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Looks like Dave has decided some revenue will help pay the bills.
Seems reasonable, no squwaking from me.. I'd rather put something in the hat when it comes around...but, simple and automatic would be on my radar too.
It's all good..
skicdave
10-04-2010, 09:15 PM
Yeah.. not sure how well it will do, but I have to start/attempt to cover the cost. The alternative isn't so nice.
bucksaw
10-04-2010, 09:20 PM
Hey Dave on the forum view things don't resize quite right in Mozilla (haven't tried other browers).
skicdave
10-04-2010, 09:23 PM
Hey Dave on the forum view things don't resize quite right in Mozilla (haven't tried other browers).
Can you explain that in more detail?
bucksaw
10-04-2010, 10:05 PM
sure. do you see how the page count is left hanging on the right. other screens have no problem.
http://i569.photobucket.com/albums/ss132/bucksaw/T4TForums-1.jpg
skicdave
10-05-2010, 07:59 AM
Ah yes. I know about that one. Should be fine now.
Cheers
cannonball
10-05-2010, 08:24 AM
I have no problem with you adding this. Whatever it takes. I'm pretty desensitized to these ads by now anyway.
Thanks for keeping it going Dave.
boardman
10-05-2010, 10:05 AM
Not really all that intrusive. Doesn't detract from the site at all, IMHO. Whatever you gotta do, Dave!
Ii shows up in this thread, but w/o content...
Fine tuning can drive a webby nuttz!
skicdave
10-05-2010, 03:29 PM
Ii shows up in this thread, but w/o content...
Fine tuning can drive a webby nuttz!
Huh? What has no content RR?
stoneman
10-05-2010, 03:34 PM
I can see it.
The adds are fine Dave, hope you can make some cash.
And thanks for hosting us all.
OK with me, and if the ads are for discounts and other cost savings opportunities for us cash-strapped skiers always on the lookout for a deal, then its a win-win for the website and the T4T users alike. :D
And, thanks Dave for launching and supporting the website.....if this helps keep it going, then all the better. :freshtux:
andyzee
10-05-2010, 06:21 PM
Good luck with that, don't spend it all in one place! ;)
natron
10-05-2010, 06:25 PM
as long as they're not pop-ups or big in ur face ads..
barely notice these ones:)
Huh? What has no content RR?I see the content of the bar at home, but not at the office...web nazis, no doubt.
2plankerider
10-05-2010, 09:32 PM
All good here...I actually found out about the Santa's Village Halloween weekend whilst poking around last night. I'm surprised you've been able to hold out for so long.
drewvw
10-05-2010, 11:53 PM
Seems more than a fair tradeoff to keep this great site going. Thanks Dave.
gpetrics
10-06-2010, 08:27 AM
i support it much less object to it!
let me know if you want some help sifting through layout code... I'd be happy to do so!
one piece of advice (take it with a grain of salt) is that by blocking off the right side for just a banner at the top... it looks more obtrusive than the actual space the ad proper takes up.
is there any sort of right sidebar that could access more T4T content below the ad?
"From: Light, To: Dark"
So, Greg, your channeling for François Truffaut?
Man, you keep at that and I'll look forward to your stuff on the wall with the Dutch masters. No...I'm not kidding. Great concept and nicely done!
boardman
10-06-2010, 09:08 AM
From: Light, To: Dark
yes, very cool. Clarify for me though, this isn't some photoshop blending of two separate images, but rather, a long exposure followed by a quick, lighted exposure on the same frame, right? So that, the first picture is actually someone jumping in the very pool of water you shot long exposure, not some superimposed pic from somewhere else? If so, that's really cool stuff.
gpetrics
10-06-2010, 09:10 AM
"From: Light, To: Dark"
So, Greg, your channeling for François Truffaut?
