F O U R T H E Y E

As I mentioned the other day, I am considering your membership options. I figure that it's time to give back after being such a huge pain in the ass for so long.

What I would really like to know, however, is what exactly the money will be going toward. If you can give a simple run-down of the costs involved with running this place, I'd feel much happier. I'm well aware that talking about money and what things cost is a sensitive issue, so anything you can throw at me would be super.

As it stands, I think the Silver option would be best (I know, I'm soooooo generous).

Off the top of my head, hosting is around $100 per year, and then the domain registration about $15.  

There are other miscellaneous costs from year to year in regards to the development of the site.  Examples include a software licensing (such as Sublime Text 2 which I use for editing the site) and occasional plugin licensing (the PM system being the only one I can think of for now (somthing I actually regret paying for tbh)).

Remainder of the money ends up in my bank account, with the intention to us towards funding a trip to the US for a Tool tour one day.  While I'm not going to reveal exact amounts, the site has well and truly paid for itself over the last 12 months since introducing subscriptions and Google Ads, however I also have a very long way to go to even be able to afford plane tickets to the US, let alone anything else.

I'll be honest - when I read that part about excess funds being used to cover costs for you to go see TOOL overseas, I was pretty hesitant.

Then I realised that though this may be a labour of love, it's still a labour. And you've always struck me as a reasonable person, so I have no problem with my money funding you to go have a good time.

Not everything starts and stops with the almighty dollar. Sometimes we have to step back and just share a little love.

I'll get onto it tomorrow. Thanks for your reply. I hope others have used this thread as food for thought.

I'm not giving no sheep-humping, bogan-ass, shit-face cockhole like HB a goddamned penny of my hard earned cash... but that's only cause we're friends with benefits... xoxoxoxox

Gossip Girl is going to have a field day with that comment.

crow011 said
I'll be honest - when I read that part about excess funds being used to cover costs for you to go see TOOL overseas, I was pretty hesitant.

Then I realised that though this may be a labour of love, it's still a labour. And you've always struck me as a reasonable person, so I have no problem with my money funding you to go have a good time.


It is a labour of love that I don't expect a return for.  When if first contemplated the subscription model, I had a reasonable idea it would turn some small profit, and wrestled with my own conscious as to whether collecting money was appropriate.  After all there is very little news published on this site that isn't actually generated elsewhere - all I do is collate it. That said I'd probably spend an hour a day "working" on  Fourtheye, so there is a fair time commitment there.  It's up to the individual to work out how they value the site and my input.

I have no problem with those who don't donate either, and deliberately don't cripple features in the site for this reason (the exception being the members only forum, which currently isn't online but was never a real hit anyway).

 

 

 

petemasterpete said
I'm not giving no sheep-humping, bogan-ass, shit-face cockhole like HB a goddamned penny of my hard earned cash... but that's only cause we're friends with benefits... xoxoxoxox


So membership does have its benefits!

Very impressive.

*sigh*

OK, well, I spent a solid hour trying to give you money today.

Here's Crow's quick rundown of what happened:

Tried to give a $20 one-time donation. Didn't like my card. The same card I've used to by plane tickets, train tickets, motels, a fucking Kindle for the girlfriend, etc etc etc, online. Just didn't want to do it. I threw everything at it. Nothing.

Tried the Paypal option. Didn't like that either. Apparently I had an account, didn't remember the password or security questions (which is bullshit) and didn't let me make a brand new account.

After screaming at my computer for a solid forty-five minutes, somehow jagged my security questions. Absolutely astounding how I did it, but I did.

Now I have to put money on my Paypal account, in order to give it to you.

This was right after I spent a seperate hour trying to call Open University from Korea to find out what's going on with my enrollment. Turns out that they don't know either.

Daemons in machines today, dude.

I'll get on to it tomorrow. I'm a man of my word.

On the plus side, m' Jets won tonight, so in effect, I'm giving you my winnings from that game. Everyone's happy.

So where does the merchandising fit into all this?

i have 8 watches

none of them are fake

UndKeineEier said
So where does the merchandising fit into all this?


what a sell out: even more merch

Holy fuck is Paypal a piece of fucking shit. After several days, I finally got it to work. It shouldn't have, considering my billing address was an Australian address, under the country of South Korea. Fucking idiots.

Enjoy your $20. I'm never using paypal again.

UndKeineEier said
So where does the merchandising fit into all this?


From memory I have about $6 credit that from the small handful of crap purchased.  Amazon is a much better money spinner if/when I post referral links to that.  The Google Ads do pretty well also.

To give you guys a rough break down, income would be about:


50% Subscriptions and other one off Paypal donations
30% Google ads
15% Amazon
5% Cafepress and other shit

YOU'RE WELCOME.

MEMBER SHIP