Are you serious?

[l Heroz l]

You actually have to pay money Monthly to be able to do stuff like be able to have a signature and post polls? that's just crazy, I understand the other features that are accessible to subscriptors, but the two i just mentioned should be available to everyone,just like all the other forums out there,anyway, this is just my opinion, pls dont reply with something like ''If you dont like it then GTFO'',but pls, give some thought about it

[Yang Whirlwind]

Posting polls is something that is easily abused. By restricting it to users who contribute a monthly fee to be here, the level of abuse is reduced to almost zero.

I know many people love to have colorful signatures, but in reality they do little but slow the forum and distract from what is being said.
On the other hand, we would like to give something back to those users who supports the forum, and so, signatures have been allowed for staff and Elite Members.

<--- You can however add an avatar to help people identify you.

As you can clearly see: I have felt no need to add a graphics signature to every post I make.

[Snograt]

I pay for Elite Guru membership. For that, I get a custom title (that I don't use as I'm a janitor in Tech corner); the ability to post polls (which I only ever did once at the request of someone else) and the option of a small, discrete signature.

None of those fringe benefits particularly bother me - I subscribe to Guru as it is the best Guild Wars related forum on the internet. It costs me $39.75 per year - that's a mighty ¢76 a week. Even better as I'm English - 47p per week :)

[Fril Estelin]

The people that monthly pay for Guru are the ones we should be thanking gratefully, they're making sure we can enjoy the discussion and information for free (consciously/directly or not). Signatures are not so important and polls not so necessary.

Ty 10,000 times Guru elite people!

[Earth]

Or you could try to become a mod, and get it all for free! ;)

(Even though I don't use any)

[T1Cybernetic]

I never realised it was only 47p a week ;) worth it really for keeping the best guild wars forum ticking over each month...

[Taurean]

2000 members times 39,75$ = 79500$ a year. I'm glad not everyone is paying that much. That is a serious salary we're talking about! Just to run a forum!

[Inde]

Wow, 2,000 people paying?! ;) Taurean, there are not 2,000 people in the program. Not sure where you grabbed that number from.

[T1Cybernetic]

I bet with 2000 people paying you spend all day sun bathing now Inde ;) Congrats.

[Unlucky Slayer]

They're paying my alternate income that I dont claim with the government since it comes from all over the world in my Swiss bank account.

[fenix]

Totally worth getting Elite guru. It's not much money to pay, it's giving it to guru, and gives me some cool stuff.

If guru allowed everyone to use sigs, I imagine it'd take YEARS to load threads. No one wants that.

[Katsumi]

79500$ a year
I expect a check by the end of the week, Inde.

[daraaksii]

I pay for Elite Guru membership. For that, I get a custom title (that I don't use as I'm a janitor in Tech corner); the ability to post polls (which I only ever did once at the request of someone else) and the option of a small, discrete signature.

None of those fringe benefits particularly bother me - I subscribe to Guru as it is the best Guild Wars related forum on the internet. It costs me $39.75 per year - that's a mighty ¢76 a week. Even better as I'm English - 47p per week :)

What? I can ask someone for a custom title?:)

[Illfated Fat]

If guru allowed everyone to use sigs, I imagine it'd take YEARS to load threads. No one wants that.

Yeah, as opposed to the half-a-day it already takes :eek:.

I think for the purposes of forum speed and functionality, it's better off not to have graphical sigs. As for polls... well the vast majority of people here say very "special" things and it would just get abused. It's not worth it; and users can already post polls in sardelac.

[Nathaniel (Was 'ere)]

Do you really need a signature? Honestly? I mean, if it's a case of 'Oh, wow he/she/it has an awesome signature. Now I totally want one just so I can say mines is better..' Then does it really matter? And wow, you can't post in polls.. I don't think that hinders you too badly. Or I would probably consider subscribing.

[Taurean]

Wow, 2,000 people paying?! ;) Taurean, there are not 2,000 people in the program. Not sure where you grabbed that number from.

