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Moving on from our server? Removing ads? Please take a second to read and give your thoughts.

Clarity

Will Bryant
Staff member
Our servers are nearly five, the drives have a lot of hours on them, we've weathered some various hardware difficulties along the way but they've treated us well.

The cost of colocating in Menlo Park with a bunch of Google and Facebook engineers (we all have a rack together) is going up because a few people have pulled out of the coop. As our own engineer has moved his family from that area to Arizona to join a custom car company that makes pretty amazing Road Warrior style off-road racers, he's no longer local to the facility.

Because of all of these facts, I'm disinclined to start thinking about new
machines, and we no longer have a warm body in CA to overhaul the old ones.

Instead, I think it may be time to move to the cloud, specifically Amazon. Nothing would change on the user side, really, and there'd be no hardware about which we would have to worry (or purchase).

It means a higher monthly operating expense, but the trade offs are numerous in the pro column.

Either way, this is an open call to anyone who hasn't donated to please consider doing so. Any little bit will help the upfront costs of this transition and make it go much more smoothly.

On that note, I want to talk about ads. I hate 'em, you hate 'em, I'd love to get rid of them. There are a couple ways to go about doing this:

The first notion is we set a monthly goal, and this goal wouldn't be on top of our drive income, it would simply be a goal that includes that. As a loose hypothetical, if our goal was 2.5k a month, that would be a 1.25k increase over the average of our best drive year -- so double what we've done before. We may not have a large enough base to pull that off, but it would allow us to be completely ad free.

The second notion is more complex and I've reached out to some lawdog types for advice. I intend to launch a 501(c)(3) to help the substantial and growing population of toxic water survivors. At least I'm in the very early stages of considering it. As BP has already been a bit of a platform for that, it could be that it could serve as an Ohio-based point of outreach for that cause, and be rolled into the charity. The plus would be that anything given to BP would be tax deductible upon proper realization of the charity status, the minus would be that BP would be owned by an organization with a board outside of my control (but for an organization I'll run) and there are a lot of question marks that go with that. I also don't know what the legal and ethical issues are that come with that, and those are areas of deep concern as too many charities aren't enough about actually helping those in need. Any even loose appearance of impropriety is something I'm keen to avoid. The issue, for obvious reasons, is important to me. I survived (figuratively and literally) the worst of the consequences of my injuries because of the support (emotional and economic) of this very community. Many others aren't so lucky, and I've never slept entirely well knowing that people are suffering not only the physical effects of the poisoning totally out of their knowledge and control, but also the economic devastation as they lose the ability to work, and the social isolation. All of that leads to dark places emotionally, and it becomes a brutal circle that ends in an untimely and avoidable death for many. I don't have lofty goals for this charity, but if gets one person to a doc appointment they couldn't have otherwise made, helps with a medical bill or collection agency for the same for those paying out of pocket for care (I went long stretches ignoring an abscessed tooth, cracked ribs, and other less dignified things because I couldn't afford the tests and appointments and was too sick to travel) -- then it's a wild success in my eyes. But is it related to BP? Maybe that's a stretch.

We can, of course, leave well enough alone. But the reality is that I limit us to static ads with no auto play, and that's a dead dead dead market. It's all about video, interactivity, full page takeovers, and dynamic creatives that force you to notice them. Because I won't "go there" we've seen our ad revs drop to 1/10th of what they were at their peak.

I don't need the peak back, just want to have an open idea session with the lot of you about it. Keep the ads, drop them entirely, something in between?

The upgrades are indeed coming but they've been on hold while I sort out the hosting issue. As the season is already casting a happy shadow over us, I can't imagine it's all too far off.

Let me know what you think.
 
If current ad revenues are only 10% of what they were at their peak, then dropping them wouldn't be much of a loss...provided, obviously, if donations made up for it. As for rolling BP into a charity, I don't get a good felling about it...at all.
 
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If current ad revenues are only 10% of what they were at their peak, then dropping them wouldn't be much of a loss...provided, obviously, if donations made up for it. As for rolling BP into a charity, I don't get a good felling about it...at all.
I agree with both of these points.

