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

[Viggen 644]

Idea: The people who never post and only download, just ban their asses from being able to download.

[+logan4 847]

Sent what I could spare this month via Paypal, should be there in few days.

[DaniloE31 280]

I just made a (small... ) PayPal donation.

But let us be honest: in the long term the only plan will work is to charge a fee for (big) downloads

[+Dave 2,322]

I just made a (small... ) PayPal donation.

But let us be honest: in the long term the only plan will work is to charge a fee for (big) downloads

 

 

You are right my friend, we need a long term plan as the bills have piled up. It's just hard to do because that is not what we are about. 

[+Soulfreak 6,527]

Well i will donate a few bucks.

Done, now I´m a prime member.

But i think we should think about some methods to get some money

from the members who only download stuff and do not modd.

F.e.:

All non modders could buy a limited size of download. Maybe 2 GB for 5$ 

Edited September 23, 2014 by Soulfreak

[Happy308 186]

Done.

[Do335 382]

I wonder why the sudden increase in downloads... tk stops new patches and mods serve the updating needs?...

 

How about limiting bandwith and/or further limit downloads per day, then the bigger mods like >100mb goes to pay per down

 

and use some file hosting sites like mediafire like the il2 mods.

[Viggen 644]

Dave is there a way to pay other than using paypal? My paypal account is beyond f'ed up.

[+malibu43 142]

I just gave what I could.

 

Building off of what someone else said, maybe keep things like single aircraft or objects free, but move the BIG conversion packages (Nato Fighters, SF2V AGXP, etc...) to a subscription only download section.

 

You'd need to keep it pretty cheap, though.  Or I'd be afraid of stuff just ending up on a pirate site.  You'd also have to make sure that something in a subscription only section doesn't violate any freeware agreements.

Edited September 23, 2014 by malibu43

[+logan4 847]

To establish a proper strategy to keep the site alive I think might be good to know what we are up against... 1-2-6 or 10 grand we have to come up with each month?

That will enable us to think in the right frame of mind.

Based on existing subscriptions, their expire time and activities of those users can be forecasted what might come in - sure will never equal to it as few might go few might join but it will show some trend we are up to tackle.

 

I personally only able to imagine the various costs we have but surely unable to say numbers. Not sure what is our power bill, don't know what is the provider fee for the site management and hosting, site band width/traffic fee, etc.

 

Yes we can limit band width, implement payable mods or add-on modules which go to cover site costs, etc. Some will be OK with our users some will start to complain, each for their own reasons...

[+daddyairplanes 10,262]

payable mods i would disagree with.  the little line in most everyones mods about "not for use in payware".  but as i've said in this and the other rendition of this thread,  pay for greater access i think is a good route. you're still free not to subscribe, you just will only get say 50 dl's per month tops. something Erik said about 2180 some dl's in one month by one user still baffles me........

[Wrench 9,875]

I'd very much like to find out WHO that could be.

 

We really do have far too many of the "gimmies" and the "I wants". People that have contributed NOTHING to the community, even as they post their "wants". If those folks could all give 5 dollars (or local equilivant) things would be much better all around

 

 

afraid of stuff just ending up on a pirate site

 

unfortunately, that happens no matter what (see a recent thread, iirc, at SHQ about the DS mod)

 

There are ways, but as Erik has said, it's not what we all want to do.

[+EMCON360 215]

Simviation Has A Simple Setup,Dialup For Everyone Unless Express Membership.Content May Be Freeware But The Servers Belong To The Site.Bandwidth Is A Premium And With World Mobile Its Just Going To Get More Condensed.

[Centurion-1 1,228]

Personally, I think it would be a bad idea to ban free downloads all together, it would really limit new people. But maybe there could be a download cap each month for freebies, after that only those with subs or other types of premium accounts get to download. Maybe a large, omnious bar type thing at the top to remind everybody that the free DLs are a finite resource. I bet more people would upgrade their membership if they wanted to get some mods only to realize they cant because the monthly free DLs have run out.

 

As for the large mods like Nato fighters, I think peer to peer sharing would be a very good compliment to the traditional DLs! Especially if you could get all parts as one torrent, I for sure would download that way and keep seeding it too. Just have a downloadable torrent file on the dowload page. Good idea?

Especially when the free dls run out the torrents could help a lot.

 

I also have a theory regarding why the bandwitdth is running out, probably because all mods are realy large in filesize these days. Large textures take a lot of space!

 

Also upgraded my sub, wish I could have went for platinum but choice had to be enough this month.

[saisran 84]

Maybe you guys can sell a custom paint scheme or something like, Lt. "members name" painted oon their favorite bird. I dunno. Don't have a credit card. Will borrow a friends if i could help with a meager sum. you'll accept cards from the Philippines will you?

[DaniloE31 280]

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.

I don't want to be pessimistic, but let's face it:

this discussion is going on since three days and barely 20 people really paid attention and attended the discussion. This is the status of interest in CA... sorry to say (and to see!!!) that.

This business is changing, TW is changing... and I really would hate to see you and Erik to get into debt for something it will never be what it once was...

 

I hope nobody feels offended by my statement...

Danilo

 

[Heck 496]

One suggestion I would make, Eric, is to realign your subscription price points.  Can you tell I work in retail?  I don't have much money right now (new families are expensive, but worth it), and I would like to contribute more than 6.95, but the jump to 39 bucks is too steep, given the fact that I'm a poe working stiff.  I want to say about 15.99 for a three month might entice more people to contribute on a regular basis, which is what you seem to need.  I think the price breaks are too big for many people.  Just an idea, I don't know how hard it would be to initiate.

 

When you come right down to it, CombatAce is the best site around, and the modders here are still producing great things, for a sim that refuses to let its creator kill it.

Edited September 24, 2014 by Heck

[+Veltro2k 6,351]

Prime Me Sir 

[+Major Bloodnok 465]

Done my small bit for the forum, sorry I couldn't do more.

[Heck 496]

I will contribute, as soon as I can get PayPinhead to acknowledge my change of address.

[Gothkrieger 1]

Thinking of going with the CombatACE - Prime Membership this weekend, a 6 months membership. At this point, not so much to make massive downloads but to keep alive a source of information about the sim that I am starting to learn.  The question is will this still be here in 6 months?  I know that is a hard question to answer but what would be the point in buying a membership for a site that will be here for a much shorter length of time.  I guess it is a roll the dice decision perhaps.

[saisran 84]

Pay pal wont accept my debit card. Please wait one more week. As a member who doesn't contribute to the modding and just post on the forums and download new updates. i can live with having to pay for a fee to download. i think others as well. That would be better than seeing this site close down and being able to download anything at all.

[+Dave 2,322]

Thanks all for the words and the help.!

[+SupGen 79]

  A little low on funds right now; hopefully, two weeks. (Oh lord, not two weeks!)

[+RAVEN 414]

OK, Its done, Half a year is all i could swing right now.