ATTN EVERYONE - A Request When You Have a Moment

[Ian]

As I posted yesterday the ads are back in place after Burst Media found the problem and finally eliminated it. Nevertheless here is the explanation I have and I'm also going to need some help with something from each of you.

Burst, like many other companies, brings in 3rd party ads (from other companies they partner with) in order to fill inventory/impressions - which as I understand it are out of their control when it comes to the manual review process. Unfortunately to be sure that we never have anyone here affected with malware, I've turned those off as I'm just not comfortable at this point after what happened.

Those ads account for over 50% of thier ad inventory served here, and as a result we're going to be hit hard going forward since as it was those only covered a little over 50% of the monthly costs associated with the site to begin with. Believe me, I'm in the same boat as most of you as far as trying to pay the bills each month, so I'm not asking for more donations since I understand many of you aren't able to do so. But I can't absorb the additional costs and need to start working toward a solution, so here is where I need your help.

The empty inventory for the ads being served at the top are going to be filled in with either public service ads, or ads requesting you to participate in a survey. The point of the survey is to gather demographics about the people who visit our site, which in turn will allow Burst to go out and try and sell our ad space with dedicated campaigns which will hopefully replace that lost revenue. The surveys are free and anonymous, but in order to have them actively service our account we need a minimum of 200 or so people per month to take them. As they sell the space hopefully it will fill in with ads that will get us back to at least where we were so I don't get killed over the next few months, which are typically the worst due to the fact that after the playoffs it's pretty quiet once the offseason begins.

Again - it's all anonymous and they ask the generic questions that advertisers look for before deciding whether or not to place ads. So if you can donate your time when you have a few minutes to take one of them should you see the Survey ad appear that would be most helpful

 

[xmarkd400x]

Ian,

I am sorry to hear this news. I will take surveys to help out. It's the least I can do. (If you wanted to make a thread every month to remind people, that wouldn't be the worst thing!)

On a side note, I feel like the answer they gave you was a cop-out. They basically said "We are not going to ask our business partners to fully vet the ads that they show, and you have to deal with it." You get the short end of the stick because of their lax business practices.

Are there alternative ads services that you can subscribe to? What about selling ad space to local (Foxboro, etc) businesses? I realize that managing advertising is probably too much, but I'd like to think that there's an alternative to being pushed around by this lame ad company.

-Mark

 

[Gwedd]

Ian,

I just signed up for a year's membership. It's not much, but considering how long I've been hanging around here, it's the least I could do to help out.

You this old Airdale's thanks for keeping things going, and providing what I co0nsider to be the best Patriot's board bar none.

If I can scrounge up some more funds, I'll send them downrange too.

Respects,

 

[Ian]

Ian,

I just signed up for a year's membership. It's not much, but considering how long I've been hanging around here, it's the least I could do to help out.

You this old Airdale's thanks for keeping things going, and providing what I co0nsider to be the best Patriot's board bar none.

If I can scrounge up some more funds, I'll send them downrange too.

Respects,

Thanks Gwedd - your donation is enough and much appreciated, no need to do more

Be sure to send me your mailing address, T-shirt size, etc. to get your package from the ProShop as I'm working on the list right now.

 

[Ian]

Ian,

I am sorry to hear this news. I will take surveys to help out. It's the least I can do. (If you wanted to make a thread every month to remind people, that wouldn't be the worst thing!)

On a side note, I feel like the answer they gave you was a cop-out. They basically said "We are not going to ask our business partners to fully vet the ads that they show, and you have to deal with it." You get the short end of the stick because of their lax business practices.

Are there alternative ads services that you can subscribe to? What about selling ad space to local (Foxboro, etc) businesses? I realize that managing advertising is probably too much, but I'd like to think that there's an alternative to being pushed around by this lame ad company.

-Mark

They're one of the biggest companies out there, and prior to this we hadn't had any issues. It's just unfortunate that this happened and they're reviewing their "trusted partners" after this incident to prevent it from happening to their clients going forward. Unfortunately as I said I'm not completely comfortable yet with enabling that one function, so I'm hoping we can get dedicated ads instead which would be served by Burst directly and catered to the site and eliminate that risk.

As for selling ads, I've explored that option, but it's extremely difficult to get a contact and speak to a person who makes those decisions. Companies have whole divisions for that, not one guy with a laptop

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Thanks, as always, Ian. Glad to help and "will do" on the Survey.

Happy New Year!

