Bandwidth Problems
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Sorry guys, but until the piccy downloaders settle down, I’m having to take the sci fi downloads section off-line. It’s only for a little while. But since I’m currently on 27Gb out of a monthly allowance of 43Gb, I’m worried enough to take drastic action.
We’ll see how things are next week.
My ISP has also just informed me that the MySQL usage is limited to 65 concurrent users when the server load is high. It is likely therefore, that Fridays (the day after Tripping the Rift aires) will be problematic as this is the time when we get the most number of hits on the site.
[i]For those of you who are big downloaders of stuff, perhaps you would consider a donation to the site to help pay for some of the bandwidth which I can buy in 10Gb chunks when the server load is high.[/i]
[color=violet]Some of you may be concerned about how these issues will affect sadgeezer.com in the future. [/color] Such topics have been discussed in the past:
The Admins and moderators and regular many registered users of this site all agree that we should keep it ad free (no popups or silly bouncing adverts or spam – WE NEVER EMAIL registered users exept to tell them that someone has answered their forum post – and that it should continue to provide a community environment for cult sci fi fans from [b][i]their[/i][/b] perspective. The site is fairly unique in this respect and therefore will attract all sorts of people. Mostly we get Lurkers (people who just want to checkout news, download a few pictures and see what people are saying in the forums). Lurkers don’t register as a rule and [b]they are absolutely welcome on this site.[/b]
In fact everyone is welcome on this site! We have no plans to enforce registration and no plans to limit Lurkers to non-community related activities. Downloads will remain unregulated provided they don’t threaten closure of the website due to too much traffic.
We are looking at other options for expansion of the website along the current lines of usage and visitors should be assured that although we are having some issues with the success of the site, that [b]we are committed to making sure that there is access for all![/b]
Well Sadgeezer; you appear to be reaching the limits of the website as you manage it. One way or another you will have to decide whether to keep growing and produce the necessary capital to continue; or to do what you are doing now and cut back or keep your present size.
You always like to state that you are the largest on the web; so my guess is that you take the next step and start to use the website to finance itself.
Since I am not the most loved at this site, I will make the statement that I fully endorse your wish to keep things free around here; but I urge you to do the right thing and start to make this website pay for it’s own upkeep. The way to do this could be a separate thread, but I will make things easier for you, by saying this:
[b]Sadgeezer.com must start making money or it will collapse into itself! This site must become commercial if it is to continue! Everyone accept this fact and do not be too hard on Sadgeezer as it is his only option. It is his only option; so Sadgeezer – let me be the first to say I endorse any decision you make to finance this website and keep it viable. Time to forge ahead![/b]
Maurice Ali
And one other thing Sadgeezer: Sadgeezer.com is still your website. There is nothing wrong with some payback for all that hard work (especially if it is put back into the website). Do what you must to maintian the domination of your venue in it’s category…..or some other enterprising person will see your hestitation and take advantage of it…..thats business…..
Maurice Ali
Hmmm. To be honest, I can dissagree with most of that!
sadgeezer.com is mine but I don’t own the site, you and other contributers own it. In my eyes, this is a hobby site and to be honest, in terms of it’s size and how to move things on, I was having the same conversation with users three and four years ago.
sadgeezer.com is, at the moment a sci fi community rather than a business. Imagine 5,000 people per day coming into a shop with nothing to sell. Many of them come because they don’t get sales assistants bothering them to buy things, others use it as a meeting place to chat to other people and still more peeps come for information (that in many cases they could get elsewhere, it’s just that here it’s all under one roof).
Years ago we wondered how to get the site to make money, how do you sell to these people? We’ve tried lots of things and not many have worked. The only way to do as you suggest is to radically change the nature of the site and I and the admins and mods aren’t prepared to do that.
I’m quite happy to continue with the site the way it is, as hobbies go, this is not an expensive one and I get far more rewards than hassles. I’m always open to suggestions from people on how to commercialise the site and fund new resources like bandwidth etc. but that is a slow process one in which hasty decisions can cause grief to the members.
