Everyone read this now.

[Insane]

First up, sorry I haven't been online much if at all in last few months, I had a few personal issues I've had to deal with and sort out and I also haven't had net access nor a computer since my laptop also died...

Anyway, the point of this message is I've been back on the site 2 mins and I am disgusted at some of what I am reading. Some of the posts are just plain rude, stupid and pointless. I have also erased all the crap in the shoutbox. This site has no paying sponsors and since its hosted in the US and because of the weak aussie dollar is now costing me over $500+ month to keep up and I am over it. I am over the crap on the site and really can't be F'ed paying anymore when its all just bullshit.

Everyone take this is as the final warning, I don't care who you are, how long you've been here or what you do for a living, whether you're travis pastrana, the pope or jimbobs cousin who can jump 3000 feet, if you post crap on this site, try to start fights or are just a plain pain in the arse I will ban you from the site for good. No more warnings, post crap and you're banned its that simple.

If nobody listens and the crap continues I will simply shut the whole site down and keep my hard earned in my pocket everyone looses. I sure could use the money for other things as I haven't worked for months and really am over paying for this when its just turning to crap..

[crf250x]

Maybe we could pass the hat around and help Insane out with some of the cost's?

I'm sure there would be quite a few people that would be willing to chuck a bit of dough in. I know I would without hesitating.

[mistermxer]

ouch.. $500 a month.. gezzz... id have never thought.

[Brantholemuel]

WHOA i had no idea that it cost anywere near that,
i agree with crf250x maybe we could get some people to help out a bit..?

[RFD~BABE]

or even better, if every acting member of the site donated 2$ a month, itd pay for the site ...

[Insane]

The post was more about the crap that is being posted around here not about the cost...

But for those interested:
Our Dual Xeon 2.8 decicated server at our host (ThePlanet) costs me $259.00US a month, plus another $50US a month for hard drive and memory upgrades plus extra credit card charges for coverting and paying in US dollars, plus domain name registration plus this plus that... Convert all that into Aussie dollars and its not cheap to keep this site up...

And after what, 7+ years of being here, getting more traffic than almost any Australian bike site and being the biggest fmx site in the world, yet we still have no bigname companies willing to cough up $$$ and sponsor us... Sure we have had a few compaines helping us out along the way but only a couple ever came up with coin... I reckon out of the thousands I have paid to keep the site up maybe I've got back $1,000 if I am generous in my count... Sure I've got some freebies along the way but most of those where freebies to throw out into the crowd at events.. Other companies have helped us in ways that have helped us grow... I still owe all these companies alot... That all said, this is still costing me out my own pocket, alot..

Thats why I am very prepared to close the whole thing down tomorrow if the crap doesn't stop.. Take notice people, I am over the crap on here, its that simple...

[RFD~BABE]

thats alot of money!!!
we will try our best to turn the site around and also get some sponsers in here to help out!

[thormx683]

come on people lets keep this up and running, stop with the crap and abuse, pull our heads in and not let it close. ive learnt heap from this site, and want to keep learning.

[crf250x]

The post was more about the crap that is being posted around here not about the cost...

But for those interested:
Our Dual Xeon 2.8 decicated server at our host (ThePlanet) costs me $259.00US a month, plus another $50US a month for hard drive and memory upgrades plus extra credit card charges for coverting and paying in US dollars, plus domain name registration plus this plus that... Convert all that into Aussie dollars and its not cheap to keep this site up...

And after what, 7+ years of being here, getting more traffic than almost any Australian bike site and being the biggest fmx site in the world, yet we still have no bigname companies willing to cough up $$$ and sponsor us... Sure we have had a few compaines helping us out along the way but only a couple ever came up with coin... I reckon out of the thousands I have paid to keep the site up maybe I've got back $1,000 if I am generous in my count... Sure I've got some freebies along the way but most of those where freebies to throw out into the crowd at events... So this is still costing me out my own pocket, alot..

Thats why I am very prepared to close the whole thing down tomorrow if the crap doesn't stop.. Take notice people, I am over the crap on here, its that simple...

Completly understand Insane. I'm sure I speak for everyone in saying that we all appreciate the time, effort & cash you put into keeping the site up and running. :shades:

That does seem like a hell of a lot of money to host a website. Any reason why you want it hosted in the US? I work for a very large company in IT and could definately get it a lot cheaper than that hosted in Australia. Might be able to cut some costs and leave a bit more coin in your pocket.

[Insane]

I host it in the US due to cost, for the amount of traffic and cause we need a dedicated server with alot of bandwidth and a fair chunk of processing power and memory to deal with all different bells and whistles, the amount of users online at anyone time and the just plain size of the site and the database... We started out small with a shared server got too big and since then have had to upgrade servers about 3 or 4 times to get to where we are at now..

We simply out grew each server and as such the cost went up.. It would actually cost me more for a dedicated server with the same specs and bandwidth in Australia than it does it the US... I'd be looking around $750-$1000 a month here in Oz for a similiar deal.... That all said, if the Aussie dollar continues to fall against the US dollar then it may well end up being cheaper here...

