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Hey everyone

ManaByte

ManaByte

Banned
Edgelord79 said:
On one hand you ask to bring back people that act like children, then turn around and say this place is for adults.

Which is it?
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200.gif
 
Elder Legend

Elder Legend

Banned
I hate to say this, but the only reason Gaf is still around is because of how long its been around for. Gaming forums are a dying form of communication.

Most communities now thrive in Discord and places like that. What really hurt Gaf were all the original SJW mods back in the 2015/2016 years that breeded degenerates. Forum got bigger then it was split and sadly
ReseteEra happened.

But even their original creator sold the cucks off for a lot of money and played them like a fiddle. That forum will die sooner or later.

This is really what hurt gaf. I am not sure if there is a way to bring back new users.
 
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Kataploom

Kataploom

Gold Member
EviLore said:
Hey everyone.

I hope you enjoy NeoGAF as much as I do. Our community has made it through a lot over the years. We had a rough patch a while back, but were able to rebuild, and it’s a fun and lively place again, focusing on the games, with a common sense guiding principle.

I’ve been here for over 22 years and counting, and I’d like to continue running NeoGAF for many more years to come. But there’s an ongoing problem: the powers that be changed their algorithm some time ago and we lost upwards of 90% of our ad revenue for an identical amount of traffic. It’s always been tough to monetize forums, but right now is about as tough as it’s ever been for GAF since we have a huge post history that requires a lot of server power to keep it all integrated, as well as a lot of traffic that takes up resources every month without much coming back in.

As a result of the ad revenue issues it’s become a challenge to maintain the site, I’ve had to slow down active development and pursue other avenues professionally as well. It’s also not viable to compensate our dev team properly without revenue coming in, so I’ve paused many of our internal operations. You’ve probably noticed that the momentum we had with all the new features and improvements has slowed, and some existing features have stopped working outright. Now you know why.

This whole development purgatory is really not my preference. I’d rather focus my attention primarily on GAF and continue building it back up, keep it a great place to hang out and talk about the latest gaming and industry news, and get back to actively developing it.

It’s a predicament. Are you guys and gals open to supporting NeoGAF a bit more actively? We have a lot of users, but most people adblock and only a tiny fraction of members get Gold subs. We could put up some affiliate links that would support the site without an out of pocket cost, if they would be utilized by our members. And I’m open to discussing any other options as well.

NeoGAF has always been independent, and over the past two decades I’ve shrugged off the many attempts by publishers and big corporations to control the site via their acquisition offers and other deals. But with that stubborn neutrality and independence comes a different set of challenges, like the one we’re currently facing. To keep moving forward we’ll need to construct some additional pylons.

If you enjoy using NeoGAF, let me know of any ways you’d be down to support the site’s continued existence. I'd love to get back into full swing, revise the site design for 2022, fix our features and add new ones, and continue building. Thanks.
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To everyone using AdBlock, GAF ads are the least intrusive I've ever seen, ads have never been an issue for me so you can add an exception to this site without worrying anything
 
IntentionalPun

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
Apple's privacy measures are likely the culprit for the payout change will do a measure on the "free ad supported web." Going to be a bloodbath; people see that FB/google lost billions in revenue and cheer w/o taking into account that revenue is their cut from payouts that partially go to web sites.

Not arguing for or against what Apple did; just stating a fact. Billions have been removed from the web economy and it's not just Google/Facebook taking a loss.
 
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EviLore

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Codiox said:
Maybe a long shot but me an I think many other would gladly give neogaf somehow the twitch prime subscription.
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Think we'd need to be Twitch Partners for that, and have a minimum amount of viewers and streaming hours to qualify.
 
ShadowLag

ShadowLag

Member
A few suggestions, probably already mentioned here:

  • Patreon, or buymeacoffee.com
  • GAF news roundup on YouTube! Or some other creative gaming related content on YT or Twitch. Could be really fun.
  • Affiliate links for various gaming products + games, already mentioned I know
  • Official GAF tournaments with prize pools? Maybe tap some FGC talent to discuss this?
  • Become a small-time digital game umbrella? I'm sure there are plenty of talented indie devs here that could put out games under a NeoGAF publisher/developer setup (GAF GAMES PRESENTS etc.)
  • You mentioned your feature devs are on pause so it's probably hard to do new features right now, but enhancing the value of GAF gold through things like digital code rewards after X amount of Y might work? Not sure about the costs involved though. Imagine "we've partnered with Cool Game People this month, the developer of Super Muigi Bros 3, to reward gold members with a Steam copy of SMB3!"
 
