# What can we do to keep the boards up?



## Henrix (Apr 19, 2002)

As many surely have noticed, the boards have gone down a couple of times the last few days.

A discussion here at the temporary boards asked why, and what we can do about it.

Why do they go down? Well, essentially there are too many of us 
The current servers at EN World cannot take the load, in particular during US prime time (late afternoon, early evening).

So, in essence, EN World needs money for upgrades.
How can we best assure that it gets that money?

There are a lot of us here at EN World, and somebody said, overat the temporary boards, that all it takes is about $1 a month from each of us.


[Edited link so that it works.]


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## EricNoah (Apr 19, 2002)

Some possibilities... though not necessarily good ideas.

* Arrange a "deal" with a big network, like I did with RPG Planet.  Drawback is you have no control over your advertisements, "unlimited bandwidth" means "as much as we can give you and when you take an 'unfair amount' we'll shut down your message boards when we feel like it," and no guarantee that Russ would be able to arrange a deal to bring in income.  

*Arrange a "deal" with a big network, but only have part of the site there.  Like maybe *just* the message boards. Some of the same problems as above.  My thoughts would be something like GamingReport -- see if they're interested in hosting forums in exchange for something Russ can provide.  

*Get the people who benefit most to cough up some cash.  I think we all know who they are.  

*try to get more advertising.  Probably not hugely realistic.  But the great untapped market I see is getting advertisers who DON'T do d20 products.  Miniatures companies.  The battle mat people.  Other games.  DVDs/Videos, etc. 

*Branch out into more merchandising options.  I don't know what Russ's deal is with RPG Shop but I made a pretty big chunk of money doing Amazon.com.  Maybe he should consider a sweeter deal. 

*accept the fact that the boards will die during certain times of the day and plan for it.  Simply plan on always shutting the boards down between noon and 4pm central or somesuch, except maybe on weekends.

*look for other providers who might be cheaper.

*Help me win the lottery.  I will donate a big chunk to this "charity."  

*stop hosting message boards.  Accept the fact that they just hog too many resources.


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## Pillars of Hercules (Apr 19, 2002)

*How can we help?  Paypal?*

Morrus,

Just let us know how to contribute.  I'll pledge $25.  Let me know how I can get it to you.  Many thanks for all you do and all these boards mean to the community.


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## EricNoah (Apr 19, 2002)

I'm not sure why but your link wasn't working.  Here's the one that worked for me:

http://pub82.ezboard.com/fenworldfrm19.showMessage?topicID=1.topic


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## Henrix (Apr 19, 2002)

*Re: How can we help?  Paypal?*



			
				Pillars of Hercules said:
			
		

> *Morrus,
> 
> Just let us know how to contribute.  I'll pledge $25.  Let me know how I can get it to you.  Many thanks for all you do and all these boards mean to the community. *




There's a Support EN World page


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## EricNoah (Apr 19, 2002)

*Re: How can we help?  Paypal?*



			
				Pillars of Hercules said:
			
		

> *Morrus,
> 
> Just let us know how to contribute.  I'll pledge $25.  Let me know how I can get it to you.  Many thanks for all you do and all these boards mean to the community. *




One of the very first links on the main page at http://www.enworld.org/ says Support EN World -- that's the link you want.


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## Henrix (Apr 19, 2002)

EricNoah said:
			
		

> *I'm not sure why but your link wasn't working.  Here's the one that worked for me:
> 
> http://pub82.ezboard.com/fenworldfrm19.showMessage?topicID=1.topic *




Thanks, Eric!
I must have fumbled my Cut'n'paste skill!

(I have edited my link in the first post.)


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## CRGreathouse (Apr 19, 2002)

EricNoah said:
			
		

> *Some possibilities... though not necessarily good ideas.*




Most of these ideas make sense - though I'd hate to accept many of them.  Still, it's good to know there are options out there.



			
				EricNoah said:
			
		

> *try to get more advertising.  Probably not hugely realistic.  But the great untapped market I see is getting advertisers who DON'T do d20 products.  Miniatures companies.  The battle mat people.  Other games.  DVDs/Videos, etc.*




This is a good point.  I've often thought about advertising, but figured that the d20 companies were all but tapped out.  Sure, the ads help them (increasing brand awareness and sales), but it takes time to realize this benefit.  What can be done to increase our ad base?

I know that video games are also a good "related" field - is there any way to attract them?