And so, the best way to proceed is to carry on as normal until I find a way to improve the resources of the site (ie. more bandwidth)…. just like last year, and the year before and the year before that. [color=cyan]This thread was simply meant as a warning that there will be some disruption in the comming weeks as the site goes through this next period of growing pains.[/color]
Sorry about that Sadgeezer; I guess I read you wrong. I shall now put aside my secret plans to buy you out and turn Sadgeezer.com into one huge cash cow! 😈 😈 😈
[quote=”SadGeezer”]Mostly we get Lurkers (people who just want to checkout news, download a few pictures and see what people are saying in the forums). Lurkers don’t register as a rule and they are absolutely welcome on this site.
[/quote]Let me reiterate this point by pointing to my registered name.
That aside, as always, I will be long winded. You have been warned:
Personally, I was truly amazed when I finally realized how this site was run. It’s basically a hands-off deal left to those who love, and this is important, hate Sci-Fi.
I lurked on this site for at least a year before even making my first post. It was then and (sometimes) now a “Rant” site (that had some cool LEXX contests). But unlike aint-it-cool, IGN, Sci-Fi, and other websites, this site is non-profit and relies totally and utterly on user contribution.
Unlike other rant sites this one has a surprisingly clear and concise audience, who can make usually intelligent points without dragging everyone through the mud. As well as the complaints, you will find heapings of praise for the few Sci-Fi shows/media that deserve it. And as always, you will find that we all rarely agree, which produces in-depth conversation from a science fiction audience that is largely ignored by the corporations that produce the subject matter we talk about.
Later on our current favorites died away, this site became more than just B5 and LEXX, and will continue to cover, review, scrutinize, and most importantly, rant about new Sci-Fi. Tripping the Rift, Battlestar Galactica, and other new shows we cover have drawn larger and larger audiences but less contributers.
The people who cover the shows here all have full time lives and everything that goes with them. We contribute because we care about what you think, and we all want to stoke something provocative inside you. I don’t make outrageous statements about Viacom/Sci-Fi-USA for nothing folks.
So if you’ve been around here downloading everything you can, drop a few bucks. And if you’ve been around a while and said:
“Hey, maybe I’ll register. Ahh those always take forever, they want this info and that info, and then those stupid confirmation emails!”
Let me put you at ease. The process will take no more than a couple minutes, and you will never hear from us again unless you prompt your account here to e-mail you with updated threads.
And if you have any questions or comments feel free to email one of us.
Even if you never use the name to post, it makes us feel better knowing you’re out there and reading what we all have to say. Even that little effort is a contribution to me.
[quote=”Fatguy”]I shall now put aside my secret plans to buy you out and turn Sadgeezer.com into one huge cash cow! 😈 😈 :twisted:[/quote]
😀
Erm… Now lets not be too hasty there guy! ….. I’m always open to offers 😉
[quote=”LexxLurker”]Let me reiterate this point by pointing to my registered name.[/quote]
Yeah!
Exactly….
…wot he said!
Couldn’t have put it better.
I’m sure this has been brought up before and I just missed it, but has any thought been given to selling [b]moderated[/b] banner ads? Perhaps elcheapo text ads to fan sites that are just starting, moving up to more money for ads for non-commercial but intricate fan sites to high-stakes ads for commercial sci-fi sites?
Pretty much you could charge whatever you liked, you’d have total approval over which sites and which banner design they submitted, and unlike that rotating service I remember you being on they would all remain on-topic. You’re not the kind of people who are out to grab the biggest bucks, so I don’t think there’s any danger of being inundated with off-topic banners. And you could limit it to a certain number of purchased ads monthly so no poor Admins get overworked.
You could even give discounts to [i]contributing[/i] members to encourage interaction. People who have engaged in a few discussions or uploaded pics if they’re shy, nowamsane?
Submitting links is cool, but I bet a few of the webmasters who did so might consider donating to the cause if they could get a $5 ad rotated in on the left, and moreso for an ad at the top, and you’d be providing a double service to the cult tv Village… uh… Community by linking people who are looking for exposure to people looking for information.
I’m currently paying Google for a little tiny 3-line text thing. I’d gladly drop $20 in Paypal for a banner rotated at the top here for one month. (But perhaps that’s the Nytol talking…. 😉 )
Pet
(P.S. I was never really sure if your off-site banners are paid or trade or just informational. What are they?)
what about a donation box of some sort?