Man, you keep at that and I'll look forward to your stuff on the wall with the Dutch masters. No...I'm not kidding. Great concept and nicely done!
this summer was a time to play around with something different... i want to try a lot of different things in ski photography in addition to taking "just" shots from awesome ski days... so i figured the best time to put in my time and practice my chops was summer. hopefully it turned out appealing. i like the set alot. they print nice too for the wall!
thanks though for the complements Rob! we will see what happens with the photo burner. the light:dark photo set actually has turned up quite a few leads which is nice, but nothing has bitten yet. now i just need to figure out a winter light/dark idea. been talking over on backcountryagenda with those guys about some ideas! we'll see... need snow first!!
speaking of this though makes me realize I should change my sig over to the calendars (http://www.famousinternetskiers.com/2011-calendar-is-ready/)!
gpetrics
10-06-2010, 09:11 AM
From: Light, To: Dark
yes, very cool. Clarify for me though, this isn't some photoshop blending of two separate images, but rather, a long exposure followed by a quick, lighted exposure on the same frame, right? So that, the first picture is actually someone jumping in the very pool of water you shot long exposure, not some superimposed pic from somewhere else? If so, that's really cool stuff.
you are correct. all the shots in the set are a single exposure. the camera is set to remain expsoin for several seconds while a flash goes off capturing brief moment of action. no digital/post processing blending going on.
edit: to clarify i did have to do some light/color/whitebalance correction in the computer... but this is standard when shooting in RAW. there is no "heavy" effects though
boardman
10-06-2010, 10:05 AM
wicked effin' cool! Some of those pics are pretty distant - did you have a flash set up somewhere close to the subject? The flash couldn't have been generated from your camera, could it?
gpetrics
10-06-2010, 10:10 AM
wicked effin' cool! Some of those pics are pretty distant - did you have a flash set up somewhere close to the subject? The flash couldn't have been generated from your camera, could it?
nope... i actually won a pair of off camera flash triggers a few years ago at a photo contest. i was never a flash guy myself, but finally ponied up and picked up a fancy strobe/flash in june and had somethign to do with the 400$ in triggers i had sitting in the gear black hole... this is the result.
Years ago, a buddy and I set up a series of 4 slaves in a narrow rocky defile that was part of the World Cross-Country Running Championships in Franklin Park. Some of those exposures are pretty wild!
He's used that same idea on numerous white water boating shots...his big deal. Fun stuff.
boardman
10-06-2010, 11:02 AM
By the way, Grant Gunderson's site is amazing!!! FAHKIN' A, those Mt. Baker pics are unreal!
I for one support our new google ad overlords and look forward to toiling in their sugarcaves.
Took RR bringing it up for me to even notice them... maybe T4T was looking strange all along without the ads.
M@
BladeGirl
10-06-2010, 01:04 PM
I for one support our new google ad overlords and look forward to toiling in their sugarcaves.
M@
Did I say Overlords? I mean Protectors.
It probably wouldn't hurt to click on some of those ads. They will see that people are clicking through and be encouraged to keep paying Dave. I just saw a few - its painless, really!
gpetrics
10-06-2010, 03:03 PM
Did I say Overlords? I mean Protectors.
It probably wouldn't hurt to click on some of those ads. They will see that people are clicking through and be encouraged to keep paying Dave. I just saw a few - its painless, really!
FYI this REALLY helps webmasters/website owners... but dave being the webmaster here will NEVER be able to say that it helps T4T or else he might be in violation of a certain company's terms of service.
so basically: you're right ;)
skicdave
10-06-2010, 04:03 PM
Here is some reality that I'll share, along with a few notes about google ads.
The site does cost me. How much? Based on the portion of the server and bandwidth I use for T4T, backup costs, it runs about $100 a month. It used to be more. vBulletin is $195/yr which explains why we are running on an old v 3.6.8 license (several years old) instead of the current v4.0. So to realistically keep the site running and be up to date on the forum software it needs to generate about $1,400 a year. I have been running the site since 1996, so thats like 14 years... you get the picture. I had to abandon hosting photos a few years back partially for that reason.
In the past we had the Royalty Inn and Tuckerman Brewery supporting the site with some smaller ad campaigns, but that was some time ago (and no it didn't cover costs).
Now about the Google Ads. They definitely won't be making me any 'cash'. They work ok, its an easy implementation, but its still petty cash as far as generating revenue. Based on early observations and experience I have elsewhere, these might generate about $2-4 a day on this site, ie maybe about $1,000 a year. With some tweeking, maybe it will cover costs... maybe not.
Clicking on Google Ads just to 'help' out? Nope. You're not helping out at all if that is the reason you start randomly clicking on ads! If people starting doing this thinking they are helping by just clicking all over them, it just looks like click fraud to Google. Clicking aimlessly is pointless.
Typical click through rates for these types of ads is a mere .45%, so it takes a LOT of site traffic to generate much in the way of $$'s.
The ads are positioned on the right currently. Was the easiest implementation on the old forum code at the moment, and the least intrusive. They may end up being moved to a horizontal format below the main header or in more than one position, embedded more in the content.... we'll see. I'm not going to work over the layout at this point much, don't have the time currently.
