Fibsboard and its motives?

[Kari_Grandi]

Some discussion has been raised (bare with my english) again about FibsBoard and its motives in Fibs shouts. I wanted to start this thread, where ppl can say what they think about it and most of all I want Webbie to clarify a few things for us. I dont have any other motives in starting this thread, then to give Webbie a chance too to defend his site against (true/false) accusations.

1. Is FB originally been made solely to support Fibs or to make money?
2. Has our e-mail addys been sold to other bg-site?
3. Is FibsBoard honouring the free playing site, Fibs, name by using its name for commercial purposes?

[adrian]

My oppinion:

1. Originally made solely to support fibs, now it makes money (maybe not enough) to support the hosting expenses. If it makes more than enough, I have no problem with that.
2. I NEVER got ANY advertising e-mails from bgsites , on the e-mail address I have used to register here.
3. IMO yes.

Thx Webrunner, keep it up! . I wish you were more often on FIBS tho..

[webrunner]

Your answers are all correct Adrian. 

In fact: i have turned down several offers for selling it.
It is true that i have negotiated on the price, but that is just like a game for me.
I would like to see where it went.
But i am going to tell you now: i would never sell Fibsboard, or it would have to be for an insane amound of money (enough to buy a new house) and that will never happen obviously

In fact: just today i got an offer and i told someone i am not selling it.

I was amazed though bout the amount of money companies are willing to pay. The highest bid i had (a few years ago) was $8000. I turned it down.

Am i in this for the money? No, i still like Fibs and it has had a place in my life for over 12 years now(fist i played under a different nickname). Sometimes that place is bigger then other times.
But i do sometimes make some money out of fibs. (it varies from time to time. I have had months without any income.
Currently it's about $100 a month. The Google banners pay me only a few bucks a month. I see it as a payment for the amount of time i spend managing this forum which is about 24 hours a month including moderating, answering questions by email, system maintenance, billpaying and other all the other stuff. That gives me a little of $4 for every hour. I normally make a lot more money, i assure you. So actually this is costing me money.

So.. why do i do it?
Because i like it.
I am an internet and community freak and Fibsboard was the first one i started on the internet. (Many followed and some of them failed) Now i do that for a living for a big publishing company in the netherlands.

So, there you have it. I hope everyone is now satisfied and we can go on with what Fibs AND Fibsboard is all about: playing backgammon and having fun.

Thanks Kari for this post.
It gives me the chance to correct these rumours.
This kind of rumours is not strange to me. It happens a lot on communities that are smaller since it gets more personal (if i where microsoft no-one would even mind me making money out of this).

Any more questions?   

[don]

I think FIBS board can be a valuable tool for discussion of FIBS' related topics.  There are times when I've found it less than open in its censorship policy, hence the italics, but all in all, a good resource.

It's a pity that some have taken issue with the ads and have dropped the site.  There's no other site I know of for open discussion of FIBS-related issues.  (rec.games.backgammon is not mainline, IMO)  Personally, I have Mozilla block the ads--so they don't bother me.

I'm happy that webby has confirmed that he keeps emails confidential.  I'd have been surprised otherwise.

As for profiting from FIBS, this isn't the only site to do so (if it does).  This is a copyright issue that probably doesn't exist but if it did, I've certainly seen worse abuses of the FIBS name on other websites using the name than here.

--
don

[sixty_something]

i totally concur that fibsboard is a great resource .. i've never encountered anything but willing assistance from Eric and surprising levels of support .. there is no doubt in my mind Eric's heart is in the right place when it comes to providing a community service .. his candor in revealing the facts of the paltry income stream he receives is also laudable, totally believeable, and reasonable

whatever he gets, i have no problem with it at all .. considering hardware, software, and connection expenses alone it's probably a break even proposition, his talent and service to the FIBS community is a generous gift and very appreciated by me

i've seen several friends with much more experience in fibsland and whose opinions i respect rant in shouts and even tells about the "sell out" of fibsboard or "fibsbored" as some refer to it .. frankly, that just seems silly to me, but i don't have the history for comparison .. but as someone far wiser than me said, you can't keep everyone satisfied .. besides in fibsland if fibsters didn't have something to  about what would we do between matches?

regarding the ads, you can hardly find anyone as annoyed by ads as i am .. i don't have blocking software, I've simply trained myself to ignore them over the years as a longtime Yahoo! and Google user .. ironically, i've found myself reading ads here and even following links from time to time .. that is something exceptionally rare in my experience with on-line ads

so, my friends, i'll give fibsboard a 9 out of 10 thumbs up rating:

to get that tenth  , Eric, you'll have to double my salary as a new GM 

~v~

It shouldn't be too much of a surprise that the Internet has evolved into a force strong enough to reflect the greatest hopes and fears of those who use it. After all, it was designed to withstand nuclear war, not just the puny huffs and puffs of politicians and religious fanatics.
-- Denise Caruso , (digital commerce columnist, New York Times)
*not* to mention fibsters

[webrunner]

I will gladly quadruple your salary (since it is zero  )

And yes, you are right, i didn't even mention the hosting and hardware costs. I recently moved the site to a newer server. The hosting costs are about 25 dollars a month and the hardware costs somewhere around 350 dollars a year.

