Donation Drive #1 - Complete!

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,525]

Following a disclosure notice I posted about the monetization of MLP Forums, a lot of interest developed in the idea of donating to the site to help cover its expenses and save up for additions and improvements to the community. I added a PayPal donation link to the bottom of the site, and we've already had three very generous donations.

 

Now, I'd like to give everyone the chance to say what they'd like the donation money to be spent on. Whether you're a donor or not, everyone's input is welcome. So, choose one of the "upgrades" in this post, vote in the poll, and state your thoughts!

 

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Content Delivery Network (CDN) - $30 for 1 TB (+ $0.07/GB after first TB)

A CDN will offload all of the site's images and other such resources to thousands of servers around the world. Whenever you view a page, all these resources (on some pages, there may be over 100 of them) will download from the CDN's server that is physically closest to you instead of my VPS on the East Coast. This means a faster site for you and a lower server load for me (as hundreds of files will be served by the CDN rather than directly).

 

IP.Gallery - $65 (+ $20/year for support and updates)

IP.Gallery is an IP.Board application that provides - you guessed it - a gallery. It's fully integrated into IPB, so it uses the same forum accounts and your albums and uploads will show up on your profile page. Gallery images can be embedded into forum posts using the My Media button and each image has its own comments section. Every member can have their own album that only they can upload to, and that they can organize however they please; but we can also set up "global" albums that anyone can upload to - this way, we could create a public GIF dumping ground, for example. You can check out what it looks like on IPS's website.

 

Custom Skin - $400-$2000

I know a lot of you are really happy with the skin I created, but I'm not a web designer. If we hired a professional designer, we could have a look as unique and awesome as Zelda Universe's. I wouldn't prioritize getting a professional custom skin over a CDN or a board add-on, though.

 

Server Upgrade - $30/month

The VPS I currently have is roomy enough for hosting websites, but it only has 2 GB of RAM. It's not an issue with the amount of traffic it serves, but an upgrade would be a good idea if we want to run one or more 24/7 game servers. Games tend to chew up a lot of RAM and CPU, and even the one Minecraft instance that I currently run for TheWiiU.com makes its presence very much known to me. For $30 more per month, I can upgrade to a server with 4 GB of RAM, 25 GB more disk space, and double the CPU power - probably useless for my websites, but would be very beneficial if there's a lot of interest here in multiplayer games.

 

Advertising - $1-$5/day

We could opt to spend a certain amount of donation money on advertising. I'd prefer to run any ads through Project Wonderful, which a couple of other pony fan sites sell space for, though BuySellAds is another great (and more reliable) option. I can't really predict how much this would cost - it comes down mostly to how much traffic our venue sites have. I expect a small, decent advertising campaign could cost anywhere from $1 to $5 per day on average. Possible high-traffic venues include PonyCountdown.com and Rainbow Dash Network. I can also provide some free advertising for us on TheWiiU.com or Wii U Go, but I'm not sure how beneficial it would be there.

 

Copyright Removal for Guest Message hook - $10

For ten bucks, I can legally get rid of the "Guest Message by DevFuse" line from the Guest Message hook, which is a small box shown to guests that entices them to register. Removing that line would make the board look a bit more professional to guests, but I don't see it as a priority.

 

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Note that I left IP.Chat out of the list. The reason for that is because I don't want to add a chatroom to the forum until we have a very solid userbase. I'm looking at 500 registered users or so right now.

 

So, vote away!

[Gummy 725]

Couldnt find the poll, but I think the CDN would benefit the users the most. Advertising would generate a lot more members as well.

[Sageflare 276]

I would choose the CDN and IP Gallery I have a slow connection here so the CDN would help and the IP gallery would be cool to show off stuff about ourselves and things like that.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,525]

Couldnt find the poll, but I think the CDN would benefit the users the most. Advertising would generate a lot more members as well.

Whoops... looks like I forgot to add the poll.

[PlNKlE PIE 364]

Advertising would probably benefit us the most. Reeling in more members means more popularity and therefore more overall traffic, which means you'll more than likely get more ad clicks and donations for further upgrades.

[Grendo 174]

You need a skin Upgrade?

[Apple Bloom 2,931]

Since I have art I would like to show off I'd rather have IP.Gallery but I know there are many users who would benefit from a CDN. I say go for a CDN since it's only $30 and more of a necessity and then save up for IP.Gallery, then other stuff as it's needed.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,525]

Advertising would probably benefit us the most. Reeling in more members means more popularity and therefore more overall traffic, which means you'll more than likely get more ad clicks and donations for further upgrades.

 

Great point. Even my humble two-region ad that I've run today has brought in several new members already, so good advertising isn't to be discounted.

 

You need a skin Upgrade?