I just thought i read somewhere here that this forum had around 2.500 members. Not sure where xD

How many is here? I can tell there is a good many active - whenever i click "New posts" every thread is changed - i have to find my threads to hang up with it.

But i'm serious with the membership payment s**t.. it is ripping off people.. employ more dedicated Gw players that can stay loyal here on this forum one-two hours a day instead..
I think people who pay to get the ad cuts and all that crap.. are crazy xD don't do it. B\c it encourages and opens for more business.

[Dmitri3]

There's no ripping off. You want/able to support the forum, you do it. If not, then it's not such a big deal.

Ads, subscriptions, etc. You must be able to pay for server somehow. Though it would be a lot better if company simply disclosed their financial situation (just my IMHO).

[Arkantos]

I just thought i read somewhere here that this forum had around 2.500 members. Not sure where xD

How many is here? I can tell there is a good many active - whenever i click "New posts" every thread is changed - i have to find my threads to hang up with it.

But i'm serious with the membership payment s**t.. it is ripping off people.. employ more dedicated Gw players that can stay loyal here on this forum one-two hours a day instead..
I think people who pay to get the ad cuts and all that crap.. are crazy xD don't do it. B\c it encourages and opens for more business.

There are 188,750 members on guru, I'm guessing less than 100 subscribe to be a core/elite guru.

It's not a rip off. It's for people who want to support guru. It's cheap and gives them a few perks. If you think it's a rip off, then don't pay for it, no one is forcing you to.

[Taurean]

Alright ^^

Wow - that many! I can understand why it is so busy then =D
I did have a great first impression of this site.

Now i have to go do some more questing of gw core - i'm getting prophecies tomorrow.

[KZaske]

You actually have to pay money Monthly to be able to do stuff like be able to have a signature and post polls? that's just crazy, I understand the other features that are accessible to subscriptors, but the two i just mentioned should be available to everyone,just all other forums,anyway, this is just my opinion, pls dont reply with something like ''If you dont like it then GTFO'',but pls, give some thought about it

You have got to be kidding me. Guru is one of, if not the busiest Guild Wars forums on the internet. If everyone was able to have a signature it would greatly increase the workload on what are already almost overloaded servers. As for polls, see above.
There are times when Guru crawls and times it flies. If every registered member had a signature, I would imagine the speed of Guru would drop to the point where it would quickly die.
To Indie, for my two cents, I think you are doing a great job with the resources at hand. To everyone else, I really doubt Indie is seeing even a small fraction of the money he receives from paying members, servers are not cheap. Not to own or to rent. I am looking forward to the day I can help out.

[Skuld]

There are 105 subscribers, 103 of us pay and 2 are test accounts ;)

[JupiterStarWarrior]

Personally, it's no big deal to not have a sig.

One other thing that people keep overlooking that could actually add to forum cost is the cost of the forums themselves (the actual software). But, I'm assuming that the MMO Guru administrators have actually paid for a "lifelong"license instead of a yearly one.

As for ads, well... There are ways around those, as well. :-/

[Snograt]

I really doubt Indie is seeing even a small fraction of the money he receives from paying members, servers are not cheap. Not to own or to rent. I am looking forward to the day I can help out.
Heh, haven't had to correct that one in ages :D

Inde is our goddess of guru-ness - she's a she!

[Blackhearted]

You have got to be kidding me. Guru is one of, if not the busiest Guild Wars forums on the internet. If everyone was able to have a signature it would greatly increase the workload on what are already almost overloaded servers. Oh please. Another forum(though not gw related, but that's really irrelevent) i go to has just roughly around the same ammount on at once(maybe a little more at times), more total members, and ~2x more total posts. There everyone can have a nice [size limited] sig, and even with all that the site still runs hundreds of laps around this site in terms of speed. There's very rarely a time i have to really "wait" for anything.

There would be no problem with sigs here, too, if guru got decent servers that could handle a load and put them on a decent connection.


There's no ripping off. You want/able to support the forum, you do it. If not, then it's not such a big deal.