Also, can’t you contact current running tv sci-fi shows and ask them for funds in return for advertising their program.
PS – as for all of us owning a part of this site : I claim the area just above Eva Habermanns left nipple from the first picture of the shower scene. 😛
There is a donation button on the right hand side, about half way down. I think it should be on the top, but that is just me. Anyhow, this donation button is for a set amount, I think it was $3.00 last time I used it.
Me? I just go to paypal.com and make a transfer to donations@sadgeezer.com and then I can type in any amount I like. (I am ususally a 25.00 a pop girl) You don’t even have to have a paypal account, since they will do a credit card payment transfer.
it is on the home page on the left hand side. Scroll down about half way.
Yo Tony! Even people looking for it can’t find it. How about moving it to the Right hand side on the top. That way it will stay put no matter where people go.
Pet: The going rate for banner ads at the moment is peanuts per 10,000 views. Most look for a click through ratio also. The site wouldn’t generate much money from banners I’m afraid.
Frey: Yep, gotit! It will be moved momentarily.
Guys, don’t sweat the money stuff, I don’t pay very much for the site hosting and the extra charge in bandwidth would be a maximum of around $20 dollars per month. I can handle that. The current bandwidth hassles are also linked to my ISP seating that the site is too popular and that it might pull the other sites hosted on this server down when it hits peek periods.
The fact is, that the cost of a dedicated server (which is what we need) with a decent amount of bandwidth so that Headge wouldn’t feel guilty about putting vid clips and lots of images up on the site, is HUGE! So until we get sponsorship to be able to get a dedicated server, we’ll have to muddle along as we are. The fact is though, this have never been so good! The server as it is is among the best (performance wise) that we’ve had in AGES and excepting a few peek period hassles, I’m pretty p[leased with the way things are going.
Much of the responsibility for managing the site has moved over to the mods and admins, leaving me to concentrate on one of the few tasks that I have left to do on my own – make sure that the site stays up and on a decent server….. believe me, lots is happening on that front! It can only get better. 🙂
[quote=”SadGeezer”]Pet: The going rate for banner ads at the moment is peanuts per 10,000 views. Most look for a click through ratio also. The site wouldn’t generate much money from banners I’m afraid. :)[/quote]
Who cares about the going rate, and click through pricing? I am sure a lot of the Sci-fi peeps who have their own sites would pop $10.00 a month to have their banner rotate on your site. I know I was totaly stroked when mine made it up there! (Nag? Who nagged? Me? Surely not? 😛 ) I was so excited I took screen shots of it. 😀
I am pretty sure you could get five or six a month and a waiting list to boot. 😀
[quote=”thefrey”][quote=”SadGeezer”]Pet: The going rate for banner ads at the moment is peanuts per 10,000 views. Most look for a click through ratio also. The site wouldn’t generate much money from banners I’m afraid. :)[/quote]
Who cares about the going rate, and click through pricing? I am sure a lot of the Sci-fi peeps who have their own sites would pop $10.00 a month to have their banner rotate on your site. I know I was totaly stroked when mine made it up there! (Nag? Who nagged? Me? Surely not? 😛 ) I was so excited I took screen shots of it. 😀
I am pretty sure you could get five or six a month and a waiting list to boot. :D[/quote]
Those are my sentimonies! A conventional banner exchange wouldn’t be necessary.
[begin channeling Logan pun]
[i]Convention[/i]al doesn’t have the same ring to cult TV sci-fi fans, does it?
[end channeling Logan pun]I wouldn’t care about what “the business” charges, it’s more important to me to get a recognisable logo out at a site I like for a flat rate. This would be the perfect place to have a fan-site-only banner program. Since most of your visitors are rabid fans of something here I don’t expect they would be offended to find out you were selling banners to fan sites. I always kind of thought you were, actually, but I was afraid of how much it might cost.
My site’s just a hobby, like most fan sites, so I prefer a flat rate to sudden changes in CTR or being drowned out by official sites with more money. I would think that most other hobby webmasters feel the same way– especially if they’re just starting to take their design seriously or just had a major overhaul.
I have about 4% CTR at Google for less than $5 a month, but it’s not a graphic. The only reason I went with them is because I could set a price limit which is almost like having a flat rate.
