Angry_Games Posted October 30, 2007 Posted October 30, 2007 So the time has come to tell you guys what I've been talking to dr_bowtie and the other mods for a few weeks. As of last night when momma's student loans started becoming due with monthly payments (2 per month for 2 different student loans so she could get through college and get a bachelor's degree), we've had to make a painful choice of which bills we have to pay every month. Since we've moved from Boise, our rent more than doubled (from about $500 a month to $1100 a month), and our income has dropped about $800 per month. One of the thorns in our financial sides is this webserver. This place costs us about $133/month, which I pay quarterly at $397.00. As I mentioned in another thread, we had to put it on our credit card for the first time in 4 years, and worse, we couldn't pay it all off when the CC statement came. We've had to split it into payments. This is a bad sign as we've never been in debt for credit/credit cards EVER in 5 years we've been together. And we aren't about to go into debt after 5 years. I think we might have made a mistake in getting this house, but that's how life goes I guess. So what does that mean for DIY-Street.com? Well, I had told dr_bowtie a few weeks ago all this, and that I would make one more server payment, which is due December 28th, and after that I was done making those payments out of my own pocket. At the same time, I started telling dr_bowtie and ReelFiles that I would be turning the site over to them as they were very interested in making sure DIY-Street doesn't get sold or worse, get turned off permanently. So I'm going to make dr_bowtie an admin, and give him the controls and let him work with everyone to see if you guys can get this site to become self-sufficient again, like it was when we were DFI-Street. At the same time, I will not be making the server payment as of December 28th because of the situation momma and I are in right now. So here's the deal. We've talked to some of our best members to get their help. My goal isn't to beg for donations anymore. My goal is to have you guys shape the site and forums into something that will attract traffic who will click the banners, especially those newegg/svc ones and help the site generate some cash. In the meantime, there's a $397 server payment coming up on December 28th that must be paid, so it looks like donations will have to be taken unless you guys band together quick and all the sudden start dropping content bombs all over the place and bringing in plenty of traffic. I'm not looking to make $6000 a month like we originally dreamed when we wanted to be better than Anandtech or whatever. The goal is now to simply generate enough money to keep the server paid up and online. Anyone who donates of course can be a VIP and be in the private donation section, though as of this writing, we've yet to really do much for any donation givers except to say thanks. But as I said, not looking to clean up and make a living on donations. Any money that is donated beyond the $397 per quarter won't be put in my pocket. It will be used towards the next server payment. I can't ask for donations + help in generating traffic so that I can buy the newest video card or Xbox game. I can ask that you guys get with dr_bowtie if you are interested in keeping this site alive and come up with some ideas and content and such. I can ask that you donate to make sure December's payment gets made which will give everyone some breathing room to come up with content and ideas. Here's 3 ways right now this site generates money: 1. donations - but I hate this sometimes-necessary-evil. 2. clicking the goggle ad or better yet, the Newegg/SVC links and ordering something. The site gets a percentage back for each purchase. 3. Our software partnership, like purchasing Everest, and we'll add some more (like purchasing Anti-Virus, WinRAR, other popular programs through our affiliate at Element5). I'll leave it all up to you guys as to what you want to do, if you want to do anything. I won't be angry or even surprised if most of you decide xxxx all that and go to another site. I got to tell you honestly that after this many years, I am completely and totally burned out. I had a lot of great ideas to make this site better and popular, but somewhere along the way life took precedent and again, I'm just completely burned out on it to the point I'm going to let someone else run the place for a while. There is a paypal donation button at the bottom of every page. There are newegg and google banners on every page. There is an SVC link in at least 100 user signatures (the most active and prominent users at that). There is a thread in the Software section about purchasing Everest and we'll be adding some more as soon as I can get to it. But mostly I'd rather see the entire community get together and come up with a plan. Anyone who has donated and anyone who does donate will be given a vote, sorta like a board of directors in a corporation, as to what the site should be, should do, etc. I'll be hanging around the background helping the mods and dr_bowtie make the necessary changes and give direction/input, but other than that, this is a community and the community needs to decide what we should be doing, and how we should generate enough income to keep the site alive. I don't want to close the site, and I don't want to sell the site, as I know me, I'll eventually stop being burned out and wish to put my energy back into things (everything you see around here is a direct result of my excitement and energy at wanting this place to be awesome lol). That's my speech. It sucks. Times are tough but as Tmod and the rest of the mods informed me, it's time for me to finally admit that if the community wants to keep this place alive, since they use it daily, then it needs to come from them instead of out of my own pocket. The time of me providing a free service is gone. Not because I hate you or the site. Because real life is costing me too much and I refuse to go into debt over this place, even though I love it and can't even imagine where I would go on the internet without it. So here's your chance to tell me to go xxxx myself with rusty barbed-wire. Or to volunteer to help out. Whatever. I'll let you all say whatever you want to say here. If anyone is interested in taking a bigger role in producing content, ideas, forum direction, you best start talking to dr_bowtie or ReelFiles. Catkicker was supposed to have contacted a big chunk of our best members that I gave him in a list, so some of you might know about this already. Ok, I'm out for the moment. 