News Monthly Donations

[welian]

Hey kids! Wanna see something cool?

In an effort to make his dark majicks a bit more transparent to us lowly and groveling peasants, Dwiz (with the help of the other Staff too, of course) has put together a special page outlining the monthly costs of keeping this website running. It's also full of other delicious trivia, like our server specs and the other domains that we own. Check it out!


RpN Costs

 

[Carl]

So besides the dedicated server from WebNX, the main bulk of expenses comes from emails going to and from members of this site?


With 22,549 members... I honestly don't see the need to pay for 700,000 emails on a monthly basis if the cost of doing so is that steep.


I assume there are tons of emails going back and forth due to 'post/thread alerts' and similar feats? You could, for example, make it so that only registration and crucial changes about the site gets sent through email? It would boost activity and SEO since users would log in the site to check on their threads, posts, updates, etc... While maintaining decent communication with the community through the important events-emails.


Additionally, I find it odd that even though this RP-site/forum isn't the largest or most active on the net, it is one of the most requesting ones in terms of donations and 'transparancy' of it. (With alerts, donation meter, medals, implementing random things, etc.)


I hope this suggestion is of any help.

 

[welian]

Additionally, I find it odd that even though this RP-site/forum isn't the largest or most active on the net, it is one of the most requesting ones in terms of donations and 'transparancy' of it. (With alerts, donation meter, medals, implementing random things, etc.)

Unfortunately, there are bad eggs in this world. Many staff members and users alike have sad tales of knowing site owners who request donations, and then spend it on personal items instead of putting that sum into the site. We don't ever want RP Nation users to doubt our dedication to the site - and personally, I like to think of the new Costs page as an educational tool. It's easy to underestimate how much time and money goes into a privately-hosted site that revolves around user-generated content.


As far the email service goes - if you're interested in taking an active role in helping out RPN, perhaps you could so some research and put some quoted rates together for the owner and server admin to look at.

 

[The Dark Wizard]

the main bulk of expenses comes from emails going to and from members of this site?

Just from the site, things like registration emails, alerts that someone replied to your conversation/threads/posts and all that good stuff.

With 22,549 members... I honestly don't see the need to pay for 700,000 emails on a monthly basis if the cost of doing so is that steep.

But we do. You see once a upon a time we had a terrible thing called Tapatalk and in all its infinite suck, it did provide one thing called Push Notifications and when that worked, it meant less emails that were going out. Once we get the RpN app rolling again, that cost should just mostly vanish.

I assume there are tons of emails going back and forth due to 'post/thread alerts' and similar feats? You could, for example, make it so that only registration and crucial changes about the site gets sent through email? It would boost activity and SEO since users would log in the site to check on their threads, posts, updates, etc... While maintaining decent communication with the community through the important events-emails.

There is no way the thousands of people that visit the site on a daily basis would tolerate the fact that they wouldn't be able to set what kind of emails they get for their content, its how almost everyone keeps up with the site. It was hard enough when Tapatalk was removed.

It would boost activity and SEO

No it wouldn't, but I also have no time/interest in educating anyone in the intricacies of SEO and ranking on google (We are already number 1 for many roleplay related searches on google).

Additionally, I find it odd that even though this RP-site/forum isn't the largest or most active on the net

Yes we are. We are one of the largest most active. 22,549 seems tiny to you but we regularly purge spam bots and zero post accounts from the system unlike other sites who claim to have Hundreds of Thousands of users. In our case its more important to see how many people are online and every night we range from 800 to 1100 while at their peak two of the most popular sites Iwaku and Guild respectively get about 220.

requesting ones in terms of donations and 'transparancy' of it.

Not really go look at other sites, its not any different then the total amount we used to ask yearly for. Transparency is great because it lets users know that we aren't taking their money to go off to Vegas (another site actually did that). I wouldn't donate to anyone if I didn't know where my money was going, so how could we expect other users to do it.

With alerts, donation meter, medals, implementing random things, etc.

Alerts have been cut. Donation meter helps. Medals at least give a tiny reward for people's hard earned cash with out putting a paywall on the site. Not sure what random things you are talking about though.


All in all sure with out much research it looks like the site costs a lot but in the grand scheme of things compared to other sites, it is not much. We are always striving for deals, lowering costs, etc. We've been actively tackling the email cost and more. The high quality and experiance everyone has come to expect from us has been made possible by everyone's generous donations.


I constantly get asked what is RpN's major success and while it is due to all the awesome members and staff, it is also because of how generous users are. When users get want to stop donating, the staff will see what they can't and can pay for(staff already a major bulk of donations anyway) and we will cut down features as needed.


But I don't think that will happen, we've always been one of the most honest and advanced RP forums on the site and the massive growth we keep experiencing is a show to that.

 

[Tronethiel]

I agree with both Dwiz and Welian and would like to offer a few points in support:


1) Emails are very useful. RPN allows me to tailor my email notifications such that I only receive emails for things I want to know about immediately. As someone who uses their email via phone for work a lot, this is the best way to get notifications conveniently.


2) 180/month is less than most 3-4 person family's pay for their phone bill. For the traffic of 700,000 emails, I'd say that's rather insubstantial.


