Paying for AO - Google Adds

[AGD]

To the AO Faithfull,

As we have seen with other sites, its a bad idea to charge the users to belong to this club. In an effort to keep AO alive and healthy we have decided to go with Google Adds in hopes that it will pay the bills and keep AO a fun place to meet and greet. If some of you find it irritating please consider the consequences of not having adds pay for this place.

Thanks for your support!

AGD

[Lohman446]

To the AO Faithfull,

As we have seen with other sites, its a bad idea to charge the users to belong to this club. In an effort to keep AO alive and healthy we have decided to go with Google Adds in hopes that it will pay the bills and keep AO a fun place to meet and greet. If some of you find it irritating please consider the consequences of not having adds pay for this place.

Thanks for your support!

AGD


Whatever it takes :)

[master_alexander]

I [heart] AO

but seriously, i dont have much of a life without it. and i dont like pbn.

[Alpha]

Try PBF. We have Rogue, and a few other awesome AO members. www.paintballforum.com.

The ads are fine with me. I'd even click them every once in a while. :cheers:

[Kevmaster]

how come im not seeing them?

[overkill8000]

Yeah it's one of the most known forums site it's a good advertisment place, and what ever to keep it up and runnin.

up for another thousand years....

[behemoth]

Tom, Have a small registration fee.

It'd cut down on the annoyances. I'm sure.

I know the die-hard AGD followers would pay.

[Muzikman]

Tom, drop me an email.

I think Ads are a great idea, I doubt you will get enough money out of it to pay for the upkeep though.

[Soopa Villain17]

id be willing to pay a fee to stay here on ao , im sure lots of other people would to, and it would deffinitly cut down on the spammers and dumb people and kids posting porn :)

[Creative Mayhem]

Works for me!!!

[rkjunior303]

Tom, drop me an email.

I think Ads are a great idea, I doubt you will get enough money out of it to pay for the upkeep though.

it paid for our keg @ IAO thru the forums, and there was only 4-5 of us really clicking ;)

[BobTheCow]

it paid for our keg @ IAO thru the forums, and there was only 4-5 of us really clicking ;)
Hopefully we'll actually use all the forums that we buy with these google ads :(

[Cameo]

does this mean that the paint ball poodle and the beloved Creative mayhem will no longer greet me each time I visit?? You know that is the ONLY reason I come in here so often...
(well maybe not the only reason, I am not a non-working lazy bum and you can only clip so many cupons before you get bored..)

[zackzel]

The advertisements will not bother me a bit, as alot of the other people said whatever it takes to keep it up and running.

[BigEvil]

I dont think anyone will have any problems with some ads. I also think that a "Donate" button may be a good idea, like on PBN. It may be nice to have a few features for 'supporting members", such as SIGS and whatnot.


Oh, BTW, where is Zupe and how come he didnt make this anouncement? Just curious.

[Creative Mayhem]

Oh, BTW, where is Zupe and how come he didnt make this anouncement? Just curious.

In theory, Tom still owns AGD, Zupe owns the inventory. I could be mistaken. :p

[Maggot6]

Here are some ideas

It is free to register, 150-250 posts, and after that you have to pay $10 or so. So that the new maggers can come, sort out their problems, ask questions etc. But for members that want to stay on the forum after 150-250 posts AND have been reported, flame people, or swear alot, etc will have to pay $20

Or

There is a subforum for new maggers, basically a tech and help section. So you can ask questions about your gun, or about AGD etc which is free,. But to go to classefieds, pb talk, meet&greet etc which you pay $10 or so for. It shouldn't be that hard to keep people out of the classefieds, pb talk etc, because I know on some forums there are places that say "mods only" or something, and you can't get in.

Or

Have an icon that says "donate" like the guy above said,

[Resurection]

To the AO Faithfull,

As we have seen with other sites, its a bad idea to charge the users to belong to this club. In an effort to keep AO alive and healthy we have decided to go with Google Adds in hopes that it will pay the bills and keep AO a fun place to meet and greet. If some of you find it irritating please consider the consequences of not having adds pay for this place.