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## Sir Osis of Liver (Apr 19, 2002)

Any thought to maybe doing some kind of fund raiser, maybe a raffle or some such thing. Maybe try and talk some of the RPG "celebrties" that post here into donating some autographed books and then raffle them off.

I think the whole situation has really reminded folks about donating too, so i'm sure that anyone able to will be donating, which should help a bunch.

I hope if we all work at this we can find a solution, so keep us in the know.


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## Morrus (Apr 19, 2002)

Thanks for all the thoughts, guys.  It really means a lot to me. 

One thing that I do promise is this - the boards will NOT disappear, no matter what I have to do!  These are my opinions on "methods", though:

*Advertising is one option - I don't mind admitting that I'm not very good at that sort of thing, which is why the site probably doesn't get as much from ads as it could.  I've tried hiring "ad managers" etc, but that doesn't tend to work out either.  I'm definitely giving it more thought, though.  The "other markets" thought is a good one, although I'm not sure how I'd go about it.

*Signing up with some other network is the very last option I want to consider.  It may sound silly, but I'm proud of the fact that the site has to follow nobody's "rules".  Especially since some of the networks etc. out there are very "business" oriented rather than fan-oriented.

*All of the fund-raising ideas are cool, but they are mainly short-term solutions.  What needs to be somehow established is a steady income rather than a sudden influx of donations etc.  We really need to look at this long-term rather than as an immediate problem that we're having right now.

*As has been suggested elsewhere - I will never _require_ money from anyone to use the site or the boards etc.  I am very, very strongly opposed to that idea.

*Affiliate programs etc. - as Eric mentioned, I have a deal with RPGShop.  I really don't think I could get a better deal.  It does bring in a noticeable amount of money, but nothing compared to the site's running costs.  It's a drop in the ocean, to be honest (well, more than a drop - a sizeable splash, but still not somehting that really makes a big difference in the long run).

*Other providers - I'm currently using CI Host, which is the cheap-and-not-terribly-good end of the pricing scale.  When you're already shopping at   

Options that have been suggested that I'm considering (but have definitely not made a decision on) are:

*A voluntary periodic donation which earns users a cool custom title.  This is feasible if it is embraced en-masse, but not if only a few people join in.  The main drawback si that, although I can imagine initial enthusiasm for such an idea, I don't know if it would be maintained.  And if it's not maintained and the (then increased) server payment can't be met one month then we're all, frankly, screwed.  That one is a little too close to a gamble for my liking.

*The auction/lottery idea - I don't know if it would work.  We'd need cooperation of all the publishers (and, to be honest, for somehting like that we'd need WotC onboard) and, like the previous option, it would need to be sustained.



> Get the people who benefit most to cough up some cash. I think we all know who they are.




If you're referring to who I think you are, I can't see it happening.  It would be nice, though.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel.  With things like Natural 20 Press going on, there will reach a point one day where it brings in a sizeable chunk of money.  This is probably a good while off yet - the hard part is getting there!

You guys are all great.  We'll be OK, don't worry about that.  We've all been through harder times on this site, and we survived.  We'll do it again.  And again, f need be.  We're going to be here for a long time to come!


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## poilbrun (Apr 19, 2002)

I don't know if a deal with amazon.com would be better than the deal with RPG Shop, but maybe you'd get more people using it. The cost to deliver products to Europe are much lower at Amazon than at RPG Shop. The last order I've made (Deities & Demigods and Spells & Spellcraft) costs $59.87 at Amazon and $74.42 at RPG shop because of the delivery costs... I can't afford a 25% increase in the price of every book I buy and, as such, haven't been able to support EN World that way


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## Glyfair (Apr 19, 2002)

Morrus said:
			
		

> *
> 
> *A voluntary periodic donation which earns users a cool custom title.  This is feasible if it is embraced en-masse, but not if only a few people join in.  The main drawback si that, although I can imagine initial enthusiasm for such an idea, I don't know if it would be maintained.  And if it's not maintained and the (then increased) server payment can't be met one month then we're all, frankly, screwed.  That one is a little too close to a gamble for my liking.
> 
> *




A related idea:  Greg Stafford (creator of Glorantha, the world behind Runequest, Hero Wars & Heroquest) was trying to get the new system published after Runequest went into corporate limbo.  He wanted to sell stock, but found out it wasn't feasible because of the related California laws.

