our search sucks?
03-27-2006, 05:02 PM
#21
Administrator
Originally Posted by Silver9k,Mar 26 2006, 09:10 PM
that just keeps more sponsors away if you make it too high...supply and demand
as far as having more members, and having more pay fees...now I do plan to become a member, but only because I like this site and want to support it. I have no need for the gallery, the email, the special forums, the 5% discount...I mean I honestly will probably never use any of the features or at least rarely. But I'm going to do it because I love the site.
I'm sure a lot feel that way and maybe thats why not as many become members...I don't know...
anyway, that is not what this thread is about, and its not really about excuses why the search function should/can be poor quality. This is a MAJOR car forum if I remember correctly it was in the top 10 last year or something like that and I believe AT LEAST in the top 50 internet forums period. We aren't talking a small forum here...our search function should be improved
as far as having more members, and having more pay fees...now I do plan to become a member, but only because I like this site and want to support it. I have no need for the gallery, the email, the special forums, the 5% discount...I mean I honestly will probably never use any of the features or at least rarely. But I'm going to do it because I love the site.
I'm sure a lot feel that way and maybe thats why not as many become members...I don't know...
anyway, that is not what this thread is about, and its not really about excuses why the search function should/can be poor quality. This is a MAJOR car forum if I remember correctly it was in the top 10 last year or something like that and I believe AT LEAST in the top 50 internet forums period. We aren't talking a small forum here...our search function should be improved
Membership funds go towards upkeep, paying the bills and other expenses involved in running a site that is constantly growing. S2KI is a major site and that means we have major expenses. I don't run the site from an old castoff PC in my basement. We have 100 megabits of massively well connected bandwidth, a full rack of space in a modern, state of the art data center and we have over half a dozen high powered servers running it all.
We need to constantly add and upgarde and repair the servers to keep them running and keep up with demand and up till now, uncluding now we do it all through what are essentially donations. I don't have a cash reserve. I can't just throw hardware at the problem. That means what I end up doing is by far the most expensive thing which is to endlessly twiddle with and try to optimaize the software we have to eek out the last bit of speed I can.
Search is the way it is largely because I don't have the money to buy all of the equipment I need to deliver what you expect. I've had to reduce search functionality as the demands on it increase to I can continue to run it on the same overtired servers it used to work fine on. So I get 2 or 3 fast servers to handle searching including advance searches which place a higher load on them or I cut out advanced search in lieu.
In short I need a lot more income coming in to buy the servers we need. The S2000 is a small market and what makes s2ki so big in relation is the members enthusiasm. Sponsors are only so interested in targeting such a niche market. We have some good supportive sponsors that do well as a result but it's just not as hot a property as you think. The big players are going to advertise on more diverse sites (all cars/all honda) because they get a bigger spread. The sponsors here have specific S2000 related things to sell rather than general automotive wares.
We still need to make up most of the costs of running this site from memberships. The need for capital is so great that I'm soon going to need to trim back what's offered to Guests for free because we simply can't afford it anymore. I'd rather people say "hey I'm going to chip in because I like what you're doing" rather than me strong-arming them into submission by taking away what they used to get for free but hey, such is life. Maintaining this great resource, email account and galleries aside, is a burdon that needs to be shared. The more that carry the load the more we can carry and the less everyone needs to haul by themselves.
03-27-2006, 08:29 PM
#22
Originally Posted by cthree,Mar 27 2006, 06:02 PM
Just to clarify, I'm offering those things as I can as a thank you for your support. The membership funds don't go to pay for services. I can offer them at little or no financial cost and do so to sweeten the deal for me because I enjoy helping those who help me and the site (the two are tightly linked).
Membership funds go towards upkeep, paying the bills and other expenses involved in running a site that is constantly growing. S2KI is a major site and that means we have major expenses. I don't run the site from an old castoff PC in my basement. We have 100 megabits of massively well connected bandwidth, a full rack of space in a modern, state of the art data center and we have over half a dozen high powered servers running it all.