Thanks for your support!

AGD
Tom,

I would have sent this privately, but no PM option. ;)

Please contact me via email (drozelle AT gibroadband.com) because I have another possible solution. I own a small hosting company and have a few friends in teh business as well. If you can get one of your techy/webmasters to contact me with bandwidth info and such I might be able to take over the hosting aspect and would donate the space/bandwidth. Depends on how much we are talking about but I think I could do it. I have done this same type of donation in the past for other folks and it's always worked out great. Let me know if you are interested. Thanks!

Dave Rozelle

edit: I had to fix my email so it wouldn't get harvested. :shooting:

[Eagle]

as long as they're banners and not popups, I won't freak.

[JoshK]

Tom,

I would have sent this privately, but no PM option. ;)

Please contact me via email (*insert his email here*) because I have another possible solution. I own a small hosting company and have a few friends in teh business as well. If you can get one of your techy/webmasters to contact me with bandwidth info and such I might be able to take over the hosting aspect and would donate the space/bandwidth. Depends on how much we are talking about but I think I could do it. I have done this same type of donation in the past for other folks and it's always worked out great. Let me know if you are interested. Thanks!

Dave Rozelle

You sir have earned my respect, and are my newest hero.

[Resurection]

You sir have earned my respect, and are my newest hero.

Well I appreciate that. But my abilities to host/co-locate/help in general are not unlimited. But I would certainly be honored to help out in any way that I can. And by guessing on the traffic requirements of the bulliten board system here I think I could certainly do that.

Besides, picture hosting and signatures are already disabled, it can't be THAT much traffic. :spit_take

[-=Squid=-]

For the love of God, why doesn't AO have a 'donate' button?

[frischtr]

as long as they're banners and not popups, I won't freak.


They aren't popups or banners... They slide in after every 8 or 9 posts in a thread, as though they are a post themselves... They use them over at bikeforums.net, another forum that I frequent...

[Muzikman]

Tom,

I would have sent this privately, but no PM option. ;)

Please contact me via email (drozelle AT gibroadband.com) because I have another possible solution. I own a small hosting company and have a few friends in teh business as well. If you can get one of your techy/webmasters to contact me with bandwidth info and such I might be able to take over the hosting aspect and would donate the space/bandwidth. Depends on how much we are talking about but I think I could do it. I have done this same type of donation in the past for other folks and it's always worked out great. Let me know if you are interested. Thanks!

Dave Rozelle

edit: I had to fix my email so it wouldn't get harvested. :shooting:


Let's put it this way, currently AO is running on it's OWN server that was purchased by Tom to run AO, so it uses more space and bandwith than most small hosting providers would support. But every little bit helps, so let's see if Tom gets in contact with you. And I personally thank you for the thought, even though I am nobody.

[Resurection]

Let's put it this way, currently AO is running on it's OWN server that was purchased by Tom to run AO, so it uses more space and bandwith than most small hosting providers would support. But every little bit helps, so let's see if Tom gets in contact with you. And I personally thank you for the thought, even though I am nobody.

OWN server doesn't mean high bandwidth or requirements, but those situations are why I have several dedicated IPS and some colocation options. :D

[Miscue]

For only $9.99/month - you get HOT, LIVE-ACTION video feeds from AGD HQ (from a QuickCam we got for free). We've got the sexiest paintball technicians on the Internet! Get a voyeur's look into marker assembly, lubing of o-rings, and witness paintball markers being chronographed, you guessed it, HOT! Cameo appearances by the AGD-Ladies walking by... SIZZLING!

[JoshK]

I will buy that subscription!

[Soopa Villain17]

me to :D

[AGD]

Guys,

Thanks for the offers to help but right now I am curious to see what happens with the Google stuff. Its fairly simple to implement so I am going to wait a bit and see what comes of it. If it doesnt work I will come here and ask for sugestions.