Ads, subscriptions, etc. You must be able to pay for server somehow. Though it would be a lot better if company simply disclosed their financial situation (just my IMHO). It does seem like kind of a rip off to be honest. I mean, The "support" that supposedly would come from people paying obviously doesn't actually do anything. As this place has always moved slower than 56k dailup.

[Katsumi]

There are two sources of revenue for this site: paying members and ads.

Just be glad you aren't bombarded with ever more ads or that you don't have to pay to have access to this forum.

And as always, if you don't like it, feel free to leave.

[Inde]

I don't know why it's hard for some to accept that I don't like sigs, and that's the reason behind restricting them. I've said it before and the question comes up every few months, so there it is again. You have your avatars to put all the expression/creativity/message you want. Really, why have a sig as well? Sorry to all of you that like them. I find them distracting, they clutter, and they don't provide anything of value. Hard to swallow I know. You can start your flaming now but I know there are actually many that agree with me. :) I've been to some of those "other" forums, and it convinces me even more to stay with our current arrangement.

[Yang Whirlwind]

Whenever I go to my guild forum I get annoyed with all the graphics clutter people apparently feel the need for. Instead of having two pages of easy to follow comments on a subject, we have six pages of silly visual junk that say absolutely nothing of value.

[komma]

sigs are relatively pointless when you have an avatar. well unless your a 13 year old girl whos into glitter text pics and ish.....anywhom this forum is top notch.

[Skuld]

Reddit has the right idea: http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/7vwgg/a_map_of_undersea_cables_from_1901_not_bad_for_an/

[Spiritz]

If Inde can back me up here im be gratefull -

1. Website consists of domain name ( needs to be purchased for 1 or 2 yrs )
2. Webhosting also needs to be paid for which consists of
A. Bandwidth ( traffic allowance )
B. Server Space and mysql size ( yes some webhosts cap mysql database sizes )

Now all of this needs to be purchased which means you need the funds , guru has 2 means of income that i can see -
Ad`s - slow way of income as the return is often minimal
Subscription - probably the main income

Guessing guru has high usage it needs high bandwidth ( guessing over 50 gig easily a month ) so straight away the price increases.
Donations to a site i think can depend on country its run from as some ( uk is 1 i think ) can regard any site that recieves donations as being a business and things get complicated from there.

Hopefully if confirmed or corrected where needed people can understand why subscribers and ad`s are needed and how the money is used

[Lykan]

Its pretty refreshing to click open a thread and not having it jumping around for ages while everyones sigs load.

[Stop The Storm]

sigs are shit, only kids under the age of 13 think they iz well kool

they slow down the forum (which already takes an eternity) and just looks a right mess.

i dont come on here to look at pretty pictures, i come on here for information from posts and to buy/sell stuff.

i personally dont subscribe either as it has nothing beneficial to me personally, if there was something worth paying for then i would. on another note id like to thank the companies that pay guru to advertise on the site - all of which my firefox blocks. win-win :D

lastly, great forum, but too friggin slow, maybe offering something decent for elite members and maybe drop the price would inspire more people to sign up.

$39.75 is way too high IMO considering the site is mainly used by kids and teenagers. another website i pay a yearly membership with i get a welcome letter, membership card, keyring, bottle opener, 2 stickers and no restrictions to the forum. Thats £10 a year by the way (around $20 i guess)

for 185,000 members (granted most are not active) and youve only got 100 paying members, something aint right.

i think you should allow people to view the forum on a free account but restrict access to certain areas, maybe marketplace? could even add post restrictions like 20 every 24 hours. maybe implement a $10 yearly subscription which enables people to use marketplace and the rest of the forum

few ideas for ya :D

[Snograt]

The majority of fee payers are neither kids nor teenagers.

Us wrinklies pay the way for the whippersnappers - and we're glad to do so.

[Arkantos]

$39.75 is way too high IMO

$39.75 is less than 11 cents a day. If that's too high, how do you pay for...well, anything.

