dvds2000
Gone But Not Forgotten
Some of you might (or probably not) have noticed the green donate menu on the top bar of the forum.
The forum has been running for 15 years now. Every year, to varying degrees, I have put money into it, to pay for hosting & to pay for the software. Usually the affiliate eanings cover a good proportion of the costs, probably around 50-60% most years and I've just put the rest in myself.
However this year, either everyones stopped gambling or you are winning too regulary, as from January till now I think I've had around £50, and a couple of the affiliate accounts are in minus fugures, which is obviously good for whoevers winning, not so much for me lol. In previous years I would have just sucked it up and paid it, but due to various reasons, I haven't been able to work since March and as such I cant put in the money now.
The hosting isn't cheap, I know you can get cheap hosting £20 a year and suchlike, but some will remember when I tried that years ago, the site being down more than it was up, and constant problems. Unlimited deals sound ok, until you find out they aren't unlimited, when you are using 20-30% of a CPU you sharp find out the hosting company are suddenly not so keen to tell you it's unlimited.
I have 3 options.
1. Let the forum go.
2. Move to cheaper hosting.
3. Ask for donations.
I obviously don't want the first one to happen, and its a long way from happening.
I don't want to move to cheaper hosting, I've been with the current hosts for around 4 years now and barely had any downtime. However, its a better option than just letting the forum die.
I don't particulary want to ask for donations either, its something I've resisted over the years, even though people have offered on numerous occasions. Times change however
So, the donate button is there now for anyone who would like to help. It is completely anonymous, there is only me who can see who donates. I have had to put a £5 minimum donation amount as otherwise the paypal fees make it a waste of time.
What do you get in return for donating? Well the forum keeps running, it stays reliable and you get to keep using it as you have for however long you have been coming here. Theres not really much I can do with regard to rewards, but have listed the small benefits you do get if you donate.
No banner adverts displayed at the top of the forum (exception would be a couple of times a year, for example, coming up to Cheltenham)
Can move own threads (from/to different forums)
Can delete tags on own threads
Upload attachments of any size*
Don't get the change password prompt every 6 months
Increased Private Messages storage from 50 to 200.
Can send PM's to people who have full inboxes.
Can send 5 PM's at once rather than just one.
Can use a custom title.*
Larger profile pictures and avatars.
Can upload either images or gif's for signature (subject to moderation rules, please don't upload some of the gifs coming out of celebs the from the past couple of days!!)*
Picture album limits increased.
I know its not much, but there isn't really much you can offer on a forum. I think the no banner ads, the extra PM storage and being able to send pm's to people with full PM boxes are probably the most useful.
Obviously if you don't want people to know you have donated there are certain ones you shouldn't use, marked with *'s above!
What will the money be used for? Pretty much the running costs. If I can get enough to cover the running costs for a couple of years that would be great, but I think thats hoping for too much
. Every penny will go towards the forum though.
On another note I bought a vBulletin 5 licence a couple of months ago to upgrade the forum software (that was about £200!). It isn't installed yet as I can't decide if to use it or use vBulletin 4 instead (included in the price) as 5 gets quite bad reviews, whereas 4 doesn't. At some point the software will be upgraded though, its a big job, so I will pick a quiet time to do it and will post a few days in advance when its getting done, as the site might be offline for a few hours (if I'm lucky). I also need to get the hosting co to do a full site backup just before I start so this can be restored if the install goes wrong, which is a possibility lol. The database alone is over 20GB, and I can't download it due to the size, so it also has to be done at a time when it suits them, not just me and the forum.
Right thats enough from me.
Thank you to anyone who donates, if you do you will get a PM from me so you know its gone through ok. Donations are handled through paypal, if you have a paypal account you can just pay as you usually would as if you were buying something from ebay or wherever. If you don't have an account, you can still pay using a credit or debit card, still using paypal but you don't need to set an account up. I do not see any card or bank details, all I get is an email telling me xx has paid £xx as a donation to Talking Horses. If anyone would like to make a donation by bank transfer instead feel free to pm me.