I think that donations for sigs and such is a great idea but I dont think the forum software allows that on an individual basis. Yes I still own "all of this" so I am concerned about its future. We serve just under a gig a month FYI.

Thanks!

AGD

[thecavemankevin]

no that you need any of our permission, but its fine with me.

hope it works

[Muzikman]

For only $9.99/month - you get HOT, LIVE-ACTION video feeds from AGD HQ (from a QuickCam we got for free). We've got the sexiest paintball technicians on the Internet! Get a voyeur's look into marker assembly, lubing of o-rings, and witness paintball markers being chronographed, you guessed it, HOT! Cameo appearances by the AGD-Ladies walking by... SIZZLING!


They already tried this a few years back.

[FreakBaller12]

:tard: I'm confused, are the ads on the site yet? If they are, I don't see them. :confused:

[Resurection]

We serve just under a gig a month FYI.

Tom,

If that is the extent of your bandwidth, then I would certainly be able to help the hosting as a donation. It might make a difference, if I hosted all of the graphic portions of the site. vBulliten can be very easily edited to look to a different host for the images, and they are the biggest chunk of bandwidth.

Well, Google Ads are far from the worst, and if you want to try them first, by all means do so. Just remember that my offer is on the table, and I would be honored to help in any way I can.

Dave

[hitech]

Well, I for one do not mind google ads. They seem fairly unobtrusive to me.

And Resurection, I too would like to thank you for your offer to help AO. Regardless of the outcome, it is the thought that counts. :D You da man! :headbang:

:cheers:

[Chipper]

I hate to be a pain, but paying to post on AO would just plain suck. I know upkeep costs alot, but the Google ads should help alot. Heck, I'll click 1 or 2 everytime I log on as long as I don't have to pay.

[FreakBaller12]

somebody want to screenshot the google ads, I'm curious to what they look like since they don't appear on my computer, unless of course I'm retarded and they aren't up yet. :confused:

[Eric Cartman]

Google ads are no big deal. I click a few every time I'm on the thorums and I'll do the same here.

[temps]

We serve just under a gig a month FYI.

Only a gig :confused: I hosted a web game and we used just over 2 gigs and that didnt have too many members..

Also I think google adds are a greate idea.

[Kevmaster]

yeah, its actually more than that...the 1gb number was a mistake

[Flamebo]

Good luck guys. I'm not active in the paintball world and a whole lots changed around here (and everywhere else) since I was, but I spent a few years of my life in this online community and every now and again I like to see what's up.

I'd hate to log in one day and see that I needed to pay a fee to register for this board, as that's not what it was ever about. Google ads seem like a justified necessary evil, and though I've got "ethical issues" with Google strategies to rule the internet, I'd hope that everyone will be able to overlook the small annoyance they might be.

I've also noticed that Tom's account is now titled "Former President of AGD". Wow. In the 10 minutes I've been browsing the forums I'm a little overwhelmed at how much is going on with this patent crap and legal overpowering. An inventor has a right to have his idea protected, but as far as I can tell this seems to have become a huge corporate ordeal where all the small businesses who care about the sport and wanted to see it grow are being squeezed dry in an effort to maximize profits. Such is the nature of capitalism I suppose. Hey, you guys always wanted to see more paintball on TV. These are the consequences.

On a lighter note, I really hope AGD can overcome this in the long run and come up with a new product line for the die-hards out there. I recently had the opportunity to toy with a handful of the newer markers (Diadem, Ion, DM5, Intimidator) and I had to admit that I was just blown away by these things. Technology in this sport has really come a long way since my first Level 6 Automag, and it all seems incredibly affordable and reliable. I always enjoyed the simplicity of AGD's innovative design, but it seems the sport has gone in a different direction. I know how much everyone loved Airgun Designs and their products, and hopefully they can come up with a design to compete in the new generation of the sport. If not, I hope we don't forget that it was a helluva lot of fun while it lasted.

Good Luck again, and Thanks for keeping me busy,

Garrison

[Muzikman]

Wow, Flamebo!