[RFD~BABE]

hey adam... would deleting say 2000+ threads make the site smaller...

if say deleting a bunch of the closed theads/very old threads/pointless threads, etc help out.. pluss maybe deleting alot the the accounts that are not active... (made and never used)

[crf250x]

I host it in the US due to cost, for the amount of traffic and cause we need a dedicated server with alot of bandwidth and a fair chunk of processing power and memory to deal with all different bells and whistles, the amount of users online at anyone time and the just plain size of the site and the database... We started out small with a shared server got too big and since then have had to upgrade servers about 3 or 4 times to get to where we are at now..

We simply out grew each server and as such the cost went up.. It would actually cost me more for a dedicated server with the same specs and bandwidth in Australia than it does it the US... I'd be looking around $750-$1000 a month here in Oz for a similiar deal.... That all said, if the Aussie dollar continues to fall against the US dollar then it may well end up being cheaper here...

Intresting. For that money, wouldn't it be better buying a server and then just paying hosting fees/bandwidth? It owuld pay for itself fairly quickly. I could build one for around 1500 or so that wouldn't be to far behind what your hosting with.

A good old DB purge, user cleanup, and thread deletion will reduce the overall site's size, but that's not where the main costs are. It's the bandwidth that is the killer.

[Insane]

Yes, I've thought about pruning old threads but I like to look some of the older theads from time to time.. There is also some great info in the threads so I decided against it. It wouldn't do all that much anyway..

I could also save alot by removing alot of the bells and whilstles and by removing graphics, making uploads smaller as well as making photos smaller or made to be hosted elsewhere but that would take away from what this site is and I think what helped get us so popular... Again I decided against cost cutting measures as doing anything that would create big saving would leave the site looking plain and ugly with lots of text and not much more...

Again though, this thread is about the crap that is going down here and the crap being posted, not the cost... The cost is I guess a seperate issue but I threw it in there just I guess to make my point that I am not afraid to shut the whole lot down if things dont improve..

[2000-cr125-92]

iv seen some shit talkn on here a fair bit, alot of us inclueing myself have had our rude moments but im way over it, anoys me to read it these day when your just trying to have a read of somones question or promlem

you should get a hand full members that are on here every day and make then mods so they can close/ delete threads with shit talk on them or are pointless

my 2 cents

[Benbow]

just an idea, i have brought up this before....

Kids love stickers!, i started a thread a while ago asking about the where-abouts of the 'fmxaustralia.com' stickers that used to be around. This thread was very very popular, alot of people wanting to know where they are and how to get them.... i'm not offering too, just suggesting... can a mod or even you (Insane) possibly start up these stickers again?

Say, find out how much they are to produce, then work out a cost to the public, and profit?????....

This could possibly work for T-shirts, Hoodys etc etc...

I KNOW THAT WE DON'T HAVE ANY MAJOR PAYING SPONSORS, AND YOU ARE A VERY BUSY MAN, with little to NO MONEY... but if there is anyway i can help seriously, send me your details and i would donate to keep it going.....

hope it works out...

[AdrenalneJnky]

Hopefully this will smarten up those that are out to make arse's of themselves. Remember while there are staff here to keep an eye on things(deleting posts,warnign members of rules,editing posts/threads etc etc),we cant be here 24/7 (I hate that saying,but is relevant) so its for YOU members to help out aswell making sure the minority dont ruin it for the majority here.:axe:

Cheers,
-Pete:Z1:

[2000-cr125-92]

i no id buy a fmxaustralia shirt and hoddy

[cozza123]

just an idea, i have brought up this before....

Kids love stickers!, i started a thread a while ago asking about the where-abouts of the 'fmxaustralia.com' stickers that used to be around. This thread was very very popular, alot of people wanting to know where they are and how to get them.... i'm not offering too, just suggesting... can a mod or even you (Insane) possibly start up these stickers again?

Say, find out how much they are to produce, then work out a cost to the public, and profit?????....

This could possibly work for T-shirts, Hoodys etc etc...

I KNOW THAT WE DON'T HAVE ANY MAJOR PAYING SPONSORS, AND YOU ARE A VERY BUSY MAN, with little to NO MONEY... but if there is anyway i can help seriously, send me your details and i would donate to keep it going.....

hope it works out...
i totaly agree i would like to see fmx australia stickers and murchandise i would buy it for sure

[RFD~BABE]

hey adam, would you be okay with getting some of the stickers printed out and the profits go towards keepn this site up.. and then maybe hoodies, hats, wrist bans etc.

ill try my best to keep on top of the stuff i see but sometimes us mods dont see everything, maybe itd be an alright thing if other active members came to us and pointed out stuff we might miss.

[mezza_fmx]

just an idea, i have brought up this before....

Kids love stickers!, i started a thread a while ago asking about the where-abouts of the 'fmxaustralia.com' stickers that used to be around. This thread was very very popular, alot of people wanting to know where they are and how to get them.... i'm not offering too, just suggesting... can a mod or even you (Insane) possibly start up these stickers again?

Say, find out how much they are to produce, then work out a cost to the public, and profit?????....

This could possibly work for T-shirts, Hoodys etc etc...