Thanks everyone for reading.
Col
The forum has been running for 15 years now. Every year, to varying degrees, I have put money into it, to pay for hosting & to pay for the software. Usually the affiliate eanings cover a good proportion of the costs, probably around 50-60% most years and I've just put the rest in myself.
However this year, either everyones stopped gambling or you are winning too regulary, as from January till now I think I've had around £50, and a couple of the affiliate accounts are in minus fugures, which is obviously good for whoevers winning, not so much for me lol. In previous years I would have just sucked it up and paid it, but due to various reasons, I haven't been able to work since March and as such I cant put in the money now.
The hosting isn't cheap, I know you can get cheap hosting £20 a year and suchlike, but some will remember when I tried that years ago, the site being down more than it was up, and constant problems. Unlimited deals sound ok, until you find out they aren't unlimited, when you are using 20-30% of a CPU you sharp find out the hosting company are suddenly not so keen to tell you it's unlimited.
I have 3 options.
1. Let the forum go.
2. Move to cheaper hosting.
3. Ask for donations.
I obviously don't want the first one to happen, and its a long way from happening.
I don't want to move to cheaper hosting, I've been with the current hosts for around 4 years now and barely had any downtime. However, its a better option than just letting the forum die.
I don't particulary want to ask for donations either, its something I've resisted over the years, even though people have offered on numerous occasions. Times change however
So, the donate button is there now for anyone who would like to help. It is completely anonymous, there is only me who can see who donates. I have had to put a £5 minimum donation amount as otherwise the paypal fees make it a waste of time.
What do you get in return for donating? Well the forum keeps running, it stays reliable and you get to keep using it as you have for however long you have been coming here. Theres not really much I can do with regard to rewards, but have listed the small benefits you do get if you donate.
No banner adverts displayed at the top of the forum (exception would be a couple of times a year, for example, coming up to Cheltenham)
Can move own threads (from/to different forums)
Can delete tags on own threads
Upload attachments of any size*
Don't get the change password prompt every 6 months
Increased Private Messages storage from 50 to 200.
Can send PM's to people who have full inboxes.
Can send 5 PM's at once rather than just one.
Can use a custom title.*
Larger profile pictures and avatars.
Can upload either images or gif's for signature (subject to moderation rules, please don't upload some of the gifs coming out of celebs the from the past couple of days!!)*
Picture album limits increased.
I know its not much, but there isn't really much you can offer on a forum. I think the no banner ads, the extra PM storage and being able to send pm's to people with full PM boxes are probably the most useful.
Obviously if you don't want people to know you have donated there are certain ones you shouldn't use, marked with *'s above!
What will the money be used for? Pretty much the running costs. If I can get enough to cover the running costs for a couple of years that would be great, but I think thats hoping for too much
. Every penny will go towards the forum though.On another note I bought a vBulletin 5 licence a couple of months ago to upgrade the forum software (that was about £200!). It isn't installed yet as I can't decide if to use it or use vBulletin 4 instead (included in the price) as 5 gets quite bad reviews, whereas 4 doesn't. At some point the software will be upgraded though, its a big job, so I will pick a quiet time to do it and will post a few days in advance when its getting done, as the site might be offline for a few hours (if I'm lucky). I also need to get the hosting co to do a full site backup just before I start so this can be restored if the install goes wrong, which is a possibility lol. The database alone is over 20GB, and I can't download it due to the size, so it also has to be done at a time when it suits them, not just me and the forum.
Right thats enough from me.
Thank you to anyone who donates, if you do you will get a PM from me so you know its gone through ok. Donations are handled through paypal, if you have a paypal account you can just pay as you usually would as if you were buying something from ebay or wherever. If you don't have an account, you can still pay using a credit or debit card, still using paypal but you don't need to set an account up. I do not see any card or bank details, all I get is an email telling me xx has paid £xx as a donation to Talking Horses. If anyone would like to make a donation by bank transfer instead feel free to pm me.
Thanks everyone for reading.
Col
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