Thankfully Google is pretty brilliant these days at displaying relevant ads so hopefully some will be of them are of interest to you on occasion, and perhaps you can give them some business. Again CLICKING AWAY POINTLESSLY IS NOT GOING TO HELP, and does more harm than good.
Anyways, we'll see how it goes. Perhaps if the site can generate enough to cover costs, I'll be able to upgrade the forum software finally... maybe even get the look back out of the 90's ;)
Lots of content is getting pretty old! lol
I might implement a donor system (I've thought about that for many years but never did anything). The problem I see is that it is typically a one shot deal. People donate once and forget about it. The reality is that sites costs are on going.
andyzee
10-06-2010, 09:30 PM
Here is some reality that I'll share, along with a few notes about google ads.
The site does cost me. How much? Based on the portion of the server and bandwidth I use for T4T, backup costs, it runs about $100 a month. It used to be more. vBulletin is $195/yr which explains why we are running on an old v 3.6.8 license (several years old) instead of the current v4.0. So to realistically keep the site running and be up to date on the forum software it needs to generate about $1,400 a year. I have been running the site since 1996, so thats like 14 years... you get the picture. I had to abandon hosting photos a few years back partially for that reason.
That's expensive, have you looked at other web hosting options? There's some good deals out there where you could cut costs to by about 90%. I've been using a hosting site for a few years now and pay about $70 a year for hosting and another $15 for domain registration per domain.
skicdave
10-06-2010, 10:19 PM
That's expensive, have you looked at other web hosting options? There's some good deals out there where you could cut costs to by about 90%. I've been using a hosting site for a few years now and pay about $70 a year for hosting and another $15 for domain registration per domain.
Sure.. you can find web hosting for $2 a month or even free which makes $70 a year look expensive. Depends on your web traffic, disk space requirements, reliability, backups, bandwidth etc. There are some less expensive options I may look at in the new year, we'll see. You get what you pay for.
ILOVE2SKI
10-07-2010, 01:28 PM
So do you get more money if we click the ads? If so, let's all check them out and help out!
So do you get more money if we click the ads? If so, let's all check them out and help out!Dave said it can do harm if we only cklicky-clicky.
Click on a link if it interests you.
skicdave
10-07-2010, 03:56 PM
Like RR said. Click on ads that are of interest only. Looks like after that discussion, now nobody is clicking lol!
Dave... Really appreciate you generosity on the site! Something most of us just take for granted! Thanks a ton!
Skidmarks
10-10-2010, 08:32 AM
Didn't even see it at first. What no ads about hot Russian singles in my area??
andyzee
10-10-2010, 08:41 AM
Didn't even see it at first. What no ads about hot Russian singles in my area??
One problem with hot Russian singles, they wouldn't be hiking with you like your wife. Looks like you have a keeper there!;)
Skidmarks
10-10-2010, 09:09 AM
One problem with hot Russian singles, they wouldn't be hiking with you like your wife. Looks like you have a keeper there!;)
I sure do!! I was thinking about the other guys!!!
neufox47
10-10-2010, 10:12 PM
How about T-shirts? Charge $25 each, acknowledge that they are overpriced or say, donate $25 get a t-shirt. Some people here probably have a good design and I know some t-shirt companies will print small batches and do the mailing themselves so it doesn't take up more of your time to package and mail. Another forum I frequent bwca.org does this and seems to be their primary way of raising funds.
shogunnamedjust
10-11-2010, 12:39 PM
+1 id be all for t-shirts and maybe some hats as well
BladeGirl
10-11-2010, 03:10 PM
Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. No one else was interested. Skilas and I made a few from the photos Dave cycles through on the main forum page. Tried a few different catchphrases to go with. Everyone thought it was a good idea but no one was interested in purchasing, even at cost (minimal if you supplied your own shirt).
The new version of the forum software might let you stick the ads in between posts - that's a pretty popular model I've seen around. About 5x more annoying than what you've got now - but it's been accepted as the norm to some degree.
I guess it's probably time for me to drop another $20 in the mail.
Maybe some sort of system that shows your usage as a function of total donations / total usage... get that guilt factor going. Or the karma factor going - display this number on people's posts like the diamonds. Basically - if you drop a $20 you're GOLD for a year or so, but if you're a stoogie it'll show.
M@
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