What he ended up doing was selling membership in the "Glorantha Trading Association."  For various levels of donations, you got certain benefits (see http://www.glorantha.com/gta/gta.html for the actual benefits for the donations).  This was quite successful in getting Hero Wars out.  

Perhaps something like this might be tried.  Of course, a good amount of the interest for many is the access to some of the unpublished materials of Greg Stafford.  There isn't much in the gaming world that has quite that level of mystique (Gygax & Kuntz's Greyhawk stuff is about the only d20 stuff I could think of right now). 

Still, some sort of exclusive or early content might be worked out with some publishers (I'm sure many are quite glad at the business this site brings them).  Perhaps early peaks at some of the Natural d20 press products.  Maybe even some of the regulars could add some stuff.  I'm sure some would pay to see some early materials from Piratecat's campaign or perhaps scans of Eric's early characters.  

Of course, to keep the money flowing in, it would have to have periodic updates.  It may not be feasible, or worthwhile.  Still, it's a direction to consider.  Even if just as a stop-gap until Natural d20 Press takes off.

Glyfair of Glamis


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## Henrix (Apr 19, 2002)

The downside with something like the Glorantha Trading Association is that it creates a group of 'elite'*, who may, rightly or wrongly, feel that they are superior, and another group who feel that they are out in the cold.

(I am not saying anything against the GTA, mind, just stating what may happen. It was probably the right thing for them (us, I am part of the Glorantha community too) to do at the time. And it has worked out fine.)

I think Morrus is right to want to avoid that. The open, nice community here would probably suffer.


But I agree with poilbrun that Amazon perhaps is better for us Europeans, I balked at the RPG.shop freight too.
On the other hand I'd much prefer to support RPG.shop than Amazon. But as it is, I probably won't buy from either, I also want to support my FLGS.


* Or, as the case is, Elite, Elite+, and SuperElite, depending on how much you shell out.


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## Blacksad (Apr 19, 2002)

I agree that amazon.co.uk would be the best thing for European, and it would not takes many sales from US shops.


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## trentonjoe (Apr 19, 2002)

I just made my donation.  I have no problem donating 5 (actually (4.23 this month) bucks a months nor do I think it would be "tacky" to ask.  Just put an anouncement somewhere and I'll do it every month.  I gure this site is worth 5 bucks a month to me!

If we get titles,I would like to be Karaoke King of Central Jersey.  A boy can dream can't he?


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## Horacio (Apr 19, 2002)

Henrix said:
			
		

> *The downside with something like the Glorantha Trading Association is that it creates a group of 'elite'*, who may, rightly or wrongly, feel that they are superior, and another group who feel that they are out in the cold.
> 
> (I am not saying anything against the GTA, mind, just stating what may happen. It was probably the right thing for them (us, I am part of the Glorantha community too) to do at the time. And it has worked out fine.)
> 
> ...




In my opinion, there wouldn't be such an elite effect, I mean, there are already some people who thinks they are elite, and they would still think it  

Seriously now, for your RPG needs in Europe, talk Derek (from Talon Comics ), his prices are the same or cheaper than RPG.shop, but the shipping cost much smaller. and he is a nice person. A really nice person. Try it and you will thank me.

And if you really want an European shop but you don't have a FLGS (or it doesn't have what you search), go to Orcsnest, a not very expensive (but more expensive than Talon) shop based on London.


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## Mishihari Lord (Apr 19, 2002)

A while back, there was a limit on the number of people that could be on the boards at one time.  I think it was 200.  Would that help?


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## Leopold (Apr 19, 2002)

i am all for doing an 'elite' mode for users. What that gives you as stated by someone on the ezboards is for $1/month or $10/year:

1. Avatar
2. Signature
3. Once a month lottery on a prize from one of the d20 publishers.


If you are not a member what do you get:

1. Post to the board
2. View the board
3. No avatar
4. No signature.

Look let's be real ALLOT of boards to this: Ars Technica, Slashdot, etc. all have boards that people pay to be 'members' for. Do they really gain anything? Not too much but it pays for the services that you provide morrus. What you are giving us is simple lil features and nothing more, so we have our avatar and a signature, yippie. Is that detracting from the boards? No. But it does provide incentive to sign up. Call it charity or donation or pay for play service but don't feel that you are taking away from anything. I feel this is a tried and true idea and has worked brillantly in the past. Charge us a copule of dollars a month, hell people pay $39.99+ to look at naked woman when you can get that for free online! What's $10 for a year of quality always up service??? Nothing.