At some point, the masses need to step up and stop basking in the wonderfulness of BP that is paid for by a very, very small number of posters.
 
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I cannot say that I understand everything but I do have some knowledge of 501(c)(3)'s and while some of the lawyers around here might be better suited to talk about this I think it would be a long stretch to try and include the workings of BP into a charity which is set up for an entirely different reason. While I am certainly sympathetic to guys such as yourself who cannot even get decent medical treatment, I just do not think you could put BP into that. Maybe BP could be used to promote the charity in some sort of way. I just do not know.

If ads bring in 10% of anything, that is better than nothing. I just do not see the people on this site who have not given before start giving now. I would bet that about 50% of the people who post on BP have never looked at the donations compared to what you need.

As I mentioned, I am not that computer literate as many other people on this board but I would be in favor of doing what is best and easiest for Clarity, LongWood, and Elise. If that would mean going the Cloud route I would be for that but I guess the big question is whether or not people will step up to the plate and contribute a little more or just start contributing.

I think that you probably know the best way to go and what would be easiest on you and I were just go that route because you know most about how much money you are going to need and what this site will bring you. Thank you for everything you do!
 
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At some point, the masses need to step up and stop basking in the wonderfulness of BP that is paid for by a very, very small number of posters.

Are $1-2 monthly donations a useful thing? Or would we lose too much in fees?

Maybe we could start pushing for those from people who can't do more than that?
I wholeheartedly agree with more folks needing to "pony-up" with donations, but also think that Clarity would like to avoid making this a "pay site", which it would become if we charged everyone a buck or two a month.
 
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I wholeheartedly agree with more folks needing to "pony-up" with donations, but also think that Clarity would like to avoid making this a "pay site", which it would become if we charged everyone a buck or two a month.
Sorry, I was inquiring whether it would be a useful donation to only give $1-2 per month once Paypal extracts their fees. It might be easier to talk tight-walleted folks into that amount.
 
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I wholeheartedly agree with more folks needing to "pony-up" with donations, but also think that Clarity would like to avoid making this a "pay site", which it would become if we charged everyone a buck or two a month.
I think that is a question that Clarity is going to have to make. I do not see people contributing who have already not contributed. Maybe once they see that a small contribution will enable them to still post and view information on BP they will "pony up".
 
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Sorry, I was inquiring whether it would be a useful donation to only give $1-2 per month once Paypal extracts their fees. It might be easier to talk tight-walleted folks into that amount.
I was under the impression that the lost-cost monthly donation was already an option. I could be wrong. The thing is that if we mandate that (even if it's a $1 a month), then we become a "pay site". Please see my below reply to LitlBuck for a possible option...

I think that is a question that Clarity is going to have to make. I do not see people contributing who have already not contributed. Maybe once they see that a small contribution will enable them to still post and view information on BP they will "pony up".
Maybe if we still keep all content open for everyone to view, but you have to make a minimal donation (either one-time or monthly) in order to post, then that might be an option. Keeps BP from becoming a "pay site" since you can view all content for free, but will generate donations because so many people will want to be able to post. Maybe $10 a year or $1 month. If only five percent of the 18,646 currently registered members did so, we'd meet all financial goals...
 
Upvote 0
Our servers are nearly five, the drives have a lot of hours on them, we've weathered some various hardware difficulties along the way but they've treated us well.

The cost of colocating in Menlo Park with a bunch of Google and Facebook engineers (we all have a rack together) is going up because a few people have pulled out of the coop. As our own engineer has moved his family from that area to Arizona to join a custom car company that makes pretty amazing Road Warrior style off-road racers, he's no longer local to the facility.

Because of all of these facts, I'm disinclined to start thinking about new
machines, and we no longer have a warm body in CA to overhaul the old ones.

Instead, I think it may be time to move to the cloud, specifically Amazon. Nothing would change on the user side, really, and there'd be no hardware about which we would have to worry (or purchase).

