EZ-Flash USA Forum

Hi All,

Sosuke and I have been in talks the past few days with regards to the bandwidth usage over the last few weeks and how best to combat it.

The site has had a massive influx of new people recently, most probably due to the launch of the EZ-IV, and this is consuming significantly more bandwidth than was previously being used.

We have come up with a number of possible solutions and may settle on one.

Our thoughts led us to these ideas:

* Voluntary contributions by members and an associated rank.
* Google AdSense Ad's.
* A single Banner Ad.

The first two would mean that funds would primarily go towards the increased bandwidth usage, any surplus monthly funds would be put towards prizes of some sort. This led us to problems of how best to give away any prizes on offer, etc.

So we're both leaning towards a single Banner Ad. I have a personal dislike for Banner Ad's and block almost all I see, however the Banner Ad would allow an increase in bandwidth usage each month without the added complications of money being involved.

I would like people's thoughts on this and an adult discussion to happen. Any and all off topic and non related posts will be removed from this thread.

Many thanks,

Slade

I would be willing to contribute a reasonable amount when I can. I also have no problem with ads if they are necessary to keep this forum running. This is one of the best flash cart forums there are, period.

Aren't you getting any help from EZFlash? Theyre linking directly to this site as the only forum for english speakers (and the only source for english EZ4 updates), so this really is the "official" forum now. They are profiting by this forum's existence, so EZFlash should be paying for it, not you and not us.

The issue both Sosuke and I have with that approach Hanafuda, is that once the EZFlash team start contributing to the site, then the site loses any independance it once had.

I believe Sosuke like's the idea of the site being independant. There is little to no censorship with regards to posts (illegal substance aside), and this could be lost should costs be borne by the EZTeam. They may also ask for Site Admin status at this site, which many would feel they had the right to do give that they're helping to pay for it.

Luney, dude... I really appreciate the offer. It's a thought at this point. And one I don't think Sosuke will head towards. I know he's looking at showing just one Ad. Sosuke tells me his host will increase the bandwidth if they show just one advert, which advertises their hosting.

It also comes down to people are distrusting of others when it comes to money. How much money would be enough ? What happens to surplus funds each month ? Who makes up the short fall in any particular month ? There are too many questions and not enough easy answers.

Then I have the issue that my wife and I pay $160 AU / Month for internet access. I don't believe that I should be paying anymore to access websites.

I really do appreciate the feedback and I'm sure Sosuke will too, once he returns from where ever he's about to visit. Which will be early next week.

I understand what youre saying about keeping the site independent, Slade, but in the meantime EZflash is riding Sosuke's wallet all the way to the bank. They ought to at least be throwing you and sosuke some free goodies to keep your loyalties properly biased.

Stick a shit load of banner ads in there if it solves your problems Slade, if people cant figure out how to use Adblock or if they're still using IE then they dont deserve to be on the internet

What sort of bandwidth are you talking about? Is it the forum or the mirrored client / firmware downloads?
I might be able to offer a mirror...

If it is just a fairly unobtrusive banner ad for the sites hosting (mjzhosting if I am correct) then I would say that one.

I do not like the google ones much but this is Sosuke's site so it is ultimately Sosuke's choice.

I would not mind donating something at some point, just stay away from paypal.

Maven,

I think it's a combination of everything. The forums, the wiki, some of the downloads. The main download links are on my ISP server. I'd hoped this was sufficient to remove a good chunk of bandwidth from the site. It may have worked, I don't know.

@FAST, yes it's the mjzhosting banner. I don't know the deal the Sosuke struck with his host. And I agree, I dislike the Google adsense banner ads as well.

@Hanafuda, aside from nice words, I've not gained anything from the site. Well, I've "met" some decent people. No money or other items have changed hands.

Just bumping this thread and giving an update.

You've no doubt all either seen the new ads or you've seen some extra odd looking empty post sections where the ads should be. Sosuke is hopeful the ads will generate sufficient revenue to keep the site at the higher bandwidth allowance without additional cost to him.

Without giving to much away we're hoping to approach the ads in a tiered system. Users of certain levels will see more ads than others. This should not exceed a maximum of three ads per page. The number of ads also depends on the number of posts in the forum.

This does not mean we want to see post spamming going on. None of us will tolerate that and posts that are just plain pointless will be delete.

Once Sosuke gets an idea of the revenue being generated (or not), we have some ideas on what to do with surplus funds. As neither of us have any idea what dollar amount is being considered, we don't want to post specifics here. That could raise peoples hopes beyond what we are able to provide.

The system and code is currently being fine-tuned and as such you may see changes to the board over the coming days/weeks.

I don't have a ton of time but I wanted to comment on this thread.

Maven, the majority of the bandwidth usage is coming from the forum, actual PHP text, crazy as that sounds. Runner up is the wiki, with actual downloads at third place.

As for the tiered approach Slade mentioned, my main target right now is our guests and anonymous users, those less savvy, they are who produces the majority of the traffic. We have not nailed down the specifics of how it will work but the current setup you see is one ad inline after the first post, and then one ad after every 5 posts. This keeps the number of visible ads on screen at one for 1024x768. (just an eye-ball average) I am thinking about alternative placements but its quite possible to change.

I am extremely happy to see the forum become what would seem to be the official EZ-Flash forum for English speakers. I do want to keep it as under our control as possible, I enjoy reading about other products that I may have not learned about on a more moderated forum.

FAST6191, as to why AdSense over the single banner, very quickly it became complicated to barter, he had no specifications in mind. It was also bright blue. Additionally, AdSense has been a good experience to setup and administer in relation to my line of work.

To everyone with AdBlock, sorry about the blank posts, I now labeled them on the left as "Advertisement". Why are some of them blank? Well AdSense just doesn't have enough relevant ads to display on some pages, and sometimes the page has not been fully indexed yet.

As of right now, AdSense has been active in the forum and wiki for less than 24 hours, so I can't give a yea! or nay! either way. Slade and I have not been able to meet again since I returned from vacation but I expect we will iron out details soon.

Does the revenue from the ads increase if there is traffic from the site or is it purely based on the ads simply being displayed?

AdSense is pretty fuzzy, but it is not based on impressions but rather click-throughs and purchases after a click-through.

But, if 2% of visitors click and AdSense ad, it goes to show that 2% of 100 daily visitors is less than 2% of 800 visitors, so yeah, more traffic == more money I would assume at this point. More money spent on bandwidth and more money earned, trick is going to be a nice balance.

So does that mean that everybody should click an AdSense ad once a day if we want prizes?

LOL, nono, please don't spam the AdSense I will be banned, however if you see a product you like or are mildly interested in. I actually clicked more than I think I should have just cause I was interested to see what they were.