Blues,
This is going to be a "I'm not reading all that" type of thread, but please persevere with it, as it concerns the future of the forum - there may become a time where you won't be able to read anything on GrandOldTeam again.
August 2015 proved to be our busiest ever month since establishing in February 2007. Thank you for visiting, and contributing to GrandOldTeam.
Every year, we have more visitors visiting us, contributing more posts than the previous year and of course, we're made up with that. It's testament to the community we've all built here but for the first time since we began, I'm genuinely anxious about whether this community will be here after this season.
You might have heard recently that Apple have recently enabled ad-blocking in the new version of its mobile software to give their customers the option to block content "for an improved mobile browsing experience."
This move has had it's fair share of criticism, because it's potentially crippling for the likes of GrandOldTeam, because it takes "revenue away from publishers who depended on adverts so that they could provide their readers with free content/platforms".
61% of our visits in 2015 was on a mobile device (58% of mobile traffic was on an Apple device) and 85% of our revenue is from mobile ads (because only 35% of desktop traffic don't have adblock enabled) and so you can see the impact this will have.
Now, GrandOldTeam is genuinely independent. Fans, endeavouring to provide the very best place on the web for fans worldwide to congregate to discuss Everton FC. We don't always get it right, but we give it a good go.
Unfortunately, it costs a few bob to keep GrandOldTeam online. 2015 will cost £7,340. That's server, offside backup, forum license renewals, domains, development costs (app/website an forum adaptations), subscriptions. As a mid 20's lad from Kirkby, that's a lot of money. Ensuring GrandOldTeam is sustainable and balancing costs has been increasingly difficult as the site has grew. I've done all I can in that our setup is very well optimised, and we bring in revenue in a manner that protects the integrity and fan experience of the site but this mobile adblock move potentially blows any effort out the water.
Simply put, if mobile traffic adopts the same adblocker take up as our desktop traffic does, we're knackered.
So we really need your continued/increased help. Please read the below;
How can you help GrandOldTeam?
This is the best and most supportive thing you can do to help us out. Please, disable ad block. It's only a couple of clicks. Something like the below;
1. Click the adblock icon - usually it's red and top right of your browser;
2. Click don't run on pages on this domain.
3. Click exclude;
4. When you see a green thumb, you're now helping us out;
We don't have intrusive adverts, but if you really, really don't want to see an advert on here, you can;
We're also looking at potentially selling some items on our store (prints, coasters etc) so any suggestions on what you'd buy on GOT would be most welcome.
Thanks Blues.
This is going to be a "I'm not reading all that" type of thread, but please persevere with it, as it concerns the future of the forum - there may become a time where you won't be able to read anything on GrandOldTeam again.
August 2015 proved to be our busiest ever month since establishing in February 2007. Thank you for visiting, and contributing to GrandOldTeam.
Every year, we have more visitors visiting us, contributing more posts than the previous year and of course, we're made up with that. It's testament to the community we've all built here but for the first time since we began, I'm genuinely anxious about whether this community will be here after this season.
You might have heard recently that Apple have recently enabled ad-blocking in the new version of its mobile software to give their customers the option to block content "for an improved mobile browsing experience."
This move has had it's fair share of criticism, because it's potentially crippling for the likes of GrandOldTeam, because it takes "revenue away from publishers who depended on adverts so that they could provide their readers with free content/platforms".
61% of our visits in 2015 was on a mobile device (58% of mobile traffic was on an Apple device) and 85% of our revenue is from mobile ads (because only 35% of desktop traffic don't have adblock enabled) and so you can see the impact this will have.
Now, GrandOldTeam is genuinely independent. Fans, endeavouring to provide the very best place on the web for fans worldwide to congregate to discuss Everton FC. We don't always get it right, but we give it a good go.
Unfortunately, it costs a few bob to keep GrandOldTeam online. 2015 will cost £7,340. That's server, offside backup, forum license renewals, domains, development costs (app/website an forum adaptations), subscriptions. As a mid 20's lad from Kirkby, that's a lot of money. Ensuring GrandOldTeam is sustainable and balancing costs has been increasingly difficult as the site has grew. I've done all I can in that our setup is very well optimised, and we bring in revenue in a manner that protects the integrity and fan experience of the site but this mobile adblock move potentially blows any effort out the water.
Simply put, if mobile traffic adopts the same adblocker take up as our desktop traffic does, we're knackered.
So we really need your continued/increased help. Please read the below;
How can you help GrandOldTeam?
- Disable AdBlock. Our sponsors have trackers on their adverts to see how many times their adverts are being loaded, which they carefully evaluate prior considering any sponsorship renewal. It's important they see an accurate representation. Our adverts are not intrusive, and in fact, having Adblock enabled is more intrusive as you see a great red box asking you to disable adblock. Please do so.
- & Visit our advert partners. If you see a partner message on GOT that you like, please visit. They'll see the referral traffic and think we're sound.
This is the best and most supportive thing you can do to help us out. Please, disable ad block. It's only a couple of clicks. Something like the below;
1. Click the adblock icon - usually it's red and top right of your browser;
2. Click don't run on pages on this domain.
3. Click exclude;
4. When you see a green thumb, you're now helping us out;
We don't have intrusive adverts, but if you really, really don't want to see an advert on here, you can;
- Upgrade your forum account. We have a 'Forum Supporter' account upgrade which is essentially, a donation system. You can pay £20 which removes adverts, you get a GrandOldTeam mug to a UK address and a few more enhanced forum features.
- Buy with Amazon using our link. It makes no difference to the cost of what you buy but it does mean that about 5% of what you spend on Amazon comes back to us to help with the running costs of the site. Currently, we've raised just on 30 quid which will pay for our domain renewals.
- Register for a PaddyPower account via this link - (Gamble responsibly). You'll get a free £20 bet when you stake £10 and in return for promoting Paddy Power, we earn 20% on any profit Paddy Power make through their partnership with GrandOldTeam. So, say you stake £10 and lose, you can find some comfort knowing that £2 of that will go to supporting your lovable rogues at GrandOldTeam.
- Buy from Campo Retro via this link. The more they sell from GrandOldTeam, the greater likeilihood they'll continue to sponsor us.
We're also looking at potentially selling some items on our store (prints, coasters etc) so any suggestions on what you'd buy on GOT would be most welcome.
Thanks Blues.
