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GOT Needs Your Help

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orly said:
Saw that one at the time, terrible really.

Was just wondering though - server costs as a request is a bit intangible (even though it's a legitimate ask) - but if you did set up a 'stretch goal' for something like a rep system specifically I think that would work.

Perhaps what I'm saying here is that I will give you £100 for a way of neg bombing
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Seconded.


In installments like, I'm not made of money...
 
GrandOldTeam said:
Always laugh at the BK "truth". That'll be a nonsense mate - just like the people who claim their admins hacked their ITK accounts to post blag transfer rumours.

I recall at some point they in effect outsourced their forum to forum users to maintain so maybe something could have gone on there but the actual Kipper lads, steve, sausage etc wouldn't have been making any money through ads/contributions and it's very insulting to suggest so, and a kick in the teeth to lads who invested a lot of years to a free service for other fans.

I've itemised costs above, if anyone wants to see payment invoices, I can upload them along with bank transactions...

If we ever made a profit in a year, that would go on paying for the next year/reinvested into development, like a better app, bespoke developer for a rep system etc.
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Ty for your answer, and since i wrote this I have been thinking, its good if you make money on keeping grandoldteam running, cause its a great forum which I am on a lot. Of course its not ok if u say " we need donations, or else the site will go down," and its not the truth ( like the rumours was for BK, which I dont know if is true or not). But other than that, its cool if u can get some money for ur work on this site trough ads and such. So keep up the good work, and I will keep my adblock off like I have done since I read your enquiry about it for the first time.
 
Groucho said:
We've repeatedly asked for people not to use "nonce". It is an offensive term that some people appear not to fully understand, so please don't use it, even in jest. I'm sure people using this term would be immediately offended if they were called a paedophile so using another word for the same thing is just as bad.

Away from that, any effort to help GOT is much appreciated folks.
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In my defense, I don't know what it means and didn't think it worse than bellend or other fascinating scouse slang I marvel at here and openly wish they were part of the American lexicon.
 

I hate ads of all forms - visual nagging litter that has trained me not to read a whole page properly as I filter things out. I end up missing out on real info. However, this is fair enough if it funds the site, as it's a free site. I've disabled adblock for this site and this site alone (and toffeeweb).
 
GrandOldTeam said:
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;

View attachment 13942

2. Click don't run on pages on this domain.

View attachment 13943

3. Click exclude;

View attachment 13944

4. When you see a green thumb, you're now helping us out;

View attachment 13946


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.
Other ways in which you can help us out;
  • 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.
We're also always receptive to sponsorship opportunities with local businesses. If you have/know a business that could help work with GrandOldTeam, please give us a shout.

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.
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How many ad clicks are roughly equivalent to being a forum supporter? I may a lazy arse when it comes to forum support, but I've certainly got nothing better to do than click some banners.
 
the esk said:
Quite simply it comes down to trust. Do you trust the guy that created this site and has underwritten all of its costs personally since early 2007*?

There's no obligation on you to do anything you don't feel comfortable with.

Such is the size of GrandOldTeam these days it is not realistic for the cost to fall to one individual.

The choice is yours, respectfully if you can afford it a contribution would be welcome. However there's no obligation.

*edited
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So what if this site IS a profit making organisation? If a songwriter can write / sing one catchy song, and sit back their entire life watching the royalties come in, doing nothing else, why shouldn't the person who had the idea and gumption to set up a site like this, enjoyed by dozens, be able to make a living by continuing to run it?

It's a daft way we view things really. On the one hand it's quite alright for middle men the world over to buy a mass produced product for a pound and sell it on for a tenner, but we view dimly a forum creator making a living, or when a school sells on a biro it spent 9p on for 10p it's a shocker!
 
chrismpw said:
So what if this site IS a profit making organisation? If a songwriter can write / sing one catchy song, and sit back their entire life watching the royalties come in, doing nothing else, why shouldn't the person who had the idea and gumption to set up a site like this, enjoyed by dozens, be able to make a living by continuing to run it?
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Totally agree! I know though that the intention is not for this to be a "for-profit" site and if it became self sustaining through advertising or sponsorship for example, I'm pretty certain @GrandOldTeam would not be asking for individual contributions.
 

GrandOldTeam said:
If only mate, if only. Shocking admission here but even I'm missing rep. If we could have it, we would.
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orly said:
Perhaps what I'm saying here is that I will give you £100 for a way of neg bombing
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Boss_Blue said:
Seconded.


In installments like, I'm not made of money...
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sure i could find a bit more too...
throwing-money-away.gif
 
I contribute to forum costs as I really appreciate GOT and the free work that the mods, admins and Danny do to keep it running.

I'd also be willing to chip in some quid if it meant the rep system returned like...
 

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