We need to constantly add and upgarde and repair the servers to keep them running and keep up with demand and up till now, uncluding now we do it all through what are essentially donations. I don't have a cash reserve. I can't just throw hardware at the problem. That means what I end up doing is by far the most expensive thing which is to endlessly twiddle with and try to optimaize the software we have to eek out the last bit of speed I can.
Search is the way it is largely because I don't have the money to buy all of the equipment I need to deliver what you expect. I've had to reduce search functionality as the demands on it increase to I can continue to run it on the same overtired servers it used to work fine on. So I get 2 or 3 fast servers to handle searching including advance searches which place a higher load on them or I cut out advanced search in lieu.
In short I need a lot more income coming in to buy the servers we need. The S2000 is a small market and what makes s2ki so big in relation is the members enthusiasm. Sponsors are only so interested in targeting such a niche market. We have some good supportive sponsors that do well as a result but it's just not as hot a property as you think. The big players are going to advertise on more diverse sites (all cars/all honda) because they get a bigger spread. The sponsors here have specific S2000 related things to sell rather than general automotive wares.
We still need to make up most of the costs of running this site from memberships. The need for capital is so great that I'm soon going to need to trim back what's offered to Guests for free because we simply can't afford it anymore. I'd rather people say "hey I'm going to chip in because I like what you're doing" rather than me strong-arming them into submission by taking away what they used to get for free but hey, such is life. Maintaining this great resource, email account and galleries aside, is a burdon that needs to be shared. The more that carry the load the more we can carry and the less everyone needs to haul by themselves.
Membership funds go towards upkeep, paying the bills and other expenses involved in running a site that is constantly growing. S2KI is a major site and that means we have major expenses. I don't run the site from an old castoff PC in my basement. We have 100 megabits of massively well connected bandwidth, a full rack of space in a modern, state of the art data center and we have over half a dozen high powered servers running it all.
We need to constantly add and upgarde and repair the servers to keep them running and keep up with demand and up till now, uncluding now we do it all through what are essentially donations. I don't have a cash reserve. I can't just throw hardware at the problem. That means what I end up doing is by far the most expensive thing which is to endlessly twiddle with and try to optimaize the software we have to eek out the last bit of speed I can.
Search is the way it is largely because I don't have the money to buy all of the equipment I need to deliver what you expect. I've had to reduce search functionality as the demands on it increase to I can continue to run it on the same overtired servers it used to work fine on. So I get 2 or 3 fast servers to handle searching including advance searches which place a higher load on them or I cut out advanced search in lieu.
In short I need a lot more income coming in to buy the servers we need. The S2000 is a small market and what makes s2ki so big in relation is the members enthusiasm. Sponsors are only so interested in targeting such a niche market. We have some good supportive sponsors that do well as a result but it's just not as hot a property as you think. The big players are going to advertise on more diverse sites (all cars/all honda) because they get a bigger spread. The sponsors here have specific S2000 related things to sell rather than general automotive wares.
We still need to make up most of the costs of running this site from memberships. The need for capital is so great that I'm soon going to need to trim back what's offered to Guests for free because we simply can't afford it anymore. I'd rather people say "hey I'm going to chip in because I like what you're doing" rather than me strong-arming them into submission by taking away what they used to get for free but hey, such is life. Maintaining this great resource, email account and galleries aside, is a burdon that needs to be shared. The more that carry the load the more we can carry and the less everyone needs to haul by themselves.
03-27-2006, 09:15 PM
#23
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Irvine, CA
Posts: 1,155
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by Silver9k,Mar 27 2006, 09:29 PM
at least it is a good reason...and I will be getting my membership within a month, one because I will have the spare change, and two because I truely think this is a really great site.
I guess i misunderstood advanced searches... my reasoning was that since it would be easier to nail the thread you need with advanced options, it would eliminate repetative searching which I thought uses up more bandwidth than advanced options.
anyways.. now that I understand the situation I wont bitch ne more
btw member ship ownz
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post