The Future of GMIC

[Nick]

As per my announcement some things I am considering:

 

Advertising space 

 

I have previously not been very supportive of advertising for several reasons. I don’t personally like reading pages with lots of adverts on them, and I am also wary of supporting individuals who think that by paying for advertising, they have some influence or control of the content, especially if that content relates to them personally, i.e. businesses. 

However I am considering offering advertising to members. I know quite a few of you have a related business or have written books on subjects which could be advertised on GMIC (as long as it was related to military history or military collectables). 

 

Membership 

 

In the distant past I did play with paid membership and some of the old hands will remember this. I stopped it as it was getting difficult to manage. This again is an option I am considering, especially for new joining members. 

 

Server Options

 

The bulk of the annual running costs (apart from software licensing) is down to hosting. I was with a good hosting solution for many years and they were excellent. This unfortunately was recently bought out by a bigger provider, and although they are still providing a good service, costs have increased. I could downgrade the service, but this will impact on you, the members most. Nothing more frustrating than a slow loading webpage or limiting image size for uploads. I would rather continue with what we have, as it works. But it is costly and having shopped around, I am not going to get anything significantly cheaper at this time, and maintain the current level of service.

 

Merchandise

 

Again something which I played with in the past with varying levels of success. I am again looking at a manufacturing a run of membership pins. Anything else that people might want? Not sure if this really works, but I am willing to explore it further. 

[GdC26]

Nick, 

I, for one, will be happy to pay a reasonable annual membership fee to keep up the site in its current, high quality form.Advertising is not a problem for me, nor is offering merchandise on the site.

 

Have you given any thought to offering paying membership privileges/packages? I would need to think about what that could look like for this site, but I've seen it done in other areas (modeling, for example)? And is there mileage in cooperation with military museums in the UK or continental Europe (sponorship in return for, for example, research capacity)?

 

Sorry if this is all still a bit vague - I'll give it further through and let you know if more concrete ideas pop up.

Kind regards,

Sandro

[drspeck]

I think a combination of these options would regenerate the most stable income, just like a normal business with a range of products and services.

 

I would also be more than happy to chip in money for a paid membership, with or without extra privileges.  

 

Best. Peter

[hucks216]

I'd be happy to pay for membership although it is probably one of those things where for every 10 people who say they will, only 2 actually do so when the time to pay comes. Maybe link the membership to being able to see the images?

Advertising is probably the only other real way to generate enough year on year but as you say, what would they expect in return? Could you not link to Amazon whereby if someone clicks on the Amazon site via the advert on this site and then buys a book then the forum receives a payment? Axis History does such a thing although how good it is (or even if they still do it) I have no idea:

https://www.axishistory.com/books/bookstore

[Gordon Craig]

Nick,

 

First of all, thanks for the time effort and cash that you have already put into the GMIC.  It is a great boon to the militaria collecting world. 

Advertising can work.  It does on the WAF and it is not intrusive there.

I would also be willing to pay membership.  The WAF used to do that and restrict the viewing of the pictures to paid members.  Eventually they stopped that though as probably too labour intensive to keep track of.

I would also support donations but it would probably be the same minority that paid the donations each time they were solicited if that is the route followed.  Wiki often uses banners to ask for donations but I do not know how effective this has been for them.  They occur more often now and I am less likely to give the more often they appear.

Whatever method of financial support you decide to adopt will need to be within bounds for you, or those who volunteer to help you, time wise.  Good luck in keeping the GMIC running as it is.

 

Regards,

 

Gordon 

[Alex K]

I have to be honest, im suprised its taken this long to reach this point, probably due to the commitment of many others as Nick mentioned, i believe  that since the enevitable has now arrived, a financial membership contribution together with some advetising or selective sponsorship as already mentioned is probably the way forward 

[filfoster]

Nick: I will support whatever course you take, as long as the site continues. Most of the members here have all gotten far more from this site than we've contributed. It's a unique and very valuable resource that must go on. Count me 'in' for whatever you decide. Best, Phil

[Ravenft]

I am all for keeping this site running. I have learned so much from it so if any of the above helps I am down for that.

[Nick]

Thanks for the input guys. Its appreciated and lets me gauge what you, the members think. Advertising is certainly a feasible option and one I am exploring.

 

 

[03fahnen]

First of all, thank you very much for the effort made, so that we could enjoy this forum.

In this forum I have learned many things and I have enjoyed with fellow hobbyists.

