|
Post by eeyore on Nov 29, 2015 13:42:42 GMT
The trouble with paying with storage space is that (on this forum, anyway) the cost keeps going up as the space gets used up... so the price just increases constantly. What Snowlynx is working on now is setting up a way to store all the images over at Flickr, so that we never run over our limit here in the forum. There might be a way for us to do a gallery here. I know this is an old thread so apologies for the necro, but I'd note that costs were one of the major issues on WAB1, to the point where hosting was costing thousands per year , and frequently had to be picked up out of Stu's own pocket if the forum adverts didnt cover the fees. (that wasnt just about images although that was a major thing, but also about bandwidth of hosting a huge forum) so i'd fully support the decision not to host galleries here if it keeps costs more reasonable and stops WABI going the Way of WAB due to costs - I use several other forums and it isnt unusual for them not to provide image hosting in house , although a linked flickr group can be a way round it there would still come a point where the archive exceeded the free space provided on flickr. That said if you are succesful in getting many of the old crew back together again there may come a time when you need paid hosting purely for bandwidth reasons - at that point one solution i've seen work elsewhere is a paypal 'donate' button for members to help out with costs. Lastly on the issue of low activity - as an early member of WAB I remember that too only having a small membership and limited activity - these things take time to grow, and growth is generally exponetial so it is slow to start but ramps up when you exceed a couple of hundred active members. Anyw suffice to say that I applaud what you guys are doing, and if you need any help or support please feel free to ask
|
|
|
Post by rowanberry on Dec 1, 2015 22:35:08 GMT
Thanks for the positive feedback, Eeyore. I agree that things are a bit quiet now- some days we are very busy! but I don't think the weather nor the season makes it easy to get out and observe wildlife at the moment, (gales and constantly overcast and damp down south) but membership is still steadily increasing. It is funny how often people join only to never, ever post... I don't know why that is, but we've got about sixty completely non-active members. Saying that, I'm not too worried- I think we have a good active core of regulars, and I'm just pleased that so many of the old crowd are still able to stay in touch here! Your idea about the PayPal donate button is one I'm going to keep in mind, just in case.
|
|
|
Post by eeyore on Dec 2, 2015 11:49:06 GMT
i think every forum has non posting members - that was true on wab, and its still true on big forums like talk photography (circa 50k members but probably sub 21k are active)
you are right about the weather too, though i suspect things might pick up over xmas as people have more time on their hands
|
|