3) I reaffirm Dwiz's statement that the administration comprises a significant portion of donations. I am a willing contributor and keep an eye on the donations. Staff donates a lot, and this is on top of the effort they put into managing the site. I imagine the man hours they clock staffing are liken to a full time job. Thus, they are doubly giving. (No hypocrisy there).


4)Finally, I know all the users don't donate and many probably never will. However, with a potential donor pool of 20,000 users, 500 dollars a month is next to nothing. It comes out to less than 3 cents per month per user. This is a steal for the amount of community and entertainment this site provides. In a society where people are willing to drop 6 dollars on a cup of coffee, this is a far more reasonable and rewarding expenditure.

 

[The Dark Wizard]

The December goal had been successfully met at the beginning of the month at record speed only 4 days into the month and it only took about an hour on the 4th day. We also just completed the goal for the mobile app which is now coming mid to late January since it has been successfully funded.


Everyone will get their icons/gold ribbons as soon as the icon is done being made as usual. Everyone who donated to the mobile goal will get an extra icon from us !


As usual if you still want to donate you can but you won't find the meter any where on the side bar, you have to go directly to the page here: Donation Campaigns | RpNation.com - Best Roleplay Forum


Have a safe and amazing holiday

 

[Kuachi]

Yay! Glad the app's coming!

 

[Emperor Of Embers]

May I ask, if it's coming out on iOS, what version will be required to get it? Since I have an iPod touch 4th gen at iOS 6.1.

 

[MDreams]

I am with Steel Zinogre on this question! I'd like to know what devices the mobile app will be functional for? I have an iPhone 6 and would love to have a mobile app for RpN! ^-^

 

[The Dark Wizard]

I am with Steel Zinogre on this question! I'd like to know what devices the mobile app will be functional for? I have an iPhone 6 and would love to have a mobile app for RpN! ^-^

iOS and Android.


Not sure how far back it will go on iOS, but a 4 should be fine I believe.


@MDreams, I have an 6s+ so it will work fine for you.

 

[MDreams]

@MDreams[/URL], I have an 6s+ so it will work fine for you.

Sweet. (B')

 

[The Dark Wizard]

Donations for February are up and we managed to remove one of the biggest costs we had, which was emails.


The total monthly number went down from 500.


Our artists are making something cool for Feb as an icon !

 

[The Unamed Character]

[QUOTE="The Dark Wizard]Donations for February are up and we managed to remove one of the biggest costs we had, which was emails.
The total monthly number went down from 500.


Our artists are making something cool for Feb as an icon !

[/QUOTE]
Why not make it so The I and O in RPNation are hearts and make the shield an Heart

 

[The Dark Wizard]

[QUOTE="The Unamed Character]Why not make it so The I and O in RPNation are hearts and make the shield an Heart

[/QUOTE]
Because it has to be key sized

 

[kirisuto12804]

aw that will be cute. Oh or a lil cute love letter from shark kohai

 

[The Unamed Character]

[QUOTE="The Dark Wizard]Because it has to be key sized

[/QUOTE]
Okay. How bout just a heart with a heart cut out inside it

 

[welian]

If you really want to know, I'm working on something involving chocolate.

 

[Dusky]

I finally know what to use my allotted spending money on!

 

[Dusky]

[QUOTE="The Dark Wizard]Donations for February are up and we managed to remove one of the biggest costs we had, which was emails.

[/QUOTE]
I'm curious as to why emails were removed. Is it in preparation for the app going live and thus minimizing the need? Even if that's so, wouldn't registration and such still require it?

 

[welian]

I'm curious as to why emails were removed. Is it in preparation for the app going live and thus minimizing the need? Even if that's so, wouldn't registration and such still require it?

From the Costs page (which, we'll have to update)


"For an annual cost of $2160, being able to send and accept emails from domains other than Gmail is one of the most expensive aspects of RPN. Because of this cost, we are constantly looking into new ways to reduce this cost. As it stands now, all non-Gmail providers such as Outlook, AIM/AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail require payment for us to be able to receive and send emails from our site users. Some of these sites have various requirements that are difficult, at this time, for us to reach and maintain. In order to ensure that all users, regardless of email domain, are able to send and receive email regarding the site, we are required to pay a third party email site, Mandrill.com, to facilitate this for us. This makes sure that the site can have ALL users of all email providers and also safely reach their inboxes and not spam."


Basically, it costs money to send mass amounts of email. Somehow Dwiz finagled a much, much cheaper solution.

 

[The Dark Wizard]

Somehow Dwiz finagled a much, much cheaper solution.

This.

 

[Dusky]

Oh, I see - emailing has become cheaper, not been removed. xD I was unclear on that.

 

[soular]

@The Dark Wizard


So is there a donation minimum for the keys? Sorry, I know this hasn't been replied to in a while but while reading through I didn't see a firm answer.

 

[cupidcreep]

@The Dark Wizard
So is there a donation minimum for the keys? Sorry, I know this hasn't been replied to in a while but while reading through I didn't see a firm answer.

I believe it's $5.

 

[The Dark Wizard]

@The Dark Wizard
So is there a donation minimum for the keys? Sorry, I know this hasn't been replied to in a while but while reading through I didn't see a firm answer.

I believe it's $5.

Yeah $5