Don't think you are going to be catering to the 'elite' people who say "I paid so there nyah nyah nyah". On arstechnica you get a custom title stating "Ars Subscriber" When you subscribe you get "D20 Subscriber" or some title.


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## hong (Apr 19, 2002)

Just speaking for myself, I wouldn't mind paying $US1 or even $5 a month (or even more, depending) to use the boards. I can understand Morrus's desire not to split the community or require a payment to use the boards, but at the same time, I think the user-pays principle is going to have to come in somewhere down the line.

A good compromise might be to allow browsing and a limited post count for free (say 30 posts per month, or whatever number is deemed most appropriate). People who post regularly and often should be willing to stump up at least some money for the privilege. Speaking as one of the heavier board users, I have no problems with putting my money where my mouth is.

I don't think making things like avatars and sigs available only to financial members is necessary or a good thing. I post because I think I have something interesting to say, or to contribute to the online community (even if it's just more IYKWIM posts). I'm willing to pay to support that, not for the frill of sigs and avatars, or for the frisson of being in an "elite". Making sigs and avatars contingent on paying money just makes them into visible status symbols, which in turn encourages division in the community, which isn't good for anyone.


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## Morrus (Apr 19, 2002)

I'm not sayng that this will happen, but to avoid people going off on tangents that _can't_ happen, here are the things that can be switched on/off for individual members by this software:


Custom titles
Search
Modify profile
Rate threads
Post attachments
Post polls
Vote on polls
Use private messaging
View Who's Online
Access to specific forums

That's it.  No way to select avatars/sigs for certain people. There are a whole bunch of other things, but they are so fundamental (read thread, edit on thread etc.) that they're not worth even considering.  Limited post counts aren't possible to do, and I would never consider that anyway.

Bear in mind also that some of the above can't be done prior to a server upgrade (Search, Who's Online, Private Messaging etc.).

Anyway, that's what's possible - don't read that as "that's what's going to happen".


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## Leopold (Apr 20, 2002)

i'd pay $1+/month for search, pm, and custom title! That right there is worth more than $1 of my money!


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## Sir Osis of Liver (Apr 20, 2002)

I have to admit that the custom title would be cool, pay a buck a month get to be whatever wacked out tile they want, throw in search, pm, and who's on-line. I think that would be worth it and i don't think that it'd have the same conataions as every one that pays having the title elite or a prestige member.


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## CRGreathouse (Apr 20, 2002)

I'm all for whatever it takes to get the boards working well, but I'm not sure that I like the idea of custom X for "elite" members.  While I'd be willing to pay (let's face it - I love the boards) and have done so in the past, I wouldn't want to divide the community.  If giving "perks" would encourage enough people to give the money we need to run this place, so be it... but if there's a better way I'd prefer it.


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## LightPhoenix (Apr 20, 2002)

Advertising might be tough to get right now, what with the downturn of the internet market.  Even so, I would have to concur that the miniatures companies, the gaming companies, and the video game companies and sites would more than likely be your best bets.

The problem is that I'm not sure how many advertisers would take you up on an offer based on solely the numbers this site generates.  You'd have to be fairly persuasive - demonstrate that RPGs and specifically D&D is a growing market, that you have a good number of people signing up every month, that we tend to buy products they sell (ie, why put ads for sports games on a site like this?), and most importantly that they'd get click-through... convincing people is a bitch  

(Seperate topic)

As for the Amazon/Talon thing - the point is that through Amazon, you'd be supporting the site.  Buying through Talon or someone else doesn't support the site at all (sorry Talon!).


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## hong (Apr 20, 2002)

I don't think the custom title is a great idea either. I'm not even sure whether displaying the post count is a good idea (not that there's anything wrong with spamming the boards, I hasten to add).

Making the search, PM, modify profile and attachment posting functions pay-only would work for me.


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## Horacio (Apr 20, 2002)

If there are a custom title, I want mine to be "Inventor of Prestige Membership", as the originator of the idea


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## Blacksad (Apr 20, 2002)

I asked on a french newsgroup if someone had a solution, here is an interesting one, I do not know a lot about html, so I'll let the message in french alongside my rough translation, in case someone could understand both french and html.

En résumé, je me suis arrêté sur la première page.  J'ai téléchargé
environ 40ko d'HTML.

