Important Announcement re this site and its future

[Wedgie]

As most would be aware the popularity of this site has been phenomenal to say the least when it comes to traffic.
We originally had webspace for $300 per year that handled the website for 15 months before it blew up.
We then upped the webspace to about $400 per year which lasted over a year before it blew up.
A week ago we upped the webspace to a VPS (tech heads will undertand) which was going to cost us $700 per year.
Within a week we blew that up and had to up it again to a site that is costing us $1200 per year (christ I hope this handles it!).

Our First Bounce sponsorship used to cover our original costs but that's changed.

I'd like to make everyone aware of the contribution of the Moderators (myself not included) who have contributed $305 so far towards web costs so that's 3 months out of the way.

Ive had offers of co-sponsorship and donations too which may add up to the total we made so we shouldn't have to go down the track of adverts or a user pay system. One very generous donation too which would cover up to half of the costs.

Another thing we are considering is splitting the website up so that the regional forums have their own website which would may even mean each league/division having their own mini forum to discuss topics instead of tacking them all on the one thread like is done now on the Regional Forum, we could put this site on the old SAFooty webspace which would distribute the traffic of the site over 2 lots of webspace/server/databases instead of just on the 1.
Another option too would be to make this site only viewable by registered users like we've done at times in the past when servers have blown up, you wouldn't believe the amount of people that view this site that don't post!!

If anyone has any suggestions or may be aware of businesses who may be interested in sponsorship of the site (possibly 2 sites soon) pm me. I can give you full details of the sort of traffic/exposure we get and it certainly would be value for money.

Cheers.

[JAS]

Might it be possible to approach all the SANFL clubs and persuade them to donate say 50$ each per year given the amount of free publicity/promo etc they get on here. If they each contributed the same amount then there would be no bias towards any indivual club. Not sure if there would be legal reasons etc that would prevent this but might be worth looking into.

Regards
JAS

[Westsider]

id suggest closing it to registered users... if they wanna view it, sign up!!

i agree with the sanfl idea... maybe approach the saafl too, but id doubt they'd be forthcoming with any money

how much bandwitdth and storage space does the site need at the moment

[Wedgie]

id suggest closing it to registered users... if they wanna view it, sign up!!

i agree with the sanfl idea... maybe approach the saafl too, but id doubt they'd be forthcoming with any money

how much bandwitdth and storage space does the site need at the moment

Its not so much bandwidth and storage space, its the amount of "calls" being made to the server/database. There's up to 400,000 a day!! We've got as high as 35 gig of bandwidth being used in one month but the current plan has a max of 40 gig so we should be right there.

[JAS]

OK ignoring what Wedgie has just said because I'm not even sure it's english I would rather not see the whole site closed off to non-registered users as I think some would be put off signing up if they can't see what there gonna get. If it was necessary maybe close part of the site and leave a couple of areas open to all as a taster.

Agree with approaching the SAAFL clubs too. I assume they have far fewer funds so maybe they could cough up 10$ each per year...note that's per year...hardly budget busting

Regards
JAS

[heater31]

Agree with approaching the SAAFL clubs too. I assume they have far fewer funds so maybe they could cough up 10$ each per year...note that's per year...hardly budget busting

No need to approach the clubs JAS its the league that needs to be approached and the way that the SAAFL fine clubs they can more than afford to put a little bit towards sponsorship (my club's total could run this place for a year)

[Wedgie]

If we were to approach the SAAFL it would only be if we had a sub SA Footy site entirely dedicated to the Amateurs, ie SAFootyAmateurs.net but Im keen to get people's opinions on the possible splitting of the site before I even consider that path.

Having said that it would be a better service for the Amateurs involving a sub forum for each league.

[Westsider]

http://www.saaff.net would be easier to remember

sth aust amateur football forums

[johntheclaret]

If we were to approach the SAAFL it would only be if we had a sub SA Footy site entirely dedicated to the Amateurs, ie SAFootyAmateurs.net but Im keen to get people's opinions on the possible splitting of the site before I even consider that path.

Having said that it would be a better service for the Amateurs involving a sub forum for each league.

Does the $100pm plan mean you won't have to split the site or is it likely the $100pm plan will just cover this site without the local footy forums.

Sorry but I don't quite follow.

[Pseudo]

Pass the hat around and I'd be happy to toss in a few clams.

[thunders]

wedgie

if you could e-mail me , yure sponsored site / Bank Details - i greatly appreciate making a donation ! cheers

RR

[Westsider]

$ 2 per user should do it.... set up a paypal account and get people to chuck in some coin, should help

[smithy]

1500 registered users.
If a 1/2 of those pay $1.00 for the privilege of having an avatar that would go a long way.

[SnappyTom]

$ 2 per user should do it.... set up a paypal account and get people to chuck in some coin, should help

$2 - oh no, another Ginever thread!

I agree with sentiments on here about a PayPal type structure, $2 per registered user would raise a fair bit.
I sponsored the FootySA POTY for 2 or 3 years with one of our main partner businesses, Digital Monkey. It's good to put back into what you take so much out of.

I'll ride with whatever is decided.

ST...

[JAS]

PayPal got my vote elsewhere on the site and still gets it as does a dollar or so per person.

Regards
JAS

[Banker]

a few other large sites have a members section, $5/$10p.a approx and you get a whole new section just to the paying members, move conversation and betting to that section? non-paying members cant view it

[Sojourner]

Banker beat me to it!

What we could do is to have a closed financial members only forum as a part of the collection of forums here, $10 per year would be an approximate suggestion of subs. Curiosity killed the cat and no doubt we would have people signing up just to see what we are talking about! We could next year have the tipping contest in that forum.

I doubt speaking with the SANFL is going to do very much, consider what their response to CK was when he tried to get them to support the SANFL footy show on C31 - along the lines of do the letters F O mean anything to you Chris?......

Lets make an approach to Coopers and see if they would like to get on board with a banner sponsorship, maybe all the site members can reciprocate by grabbing a slab of green next time at Dan Murphys!

[pipers]

Banker beat me to it!

What we could do is to have a closed financial members only forum as a part of the collection of forums here, $10 per year would be an approximate suggestion of subs. Curiosity killed the cat and no doubt we would have people signing up just to see what we are talking about! We could next year have the tipping contest in that forum.

I doubt speaking with the SANFL is going to do very much, consider what their response to CK was when he tried to get them to support the SANFL footy show on C31 - along the lines of do the letters F O mean anything to you Chris?......

Lets make an approach to Coopers and see if they would like to get on board with a banner sponsorship, maybe all the site members can reciprocate by grabbing a slab of green next time at Dan Murphys!

So what your suggesting is that we each pay $10. Then Coopers get to put a banner ad on the site to slow it down, and then as reward we're all meant to go off and buy some of their beer???

If Coopers were serious about the SANFL, then they wouldn't have let Norwood run out on the park last Saturday!

[Rik E Boy]

If Coopers were serious about the SANFL, then they wouldn't have let Norwood run out on the park last Saturday!

You sir, are an idiot.

regards,

REB

[finn]

would it fit under the auspices of grassroots football?
could the afl be approached via its grants system?