#23

done, you’re great, the site is great, never feel bad about asking for help x

7 Likes
#24

oh yeah i forgot the fish puns thread brings in an amazing amount of presumably aquatic visitors.

dis always seems to pop up in the google search results for quiz team names too.

is the GF thread still the most visited of all time for some reason?

1 Like
#25

Sean, this site is great, you are doing an amazing job and I think a lot of people are very grateful of your effort and perseverance.

I set a reminder for a donation on payday.

2 Likes
#26

Also for every good thread there’s about 10 embarassing ones that are best lost to the sands of time

1 Like
#27

Anyone know how to set up a recurring payment on paypal? I’m sure there’s a way to do it but I can’t for the life of me seem to find the option.

#28

Never mind, found a link that @bugduv posted in an old thread that allowed me to set up a monthly payment.

Here it is in case anyone’s looking for a way to do the same.

#29

Done. Thanks for all you do x

1 Like
#30

It’s hard to say, not least because I’m pretty shocked by the past few months income - despite traffic being pretty much the same and seeing loads of full screen ads.

At the moment our ad agency are withholding funds we were expecting due to advance a few months ago. Plus the two big campaigns we had on the horizon aren’t happening. And there are more possible.

Am speaking to new ad agencies and looking at turning the website into maybe one post per week until things are a little more stable.

#31

Thank you. I couldn’t work out how to find that link.

1 Like
#32

There’s a DiS Patreon too

1 Like
#33

Done

#34

I know it’s a banner but pin this post too, so people constantly see it.

2 Likes
#35

Done

1 Like
#36

The old boards are a double edged sword.

On the one hand they bring in a lot of traffic. About 10% of the site traffic this year (which obviously considering how active these forums are, they generate a lot more page views with everyone darting back and forth). Some of the top pages this year on the old forum have had 20-50k visits, and there are 1000s of pages which get at least 500 impressions a year.

There wouldn’t be too much to lose by getting rid of them but it’s all run on the same database as the articles archive, and I have to think whether I can justify just deleting 100s of peoples’ contributions, the bulk of which are linked to from artist websites and wikipedia, etc. It’d be scrapping the entire history of everything I’ve spent my adult life doing. I’m not sure I’m ready to do that.

On the upside, we get a few people every week trying to get us to delete things from the old forum and I’m sure a lot of people would prefer if it was gone - and currently we can’t delete it all.

The other consideration is the cost of paying a developer to make these changes, and the short term lose of traffic to all of those pages, which generate a bit of ad revenue and help us find new users…

It’s a lot to consider and I’ve been wrestling with it for a few years now.

1 Like
#37

I’ve added the link now.

1 Like
#38

Annoyingly you can only do a banner OR a pinned post, unless I’m being dumb?

#39

Most other forums i use offer both free and paid memberships, so those who can afford to pay something every month or year can and those who can’t or don’t think it’s worth a contribution still have access.

The only difference is a few privileges - say, for example, free members are limited to starting one new thread per day, can’t personalise profiles, use the search functions, etc. Most people would still opt for the free account, but a core of regulars would pay, say, £1.50 a month or £12 a year.

Another thing i’d suggest is a small group of moderators and/or long-term posters properly explore the suggestions people make in these threads. See if they can get fundraising ideas working, or if board functions are doable, or cost ideas, etc, etc. It seems a lot of work for you to do and there’s lots of people with good suggestions but ideas don’t bear fruit because, i guess, time, money, etc. We should use the Hardhship Fund as a model and the members should take responsibility for putting together a proper plan.

#40

Done. I have spent a lot of time on this site over the years. Thanks @sean

#41

Wow, I’ve just signed into PayPal. Some of you have been very kind. I’m incredibly touched. This means more than you will know.

12 Likes
#42

Is this an option that Discourse offers? I can’t see the functionality.