End of HaloMods?

Grenadiac · Post by **Grenadiac** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:02 am

Hey everybody-

I know it's been a long time since you've heard from ol' grenadiac (I would venture to guess some of you probably don't even know who I am). I started HaloMods about 4 or 5 years ago - just before HaloPC came out and console modding was in its infancy. I've watched the site grow from a personal homepage to the monster forum it is today.

Over the past year or so you haven't heard much from me - my virtual life took a backseat to getting married, selling/buying a new house, and starting a consulting business. Needless to say it left little time to tend to HaloMods. Thankfully, there were a number of very devoted staff to keep things running, and for the most part it has kept the website under control.

One of the reasons HaloMods has lasted so long is that the ads have, for the most part, covered the server expenses. It costs $240 per month to rent the server we currently use, and ads normally cover most of that. At the end of the year I usually break even, but recently something has changed with google's advertising program. The result is that the pay per click has been reduced to about 25% of what it was. You can read about it here:

http://www.websitepublisher.net/blog/20 ... ecpm-drop/

The end result is that I have to come up with about $150 out of pocket every month, which I simply cannot afford. I have to do something, and do it within the next couple of weeks. My choices...

-Shut down the site altogether
-Hand over HaloMods to somebody that can afford the extra expense
-Find a cheaper server or host that has the storage and capacity for the site as it is
-Find a less powerful server and remove the file downloads
-Find a way to increase revenue (pop up ads, a better advertiser, donations)

I hate to close down the site, but I simply cannot afford to shell out $150 a month. Any suggestions or ideas?

Grenadiac

Patrickssj6 · Post by **Patrickssj6** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:06 am

Relocate server and reduce bandwidth by uploading the files on a free secure server like Rapidshare (if anyone has premium...the better) or make a FileFront Halomods account and upload all files categorized there.

We have to avoid private servers that is, because we all know what happens to them after a few months

Ombre · Post by **Ombre** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:13 am

Does Locke still have his web hosting going? If it means saving HaloMods, I'm all for more ads.

SHOUTrvb · Post by **SHOUTrvb** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:15 am

Well if you can't afford it then you can't afford it. I'm sure everyone will understand if you're forced into shutting down. Since Halomods is pretty must all community at the moment, with most of the modding and research happening elsewhere or vicariously through us, we could consider removing large portions of the site and reducing it to a simple home page and forum. Meaning no file uploading whatsoever unless off-site. Another option would be to negotiate with other Halo Modding websites like H2 Vista or Modhalo to see if they would sort of take on Halomods as a sister-site and help keep it breathing. Either way, I'm sure HaloMods will live on through this rough time. Even if it means free-foruming it. Which, unless you have to, I would only recommend being the last option.

Either way, thanks for the update Gren; it's good to see you, even though you come with bad news.

Cheers,
Shout.

Patrickssj6 · Post by **Patrickssj6** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:15 am

How many people have Firefox + AdBlock on?

That's a / the big problem.

DrXThirst · Post by **DrXThirst** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:20 am

First things first, you just can't shut down the site. That just can't happen.
I would say move to a cheaper server and remove downloads. Add some more ads to the site maybe on the sides and below.

Another thing that I would do and I'm sure many, many people would do is subscribe to a Premium service. Do something like what 7s has where theres a normal forum, however you can pay to get premium service. With premium you get a little word under your name saying "Premium Member" or just "Premium", the same way the Staff has "Staff" and Administrators have "Admin". Premium members would also get access to forums that have special content as different styles for the board or we get to preview the new styles before they are released.

There's so many people here that are dedicated to the site and want to keep it up that I'm sure without a doubt you'd be able to pay for a server. Say $20 dollars a person per year or like $5 a month. All Staff and Admins would pay for it and there's 100s - 1000s of normal members like me that would pay for it very willingly. I've been with the site since 2005, which is less than most people, but I've seen it grow from the old blue style up to where it is now.

I'm sure that someone in your position probably wouldn't want to add a service like that just because it wouldn't feel ... "right". However, I really feel that it's something you should do to help you pay for the cost of the server. It's something that has to be done if we want to keep the site up and running.

Although, in the end, it's still your choice. Just whatever makes you feel right. If you decide that you don't want to handle the site anymore, I would say to hand it off to someone that you think could do a good job of running it as well as would want to. I would vote for Iron_Forge, however I don't know his personal life, so I can't make his choices for him.

Whatever you decide to do, know that there'll be many people supporting your choice and understanding if you decide to let it go.

kibito87 · Post by **kibito87** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:36 am

Ironically, I think I found a solution...He should be posting soon.

xbox7887 · Post by **xbox7887** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:41 am

Charge for Prometheus?

Honestly I hate the idea of flooding this site with advertisements (check out hih.org). Instead, I think it would be a much better idea if you begin charging members a few bucks a year for membership. Even with only a thousand active members, that's more than enough to cover site expenses, without the annoyance of adds and such.

