DVDizzy Forum

If you tried accessing the site between 8 PM EST last night and 9 AM this morning, you noticed it went down because we exceeded bandwidth limits for the month. A month that's not quite 2/3rds done. I've paid for additional bandwidth this month, though I fear that it may not cover the rest of the month.

In any event, since the site is likely still growing (even if traffic has been less-than-stellar recently), I anticipate higher and higher bandwidth costs for future months. I'll try to stay on top of it so we don't have downtime again, but of course, your support (clicking ads, using the affiliate links) is most sincerely appreciated.

If the bandwidth keeps increasing and the income doesn't, then unfortunately, I'll have to look into other means of keeping bandwidth down, whether that means decreasing avatar sizes or getting rid of the large cover art...definitely things that I (and maybe you) don't want to happen. Maybe you're ambivalent about certain things - like the Screencap Contest, which surely has put a dent in bandwidth consumption. I don't know how you feel about certain features of the site - let me know.

Your comments, support, and suggestions are welcome.

Glad to see the site back up again.

Luke, you've given us such a great site, I'll do whatever to support it and keep it running - just let me know any way I can help. I already click on the ads quite a bit, so hopefully thats somewhat of a help.

But the avatar's dont seem necessary.

I have also run a message board before and I am not sure it is necessary to keep every message ever posted especially when they have not been posted too in a long time.

To me the best thing on the site is the list of movies whether they are in print, out of print and out of screen. I have been using it for two years to build a collection and yours is far and away the best on the net.

maybe the ads should be more high profile? i didn't even know they existed. i never see them. only after reading this post did i realize that you can order from bestbuy and amazon.com through links from this site.

i wouldn't object to pop-up ads as long as it kept this site running.

I love this website....it has SO much more info then disney.com! First, I would like to know how clicking on links can support the site, since you are not giving money by clicking on a link. Second, I like the ativars! Please don't get rid of them! Third, how can I give support? Like I said before, is money necessary? And lastly, pop ups????? They are SOOO annoying!!!!!! Please don't put millions of little pop-ups on the best website ever!

Mermaid Kelly wrote:I love this website....it has SO much more info then disney.com! First, I would like to know how clicking on links can support the site, since you are not giving money by clicking on a link. Second, I like the ativars! Please don't get rid of them! Third, how can I give support? Like I said before, is money necessary? And lastly, pop ups????? They are SOOO annoying!!!!!! Please don't put millions of little pop-ups on the best website ever!

Actually, some ads DO pay per click. If you see an ad that interests you, you click it and the site gets a certain number of cents.

I'm very opposed to pop-ups, as I said in my main page diatribe, regardless of how much they pay.

Old messages don't really take up too much space, since I have plenty of disk space. It's the bandwidth that is the trouble, and that's affected by however big the pages and pictures you visit are X all the pages and pictures visited. If there are enormous avatars, then every time a thread is loaded, that's going to be more bandwidth than necessary. That said, I'd also rather not make the avatars smaller, and I certainly don't plan on getting rid of them altogether. Another thing to do is simply to compress images more - not to a degree that they're noticeably not as sharp, but just enough to conserve some space. I guess at this point, I'm just thinking out loud, but it's something I can do for avatars and large cover/menu artwork.

The way I figure it, is even if every person who visits the forum were to just find and click ONE ad that interested them every day they visit, I think the effects would be rather significant, enough to offshoot increased bandwidth for some time. Just a thought for those of you who can't (or don't) buy things online from Amazon, etc.

I'm definitely not attached to the avatars...if they need to go then I won't lose any sleep. And to echo the words of JJJ, it might be a good idea to start deleting some of the older threads from April/May that are dead.

I'm not married to the avatars either.
I mean, it is nice to put a "face" to a name, but if it is killing the site, then scrap 'em.
I think deleting the old posts would be a good course of action.
Hell, if it means keeping the site alive, we can go back to condom boards. At least they were cheap and reliable

The bake off is another suggestion.
I mean, I use the affiliate link when I can, but for your international customers, buying local is often the only viable financial option, so there is only so much I can contribute.

How about a kidney on eBay?
Selling your body to the night?
Ooh!
UltimateAdultDisney.com with credit card payments.
But then you'd need MORE photos...and more bandwidth...hmm...

In all seriousness, I think that as nice as the site looks at the front, does the new format take up more or less bandwidth than the old one?

And maybe you should enforce a 'no superfluous posts' policy, whereby people who just post
-
-
-
- "Yes, I agree" etc (just a couple of words)
should not be allowed. Ok, maybe that is extreme, and it is the large bulky posts that you have to worry about.
Just a thought.

Loomis is getting carried away.

Lady wrote:Loomis is getting carried away.

