07-11-2001 06:05									#1
	Growing Pains Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

This website is now at the same phase that Dell Computer was once at: It's Growing Pains--the phase when the organizatiom starts to grow so fast that it literally can't keep up with the technology and money it needs to operate efficiently. If my calculations are correct at the rate this site growing right now it will grow from tens of thousands of users today to millions of users over the next few years. And because of this rapid growth, soon and very soon something quite drastic will have to be done to make sure that this website doesn't come crashing down on us in the near future.

So, how should this organization make sure that 'doomsday' never comes? How does it keep from making the same mistakes that Dell Computer made and not end up struggling to survive? Simple.

Look to the future. Far into the future! Squeeze every last dime that this organization can out of it's bank account and buy a server that is so powerful it may be an enterprise server by today's standards, but it will serve the enterprise traffic that this website will get over the course of the next few years.

And be prepared to prevent more growing pains. Endorse a financial plan that will allow this organization to add on more departmental level servers over time and replace obsolete servers that will soon no longer be able to handle those growing traffic levels. And as far as banner ads are concerned--. Let's get real! Over 99% of all people who surf the web never click on banner ads. And if that's the plan for the future of this web site, well, you better give it up cause sad to say it won't work forever ya'll. This site needs future plans that are more realistic. Charge a service fee for use of these forums and possibly other areas of the site. Make an exclusive content area--say a club for paying members. But no need to set the price tag too high--that will make people run away. A few dollars a month should do the trick. I wouldn't mind paying 3, 4, or 5 dollars for access to the forums and the exclusive content it offers(if it's good content that is) and I'm sure thousands and millions of others wouldn't mind either, especially if ensures that Apolyton will never ever see 'doomsday.'

But please never ever ever ever EVER go too far with anything. Never try and buy a server that is so expensive and so costly to maintain that inevitibaly weighs down this organization so that it never sees it's 'glory days.' I'm sorry to say, but in the words of Michael Dell, "you just can't build a $2 billion dollar infrastructure with $500 million in revenue." Doing such a thing spells DEATH for any organization that tries to be too aggressive.

Amen to that!

	07-11-2001 06:27									#2
	Put an end to popups!

I think many people would leave in disgust if there was a fee for using the forums.

	07-11-2001 07:11									#3
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

quote: Charge a service fee for use of these forums and possibly other areas of the site. Make an exclusive content area--say a club for paying members. But no need to set the price tag too high--that will make people run away. A few dollars a month should do the trick. I wouldn't mind paying 3, 4, or 5 dollars for access to the forums and the exclusive content it offers(if it's good content that is) and I'm sure thousands and millions of others wouldn't mind either, especially if ensures that Apolyton will never ever see 'doomsday.'

you'd completely eliminate the chance of getting new users and really piss off the few existing, established ones that don't leave. there are other forums out there that are competing with poly that are totally free and easy to use...demanding money from posters would knock this place off very quickly.

donations are a different story...

	07-11-2001 07:42									#4
	Put an end to popups!

Service fee is stupid- Apolyton has several competitors
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CGN
CivFanatics
FreeFireZone
several ezboard sites, etc.

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Apolyton does not depend on banner ad revenue- in fact Mark and Dan seem to be begging people to buy banners- the only revenue they get is if someone buys something- thus the Apolyton Store.

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In additon, Gamestats seems to pay for some of the bandwith costs.

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	07-11-2001 08:15									#5
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

and what if traffic dies down in a few months? what if traffic doesn't keep rising at its current rate because maybe civ games will be no more after this one or the next one will be a ways away?

	08-11-2001 03:51									#6
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

When the server problems become to much for some people the levels will fall until the problem dissipates. A happy equilibrium will be restored.

Although a gradual increase in capacity would be beneficial, as would a way to increase revenue. Maybe a few faux links are in order. "Post reply" could be an "ad banner" in disguise for particular users , such as spammers. That way Poly gets the ad money and the spammers think twice before deciding to click "post reply" again.