I KNOW THAT WE DON'T HAVE ANY MAJOR PAYING SPONSORS, AND YOU ARE A VERY BUSY MAN, with little to NO MONEY... but if there is anyway i can help seriously, send me your details and i would donate to keep it going.....

hope it works out...

yeah good idea and all but that wasn't really the point of the thread.. i think he more so wants people to settle down a bit and thing before they post. and while the sticker and tee and hoody idea is good it too costs money.. which he said is another factor but not they main one...
btu yer.. if everyone just can try get along to make things easier for the mods who are working hard to keep it clean.. would be good.. especially you younger fellas..

[Benbow]

yeah good idea and all but that wasn't really the point of the thread.. i think he more so wants people to settle down a bit and thing before they post. and while the sticker and tee and hoody idea is good it too costs money.. which he said is another factor but not they main one...
btu yer.. if everyone just can try get along to make things easier for the mods who are working hard to keep it clean.. would be good.. especially you younger fellas..

cheers mezza, sorry bit off topic:s:... yeah well i hope everyone wakes up and realises what they've got and what they could loose:axe:.....

[Baldwin1993]

yeah im sure we all love fmx thats why we're on this site. so why cant we just get along because this site is a way to show our love for this sport and a way for all of us to socialize

[*GOOCH*]

hey insain , have you not thought about advertising ?

the other forum i used to use , hardtuned.net / nissan silvia.com makes an absolute killing off forum advertising .


i know when i was selling stuff on there i was paying out a few 100 a month to sell stuff on there forum and for the advertising space ...


im sure there would be a few clothing lines and i know there are a heap of mini bike sites that could really bennifit from advertising on a forum like this , ..

you could easily cover the fee's of running the site if you had 5-10 sponsors paying out a few hundred .

i think its the next step this site needs to take and perhaps some harder moderation too .

below iv attached a link from hard tuned so you can see what theyve got going on and perhaps have a go at it ..

http://www.nissansilvia.com/ads/

[mistermxer]

i feel bad.. i think my work in the mini bike thread brought this on...

anyways.

yea. that it a good idea. my photography forum has advertisement on it. the companies that advertise actually give away some good free stuff to the members with threads like the weekly assignment ( all you have to do is take a photo during the time allowed, and in accordance to the description, post it up. and ur on ur way to winning. ) maby we should get something like that going here... although i don't think we have quite enough members to do it. like you wouldn't get the range on posts that they get. but anyway

[rx7ser313bt]

hi insane, i know i am only new here but would be more than happy to put a nice chunk of money towards the bills each month, please pm me and we can talk further.
thanks all
Shane

[eightball]

hey insain , have you not thought about advertising ?

the other forum i used to use , hardtuned.net / nissan silvia.com makes an absolute killing off forum advertising .


i know when i was selling stuff on there i was paying out a few 100 a month to sell stuff on there forum and for the advertising space ...


im sure there would be a few clothing lines and i know there are a heap of mini bike sites that could really bennifit from advertising on a forum like this , ..

you could easily cover the fee's of running the site if you had 5-10 sponsors paying out a few hundred .

i think its the next step this site needs to take and perhaps some harder moderation too .

below iv attached a link from hard tuned so you can see what theyve got going on and perhaps have a go at it ..

http://www.nissansilvia.com/ads/
Gary we tried all that man. It's harder to pull off than you might think. Not that many Aussie FMX companies have that much money when they're advertising everywhere else as well...

BACK ON TOPIC.

[crf250x]

What about the likes of a Honda or Yamaha................

An extra $200 a month for them is nothing and they could easily make that back on business generated???

[Johnny 2G]

i suppose an easy way to cover costs and to make you a profit is to offer an online store.

If you could offer misc items for a reasonable price id buy loads of shit. Its near impossible for the older guys to pickup shit during the week to prepare for a saturday ride. I suppose u just need to find the time to be able to post it all LOL

anyway, im only new to the site and havent ridden much, but i appreciate the site and visit daily for a squeeze

[[FMF_FATTY]]

i suppose an easy way to cover costs and to make you a profit is to offer an online store.

If you could offer misc items for a reasonable price id buy loads of shit. Its near impossible for the older guys to pickup shit during the week to prepare for a saturday ride. I suppose u just need to find the time to be able to post it all LOL

anyway, im only new to the site and havent ridden much, but i appreciate the site and visit daily for a squeeze


Online store has been tryed before as well just dident get enough customers

[Johnny 2G]

what were u selling?

[twisties]

what were u selling?
everything motocross related -
- clothes
- dvds
- stickers
- from memory you could buy pitboss'
- random moto parts

[Bennett]

Do you still have these items in stock or something , it wouldnt hurt to try and sell once again to see if new people or even regulars buy some items ??
Ill be keen in something to pay some off the bills to the site. Without this site i wouldnt have learnt as much as i know about bikes or meet new people .
Adam has given me this oppertunity to learn about bikes and meet new people. In a way i think its very fair if some people including myself pay something towards the monthy bill as what cayden was saying .. Maybe 5 bucks per person throughtout a month is nothing... better than not having a forum at all !!