So, that really leaves me with even less per month 

Finally: i am very serious about privacy etc.
Please read about it in the official fibsboard privacy statement, I have added this document from the start and NEVER violated it.

[Tomawaky]

Personnaly I do not like the ads inserted between post
But I respect Eric's choice

[webrunner]

BTW: i would remove all the ads if i would recieve enough donations to cover the hosting costs.
Ik was thinking about introducing a sponsor membership.

[webrunner]

or i could remove ads for sponsor members only.
Just some thought

[nixo]

or i could remove ads for sponsor members only.
Just some thought

It might be the_good_idea webby 

[webrunner]

Would you buy such a sponsor membership?

[nixo]

Would you buy such a sponsor membership?

well it depends of the price!
but as I said it might be a good idea.
fibsboard is usefull for all of the fibsters (a large part in fact) so I am sure that lot of them could help you to maintain fibsboard ads_free.

[Tomawaky]

You can host at www.free.fr with no cost or maybe some other places with free or very low subscription

[socksey]

BTW: i would remove all the ads if i would recieve enough donations to cover the hosting costs.

I don't see the problem with the ads.     As a matter of fact, I don't even see them any more.     What's so hard to ignore?     I'd much rather have the money to support the site come out of the pockets of the advertisers than from mine!     That's one of the reasons I do the work here.     I think those who object aren't thinking properly.    

GEEEEEEEEEEEZ!!!!!!!
socksey



What we need are more people who specialize in the impossible. - Theodore Roethke

[webrunner]

You can host at www.free.fr with no cost or maybe some other places with free or very low subscription

Tomawaky, yo mentioned that b4 but free hosters don't give me the freedom i need on a server.

[webrunner]

I really would like to get in a dialogue here with the people who keep spreading rumours that i am making a fortune on FibsBoard. Maybe we can straighten this out once and for all.

[Tomawaky]

Tomawaky, yo mentioned that b4 but free hosters don't give me the freedom i need on a server.

Which kind of freedom do you need ?

[tucsonAZ]

Just as there are several clients for FIBS, maybe there should be several forums also? This way, the user can choose which one they like best, and the burden to maintain it is not on one single person

Here.. I will start with..

http://fibsbackgammon.freeforums.org/index.php

But if you like special featuress, security and a maintained service, I suggest you stick with webrunner and fibsboard. The ads are a small price to pay for all the hard work he puts into it!!

Some discussion has been raised (bare with my english) again about FibsBoard and its motives in Fibs shouts. I wanted to start this thread, where ppl can say what they think about it and most of all I want Webbie to clarify a few things for us. I dont have any other motives in starting this thread, then to give Webbie a chance too to defend his site against (true/false) accusations.

1. Is FB originally been made solely to support Fibs or to make money?
2. Has our e-mail addys been sold to other bg-site?
3. Is FibsBoard honouring the free playing site, Fibs, name by using its name for commercial purposes?

[webrunner]

It won't come as a surprise that i think that is a really bad idea. You can't compare a community with client software. It has to do accessability of information and interactrion. If you have multiple forums you would have to check them all every day to get the news and most relevant information.
I personally think that belongs on one single place (as much as possible).

[lewscannon]

BTW: i would remove all the ads if i would recieve enough donations to cover the hosting costs.
Ik was thinking about introducing a sponsor membership.

Could you do anything to improve my dice?

[Tomawaky]

Just as there are several clients for FIBS, maybe there should be several forums also?

Stop the idea right now.

[webrunner]

Could you do anything to improve my dice?

Nope, since i don't manage the fibs server (and i don't think patti can either )

[tucsonAZ]

Personnaly I do not like the ads inserted between post
But I respect Eric's choice

The ads are all relevant to backgammon. Boards at ebay, play backgammon for money, bg books at amazon etc.. I dont see how anyone could complain about that. I've seen posts like  "go to play65 tell me your nick and you will receive $20 and I will receive a reward also...". Didn't bother me at all..

[Tomawaky]

How ? Just with post here  Everybody is free to tell his feeling. So I give mine.
Mario and some others things have nothing to do with Backgammon. And insert in post are taking too many place in my opinion. I have also seen some links added to members post one time but never seen it again since this only time.
But I accept it and keep reading Fibsboard even if it's annoying me. Eric Place is a must for Fibs, I will never say the opposite. But with time ads are coming more in more at Fibsboard and I regret it.