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KimTjik Posted October 30, 2007 Posted October 30, 2007 It wasn't a bad speech at all. A lot better than any of Cicero's, because it's plain honest and with no cunning intention. For someone like me there's no other option than to donate, but for consistency it can never be more than a temporary fix. Thus let's see what ideas the new guys come up with. For you own sake, and Momma's, take care of yourself and drop whatever burden that might increase stress. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelly Posted October 30, 2007 Posted October 30, 2007 Well first I want to say that Im sorry that you have to put your dreams on the side to take care of yourself/family, I know that feeling! But you are doing the right thing, Family comes first! I do have a question, is DIY-Street all about computers/technology? From what I see here it is not. Look at this off topic & intorduction section, we come here to ask question on other thing like cars, woodworking, and any other project that we could use another head in. Why not make DIY-Street a place here you can get help for anything? Why pay homedepot to do a home project when we have a ton of people here with more knowledge then the people at homedepot. Now I dont think there is anything worng with asking for a donation when we are a community. Look at the small communitys that we live in at home, we do what we can to keep it the way it is or make it better. But it still comes down to money and the community has to pay for that stuff. I have donated befor And I WILL donate again, just to keep my i-net community alive and I would hope that everyone here will do what they can also. I think one of the biggest things DIY-Street has is the tutorials and would love to see them on the front page. Lets show the world that DIY-Street know what we are talking about! Maybe have a tutorial on how to make a tutorial. lol Then open it up to everyone here or maybe to the vip, so we can make a tutorial. But dont limit it to just computer/tech stuff and let all kinds of projects to be shown. ie. Do-It-Yourself projects To everyone reading this just remember how we felt when dfi-street got closed. We wished there was sommthing that we could do to get it back. Well now its back and we can do somthing to keep it here! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaz Posted October 30, 2007 Posted October 30, 2007 Well put, KimTjik,,,I couldn't have said it better myself. I have to thank you and Momma, Travis, for all you've done, for all the sacrifices, all your efforts and time and energy to get this site up and running, and for having kept at it until you just don't have any more to give, and i don't mean just money. Take care, take a break and take care of yourselves, both of you. Our appreciation can't be expressed in words for your contributions in all aspects. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_bowtie Posted October 30, 2007 Posted October 30, 2007 Well first I want to say that Im sorry that you have to put your dreams on the side to take care of yourself/family, I know that feeling! But you are doing the right thing, Family comes first! I do have a question, is DIY-Street all about computers/technology? From what I see here it is not. Look at this off topic & intorduction section, we come here to ask question on other thing like cars, woodworking, and any other project that we could use another head in. Why not make DIY-Street a place here you can get help for anything? Why pay homedepot to do a home project when we have a ton of people here with more knowledge then the people at homedepot. Now I dont think there is anything worng with asking for a donation when we are a community. Look at the small communitys that we live in at home, we do what we can to keep it the way it is or make it better. But it still comes down to money and the community has to pay for that stuff. I have donated befor And I WILL donate again, just to keep my i-net community alive and I would hope that everyone here will do what they can also. I think one of the biggest things DIY-Street has is the tutorials and would love to see them on the front page. Lets show the world that DIY-Street know what we are talking about! Maybe have a tutorial on how to make a tutorial. lol Then open it up to everyone here or maybe to the vip, so we can make a tutorial. But dont limit it to just computer/tech stuff and let all kinds of projects to be shown. ie. Do-It-Yourself projects To everyone reading this just remember how we felt when dfi-street got closed. We wished there was sommthing that we could do to get it back. Well now its back and we can do somthing to keep it here! From the term DIY is Do-It-Yourself....and we have been mostly electronic stuff but with input we could possibly open it to other avenues of DIY...? It's all about you guys and the general census...You all are the reason this site is here and continues to be... There is a want for this site and for that want to be fed...we need to either attract more poeple and/or branch out... He's basically asking you guys for idea...so think it out and post it...that why I made the other thread but you all see how far that went... Not many ideas came thru that thread but how many people would post somewhere if the forums went down...? