Bringing up the idea again... *crosses fingers*

gemiller

gemiller

Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2008
Messages
154
I really would like to see a 5-10$ dollar yearly cost to become a "supporter" of the site and see the ads removed off the page..

I posted this up i think a year or two ago, figure id see what happens again :) I love the site but ads just annoy me in general. :)
 
I think you can contribute, but I'm not sure enough do to do away with the ads for good. I think keeping it free keeps new members joining so it doesn't end up being a giant version of OT with a bunch of us who know each other splitting hairs about similar opinions. :p BTW, welcome back from the 11 month hiatus. I think you may have been sitting near us at O'neal's a few weeks ago, but having never actually met you, I wasn't sure, so I kept to myself. We have to get out fishing this year, since we are three blocks from each other. I fished in your back yard on the first day last year, but you had already C&R'd them all by then, I guess. :-D

Boyer
 
Boy I gotta agree with Boyer. My friends site is only a donation that is not mandatory. It somehow transformed to an almost 100% hunting site, usually the hair splitting is centered on the PGC and just doesnt attract new members . At all.
Dont think anyone like ads except the advertiser.
 
First off thank you very much for thinking of ways to help support the site. I am very open to any and all ideas. My wife thanks you too!

There are about five ways to make money on the Internet.
1. Pay Wall - you pay to have access to the information you want
2. Honor System - pay as you see fit and what you like
3. Sell stuff directly - this site could sell fly rods and more hats
4. Advertisements - Oldest trick in the book next to...
5. Pornography - I hear that makes money

Since I won't offer pornography, The NY Times showed us how a Pay Wall has failed, and I am not about to quit my day job to start a fly shop that leaves me the Honor System and Advertising.

I have tried the Honor System three times over the past 15 years with very limited success. There have been some very generous folks that donate when the link goes up, but very quickly they are the only ones that contribute. Fishidiot was very kind at the last Jam and donated a wonderful piece of art that generated money and was part of the honor system.

That leaves me with advertisement and sponsors. I am not going to give up all the details, but I am able to cover most of operating costs, however not enough to buy a new fly rod. If anyone did get me a new fly rod I would be very happy to post their picture and and write a very nice blog post about them!

Check into a very good book called Free by Chris Anderson. A fun read and has a lot to say about what has happen with the Internet. Covers why many things, especially on the Internet are now free. Just think about all the free information you now have: Maps, directions, dictionaries, encyclopedias, email, music, books. Stuff you used to have to buy 20 years ago. Chris covers this and the Freemumium model to a great degree. You can actually listen to the unabridged version from iTunes for...yes...free.

With one of Chris's explanations you would all go to this site and think it is cool and then that would mean I would be cool too. We would go to the Jam I would show you how I cast and you would give me money because I am cool. In some ways that model exists today. Think about it! I just saw that happen a couple of weeks ago, but I wasn't the one casting nor making any money.

For now those advertisers provide free access to a huge collection of really cool people (not me), ideas, and information here at Paflyfish. My price this to you month is that you have one more friend jump on our site who has not been here before.

I am not closing the conversation down, just sharing with you my experience. Would love to keep this dialog going. I joked with Fishidiot the other day that I kill most threads by just me making a post.
 
Tho only ads that bother me are the flashing "you are a Winner" ones.

I will say that I get this one site that keeps trying to come n with cookies ut my privacy filter blocks it. For a while there I was getting the netflix ads opening up. Really its not so much a bother.....I have bigger fish to fry than worry about some silly ads that come with a free website.

Now if it were like TV where you HAVE to wait until they are over to view again....that'd be different but you can just ignore them....except for the flashing ones but once you scroll, they are gone.
 
Maurice, sell this guy a hat! I don't even notice the ads and I hate to say, I don't click on them either. But, next time I want to shop at Orvis, I will try to remember to enter from this site.
 
I block ads on most websites, but not ones I visit often and wish to support. The ads here really are not very intrusive at all, IMO.

I do conditionally block all flash, and this site attempts to run one script:
http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/personalization/uts/flash/PTv8.swf

Anyone know what it does? If it's not taking personal information, but helps to generate ad revenue, I'll definitely want to allow it.
 
Amazon ads. It pays for the comments section of the forum. :)

Sorry had to go there.
 
That's fine. I just don't allow script to run unless I know what it is. I'll enable.

Thanks Dave.
 