 

No, I'm quite happy with the skin as it is. If we were going to get a new one, I would (and I say this with the greatest of respect) love to hire a real, professional web designer who'll create it from start to finish.

 

Since I have art I would like to show off I'd rather have IP.Gallery but I know there are many users who would benefit from a CDN. I say go for a CDN since it's only $30 and more of a necessity and then save up for IP.Gallery, then other stuff as it's needed.

 

I'd like it more if you voted for what you want than what others do, but that's really nice of you to put your vote towards the CDN. I'm actually quite surprised at how many of you want it, seeing as it won't add any new functionality to the site whatsoever - it's just gonna make it faster.

 

I also came up with another forum upgrade on my way home from school, but I'll save it for our next donation drive. It's an SSL certificate. With one of those, we could enjoy the luxury of a fully-secured HTTPS login page, complete with a pretty green lock in your address bar. It's not necessary by any means, but then again, neither is the CDN. I can get us a basic SSL certificate for $8.95.

[Zoop 8,384]

If you're seeing positive returns from the advertisements already, I'd suggest sticking with it; even a couple extra members can make an impact on a community's overall health.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,525]

If you're seeing positive returns from the advertisements already, I'd suggest sticking with it; even a couple extra members can make an impact on a community's overall health.

 

If we want to put donation money towards advertising, it's important to realize that it could quickly get very, very expensive. US ads on Pony Countdown are currently going for $25 a day. I'd rather we don't pour all our donation money into ads, as I'd really love for us to get some improvements to the actual board itself, too.

 

How many forums have an awesome gallery? Having one just might entice a few more guests to register.

[Zoop 8,384]

Twenty five smackers per day? Daayyy-aaaamn. Yeah, that's not really practical.

 

What sort of costs are there for areas outside of America? If the rates are reasonable-ish, setting aside a small portion of the money for occasional Friday (or whenever - Fridays are typically the only days I hit the site myself) ads on Pony Countdown might not be a bad idea, though I'd agree that actual features should get the bulk of the attention.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,525]

Twenty five smackers per day? Daayyy-aaaamn. Yeah, that's not really practical.

 

What sort of costs are there for areas outside of America? If the rates are reasonable-ish, setting aside a small portion of the money for occasional Friday (or whenever - Fridays are typically the only days I hit the site myself) ads on Pony Countdown might not be a bad idea, though I'd agree that actual features should get the bulk of the attention.

 

Project Wonderful has 4 ad regions: US, Canada, Europe, and "elsewhere". Canadian ads are currently going for about $16, Europe for about $12, and elsewhere are $0.90. I've currently only got an active ad on elsewhere, but I think I'll pony up a little more cash and run a European ad for a few hours a bit later, once people in Europe start waking up - might cost about $3-8. Maybe I'll pop in an American ad an hour or two before the episode airs, too.

 

Gawd, I can't help but feel a bit envious of the owner of Pony Countdown. I imagine he has absolutely no trouble paying for his server costs, and let's face it - compared to a forum, a countdown is a pretty low-maintenance kind of site.

[Zoop 8,384]

Gawd, I can't help but feel a bit envious of the owner of Pony Countdown. I imagine he has absolutely no trouble paying for his server costs, and let's face it - compared to a forum, a countdown is a pretty low-maintenance kind of site.

If they're pulling in that much money via ads... Sheeeiiiit.

[Grendo 174]

Great point. Even my humble two-region ad that I've run today has brought in several new members already, so good advertising isn't to be discounted.

 

 

No, I'm quite happy with the skin as it is. If we were going to get a new one, I would (and I say this with the greatest of respect) love to hire a real, professional web designer who'll create it from start to finish.

 

 

 

 

Okay.. lol

[Guest]

I'd like a server upgrade as traffic will just keep going up and up.

 

Also, the posts will start stacking up after a few months of a lot of active members

[Flutterguy1 203]

IP.Gallery would be a nice addition. It'd be great if we could build a large collection of pony images here. I'd also spend some money of advertising as it could bring in a lot of members.

[Lupus 127]

I'd vote on advertising, new members are always a good idea and as you can't go for chat until you reach a certain threshold, then advertising the site to get new members makes sense for that also.

[TallBrony91 29]

I will be glad to help out the forum by giving a donation, and I will do that as soon as I get paid next month or if i've got a bit left over after the end of this month (had to order quite a bit of stuff for this month lol XD).

 

For my vote on what I think the forum should have, I'd say the IP.Gallery, not only could it be use to of course put Pony pics in but it can be used for other reasons like maybe for an example, photos from your holiday to Germany or maybe pictures from your night out on the town with fellow Bronies ect, ect.

Edited October 15, 2011 by TallBrony91

[St. Pinkie 118]

Hmm. I know! Balloons! One for every pony in Ponyville!