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HITandRUN Posted October 31, 2007 Posted October 31, 2007 Well Angry! Life is though as you can see and I fully agree with you that you shouldn't pay for all this stuff by yourself! Now I think it is time for you to get a regular job like your other 50% in your household and get on with your life since life with some cash in your pocket would be a lot easier. This is as far as my advice goes to you! Now I would like to introduce my idea on how to make some cash with this site. We all love to play games right? Well, after we buy the games for $49.99 and play the single player / multiplayer etc. we get tired of them (after about one month) and store them on the shelf and never touch them again! How about selling all the unnecessary never games for like $35 bucks (or prices can be adjustable) so $5 can go towards the street server payments! I believe this along with some other ideas would generate some cash. I would love to buy some games for $35 instead for $49.99 and the seller wold recoup some spent cash! Let me know what you think! I guess I would start with the games I would like to sell: 1. Battlefield 2 2. Battlefield 2142 3. Everquest 2 4. SCI: Crime Scene Investigation, 3 Dimensions of murder Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_bowtie Posted October 31, 2007 Posted October 31, 2007 Good idea... I think thats a cool one that would be oriented towards gamers that may like that idea...but isnt that what the forsale section is for...? anyhow any of you that would like to throw around ideas I am alway on MSN and the info is in my profile...feel free to contact me... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
momoceio Posted October 31, 2007 Posted October 31, 2007 I'd love to make the site a little more broader in the terms of DIY. However, I'm not sure we should go so far as having a DIY Gardening, etc. I think it would be cool though to have some added sections like DIY Photography, DIY Auto, etc. More How-Tos and worklogs are always good, too. The review section could be expanded to include more than just reviews for pc components and web sites. How about reviews for cars, movies, tv shows, or vacation spots Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Games Posted October 31, 2007 Posted October 31, 2007 Well Angry! Life is though as you can see and I fully agree with you that you shouldn't pay for all this stuff by yourself! Now I think it is time for you to get a regular job like your other 50% in your household and get on with your life since life with some cash in your pocket would be a lot easier. This is as far as my advice goes to you! Now I would like to introduce my idea on how to make some cash with this site. We all love to play games right? Well, after we buy the games for $49.99 and play the single player / multiplayer etc. we get tired of them (after about one month) and store them on the shelf and never touch them again! How about selling all the unnecessary never games for like $35 bucks (or prices can be adjustable) so $5 can go towards the street server payments! I believe this along with some other ideas would generate some cash. I would love to buy some games for $35 instead for $49.99 and the seller wold recoup some spent cash! Let me know what you think! I guess I would start with the games I would like to sell: 1. Battlefield 2 2. Battlefield 2142 3. Everquest 2 4. SCI: Crime Scene Investigation, 3 Dimensions of murder well one thing we used to have was Direct2Drive affiliation so you could buy your games through them (download like Steam), but after 6 months I scrapped it as not a single game sold haha. I wish I could make a commission on Steam sales Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HITandRUN Posted October 31, 2007 Posted October 31, 2007 Good idea... I think thats a cool one that would be oriented towards gamers that may like that idea...but isnt that what the forsale section is for...? anyhow any of you that would like to throw around ideas I am alway on MSN and the info is in my profile...feel free to contact me... Sure is the for sale a good place to do it but we could also have a thread just to deal with games etc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Games Posted October 31, 2007 Posted October 31, 2007 I'd love to make the site a little more broader in the terms of DIY. However, I'm not sure we should go so far as having a DIY Gardening, etc. I think it would be cool though to have some added sections like DIY Photography, DIY Auto, etc. More How-Tos and worklogs are always good, too. The review section could be expanded to include more than just reviews for pc components and web sites. How about reviews for cars, movies, tv shows, or vacation spots I always sorta saw it eventually (long into the future) of having all sorts of DIY categories, and all of this that is the forum now would simply just be in the Technology section however a DIY "how to repair a severed tendon" tutorial vid might be a long time in coming haha Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
radodrill Posted October 31, 2007 Posted October 31, 2007 I know there some woodworkers on here; maybe one of them could do a guide on some of the basics, i.e mortise/tenons, dovetails, etc. This weekend I'l start working on a guide to GFX overclocking. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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