Site Advertisements & Donation Tracker

[GRILL]

@Caddyman it's a long story, but basically the server bill was switched last spring because we had so much new content/traffic from BO2. It was changed by a woman named Lissa, who actually jumped the gun in doing so, and she has been since ousted from staff (due to issues with non-communication).

The ads are not a "cash grab", as you so wrongly assumed. Seriously man? We are just trying it out, and seeing if it's worth it - it's never been done before. Did you even read my posts in this thread? I was very candid when I said "we will try it and see if the revenue is worth it, or see if the revenue is too minimal to give up the quality of life that comes with being ad free."

Kind of insulted that after so long of you not posting anything, this is what you post: throw your knowledge around, yet you don't offer any solutions - and then you make a mildly insulting comment about this being a cash grab and how you "liked" CODZ better at one time. It's not a cash grab, we are just trying every option. If it isn't worth it, then it isn't worth it - but here you are hating on us for "trying something new". I can handle constructive criticism, but that's not what you are giving.

Would you rather more downtime?

We are clearing the data, and should have the server bill down from $130 to $60 very soon.

As well, whenever we hit our monthly goal via donations and ad revenue, we will take down the ads until the first of the following month.

C'mon Caddy, don't be like that.

[Caddyman]

here is a solution

 

i will host the site completely free forever.

 

then you dont need donations, or ads, or anything.

 

 

but people here don't trust me, i have offered before, i have spoke with starwarsbob about it*, and he refuses, it makes no sense.

 

i am not trustworthy though.... i am 32 years old, just celebrated my 9th wedding anniversary, have 2 kids, have 10 years at my job, and manage 40+ website clients on a daily basis. some of my clients have crazy traffic, most are e-commerce businesses that do millions in sales a year... but i can't be trusted with hosting this site. 

 

i dont want to be admin, or staff, or anything at all, i want >0< control of anything here. i just want to help, but it is refused, then i see all this about $130 hosting bill a month, it is absurd. there is NO way the hosting is $130 a month, and like i said, if it is, then CODZ is being ripped off.

 

no the ads are not a money grab as there is no money in them, they are just annoying. the money grab is trying to tell your faithful members to donate to a server bill that is grossly inflated.

 

a better solution to ads would be to sell ads yourself to people. ONE of my forums, talkdelaware, sells ads to local business that i setup and control, it is a monthly payment from the advertiser. they get value in that their ad is on my site and targets their market, and i get paid. CODZ could talk with many companies about this, even youtubers looking for more exposure. 

 

lastly, i like all you guys a lot, save for whoever is saying the server bill is $130 a month. i think CODZ is a outstanding forum, and i have said that many times, and i have made nice donations in the past. i will not contribute to this sham though, it isn't right, and i dont like it.

 

 

 

 

* starwarsbob lives in the same town as i do, he probably lives 5 minutes from my house. i have offered to meet him in person to talk about helping codz, he also refused that. 

Edited May 16, 2014 by Caddyman

[Hells Warrrior]

The server costs are $130, we are not being ripped off, that's the dedicated server package that CoDz subscribed too over 2 years ago as it had outgrown it's shared hosting package.

Edited May 16, 2014 by Hells Warrrior
edited time CoDz went dedicated

[Naitrax]

I say give him a chance.

Hells, I remember back when you first joined, you claimed you could fix all the downtime and all that. You know what? I, personally, thought you were just being crazy. Then, when you proved yourself, look where it got you.

At least set up a test site for him and see if it meets your standards.

[Hells Warrrior]

I understand what you're saying Nai, not my decision but we have things under control to be completely honest, if we needed to I could host the site on my own server. I don't run CoDz though & quite rightly, the site wants to remain independent & to be honest, the AD's are not that intrusive and we have some plans afoot to prevent members from seeing AD's altogether.

 

We dislike them, just as much as everybody else.

[Caddyman]

so you decided to put the site on a dedi that is 10,000x more then it needs instead of a decent shared server. this site didn't outgrow a shared server plan, it was on a crap shared server that had a lot of downtime, which is unfortunate.

 

and the mistakes the person who owns this site is making for the hosting here is being pawned off onto the members.

 

it is a mistake.

 

i can see the domain is still registered with Dan, and i also see that the site is on dedicated via the namerservers used. this is incredible overkill and you are wasting your money for such a small site.

 

the frontpage post says you, hells warrior, put this site together and for that i say job well done, because it is very well done and i am surely impressed. but this $130 a month goal for donations, and ads and all this is 2 things.

 

1. it is a dream, you're at $100 now, that is impressive, but that will surely not last.

2. it really isn't neccesary if the hosting situation was re-assesed properly.