Yes, I agree

Loomis wrote:I'm not married to the avatars either.
I mean, it is nice to put a "face" to a name, but if it is killing the site, then scrap 'em.
I think deleting the old posts would be a good course of action.
Hell, if it means keeping the site alive, we can go back to condom boards. At least they were cheap and reliable

The bake off is another suggestion.
I mean, I use the affiliate link when I can, but for your international customers, buying local is often the only viable financial option, so there is only so much I can contribute.

How about a kidney on eBay?
Selling your body to the night?
Ooh!
UltimateAdultDisney.com with credit card payments.
But then you'd need MORE photos...and more bandwidth...hmm...

In all seriousness, I think that as nice as the site looks at the front, does the new format take up more or less bandwidth than the old one?

And maybe you should enforce a 'no superfluous posts' policy, whereby people who just post
-
-
-
- "Yes, I agree" etc (just a couple of words)
should not be allowed. Ok, maybe that is extreme, and it is the large bulky posts that you have to worry about.
Just a thought.

Loomis you bloody Aussie!

Loomis wrote:And maybe you should enforce a 'no superfluous posts' policy, whereby people who just post
-
-
-
- "Yes, I agree" etc (just a couple of words)
should not be allowed.

In other words, ban IggieKuzco.

Had same problems,but on the day before(9/18).Jack is now King Nerdling.Wow.Was it the Aladdin thing?

G'Day!

BasilOfBakerStreet427 wrote:Had same problems,but on the day before(9/18).Jack is now King Nerdling.Wow.Was it the Aladdin thing?

Jack has had it coming for a long time ....

Essentially, the same message as before. We're burning as much bandwidth as ever, and yet clicks on the ads below are as low as ever. I've got no choice but to consider moving them to more prominent places if the site's revenue doesn't speed up to meet the bandwidth.

Oh, and also I've disabled using avatars hosted on other websites, since that probably allows you to get around the 25 KB maximum. Going to have to enforce that too, and any unnecessary excessive graphic usage. I'm upping my plan to something that will cost about an extra 33% a month for some more bandwidth. Hopefully it will be enough as I really hate the site going down. I'm sure those of you who visit with frequency do, too.

Luke wrote:Essentially, the same message as before. We're burning as much bandwidth as ever, and yet clicks on the ads below are as low as ever. I've got no choice but to consider moving them to more prominent places if the site's revenue doesn't speed up to meet the bandwidth.

Oh, and also I've disabled using avatars hosted on other websites, since that probably allows you to get around the 25 KB maximum. Going to have to enforce that too, and any unnecessary excessive graphic usage. I'm upping my plan to something that will cost about an extra 33% a month for some more bandwidth. Hopefully it will be enough as I really hate the site going down. I'm sure those of you who visit with frequency do, too.

Thanks for the update Luke. For me, the loss of avatars from other sites is no big whoop, and whatever else it takes to keep the bandawidth and a reasonable level I'll be happy to comply.

Just a suggestion: I've been seeing so many posts recently where there will be as much as 20 emoticons, maybe even more. It's clearly overusage, and I think it might help if there was a rule against that.

Avatars like yours were fine, and I've uploaded it to the site so it will show up again. I'll be doing the same for those who have been using off-site avatars, provided they fit the regulations.

Emoticons generally are very small (under 1 KB each, pretty much)...but I'll look out for excesses there too.

Lastly, I'll hold off posting the Freaky Friday disc art and George of the Jungle 2 menus that you're all dying to see!

Im gonna take down my avatar cause I agree that theyre unnecessary in relation to the limited bandwith situation. I always click the links to support this site but what I think would be a smart idea in tackling the running costs, is to maybe request the option of something like a $1 dollar / registered user, donation via a site founded Paypal account. I'm sure the majority of consistent members that post here wouldn't be opposed to something along those lines and it would definitely add up more than any banner clicks! What you could even do, is possibly offer something like advancved membership features to those that contribute, perhaps by disabling the avatars and only allowing access to them via an account upgrade at a minimal cost of say, $1. I'm not sure what the registration numbers are like currently, but even if 100 people were to oblige, that'd be $100 towards the cost of site maintenace. It only seems fair as you are generously providing this public medium for all of us to interact. Otherwise, I'm sure you could think of something creative like hosting a dvd give-away contest, in which only those that contribute to the minimal site upkeep would be admissable in entry. Or maybe something along the lines of a forum raffle in which whomever makes the highest donation, would recieve a befitting reward, relevant to the contribution.

In any event, I'm glad the forums are running again and I'm really appreciative for the channel in which you provide us Luke. This is a great site!

Thanks for the comment. And trust me, your 2 KB avatar isn't going to bring us down on its own.

The suggestion for pay-for-avatars is interesting - I'm thinking more along the lines of private messaging only for contributors, maybe. The PayPal idea is very good, too. I'm going to look into that.

im gonna post links instead of pictures on the battle of the cover art game cuz that probly takes alot of bandwith (i think thats what that means)