Is it just me...

[eben]

I made R70 commission from the kalahari.net ads since January this year
I'm going through a ROI exercise now with these "sources" to see which ones are worth promoting more and which to drop.
Never thought of having donations, I suppose voluntary donations are acceptable. Not so sure about "premium features" we had that before...

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[eben]

OK so voluntary donations and donation subscriptions are now possible through PayPal...

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[Grand Slam Aircooled]

To those of you that clearly DON't know, we would very much like to set the record straight here - as to the advertising on the forum. Please read & understand what the process was to get our advert onto the forum.


ADVERTISING ON THE FORUM
Sent: Fri Jan 03, 2014 9:44 am
by Grand Slam Aircooled

Hi there Eben,

Happy New Year to you & your family!!!!

I have a question - what does it take & cost to have an advert running on the forum??
As you may have seen, some volks are getting their knickers in a knot because we are a spares, service & restoration workshop & they seem to think that we just use the forum to "Steal" from other forum members

You yourself know that we have always tried to help where we can, HOWEVER, we have an agency to import spares & would like for all forum members to benefit from this. As we are expanding "Grand Slam VW Air Cooled Services" we would like to have an advert running on the forum.

Please advise soonest,

Juergen & Es


Re: ADVERTISING ON THE FORUM
Sent: Fri Jan 03, 2014 10:42 am
by eben

Good morning,

Thanks for the good wishes. The same for you as well
Your business doing well and my forum doing well is a mutualistic symbiotic relationship
So, if you can provide me with an advertising banner/s, I'm more than happy to run the ads for you for free in rotation with my other ads that provide my income.
PS No-one on the forum currently pays to advertise on the forum, banners or not.
I get the income to run the forum from the google-sourced ads that are displayed.

Of course this is subject to change at any time, but for now you can get the exposure free of charge.

Regards

Eben

Hopefully that will take care of that issue - it would be nice if people had ALL the information before making comments that put us in a bad light!

As for asking the volks to "test & try out" our new web page - as far as I can recall, every time eben tries a new server/service provider - we, the forum members, get to "test & comment" - I thought this is how we come together to improve the benefits to ALL of us here ???? All I wanted was for a user friendly website & comments that could possibly tell us how to improve on it should it be necessary - ALL comments are good comments - even if they are negative. That is how service can be improved.

We may also NOT post mountains of information on the forum, but why not ask those that have called from far & wide for advice, perhaps they can enlighten you as to our willingness to share information, send pictures, and service manuals, also those that have come in here with impossible problems and or break-downs - somehow they also get helped!

I am not defending anything that we may do, or have done wrong - but, if you don't tell us, we won't know - so THANK YOU for your comments, let us see how we can improve

After all, we are ALL trying to keep our beloved VW's on the road

[Muderick]

Thanks for taking the time to post this Es... its nice to get both sides of a story for once.

Far too often do people make statements on this forum without knowing all the facts as illustrated in the email above between Eben and Es, as well as shedding certain businesses / individuals in a negative light and this has unfortunately become the norm of late.

Kudos to guys like Armand for turning certain negative posts into positive ones.

If memory serves, I was under the impression that we are all kindered ACVW souls... but alas, this is not always the case on this forum.

Muds

[Tony Z]

If my post offended anyone then I apologize.

However, my reasoning is simple. We all fault find when Eben makes an upgrade. Yes, all of us and we all get something out of the forum and we all contribute towards it, this is beneficial to us all.
Asking a forum to debug a companies website, in my opinion, is slightly different.

I am very happy that at one stage the forum was able to pay for itself and thus Eben didnt ask/require financial input and thus declined this.
Now that Eben has asked for financial help, I mentioned (without names) that certain companies should consider stepping up.

I apologize if this insulted or annoyed certain people, whoever you may be

[eben]

I'm sure no offence was meant by anyone. Of course asking current and future advertisers for a donation would be a consideration and this was the understanding that I had with them.

By the way the main reason the income went down is not really all related to lower amount of active users on the site, it has a lot to do with changes that has happened with the AdSense advertising platform and how they pay...

Now about these donations.... thanks for the members who have already donated. Do we want to recognize the donators? Perhaps with a special rank and names in different colour? If someone wants to stay anonymous of course that is also possible.

What are you thoughts? How can we acknowledge the donators? I believe this is being done by other similar sites....

[acpaterson]

Eben,

I'm not sure about this. Through all the Forums I've been a member of, I've had the opportunity to "donate" or "subscribe" to added benefits, but not for the general month to month running of the Forum. That is, and should be covered by the Dealers who advertise on the site. it's been like that forever.
Unfortunately, I'd say there are a maximum of 10 to 20 members active on this forum, thats it'. It's very strange I must admit, considering there should be a massive following for aircooled cars, I just don't know what it is, or why the turnout is so poor.

