ATG is growing, Vendor & Member Info & Discussion

[pimple8]

Cant see a problem in having a FF link and donations, i know forums that work like this and never have issues. If there are funds missing, a pm comes to members that storage is needed and boom in two days evertrhing is settled. No business or accountants are needed. As already collected funds from a minority of members show. If there was a sticky thread with no spam and just a short reason and link, i bet atg costs would be covered for 5 years in a weeks time.

Forum is a community and this gives the opportunity for the community to engage and take action together.

A monthly fee is like a subscription, a buying of service. I dont feel like it is a right way to go, especially for newer members. Pay to play sucks.


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[Wayne]

I also think you need two more Mods to ease the burden upon yourself and Lee a little. This should be a pleasure not a chore. I'm not having a go at the other Mods but they are rarely seen.

 

[DamianJ]

Whilst it is a valiant effort the admin and mods put in, I'm not sure the subscription is the way to go. £2.50 per month, £30 per year could probably put a lot of people off, as they could see it as paying for nothing.

I use a free guitar lesson website, which is free but also relies on donations that people make as and when. It does however sell products which help to raise donations. That is a business, rather than just a forum.

Should a forum be a business? It should cover hosting costs, but haven't we already done that?

 

[Nishy]

You didn't ask for donations and we raised the money needed. In one week you made enough money for 2 years worry free operating costs and that was with probably 2% of the total membership donating. Why are you getting accountants involved? You do not need to charge artisans a fee that just leads to tax problems as you are generating income, you do not need to do it, the money is there when you need it,have you no faith in the membership? In two years time if you need more I'm certain you will get it like you did this time. I'm puzzled at the need to secure stable income unless you want to make a wage from the forum?

I understand where your coming from Wayne, but from my point of view our costs have risen by 150% over the last 2 years, this doesn't give me confidence in covering running costs just through donations over the next 10 years.

 

[Blackland Razors]

I don’t at all mind a forum being a profitable venture. However, I don’t particularly love the plead for donations to keep the lights on followed by a new charge for vendors and potentially a membership fee. We have around 20 vendors as far as I can tell which should generate about £2k/year. So if the recent donations covered two full years where is that extra 4k going through 2021? And why ask for donations at all when that 2k vendor fee would surely cover forum costs? Finally, if we have two years already covered plus an additional 2k/yr from vendors, why would there ever need to be a membership fee?

Again, I’m in complete support of raising money to keep this place going and I don’t even mind if that extra money is taken as profit. But I think this payment rollout could have been planned better and I think a bit of transparency would go a long way. I don’t think members should have been asked to donate.

Edit: I don’t feel comfortable being a paid vendor until I know that members won’t have to pay a membership fee. This place will crumple like a napkin if you start charging members.

 

[Wayne]

I understand where your coming from Wayne, but from my point of view our costs have risen by 150% over the last 2 years, this doesn't give me confidence in covering running costs just through donations over the next 10 years.

Sorry Nishy but I can't see it. You recieved two years running costs in a week and you were on about giving any surplus to charity and you don't have confidence in covering costs. How much more confidence do you need mate?

 

[Nishy]

I don’t at all mind a forum being a profitable venture. However, I don’t particularly love the plead for donations to keep the lights on followed by a new charge for vendors and potentially a membership fee. We have around 20 vendors as far as I can tell which should generate about £2k/year. So if the recent donations covered two full years where is that extra 4k going through 2021? And why ask for donations at all when that 2k vendor fee would surely cover forum costs? Finally, if we have two years already covered plus an additional 2k/yr from vendors, why would there ever need to be a membership fee?

Again, I’m in complete support of raising money to keep this place going and I don’t even mind if that extra money is taken as profit. But I think this payment rollout could have been planned better and I think a bit of transparency would go a long way. I don’t think members should have been asked to donate.

Edit: I don’t feel comfortable being a paid vendor until I know that members won’t have to pay a membership fee. This place will crumple like a napkin if you start charging members.