I probably wouldn’t pay $10 [i]each[/i] month, but I would buy one month for $20, for a fan event perhaps, or a website grand opening, or a year for $60. There’s 3 months of extra BW right there. If you can get 3 other fan sites signed up, your BW problems would be taken care of. (For the moment ;)) If it tests well for that, you might get up into the dedicated server range. If not, then you abandon it after a year is up.
Since you could moderate your own banners you could decline sites in direct competition or that are clearly under construction… or just selling bootleg vids… or pop-up hell… or whatever. I mean, we’re not talking personal ads or pop-ups or major studio fare.
With a flat rate you wouldn’t have to deal with CTR, either. You agree on a price in a PM, they make a donation, you put up a picture, then it’s all overwith for a month or a year.
Pet
Something else you might consider, is to make PART of the site require a paid membership in order to access. Thus the casual visitors of sadgeezer.com can still continue to come for free, while those who are looking for more features, and are more heavily attached to the site, can enjoy extra benefits as paid members.
Since your current bandwidth problems seem due to downloaders, maybe that section would make an ideal paid feature. Thus, the problem pays for itself.
I’m keen on Pet’s idea about banners using a set “donation” fee. I think may people would be interested in that.
[quote=”sgtdraino”]Something else you might consider, is to make PART of the site require a paid membership in order to access. Thus the casual visitors of sadgeezer.com can still continue to come for free, while those who are looking for more features, and are more heavily attached to the site, can enjoy extra benefits as paid members.
Since your current bandwidth problems seem due to downloaders, maybe that section would make an ideal paid feature. Thus, the problem pays for itself.[/quote]
The materials in the downloads section do not belong to this site (there are some agreements in place I believe). If one were to charge people to access (and download) them, there could be some unfortunate legal consequences (even if this remained in actuality a true non-profit site). One has to be very careful when it comes to distributing others intellectual property — there are of course many commercial sites that try to sell memberships to get people to download materials that they have no rights to (have made no agreement with the production companies etc.)
Right now, as it is, we’re doing them a service by helping to advertise their shows, but if there was any hint of a commercial agenda they might take legal action (really we’d have to come to an agreement with them — just possibly they’d be willing to come to an agreement where they’d accept a slice of the pie if we were to charge a fee, but I wouldn’t even try to go that route).
Sometimes I’ve felt that perhaps some of the producers of the shows might be willing/want to help finance this site (especially when it comes to making the guides), since we really do help market their shows… It’s a great advertisement for them. Of course we’re indebted to them too, since our site is dedicated to their shows, and that’s our passion. Thanks to them for allowing us to share their materials in order to enrich others. And they have shown some support when it comes to us trying to bring their shows to the attention of others, I believe.
Wonder how many people have bought DVDs because they were inspired by the guides and info on the shows here?
On the other hand, it’s not good to be beholden to those people, it probably would negatively affect the quality of the guides (we might be less critical, and this site should remain noncommercial on that front so we can remain impartial/unbiassed).Interesting points. Yes Pet, I see now where yer cominng from. I’ll think about it.
Yes, Logan is right, the copyright issue is a biggy! I don’t own the pictures or any of the material on this site except the reviews I personally have written. Much is gleened from contributors and members of the site and still more comes from screen grabs of the shows I’ve been reviewing.
Producers and TV companies tollerate this because we are actually promoting the shows we review, but if we were to charge peeps to download material which they wone the copyright to, they would rightly get a bit miffed.
On the whole, as I mentioned before, excepting for a few bandwidth problems the site is doing pretty well. BUT, and it’s a big but (dispite the diet 😉 ) SadGeezer.Com wont get much bigger without a significant overhaul. This is what I’v ebeen working on over the last few months.
The geezer who designed the current graphics and a good friend who happens to own a successful ISP is negotiating with me to set up a partnership so that we can have a dedicated server with whatever bandwidth we need. Of course this comes at a price, but as long as we still remain independant and don’t have annoying pop-up ads and are not force-fed rubbish, I’m open to suggestions. Things are a long way off being decided but things are definately looking positive for the future (I just hope that with the current success, we can last that long 😉 ). I’ll keep you posted of any developments.