[webrunner]

But I accept it and keep reading Fibsboard even if it's annoying me. Eric Place is a must for Fibs, I will never say the opposite. But with time ads are coming more in more at Fibsboard and I regret it.

Actually i am just experimenting with showing as little ads possible with the highest possible revenue.
I just removed a complete in-post ad placeholder so that is an decreasement of 18% advertisment space.

[webrunner]

Which kind of freedom do you need ?

I'm sorry, i never answered that 

There are some custom software packages installed on a server that hosts a good community.
For instance sphinx indexing server, spell checker software and i am experimenting with gnubg output (long term project, just for fun ).
So i would need root access to install these packages and they don't give root access in free (or cheap) hosting accounts. (check it out).

Also the amount of emails that is send via the system is large and still growing. It sends hundreds of emails a day. Free hosting (or cheap hosting accounts)  don't allow you to send that much emails (or any email).

There are more reasons like: security, cronjobs, backups, etc. etc.

[webrunner]

I hate to bring this up but i really think the homepage has evolved into a cristmas tree, way to much advertisements for my taste.
But what really annoys me is that no-one seems to give a damn, but when i put up a few Gammon Empire banners everone started complaining....


This says enough for me.. thanks a lot !

[socksey]

    I had thought the same thing, webbie!     I guess "they" already did all their venting on you!     Oh, and did you notice, even vic started posting again! 

socksey



"As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death." - Leonardo da Vinci

[diane]

Despite stogs pleas, I still very rarely go to/ use the homepage, preferring my 'view new posts since your last visit' option.  So  I went and looked at it now. I didn't notice very much different about it - except for the photo, which I do quite like - and the fact that it doesn't seem to be rendering quite right [I am back on Firefox]. It is too big for a page - so I had to scroll around to see it all.

I guess there is more going on right now to warrant visits - the forum v player match is quite entertaining, and it doesn't seem to be at the levels of pettiness we have seen in previous times.  I assume that is only temporary of course 

I also have a feeling that the policy / approach of having more people regularly involved means there is a wider range of things happening, and it seems more of a community effort, than a single person enterprise.

[Tomawaky]

But what really annoys me is that no-one seems to give a damn

You make me stop those kind of thing Webby. But I think always the same. 

[boomslang]

I hate to bring this up but i really think the homepage has evolved into a cristmas tree, way to much advertisements for my taste.
But what really annoys me is that no-one seems to give a damn, but when i put up a few Gammon Empire banners everone started complaining....


This says enough for me.. thanks a lot !

I agree with webrunner and I can imagine his annoyance.

[stog]

herewith the front page at the start of the year at the time  of migration, together with the latest front page, which has the same 3 google ads and host sponsor as before, but now also has joe's book, an ad for "medecins sans frontiers", a collapsible webradio area and the ad/donate box with thx to those who have contributed.

We have lost the bottom row of ads and now have only 1 collapsible area for downloading backgammon software, FIBS prominent and now not including the paid sites. Featured sites now have Fibonacci and Tomawacky's Fibsleagammon (making Fibsboard an excellent portal, so bookmark to the front page please!) and again no longer contain paid backgammon sites, although Mr Woolsey's site is subscriber, he does pay for FIBS! Centrally towards the bottom we have small ads, again collapsible.

I forgot the VIP articles box LHS, and the small demo ad on the RHS, from a fibsboarder  - "me" for our complementary health Practice software. We should be pleased to replace any of the google ads with ones for  boarders goods, services or performances. contact us for details.

The front page now has News at the very top and extended Recent Topics centrally and Most recent posts top right, at the suggestion of many boarders. That i agree could lead to clutter, but we have tried to keep the look and feel of this site, whilst taking it forward and it will of course reflect the new management who is appreciative of the work that has gone before.

[webrunner]

If you are going to compare please show both pages complete. You don't have to defend the way the homepage is set up now. I was just  ommenting and giving my opinion. But the homepage lay-out wasn't the real point I was trying to make...

@diane:
Fibsboard was never a oneman show. I practically begged people to help, give input, create content etc.  And a lot of people did !

[boomslang]

Hi Stog,


Although you can collapse most of these ad boxes, they are expanded again next time you visit Fibsboard... Is there a way to save these 'settings' ?
IMHO, as it is now, this feature is not useful at all.


--boomslang

[tester]

Although you can collapse most of these ad boxes, they are expanded again next time you visit Fibsboard... Is there a way to save these 'settings' ?
IMHO, as it is now, this feature is not useful at all.

Re: collapsible buttons keep your custom layout
- many do automatically stay collapsed-even if you log out/in