The site

[AndyT]

... LOL :smile: .. More like £100K per decade! :sad:

 

[Cricko]

Blimey, who's on £100K a year on here! :omg:

God, that will hardly feed the gardeners by the lake.

 

[GROWLER]

My £25 from Barling Magna in the West of Ireland is winging its way to you .

A small price to pay for access to this irreverent madhouse .

 

[manor15]

God, that will hardly feed the gardeners by the lake.

Phil Brown is available on the cheap.

Will get to work and see if there's anyone we can get in as a sponsor, as you say John adding ads or a pay wall is a last resort but better than no longer having the Zone.

 

[Rob1920]

£25 pa sounds bloody reasonable to me, I'm in.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

£25 pa sounds bloody reasonable to me, I'm in.

would that be less than 50pence per week? bargain.

 

[The Big Dady]

Perhaps the players could have a whip round, or organise a sponsored karaoke night as I know they all like a sing song, or they could also pay to have any negative or derogatory posts deleted from ShrimpersZone? :winking:

The Spread, Blue Boar, The Railway, and The Fish House might be interested in sponsoring the zone, they could charge a £1 to get out, or an extra 0.10p a pint or a bag of chips. :winking:

You could ask the Shrimpers Trust to contribute and if the refuse, charge them per visit they get in their section, I am sure OBL would not mind raising this for you at the next Trust meeting. :winking:

You could write to all the companies that currently advertise around the ground and in the programme, you never know, there maybe company directors or MD's that would like to put their company name in front of this sites sophisticated, knowledgeable, and loyal members. :winking:

You could introduce a sliding scale membership scheme, say Owners @ £100, Super Moderators and Moderators @ £50 with their own special forum (I know they have their own hidden one already), VIP members @ £25 who have access to all forums and can not be banned except in exceptional circumstances, Blue members @ £10 who have limited access and can be banned at the request of a VIP, and finally Guests who can view and have moderated posts until they upgrade. :winking:

Or you could just keep the vBulletin Version 4.2.5 why do we have to leave, is it not being updated?

Failing all that £25 sounds reasonable, are you proposing discounts for youngsters, OAP's and anyone on benefits. :winking:

 

[united we stand]

Perhaps the players could have a whip round, or organise a sponsored karaoke night as I know they all like a sing song, or they could also pay to have any negative or derogatory posts deleted from ShrimpersZone? :winking:

The Spread, Blue Boar, The Railway, and The Fish House might be interested in sponsoring the zone, they could charge a £1 to get out, or an extra 0.10p a pint or a bag of chips. :winking:

You could ask the Shrimpers Trust to contribute and if the refuse, charge them per visit they get in their section, I am sure OBL would not mind raising this for you at the next Trust meeting. :winking:

You could write to all the companies that currently advertise around the ground and in the programme, you never know, there maybe company directors or MD's that would like to put their company name in front of this sites sophisticated, knowledgeable, and loyal members. :winking:

You could introduce a sliding scale membership scheme, say Owners @ £100, Super Moderators and Moderators @ £50 with their own special forum (I know they have their own hidden one already), VIP members @ £25 who have access to all forums and can not be banned except in exceptional circumstances, Blue members @ £10 who have limited access and can be banned at the request of a VIP, and finally Guests who can view and have moderated posts until they upgrade. :winking:

Or you could just keep the vBulletin Version 4.2.5 why do we have to leave, is it not being updated?

Failing all that £25 sounds reasonable, are you proposing discounts for youngsters, OAP's and anyone on benefits. :winking:

i very much like the idea of approaching the sponsors that sponsor the club. That sounds like a good idea- and of course we already have trade price cars.

 

[united we stand]

I don’t know what the “right “ answer is. A paywall will stop people coming on here, especially those from other clubs who can sometimes gave interesting comments. If we did go this route could the fee come in after - set number of posts ? Eg up to 100 posts no fee.

i would be happy to pay an inflated fee for a mug - say £30, so you effectively get your £25.00 . But not everyone will want to/ be able to do this. I can’t see how just selling mugs would raise the money (unless you can get them for free), and even then it’s a lot of mugs to sell ( I would like one :smile:) I can also see some people who donate today stopping their donations as they “ bought a mug”

righty or wrongly I do think some people would donate more/ donate for the first time if they understood the consequences of not doing so

Looks like a rock and a hard place

 

[fbm]

Ok, here's my two cents.

This is, in my opinion (probably because I'm biased) THE best fans forum outside the Prem and probably better than most inside.

It was back in 2007 I think that in a casual conversation with the owners back then that, as a small local businessman who was a huge blues fan, I was devastated that the zone could close as it was expensive to run. I therefore agreed to sponsor it through my firm which, by the way, I knew was not for real business purposes; I saw it as putting something back into the community. It was my go to place for all SUFC news and rumours and no way would I want it to die.

