Project Avalon Forum to be FREE again!

[giovonni]

I just asked Karen for a free subscription

YEAH!!!!!!!!

OH BABY!

[Fredkc]

Karen;
I also notice yer "packin' heat" again. Back from vacation, eh?

Sorry if I missed your return to mod status, I just noticed the change while reading this thread. I take it you have become "refreshed" enough to take up the gauntlet again. Anyway, good for you.

Re. the Trolls.
I'm not so sure there will be a resurgence. Optimist, I guess. But the place does have an established decorum which is much kinder, now, methinks. Trolls will stick out more now than before. "The trolls ye have with you always." - Jesus' online brother

The place definitely needs a revenue stream. Has to have one, given the time it takes to produce what goes by here.

I know, from several statements by K&B, that the idea of banner ads has always been anathema. Considering the subject matter of this place, I can understand. After all, who wants to have some long drug out conversation about stuff like the transmigration of souls through the universe, and the effects of extra-terrestrial life upon said beings, with a big ol' flashy

Click here for live nude girls!

at the top of the page?
Neither am I even up to date on just what kind of money that can raise nowadays, anyway. But... Most people on the web have long ago perfected their "selective vision" to a degree that ignoring the less desirable ones shouldn't be too hard.

All that said;
I have always felt that a pay forum wasn't the best of ideas. Yes, I paid, and other than state that fact when it happened, I held my piece.

Part of the reason has to do wit the fact that the forum, is among other things, a great place for both learning by reading, and also through interaction with others. You benefit from other people's thinking by trying out your own thoughts. But none of that happens unless the place is self-sustaining. Even the guy at the park carrying a "The End Is Nye" sign relies on the support of folk to have a park, in the first place.

However they decide to raise money, that critter needs to be mentioned here, on every page. Even if it means banner ads for in-house stuff alone.

Forums are one of the best methods of gettin' butts in the seats, the Inet has yet to devise. Use it!!

By now, I am pretty sure that all of these have been thought of, but in case they haven't:

* Bill & Kerry; Write, damnit!! You have a world of experience in this area that few have, and a ready made audience in this forum.

* Compilations of other's work "Edited by B & K". You've a passle of people to draw from, published, and non, Revenue share or whatever you need to do, but this should also be a fairly quick-to-market revenue stream, for you.

* Amazon links within the forum. You can link to Amazon for books already published by authors mentioned here, and get paid a comission for the clicks on those links. No more obtrusive than this: . If you poke at Anchor (sorry Anchor) with a sharp stick a lil' bit you can even automate it. If they're going to buy the book/tape/dvd/whatever anyway, you might as well benefit from people hearing about said product here.

Anyway.. food for thought from the cheap seats (and probably worth every penny, too), but at least it didn't go unsaid.
______________________
BTW, I just love:

Just wait till you get hit with; "Don't you know Jesus died for you?" every 5 minutes.

My response has always been that, the Jesus I have come to know is, has, and will always be eternally alive, moment to moment, in every way I can possibly think of. Sorry about yours, perhaps what you need is a "bigger God". I have undertaken that search several times, in this life. Each time I come upon the same one, patiently waiting, though chuckling a bit, too.

Fred

[Tango]

I hope the 'mod squad' is ready... I saw four registering at once....

I'm goin' back to cleaning carpet... I'll just watch the screen, I hope we get

good music...



Tango

[waitinginthewings]

Originally Posted by Swanny

Great news we lost some good people and gained a few asreholes when it went to subs.

You should know

[Seashore]

Originally Posted by Karen

Bill...likes to make his writing perfect and that takes some time.

I've noticed that on Camelot and I appreciate it very much. Kerry, too.

[Seashore]

Originally Posted by Karen

Talking to us would take a fraction of the time - I'll see what I can to do get the conference calls (or something like that) going. Kerry and I have recently exchanged a couple of short emails about that.

Isn't their radio show coming back? We could call in to it?

[TruthWillSetUFree]

I believe the high vibration of the site itself will be enough for those who's intention is to bring it down.