[Spiritz]

for 185,000 members (granted most are not active) and youve only got 100 paying members, something aint right.


100 members who are supporting guru - thats actually good , as 2 ppl have mentioned but from diff views - part of guru members probably teenagers and the other part adults who have the ability to pay via card etc.

What matters isnt 100 out of 185,000 paying but 100 who have decided to subscribe and support guru .

Btw sites that give freebies for joining i tend to avoid - usually theres always hidden clauses and more often the goods themselves are poor quality or within a few months those sites close as they have to purchase the freebies.It always reminds me of places that advertise sales with up to 75% off - when you go and shop theres only stuff up to 25% off - remember they dont actually state anything IS 75% but UP TO - big diff

[Stop The Storm]

$39.75 is less than 11 cents a day.

$40 for, well, nothing really apart to say thank you and help the current (piss poor) server costs.

100 people paying $40 = $4000

if they dropped costs to something reasonable like $10-$15 i predict a hell of a lot more people willing to pay the elite price with how many people visit here everyday

i reckon you could get 500 subscribed paying members at least

500 x $10-$15 = $5000-$7500.

If that's too high, how do you pay for...well, anything.

can you imagine paying $40 for every website you subscribed to?

im sure a few of the "wealthy" adults can afford it, but for the vast majority on here which are kids and teenagers, for a guildwars fan site, $40 is too high.

The majority of fee payers are neither kids nor teenagers.



and thats exactly my point.

with a lower fee you could get some of the younger people to pay.

Edit button is your Friend. He likes to be used.

[kzap]

I'm not sure if its only 100 members, havent checked the latest #'s, subscription is like a way to donate except were actually selling a product rather than taking charity. Its way for people to 'suppport' Guru. I know the servers are slow, were working on that, its not an easy thing to constantly upgrade and it definitely isnt cheap, the current setup we have is by far the fastest we've had ever and the most expensive, we run on rackspace, the leader in managed hosting, all the others pale in comparison. We have 3 web servers and 1 huge database server. One thing thats different about Guru is that we're cost effective even in the current economy, we don't spend cash here and there like theres no tomorrow cause frankly running gaming community sites is not exactly lucrative. In the near future we may see other communities like GameAmp disappear or run into financial trouble, but rest assured Guru will still be here for many years to come.

[Rahja the Thief]

kzap is the genius behind keeping Guru afloat. And no, running a forum of gaming or technical nature isn't lucrative (albeit, tech forums can be more so).

He has dramatically improved the servers (yet again), and for its sheer size, Guru is pretty quick. GWO is faster because it is a mere fraction of the size.

Guru:
Threads: 530,890, Posts: 4,196,033, Members: 189,475

GWO:
Threads: 133,300, Posts: 2,047,092, Members: 174,518

So, Guru has 4x the total amount of threads, slightly over 2x the number of posts, and 15,000 more members. That would make the database 3x the size perhaps? Let's see GWO survive that type of load.

[Theocrat]

Let's see GWO survive that type of load.With incgamers financial backing, I'm sure they'd have no troubles doing so.

[Stop The Storm]

I'm not sure if its only 100 members, havent checked the latest #'s, subscription is like a way to donate except were actually selling a product rather than taking charity. Its way for people to 'suppport' Guru. I know the servers are slow, were working on that, its not an easy thing to constantly upgrade and it definitely isnt cheap, the current setup we have is by far the fastest we've had ever and the most expensive, we run on rackspace, the leader in managed hosting, all the others pale in comparison. We have 3 web servers and 1 huge database server. One thing thats different about Guru is that we're cost effective even in the current economy, we don't spend cash here and there like theres no tomorrow cause frankly running gaming community sites is not exactly lucrative. In the near future we may see other communities like GameAmp disappear or run into financial trouble, but rest assured Guru will still be here for many years to come.

good job on keeping the site going on a tight budget, must be hard work.

and dont think im having a go or anything like that, just throwing a couple ideas around to try make you guys a bit more money for the kitty :)