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EviLore

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
onesvenus said:
Count me as another one who doesn't see ads on the mobile website. Neither on the general forum nor on the specific topics.
No AdBlock installed.
EviLore EviLore Are you sure that's working as expected?
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Depending on your geolocation there might not be any paying bids for the advertising space when you load the site. It's probably that.
 
Putonahappyface

Putonahappyface

Gold Member
onesvenus said:
Count me as another one who doesn't see ads on the mobile website. Neither on the general forum nor on the specific topics.
No AdBlock installed.
EviLore EviLore Are you sure that's working as expected?
Click to expand...
I primarily use my android and seldom use my laptop. Screen shot from my mobile.

57BLb2P.jpg


Ads are available on android. You may need to play around with your settings.
 
Elder Legend

Elder Legend

Banned
EviLore EviLore I have a lot of experience with YouTube and SEO management if you want that is the one thing I can help you at free cost with to get the ground running.

So if you ever think of doing a NeoGaf Weekly Podcast or News Report Cycle I can def help with that.

Once you get to a 1000 subscribers you then can monetize. I've built a channel from nothing to almost 10,000. Learned a lot from bad and good experiences and I can tell you what is good and what to avoid.

EDIT - If you'd want anything past 1000 subscribers that would start being at a cost for obvious reasons. But i do not mind giving a ton of guidance and consuling at the start for free so that way you can get yourself.in a comfortable spot.

This would include making thumbnails, uploading videos, engagement, SEO tags/research and a few other things. But let's worry about getting there first :)
 
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wondermega

wondermega

Member
Jigsaah said:
Here's a suggestion. Make a "Cha-Ching" function. Basically it's like emotes you buy like bits on Twitch or TikTok. Think Karma on Reddit. Make em stupid cheap. like 100 for a dollar (whatever makes sense).

Give incentive for spending and receiving "Cha-Chings". Trade em in for a month of Gold, revive a banned member (with caveats obviously). You could do giveaways or raffles monthly for "Cha-Chings" if you got enough momentum.

I know this kinda goes with development and that's limited at this time, but if you believe in this or any idea, take a moment to weigh the pros n cons, risks vs. reward and go off that.

Also...you don't have to call em "Cha-Chings" just throwing it out there.
Click to expand...
Love this idea. Like rewards on reddit. Cha-ching is a great name but I will also vote for Sh-boom's.

And definitely put up a patron and link it to the banner somehow. I will absolutely donate $5/month, I've looked at this site constantly since 2006.

Here's a weird mostly-unrelated idea that just occurred to me, might not have anything to do with monetization. I dunno if any forum does anything like this, there could be a monthly vote for a "Mayor" of neogaf. They get special priviliges (can't get prevented from being banned, but I am sure there are cool things that one could do - at least get them a personal profile or mention in a big monthly thread or something).
 
LiquidMetal14

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
Keep us posted on what methods we can contribute. I'm not familiar with anything other than Gold.

Edit - Bought a year of Gold!
 
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IbizaPocholo

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
Please sticky this thread in the top of all forums, so everyone can see it.

For the gold subscribers, is it possible to have animated avatars like GIFs? Even if they are very small, like 8kb or something like that. I really like to a GIF for the avatar.
 
Lord Panda

Lord Panda

The Sea is Always Right
EviLore said:
Lots of great suggestions so far, thanks everyone. We've discussed some of them before internally, but it's really helpful to know what the community is up for, and we'll get right on it. The support and solidarity mean a lot as well.
Click to expand...

Probably discussed to hell and back behind the scenes, but are there cheaper but equivalent hosting and bandwidth providers being considered? I haven’t really looked but I’m assuming this is all sitting on an AWS EC2 instance?

