Question 4 YOU! You need money to keep this one-o-kind site up so why dont you hold a contest? Everyone Send 2$ to a P.o box and then if 500 people send 2 bucks you got 1000. then put in a raffle to raffle of a PS2. Then you get 500$! Oh and if you'll let me I might be willing to hold my own contest on Free thoughts. I got some merchandise that people might like and I would give ALL earnings to you.
This is not a site,but a phenomenon.i love it. it keeps me alive.it keeps me thinking,analysing,searching etc.in my opinion this site should have a physical place.i mean you should tie up with some educational institutes to hold some conferences where apart from all community members meet and share their experiences.this conference can include some special guest speakers like Stephen Hawkings or any other media personality.this would not only make the site popular but also help in building a REAL community which shares great intellectual ideas.Finding spons isnt difficult.try out with some adds on popular sites.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Ya truebut is sucks when a forum gets too big. My bro is in this forum where there are like 10000 people and when a thred is posted the origninal Q gets lost so fast. I like Sciforums the way it is!
The idea of asking the members at Sciforums to donate one or two dollars each is really not that bad. Guess it would make a whole difference to Porfiry to keep the good work at Sciforums going... Well Porfiry, what do you think of it??Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Ah, right. I forgot to reply to this thread. A raffle is an interesting idea, but I don't really have the time to administer something like that (and I'm sure it's not legal Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!). As for contributing to the forum, I'll be addressing this soon. I'm looking into a variety of solutions that I'll be experimenting with. Ideally, I'd like to turn to user donations as a last resort once I've tried the other options. But thanks, I do appreciate the thoughts. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Technically its not Ill-leagal. I mean schools have raffles. We can do what ever we want. I have 75 speakers that I got from my uncle. They are small and old but I tested all of them and they all work. I would be willing to raffle off 5-10 of them. I would organize it. I mean whats 2 bucks to everyone? I would send the them to where ever the winner is. I am a trust worthy guy!Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I would be willing to organize everything. All I need from you Is a "Offically Sanctioned Raffle by Porfiry" Stamp (hehe). Just a post so everyone knows you authorized it! And we would let the Games begin! Please let me do it. I really want toPlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Porfiry, I am backing up Tristan in this. Bet he is good for this 'job'...Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
What are the costs? Not to be too forward about it Porfiry, but what does it cost to keep this site going? How much money needs to be generated in order to keep the site going, including your expense in labor? I am wanting to consider creating a site also, but I have no information about Servers and costs.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I could probably drop five bucks every couple of months. You've got a great many thousands of members here. Even if only 2000 members were to send five dollars apiece, every three months or so, you would have say, $10,000 x 4= $40,000 per year. Surely that ought to be more than enough to keep the site up, as well as pay for your expenses, Porfiry. Great site.
Tristan, Well, I'm not certain of the legality. It'd probably be subject to whatever the regulations are here in Canada. Not to belittle your offer (it's much appreciated), but do you think anyone would really want to win some old speakers? McGuyver, Well, it's impossible to quantify the 'labour' component. I'm not actually employable at the moment, but I am taking time away from university studies to run the site. Of course, if it wasn't for these personal projects of mine I'd be horribly depressed (even more so than currently Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!), so it's probably worth it. Heck, it's really fun running this site. If it wasn't, I wouldn't bother. As for the actual costs, a high traffic site like sciforums needs a few hundred dollars a month to run. However, if you're looking to just do a smaller site, your costs would be well under $100 per month. If you have a cable modem or DSL connection, you can host the site off your own computer (this is what I do with webfansite as I need a lot of raw space and lots of unmetered bandwidth). Now, as I've said before, I'd like to avoid user donations for as long as possible. I think it's annoying to users and it seems a bit desperate. It's not as if I'm in need of the cash. In all honesty, exosci made enough money during the height of the internet bubble, when advertising was lucrative, to support my website endeavors for a while. So while the cash flow at the moment is distinctly negative, the net balance over the years is still nicely positive. Additionally, I'm quite certain that the internet advertising market will recover OR an alternate funding model (possibly micropayments) will emerge. I'm probably willing to wait things out until the end of my education (6 months or 2 years depending on if I pursue a Masters). Finally, I think it's compelling that, while other sites are either loading up with ads or begging for money, I can maintain my sites at their prime without those distractions. sciforums should be like a warm and comfortable coffee shop down the street where everyone knows your name.
I understand Completly Porfiry. Dont worry about belittling my offer. They aren't top of the line but I can tell you a little about them. They are small and kind of rectangular with the edges smoothed. Id say about 6inches long and 3or4 wide. the other thing that is really cool about them is they are Dual Voice coil. So its like getting two speakers in one. They actuall sound not to bad. But thats my opinion. And whats maybe 2 dollars to every one? I mean they are speakers and if nothing else, can be used to test equipment, ect. So As I say, it might be kind of interesting to see if people actually send the 2 dollars. So maybe in the future, we would know what probably would happen. Now i mean if you put an X-box or something its going to be a better raffle contestants wise. But hey, I think it would be fun. anyway I g2g so Later.
Great place to be here at Sciforums. It sure feels like a good coffee shop....without some things they sell in coffee shops in the Netherlands.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Glad to hear everything is going so well for Sciforums you can keep the advertisements out, for these are really annoying...
The best thing to do, Tristan, is to just sell them locally (maybe to an audio store or club). Most people around here probably have no knowledge of audio equipment and wouldn't know what to do with them. If and when I implement some donation scheme for sciforums, you can donate some of the money you made from the sale to us then.
