An ad-free DaniWeb

[Dani]

Hey guys. As you may or may not know, we're currently running a donation drive. With the increasing traffic coming to DaniWeb, we're currently investigating the idea of actually purchasing a second dedicated server, so that we can have one server for Apache/PHP and another server for MySQL. Currently, a donation entitles you to numerous community benefits. However, I have been toying with the idea of an ad-free version of the site. I am just looking basically for a rough estimate of whether this would be worth it. Thanks!

[jwenting]

Might be worth it depending on cost.
If it takes say $100 a year extra to not get ads it wouldn't be worth it for me (unless the number of ads for those who don't pay increase but that would then be reason enough to leave).

Of course without an alternative to PP donations are for many (including me) a pure hypothesis, so you might want to consider adding creditcard transations alongside PP which I think would get you quite a few more donations than offering an adfree alternative.

I dont' think that there should be a compulsory subscription, although an ad-free incentive does sound appealing, although I'm not too sure how well it'd be taken up.
Too many people are like me I fear, accustomed to the freedom of the internet and the free services it provides. Any site that forces subscriptions quickly sees the close button on my browser.
I know that costs are a turd, we all have to pay to breathe after all, but one of the things that endeared me to this community was the absence of any pressure to "sign up now". I don't mind the ads, and if circumstances permit I would donate out of respect more than anything else, but ads-free would make a nice bonus if I did.

[Dani]

After listening to you guys, I have reduced the price of a sponsorship in half! (Existing subscribers have had their subscriptions extended to reflect this)

[Cain]

naah.. you gotta make your bucks. If te ads werent there id really feel bad about
being a slug and not coughing up those 20 viente white mochas..

although i had a thought occur to me.. this is rare but sometimes.. just sometimes it happens; i think. the thought was-->
http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread14438.html

[Cain]

my apologies.. the cost is now less than 10 viente white mochas.. annually
or one a month.

[Dani]

It used to be $10/month and I lowered the price to $5/month. :)

[Cain]

right on. you might peel me for some loot yet. ;)

[Dani]

That would be very appreciated! :) I guess $5 is more reasonable than $10.

[Rueful Rogue]

I just joined a few days ago and have been really enjoying your site. I delayed subscribing only to be sure this was a site I would continue to return to. I'm glad I waited. I just left Pay Pal and have subscibed for a year. It's well worth the value. This site is a wealth of information and I'm proud to be a part of it. Keep up the good work!

[Dani]

Thanks so much for your subscription! Yes, I lowered the price from $10 to $5 just hours ago, hehe. However, for those people who paid $10, the length of their subscription was extended, so no one lost out :)

[tgreer]

Just my $0.02 worth to the conversation... I know this might sound arrogant, but I feel that providing quality content through good posts is my contribution to a forum. I don't mind ads, in fact, I vigorously support them, as long as they are professional and don't get in the way. The Google Ads are a good example of this. Plus, those ads are targeted to the content, so they actually might be for a product/service a user would want to buy.

So rather than make your regular users (who are your content providers) pay, make advertisers pay. I also have no shame in asking people to click ads, both on the forum and on my personal site. See my sig!!

[jwenting]

I'd donate if there were but a way that doesn't require PP (or IMOs which are a ripoff and hard to get anyway here).

[moderate_rock48]

I will donate as soon as I get a job, seeing how i spend most of my time here asking questions, reading old threads for more info(which really helps), and basically posting stupid crap in geeks lounge, as soon as i get a job Dani, which hopefully be very soon :)

[Dani]

Thanks for all your support, everyone. However, I think some of you may have misunderstood me. I have absolutely, postively, no plans on making members pay for access / use of DaniWeb. I am simply suggesting a subscription payment sort of like a donation for some extra features (such as ad-free).

[chound]

$5 is too much b coz in rupees that comes to around 250. Its not something my parents would give me

[pulse]

$5 is too much b coz in rupees that comes to around 250. Its not something my parents would give me

:) You are not being forced to buy a subscription! We really appreciate any sort of support to the site but at the same time, we also want to make it a place which is enjoyable by everyone and don't want anyone to feel excluded!

Running this site costs a lot of money and it is partially supported by the ads that you are seeing. The cost of $5 is pretty fair in my opinion.

[Catalana]

$5 is fair but access to ad-free would be a real incentive. Please add credit card payment!

[zeroth]

Opinion: Compulsory payment not advisable. Ad-free would be a good incentive. $5 per month is reasonable. Credit card would help get subscriptions.

[Young Teck 06]

Sounds like a great idea to me too. I would help, but I haven't been active around here much and need to get back into the swing. Number one thing to do is for me to find me freelancing work and then I may buy a subscription, but I like the ad-free idea though.