Ads, OGS, and you

Hmm, that is very interesting, If you don’t mind, I’d like to follow up on PM to maybe help figure out what’s we’re doing differently such that it doesn’t work for you

1 Like

Disabling analysis mode for non-supporters really goes a bit too far — while replaying the game by hand (iirc, disabling analysis mode also disables sgf download) into another program is always possible, it would really skew the correspondence games and hence, ratings. Zen mode and others features could be supporter-only though.

5 Likes

Very well played. Maybe you could simply advertise being a site supporter to non-subs on the homepage. Something like this;

Become a site-supporter and look young again!

9 Likes

Having been influenced by my own advertising campaign, I just signed up to become a site-supporter.

May OGS be ad-free for everybody!

8 Likes

You’re amazing. I 've been site supporter for the past three years and these kind of things make me feel I’ll continue to be for a very long time, :slight_smile:

5 Likes

I think Farraway has the right idea. The button to become a supporter is buried at the bottom of the side menu. Maybe a big ad isn’t what you want, but certainly presenting it more clearly and obviously for people who might not even know that it’s an option.

8 Likes

In my opinion, seeing as OGS is an open community, I think that letting non- supporters and new members get less of the base characteristics of the site may not be good. Seeing as most supporters do it because they want and not only for getting the ads off (I have been playing for a while and have never encountered them as a disastrous thing).

Maybe the reviews and lessons are a good idea, but a lot of high level players already do that for free on their youtube channels or twitch.

Maybe it is the path to follow, but it would probably be more interesting to add capabilities for supporters than to sustract them for the rest.

5 Likes

Thanks for thinking about one-time payments, too!

I already would’ve donated for a long time, but i don’t own any credit card and Paypal also refuses to let me do subscription-models without a registered credit card.

Hope it’ll all work out financially, please let us know whether we can help as a community with servers, coding, beer or anything like that!

5 Likes

Merchandise would be awesome even if it was just basic stuff like tshirts, stickers, etc.

9 Likes

I’d wear an OGS shirt at work… I need hoodies too.

6 Likes

I also need a hoody.

4 Likes

How much do you guys need to raise? A few big donors might also be able to cover your expenses, so putting the number out there ($10K?) might make someone willing to throw in some big money.

I’ll up my monthly support as well.

Also: Sell books!

7 Likes

Merchandising is something that I’d actually really love to do but with it comes some administrative overhead. We could partner with someone instead of buying bulk items but then the margins make it aweful (like earning $1 on a $15 shirt aweful).

I do still think we’ll do this someday. I have a whole crapton of stickers that we gave out at USGC last year so I’d like to expand that and have shipping and ordering, we just need a bit more time to get there.

7 Likes

Seeing both the site and the spirit that fuels it, I would be willing to participate in a fundraiser to let you cash some capital in

3 Likes

Became a site supporter today but I wish that you also sold merchandise. This would give me an excuse to give you much more money! :smiley:

I totally support this idea. For the past few years I’ve been aggressively collecting T-shirt and trinkets from go clubs I’ve been to, and I’d love to add (some) new OGS T-shirt to my collection :smiley:

3 Likes

fwiw I’d also be more inclined to become a site supporter if paypal was an option for recurring charges.

2 Likes

10 a monthis almost a server a year, i think.But it mostly depends on ogs’s traffic

1 Like

done.
keep up the good work :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Hi there,
Could you tell us how much money you need?
And how many people is 2,5% of non-site supporters?
It would be nice to have a regular update, "we’ve got x site supporters giving y $/€ and still need z $/€"
Just my 2 cents :wink:

8 Likes

I would like to propose thinking about more additional perks for site supporters (or, alternatively, less features for non-supporters). This might help in reaching the necessary number of paying players.

You might have a giant list of to-do features, but here are some of my random ideas:

Disable Zen mode or analysis mode for non-supporters
Blog articles or video lessons for members
Automatic game reviews for beginners (like, alternative “best moves” for each move by some bot? GnuGo’s --review option comes to my mind)

(From Another User.)

Now from this, I have to agree on most of it.
If we look at chess sites with supporters, you take a little away.

I would pay for something like this:
You take a game and a strong engine, (like Leela, or the paid deepzen or whatever) and allow it to judge every move in the game, based on win rates or a 1/10 scale. Now, you can make the whole analysis paid for (If you REALLY need money)
Or you can have something like:

-Quick (just quickly looking at anything 3 or lower, and giving 1-2 variations)
-In depth (Looking at anything ranked lower than 7, and giving 4-5 variations.)
-Extreme Analysis (going through EVERY move, and giving around 5+ variations)

-Removing Analysis

I really like the thing with the articles, maybe also having some high dans on the site review some games they have played every once in awhile. Hell, maybe you could do an event, where you play high people if you donate. Just my thoughts on another user’s post.

1 Like