Cryticfarm · Post by **Cryticfarm** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:44 am

xbox7887 wrote:Charge for Prometheus?

Honestly I hate the idea of flooding this site with advertisements (check out hih.org). Instead, I think it would be a much better idea if you begin charging members a few bucks a year for membership. Even with only a thousand active members, that's more than enough to cover site expenses, without the annoyance of adds and such.

What about the people like me, that can't pay :9.

Hizlo · Post by **Hizlo** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:47 am

I know this might shock everyone as a surprise lol, but read on...

Kibito had IMed me this morning about this issue Grenadiac. I have no problem speaking with you in private about this matter. I have my own dedicated server so thats not an issue and the financial matter wouldn't be a concern either.

HaloMods has been around for quite some time and I wouldn't want to see it go crashing down like this. Um... again before you make any rash decisions contact me. Don't get all reved up yet, ill speak to Gren about what I can do to help. If I cant then at least the attempt was there.

I know none of you want to see HaloMods die so how would you feel if I were to help out and keep this site alive?

Cryticfarm · Post by **Cryticfarm** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:48 am

Hizlo wrote:I know this might shock everyone as a surprise lol, but read on...

Kibito had IMed me this morning about this issue Grenadiac. I have no problem speaking with you in private about this matter. I have my own dedicated server so thats not an issue and the financial matter wouldn't be a concern either.

HaloMods has been around for quite some time and I wouldn't want to see it go crashing down like this. Um... again before you make any rash decisions contact me. Don't get all reved up yet, ill speak to Gren about what I can do to help. If I cant then at least the attempt was there.

I know none of you want to see HaloMods die so how would you feel if I were to help out and keep this site alive?

You just won a jabillion interweb pointz.

GametagAeonFlux · Post by **GametagAeonFlux** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:11 am

Just out of curiousity, how much bandwidth does the site use per month? There's quite a few sites with very affordable prices that offer large amounts of bandwidth. For instance, Host Monster.

I can't say I've done extensive research on the site's background, but they seem reliable...granted even then I don't know your personal needs to keep the site running and all that, so I don't know if it has everything you need either.

Tural · Post by **Tural** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:27 am

Patrickssj6 wrote:How many people have Firefox + AdBlock on?

The revenue comes from clicks, not views. A user who doesn't click ads is as detrimental as one who doesn't see them.

I say everyone go on a clicking spree. o_o

Patrickssj6 · Post by **Patrickssj6** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:38 am

Tural wrote:
Patrickssj6 wrote:How many people have Firefox + AdBlock on?
The revenue comes from clicks, not views. A user who doesn't click ads is as detrimental as one who doesn't see them.

Thanks I know that myself.

But it's quite obvious that someone who doesn't see them won't probably click them xD

Clicking spree...oh gawd.

Senor_Grunt · Post by **Senor_Grunt** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:44 am

Tural wrote:
Patrickssj6 wrote:How many people have Firefox + AdBlock on?
The revenue comes from clicks, not views. A user who doesn't click ads is as detrimental as one who doesn't see them.

I say everyone go on a clicking spree. o_o

I just clicked 50+ times. F5 + laptop mouse = lotsa clicks.

As Shout said, I think as a last resort, use a freeforum service. But only as a last resort.

Grenadiac · Post by **Grenadiac** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:45 am

Please don't go clicking...I don't want to raise any red flags that could get ad revenue suspended altogether.

The site's monthly bandwidth usage is typically about 150 to 200GB per month. The current system specs:

Intel Xeon 3060 Dual Core Conroe Processor
150GB 10k SATA drive
2GB RAM
2.5TB bandwidth/month

For our current usage, this is complete overkill. We could get another server, but the big requirement is memory...our forum database size is about 870MB(!), so the more memory we have the better the performance. I'm not sure a virtual server on HostMonster would be adequate for what we need.

BTW, I've added a paypal donate button to the front page. If any of you can donate...that would at least get us through the current crunch until I can put together a more permanent solution...like moving to a cheaper server.

Senor_Grunt · Post by **Senor_Grunt** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:46 am

Grenadiac wrote:Please don't go clicking...I don't want to raise any red flags that could get ad revenue suspended altogether.[..]

BTW, I've added a paypal donate button to the front page. If any of you can donate...that would at least get us through the current crunch until I can put together a more permanent solution...like moving to a cheaper server.

I think I'll donate some money.

Anything to help HaloMods.

shade45 · Post by **shade45** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:51 am

Senor_Grunt wrote: I think I'll donate some money. Anything to help HaloMods.

I'll can give some to. I wouldn't wanna see halomods go down

-DeToX- · Post by **-DeToX-** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:11 pm

I would get help from HIZLO if you can... He's an amazing guy...

If not, then just change servers.

Prey · Post by **Prey** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 1:16 pm

CPM?.. Burst!Media, TribalFusion..