Banners

[Thunder]

OKCTalk - Announcements in Forum :

Yo, Pete, are you seriously going to sink this forum to a lower level by plastering banners all over?

Firstly, there are another viable solution or two.

You need to actually be more involved in promoting premium memberships and offer certain benefits to this. If you do, more people will be interested to pay. Yearly isn't enough? Try every 3 or 6 months renewal.

Got PayPal? Easy to set up. Easy to post a donation link/button. Be involved to encourage the people to donate. Watch, you will see people start to seriously donate once you send out the urgent need for funding to keep this forum going.

Easy solutions that does not really need to drag the site down with banners. You just have to be the kind of Admin that will actually get the fund flowing.

Also curious about your post saying something about tax. Weird, but could you explain?

[Lauri101]

Pete - do what you gotta' do and a serious thank you for all that you've done to keep this site going!

Even if Gold members have to see an ad, I can live with it versus the alternative of seeing this forum disappear.

(psst - Thunder - Paypal is available already)

Speaking from a tax point of view - there's only so much you can write off and a loss is still a loss.
Banner away - and maybe some of the folks on here who do have businesses can take an advertising expense write-off and spend the money with you.

Those that do - I personally will patronize and encourage others to do so.

[Jethrol]

I'm not opposed to banner ads but perhaps there are other options?
How about:

1. Making it easy for people to buy memberships. I would gladly help chip in to keep this site going as I've come to enjoy this forum quite a bit. However, when I noticed this thread and read the linked announcement, then went to look for a link to buy a subscription, I couldn't find it. Where is it? Why isn't it placed in a very visible location that is easy for everyone to find?
   
2. For that subscription what do I get? Are there varying levels of subscriptions such as:
   *"Free" = Access to a few forums and you see all banner ads, no PMs or any extras. "FREELOADER" hyperlink in your posts where the hyperlink takes you to the subscription form.
   
   *"Bronze" = access to all forums except some hidden ones, limited PMs, no custom avatar, no picture uploading and you will see all banner ads. "bronze" tag in your posts.
   
   * "Silver" = All Bronze but you have custom avatar and limited picture uploading and you still see all banner ads. "silver" tag in your posts
   
   * "Gold" = All Silver but no banner ads, unlimited PMs, more picture uploading and a nice "gold" tag for your posts.

Anyways, just some ideas.

[gmwise]

I'm sure Thunder, that Pete had to form a business entity and if money was income or expense he has to file for tax purposes.