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Forum donations

Would you agree with forum donations/fees?


  • Total voters
    132
I've seen a forum with ads that a $5 annual fee gave you an ad-free experience. That's 9.6 cents per week.
 
. 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.
I know the females who were members of the now defunct Cabeals forum will be reluctant to ever "share' on a forum again. Some men are more reluctant as well. I know two male members here who will never share what they once did, and I dont blame them.

I understand the older members of a forum getting tired of the same question every two years. But, we need and want new members/ hunters and they will have questions. I hunted all my life but April introduced me to the two rifles I use now and before she suggested them, I had never heard of them ( 275 H & H and Win 71 ) then she introduced me to Woodleigh bullets. Then Muley introduced me to Hammer Bullets. I read the optics thread every chance I get, as I am not that knowladable about scopes, but I am learning.

Nobody knew about the new Creedmore before it arrived on the scene to save the hunting world, but if I decide to ever get one, I bet it has been mentioned a time or two here ;)

As to donations. If I ever win the lotto my first donation will be a Dall Sheep hunt for Hunting Wife, :)

Thank you : Randy, Kim, Mattew
 
I know the females who were members of the now defunct Cabeals forum will be reluctant to ever "share' on a forum again. Some men are more reluctant as well. I know two male members here who will never share what they once did, and I dont blame them.

I understand the older members of a forum getting tired of the same question every two years. But, we need and want new members/ hunters and they will have questions. I hunted all my life but April introduced me to the two rifles I use now and before she suggested them, I had never heard of them ( 275 H & H and Win 71 ) then she introduced me to Woodleigh bullets. Then Muley introduced me to Hammer Bullets. I read the optics thread every chance I get, as I am not that knowladable about scopes, but I am learning.

Nobody knew about the new Creedmore before it arrived on the scene to save the hunting world, but if I decide to ever get one, I bet it has been mentioned a time or two here ;)

As to donations. If I ever win the lotto my first donation will be a Dall Sheep hunt for Hunting Wife, :)

Thank you : Randy, Kim, Mattew
do scratchers count?
 
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.
I strongly agree with this, this place was a massive resource just few years ago and now its shifting slowly away from even hunting topics. I have helped and been helped by many here over several years and want to continue doing that. I think to much of this content belongs on other platforms, we dont need all the facebook fluff. There are way to many people posting nothing valuable or even helpful: Anyone who averages well above a 1000 posts a year doesn't barely have time to hunt...lol. I think we all could try to keep topics and comments more relevant.
 
I know the females who were members of the now defunct Cabeals forum will be reluctant to ever "share' on a forum again. Some men are more reluctant as well. I know two male members here who will never share what they once did, and I dont blame them.

I understand the older members of a forum getting tired of the same question every two years. But, we need and want new members/ hunters and they will have questions. I hunted all my life but April introduced me to the two rifles I use now and before she suggested them, I had never heard of them ( 275 H & H and Win 71 ) then she introduced me to Woodleigh bullets. Then Muley introduced me to Hammer Bullets. I read the optics thread every chance I get, as I am not that knowladable about scopes, but I am learning.

Nobody knew about the new Creedmore before it arrived on the scene to save the hunting world, but if I decide to ever get one, I bet it has been mentioned a time or two here ;)

As to donations. If I ever win the lotto my first donation will be a Dall Sheep hunt for Hunting Wife, :)

Thank you : Randy, Kim, Mattew
You, April and other women who share offer new and fresh content! I love reading your guy's stuff, even if it is a bit dated. haha :D
 
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.
Gift horses and such. Money makes everything better. i wouldn't turn it down. besides, If i pay the NR license fee it should give me enough juju to lampoon
Harley's account. Not Russian hacker style, of course. ;)
 
Gift horses and such. Money makes everything better. i wouldn't turn it down. besides, If i pay the NR license fee it should give me enough juju to lampoon
Harley's account. Not Russian hacker style, equipped of course. ;)
...carry on.
 
I'd be happy to chip in and a small yearly fee would certainly cut down on the spam and dumb questions, however it would probably put the forum as a whole on a downward path...
 
How about adding a moderator you can trust? Not that I can think of anyone here you can trust..... :oops:

Can you offload some of the tedious work? Delegate man, delegate!
 
I know the females who were members of the now defunct Cabeals forum will be reluctant to ever "share' on a forum again. Some men are more reluctant as well. I know two male members here who will never share what they once did, and I dont blame them.

I understand the older members of a forum getting tired of the same question every two years. But, we need and want new members/ hunters and they will have questions. I hunted all my life but April introduced me to the two rifles I use now and before she suggested them, I had never heard of them ( 275 H & H and Win 71 ) then she introduced me to Woodleigh bullets. Then Muley introduced me to Hammer Bullets. I read the optics thread every chance I get, as I am not that knowladable about scopes, but I am learning.

Nobody knew about the new Creedmore before it arrived on the scene to save the hunting world, but if I decide to ever get one, I bet it has been mentioned a time or two here ;)

As to donations. If I ever win the lotto my first donation will be a Dall Sheep hunt for Hunting Wife, :)

Thank you : Randy, Kim, Mattew
You are too kind. I’ve never rooted for someone else to win the lotto so bad in all my life 🤣🤣
 
I know the females who were members of the now defunct Cabeals forum will be reluctant to ever "share' on a forum again. Some men are more reluctant as well. I know two male members here who will never share what they once did, and I dont blame them.

I understand the older members of a forum getting tired of the same question every two years. But, we need and want new members/ hunters and they will have questions. I hunted all my life but April introduced me to the two rifles I use now and before she suggested them, I had never heard of them ( 275 H & H and Win 71 ) then she introduced me to Woodleigh bullets. Then Muley introduced me to Hammer Bullets. I read the optics thread every chance I get, as I am not that knowladable about scopes, but I am learning.

Nobody knew about the new Creedmore before it arrived on the scene to save the hunting world, but if I decide to ever get one, I bet it has been mentioned a time or two here ;)

As to donations. If I ever win the lotto my first donation will be a Dall Sheep hunt for Hunting Wife, :)

Thank you : Randy, Kim, Mattew
If you do I want to see the videos and pictures. Dall sheep is out for me even if I had the money due to nerve pain and issues with my foot. I especially love to hear stories of both youth and women hunters. They just add a different flavor to hunting stories.

And Randy, his better half, and son do a bang up job for sure.
 
A reasonable charge would be right.

Give a new member 25 entries to see if they are interested.

Keep the forum intact!

My input!
 
29,000 members with 100 responses by roughly 1/1000th of the membership. What can this level of participation sustain?
 
Donate button would capture those moments when you just feel like helping out or as a token of personal appreciation. Randy should not feel sheepish about turning that on unless it is too much of an added headache for him.

Then, an initial/yearly fee would help weed out the looky-loos and many of the problem children or non-contibuting accounts. The combination could make HT more viable as an enterprise, although that does not mean to say that it is not now. Just that I think it could be at its best when the majority of its users are actively engaged and have a stake. The amount of any fee is secondary. What value are eyeballs, even to an advertiser, if that person never spends a couple bucks on anything, including the great value this forum provides.
 
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