Rich... Forum space?

Hey Rich. Maybe I'm too curious for my own good. But how much space does this forum take up?

I'm just curious because the forum is jumpin these days and I was hoping to be able to go back to previous threads for reference when needed. So i guess what I'm asking is when will posts be deleted? When they become too old based on a certain date? year? Or when space is needed? Or when system performance degrades?

-Kev

kevin,
thanks for asking. i was wondering about that too. seems to be quite a large forum here and the options for bringing up past posts is quite extensive. must be quite a large storage capacity....

Well, I can set the forum to expire messages whenever I want them to die. I think I have these all set to expire after 1 year. I can make it longer, if you all think people will bother to go back through more than a year's worth of messages.

I am leasing my own web server now, with an 18 gigabyte hard drive. I only have one other domain to transfer over to it (my SerpenCo.com site - which needs to have a SSL certificate - long story....). I don't think we are in any danger of running out of disk space anytime soon. But the data is all stored in a mySQL database, which may have limits, but darned if I know what they might be!

I took a look at vBulletin's message board (which is using this same message board that is here, of course), and they are showing the following stats:

Members: 15,610, Threads: 43,200, Posts: 260,360

I think we've got a long way to go before we need to worry much about our traffic.

I'm thinking about offering banner ads to anyone whom is interested. Anyone got any gripes about me doing that? I would like this all to pay for itself somewhere down the line. I didn't get that web server for free.........

better than you having to pay for it, rich. i'm real good at ignoring banners i'm not interested in.

Hey Rich,

I understand this is not free. I also understand that it is a service to us which you alone support financially and that it would be better to find a way for it to suppport itself.

But, (there's always a 'but')...

My two cents.

Are you talking about those ads that jump up in one's face everytime one changes a page and then one has to go through clicking a half dozen or so windows before one can read anything? God, I hate those!

I know the internet is becoming more and more commercial every day. It reminds me of when MTV came on for the first time. No Commercials! Now, there is barely any music!

I won't mind if it is tastefully done--whatever THAT means--but I really hope I don't get flooded with pop-up windows.

Unless there is some sort of notice that I need to get everyone's attention with.

If you look at the FaunaClassifieds site, the ads will be similar to what is on there. On the main page of this forum, where I have my own banner, that spot may have other ads running in rotation there.

Nothing extravagant. I hate advertising as much as the next guy, and have certainly stopped frequenting sites where I couldn't find the meat because of all the ads obscuring it.

I'm not expecting to MAKE money off of this, but I would like to have some of the bill I have to pay for all of this not take such a big bite out of my wallet. Heck, I had to PAY for this message board we are all using here. It wasn't a freebie.

I went over to Fauna Classified and looked at the ADs over there. I haven't got a problem with those at all. I would say "Go for it." You're a nice guy and all, but why should you take on the total cost of doing us a favor?

I continue to visit the SerpenCo forum site, from time to time, but rarely post anything. I use to only rarely post anything on this forum, but since you changed the format, I've become an addict to this forum, I think, as much as I have become addicted to cornsnakes. I can't get a free moment from work that I'm not coming back to the computer to see what someone has said.

This is one great forum. I'd hate to see it disappear.

I agree with Gregg. I used to check the older forum once in a while but now I'm on here every day. I really love this site and it is way worth it to have a few ads if it means it is easier for you to keep this here for us.

Thanks so much!

Do what you must with the adds Rich. I rarely even look at the ads anyway. As long as you get done what you need to and the site isnt a burden on you, i say go for it.

I agree with gregg & elaphe. Since this forum has gone up Im visiting kingsnake.com, Fauna and the Serpenco site less and less. This message board is by far the best around.

-Kev

Hey Rich,
In my opinion it makes perfect sense to have banner ads. I assume the ads would be targeted to herp lovers, in which case I would personally be clicking on them. I wouldn't be interested in general interest ads, such as credit card offers, casinos, travel agents, toe fungus cream, etc.