First off, I love what you guys are doing! I'm a longtime GSOM reader but I stopped posting around the time that SBN took over. I'm glad to see a lot of the old regulars posting here. I'm rooting for you guys.
I'm not a huge fan of the "super subscriber" model. Feels a little like buying friends. I do like the idea of a subscriber question in the LGW mailbag or a subscriber question for an interview. For added interest, you could pick a handful of finalists and have the question be voted on by subscribers only.
Merch? Maybe not as a super-subscriber gift but just straight up? T-shirts, hoodies, hats, koozies, stickers, etc. I loved the old tony.psd designs from the old GSOM days.
I am not one for extra perks either. I know it's different but it reminds me of those passes that people buy to cut lines at amusement parks. 2 hours in line and some pimple faced kid with a lanyard walks right past me. You think your special kid? Uhhh, anyways yeah, I'll sit back down...
As far as adds, I support whatever you guys need to do to run the place. I like how fast this site loads, but ultimately if it means covering costs, I would semi-reluctantly agree to opening up to supporters. Just not the ones that move when you try to click on something then end up somewhere else...
The jersey patch pissed me off at first, now I hardly notice "Rakuten" or "Biofreeze" or whatever, so I guess I get used to it.
My immediate thought was that we could use that ad revenue to pay our contributors (like Joe Viray, Dr. Tom). We are looking like we can keep the lights on with our subscribers - and it's still not even our first month in the books so it could grow - but shelling out hundreds or thousands of dollars to pay people what their work is worth isn't really viable for us right now. I'd like to change that if we could figure it out.
I think the key is keeping it interesting for everyone in the leadup to next season. Once the Splash Bros are back, this place should be ready to really hop. My hope is that by that time, a number of formatting issues and requests have been resolved, so that this site is ready for the crush that comes with winning.
Thanks for E1P. Few thoughts regarding ways to generate revenue and keep the lights on:
- I like G&B's idea. I think something like "This game thread sponsored by" banner at the top of the page and small image for the same just before thread may be a good idea - both being embedded images so that load time is still not noticable.
- I like idea of T-shirts/swag. But may be sell it on the this site but any new swag doesn't get ordered unless enough people have signed up for it to be enough cash positive.
- Add "Support Your Community" button (say $5) w/raffle for one of the special things you had mentioned (as long as what you are raffling doesn't cost you any money). To be part of this donate/raffle, one doesn't have to be a subscriber. People can give lesser amount too but they don't get in the raffle.
I think having levels of membership this early in the game may not be a winning play.
To be fair, above suggestions will require legwork. So it depends on what your motivation is for keeping this community started and going. If it is purely to keep people talking/sharing/cursing/celebrating, then above suggestions may not make sense. If it is that as well as that may be all this hard work turns out be startup that will pay in the end, then your first year is about to be a roller coaster.
Analogy I think of is - people used to hangout at a bar to watch Dubs, but it got shut down. So either everyone finds a place to hangout OR few brave people start a bar so that everyone can hangout there as well as it can turn into a business.
To complete the analogy, the new bar would need to have big enough crowd of customers to have a VIP section . If you already have enough customers (which I hope you guys do), VIP section is not gonna big difference. If not, everyone is a VIP.
I don't need extra perks either, but man, if you want to give some of these, I ain't gonna say no either. Watching a game with y'all would be fun, for instance. Having a chance to transmit questions to some of the players and coaches (I'm quite curious about the state of Kerr's health--seems like he's doing okay, but I haven't seen any official updates...just for example) and all that.
I can't remember what I donated, but if all goes well with my soon-to-be-made career move then I'll be upping whatever it is because I'll be making more money. So...hey, yeah, if you think these will help, then I'm happy to get access to them, too, assuming my donation level qualifies.
Eric: great job on the video commentary. Funny how teams like San Antonio and GS make players look much better than they were before or after. Teaching DLo to run the track meet might be all the difference to him...
I know you are against ads, and maybe the platform can’t support them, but I imagine at least a handful of us work for local/regional companies that we own or that we could convince to advertise here. It would be a way to support each other. Call them subscriber ads. My dad’s company, at which I work as an accountant, could do a $500/year ad. Ten of those is 5 g. I imagine that could really help you guys.
Maybe I'm being selfish or money hungry, but I would like to think internal advertising like this, coming from our own community, is WAY better than feeding the enormous Google ad machine.
But IDK, we'd have to think about it as a community and the leadership team here. A lot of our model is that there are no ads and it's a quality of life decision. I wouldn't cross that threshold lightly - but again, I do feel different if it's from within the community.
First off, I love what you guys are doing! I'm a longtime GSOM reader but I stopped posting around the time that SBN took over. I'm glad to see a lot of the old regulars posting here. I'm rooting for you guys.
