Hey folks,
This is a heads up that we're going to be trying some banner ads on the website. (Don't panic just yet!)
Who will be impacted?
This will be limited to anyone who is not logged into an account.
--> To be clear, you do not have to be a supporting member in any form to have an ad-free experience, you simply need to log into the website. If you don't already have one, accounts are free, and we encourage all to register.
If you have ever posted on the forum, you already have an account, and by being logged into your account, you will not be impacted by this change.
What is Causing This Change?
As you may have seen, the forum admins, @Alexander, @Janger, and I, recently put out a help wanted thread, seeking a moderator(s) and seeking folks willing to participate in the planning of meetups via committee.
(Still looking for meetup committee volunteers, message @Alexander if interested).
Essentially, we're hoping to get our community back into the routine of hosting periodic meetups, becoming more active, and doing more fun stuff as groups where possible.
With almost 1,800 registered members of the forum spread across the globe, we recognize that there is a good chance that our community may need more funds than are available at this time.
As our group and meetup attendance grows, we can't really depend on crashing Tim Hortons restaurants as we did back in 2015 when we first got started, and as our aim is to have meetups across the nation, Door prizes, meetup venues, food, etc, all will demand more funds than we have available at this time.
Why Ads Instead of a Call for Donations?
Though our community has thrived on the generous support of member donations to date, however, we've always had big dreams for the community, and this is a step closer to those goals.
What Will The Impact Be?
We're getting mixed messages, but Google seems to think we'll have a few hundred dollars a month to work with in the future, depending on how many, we'll almost certainly use a good chunk on things we should have done years ago, like updating our legal status (incorporation type), getting a book keeper involved, etc.
What Else is Changing?
In response to our growth the admin team is putting in place extra systems and measures in place to ensure our community can continue to flourish into the future. This decision is far from arbitrary, and we're actually changing much more than meets the eye, "under the hood" of the organization.
Behind the scenes, control of the forum's finances is being decentralized from my own control, with @Alexander and @Janger, both now having control and oversight over forum finances,
Control over the [email protected] email has been distributed among the admins,
The increasing distance being put between CHMW and CAYK the marketing agency I spend my days at,
and the addition of both moderators and meetup committee members,
Each of these changes is moving towards a stronger foundation for the forum, to ensure we're minimizing the number of "single points of failure" for our community.
Similarly, we're trying to plan further into the future, and planning for "what if" scenarios, like, what if we need to buy a hosting server at some point, what if we need to get insurance for admins and moderators, and what if we want to seriously dive into registered charity status? etc. These larger strategic questions, when we dig into them deeply enough, all fall down with our current (donation based) system.
Thanks Folks!
This is a heads up that we're going to be trying some banner ads on the website. (Don't panic just yet!)
Who will be impacted?
This will be limited to anyone who is not logged into an account.
--> To be clear, you do not have to be a supporting member in any form to have an ad-free experience, you simply need to log into the website. If you don't already have one, accounts are free, and we encourage all to register.
If you have ever posted on the forum, you already have an account, and by being logged into your account, you will not be impacted by this change.
What is Causing This Change?
As you may have seen, the forum admins, @Alexander, @Janger, and I, recently put out a help wanted thread, seeking a moderator(s) and seeking folks willing to participate in the planning of meetups via committee.
(Still looking for meetup committee volunteers, message @Alexander if interested).
Essentially, we're hoping to get our community back into the routine of hosting periodic meetups, becoming more active, and doing more fun stuff as groups where possible.
With almost 1,800 registered members of the forum spread across the globe, we recognize that there is a good chance that our community may need more funds than are available at this time.
As our group and meetup attendance grows, we can't really depend on crashing Tim Hortons restaurants as we did back in 2015 when we first got started, and as our aim is to have meetups across the nation, Door prizes, meetup venues, food, etc, all will demand more funds than we have available at this time.
Why Ads Instead of a Call for Donations?
Though our community has thrived on the generous support of member donations to date, however, we've always had big dreams for the community, and this is a step closer to those goals.
What Will The Impact Be?
We're getting mixed messages, but Google seems to think we'll have a few hundred dollars a month to work with in the future, depending on how many, we'll almost certainly use a good chunk on things we should have done years ago, like updating our legal status (incorporation type), getting a book keeper involved, etc.
What Else is Changing?
In response to our growth the admin team is putting in place extra systems and measures in place to ensure our community can continue to flourish into the future. This decision is far from arbitrary, and we're actually changing much more than meets the eye, "under the hood" of the organization.
Behind the scenes, control of the forum's finances is being decentralized from my own control, with @Alexander and @Janger, both now having control and oversight over forum finances,
Control over the [email protected] email has been distributed among the admins,
The increasing distance being put between CHMW and CAYK the marketing agency I spend my days at,
and the addition of both moderators and meetup committee members,
Each of these changes is moving towards a stronger foundation for the forum, to ensure we're minimizing the number of "single points of failure" for our community.
Similarly, we're trying to plan further into the future, and planning for "what if" scenarios, like, what if we need to buy a hosting server at some point, what if we need to get insurance for admins and moderators, and what if we want to seriously dive into registered charity status? etc. These larger strategic questions, when we dig into them deeply enough, all fall down with our current (donation based) system.
Thanks Folks!
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