Hey everyone. Firstly I'd like to say thanks to everyone who has come here and posted, contributed, made a map, added to the Wiki, or in any way helped make the community here better. We've only been online for 2 months and I feel like we've really made huge strides in being one of the best Portal sites around.

Unfortunatly, the downside to that is server costs. Before this site went online, f0rkznet (our server) was doing 15-20 KBits on average with spikes up to about 80 KBits. At the time of me writing this, we are averaging about 350 KBits with spikes well up into 1 MBits (1000 KBits for those not very computer savvy). Needless to say, TWP is growing and in a big way.

That's where you guys can come in. As much as I really really don't want to put ads on the site, it may be something I don't have a choice of doing in the near future. If we can get a few donations to the site a month, then that would be enough to keep the site ad-free. In addition to covering server costs, I really would like to offer real prizes for future Mapping Contests. Something like a video card or a gig of RAM, maybe a decent monitor. Something to give back to the winner to make the contest more important, and all in all attract more people here.

I'd like to give something back to the supporters, but I'm not sure exactly what to do for them. I've thought of a semi-private forum where anyone can view but only Supporters can post in. I've made a small rank similar to the Moderator one. I am open to ideas since I am kinda stumped about what to offer.

In the end, I'm not forcing anyone to do anything. Putting ads on the forum is the last thing I want to do, but right now me and f0rkz pay for the server out of pocket, and before long I won't have a choice but to add them.

Thanks everyone.

If ads will save TWP from oblivion, then use them. That's all I have to say. About the prizes in the contests. We should do it like this:

-Each ordinary contest winner will be a finalist for the prized compos.
-Every six months or so (BIG PRIZES! BIG!) the six finalists compete in order to win the prize.

I'm cool with ads, as long as they arent annoying popup ones then if ads will save TWP then you must put ads on.
As for prizes don't go over the top, perhaps every 3 monthly compos the 3 winners' maps are voted on again and the winner out of those 3 gets a prize. so to get a prize you have to make a map better than any submitted in the two previous/following months.

Add a BIG FAT JUICY donate button. Perhaps a small, unique to TWP, reward for donating more than say $20

We will save TWP however we can

Well let me say that TWP isn't going to like disappear. The site will stay no matter what, the only thing that will change is ads.

As for contest prizes, I don't want to offer a big huge one every single contest since obviously there isn't enough people entering them to warrent it. I think we are going to have a longer contest at the start of the year, and we might offer a prize then.

Honestly, I say just go with a few ads but nothing obtrusive. There's no reason this site needs to be ad-free.

Ads by Goooooogle ftw

Google ads, arent all that bad, if it really comes down to it, then I agree, Adds. may save the site.

As long as the adds are non-obtrusive and PG, I have no problem with them at all.

Top and bottom adverts, not side adverts.

Msleeper, a few weeks ago, from memory wrote:
If every registered user donated $1, I could do crack off my new Lexus. If every registered user with one post or more donated $1, the server would be covered for at least a few months.

I just went and did my bit. It's a buck. Seriously.

I'd donate but I don't do business with Paypal.

Hober wrote:
I just went and did my bit. It's a buck. Seriously.

I'll see if I can donate a few bucks once I get my next paycheque. This site has helped me get my portal fix on a daily basis. I'll gladly try to support the cause every now and then.

I have no problems at all with there being ads, as long as they're not popups or flash, or the annoying ones.

Yeah pop ups would suck.

I'd probably go for a Google ad at the top, and maybe one inline (second post) with the forum. Though I don't know about that second option.

If you're going to put ads between posts, try not to make them blend in with the real messages...

Between posts would be dumb, instead make it to the left or right or something.

MrTwoVideoCards wrote:
Between posts would be dumb, instead make it to the left or right or something.

Just as long as it's not to the left or the right inside a post. That can screw a lot of things up, not to mention it really looks out of place.

EDIT: Also, wtb big-fat-donate-button.

oh and definitely don't go with the "certain words are linked to an advertisement" ads. Where it takes commonly used words like "computer" or "game" and makes it into a link to an advertisement.

those are poopy.