Irish Envy GoFundMe

[notredomer23]

Bump, and also how much does Koon have to donate to get unbanned?

 

[RDU Irish]

Bump, and also how much does Koon have to donate to get unbanned?

How do you contribute a wooden spoon to GoFundMe?

 

[IrishLax]

How do you contribute a wooden spoon to GoFundMe?

lol......

 

[Cackalacky2.0]

Heh heh heh

 

[ulukinatme]

Bump, and also how much does Koon have to donate to get unbanned?

Hey! I paid good money to have koon banned...

 

[Irish#1]

Bump......You lurkers and members. If you haven't donated, it's time. The goal was reached, but it's going to coast more than what's been donated to maintain the site properly. Even if it's just $20. You'll blow that on a beer and burrito without blinking an eye.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

Bump......You lurkers and members. If you haven't donated, it's time. The goal was reached, but it's going to coast more than what's been donated to maintain the site properly. Even if it's just $20. You'll blow that on a beer and burrito without blinking an eye.

Where was the money coming from under the previous owners btw?

 

[notredomer23]

Where was the money coming from under the previous owners btw?

They likely just opted in on the Google Display Network. Google kicks back a small percentage of the cost of the clicks that come from IE I believe... I do some GDN for a couple clients and I can't imagine a site like IE was getting nearly close to what they would need per month to properly maintain it. Maximum $200/month maybe? I could be totally off on that total, but I suspect that's likely why we saw a storm of bots signing up here a few years ago... more clicks on the ads = more money.

 

[IrishLion]

Where was the money coming from under the previous owners btw?

1. They weren't spending anything to maintain the site, other than paying their yearly fees for a server and vBulletin. They weren't investing in any vBulletin updates. That's why it was so badly behind, and why we've had some issues now that we're trying to update/upgrade.

2. Anything they were making was from Google AdSense, I'm sure, and I think they also owned other websites. I'm sure between all of their assets, the ad revenue was at least enough to keep the websites live, even though they weren't offering any other TLC.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

1. They weren't spending anything to maintain the site, other than paying their yearly fees for a server and vBulletin. They weren't investing in any vBulletin updates. That's why it was so badly behind, and why we've had some issues now that we're trying to update/upgrade.

2. Anything they were making was from Google AdSense, I'm sure, and I think they also owned other websites. I'm sure between all of their assets, the ad revenue was at least enough to keep the websites live, even though they weren't offering any other TLC.

gotchya
I knew they weren't paying for updates, but wasn't sure who was keeping the lights on

 

[BeauBenken]

Yes, our biggest request from our users in the future will be to whitelist our page once we have Google Ads up and running!

My goal once we get everything running smoothly will be to monitor traffic though and then seek out specific companies to advertise directly with us so that our ads won't be blocked by our several non-registered users and so that the ads are specific to our user base.

 

[Irish#1]

They likely just opted in on the Google Display Network. Google kicks back a small percentage of the cost of the clicks that come from IE I believe... I do some GDN for a couple clients and I can't imagine a site like IE was getting nearly close to what they would need per month to properly maintain it. Maximum $200/month maybe? I could be totally off on that total, but I suspect that's likely why we saw a storm of bots signing up here a few years ago... more clicks on the ads = more money.

Software gets updated one of two ways. The most common is paying the annual maintenance. I have no idea what that is for vBulletin, but it can range from a couple of grand on up. When you pay for the annual maintenance you get all of the upgrades and patches that are released. It also gets you some support help depending on what support is needed. If you do not elect to get the annual maintenance you have to pay for the software again to get the latest upgrade. There's probably a 90 day up to 12 month support agreement built into the initial purchase. Most are 12 months, then the annual maintenance fee kicks in. I think it's safe to say the former owners were not paying the annual maintenance.

 

[notredomer23]

My goal once we get everything running smoothly will be to monitor traffic though and then seek out specific companies to advertise directly with us so that our ads won't be blocked by our several non-registered users and so that the ads are specific to our user base.

I was gonna suggest this... Some direct buys, IE promo codes etc. etc.

 

[dublinirish]

1. They weren't spending anything to maintain the site, other than paying their yearly fees for a server and vBulletin. They weren't investing in any vBulletin updates. That's why it was so badly behind, and why we've had some issues now that we're trying to update/upgrade.

2. Anything they were making was from Google AdSense, I'm sure, and I think they also owned other websites. I'm sure between all of their assets, the ad revenue was at least enough to keep the websites live, even though they weren't offering any other TLC.

would it have been easier to just start a new site from scratch? than to have taken over IE?

 

[IrishLax]

Btw, these donations allowed us to contract a database professional this week to (hopefully) fix the site. If not, we're going to see if it's feasible to move the content over to a new platform.

Where we got fucked in this whole process is that we planned on running the site in its outdated state until we had a firm plan to upgrade it. Instead, the site was so outdated that it literally would not run on any modern server hardware so we were forced to push forward with the upgrade.... which means trying to debug everything on the fly...

 

[Irish#1]

Does vBulletin offer this as a cloud service? You basically pay a monthly fee and they take care of everything.

 

[ulukinatme]

Btw, these donations allowed us to contract a database professional this week to (hopefully) fix the site. If not, we're going to see if it's feasible to move the content over to a new platform.

Where we got fucked in this whole process is that we planned on running the site in its outdated state until we had a firm plan to upgrade it. Instead, the site was so outdated that it literally would not run on any modern server hardware so we were forced to push forward with the upgrade.... which means trying to debug everything on the fly...

If you're looking to move out of the vBulletin platform, might I suggest Invision? It's another good option and runs pretty well. It's what the Texas board uses and it's pretty slick (https://www.surlyhorns.com/board/). Works much like our current platform, but is possibly a smidge more user friendly even after our recent updates. I believe Invision also has options to port over existing message board data from other platforms too, I would image vBulletin would have to be one.

 

[IrishLax]

If you're looking to move out of the vBulletin platform, might I suggest Invision? It's another good option and runs pretty well. It's what the Texas board uses and it's pretty slick (https://www.surlyhorns.com/board/). Works much like our current platform, but is possibly a smidge more user friendly even after our recent updates. I believe Invision also has options to port over existing message board data from other platforms too, I would image vBulletin would have to be one.

Thanks for the recommendation, I like the look of that. What it really comes down to is a platform that will allow us to port over our existing information. Also looking at Xenforo.

 

[Irish#1]

Most software has the ability to port data, but it’s the mapping of the data for the import process that is key. For instance some fields like name = name are obvious. There may be fields in the old software that are named differently in the new and there may be fields in the old that are not in the new and vice versa.

make sure to ask questions like that as you look different platforms.

 

[Black Irish]

I think I can divert some funds from my drinking, gambling, & womanizing budget to support the cause.

 

[Irish YJ]

If you're looking to move out of the vBulletin platform, might I suggest Invision? It's another good option and runs pretty well. It's what the Texas board uses and it's pretty slick (https://www.surlyhorns.com/board/). Works much like our current platform, but is possibly a smidge more user friendly even after our recent updates. I believe Invision also has options to port over existing message board data from other platforms too, I would image vBulletin would have to be one.

Invision is pretty sweet. The NFL and several other boards are on it. Cloud, self hosted, or fully managed offers. I'd be very surprised if porting data was a too problematic.