Page 1 of 1

Two forum suggestions

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 3:03 pm
by dankreider
Maybe these have already been discussed...

1. I don't know how much it costs to run the forums, or who foots the bill, but I have a feeling that enough of us might be willing to donate on an annual basis to fund the forum without advertisements. Do an annual donation fundraiser, similar to Wikipedia. I can't imagine the ads bring in that much revenue anyways. Although I understand why they're used, it would be wonderful to get rid of them.

2. It would be really helpful to be able to post an attachment larger than 100 kb - or, on occasion, multiple attachments.

3. I know phpBB is free, but other software like vBulletin is a little more full-featured - mobile app, full WYSIWYG, and more.

Just some thoughts. I'd donate towards something like this.

Re: Two forum suggestions

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 3:07 pm
by zuill
If you need to post a larger file, you can do it by linking to a cloud file that you have shared.

Zuill

Re: Two forum suggestions

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 3:08 pm
by dankreider
zuill wrote:If you need to post a larger file, you can do it by linking to a cloud file that you have shared.

Zuill
That's the way I typically do it; I agree that's simpler.

Re: Two forum suggestions

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 6:25 pm
by FinaleForum
Everyone would like to get rid of ads, but it likely won't happen. We could try a donation button, but I'm not sure how many people would donate enough to make it work. I started the forum with custom software back in 1994 when I was a full time composer. I've left it out there as a public service for all the years, but it's not free. It's just not. We've tried to keep the ads as out of the way as possible. Yes, there is ONE inline ad and for some people it's annoying. We've tried to set the inline ad to be text only, but sometimes an image is served.

The main issue for me is time. I don't have a lot of it to spare. I was going to shut the forums down and finally decided to get some moderators. They've been great! I'm perfectly happy to continue providing the forum, but unfortunately, it's just not a top priority when it comes to upgrades. We have no tolerance for spam and get to it as soon as we can, but beyond that it's really a challenge.

We used vBulletin for awhile, but it was a mixed bag. Those who like it like it, and those who don't, don't. At some point we will likely upgrade the forum software again, but it takes time...a lot of time. There are a lot of custom mods in the software and going through all of them is a challenge. At this point, the only critical component I'd like to gain is a mobile version. The flexible tables make the forum visible on mobile, but it doesn't have the correct viewport setting.

I've increased the attachment link to 250kb. I see Ronald J. Brown makes reference to server "space allocation" but that's not the issue. Space is cheap. Bandwidth is the issue.

The attachment limit is 3 per post.

Thanks!

Re: Two forum suggestions

Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2017 6:44 pm
by dankreider
FF, thanks for the reply!

I can definitely live with the current software, no prob. And having overseen a number of site upgrades myself, I understand it takes a lot of time.

Just curious as to the actual annual cost of keeping the forum running. And curious to know what the ads bring in, and what the difference is (if you end up having to eat it yourself). If you don't mind posting that.

I know we're all grateful for your investment in this forum over the years, especially since the MM forum has been shut down.

Thanks!
Dan