Anyway, I can’t think of anything else other than what has been suggested already, so best I can do is do a yearly sub for with one of the last free and decent sanctuaries of free speech and comradeship.

Speaking of comrades, time to head back into that Ukraine thread. Best of luck Evilore. Oh and if you ever need any Linux sys. admin (+ cybersec) help, you can hit me up.
 
near

near

Gold Member
Lock the forum behind a one-time subscription fee. Force roll existing members into NeoGAF Gold, offer tiers with incentives. Leverage NeoGAF as a brand with its extensive history in the gaming community. Host GAFcasts to generate traffic while also providing a platform for its members. For example, David Jaffe a long time community member who hosts he's own show on Youtube, could be given a platform here. I mean he always generates discussion for better or worse. Patreon. Sell advertisement space. Accept donations. All I can think of.
 
The_Mike

The_Mike

I cry about SonyGaf from my chair in Redmond, WA
Bo_Hazem said:
Wow! That's fucking brilliant! EviLore EviLore How about members can make their own avatars inside their profiles, have more personalized profiles? Having some events and so to get those special gear etc and some are purchasable? It could work.

Just don't push it to NFT.
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We need Gaf monkey NFTs.

You need to buy an nft and have it as an avatar as proof that you bought it.

Then the block chain will fail and all posts will be lost in the pit.

I'm just joking, or am I?
game of thrones wink GIF
 
Azurro

Azurro

Banned
EviLore said:
Can definitely put up a Patreon as an alternative way to support the site if there’s interest. Every bit helps.
Click to expand...

Patreon would definitely be the fastest way to raise some revenue. Another option is reddit-style emotes that users can grant to each other that cost some nominal amount, that'd be an organic and non obtrusive way of raising money. Those definitely take some dev costs though.

I white listed neogaf in my adblock, I didn't realise I had it blocked, sorry about that. :messenger_grinning_sweat:

EDIT: I just subscribed on Patreon, just for this site. I am one of the first 10. :)
 
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Hinedorf

Hinedorf

Banned
Boils down to this for me, not even sure what I did to cross a line but was put on "time out" for a period of time because of it and when I asked that moderator what the charge was the response was so piss poor and juvenile that to see this "hey we need money" makes me feel you get what you pay for.

I would never give a dime to this operation for the type of people you allow to moderate and disrespect the same people you want money from

This is the only gaming forum I go to would rather see you shut it down than give you a dime for the mistreatment I've personally seen. I work in Technical Support/Customer Service for a living so how I see your employees act is exactly why you're in the position you're in.
 
EviLore

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
Hinedorf said:
Boils down to this for me, not even sure what I did to cross a line but was put on "time out" for a period of time because of it and when I asked that moderator what the charge was the response was so piss poor and juvenile that to see this "hey we need money" makes me feel you get what you pay for.

I would never give a dime to this operation for the type of people you allow to moderate and disrespect the same people you want money from

This is the only gaming forum I go to would rather see you shut it down than give you a dime for the mistreatment I've personally seen. I work in Technical Support/Customer Service for a living so how I see your employees act is exactly why you're in the position you're in.
Click to expand...
Eh1wmzx.gif
 
8BiTw0LF

8BiTw0LF

Banned
Gaf is the only gaming community I participate in - besides Discord servers, so it was time to become a gold member.

I will make some NeoGaf stream overlays that people can download and use for Twitch, YouTube etc. Don't know if it'll help economically, but it could gain some traction.

Thank you for your efforts and keeping this place Alive.
 
onesvenus

onesvenus

Member
EviLore said:
Depending on your geolocation there might not be any paying bids for the advertising space when you load the site. It's probably that.
Click to expand...
Can the advert categories be expanded somehow? I can see ads all across other websites fine

Putonahappyface said:
I primarily use my android and seldom use my laptop. Screen shot from my mobile.

57BLb2P.jpg


Ads are available on android. You may need to play around with your settings.
Click to expand...
Nothing on the settings, I can see ads with no problem in other websites
 
CrustyBritches

CrustyBritches

Gold Member
A gif festival with fundraiser would be cool. Let’s have some fun pissing in some wokesters’ coffees and winner gets a copy of Elden Ring.
 
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