PEAX Equipment

Forum donations

Would you agree with forum donations/fees?


  • Total voters
    132
Im good with whatever option keeps my rodent waypoints out of the clutches of Russian hands
 
If you’re that decider, I’m okay with that.
Decisions are bound to center around responses to my annual “Where Can I Find a 350” Bull on Public” thread.

Frankly, I don’t feel like some are very helpful to my quest.
Maybe some motivation or incentive is in order.

Like my old boss used to say. “ Work or get fired.”😁
 
Aren’t you donating every time you add content that engages others and brings people here to see the ads?
You are. But sometimes the cash can help increase the voice on conservation issues and that rather than just the funds raised by Randy or other. I would donate to some of those fundraisers if I knew of them in advance.
 
They are?? How long have they been in the decline? Even hunting forums? Just curious what data is available on this. Where are the forum users moving off to? FB? Twitter? G&F departments have better published data now?

It seems HT and Rokslide have more traffic 2018-2021 over 2014-2017 based on the total # of posts. Are hunting forums the exception to the trend?
I just know, of the 4 online forums I've participated in the last decade, HT is the only one that hasn't seen a drastic drop off in participation.
 
In the realm of ass kissing...starting this thread kinda takes the cake...:LOL:
Whatever. :rolleyes: Needed to get some numbers instead of a bunch of comments. Maybe we can help out in some way with the costs here and keep having fun! Carry on.
 
In the realm of ass kissing...starting this thread kinda takes the cake...
Why is it ass kissing? After the other night’s fiasco I think a lot of people are serious about how to help make running this forum less of a headache. If a little bit of income could help prevent Randy, Matthew and Mrs. Fin from having to clean up Russian “trophy” pics all over the forum and keep this forum the nice resource it is, why would we not discuss that?
 
I've been a part of a few outdoor forums and many of them are..... not...good. This one is pretty special and I'd gladly kick in some money each year to keep it going. That said, I think there are dangers. One of the reasons this forum is so good is that it is well managed, with enforced standards and I wonder if it would be as easy to "manage" the crap if the person shoveling said crap is a paying "customer." I also worry that in order to make the money needed to pay someone for their work overseeing the forum, that the cost per user could get up pretty high.
 
Why don't the people that want to contribute just start sending checks? lots of people saying they would gladly contribute. So, What's stopping them?
 
No...i dont mind paying but there is 17 adds on the front page of this site. Many years ago adds were limited to almost none and so were these problems. This is a product of out growing site initial intent. This message board is also a part of the advertisement that is hunt talk, and its countless media channels. I dont facebook but would you pay for it? They make money on adds, thats how it works! In digital world if your not paying, your the product! I personnaly think "hunt talk" has gotten out ahead of its skis and is not half the resource and quality of "on your own adventures, etc." If this doesnt work financially shut it down, someone will find a product that does, demand will be meet. If you offer a pay product BIG changes would need to happen to maintain this product as expectaions will be drastically increased. While initial response will always be i would pay a few dollars over time the customer base will erode and not be able to be self supportive. In topic related terms paying for message board is like outfitter welfare...
you pay for it one way or another. I'd rather have it upfront. The size of the membership alone for what is a small sect of the population should tell you this format works with the people who are running it. You don';t want to contribute, visit rockslide
 
Whatever is decided, if any fees are collected, a portion should go to Mrs. Big Fin for refereeing this mess when Mr. Big Fin is unavailable.
 
I would like to donate to the cause if I could also block a couple of others on here from future posts ;)

Its like when a kid gets to be the principal for a day.
 
I appreciate the comments and concerns voiced in this thread. I appreciate the generous intent for which the thread was started.

The next level of software plug-in is now running. The first day it blocked over 200 login attempts from Russia, most of which I would surmise to be of bad intent.

As for costs and time involved, that is for me to handle. With one exception, the ads you see here are provided as a benefit to the companies who support our video and podcast platforms. We do not charge extra for the forum. That is my choice, so I don't expect others to pay for the manner in which I choose to operate our platforms, even as kind as those offers are. Thus I have always resisted the "Donation" button many of you have kindly suggested.

The time and headache is the real burden. Being on the road, coordinating all of this with Matthew and our contract web support group at late night hours, is just one more PITA. There are many more time drains that are likely not visible. I accept these events as a function of the messed up world we live in, but even with that acceptance there is still a huge level of burden and frustration involved.

I may eventually activate a "Donation" button. The other forum owners who do it have explained to me they mostly do it with the expectation that those who use the Free Classifieds can make a donation for the value provided. Still not sure if that fits well with my style, though I am warmed by how many of you are interested in making a donation.

Thanks again for all who show the support and interest in helping out. It is greatly appreciated.
 
They are?? How long have they been in the decline? Even hunting forums? Just curious what data is available on this. Where are the forum users moving off to? FB? Twitter? G&F departments have better published data now?

It seems HT and Rokslide have more traffic 2018-2021 over 2014-2017 based on the total # of posts. Are hunting forums the exception to the trend?
You've been here for 2 years and have more post than 90% of the people on the forum, you are very active, but there are 1000s of people who have come and gone here, 100s who were very involved and posted a lot of cool stuff. This forum is a shell of what it was 10 years ago. The whole forum thing has waned, or maybe just my enthusiasm with it since signing up for the first one in in the late 90s. The amount of posts relating to "how to" has quadrupled here, and the hunting stories and posts of successful hunts has gone down the same amount the other direction, it seems. There are a couple other forums that I used to visit, that have 1/2 the content they did even 5 years ago. Its not just about total posts, its content... and quality content is getting hard to come by. Finding things that haven't been hashed out 100 times is difficult, and people just don't share as much anymore. I know I don't.

The forum is fun, but IMO, if you want to see this one go away, put up a paywall. People aren't going to sign up and pay for content they have no idea what they'll get, when they can find it somewhere else. I could be wrong though.
 

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