im down with option 1. but just cause you pay the subscription fee, you should still donate to the cause.
shit id pay now that my money is starting to come back up. god i missed djing a lot. 20 a year is not that much at all. and if you think about it you save well over that if you go through people on pittspeed.
I have mixed feelings on this.
I know it takes money to run a site, plus, time, know how and software. I know it sucks to pay out of pocket.
At the same time I think charging a subscription fee will just drive people away, create more drama (IE rumors, Darkstars harassment of noobs for not being a subsicrber causing them to just leave, poeple thinking thy are better than some because they paid to be here) and possibly end up being a waste of resources. Right now it doesnāt seem like people use too may of the resources now on the site IE the garage and such and it just seems like if you make the comitment to go to the bigger plans and such and no one subsicrbes but a few people, you will end up shooting yourself in the foot with the costsā¦
Like I said I have mixed feeling on it and I have to think about it more. I just donāt want to see anyone especially whitey get screwed.
Iām not quite ready to post my opinion, but no one has asked yet what the average monthly bandwidth is for Pittspeedā¦ what is it? I remember before you told me itās about 1GB a day (of course itās probably higher in the summer months w/ more coverage and such), but Iād like another average figure of bandwidth per month.
am transferring now around 47gb a monthā¦ the transfer did go up this past few months but i also was able to make the DB smaller to save some of the transfer thereā¦ The biggest thing I would like to add is a video section. this is where most of the bandwidth is consumed. I am looking to have about 2000gb a month transferā¦ thats up and down combined mind you.
on a side note I might have figured away to do it cheaper then i first expected for hosting. although its more time for me setting up the server the way i want it.
I can also verify the camera being a gift from his Dad. Its the same camera that his dad was taking pics with at the WOW show when I was up. Its not even a new fucking camera, it was a hand me down. Damn you guys come up with some interesting rumors.
As for all those whining about the money. Its $20 fucking dollars. Thats like half a tank of gas these days. As whitey has said MANY times, this site is OURS, not his. You dont hear Whitey bitching to everyone about the countless hours and tons of out of pocket $$ that this site costs him, but when he PROPOSES that we all throw $20, not just to keep the site running, but to put it on a dedicated server and make it even BETTER for us, people come out of the woodwork bitching. We dont need a fucking treasurer, or a public expense account. If all your buddies were throwing a huge party and everyone was asked to throw $20 for beer, would you need an accountant for that? :rolleyes:
All whitey is asking for is $1.66 a month. And for that $1.66 a month, youāre gonna get a lot more stuff. A lot more stuff = a lot more work for Whitey. And even though i know heās not making any money off the site, even if he was, so fucking what? When your buddy comes over late at night to help you fix your car or some shit like that, you get him a case of beer or buy him dinner or something. How is this any different? Whitey stays up all night to keep this place running/deal with members bullshit/a whole slew of other things, so that WE can have a place to post. Any you fucks have the audacity to question him openly in the forum about it. What a bunch of assholes. Even if he made a few grand a year in profits off the site, that still wouldnt properly compensate him for the amt of work that he puts into the site.
option 1 even tho you will lose new users, i gave out a couple stickers the other day and people said they are going to check this place out, the only problem is people are turned away when they here its not free. but anything and everything can be made better in any way, best idea would probably be: let it be free for users that dont want option 1, kinda like a premium membership and a basic membership, so if a newcomer wants all those options they can go right ahead and become a premium member 
just an idea
Exactly what I said. However, I think its fucking deplorable that people cant throw $20 regardless.
Basic membership and Premium membership would be necessary I think.
As for people throwing $20ā¦ over the past 2 years, weāve thrown out $350 for our OWN site that is nothing compared to PittSpeedā¦ and without making it seem like we are better than other people, weāre also trying to fix up a house (which keeps fucking breakingā¦ the main drain of the entire house is leaking now!) and have a kiddie or two in the next couple of years. Money for those things takes priority over any website, including our own (hence why weāve asked for donations from our own members for renewal this year).
If you are going to do this whitey, the basic and premium memberships need to be part of it. Donāt make it simply a āpay siteā. Even porn sites have free and premium memberships.
if u dont HIT*the house it wont break!!! :boink
But anyways jenn is correct. 20 dollars is a lot to some people. If they can;t amke a donation out of free will what makes you think they are going to dish out 20 for a paid site.
