Hi all,
As you may have noticed we recently passed the 25,000 photo mark a few days ago and I'd like to congratulate and thank everyone for their efforts and support in the past 18 months or so. I think it's quite an achievement and we've come quite a ways in a rather short amount of time. We're also quickly approaching the 2000-Member milestone.

I think I've done a decent job of running the site and the screeners and database editors have done a great job going through the thousands of photos and their efforts are greatly appreciated. Sure, things haven't been 100% smooth 100% of the time, but we're all human and make a mistake here and there once in a while, and I'm sure you can all understand that.

As the site grows everyday, maintaining it, and keeping it as consistent as possible becomes a little harder to achieve, but with everyone's help, I'm sure we can stay on top of it and not let things get out of hand. One thing that has gotten a little expensive lately is our hosting costs, especially now with the addition of airlinerdb.com. We're currently running 3 servers with one solely dedicated to the database queries to create the pages and provide the data as fast as possible. I've kept banner ads off the site hoping that the Google ads can generate enough money to cover our expenses, but unfortunately it doesn't. On some days we get as little as 5 clicks and with the ads paying anywhere from 5 - 10 cents per click, you do the math. So, we have to come up with other ways to raise money for the site.

Here's what I'm proposing:

1) Serve one pop-under ad instead of banners all over the place. The pay out on this is a lot better than the intruding banner ads nicely framing the photos, like on other sites, and with seeing it only once every 12 hours, I don't think they are that annoying.

2) Offer a Gold-Member level membership where you get to have your own airfighters.com e-mail account like username@airfighters.com and a nice logo in the forums showing that you are a supporter of the site.

3) A Platinum-Member level where you get all the benefits of the gold-level but also be able to view the photos without the watermark. In addition, all the Google ads will disappear as well.

Once we can generate a decent income from the membership fees and other ads, I'm hoping to be able to pay for new articles and any funds left over can be used to advertise the site. That way we can generate more traffic and keep the site fresh with new content. Also, I'm thinking of having an advanced profile page for the Platinum-level photographers where they can write about themselves, upload their favorite photos, etc. etc.

Again, this is just what I'm proposing and I'd like to hear your thoughts on it. Also, I'm not sure what the annual or monthly fees should be for the Gold or Platinum-level memberships, or to even have both or just one. If you have any other ideas, please let those be heard as well.

I would go for a subscription model over ads. I hate ads, but I also understand that folks need to pay the bills. One aviation site forces pop-up ads on the browser even if ad-blocking software is used. Pop-ups and banner ads to boot. No thanks...

/N

I would support a platinum-level membership. Perhaps if the membership route was presented as more of an opt-in solution rather than a "you should get this if you do not want to see any more ads".

Sounds all good to me :wink

I'd go with the 2 different types of membership (Gold & Platinum). As for price . . . . . They range in this country from £10 - £30 per year, depending on type of membership. So what ever that works out at in the various country's.

Thats my thoughts anyway :wink