Here is the Deal. We Need Money...Bad!

[+Dave 2,318]

Last month CombatAce was in the negative. We are that way this month too. Our membership has faded but we've got just the opposite happening in downloads. More users than ever are downloading and fewer subscriptions. It's getting to the point where we are not sure what to do. Start subscriptions to download at all? Or have the bandwidth only open at certain times? I have asked before and we have always managed to get enough to sustain us for a long time. But now this is different as I explained above. We just cannot sustain at the rate we are going.

[ValAstur 1,198]

Hey mates

 

Though I have to keep an eye on my financial balance I just purchased a half-year subscription to aid keep my favourite site alive.

 

Hope more people will follow. Would be a shame if CA had to close.

Edited September 22, 2014 by ValAstur

[KJakker 875]

Dave, what is the monthly operating cost of the site? Just an idea, do you think it might help if there was some kind of display that listed operating cost vs income for each month on the main page so that CA members could be kept aware of the sites funding status?

 

Also I have a Premier Membership but when I checked under Subscriptions my only other option right now is a Platinum Membership. Is there a way to just donate money directly?

Edited September 22, 2014 by KJakker

[+Coupi 4,281]

Hello Dave,

 

Subscription done...

 

Coupi.

[+Dave 2,318]

KJ

 

I am going to have to ask Erik on how all that works. Now we won't shut down CA just the downloads will be throttled back because that is 90% of our operating costs. To have that unlimited bandwidth etc it is extremely expensive and we arent getting the income to download ratio we need. 

[Emp_Palpatine 501]

As soon as the pay is in, half year suscription it is. 

[+Gunrunner 313]

Dave, could you discuss with Eric the possibility of a financial breakdown of the site's operation, maybe as a sticky, so that non-subscribing members can get a better idea of WHY they need to subscribe if they can afford it (of course it's understandable not to if you can't) ?

 

By the way, how much money would you actually need (on that note, I know you usually don't like it but maybe the donation could be back for those of us who don't have the option to further upgrade our existing subscription - through wire transfer would be nice too) ?

 

Maybe also work out something that would remind each of us how much bandwidth we've used so far (and how much it did cost), maybe as a private information like our warning status ?

Edited September 22, 2014 by Gunrunner

[+Dave 2,318]

That's a good idea Gun, I will ask Erik. Since CA has been around our biggest expense has always been the downloads section. It has been our biggest draw. It is still popular even though membership is down. My only issue is that even with this plea people can get something for free and not care what happens afterwards they will ignore this. I see a ton of regular members here with no posts but they are always in the d/l section. If we even got 5% of them to subscribe we would be good for a long time. 

[+Jarhead1 27]

Well like I said above ill subscribe tomorrow, I had to pay my phonebill today so I cant spend anymore on my card, because my bank restricts me, ugh.

[+Dave 2,318]

I understand completely Jarhead. I speaking to the non active posters here.  I can give you a list of names I see here all the time just lurking. If they would only step up and help we would be good. 

[+daddyairplanes 8,776]

Get my fin aid refund tomm. Gotta get some repairs done the car but then should be able to get some type of subscript

Honestly, may want to got to 1-2 dl's a day if its how your describing. Unless one has a subscrition that is. Many will bitch and gripe but bandwidth dont grow on trees

 

Just checked prices. Will likely be a 6mo. But i gotta ask....... does the lifetime membership come with blackjack and hookers?

Edited September 22, 2014 by daddyairplanes

[+Dave 2,318]

The hookers are what broke us last time. 

[+daddyairplanes 8,776]

thats why we find the members who are good at blackjack!

 

on a serious note, will only be a 6 monther this time around, but can do another 6 or 12 in Feb.  would the time rollover or just start new at the time of purchase.

also,  maybe our video gurus here could do up a bit on what the expanded priviledges are for those that subscribe.  an in house commercial if you will

Edited September 22, 2014 by daddyairplanes

[+Erik 1,731]

Dave, what is the monthly operating cost of the site? Just an idea, do you think it might help if there was some kind of display that listed operating cost vs income for each month on the main page so that CA members could be kept aware of the sites funding status?

 

Also I have a Premier Membership but when I checked under Subscriptions my only other option right now is a Platinum Membership. Is there a way to just donate money directly?

 

 

Our yearly operating costs fall into these categories. Equipment, Connectivity, Software, Renewal Fees, Banking Fees, Accounting, Fed/State Taxes, Insurance, and Licensing. Our income is derived from GoogleAds and Subscriptions. Our operating costs hover around $750.00 per month. Our income has been hovering around $400.00 per month. While $400.00 per month almost covers our monthly equipment and connectivity (keeping the lights on) it is falling short of meeting the remainder of our hard costs. This is why we're asking for your support and help.

 

 

KJ

 

I am going to have to ask Erik on how all that works. Now we won't shut down CA just the downloads will be throttled back because that is 90% of our operating costs. To have that unlimited bandwidth etc it is extremely expensive and we arent getting the income to download ratio we need. 

 

 

It's been mentioned that we'll have to scale back or discontinue some services. I would find this hard to do as our size (space on disk) has grown to the point that scaling back would require us to physically shrink. That's almost impossible to do. Scaling back our bandwidth is doable but we'd suffer great losses in the process which will affect our bottom line creating a vicious circle. This is a last case scenario. I recognize that $750.00 sounds like a huge expense but it's really not. If you think about your internet, cell phone, and cable bills which you're paying $400.00 per month for I'd say we're doing fairly well handling the thousands of people we see daily on our budget. Not to mention the 5.4 million downloads to date and the yottabyte of bandwidth we've shared. So where does that leave us today? For now it means we have to stay viable, it means your support in invaluable, and we recognize each of you who subscribe to us every day we keep the lights on.