 

this is not sustainable, especially with zombies being out of season right now. that is all i have to say on the topic really. i will not post on this topic again.

Edited May 16, 2014 by Caddyman

[Naitrax]

To be honest, I'm fine with having to pay 130 a month to keep this place running. Between us all, we can get it paid. We've nearly got this month's in under 24 hours.

However, if there is a better, freezer option available, why not take it?

This is a plea to whoever is the true ruler of the forum. Please. Assess your options.

[Boom115]

This is a plea to whoever is the true ruler of the forum. Please. Assess your options.

 

In that case I say no. We are our own island.

[Hells Warrrior]

so you decided to put the site on a dedi that is 10,000x more then it needs instead of a decent shared server. this site didn't outgrow a shared server plan, it was on a crap shared server that had a lot of downtime, which is unfortunate.

 

and the mistakes the person who owns this site is making for the hosting here is being pawned off onto the members.

 

it is a mistake.

 

i can see the domain is still registered with Dan, and i also see that the site is on dedicated via the namerservers used. this is incredible overkill and you are wasting your money for such a small site.

 

the frontpage post says you, hells warrior, put this site together and for that i say job well done, because it is very well done and i am surely impressed. but this $130 a month goal for donations, and ads and all this is 2 things.

 

1. it is a dream, you're at $100 now, that is impressive, but that will surely not last.

2. it really isn't neccesary if the hosting situation was re-assesed properly.

 

this is not sustainable, especially with zombies being out of season right now. that is all i have to say on the topic really. i will not post on this topic again.

 

We agree with you, that's why we are currently changing things but as it currently stands, the bill is $130 a month, until we change the package and check all files currently saved on the server and move and delete files no longer required or can be saved elsewhere, we cannot downgrade. I wasn't part of the team when all those changes were implemented - however, we are moving in the right direction. The right team is combined and we know what we are doing.

 

No one is saying $130 server costs is necessary, it isn't far from it. So things are changing, however, we need to make sure we have the correct packages going forward and that's whats happening now. In the meantime, AD's are being implemented and further changes will come afoot as well.

 

Nai, no need to plee to the true ruler. Stwrsbob is the site admin and at the end of the day his decision is final. Please do not assume that we do not have the best interests of site and community at heart as we do.

 

That's all I have to say on the subject, we know what needs to be done, we are doing what needs to be done and that is that.

[Jolteon]

@Caddyman, the main thing you need to note about all this, and it's been said many a time, we are working to change the package already. We are well aware that we are paying more than we have to and we are working to change it, but it's not as simple as just flicking a switch. It'll take time. And in the meantime, the server bill will still be $130 and as it stood before the last 24 hours or so, that was coming out of staff pockets and we simply do not have the money to do that anymore.

 

Put simply no ads means no CoDz. I'd say the choice is a no brainer, wouldn't you?

 

-Jolteon

[GRILL]

so you decided to put the site on a dedi that is 10,000x more then it needs instead of a decent shared server. this site didn't outgrow a shared server plan, it was on a crap shared server that had a lot of downtime, which is unfortunate.

 

and the mistakes the person who owns this site is making for the hosting here is being pawned off onto the members.

@Caddyman the amount of assumptions you make literally makes me white knuckled angry. You don't know the full story, you are looking from the outside in. We were wrongly informed that it was a good decision, and after the person that wrongly informed us of this switched it over - they dissapeared for 6 months. Then when we finally were able to oust them from staff and get all the information - we tried to change the plan, only to realize that we needed to clear space.

Since then the staff had been paying out of their own pockets for the exorbitant bill. It's a goddamn joke, to be honest, that we are paying this much. I agree with you there - but lashing out at the staff that we are "pawning it off" on the users, making it seem like this is a cash grab - it's frankly insulting, and I never expected it to come from such a good guy as yourself. I don't know what happened to make you so bitter against us, but it makes me sad.

[ETEl2NAL407]

 I don't know what happened to make you so bitter against us, but it makes me sad.

 

I think he answered that already...

 

* starwarsbob lives in the same town as i do, he probably lives 5 minutes from my house. i have offered to meet him in person to talk about helping codz, he also refused that.

 

This bitterness is not directed at us as a community.

[GRILL]

Fair enough @ETEl2NAL407 I just can't help but take it personally, because I used to talk to @Caddyman a lot. Just makes me unhappy that this is what he comes back to, after so long. It's like he didn't see our struggle, or anything - he just wants to pick apart what we are doing to survive. I agree with a vast amount of his points, but it just feels like he didn't even read all the posts we've made prior to his.

