Forum advertising and funding.

adrian

Flying Squad
There have been a few threads recently where financial support has been offered for which I am very pleased to acknowledge but always try to politely decline, this has also overlapped with discussions about advertising. Hence I thought I would post this thread to clarify the policy I'm pursuing and explain my stance.

First with respect to advertising it is something I want to avoid at all costs for a number of reasons.

1. As an advocate of online privacy, advertisers and their cookie policy is a complete anathema to me. I'm sorry but there is absolutely nothing legitimate about "Legitimate cookies". The fact they have the audacity to claim some form of legitimacy also highlights all the other cookies being less than legitimate is nothing more than a snake oil con trick.

2. The sheer number of cookies and bandwidth from advertisers severely impacts the response of any page as they insist on loading first. Even for members using adblockers it is a problem as their browser still need to use bandwidth to contact the 3rd party advertisers and thus block them. There is something wrong when the advertising data load exceeds the real data contents of page. The autoplaying videos that appear on RMweb and keeping popping up despite closing the player is a particularly egregious example of all that is bad with advertising.

3. Accepting advertising funding to support the site would in part remove any impartiality. I am very keen to support small scale suppliers and businesses as my father ran Cherry Scale Models for a long number of years. I've had a direct hand in my youth making many of the riveting tools and rolling bars that people still use today so I understand the difficulties and complexities. However I don't want to be placed in the uncomfortable position of feeling any undue obligation to favour one or another that may be implied from taking advertising funding.

As you may gather I value privacy, speed of response and impartiality so I have no intention of pursuing any advertising revenue.

Second in response to membership funding offers and in someway it overlaps point 3 from above so in response to that

1. I prefer to have an equitable forum where all members are treated equally. I really do appreciate members making financial offers and understand they are made with no obligation and no expectation of reward. I fully understand why RMweb have followed their route of "Gold" subscription based membership and have no axe to grind with their policy. However for me despite best intentions to avoid the situation to me it has affected the culture of the forum and created a two tier atmosphere in RMweb which I'm not entirely comfortable with. So I'm positive that financial offers from members carry no expectation of a benefit in kind I'm keen to avoid being placed in that situation, more from any obligation I place on myself to offer something in benefit.

2. A paid membership fee is a potential option to keep it equitable but when you work through the options it would just create more stress and hassle which I really don't need. What level do you set the membership fee? How to keep track of paid memberships? Even declaring it as a not for profit society would incur extra complications to keep the finances separate, not only for the members but for the tax man as well. Then how do you work the policy? Is membership an annual subscription which means blocking accounts if not renewed each year. I'm quite happy with this model for groups like the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Society where I get access to archive catalogues and some excellent publications but it doesn't sit well with me on a forum where the benefit of membership is access to information that the members themselves have created and built. The alternative is a lifetime membership fee but then you have the problem of having to recruit new members all the time to fund subsequent years of hosting costs.

3. Finally the actual funding costs are not as expensive as some may think and relatively to other potential membership clubs it is not a significant burden. I'm quite happy to provide specific financial costs if members PM me. However to set it into context the annual cost of running and hosting Western Thunder is cheaper than membership of my local gym. Joining the local gym would be about 25-30% more expensive than running Western Thunder and the benefit to my mental health from Western Thunder far outweighs anything I would get from the gym, our dog is getting on in years and is not always keen on the longer walks!


My apologies for going on a bit, it turned out to be a longer thread than expected however I hope you can understand that whilst I really do appreciate it when members offer financial contributions they are politely refused. As mentioned it's less stress for me and I consider myself to be in a net positive place when the mental health benefits outweigh the hosting costs. It's cheaper than a therapist. :D

Having said all that if members want to show a token of appreciation then I would politely suggest and welcome that you make a donation to a local mental health group or to the Mind charity.


It is my way I can "pay it forward".

 
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GrahamMc

Western Thunderer
Well I know what gym membership costs over the year and it's far from free. Every year I get an email from wikipedia asking for a donation and every year I contribute a tiny amount, a couple of pounds. Not every body who uses wikipedia will do that, I don't mind, I just like to put a little in. The founders of wikipedia won't know who I am, or the millions of others who contribute a small amount every year. I'm OK with that as well, it's not important. What I would be happy to contribute to is an annual crowdfunder, keeping contributors anonymous, that would help with the running costs. Contributions could be limited and a maximum set on the amount raised.
Just a few thoughts, please don't reply, your busy enough as it is but you might want to want to consider this for the future.
Best wishes and a happy new year to you.
 

adrian

Flying Squad
Well I know what gym membership costs over the year and it's far from free.

Very true - I hadn't considered location. In the frozen hinterland of the North West full peak hour gym access to all facilities and classes and no discretionary discounts is available for no more than £35 per month so you can do the maths.
 

jcm@gwr

Active Member
Adrian,
I agree with your comments regarding advertising, and I dislike their hypocrisy.
My first thought when I see the line 'Your Privacy is Important to Us' (or similar)
is 'then don't try and ******** track me then!
 

adrian

Flying Squad
What I would be happy to contribute to is an annual crowdfunder, keeping contributors anonymous, that would help with the running costs. Contributions could be limited and a maximum set on the amount raised.
Just a few thoughts, please don't reply, your busy enough as it is but you might want to want to consider this for the future.
Thanks for the suggestion it is appreciated. I agree it is a potential option however it introduces another complication. Not in terms of the anonymity etc but more from the fact of ring fencing the funding. I use the hosting account to support a couple of other modelling related websites and it wouldn't sit comfortably with me accepting funding when it would also effectively fund sites you hadn't requested and not linked to Western Thunder. I like to keep things simple and stress free.

As you say maybe a option to consider in the future but certainly for now in no way do I begrudge the hosting costs as if it is far outweighed by the positive benefits I get from the site.

Regards

Adrian
 
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