So all r3v's porn is gone...

[Eecen]

I mean its not really that the titties are gone. its more the principle behind it that bugs me a bit.

Exactly.



Trying to appeal to everyone is a bad way to approach things. It just results in a mediocre product, or experience..whatever. Its a slippery slope right...whats next?


edit; i also agree with everything nmlss2006 has posted.

[delatlanta1281]

OH MY FUCKING GOD SHUT UP ALREADY YOU TWO. Go start you own websites. I will be there to look at porn on them.

Exactly.
Trying to appeal to everyone is a bad way to approach things. It just results in a mediocre product, or experience..whatever. Its a slippery slope right...whats next?

Wouldn't leaving the porn up constitute appealing to the masses in this case?
Andf you are right, starbucks and dunkin donuts have totally gone down hill.

[jasonsnoddy]

Shit ill bet there's a good amount of people who could spare a couple bucks a month to replace the revenue lost by any businesses who are to waffleswaffleswaffleswaffleswaffles to advertise on a site that has tits on it.

Really, the admin doesn't have "dollar signs in his eyes" yet he is listening to the people with the money when it comes to running this site.

I remember when practically every other thread had blunt reaming someones noob ass, and that hasn't seemed to affect his business.

Its the principle of the thing. There are far better solutions to the problem, this is just the easiest, and coincidentally, most profitable answer.

[Eecen]

Wouldn't leaving the porn up constitute appealing to the masses in this case?

I wouldn't say so.

Due to several complaints in regards threads on R3V (those containing pornographic materials) we have decided to modify the rules to cater toward users who have been hesitant to join R3V due to NWS related materials. Advertisers as well have been contacting me and have started to pull accounts (as we have 2 banner ad sections, top and bottom you can see my concern over this)

That is catering to everyone.

Andf you are right, starbucks and dunkin donuts have totally gone down hill.

Starbucks is overpriced, snobby douche, hipster crap (my opinion), and I don't think I've ever been to a dunkin so no comment there.

[slammin.e28]

R3v has inspired me to make a lifestyle change. I am hereby abstaining from porn.

[James Crivellone]

I appreciate everyone being very honest in this thread.

When it comes to money the thing to keep in mind is I always want to improve this place, improve this community, and continue to keep the site going.

For the past ~6 years 90% of the costs of the site have come out of my pocket. Server upgrades, bandwidth, software licensing, etc have fallen under that financial cap. While we do have advertisers at the top right we don't charge them a ton of money to advertise. My thought is they are trusted companies that I would personally do business with, therefor I'd like to pass them along to the community.

During the start of this R3V was financially supported by MR325, Josh, and myself. Due to financial burden they had to step back from the financial responsibility of the site and leave it to me. Every server upgrade, license cost, etc has come from me.

Recently I added a banner to the bottom of the site provided by AdSense (Google), the point of this was to provide additional revenue streams to further improve the site and add more back to the community.

Google brings in ~$1000 gross per month. Base site costs are $200 a month to just keep the site going.

Each year the R3VLimited party costs me around $2500 - $3000 in total cost to put on. This goes toward kegs, food, plates, snacks, propane, everything needed to put on the party.

This year R3V paid Andrew over $700 to make shirts to give away to all R3VLimited Party attendees, plus whatever we had left over would be given away at the picnic.

Last year I spent around $3000 on server equipment, licenses, and other improvements to keep us going.

When you add all of this together it goes like this.

$2400 a year to run R3V as a base
$300 a year for software licenses to VBulletin, MozyPro, etc
$3700 a year for the party
$3000 a year for server upgrades, improvements, and whatever new hardware I want to buy to toss toward the site.

Google at the time was pulling in around $750 a month after taxes, other ads combined for the year pulled in around $100.

$850 a month in revenue = $10,200 and $9,400 in yearly expenses.

Some of you can imagine that this will hurt R3V, and hurt the image of the site, but let me tell you one thing.

A) I love this place, I love this community, and my goal is never to take anything away from it
B) I know my financial limits to support this site, and to allow pornography to remove over $10,000 in yearly revenue is something I cannot financially sustain anymore
C) Language, our typical harsh rough self is still something that can remain, nobody is stopping that.
D) R3V is not going anyway. If the advertisers come back and tell me the F-off then I will suck it up and deal with it. The party may become smaller, and other things may take a slight delay/slide.