[ETEl2NAL407]

I get it and I agree to a point. Sure it was not tactful for him to come back and bash us. I also see his point though, because like you I also have talked to Caddy about these things. He offered his services, several of us tried to vouch for him, but he was turned down and this created bad blood between him and Nick. I've seen him post a few other times here, but I think mainly he's just been lurking.

 

If I were in his shoes, ready to help a site like this, but was continually turned down for no apparent reason, I too would feel shamed when I see a post about CoDZ adopting ads. Keep in mind, Caddy knows he has the means to keep CoDZ ad-free and greatly help with the costs.

 

That's almost like a slap in the face, really.

 

"Oh great...we'll probably have to put ads on the site to keep it running."

 

"Well, I can host the site for free so you won't."

 

"No thanks."

 

(6ish months later)

 

"We're now putting ads on the site and we know no one loves it, but there's no other option."

 

No other option??? Really?

 

All I'm saying is, I completely understand Caddy's view, but it was a bit childish for him to come and post his "I told you so", but who cares? We should bury this hatchet, stop taking so much personally from each other. Everyone is just trying to help and it's only natural to feel dejected when the help you offer is rejected only to find out that what you were trying to prevent is happening anyways.

[Hells Warrrior]

He obviously has experience, it's not being questioned at all. He has no clue about what the ads are generating. For one, he comes on and says probably about $10 a month, when they have only "just" been activated. So even we don't have a clue as to what they will generate in revenue "yet" - it's a popular site, generates a fair bit of traffic and potential income from AD's could be anything from $1.00 + a month.

 

He obviously has knowledge of hosting and has an understanding of things, as do we, We all have knowledge and understanding of certain things but they way he went about things today was an insult. Valid points but an insult & not a clue as to what is what and why.

[JakeDuck]

People are here discussing ads, and here I am wondering about those tiered donor ranks.

 

I don't think I've seen any info on those, can someone elaborate?

[Hells Warrrior]

No decision has been made bud, still discussing if it will happen.

[MegaAfroMan]

He obviously has experience, it's not being questioned at all. He has no clue about what the ads are generating. For one, he comes on and says probably about $10 a month, when they have only "just" been activated. So even we don't have a clue as to what they will generate in revenue "yet" - it's a popular site, generates a fair bit of traffic and potential income from AD's could be anything from $1.00 + a month.

 

He obviously has knowledge of hosting and has an understanding of things, as do we, We all have knowledge and understanding of certain things but they way he went about things today was an insult. Valid points but an insult & not a clue as to what is what and why.

Caddy was a bit bitter yes, but it's not directed at the staff as a whole, and to say that he has no right or reason to be so, is just silly.

Also, I've seen Caddy's work, I've worked with him, albeit it breifly, in the past, and I trust that he knows what he's talking about, probably more than any of us. Other than yourself, I know practically no one on the staff has decent knowledge of forum software. And I don't know the extents of your knowledge enough to compare you two, but Caddy is very good at what he does.

So don't dismiss what he is saying simply because it has a negative tone.

[Hells Warrrior]

Mega, if you read what I said, I never once dismissed what he was saying or say he had no right to be bitter - not in the slightest. What I was saying, is that it was an insult to the staff what he did say.

 

He doesn't know the full in's and out's, I don't even know the full ins and outs.

 

What I do know is what I've learned in the past 6/7 months, is things did not run as smoothly as they possibly could and should have, things aren't perfect now & we do not profess to know everything and I don't profess to know everything. What I do know is where we are now, what we need to do to move forward & what is being done to move forward.

 

His tone was wrong and he probably knows that and it's rubbed a couple of us up the wrong way.

[MixMasterNut]

I'm cool with the ads.

 

This topic has been a source of controversy forever it seems.

 

Treyarch is not going to send their legal team after this site for monetizing it, in order to keep it running.  The community is important to them  You don't see them taking PTG's or Syndicate's youtube channels down for using their imagery and monetizing it, right.

 

And if it's an aesthetics thing people are complaining about, then those people need to get real.  I've heard stories in the past of staff members missing meals, or paying other bills late, just to cover the site's server expenses.  Screw the aesthetics of a no-ad site if it's costing our friends here their livelihoods.

 

Thanks for finally coming to your senses

 

Long live CODZ!!!

 

- Mix

[ConvictioNDR]

 

 

LOL

[DeathBringerZen]

 

 

^THIS is exactly why the ads must stay!

[Hells Warrrior]

What you been looking at conviction lol

[mmm chocolate]

I never click on ads. EVER. Good luck with that.

[Hells Warrrior]

Most people don't, we fully understand that. It's not about whether you click on them. It's about whether others click on them and whether or not they are a worthwhile venture. So far the stats are showing that they are worthwhile and it's only early days.