The forum future after October

The Velvet Curtain

The Velvet Curtain

Forum GOD!
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SatNavSaysStraightOn I read the post in site news about Shaun withdrawing from the forum game, and I wish him well.
As your post was closed I couldn't comment directly, so hence this thread.

If you choose to continue with new hosts I would be more than happy to make a financial contribution, if you could suggest a subscription/gift level then that might be helpful for everyone.

By way of just chucking out ideas, are you committed to Cookingbites continuing as a forum? Given that membership is fairly stable and limited, what about moving the whole thing to being a Facebook group, or something similar on other platforms that offer a free structure to reside in.
 
I'll ask SatNavSaysStraightOn to post a link to this thread in the Site news section. I don't have any access to do that.

The Velvet Curtain said:
By way of just chucking out ideas, are you committed to Cookingbites continuing as a forum? Given that membership is fairly stable and limited, what about moving the whole thing to being a Facebook group, or something similar on other platforms that offer a free structure to reside in.
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I think this would be a very sad thing. A forum is so very different from a FB group. Forums allow in depth posts and detailed discussion of subjects through the thread system. FB groups are very different. I can vouch that SatNavSaysStraightOn is totally committed to continuing as a forum as are all the mods.

Thank you for offering to support. I'm certainly personally committing to offering some sort of regular payment. Payments can be as little or large as you like! We are all on varying incomes.
 
Morning Glory said:
I'll ask SatNavSaysStraightOn to post a link to this thread in the Site news section. I don't have any access to do that.



I think this would be a very sad thing. A forum is so very different from a FB group. Forums allow in depth posts and detailed discussion of subjects through the thread system. FB groups are very different. I can vouch that SatNavSaysStraightOn is totally committed to continuing as a forum as are all the mods.

Thank you for offering to support. I'm certainly personally committing to offering some sort of regular payment. Payments can be as little or large as you like! We are all on varying incomes.
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I have a question about this. Am I able to use either ideal, mastercard or direct debit to pay? If not I have no other options, but I would love to contribute.
 
Windigo said:
Mastercard is a credit card so thats good then 👍
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I had problems donating at first because the donation process isn't all that clear (at least to me). Everything goes through PayPal, and it looks like they're really strongly directing you to sign up for PayPal if you want to contribute. In the past, I'd get up to the actual paying part, and then it would direct me to go through PayPal, and since I don't have (and don't want) a PayPal account, that was that. :(

However, I can report that it does work without a PayPal account, and I've successfully made three donations using a standard credit card. You just have to be mindful, because at the end of the process, the final button, the really noticeable one, the one they really, really want you to click, is the one that sets you up with a PayPay account. You have to make sure you click the itsy-bitsy, tiny "No Thanks" link below that to continue paying as a guest (it may actually say "Continue as guest," I can't remember).
 
TastyReuben said:
I had problems donating at first because the donation process isn't all that clear (at least to me). Everything goes through PayPal, and it looks like they're really strongly directing you to sign up for PayPal if you want to contribute. In the past, I'd get up to the actual paying part, and then it would direct me to go through PayPal, and since I don't have (and don't want) a PayPal account, that was that. :(

However, I can report that it does work without a PayPal account, and I've successfully made three donations using a standard credit card. You just have to be mindful, because at the end of the process, the final button, the really noticeable one, the one they really, really want you to click, is the one that sets you up with a PayPay account. You have to make sure you click the itsy-bitsy, tiny "No Thanks" link below that to continue paying as a guest (it may actually say "Continue as guest," I can't remember).
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Thanks for this, I don't use paypal either
 
The Velvet Curtain said:
Another one here who never touches paypal, if there was an alternative method then I would prefer it.
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Follow the directions after you click on Donations and you eventually get to this:

69037


Just choose Pay by Debit or Credit Card. No need to log in to PayPal.
 
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Morning Glory said:
Follow the directions after you click on Donations and you eventually get to this:

View attachment 69036

Just choose Pay by Debit or Credit Card. No need to log in to PayPal.
Click to expand...
Right. Just pay attention as you go through the screens because it's one of those things where, if you're not careful, you'll sign up for PayPal without knowing it.

That happened to me with a wine club once. :laugh:
 
The Velvet Curtain said:
SatNavSaysStraightOn I read the post in site news about Shaun withdrawing from the forum game, and I wish him well.
As your post was closed I couldn't comment directly, so hence this thread.

If you choose to continue with new hosts I would be more than happy to make a financial contribution, if you could suggest a subscription/gift level then that might be helpful for everyone.

