Post by Admin on Apr 28, 2016 12:02:34 GMT -5
Freeboards only provides 30 days of ad-free access (from date of inception 4/23) and after that members will have to disable their ad-block software on their browsers or they and potentially the forum could be banned for violating the terms of service agreement.
So at that time (5/23) this forum will have to accept the ads (banner at top & bottom of page but not intrusive) or pay a monthly fee to remain ad-free based on the number of page views. Here's a recap of the potential cost to do so for the forum;
"The adfree is based on a per monthly basis, and is in tiers of 50,000 pageviews. So it is $6 for up to 50,000 pageviews, $11.50 for upto 100,000 pageviews, $16.50 for upto 150,000 pageviews and so on right to $750 for up to 10,000,000 pageviews."
To put this in perspective, the Patriots forum at freeboards has about 175 members (we have 50) and they have 13,000 page views is a week's time. So they will be at the minimum monthly charge of $6 within the end of their 30 day ad-free time at which point they will have to A) Pay $6 or more to remain ad-free or B) disable their ad-block software and accept the ad banners. Probably not a big deal but kind of a pain to have to do so each time you visit your forum.
Because of the size of the user base there and potential to grow that base by adding new members, at some point they will also have to pay for more storage space. While it's great to have a large membership and active expanding discussion boards, there will be a point where that growth becomes an expense and the forum will have to decide how to pay for it or consider closing their forum and moving on to another site (which their admin has already mentioned).
The objective of this forum isn't to see how big we can get, but to maintain a user friendly, affordable forum to accommodate the family of posters from BDC. If we get new members that were not previous posters at BDC that's great but we will manage our growth so that this forum remains a great place for it's membership with the intent to stay here and not be forced to move again because of monthly fees associated with being too large.
For that reason, a decision has been made to close this forum to guests and go to a registration only basis. Applications will be approved for past members of BDC with preference to those from the Celtics forum as this board was established for them in the first place. Others will be considered and a recommendation to accept by current HomeCourt members will get top consideration. When/if we get 100-200 members this forum will stop accepting new members until we can assess the potential expense of further growth and who will pay for continued growth if that happens.
Thanks for joining and hope you agree with the plan,
Admin