 

To be frank, I don't think we should advertise. We show up pretty high on the searches and I think we can work on word of mouth.

 

I have no idea what some of the features are but if IP Borad comes with some worthwhile enchancements, then why not? I don't think an SSL cert is necessary either.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,525]

I'd like a server upgrade as traffic will just keep going up and up.

 

Also, the posts will start stacking up after a few months of a lot of active members

 

My current server has a lot of room for growth, especially now that it doesn't run Minecraft anymore (TheWiiU.com is now having its own donation drive to pay for the necessary upgrade to bring it back safely). An upgrade can be performed in about 30 minutes, so if a traffic emergency arises, it'll be dealt with swiftly.

 

We're currently "under attack" from a link on EqD that's sending a bunch of people here to download my mirror copy of the third episode (seeing as my server's download speed is several times faster than Pony Archive's or MegaUpload's), but the server hasn't even flinched.

 

I will be glad to help out the forum by giving a donation, and I will do that as soon as I get paid next month or if i've got a bit left over after the end of this month (had to order quite a bit of stuff for this month lol XD).

 

For my vote on what I think the forum should have, I'd say the IP.Gallery, not only could it be use to of course put Pony pics in but it can be used for other reasons like maybe for an example, photos from your holiday to Germany or maybe pictures from your night out on the town with fellow Bronies ect, ect.

 

Thanks for your offer, TallBrony91! Nice to see another vote for IP.Gallery - I'm personally finding it kinda hard to believe so many members here would rather have the site sped up than get our own miniature deviantART (I don't know about everyone else, but the site seems plenty fast to me). But hey, that's democracy.

 

Hmm. I know! Balloons! One for every pony in Ponyville!

 

To be frank, I don't think we should advertise. We show up pretty high on the searches and I think we can work on word of mouth.

 

I have no idea what some of the features are but if IP Borad comes with some worthwhile enchancements, then why not? I don't think an SSL cert is necessary either.

 

Our SERP (search engine ranking placement) still has lots of room for improvement. We show up pretty high for a new site, but we're hardly on the first page for anything. But SERP is built mainly through backlinks - getting links to the forum for awesome stuff that gets posted here.

 

But yes, agreed that a forum grows best through word of mouth. I think the only reason the Pony Countdown ad has shown any results is because it's literally a pony ad on a pony website - targeted advertising opportunities that good are extremely rare. But that said, the bid prices dropped off quite significantly now that the third episode's out, so I think I might keep the ads up there for a little longer.

[Kinvara 117]

CDN definitely looks like the most useful (which is why I voted for it) but I would really love to have an IP gallery as well.

 

The custom skin is ridiculously expensive yet also the least necessary, I'd much rather make this forum more functional for a fraction of the price than make it marginally more pretty with a skin.

 

The skin is the very last thing this forum needs and all of the other upgrades should take precedence over it.

 

(Excuse me if I sound overly-critical here but that's just how I feel.)

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,525]

CDN definitely looks like the most useful (which is why I voted for it) but I would really love to have an IP gallery as well.

 

The custom skin is ridiculously expensive yet also the least necessary, I'd much rather make this forum more functional for a fraction of the price than make it marginally more pretty with a skin.

 

The skin is the very last thing this forum needs and all of the other upgrades should take precedence over it.

 

(Excuse me if I sound overly-critical here but that's just how I feel.)

 

Totally agreed on the skin. I sorta threw the option in just for the fun of it - I'm actually really doubtful our first donation drive could reach $2000, and everyone loves the one I made, anyway.

 

How much longer do you reckon I should keep the poll open before we close it and choose an upgrade? I already sent a mass email out to all members, so there probably won't be too many more votes coming in.

[Kinvara 117]

How much longer do you reckon I should keep the poll open before we close it and choose an upgrade? I already sent a mass email out to all members, so there probably won't be too many more votes coming in.

 

Personally, I would wait until the vote has been open for 48 hours, and close it this evening at 5:12pm. We have about 100 active members so if you can get a sample size of around 50 then I think you'll have a good feel for what the forum wants.

Edited October 16, 2011 by Kinvara

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,525]

Personally, I would wait until the vote has been open for 48 hours, and close it this evening at 5:12pm. We have about 100 active members so if you can get a sample size of around 50 then I think you'll have a good feel for what the forum wants.

 

48 votes so far - I think that's close enough to 50. The breakdown of the results isn't going to change with two more votes - I think it's pretty clear that we're signing up for that CDN and throwing a few dollars at advertising on the side, with IP.Gallery as our next big goal.

 

I'll leave the poll open just a little longer, but the CDN is a given at this point.

[Swoop 2,278]

I'm gonna be that one guy who goes for the dumb unrealistic option.

 

über pretty forum skin ftw.