You can count on me

[Megan]

What are your hosting requirements? If you are prepared to look at, for example, India, some very good deals can be had. I have a contact over there who is in the process of setting up hosting for a venture that is, as it happens, medals-related, and could find out more if you wish.

 

Amazone reseller links are possible, but do not give very large returns. I use them on one of my sites but it makes a very small contribution.

 

One thing that can work is to allow advertising and allow those who subscribe to view the site ad-free.

 

I cannot support the idea of only letting those who pay see the images for ethical reasons, alas. I really don't want to have to delete all my posts!

[Nick]

Quote

I cannot support the idea of only letting those who pay see the images for ethical reasons, alas. I really don't want to have to delete all my posts!

 

Why would I do that ? It would rather defeat the purpose of me funding this website for the last 18 years.  I am really not out to make money, just want to cover costs. But of course if I can recover some costs, that would obviously be an unintentional bonus.

 

I have looked at Amazon links really not enough in it to make it worthwhile.

 

Still exploring the hosting, but I do like the suggestion of ad free for subscribers thanks,

 

Will be posting some further questions/ polls to try and get a feel for what members want over the next few days.

[dpk]

I would certainly pay a reasonable subscription (different in the eyes of each beholder, of course!). Also is it possible to open up a swap/buy/sell topic for members (or subscribed members if it falls that way) where each advertiser pays a small fee for each advert/wanted etc posting they make. Hard to say but perhaps £1 for each advert, after all even ebay takes small fee from each sale on their site.

This is a valuble site and the many people who use it would I am sure support subsidising the not inconsiderable cost of having it.

[2dresq]

I appreciate your candor in coming and addressing the members here about the realities of the costs to operate.  Whatever you decide, that will be fine.  Thank you again for your incredible hard work in this forum. 

 

Best Regards,

JustinG

[1812 Overture]

Thank you for everyone's contributions and contributions to the construction of the forum!
I personally suggest that you can design some medals with website letters, which are awarded to members who have made special contributions to the forum or who have a long registration time. Of course, these must be purchased at their own expense, just like those designed by the Veterans Association in Weimar Germany. Like medals, you need to buy them yourself (I recommend entrusting them to be made in China, which will be cheaper). At the same time, set up a fundraising booth at some military, coin, and medal exhibitions, which can attract new members to join, and can also raise some extra. income

[oamotme]

Nick,

A note to thanks & appreciation for what  you do. Whilst I am a loyal member of both OMRS & OMSA, GMIC is my 'go to site' especially for non-UK awards. The membership has a wealth of expertise which they are most generous in sharing with others. Thank you. I am happy to support what ever practical decisions you take.

Owain

[Bill Brouillard Jr.]

Nick - As a newer member I appreciate everything you have done for this forum and I think that advertising maybe a good thing and perhaps renew   Interest in the forum for some long time members that have not posted in awhile 

 

Bill

[Michael Johnson]

I know the British Medal Forum has a fundraising blitz each year, which seldom takes long to reach its goal.  Of course it would remain to be seen how many new contributors would step in.

 

Michael

[Nick]

Keep the ideas coming. Many thanks.

[Kallarati Heroik]

I think those members that use the forum for selling, should pay fees, like i do on ebay, paypal and payoneer. Also new members should pay membership. I dont know how members are in web total, but if each member give 1$ every year, i think you can manage the site.

Regards, Endri.

[new world]

I second the notion about sellers paying some sort of a nominal fee, say 1%, which is way lower than fees on eBay and other platforms.

As for other proposals - IMHO all should be implemented, hopefully together they will generate enough proceeds to cover the costs. 

 

[Ian]

Nick,

 

I echo the  thoughts of the others and I to have no problem paying a membership fee.  The work you have undertaken on this site is fantastic. 

 

 

[tifes]

Hi everyone,

 

I do not know how many members GMIC has but probably we are talking about thousands. I would suggest a small fee. Price for a beer (or café latte with soy milk for non-alcoholic drinkers:) dedicated to this great e-forum once a year wouldn't kill anyone. And If it does...bad luck then go to educate yourself somewhere else.   

 

Regards,

 

Tom

Edited July 24 by tifes
typo

[The Prussian]

Hello!
I personally think that the members who are regularly active here in the forum could make a small annual contribution. I think 10 quid per year is not too much. Furthermore, you could charge a small admission fee of 5 £ once for new people.

Edited July 25 by The Prussian

[Matthew Macleod]

Am I the only one with this problem?