I recall the last time a donations link was put up - maybe it's time to try again? It's disappointing that more revenue didn't come in the previous times. I'd happily contribute again as this site has, simply put, enriched my life and I learn more here than what I learn from many old media, paid subscriptions to hard copy FF media.
While certainly not a tech guy - but being someone who thinks he "gets it" with regards to the whole notion of a "free" internet - I just don't think it's sustainable. Information and membership are worth paying for. But of course, just because thats always the way-it's-been, doesn't mean we'll revert to that. And experiments like the NY Times seems to suggest we won't revert any time soon.
Time will tell - hopefully PAFF will evolve to the point where DaveK and folks will be awash in new fly rods but, in the meantime, I know I speak for a bunch of folks here that we're thankful to have this site and all that it offers.

They'll be another original painting painted on-site and raffled at the JAM. It will be much nicer than last year's. :)
 
I don't notice the either, they don't bother me. My pop-up blocker works great too.
 
I can cope with them, but small sub fees to remove them seemed to have worked well on other sites i visited, but either way I'll survive :D

realistically though, the only one that really actually bothers me is the top google one, the side bar ones are copable :D

on a side note, i'd buy a paflyfish.com shirt or something like that on the comment about selling stuff.

although i do think somewhere along the line my point got missed, im not saying remove or change the site at all, basically leave it exactly as it is, but a "supporter" logs in the and the ads go away, but if the ads per user make more than say $20 a year I can see how it wouldn't work. I don't really know what the ads on the site make per person per year, but i wouldn't think it would be that much. and for the regular "free" user it looks and works just like it does now.

either way, it was just an idea :D

also i noticed this brought up above, if you get a percentage of purchase for using this site as a portal to the ads site, is there anyway to make a "portal page" basically a list of links to the different sites that give the site a kickback? i order from orvis a good bit and if theres a dedicated link for this site to get a kickback, post it up and i'll use it.
 
Truly I appreciated the ideas and will look at them as ways you can help support the site. To take the time to even think of and offer suggestions means a lot to me. Again thank you and I will explore how development of the site can bring some of those ideas together.

In the mean time the biggest compliment aside from you comments is telling others to visit the site. Thanks for your participation!
 
Dave, maybe a reminder of the site stats such as visitors and members and lurkers would put the scope of it into perspective again. I remember the last time you posted such stats, many were surprised.
 
They don't bother me at all. Sitting here thinking, the only one I can remember is the Orvis one!

PaulG
 
My eyes pass the ads.

However, I wouldn't mind more PAFF merchandise, this would help support the site.

For the sports I coach, I order shirts for $7 and sell them for $12, not a bad profit margin. I would suggest taking orders first to not stock pile excess.

I think fly raffles would work too. A tyer could summit person creations and then the board members would vote on a winner. Then a collection of the winner's ties would go up for auction here.
 
Dave, you aren't against personal donations, are you? I have always assumed the ads pay for the space so to speak. With the board growing, the costs obviously rise, but so would ad revenue. I have no idea if it is a parallel rise or not. In any case, as I've said before, I hope the ads generate enough income so this site doesn't cost you a penny and then some so you can recover from all the years of investment without any return whatsoever.

If I owned the domain name paflyfish.com, I would have it constantly on the market. If this site were to be purchased by an equipment manufacturer, fly shop or another commercial interest, I can guaranty we'd all suffer.

Thanks for keeping this available to us, Dave, in whatever way you see fit. And, if you get a great offer, we'll find another domain name to operate under I am sure. You'll probably have to sign a "no compete" contract, though, so one of us will have to take over instead.
 
If a gear manufacturer or some other company were to offer for the domain, I think the regular members should be given a chance to match the offer. :) I'd rearrange my finances to contribute to such an investment.

Dave,
While I don't have any money, I'll offer my time again. If there's any tech stuff going on around here that needs a fresh set of eyes, let me know.
 
No interest in changing the site.

As for some stats always glad to share. We are running about a 40% increase in the key indicators from last year.
Over the past year:
500,000 visits
140,000 unique visitors
5,500,000 pageviews
60% visitors are from PA
40% made up of NJ, NY, MD, OH, VA, DC, FL

March and April were the busiest months in 2009. Our traffic this week is as busy it was for the second week of March in 2009. No surprise we are going to be busier than last year with folks stopping in.
 
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