What's happening in 2010 on the DSF?

[Calypso Bay]

Justin,

Happy New Year to you mate. Just my share. Go for it!!! I am sure you will get any funding from the rest of us. I am not happy at you paying for anything on your own, your hard work at running the forum is enough. We should all make an equal contribution to ensure the forum remains alive and kicking. You should make the decision to proceed, let us know the total cost and divide that by the number of registered users and ask them all their individual cost and then see what happens. The majority of users will hopefully contribute.

Also, you should get the money in first and then migrate so that we all know what exactly is the position and also so that you dont incur any uneccessary expenditure yourself.

Just my thoughts.

Calypso

[Justin]

Many thanks for your comments Calypso, appreciate what you're saying about getting the funds in place first. This makes sense, if we could raise say a years worth of funds we'd get a much better deal.

The idea of a "Fundometer" is good, I could uodate this as funds come in and give regular updates.

Still playing with the data migration possibilities, that's what's holding me back at the moment!

[Calypso Bay]

Yep, the fundometer sounds good!!

[JSR]

We should all make an equal contribution to ensure the forum remains alive and kicking. You should make the decision to proceed, let us know the total cost and divide that by the number of registered users and ask them all their individual cost and then see what happens. The majority of users will hopefully contribute.

I'm not sure it would be practical to insist on an "equal contribution" because different people have different demands on their finances. If the contribution worked out to £10 but someone could only pay £2, that £2 wouldn't get contributed.

And it also wouldn't work to divide it by the number of registered users. If the cost to Justin is £70 and there are 70 registered members so the contribution is £1 each, and only twenty people contribute, then Justin is £50 out of pocket.

It would work far better to ask people to contribute a sum that can be balanced between their conscience and their wallet.

We all determine for ourselves what we are prepared to donate and, as I'm sure Justin would be the first to say, rather something little than nothing at all.

If, after a few weeks, the "fundometer" is lacking then we'll all know that we haven't done enough. Far better to donate a few quid now and, if necessary, donate another few quid in six months than to decide you can't afford a goodly amount this close to Christmas.

And if we all do well and donate more than the "fundometer" requires, then that leaves an amount for future additions to the forum.

[purpledragon]

Why so down on adverts isnt there a sticky thread with a whole page full of suppliers getting a free advert? i bet theres a few on here who have followed links on there i know i have, i think adverts are fine if they are unobtrusive and subtle. How about free membership to the forum but a premium membership with a small charge premium members get some sort of benifit maybe a supplier discount its a thought innit? Also one last shot DSF is also a well known forum it stands for drop ship forum could get confusing ..... just a thought
Brett

[JSR]

Why so down on adverts isnt there a sticky thread with a whole page full of suppliers getting a free advert? i bet theres a few on here who have followed links on there i know i have, i think adverts are fine if they are unobtrusive and subtle. How about free membership to the forum but a premium membership with a small charge premium members get some sort of benifit maybe a supplier discount its a thought innit?

I don't know about anyone else but it's a matter of balance for me. It's one thing to have advertisers confined to one sub-forum that you enter when you wish to see the adverts, and it's quite another to have adverts in your face all the time.

It's also a matter of control. If a supplier wants to offer members of this forum a discount and they post as such in the advertiser's forum, then we all benefit. The supplier benefits by advertising their wares, members benefit from the offer, and the forum benefits by an increased profile and more members (some of whom may donate towards the upkeep).

But if suppliers come in via the back-door, pay for the upkeep of the forum, then they effectively control the forum. As soon as that happens, posts would ultimately be heavily moderated to ensure there isn't the slightest criticism of that advertiser for fear that they'd withdraw their funding. Free speech will be gone and the forum will become useless.

Remember the old subli-nation forum in which discussions of "a popular dye-sub ink supplier" had to be moved to a "protected" sub-forum because subli-nation were being leaned on heavily to stop criticisms and problem posts? That's because the forum was an off-shoot of a supplier that sold a product from a manufacturer who didn't like being criticised. Measures had to be taken or else the supplier would, most likely, lose their reseller rights to the ink.

Or, to put it more simply, if this forum was paid for by suppliers A, B and C - each of whom sell ink D, and there's a discussion about how bad "ink D" is, then the manufacturer of "ink D" would put pressure on the suppliers to stop such discussion. They'd in turn put pressure on Justin to remove or heavily edit the posts - if he didn't do so, they'd be forced to remove their funding. This would lead to (i) more work for Justin and (ii) no funds to pay for the forum.

That'd be my concern.

However, if the forum is paid for my the members then the control is in the right place. So long as we're happy with the way Justin is running things (which I'm sure we are) then we donate. If we don't like it, we don't donate. So long as the majority of people are behind Justin, then there will be enough donations. If enough isn't donated, then Justin just needs to ask for members ideas and advice of how to improve things so that we are encouraged to donate and the forum will improve as a result. It's a win-win situation.

Also one last shot DSF is also a well known forum it stands for drop ship forum could get confusing ..... just a thought

Never heard of them. But given the URL is "dyesubforum", I can't see anyone getting confused.

[Justin]

Great post JSR.

I'm all for supplies having their own section and offering discounts, new product releases and so on, but as you have said, this is better confined to it's own section so you can choose whether to visit or not.

I don't want any one supplier to be able to dictate the advice being given and this is why I'm leaning away from supplier funding through advertising etc.

I guess it will come down to how many members are willing to make a small donation to help things along. This latest target is less than £1 per member so it shouldn't be a difficult target. I just don't want to see the same few members putting the money in all the while.

Justin

[Karen.]

I am more than happy to donate.
This forum and its members have saved me far more than any donation needed over the years.

[Paul]

I dont mind donate more then once too.
As Karen said. You can find more help on here. this help got value much more then donation...

lets say someone read the post about inks... it saved him about £150 so couple of quid for him now is nothing

[Paul]

there is about £30 of donation so far!! so we r half way already! well done everybody!