For those of you who thing I am turning into E30Tech when it comes to advertising, think about this.

At our current trend before Google removed our advertising account (which I am trying to resolve with them) my yearly Profit in pocket was $800 dollars (all of these are rough estimates remember)

That is $800 dollars a year that i pay myself to run this place.

Also remember we don't charge for any additional features like e30tech, no premium member stuff, no banner ads cluttered all over the site, etc.

I don't post here a ton, but when I do, please try and see things from my eyes.

Thank you,

--James

[bmwm42]

R3v and porn= forever alone

[MR E30 325is]

Just like at the end of American History X, Use what someone else said, because they said it the best.

"Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime." ~Potter Stewart

I see shit like this popping up everywhere. We let someone take an inch, and eventually with enough time, they will take a mile.

To the Mods; I am just another r3ver posting in a long line of disgruntled posters. I will still be here because this forum still has lots of things I like. The only difference is I wont know what 88% of the others will be jerking off to on any particular night.

[pureaudio]

I could honestly give a shit about the porn threads but I do like the general attitude of the forum. That is why I am always on here even though I am much more into 2002's and my only e30 sits on non-op, untouched for the most part.

While I completely agree with why the threads were removed and the new policy, I really hope there aren't future changes that could possibly affect why this forum is so great.

Also, if there was an avenue for donations, I would certainly participate. Even though I don't post a ton, I am an avid thread cruiser.

[Be30mer]

for everyone that wants to continue the NWS thread. Move it to m3bc.net ;)

[IminDiegoTriick]

Well said James!


on a side note who needs pictures.. when there is videos lol just sayin

[jasonsnoddy]

This is why I enjoy visiting this site, its so much more real then most forums. I appreciate that explanation, that's way more then we are entitled to know.

I just can't help but think of google as a big business intruder. Kind of opposite of what r3v stands for. Overly idealistic of me, probably.

But the money issue is there.

1000/5=200.

If 200 members donated 5 bucks a month, same as one gallon of gas, we could tell google to fuck off and we all keep our site how we like it.

Id be down. But that's just my two cents. Obviously it would need to be a community effort. But if r3v isn't worth five bucks a month to the people here, then google is definitely the best solution.

[Schnitzer318is]

Meh, it's porn. I will miss it... but oh well.

Yes he is pandering to the advertisers... I would be too for $10,000/yr and I sure as hell wouldn't have an operating cost of $9400/yr either. This site is definitely not about the money for him based on his explanation of costs and motivations. I'm impartial here as I don't know James from Adam... but it sounds like he keeps this place running almost out of the goodness of his heart.

Leave the man alone and go about your business so he can too.

PS: For those of you checking r3v at work and complaining about random nws... you're not working hard enough.

[Holland]

This is why I enjoy visiting this site, its so much more real then most forums. I appreciate that explanation, that's way more then we are entitled to know.

I just can't help but think of google as a big business intruder. Kind of opposite of what r3v stands for. Overly idealistic of me, probably.

But the money issue is there.

1000/5=200.

If 200 members donated 5 bucks a month, same as one gallon of gas, we could tell google to fuck off and we all keep our site how we like it.

Id be down. But that's just my two cents. Obviously it would need to be a community effort. But if r3v isn't worth five bucks a month to the people here, then google is definitely the best solution.

Again, here would be a commitment to donate, like a premium membership. Then when those members fall out of commitment, the issue rises once again. Then there would be the other issue of becoming like the tech, with paid memberships.

I understand the measures taken and the reasoning, even if it weren't for money it's the principle. I will say this however, I enjoy the OT, because I can then share other interest I have with a mutual community and the general entertainment. E30tech gets so boring because it lacks that due to rules. The NWS thread was an aspect of that (not to mention lot's of contributions that I would have not discovered otherwise).

I completely understand the bandwidth issues with a thread of that caliber, and not wanting to waste it with just porn, but I think that we as members could find an alternative solution, even if it wasn't just on this site. Or quite possibly a whole other section, strictly devoted to NWS OT that is blocked for members only? Just trying to throw ideas out there.

[Gooch]

Honestly, James, you don't have to defend yourself. The porn had to go, it's as simple as that.

It's not censorship, it's a car forum...there shouldn't be any porn here to begin with.