I think users are contributing to the forum by sharing knowledge and expertise, tips and hints. Grandslam, Volkspares, Shelleys, Flat Four, and other Aircooled specialist dealers should be carrying the forum, as that's how their businesses should be fed, (SHOULD BE, being the operative word). Unfortunately, the majority of them don't respond to emails or are too expensive , and so they lose a lot of business.

my discounted half a Zim cent.

[Muderick]

Alan... its disappointing that your sentiments are so negative.

This forum has absolutely nothing to do with other forums and how its run. Being an intelligent chap, Im quite sure that you know what the word Donation means. Thus all contributions are completely voluntary. Nobody should feel obligated to donate if you do not want to. Neither should they feel guilty if they do not want to nor if they cant afford to. Im sure you read Ebens post and Esme's post regarding all advertising being free on ACVWSA, and this can change at anytime as per Eben. All businesses owners who have adverts running on ACVWSA are aware of this.

There are much more than 10 or 20 active members on this forum. Some are not into Speedsters, hence the reason you do not receive any comment or feedback from them. Others hide their online status, while others trawl.

Your comment about Dealers having to cover the running cost of this site is unfounded as nobody is asked to sign up on this forum at the cost of having to pay up for being a dealer or private individual. ALL OF US GET BENEFIT from this site, including me and you.

Surely many of the contacts you built up around your speedster are due to this site. Surely your project benefitted from the items you purchased from individuals or businesses that helped you get your Speedster into the condition that it is now? Surely this added value to your project that you would not have easily had access to if it was not for this site. Surely you would agree that all the benefits you recieved is of value enough to you for some sort of contribution, and if not, at least a change in mindset or opinion?

All of the businesses you so mention above were in existence way before ACVWSA came into being. Its a fallacy if anybody believes that their businesses are dependent on this forum's members supporting them. It helps, but believe me they do not. All the other thousands of existing and new ACVW drivers keep them going... this is fact. The majority of ACVW drivers in SA do not know of our site.

Surely its not fair for this site to run at a loss every month, and only covered by Eben. Every new link we hit on this site used bandwidth that needs to be paid for. We the end user pay our data connection charges, but not for any bandwidth used for surfing or uploading all the thousands of pics of our so dearly beloved projects... Speedster, Kombi, Beetle, Ghia et al...

Before you joined, Eben used to have a monthly lucky draw and the winner received all the revenue the site made after costs were covered... Like Eben said... the Google adsense payment platform changed, hence this discussion...

Hopefully my feeble attempt at showing my disagreement to your post will make you change your mind and all others who are of the same sentiment.

PS: We need to remember, Donations are Voluntary. We need to appease our consience with what ever we decide to do....

Have a fantastic day all!!

Muds

[eben]

Before you joined, Eben used to have a lucky draw and the winner received all the revenue the site made after costs were covered... Like Eben said... the Google adsense payment platform changed, hence this discussion...

Those were the days @Muderick And as I mentioned before, the amount of active people on the site haven't significantly dropped since then.. Then I was able to give the surplus away in a raffle and now it doesn't cover the costs... and the costs have actually gone down!

Anyway, I have this proposal:
People who feel like they want to donate, feel free to donate. You will be given a special "Donor" rank and have your name in a different colour.(some other benefits may be thought up by me at some stage)

For advertisers: perhaps also something similar where they can donate with one of the subscription options if they would like to run banner ads. They can then have an "Advertiser" rank and colour so that they are more visible on the forum.

What are your thoughts?

Good/Bad?

[Muderick]

I like. Sounds cool.

A Bargain for businesses advertising here if I must say so myself!!!

Muds

[Grand Slam Aircooled]

This is a super idea!!! We are in & more than willing to do our bit!

NOW ALL THE BOYS & GIRLS CAN PLAY NICELY

[eben]

Perks for donors: I could switch the non-local advertising off for them and increase PM box size? Would these be welcome benefits or do you WANT to see all ads?

[retrovan]

Thanks Eben,

We all feel better being part of this forum now.

Being the instigator of the donations being implemented, fills me with pride, as now I do not have to feel guilty Knowing the forum is costing money, and I am getting full benefit of it.

That is why I have no problem in making my 1st donation, and have no problem in subscribing when doing business on the forum in future.

And just for the record, have in the past with dash sales.

Should money be donated by all, but more from "businesses, then Eben can commission Shop items, such as Tony s calenders, "T"shirts, VW old posters, collectors custom packed VW cast toys, ect ........... This in turn will increase income, and site hits.......

Thanks guys for not shooting the messenger.

Herman

[retrovan]

...................

For advertisers: perhaps also something similar where they can donate with one of the subscription options if they would like to run banner ads. They can then have an "Advertiser" rank and colour so that they are more visible on the forum...........

Perks for donors: I could switch the non-local advertising off for them and increase PM box size? Would these be welcome benefits or do you WANT to see all ads?

Love it, thanks, now we cooking with GAS.

This may just be the kick-in-the-pants this forum needed.

With appreciation...

Herman