I was just asking the question regarding member fees, not something I am necessarily going to implicate. I just wanted to know where members stood. If we have an IT issue that we can't resolve the server owner charges per hour, in addition our costs have risen by about 150% over the last two years. Furthermore were going to have to increase our storage therefore server costs soon. It really is just being proactive and guaging costs.

As mentioned before I'm not looking to milk anyone or make a quick buck, I would happily give any extra to charity as mentioned before and as previously conducted. Again no need for mass panic it is being kept as a float.

 

[SeanC]

I understand where your coming from Wayne, but from my point of view our costs have risen by 150% over the last 2 years, this doesn't give me confidence in covering running costs just through donations over the next 10 years.

No business including FTSE 100 has any real confidence in business plans beyond a 3 year time horizon

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[Chris]

I’m not happy with the idea of a membership fee and think it will put off new members. Did you look into the ideas for reducing storage? Max 800 pixels long side per photo and purging photos from BST and SOTD after a year (for example) will reduce space required.

 

[Deleted member 30]

Sorry Nishy but I can't see it. You recieved two years running costs in a week and you were on about giving any surplus to charity and you don't have confidence in covering costs. How much more confidence do you need mate?

I also smell a rat here! Just so we are truly transparent. I have asked @Nishy to remove my vendor status based on receiving this message below. Sent to all vendors.

Hello,

I hope everyone is keeping well.

Were looking to cement the future of ATG as well as establishing the site as a company. This is to avoid any confusion in the future with regards to tax and revenue.

In order to sustain ATG with respect to its running costs we will be asking all vendors to pay £100 per year to ATG. This will enable a vendor orientated area, as well as product directed advertising via the forum threads. Feature threads for new product releases can be granted on request. These threads appear on the homepage so will have priority viewing. We will also open member-vendor communication via forum threads.

We hope we have been of benefit to the running of your traditional shaving business by providing a target audience, a plethora of information as well as after sales care. Most forums charge vendors £140/year but being a smaller member base, with a larger proportion of active members, we believe the sum we are asking for is fair. Hopefully we can work symbiotically as we have for the last 3 years.

If you have any doubts or questions please don't hesitate to ask. In addition any recent donation provided will be taken off the fee above.

All payment should be made to:
Email address removed

For those that don't wish to remain of vendor status or advertise through ATG. We do understand and hope you will remain as standard members enjoying the forum. However, we can't authorise any associated advertising through this channel under member status.

Yours Kindly,
ATG

I'm quite happy to start a new forum and not charge anyone and if there is enough support I will do just that.

 

[SeanC]

I’m not happy with the idea of a membership fee and think it will put off new members. Did you look into the ideas for reducing storage? Max 800 pixels long side per photo and purging photos from BST and SOTD after a year (for example) will reduce space required.

+1

For screen viewing nothing bigger is required

No rational person needs to post a 3600 X 2400 billboard for SOTD

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[IRISHCOAST]

Avinish
To resolve your concern, an it can be resolved, however we need to know the following information:
Annual running costs
Extra storage costs
IT hourly costs if server fails


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[Nishy]

I guess going by responses it would be better to just leave it as. If we have any issues so be it. Apologies if members feel I'm being untrustworthy. I was just trying to run ATG as I do my other business to ensure longevity.

 

[Gairdner]

I trust ya buddy.

 

[Mr Bigmem]

You didn't ask for donations and we raised the money needed. In one week you made enough money for 2 years worry free operating costs and that was with probably 2% of the total membership donating. Why are you getting accountants involved? You do not need to charge artisans a fee that just leads to tax problems as you are generating income, you do not need to do it, the money is there when you need it,have you no faith in the membership? In two years time if you need more I'm certain you will get it like you did this time. I'm puzzled at the need to secure stable income unless you want to make a wage from the forum?

+1 @Nishy heed the words of the long time members. If need be people will pull together. Making the forum into a business will sour it for many. And working on what ifs is in no way building in certainty. Have you looked at you MI/BI data in regard to members and rise in storage and support costs?