To summarize, I've stopped at the first page. I downloaded nearly 40ko d'HTML.  

En regardant la source, j'ai vu ça :

Looking at the source, I saw this:

<tr align="center">
<td bgcolor="#333333" valign="top"><img src="images/off.gif" border="0"
alt=""></td>

<td bgcolor="#222222" align="left"><a href="forumdisplay.php?s=e0c4afa7
40b6bd8ce3b6b9b9ebdd0a62&forumid=12"><font face="verdana, arial,
helvetica" size="2" color="#ffffcc"><b>Natural 20 Press</b></font></a>

<br><font face="verdana,arial,helvetica" size="1" color="#ffffcc">

Répété des dizaines de fois.

Repeated several times.

Dans l'HTML moderne (et pas si moderne) il existe ce qu'on appelle des CSS ( http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/ ) qui fonctionnent assez fiablement dans une majorité de navigateurs...  Ca permet de définir un style par défaut pour les polices, pour les tableaux, etc.  D'ailleurs, il y a quelques styles définis au début de la page, pour des trucs de présentation classiques, comme les liens qui changent de couleur quand on passe la souris dessus, etc.

In modern HTML (and not so modern) something exists called CSS ( http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/ ) that works quite well in the majority of browser... It allows to define a default Style for the fonts, tabs, and so on... As a side note, there is some defined Style at the beginning for classic presentation tricks, like links that change colour when you put the mouse on them, and so on...

L'idée serait de définir quelque chose qui ressemble à :
(Je dis ressemble parce que je fais ça plus ou moins au pif et de mémoire, je suis pas certain que l'exemple fonctionnerait...)

The idea is to define something that looks like:
(I say it looks like because I do that free style, and from memory, I'm not sure that this exemple would work as written)

TR {
text-align: center;
}
TD {
color: #ffffcc;
text-align: center;
font: normal small arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
}
.fonce {
background-color: #222222;
}
.clair {
background-color: #333333;
}
.gauche {
text-align: left;
}
.big {
font: bold large arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
}

Ensuite, pour le tableau, on arriverait à quelque chose du style :

Then for the tabs, we'll get something like:

<tr><td class="clair"><img src="images/off.gif" border="0" alt=""></td>
<td class="fonce"><a href="forumdisplay.php?s=e0c4afa740b6bd8ce3b6b9b9eb
dd0a62&forumid=12" class="big">Natural 20 Press</a>
<br>blablabla...

Ca permettrait d'alléger la majorité des éléments, notamment en
supprimant toutes les balises <font> (qui sont dépréciées dans l'HTML moderne, mais je m'égare).  Ce dernier point seul, après un test rapide rapide, permettrait déjà de réduire déjà d'un quart la taille du document.

It would allow to light up the majority of the elements, especially by erasing all the balises/tags? (that aren't appreciated in modern HTML, but it isn't the current subject). That alone, after a quick test, would allow to reduce the size of the document by a quarter.

Ensuite, un autre avantage des feuilles de style est qu'elles peuvent être placées dans un fichier séparé à part sur le site.  Ca permet à la fois de modifier facilement le look du site en peu de temps (!), mais va aussi alléger la consommation en bande passante par le client : en effet, le fichier .css séparé est mis en cache après avoir été chargé la première fois par un navigateur, ce qui fait que les clients ne le re-téléchargent pas plusieurs fois...

Then, another advantage of Style sheets, is that they could be put in a separate file in the website. It allow both to easily change the look of the website easily and quickly, but it would also ease the need of bandwidth from the host: effectively?, the .css file separated is put into cache after being downloaded the first time by the browser, it means that the host doesn't down/up?load them several times...

Sinon, au passage, il y aurait sans doute moyen de raccourcir un peu la taille des liens qui semble assez kilométrique.  Ca semble idiot, mais je suppose qu'avec le nombre qu'il y en a, ça pourrait faire une différence...

Also, while we're at it, there is probably a means to cut the length of the links that are in the kilometer category. It seems stupid, but I suppose that with the number of them, it might proove to make a difference.


Again, this is not from me, I just hope it mights help.


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## hong (Apr 20, 2002)

The board already uses CSS. I agree that it could be more efficient in how it defines the styles, but then you'd probably run into problems with browser incompatibilities.


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## Troll's Choice (Apr 20, 2002)

It might not hurt to have an "EN World Donation Drive", something like what the PBS television station does. They have no commercials, so they rely on donations...


