Announcement regarding the site

First topic message reminder :

As you can all see, 606v2 is growing day by day. And for that, we have you all to thank.

The effort and dedication that you have all put in to help this site grow has been nothing short of phenomenal. Every day I am surprised at how you all contribute in making this forum such a great place for us all to carry on the community spirit that was born on 606. And that is only part of the story. I can now see how we have outgrown our beginnings and are attracting new posters from outside our original home.

And I thank all of the new members for this too. Your continued contribution has helped us continue to flourish and become so much more than the original 606. Through the hard work of the moderation and admin teams, we have managed to get some incredible exclusives that were not possible under the BBC banner - interviews, competitions, special offers. These will continue to come and will get bigger and better the more the forum grows.

However, all of this has come at a price.

The original set up of this forum was facilitated by the use of free software. At the time of inception, this was the best and most cost effective solution for us all. And hopefully, you all really like the features of the forum. However, due to the incredible growth in our forum, the costs for housing us have risen dramatically (it’s now 10x what it started at). The owners of the software (forumotion) have to give us more server space, although they benefit from the fact that we generate more advert revenue for them.

The more hits the site gets, the more the forumotion gets from the ads. And it therefore costs us substantially more to remove them (to recompense them for their lost revenue). On top of this, forumotion also charge us more to retain the domain name. All in all, the costs have become much more than we had anticipated, and should the forum continue to grow as we plan, these costs will continue to grow too. So this leaves us with several choices.

1. We continue to pay for the ad removal out of our own pocket.
2. We leave the forumotion ads in place.
3. We introduce ads of our own.
4. We move to a new forum platform

So let me cover these off one by one.

1. The costs are now so great, it is not fair to ask the moderation and admin teams to continue to pay for these ever increasing costs. It’s not fair to ask members to contribute. The moderation and admin teams already give up their time for nothing and to ask them to pay to do this is unfair. For the founders, this is simply not an option.
2. We can leave the adverts in place and pay the domain cost from member contributions once a year.
3. The revenue generated by our own ads will pay for the domain name and removal of forumotion ads.
4. If we move to a new platform, we would lose the historical posts, the name (possibly) and a chunk of our membership possibly. We would also be faced with the same problem as now when we once again get to a certain size. It is merely delaying the problem unless we build our own software. This would cost us money to develop and we would still need to host any bespoke software.

So this means that the only viable option is to go with option 3 - the introduction of adverts that will pay for the domain name and removal of forumotion ads (so hopefully no misleading ‘you have 1 new message’ type). Any excess could potentially be used to advertise the site, as well as potentially paying for our own software to be developed.

So you will shortly be seeing adverts on the site. This is not being done through choice but as a means to better the forum and take away the burden from the members.

Hopefully you will continue to use 606v2 - we have some exciting developments ahead of us. We still aim to achieve our goal of being the best multisport forum in the UK (and beyond) and the addition of adverts will allow us to get there more quickly.

I would just like to finish with a final thank you. When I started this forum, I honestly thought it would be a nice little home for my friends I had made. But due to the work that you have all put in, I can now safely say that it has exceeded all my expectations. From thinking I would keep in contact with a dozen or so friends, I have nearly 3000. So I may not be the next Mark Zuckenberg but I can tell you that I consider you all to be my friends.

Hero

Legend wrote:MPB,

From what I've been reading, they have explained the situation. I dot know whether you're trying to stir things up, but it seems perfectly reasonable to me. As Hero has previously mentioned, he created this place to keep his group of friends from 606 together. That is something he didn't have to do. They could have found a new forum to all move over to, but instead he put a lot of time and effort (and money) into making this place. The admin are doing their job for free and shouldn't be expected to provide the exact service you desire.

From what I've seen since joining the site, Hero and co have put in so much effort into this place and it's unfair to expect them to be paying. There's no conspiracy here. They need the money from the ads to actually pay to keep the site the way it is, to keep the domain name. It's not like we have to subscribe to the site or anything, so unless you have hundreds of pounds to donate to the site, move along.