I don;t want whitey to prove anythingto me(not sure if I was included in the DS call out) Iām just conserned that when dealing with somthing like this that he is going to get screwedā¦
IE he goes and pays all this money for service which I;m sure its paid annually not monthly and he doesn;t get enough memberships to cover.
Its easy for people to post āoh yeah I want to pay and I would payā but when it comes time to cough up money no one producesā¦I have seen it and I know whitey has delt with it as have Iā¦
mmm k, since everyone is not a fan of paying it seems i been working things out a little.
I found hosting that I could use, it would be 135 a month and it would be plenty for PS. The only downside its more work for me but i can make it work I am sure of it. that would mean I would need 1620 to host the site for a year. and I would be paying this monthly. there are a consisitent 180 people that come to the site a day. if those people gave me 9 dollars each it would all work out.
the basics is I need to raise 1620 dollars to pay for the year of hosting. Before anyone chimes in and says why donāt you get advertisersā¦ well tell me how to get them, who would actually pay for a banner on PS and then I will set them up. But adverising just seems like more work for meā¦
Either way from now on I am going to make some changes. I am going to create a seperate account for all pittspeed money. T-Shirt and Hoodie prices are going to have to go up. If their is not enough money in the account to pay the next month bill for pittspeed then guess what, no pittspeed.
I donāt mean to be a drag or anything about this whole subject but i am somewhat confused why people make it seem that I am obligated to provide this free service to them? Another thing that I think is hilarious is that when the site goes down people really complain to me in mass numbers that its down and then never say thanks for making it work again.
I love working on the site, I love the community that has been formed but I also have to respect myself and say enough is enough.
I hope you guys understand where i am coming from, and know that I am just as poor as everyone else. I just graduated from an expensive college where all my tuition was paid for by student loans. I have to start paying off those loans 11/1/04. Thats right around the bend
this is true. But $20 is NOT a lot of money. Im broke as a fucking joke, and can afford to drop $20. Its not fair for Whitey to have to pay for everyone to enjoy this service.
i think the old school memmbers would be willing to pay most of it!!!which i would be one to pay a hundred or two!!!1when we would have meets we could always take a collections!!!
so very well said. This site has given so much to so many people, and no one wants to chip in their fair share to keep it going. If you get something out of this site, you are obligated to put back into it.
People get deals on parts, services. they break down or get stuck, odds are a Pittspeed memeber will come help you. Ive met so many people that I now consider good friends through this website. Pittspeed gives you relationship advice, when good or bad and gives you a sholder cry on when its bad(cough CUTTY cough). For me personally, its been a very influential part of my life. Think about how much time you spend browinsg Pittspeed, at a Pittspeed meet, hangin out with a Pittspeed buddy, or time spent at a race with Pittspeed members. And people cant throw $20 a YEAR, $1.66 a month, not even just to give to Whitey in appreciation, but to cover the costs of this site that Whitey is so generous to pour his time into. Fucking Gay.
we do need to have a BBQ meet with it being so nice on the weekendā¦ I am grateful that you are generous to give money to the site. And you have helped me out a ton the passed year, but why should it be your responsibility? If everyone likes the site, and everyone uses the site. why canāt everyone collectively pitch a few bucks for the site.
Since the site has started i have received donations from
OrangeSS, PewterSS, Logik, darkstar, Shaggy, Jeff95TA, Turbovw18, myself, my dad, SP71Supra, blkp42e, slvrhand, vw16vcabby, rusty240det, 1320, Eric from HDā¦
maybe another few in there but thats what i can remember off the top of my headā¦ so lets say and even 20 donated over the past yearā¦ with their being 655 members at this point in time thats 3% of the users keep this site aliveā¦ to me that does not make sense.
Well i donāt have a pay-pal account cause i donāt have a credit card. But i mean if i am in Pittsburgh or the area i would DEF. pitch 20 bucks like i said. Everyone was willing to help when i even had a relationship problem. Sure like i said people bust your balls but i find it kinda fun now. And this site could be so much more if people would just help. I know i havenāt done a damn thing for this site but i sure would like to start helping in anyway i can. I mean thats why i want those pittspeed stickers cause i know people would ask about what the site is. And then i would tell them its a decent site. But like i said if i am coming to Pittsburgh in the near future. I will DEF. pay and DEF. help in any way i can. And Whitey if i never said it i am saying it now THANKS FOR THIS SITE.
if we have a meet this week i will donate some money whitey
you dont need a credit card to get a paypal account. Just a checking account.