David’s blog and (for the most part) MPU advertising are great examples of how to do it right. The advertisers seem to be vetted to make sure that they are quality products well matched to the consumers’ needs. I run a free online community for a niche group of health professionals, and have followed this example to carefully assure that our sponsors are companies that we would be proud to patronize ourselves. It has worked out very well for us.
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I hope you do find a way to monetize…either “boosts” Discord style or forum membership levels. I’d happy to throw money at this with how much I use it!
Thanks for all the feedback. We’re working on this and based on your feedback, the inclination right now is:
- Get the forums in a position where we don’t have this stability problem.
- Figure out some sort of tip jar system to help defray the costs.
Give us some time since step #1 is most important. Both Stephen and I would prefer to not do ads here if we can avoid it. That’s why we’ve been self-funding all this time.
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For me, the ads are not about the obtrusiveness of the ads. If you do ads (even good ones), someone has to spend time. Time finding advertisers, figuring out the model, inserting the ads, billing for the ads, etc.
Put up the tip jar and see if the ads are even needed. Be transparent - show us what it’s costing to keep these forums up and stable - and let us do what we can.
(On the “be transparent,” I want to be clear - I trust your word. I’m not saying we need to see invoices.)
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@MacSparky , totally agreed. When I tried to write this an hour back (around 9pm US West Coast time), the forum was down again , it came back up for a few minutes and then not available again. I checked the Automator Forum (also on Discourse) and was surprised to find that up and running. So I guess there are different backend servers that drive different forum.
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Totally different servers and systems. I’ve been trying to debug which did cause a few minor outages.
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As we’re generally in the same time zone I probably shouldn’t bother you with “oops, you did it again” 
messages, then. If your debugging is likely to be the cause.
We have notifications set for the down times and like we said, are actively working on a plan to resolve them.
There should be some benefit to tipping, but it should not be a private category.
I would tip regardless of benefit or not, but having some benefit would encourage others.
The Obsidian forum with their VIP flairs comes to mind here.
I don’t personally like the idea of potentially having a hierarchy based on whether people tip or not, but I’m not particularly opposed either.
I don’t think of it as a hierarchy, because other than a little badge or flair they’re not really getting anything.
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For what it is worth, I don’t think we need badges, etc., as any sort of incentive to support the forum. The motivation is the intrinsic value of the forum—its participants—not an extrinsic “reward” as in a badge. And, there may well be those on the forum on fixed incomes who would like to contribute but perhaps can’t. I believe the majority of us who can will contribute to support this forum. I think badges are superfluous and runs the risk of making those who are not able to contribute conspicuous by the lack of a badge.
I’m also not opposed to relevant ads on this forum—we may find some good discounts offered with ads. 
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speak for yourself, I want a badge 
If it’s a tip jar concept then I’d have thought even $1 would be enough to gain any recognition.
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No badges, please. Your rep is what you post. 
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You may well be right, you probably are , but you are making an assumption that the lack of a badge on their avatar (MY ASSUMPTION is that badge will be visible on the avatar to the forum) makes no difference to them. My only concern is for those who may be on fixed incomes and not in a position to contribute. They may indeed feel uncomfortable but will not acknowledge such in a forum.
I only offer this as food for thought.
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That has me laughing! 
Remind me not to post the app subscriptions that I have canceled.
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I think the posts with pictures of offices, setups, new kit and expensive subscriptions would be more off putting than a badge.
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Yeah. The people buying multi-thousand dollar laptops are probably more of an issue for people with lower / fixed incomes than the people with who are kicking in a few bucks a year for a forum.
If that were the case they should stop listening to MPU immediately. David and Stephen purchase so much high cost stuff that most people’s kit is sad by comparison. If you don’t believe me look at David’s display and Stephen’s Pod cabin.
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