I've no problems with the adverts. Try and keep up

All I'm trying to point out is the hard work they put into this. They can't just then go and spend all day arguing with someone who clearly doesn't accept the fact that this doesn't need to go global again. Most of the regular members (the only ones who this really affects) have seen it and now that the ad banner is already up, there is no need for this to be all over the forum. If you think more people should see it, why don't you take it upon yourself to inform them.

MustPuttBetter wrote:

Hero wrote:Would you be happy to pay £30 a month and rising instead then to keep the site ad free?

Once again, you've missed the point.
But then i suspect you know that....

No, what annoys me is when you get on your high horse to state you wouldn't be happy that someone would be making money from the site, yet you’re more than happy for me to pay for it.
That you’ve continued to insinuate that there are other motives for going ahead with it even though you have been informed otherwise.

I made this site off my own back when the Beeb decided to shut the 606 one down. I wanted people to be still able to chat together because that’s the kind of person I am, guys in the admin team like Hobo go out and sort out Q&A sessions with John Hartson because they think people will be interested.
No hidden agendas, no smoke and mirrors. So you wonder why we start to get irked when all we do is give give give to complete strangersand the first instance of actually thinking of myself and wanting to break even is met with raised eyebrows and scorn.

Legend wrote:All I'm trying to point out is the hard work they put into this. They can't just then go and spend all day arguing with someone who clearly doesn't accept the fact that this doesn't need to go global again. Most of the regular members (the only ones who this really affects) have seen it and now that the ad banner is already up, there is no need for this to be all over the forum. If you think more people should see it, why don't you take it upon yourself to inform them.

Why are you repeating what an Admin has already said? You say MPB should move along, why have you felt the need to get involved?

MPB,

Just because one member wants a global does not mean it has to happen. The answer was no. And there is no conspiracy or anything sinister about it.

Likewise if someone wants a sticky in a section, and the answer is no, does that mean there are dark powers at work?

Do I have to sign out to see the adverts? or is it just that banner add on the top of the page ?

Its just a banner for the time being Cymroglan, until we accept appropriate ads to be on.

You are all such silly billys

Hero wrote:No, what annoys me is when you get on your high horse to state you wouldn't be happy that someone would be making money from the site, yet you’re more than happy for me to pay for it.
That you’ve continued to insinuate that there are other motives for going ahead with it even though you have been informed otherwise.

I made this site off my own back when the Beeb decided to shut the 606 one down. I wanted people to be still able to chat together because that’s the kind of person I am, guys in the admin team like Hobo go out and sort out Q&A sessions with John Hartson because they think people will be interested.
No hidden agendas, no smoke and mirrors. So you wonder why we start to get irked when all we do is give give give to complete strangersand the first instance of actually thinking of myself and wanting to break even is met with raised eyebrows and scorn.

Hero, i've now amended that post as what i meant to say was i have no real problem if someone was making a little money form the site.

I have said a million times that i think everyone does a great job.

I can't make this clearer, all i wanted was for the important announcment to have been made global for more than what, 10 hours?!

You must be the most defensive person i've ever come across man!

Y I Man wrote:MPB,

Just because one member wants a global does not mean it has to happen. The answer was no. And there is no conspiracy or anything sinister about it.

Likewise if someone wants a sticky in a section, and the answer is no, does that mean there are dark powers at work?

It's not quite the same situation is YI Man

Its showing that things do not have to be done just because one person requests it.

What some people don't seem to understand is that this is a forum, NOT a business. The point of this is so people can discuss and debate things that they enjoy to gain more opinions and beliefs than you can get in the real world. There is (as far as I can tell) no hidden agendas. Like I said, it isn't a business. The mods and admin aren't looking to gain a profit and from what they've said, they are actually making a loss. You can't expect them to carry on losing money when they are, after all, ordinary people. Hopefully these ads will help them to gain a bit of that back.

YI - That's like saying not everyone needs to sh*t because one guy is constipated

YI,

I think the point his, whilst MPB can see what you're saying, he is asking for a genuine reason other than 'because we said so', and nobody, for whatever reason wants to give him a pleasant 'Admin' type answer.