I'm not a huge fan of the "super subscriber" model. Feels a little like buying friends. I do like the idea of a subscriber question in the LGW mailbag or a subscriber question for an interview. For added interest, you could pick a handful of finalists and have the question be voted on by subscribers only.
Merch? Maybe not as a super-subscriber gift but just straight up? T-shirts, hoodies, hats, koozies, stickers, etc. I loved the old tony.psd designs from the old GSOM days.
I am not one for extra perks either. I know it's different but it reminds me of those passes that people buy to cut lines at amusement parks. 2 hours in line and some pimple faced kid with a lanyard walks right past me. You think your special kid? Uhhh, anyways yeah, I'll sit back down...
As far as adds, I support whatever you guys need to do to run the place. I like how fast this site loads, but ultimately if it means covering costs, I would semi-reluctantly agree to opening up to supporters. Just not the ones that move when you try to click on something then end up somewhere else...
The jersey patch pissed me off at first, now I hardly notice "Rakuten" or "Biofreeze" or whatever, so I guess I get used to it.
My immediate thought was that we could use that ad revenue to pay our contributors (like Joe Viray, Dr. Tom). We are looking like we can keep the lights on with our subscribers - and it's still not even our first month in the books so it could grow - but shelling out hundreds or thousands of dollars to pay people what their work is worth isn't really viable for us right now. I'd like to change that if we could figure it out.
I think the key is keeping it interesting for everyone in the leadup to next season. Once the Splash Bros are back, this place should be ready to really hop. My hope is that by that time, a number of formatting issues and requests have been resolved, so that this site is ready for the crush that comes with winning.
Thanks for E1P. Few thoughts regarding ways to generate revenue and keep the lights on:
- I like G&B's idea. I think something like "This game thread sponsored by" banner at the top of the page and small image for the same just before thread may be a good idea - both being embedded images so that load time is still not noticable.
- I like idea of T-shirts/swag. But may be sell it on the this site but any new swag doesn't get ordered unless enough people have signed up for it to be enough cash positive.
- Add "Support Your Community" button (say $5) w/raffle for one of the special things you had mentioned (as long as what you are raffling doesn't cost you any money). To be part of this donate/raffle, one doesn't have to be a subscriber. People can give lesser amount too but they don't get in the raffle.
I think having levels of membership this early in the game may not be a winning play.
To be fair, above suggestions will require legwork. So it depends on what your motivation is for keeping this community started and going. If it is purely to keep people talking/sharing/cursing/celebrating, then above suggestions may not make sense. If it is that as well as that may be all this hard work turns out be startup that will pay in the end, then your first year is about to be a roller coaster.
Analogy I think of is - people used to hangout at a bar to watch Dubs, but it got shut down. So either everyone finds a place to hangout OR few brave people start a bar so that everyone can hangout there as well as it can turn into a business.
To complete the analogy, the new bar would need to have big enough crowd of customers to have a VIP section . If you already have enough customers (which I hope you guys do), VIP section is not gonna big difference. If not, everyone is a VIP.
I don't need extra perks either, but man, if you want to give some of these, I ain't gonna say no either. Watching a game with y'all would be fun, for instance. Having a chance to transmit questions to some of the players and coaches (I'm quite curious about the state of Kerr's health--seems like he's doing okay, but I haven't seen any official updates...just for example) and all that.
I can't remember what I donated, but if all goes well with my soon-to-be-made career move then I'll be upping whatever it is because I'll be making more money. So...hey, yeah, if you think these will help, then I'm happy to get access to them, too, assuming my donation level qualifies.
Eric: great job on the video commentary. Funny how teams like San Antonio and GS make players look much better than they were before or after. Teaching DLo to run the track meet might be all the difference to him...
Agreed on the vid. I love E1P so much - it’s given me such a greater appreciation for the game.
I know you are against ads, and maybe the platform can’t support them, but I imagine at least a handful of us work for local/regional companies that we own or that we could convince to advertise here. It would be a way to support each other. Call them subscriber ads. My dad’s company, at which I work as an accountant, could do a $500/year ad. Ten of those is 5 g. I imagine that could really help you guys.
I like this out of the box sort of stuff!!
As CEO, I support this.
I don't know how other people feel, but I wouldn't mind a little side ad, especially if it's just one post a month or whatever
There are definitely tasteful ways to do this; if done right, it could come off more as a feature than a bug.
Maybe I'm being selfish or money hungry, but I would like to think internal advertising like this, coming from our own community, is WAY better than feeding the enormous Google ad machine.
But IDK, we'd have to think about it as a community and the leadership team here. A lot of our model is that there are no ads and it's a quality of life decision. I wouldn't cross that threshold lightly - but again, I do feel different if it's from within the community.
Even a sig link could be valuable that way.
T-shirt. It shouldn’t be annual, but for special occasions. Some great designs have originated from GSOM.
But what about for a super-level with more perks than normal subscription?
We appreciate you however you participate in the community!!