By way of just chucking out ideas, are you committed to Cookingbites continuing as a forum? Given that membership is fairly stable and limited, what about moving the whole thing to being a Facebook group, or something similar on other platforms that offer a free structure to reside in.
Click to expand...

As for becoming a Facebook group, I'd be out since I don't do Facebook -- I'm sure I'm not alone.

According to SatNav's figures, the amount of money needed is not huge.

I can't commit to any kind or reoccurring payments at this time, as I am currently earning less than what I spend on basic living expenses. But, a one-time gift may be possible by October. I haven't been able to support charities that are important to me as much as I have in the past, so it is hard to fit a food forum into my budget, for now. If the new surge in Covid doesn't shut everything down again, next year might offer the opportunity to do something on a regular basis. I say this, because I'm sure other members are living on tight budgets at this time.

CD
 
Facebook won't happen. We do actually have a FB page but you don't know about it because I hate FB and have to load posts manually, so it doesn't happen. Plus it's not a group but a single account.

As mentioned in the donations, I can and do receive donations by bank transfer. Currently this has been UK membe membersrs only (I use my old UK bank account for all CB activities) and whilst I don't know why my international banking numbers are for my UK bank account, I'm more than happy for non-UK members to do bank transfers to my Australian bank account for which I do know my international banking account numbers or we can use a transfer system such as transferwise (i think it's called that I'd have to check which one i have an account with). I maintain full accounts so can easily balance the books, but there are payments I make for CB in US$, UK£ and a very small one in €'s so I tend to keep US$ and € in PayPal so I don't lose out on conversion rates twice (receiving and them paying in US$).

As for CB. It will continue. It is just how to make it financially viable and whilst the moderator team will say they don't want anything, it would be nice to be in a position to give them a small thank you each Christmas for their hard work.

Right now I have a few ideas for making the site more financially viable including adding members to accept a small advert or two (bottom or top and bottom only) on each page they visit. This would dramatically increase Google adverts revenue because the majority of traffic to the site is logged in members. It is also possible to continue for a small monthly contribution, ad free. Members can add CB to the list of sites their ad blocking software will exclude from blocking ads or see a message reminding them that adverts pay for the site. If we could double Google advertising revenue we'd almost cover hosting costs completely. Then we'd just have the software licencing costs. Triple advertising and the site would pay for itself. Which brings me to another method for revenue and that is to allow advertising in addicted forum. 1 advert per member per however often they donate. So monthly and you'd get 1 advert. It is possible to do this bias the member upgrades option which you may have noticed has been renamed to monthly donations (it's an option under your member name). I know some of you have YouTube channels and the likes and we're frequently targeted by people signing up and then trying to advertise their shop, business or YouTube channel.

So right now it is a case of every little helps because like everyone else, finances are tight for myself as well. I don't work, nor do I receive disability payments of any kind in either country. I'm too young to retire and don't have much in the way of a pension anyway, not that a UK pension goes far anyhow especially if you leave the UK as yorky will tell you. My husband and I live off a single wage and CB comes directly out of our pickets, so when I say every little helps, I do mean it. It's one reason I have set up the monthly options because I know for us, it is easier to donate a little and often than a larger amount occasionally. And if the amounts in the monthly donations are too high for you, just yell and I can adjust them. It's hard to know what's an ok amount. I tried to set the equivalent of £5 per month as an idea in various currencies. It is also possible for me to adjust the frequently so if you want quarterly, that could be done as well. Donations made outside of the donate (adhoc) system can be manually added to the records to show a members donation, so just let me know if you want to stay anonymous or not and I'll add the donations as I receive them if they are made outside of the formal donation drives.

Ultimately it is the monthly donations section that could be used to pay for the advertising forum idea (1 advert per month). I know another site I'm on uses it and I'm certain that is how they find their site completely and it is much quieter than CB!

As for moving forward, it will be possible to enable a number of features of the forum software including the chat room (live chat area) and I've finally resolved the printing a recipe out problems which I'll be going to improvement in the near future. Recipes print full page (the top post of any thread made into an article which I'll rename to recipe would print full page, any replies still print in the current style). It's something that annoys me considerably and has done from day 1. It's just taken me until now to find the solution. I just need to program the system to keep our settings (font , colour etc) and then reach everyone how to use it! The only downside is that every single recipe will have to be manually changed retrospectively... a large task to say the least.
 
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I actually don't mind small banner ads on forums, as long as they are passive (don't do anything unless you choose to click on one). I've seen them top and bottom, or on the right side. They load fast, and just sit there doing nothing, unless you click on them.

If members buy a subscription, the ads can go away.

CD
 
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