Downsizing our Site

Bluevoodu

Bluevoodu

Site Founder
Guys/Gals... The time has come. I was giving this time to see how things shook out closing the store and upgrading the site. This site has basically been my life over the last 10 years.

3 months have gone by and we're at lower activity than I started trying to upgrade the site and help make it active again. I cannot be here all the time like I used to be... And it's disheartening spending $180 per month keeping this open and seeing little usage. Crushing may be a better word :lol

I was trying to keep the site open for everyone to enjoy because honestly, I enjoyed seeing people have fun and making engaging conversation here.

Here is what I am going to do 1st... I am now looking for cheaper hosting and I need to find something that will work well and will be 1/4 the cost per month. We will move the site to that alternative.

If things continue to be low (re-evaluating December 2012), I will investigate closing the site. I love this site and have kept it open because of this... I hate closing it because we still have some really good members.

If things pick up, I will investigate putting more money into the site and growing it in different ways.

I'm sorry to bring this news guys / gals. I really am...

Thanks,
BV :hat
 
have you found any potential hosts for your proposed price range? I know everyone hates pop ups but there's other less invasive ways to monetize a site, and with as many buddies as you have a pay per click link couldn't hurt, especially with everyone encouraged to click a link every once in a while! Chose wisely though, I don't want a John Holmes look-alike (or replica) from a browser redirect when I'm wanting to read about games ;)
 
I use Hostgator for all my hosting. They're pretty cheap and they have always been good for me.

I know everyone hates pop ups but there's other less invasive ways to monetize a site, and with as many buddies as you have a pay per click link couldn't hurt, especially with everyone encouraged to click a link every once in a while!
Click to expand...

Pay per click would be a good idea, but not encouraging people to click. That's click fraud and will get you banned on advertising networks.
 
Yeah, I'm aware, totally ment to use the strikethrough on the word encouraged! I don't think I highlighted it when I hit the button, oops!
 
Don't be sorry. You gave us 10 years (and possibly more) than we would've had otherwise.

You shouldn't be apologizing to us, we should be thanking you! :D

So 2012 might really be the end of a world after all...
 
I'll try to be more active. I'm just busy with life at the moment. I've got a lot of stuff going on and don't have too much time for forums lately. :S

But yeah, don't apologize to us. eGA as been around for 10 years. That's great. :)

Let's just hope it goes on for 20+! Activity will pick back up, we're just in a kind of down-month.
 
Cheaper hosting sounds reasonable to me!

It does suck that the site activity (forums and store) has not been as expected over the past few years. We all do appreciate the site being here though!

I don't think anyone would object to more affordable hosting for the time being.
 
When making your decision remember that you don't owe us anything. I love this place and have not bothered to look for other game forums because of that. If you don't have the time or money then shut it down. I hope you don't but will understand if you do.

Good luck!!
 
stealth toilet said:
Don't be sorry. You gave us 10 years (and possibly more) than we would've had otherwise.

You shouldn't be apologizing to us, we should be thanking you! :D

So 2012 might really be the end of a world after all...
Click to expand...

Yeah this pretty much sums it up for me.
 
stealth toilet said:
Don't be sorry. You gave us 10 years (and possibly more) than we would've had otherwise.

You shouldn't be apologizing to us, we should be thanking you! :D

So 2012 might really be the end of a world after all...
Click to expand...

This for me too. In the end it's your website, and you should do what you have to do with it. I've been a little busy with school lately (well a LOT busy, not a little busy) so I haven't been able to do really much of anything fun. It's really been a trip though (good and bad) and this place will always be special to me.
 
Agreed.

Although, if it does have to be shut down, would there be anyway to archive it online somewhere? For the memories, you know.
 
Some friends and I all had hosting at CookieHost for a while. I dropped mine to completely revamp my personal website and ended up hosting everything on a spare computer I had set up as a LAMP server anyway. CookieHost was great for the time I used them and pretty inexpensive, might be worth a shot. I know they do deals all the time where it's some really low amount (less than your monthly even) for a year, so I'll keep an eye out for that.