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## Lichtenhart (Apr 21, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Morrus_
> 
> *Search*




Have I heard the magic word _Search_? I'd sell my car to afford Search? 

Seriously that is definitely a neat idea. I'm sure people would continue to donate for it. It wouldn't be a gamble anymore.


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## maddman75 (Apr 21, 2002)

I personally like the idea of paying for a custom title.  Its a great idea, and a lot of people will go for it.  Sure, they'll  think they are elite, but they think that anyway.  Next thing you know they'll start up a whole other message board to be smug on.

Paying for search is a great idea - I would LOVE to be able to do that.  

Next time I do an update, I'll add the Support ENWorld banners to BADD.  I've been meaning to do it anyway, this subject just reminded me.

Maybe a cafepress.com store - I'm sure that some people would love an ENWorld coffee mug or t-shirt.  And remember the cost in setting that up - $0.


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## Horacio (Apr 21, 2002)

There is already a cafepress store for EN World, or at least there was, because I think Morrus closed it because nobody bought anything... 

I'd really love a EN World t-shirt and mug, but the shipping cost of cafepress to Europe are huge!


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## Morrus (Apr 21, 2002)

For what it's worth, I've added the cafepress store to my sig.  The only cheque I ever got from them, though was for less than the amount it would have cost me to cash the cheque (since it's in a foreign currency).


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## xmanii (Apr 25, 2002)

Lichtenhart said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Have I heard the magic word Search? I'd sell my car to afford Search?
> 
> Seriously that is definitely a neat idea. I'm sure people would continue to donate for it. It wouldn't be a gamble anymore. *




Well, I wouldn't sell my car for it  , I would pay for this feature, even as little as I use it.


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## Vuron (Apr 25, 2002)

Without clear numbers as to bandwidth needs I think that it's going to be hard to beat CI Host on price, they are pretty much bottom of the barrel IMHO 

So assuming that it's unlikely that someone with a private T3 would allow us to colocate for free I think I make sense to view it from the following perspective, ENWorld must either decrease costs or increase revenues.

I've noticed from other big messageboards experiences that voluntary donations and/or advanced features do not really bring in much dinero. As a result I think that any usage fees should be levied across the board if they are levied at all. Normally when you create a user fee this also decreases the number of gimpy users simultaneously reducing bandwidth costs and increasing revenues.

A corrolary to this would be keeping one or two forums open to the public and making the rest for paying customers only. This is also a valid strategy but as we don't host alot of pron here I don't know if it will reduce usage too much 

Honestly I think increased add revenue is a pipe dream unless there is really more money lining publishers pockets than I think  Anyway unless WW or WotC want to cough up some change in return for not having to waste time running thier own message boards (for WotC I do think this might be a good idea) I don't see them sending moruss money out of the bottom of the hearts.

I guess if I were run ning the show I'd seriously look at decreasing costs because bandwidth ain't cheap my friends.


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## Kid Charlemagne (Apr 25, 2002)

I've noticed that the ad prices for ENworld seem to me extremely low.  I checked an advertising webpage that had a survey of websites with prices per CPM (1,000 views).  Most were in the $20 range.  ENWorld is at one third that, and the message boards are nto charged at even that rate, instead they have a flat rate - I'm not sure why.

Seeing that the ads are sold out till Feb 03 tells me that the prices are too low.  Double them, or triple them, I say.  Try selling to companies like NewLine (LoTR), or Sony (Playstation), or Microsoft (XBox) rather than Mongoose.  That's where the money is.  Sell ads to Wizards.

If you must, offer this deal to existing ad customers.  Double the length of the ad buy in exchange for freeing up 50% of all banner ads right now.  Sell the newly available ads for the new, higher prices, after researching seriously what a truly fair price is.  Consider hiring a company to do this for you.  L90.com does the ads for Aint-it-cool-news.com.  Call up someone like that and investigate the options.  You'll learn a lot, and maybe they can help take that part off your plate.

In lieu of that, I like the pledge drive idea.  Consider setting up an way of doing online credit card donations.  This will help.  Do it like a real PBS thing; try to get donations form the big companies including Wizards.  Swallow a little pride if need be, don't give up any control, but allow yourself the room to succeed.

I'm no advertising whiz, but I have worked in areas connected to the advertising biz, and I think there is a lot of potential here from an ad point of view.


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