 

There has been a nice surge in subscriptions today but we need to keep it going. One notable mention is Jarhead1 AKA Kevin, his contribution alone restored my faith in this community and single handedly almost double our subscription income for the past four months. In months past we've had generous donations from Jug and logan4 to be sure but there are many who deserve appreciation, so from us to all of you, THANK YOU! 

 

Let's keep the momentum moving forward. Realistically I'd like to set a goal of about six months of costs (roughly $4200.00) and then our current income will cover us for another 6 months. I don't know how close we can get but we've taken a good step today. 

 

As always if you have questions please ask. I'm happy to share what I can about anything we do here or why we do it.

 

Subscribe or Donate

[+Dave 2,318]

You guys all own a piece of CA when you send us money, it's your site too. So any and all help we say THANK YOU. 

[Caesar 305]

Just sent some pretty polly, O My Brothers.  A malenky bit tight, what with the armor project, but something to, like, help the scenario as it were.

 

...sorry, been re-reading A Clockwork Orange this week...

[+Erik 1,731]

Dave, could you discuss with Eric the possibility of a financial breakdown of the site's operation, maybe as a sticky, so that non-subscribing members can get a better idea of WHY they need to subscribe if they can afford it (of course it's understandable not to if you can't) ?

 

By the way, how much money would you actually need (on that note, I know you usually don't like it but maybe the donation could be back for those of us who don't have the option to further upgrade our existing subscription - through wire transfer would be nice too) ?

 

Maybe also work out something that would remind each of us how much bandwidth we've used so far (and how much it did cost), maybe as a private information like our warning status ?

 

I answered some of these questions already. I'm not sure how much detail is needed in a breakdown so I hesitate to get too in-depth. As an example this year it cost us $418.31 for our insurance policy we're required to have in case our equipment catches fire and destroys the co-location facility, that's a yearly premium. I wrapped all that stuff into a cost overview to make it easier. I actually toyed around with the idea of making this a pay for privilege site to cover our bills but have been very reluctant to do so and hope to remain free spirited indefinitely, though we know free is never free. The donation option is available in the little drop menu where your name is, I also posted a link above along with the subscription link. Putting together a visual bandwidth consumption graph for each person would be a huge undertaking. I'm not sure there would be enough return on investment for that as it would require a software engineer from Invision to accomplish. I get a breakdown of top users etc, but have to run reports for individuals. An example is our top downloader this month has grabbed 2181 files used 131 Gigabytes of data and that's just one person. Let me know if I didn't answer all your questions.

[+Jarhead1 27]

Limit anyone that isn't a subscriber to a set number of downloads per day? I think that could help with the bandwidth usage

[+Erik 1,731]

Limit anyone that isn't a subscriber to a set number of downloads per day? I think that could help with the bandwidth usage

 

We do this already only subscribed members have unrestricted access with no throttling on speed.

[+daddyairplanes 8,776]

 downloader this month has grabbed 2181 files used 131 Gigabytes of data and that's just one person.

sweet jesus!  that takes me back to my idea of daily limits for those that dont pay.  back to my original understanding when i joined: 1 or 2 daily if you sign up but dont participate. 3 or 4 if you converse but dont mod. add files get modder status say 7 or 8 a day.  only if you get a subscription can you go unlimited.

 

2181?  i dont think i've d/l'd that much since i've been here, defineatly not in one month

 

edit: last thought  not the first i've observed calling for daily limits. poll time Erik?

Edited September 23, 2014 by daddyairplanes

[JediMaster 451]

I have done a bit of a turn around on it--I only DL mods that I find a must-have. I used to grab every new plane and terrain that came out and a good number of skins and such. Now I've cut that back so as not to stress the sites bandwidth.

No slight on the modders, I just don't have all that much time to devote to SF anymore anyway so why burn the site's bandwidth for something I'm going to get 10 mins of time using?

 

If you're using it, pay for it, whatever you can. If you can't pay, how much do you really need? Can you ration yourself and spread it out? Maybe wait and at the end of the month survey what's been released and just grab the top 5 that you want most.

[+Erik 1,731]

Jedi - I had to change your post. We can't say that last part, it's bad news for us if the big G ever caught wind of it.

 

As long as the service is online don't feel like a drag or burden. If it's there use it. Simple as that. Goes for everyone paid or not. That's the whole reason we started this. 

[Skyviper 1,101]

Aw thank you Eric. Even though you don't want me to feel bad I do. But I'll try not too.

 

*clears throat*

 

If you like writing and can spare ten minutes you can PM me about how 800 words can really help this site out. You don't have to spend a dime ...just give a little time.

 

 

yeah that was a little corny ... but its true.

[+malibu43 142]

I can certainly donate more often than I do - I just need a reminder. Something as simple as a monthly or quarterly donation/subscription reminder might help. You could even have a small give-away each time for those that contribute during the period (ie - DCS product key for randomly selected winner).

[Skyviper 1,101]

I think migbuster already does the giveaways from time to time for subscribers. I might be wrong.