[quote=”Logan”]
Right now, as it is, we’re doing them a service by helping to advertise their shows, but if there was any hint of a commercial agenda they might take legal action (really we’d have to come to an agreement with them — just possibly they’d be willing to come to an agreement where they’d accept a slice of the pie if we were to charge a fee, but I wouldn’t even try to go that route).Sometimes I’ve felt that perhaps some of the producers of the shows might be willing/want to help finance this site (especially when it comes to making the guides), since we really do help market their shows… It’s a great advertisement for them. Of course we’re indebted to them too, since our site is dedicated to their shows, and that’s our passion. Thanks to them for allowing us to share their materials in order to enrich others. And they have shown some support when it comes to us trying to bring their shows to the attention of others, I believe.
Wonder how many people have bought DVDs because they were inspired by the guides and info on the shows here?
On the other hand, it’s not good to be beholden to those people, it probably would negatively affect the quality of the guides (we might be less critical, and this site should remain noncommercial on that front so we can remain impartial/unbiassed).[/quote]There is one point that really bothers me here. This site, the shows and fan sites definately take more than they give with regard to the program-website relationship – don’t kid yourself. Your audience comes here mostly based on an interest generated by a commerical show being advertised on networks supported by paid advertising.
If you were to run a site that had to produce it’s own “entertainment”, you would see how hard it is to get traffic. One person has a site devoted to a female star/model, and braggs that it is successful, well how much is the actress and show…..and how much is the owner of the website that never took one picture…..
It has to be said that for all the criticism that has been levelled at me – for example – look at how little of my posting ever owed anything to someone else’s labor…..
Try to start a unique service and sell it (I have, the only one of it’s kind, free and for altruistic purposes – a protection device for journalists), and see how hard it is to start up and get interest…..
I have another site where we get stories that other media won’t cover because they are unpopular; but the other “occasional” times when we have to comment on a popular subject – I get the highest hits every time and do relatively nothing…..I was feeding off someone else’s work….. Try to produce a newspaper with only volunteer contributors to stories they have to produce and many times fight with other reporters to get; then print that paper with no advertisers – the work and expense will show you what other people had to do before they hit it big with a popular show…..like the shows at this site.
Having said all of that; Sadgeezer is right in the end that a fan site is owned by the fans, that is why the commercial interests allow it. So charging for downloads of copyrighted material would clearly get one into problems. The banner advertising seem like the best approach as they do not “feed” off any of the shows on this website, and if the money truly goes just to maintain the site – I can’t see any problems arrising from it. The donations are another idea.
Taken to an extreme, we all feed off each other, I am just pointing something out to point to the best direction to take in funding the site….. Thanks to Logan, Pet, and TheFrey for their suggestions (they were not mine); as for my “own” original but negative input…..I got to be me!
[quote=”thefrey”]Yo Tony! Even people looking for it can’t find it. How about moving it to the Right hand side on the top. That way it will stay put no matter where people go.[/quote]
[quote=”SadGeezer”]Frey: Yep, gotit! It will be moved momentarily. :)[/quote]
Ummm, I mean my other Right. I mean left, yes, left it is. ;D The right hand column disappears once you get on the boards.
Logan wrote:
[quote]Wonder how many people have bought DVDs because they were inspired by the guides and info on the shows here?[/quote]
Well, I can say that I, for one, probably would never have gotten as deeply into Lexx as I did, if it weren’t for Saddy’s guides.
I started out as a casual viewer of the show when Sci-Fi started running Season 2 episodes in RANDOM ORDER! I had no idea what the heck was going on, or how it all started. Thanks go Saddy’s guides, I learned that Lexx was more than simply strange, that it had a rich and epic backstory. And now, I own every Lexx DVD there is!
TheFrey, I think you meant to say that,
[quote]All your threads are belong to FatGuy.[/quote]
🙂
[quote=”sgtdraino”]Logan wrote:TheFrey, I think you meant to say that,
[quote]All your threads are belong to FatGuy.[/quote]
:)[/quote]
*snicker* Yes exactly. ;D Thanks. ;D
Also the button is looking good. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I read left to right and I tend to STOP immediately when I see what I am looking for. So the right side was not a good for me.
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