It means a higher monthly operating expense, but the trade offs are numerous in the pro column.

Either way, this is an open call to anyone who hasn't donated to please consider doing so. Any little bit will help the upfront costs of this transition and make it go much more smoothly.

On that note, I want to talk about ads. I hate 'em, you hate 'em, I'd love to get rid of them. There are a couple ways to go about doing this:

The first notion is we set a monthly goal, and this goal wouldn't be on top of our drive income, it would simply be a goal that includes that. As a loose hypothetical, if our goal was 2.5k a month, that would be a 1.25k increase over the average of our best drive year -- so double what we've done before. We may not have a large enough base to pull that off, but it would allow us to be completely ad free.

The second notion is more complex and I've reached out to some lawdog types for advice. I intend to launch a 501(c)(3) to help the substantial and growing population of toxic water survivors. At least I'm in the very early stages of considering it. As BP has already been a bit of a platform for that, it could be that it could serve as an Ohio-based point of outreach for that cause, and be rolled into the charity. The plus would be that anything given to BP would be tax deductible upon proper realization of the charity status, the minus would be that BP would be owned by an organization with a board outside of my control (but for an organization I'll run) and there are a lot of question marks that go with that. I also don't know what the legal and ethical issues are that come with that, and those are areas of deep concern as too many charities aren't enough about actually helping those in need. Any even loose appearance of impropriety is something I'm keen to avoid. The issue, for obvious reasons, is important to me. I survived (figuratively and literally) the worst of the consequences of my injuries because of the support (emotional and economic) of this very community. Many others aren't so lucky, and I've never slept entirely well knowing that people are suffering not only the physical effects of the poisoning totally out of their knowledge and control, but also the economic devastation as they lose the ability to work, and the social isolation. All of that leads to dark places emotionally, and it becomes a brutal circle that ends in an untimely and avoidable death for many. I don't have lofty goals for this charity, but if gets one person to a doc appointment they couldn't have otherwise made, helps with a medical bill or collection agency for the same for those paying out of pocket for care (I went long stretches ignoring an abscessed tooth, cracked ribs, and other less dignified things because I couldn't afford the tests and appointments and was too sick to travel) -- then it's a wild success in my eyes. But is it related to BP? Maybe that's a stretch.

We can, of course, leave well enough alone. But the reality is that I limit us to static ads with no auto play, and that's a dead dead dead market. It's all about video, interactivity, full page takeovers, and dynamic creatives that force you to notice them. Because I won't "go there" we've seen our ad revs drop to 1/10th of what they were at their peak.

I don't need the peak back, just want to have an open idea session with the lot of you about it. Keep the ads, drop them entirely, something in between?

The upgrades are indeed coming but they've been on hold while I sort out the hosting issue. As the season is already casting a happy shadow over us, I can't imagine it's all too far off.
TL;DR

Let me know what you think.
Yes.
 
Upvote 0
Maybe if we still keep all content open for everyone to view, but you have to make a minimal donation (either one-time or monthly) in order to post, then that might be an option. Keeps BP from becoming a "pay site" since you can view all content for free, but will generate donations because so many people will want to be able to post. Maybe $10 a year or $1 month. If only five percent of the 18,646 currently registered members did so, we'd meet all financial goals...
Excellent idea but maybe an administrative nightmare for
LongWood if it were to be implemented. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around people who cannot contribute $10 a year. That just blows my mind and I think they are very selfish.
 
Upvote 0
Excellent idea but maybe an administrative nightmare for
LongWood if it were to be implemented.
I think it could be set up so that any admin could grant "post rights" to members once they make their donation, thus relieving any burden from @LongwoodBuck or @Clarity from having to make the updates. Maybe have a "donation year" field created for each member, and load it with the current year (2016) for everyone (could easily be done by a quick SQL query). Then, if the "donate to post" requirement is set, members could donate before Jan 1, 2017, and have their "donation year" updated to 2017 by any admin. That way, as of Jan 1, 2017, if your donation year isn't 2017 then you can read but can't post.
 
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