I've heard good things about DreamHost as well, though I have no idea what you require host-wise for security with the store and such.
 
man, can all the data get saved someplace er something...I know i don't get a chance to come here super much but this place is like the only place online where it feels like family and almost everything is perfect about it. can u super downsize and make it into a teeny site er something?
 
Gelfwings said:
man, can all the data get saved someplace er something...I know i don't get a chance to come here super much but this place is like the only place online where it feels like family and almost everything is perfect about it. can u super downsize and make it into a teeny site er something?
Click to expand...
Yeah.. I know what you mean. It is so like home.

And Blue I have enjoyed the fun of your hosting the site. Appreciate what you have given us over the years. If you do find something cheap enough to host a little longer that would be great. But I do understand what you are saying.


:'(
 
Yeah, it's crazy. Some of the best conversations I've ever had have taken place here. I wonder if we do have enough activity to warrant something smaller. Maybe a site that only has like 3 sections and no other bells and whistles attached to it or something. I dunno if that's even a thing, but it would be cool if this community continued to exist in some form.

I can't make any promises I'll be more active in the future than I am now, but I can promise this level of activity for a long time into the future. :lol

EGA's like a second home/family. I go to it mostly on Christmas and holidays, and I check in when I can, but I always like knowing it's there in case I need a place to just go be me.
 
there are free forums that are littered with adds... Worst comes to worse we could use one of those. Wouldn't be the same, but at least it's be something.
 
ThravRande said:
there are free forums that are littered with adds... Worst comes to worse we could use one of those. Wouldn't be the same, but at least it's be something.
Click to expand...

i would way rather have that then nothing....
 
pliknon said:
I use Hostgator for all my hosting. They're pretty cheap and they have always been good for me.

Pay per click would be a good idea, but not encouraging people to click. That's click fraud and will get you banned on advertising networks.
Click to expand...
I will look at that company... thank you for the reference Pliknon.

targetrasp said:
have you found any potential hosts for your proposed price range? I know everyone hates pop ups but there's other less invasive ways to monetize a site, and with as many buddies as you have a pay per click link couldn't hurt, especially with everyone encouraged to click a link every once in a while! Chose wisely though, I don't want a John Holmes look-alike (or replica) from a browser redirect when I'm wanting to read about games ;)
Click to expand...
:lol not yet... but I Am looking.

I think the hosting is definitely the 1st step. Once I get mid-way into April, I will have some time to more aggressively pursue this. I'm getting my butt kicked by tasks right now and I have to clear somethings off my plate.

Thank you all for the responses. It is cool to see this place means as much to you guys as it does me. I know I shouldn't apologize... but at the same time, it does feel like a slight failure.

I have to agree everyone and all the comments... and i enjoy the conversations here. That's why I started the site... I wanted something different. You can't always / easily go to another site and have engaging conversations without flames, trolls, and sometimes the level of intellect. I created this site for everyone to be able to use and enjoy... and you didn't have to worry about your parents being right next to you because the site was a good resource YET you didn't have to worry about nasty pop-ups or bad things embarrassing you in front of your parents (girlfriend, friends, in school...etc). That was the ultimate goal and that goal will remain. That was the vision behind the forums.

I'm going to throw the ads back up to see if we can generate some revenue to help support the site... The last time around, the ads didn't really do a lot for the site. I'm hoping we can generate more traffic to them to provide some funds to offset the cost.

Right now, I'm looking for something $20-35 per month. I'm hoping we can reach 50 posts per day levels again in the near future.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING FOR YOU GUYS... welcome new members and respond to their posts. Make them feel welcomed and make them feel like this is a place they want to be... a place where you like to be... and that their posts will not go unanswered. This is important and was a major goal of ours when the site was 1st started. I would be willing to be that is always why lot of you stayed as well. Return the favor :) No 1 person can do it by themself anymore... I'm realizing that more and more as life becomes more involved and complicated with work and families. It's hard.

I reall hope for the best for the future... reducing costs is necessary. If I bring costs down to $30 per month, I am saving $1,760 MINIMUM per year and that needs to happen... especially without the store backing the forums and without ads going as far as I need them to go. It will suck not being on a dedicated server... That's for sure... but I think it will be best for the future.



Thanks,
BV :hat
 
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