After the sale of my business in 2015, my now employers, BTMK solicitors have taken up the main sponsorship mantle.

But in order for it to remain as good a site as it is, it MUST remain free of charge for users. Otherwise I think it will soon become sterile and the numbers will simply fade away until all that is left is a few stalwarts who all know each others opinions.

It won't work, I really don't think a pay site for people is an option.

But there must be more people like me out there who would pay an amount to keep this site available. I am therefore calling on just 3 other posters - just 3 - to pledge £250. I don't want anything in return, just the ability to log on and see all about my beloved SUFC.

There's my pledge for when needed - I can't promise it will be ok every year but for now it's fine. John and Ken - let me know when you need my lump.

Come on zoners... just 3 more people like minded like me. If there are more than 3, then either reduce the amount or bank it for next year.

Possibly have a Zone fund raiser, like a quiz night or something similar?

Just a thought.

Come on Zoners... do your stuff.

Oh, and I am not on anywhere near £100k per year by the way, just saying like.

 

[rigsby]

There must be some young, hungry websites out there who could be developed and sold on.

 

[Lord Football]

I don't think asking a membership fee is the way to go. £25 for a youngster is a big ask, or for those out of work who can't afford to go to games etc etc.

How about a fundraiser? The ShrimperZone Annual Quiz. I did one for a local football team a couple of years back and we pulled in £700. We have a much larger potential customer base, and if we could find a free venue (which I am sure we could) it'd just be a case of putting something on and possibly begging some prizes from SUFC.

 

[WestStandBlue]

I think you should do a fundraising night, you could easily raise £500 on a quiz night. To be honest not sure why you have not done one before rather than begging for money. Like the idea of an annual quiz. Members often talk about meeting up, it would create an excuse to do so.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

I'm sure a collection in 'The Spread Eagle' pre game, on our next two, or Gillingham over Easter would raise at least £200.

 

[RobM]

BlueBelles could do a collection.

 

[Stuart W]

So this is it how it is people.. We have just upgraded to our last Vb4 security and the add on Modifications we use to enhance the site are no longer supported.

In the short term it is not a problem for us, in the long term it is....It will be a year maybe before we have to actually leave Vb, which has been our soul on these forums for many years.

I am not stepping ahead of myself by saying the transition to a new site will be a pain..IT WILL.

But we have to look forward to short term pains and long term gains.

However, aside to the normal help we get from you all and the Sponsors..this isn't going to come cheap.It will be a major costly commitment.

It is a way off yet, but we as owners would be lacking if we did not try see the future of this site and keep it for you all.

Ok in to facts now:

There are a few easy ways to solve this as I see it.

1: Somebody find us a new sponsor with about a grand in his pocket. (We do need a new sponsor BTW since Outstanding left us) So find us one!!

2: We make this site a pay site so it costs you all say £25 a year to join...........There is noway we want to go that road.

3: We as the Owners and Mods try to raise more.... so how about a new SZ coffee mug...with SCP as a picture on the front with the words (Wiggle it a Little bit) and our Zone details on the front.

4: Let all hell rain with adverts everywhere...............well that's not going to happen is it people.that is not our way.

Over to you lot x

Apologies if this is a dumb question, you say in option 1 that you need a sponsor stumping up £1000; yet in option 2 you suggest forum users pay £25 per annum. That assumes you only have 40 forum users? I just checked and currently 85 people are viewing. I would guess (although you would probably have the exact number), that north of 250 people use this forum.

If that is correct, then surely no one would have an issue with a £5 annual subscription? Even £10 would not be unreasonable (the price of a couple of pints).

 

[manor15]

Apologies if this is a dumb question, you say in option 1 that you need a sponsor stumping up £1000; yet in option 2 you suggest forum users pay £25 per annum. That assumes you only have 40 forum users? I just checked and currently 85 people are viewing. I would guess (although you would probably have the exact number), that north of 250 people use this forum.

If that is correct, then surely no one would have an issue with a £5 annual subscription? Even £10 would not be unreasonable (the price of a couple of pints).

That's why the owners have always tried to encourage donations rather than force anyone to pay. As you say, if the current 85 people viewing on a Monday night donated even just £5 each then we'd be almost halfway to a sponsor.

 

[Tinks]

Can we not have some fund raising events?
I am pretty sure most people would support if asked.
I would be more than happy to help where I can

 

[dannypav]

I’m happy to pay £25 per annum for this excellent forum , but sadly I agree it will deter many so I think fund raising of various types is the way to go.
Just ask for volunteers to run the most viable ones and hopefully it will get more than your initial needs.
I’m happy to perform puppetry of the penis if that helps?
But as my wife pointed out , I would only have a ‘small part’ in that ......

 

[davewebbsbrain]

I'd love an SZ mug. It can go with my SZ polo shirt