestion ?

More people would sponsor the site if their avatar has the word "Sponsor" underneath it in red.

Try it, you might be surprised.

We do have a plan that covers this but we are desperatley trying to avoid ANYTHING that could be divisive, elitist etc. Fundamentally we want the site to be "free to air" but it is becoming very difficult. The site is simply too popular for its own good, at the same time sponsorship is difficult because the potential market is very limited.

Manchester Blue

i've not seen much in the way of mails or the like asking people to contribute so maybe didn't realise it was a big issue.

Until this week it wasn't a big issue. The money was ticking along quite nicely. Suddenly, for the third time now, our hosts (different one each time), has looked at the traffic and is putting on pressure for more cash.

The very minimum costs will be:

Hosting Fees 12 x £120 = £1440

PO Box number = £60

Domain stuff = £100 estimate

Suddenly we need £1600, minimum per year.....that's an awful lot of badges

Whilst I tend to agree that the site should remain as fair and open as possible, the internet has simply moved on from where it was in peoples lives even 2 years ago. As Ste points out - we have become a victim of our own success.

People have always believed that websites should be free; yet they are quite happy to pay for all other kinds of media, be it TV, Football programme, magazines etc.

For the price of one pint of lager a month, we can keep this site going and not have to overly commercialise the site.

I have no problems whatsoever with something in the avatar that denotes a 'sponsor' It's not like they get any special privileges, but it should be a simple way of recognising the people who are doing their bit to keep the site going.

For something to be elitist - it would suggest that we were pricing people out of the market. This would not be the case if people paid £2 per month on a direct debit.

I can't believe that anyone using this site can't afford to forsake 1 pint to keep it going.

Like Tris says - you really notice when the site goes down.

Lets not just debate this for the next month - if you like the site, then set up your debit for £1 or £2 a month. That's all it takes.

[adopted scouser]

We do have a plan that covers this but we are desperatley trying to avoid ANYTHING that could be divisive, elitist etc.

Can't agree with that at all mate.

It would demonstrate to others the members who really want to support the site, and maybe generate a little guilt leading to further contributions.

Thirty odd members at £4 a month and you're sorted.

Implement such a scheme and I'm first on the list, the site would still be free to everyone else after all.

[bob fleming]

Standing Order has been set up. Yesterday afternoon when the MB was down was quite possibly the longest afternoon of the year at work, I even started talking with my work colleagues. I could do without that.

[Nuclearsox]

Yes it was the same here. I even offered to get the coffees in. Thank God everyone was too busy staring at the 12 foot "Error 400: Bad Request" to accept my offer as I couldn't remember where the coffee machine was.

Rest assured. I will be setting my Standing Order up shortly. I'm ashamed I haven't set it up before now.

[Tom Pringle]

As above, but as soon as Natwests website starts working for standing orders again.

Sent a PM to ste about this yesterday and felt quite guilty about posting alot of crap. So now, when i post i know i'll have paid to post complete crap and it'll give me a warm feeling inside

[broadsword]

Hmmm ... not the first time a host has had us over a barrel!

Might it not happen again if we move to another host? ie get bumped up beyond 120/month?

Could it be cheaper to buy our own server on HP and have that paid off on DD? I suppose if the account goes bust you could always sell the server off to recoup cash. Will probably get shot down for that one, but it's just an idea.

[Paul]

Glenn raised the idea of buying our own server at the last MB meet up in Blues. As I understand it the major problem is the management of the site rather than running the server. Glenn gave me to understand there are potentailly hours of more work, basically for him or Ste, to keep the server updated all the time. My understanding is the fees we pay are for this management.

[Tris]

Standing order now set up. It's so easy !

[TROOPER]

For us Expats the MB is essential, but setting up a standing order is not so feasible. A one off payment would be good enough? Is 25 quid about right? Trouble is we get short changed by the exchange people, but I'm sure I'll be able to sort something out.

[broadsword]

just spent 20 quid on amazon for what it's worth!

[Paul]

For us Expats the MB is essential, but setting up a standing order is not so feasible. A one off payment would be good enough? Is 25 quid about right? Trouble is we get short changed by the exchange people, but I'm sure I'll be able to sort something out.

I suggest you speak to dave birch. He organised sending over the cash for the badges on one cheque and it worked beautifully at this end. If you want to have a whip round in Aussie perhaps Dave or someone else can collect the money and then make a single payment to the site.

[Paul]

Standing order now set up. It's so easy !

Like Tris says if you have on-line or internet banking it takes about two minutes to set up a Standing order or make a transfer/payment direct to the account.

Anyone who does decide to set up a Standing Order please e-mail details to [email protected] or send me a PM. I can watch out for things at our end then.