I think if you all go away and reflect on this you'll realise that it could've been handled better and privately.

Legend wrote:What some people don't seem to understand is that this is a forum, NOT a business. The point of this is so people can discuss and debate things that they enjoy to gain more opinions and beliefs than you can get in the real world. There is (as far as I can tell) no hidden agendas. Like I said, it isn't a business. The mods and admin aren't looking to gain a profit and from what they've said, they are actually making a loss. You can't expect them to carry on losing money when they are, after all, ordinary people. Hopefully these ads will help them to gain a bit of that back.

All agreed, thank you

And King Beer, yes exactly.
Cheers

Y I Man wrote:MPB,

As mentioned, they will see the ads, so an announcement notifying them of incoming ads is obsolete. They will see them, and if they ask about it, they can be directed here or another member can tell them.

It's really not the end of the world.

I covered it earlier why there is no harm in it not being global.
MPB doesn't agree, and that's his right. But just because he doesn't agree does not mean we have to make it global.

Y I Man wrote:I covered it earlier why there is no harm in it not being global.
MPB doesn't agree, but that's his right. Just because he doesn't agree does not mean we have to make it global.

My question was where is the harm is leaving it global for a while?
Simple question, no answer

Y I Man wrote:

Y I Man wrote:MPB,

As mentioned, they will see the ads, so an announcement notifying them of incoming ads is obsolete. They will see them, and if they ask about it, they can be directed here or another member can tell them.

It's really not the end of the world.

I covered it earlier why there is no harm in it not being global.
MPB doesn't agree, but that's his right. Just because he doesn't agree does not mean we have to make it global.

That is the biggest problem with that statement. You didn't need the petty, antagonistic comment.

But they have given a reason, right?

Because the ads have now been up and the banner is still there. Therefore, the article stating that this is about to happen is no longer necessary.

There's no harm in leaving it global but we don't need to have it as a global because it's one of the 1st things people see when they come on the site anyway as it's in the welcome box so if they want to read it they will if they don't they won't read it.

The only way everyone would see it would be to send every single member of this site a pm and that's just not going to work.

It wasn't petty, its a figure of speech used to help put all this into perspective.

That's not an explanation of why would be a bad idea to leave it up there.
I've given a reason why i think it might be a good idea.

Tell me YI, Legend..., if your bank branch moved address and you walked down there to put a cheque in and obviously there was no sign of them. You asked around a few of the other customers outside and one said "oh they've moved, they didn't write beause they figured if you realised you'd just ask around or get told by someone else. There is a notice over in the corner of the window there look".........

Would you say you'd been treated well?

YI,

The context in which you put it was petty. There was no need for it.

No, but that's a completely different situation.

Alternatively, globals could be sent by PM, as your bank would send letters...

Legend wrote:No, but that's a completely different situation.

Alternatively, globals could be sent by PM, as your bank would send letters...

And the facility to send PM's to everyone exists. It doesn't back up your point.

I'd consider using a different bank, but wouldn't if I felt everything else they offered outweighed a minor irritant.

I guess it depends on how much you like your bank compared to how annoyed it makes you.

MustPuttBetter wrote:And King Beer, yes exactly.
Cheers

It got a snarky comment from myself initially due to the first why wasn't my post answered immediately. I apologise for that, I was coming out of other sections, a couple friendly, one not so and walked into another warzone (which was part of my own doing). On reflection I apologise for the manner in which I flipped you off.

KB, I appreciate your input but it's also not your place to tell others such as Cricketfan and Legend that they cannot contribute, they are allowed their views as well.

This is no longer serving any purpose. This thread has been derailed by certain individuals and offers no new value. It is very disappointing to have to lock this useful thread but due to the disruptive behaviour towards the topic at hand, and the refusal to accept the answer, I have decided to lock the thread.

Please read the whole thread should you have any questions not already covered.

If anyone has any further issues, please PM the admin team.