 

[old 55]

Ian, I admire your stand on this and will be glad to take surveys if that will help.

old 55

 

[FloridaHerb]

aNo problem Ian, always happy to waste a little bit of time for patsfans.com ;-)

I was also thinking of another idea to help raise a little bit of money for patsfans.com...what about an auction? I'm sure I'm not the only one here that has some Patriots related stuff or NFL related stuff we wouldn't mind getting rid of to a worthy cause (patsfans.com).

We could donate it to the site and have a set amount of time and allow others to bid on it with the proceeds going to the site.

Ok, it's just an idea and I'm sure there are several ideas (I've seen "Adopt a player" on other sites that seem to generate money) that haven't been mentioned...how about "Fundraiser Ideas" in the forum?

I never thought it was fair that you should be the one to be financially burdened maintaining this site, time for us to all lend a hand!

Edit: Just had another idea...how about auctioning "Adopt a player" rights here? I'd go as high as $50 myself to adopt Wes Welker (He's a little dinged up at the moment but I think he'll pay out in the long run)

 

[cavtroop]

Ayup, like others, I'll be re-newing my membership once I recover from Christmas (should be this week )

The short cost is well worth it!

 

[Dr Pain]

Can you change it so we could p[ay the $18 all at once and not be a monthly reoccurring charge. I keep the bank account I use with paypal intentionally very low and don’t want to get hit with a bounce fee over $1.50

 

[Ian]

aNo problem Ian, always happy to waste a little bit of time for patsfans.com ;-)

I was also thinking of another idea to help raise a little bit of money for patsfans.com...what about an auction? I'm sure I'm not the only one here that has some Patriots related stuff or NFL related stuff we wouldn't mind getting rid of to a worthy cause (patsfans.com).

We could donate it to the site and have a set amount of time and allow others to bid on it with the proceeds going to the site.

Ok, it's just an idea and I'm sure there are several ideas (I've seen "Adopt a player" on other sites that seem to generate money) that haven't been mentioned...how about "Fundraiser Ideas" in the forum?

I never thought it was fair that you should be the one to be financially burdened maintaining this site, time for us to all lend a hand!

Edit: Just had another idea...how about auctioning "Adopt a player" rights here? I'd go as high as $50 myself to adopt Wes Welker (He's a little dinged up at the moment but I think he'll pay out in the long run)

Just to clarify the situation certainly isn't dire at this point - I don't want people to think that. However looking at the numbers in a month or two I'd start to have a big problem so I'm just trying to avoid that. Like I said the surveys help them sell the ad space, so you guys giving them demographic details will hopefully allow them to get some clients for us.

As for the other stuff, I didn't want to get into any scenarios of people having to pay for anything, or ask for any financial contributions other than those who want to donate and get a T-Shirt from the ProShop. The survey is just a free way for people to try and help us get new advertising revenue which will hopefully be enough to replace the revenue lost by me disabling the 3rd party ads.

Ian

 

[Ian]

Can you change it so we could p[ay the $18 all at once and not be a monthly reoccurring charge. I keep the bank account I use with paypal intentionally very low and don’t want to get hit with a bounce fee over $1.50

It's not monthly, it would be annually ($18 a month would definitely be a bit steep )

And absolutely, there is the option of a "non-recurring" donation so that's already there

 

[SmokeShowin]

just did one.

 

[Ian]

just did one.

Cool, thank you I obviously can't do one, but they don't get too personal or anything do they?

Ian

 

[SmokeShowin]

Cool, thank you I obviously can't do one, but they don't get too personal or anything do they?

Ian

Not at all. Age, sex, # of people in household, income of household, do you have the site bookmarked and how often do you visit. I believe that was it. Literally took less than 2 minutes.

 

[Deus Irae]

Took a survey... it must have been commissioned by Bob Evans, because it was about brands of sausage, and their brand seemed to be the target.

 

[Dr Pain]

It's not monthly, it would be annually ($18 a month would definitely be a bit steep )

And absolutely, there is the option of a "non-recurring" donation so that's already there

Done,

I was confused, I thought it was $1.50 per month recurring.

 

[Pats726]

If that will help..I will take the surveys...THANKS for explaining it all....a GREAT SITE!! THANKS!!

 

[Leave No Doubt]

Do you need to be signed out to see the ads? I don't see any now but when I sign off I'll do a survey!

Thanks for standing fast Ian, it's been a much nicer experience not having to try and figure out how to avoid clicking the wrong thing

 

[Ian]

Done,

I was confused, I thought it was $1.50 per month recurring.

Sorry - the $18 amount is just $1.50 per month x 12. I didn't want to do a monthly $1.50 charge because it's one of those annoying amounts for people and I didn't want someone to bounce a check or incur a fee on their account over it.

Hope that makes more sense