The key is to keep the energy of the site high through our hearts wisdom

If you feel you are being triggered look inside and use the emotion as a tool to learn why you are under the illusion that words can make you feel anything other than what you say you feel or want to feel.

Words outside ourselves do not have this power over us, yet we live like they do.

Let us keep the energy vibrating high so low energies cannot thrive here.


I tell my daughter often

Don't allow another's darkness to take away your beautiful light

Love and Light to all.......let the games begin!

[Gareth]

The conversion back to a FREE forum is official and I will be working on that today.

I will post another response when it is done.

G

[DoctorWho]

I'm with Karen about doing a monthly support drive for the site. I'm on a couple of non-related forums that do this to help with bandwith/website costs or for saving up money for upgrades/extras for the members. If we set up a nominal goal of $500, 100 members giving $5 each would easily make that goal. And if we make more than that, we can set the bar higher the next month by going to $600 and so forth.

As far as Bill & Kerry's forum interaction goes, maybe instead of addressing the forum in their new radio show (which will seem to be Kerry-centric due to the time of the show), they can allot 30-60 minutes a week and just have a special show that would be posted in the forums only. They would talk about the questions and posts in discussion about various things we are talking about. It'd be much quicker for them to address us in this fashion than in board posts, as Karen has stated, it takes a while sometimes to formulate posts in a coherent manner so things don't get taken the wrong way. I think this format would be a fair balance of Bill and Kerry's interaction with the forum and with all the other stuff they have going on too.
Bill "the Doctor"

[Seashore]

Originally Posted by DoctorWho

I'm with Karen about doing a monthly support drive for the site. I'm on a couple of non-related forums that do this to help with bandwith/website costs or for saving up money for upgrades/extras for the members. If we set up a nominal goal of $500, 100 members giving $5 each would easily make that goal. And if we make more than that, we can set the bar higher the next month by going to $600 and so forth.

I like this because the members who have no objection to subscription fees would probably respond to this.

Originally Posted by DoctorWho

As far as Bill & Kerry's forum interaction goes, maybe instead of addressing the forum in their new radio show (which will seem to be Kerry-centric due to the time of the show), they can allot 30-60 minutes a week and just have a special show that would be posted in the forums only. They would talk about the questions and posts in discussion about various things we are talking about.

What do you mean posted in the forums only? Who would be able to call in? (I'm wondering about the logistics of how this could be set up.)

[THE eXchanger]

This is good news

and, also, i like the idea above to put a meter on the site
and, have 'good folks' contribute

10 stars on that idea !!!

love/susan
the eXchanger

[DoctorWho]

Originally Posted by Seashore

What do you mean posted in the forums only? Who would be able to call in?

Essentially, what I was thinking is that a show is recorded and posted only through the forum. I think Open Minds Forum does something like this. There would be a link at the top showcasing the Forum-only show.

Bill and Kerry would either go through the message board beforehand and pick out board topics that they would like to address, or as Karen once suggested, take a list of questions from we board members and have them answer them. Again, this stuff would only be for/accessible to forum members and not necessarily posted on the main Camelot site (unless there is something of major significance that should be known to the masses). An actual conference-call/call-in show might be reserved for either the regular new radio show or maybe allot once a month for some sort of Skype conference call or something through a service like Blog Talk Radio.

Does this make better sense?
Bill "the Doctor"

[Fredkc]

Good suggestion, Doc.

It gives people here some "connection" while not bogging K&B down so much.

I know, that sounds weird, like we are "the great unwashed" or something, but it isn't what I mean. The air time is precious, too, and doing it this way lets them choose topics they can prepare for, and find of interest.

I don't need them to find me a psychic to locate a lost puppy, and I doubt many folk would want to listen to them politely beg off the job from others, either...

Ok, I'm diggin the hole deeper here, methinks. You know what I mean, damnit!!

Fred

[Swanny]

Originally Posted by waitinginthewings

You should know

Yea don't I ever

[Seashore]

Originally Posted by DoctorWho

Essentially, what I was thinking is that a show is recorded and posted only through the forum. I think Open Minds Forum does something like this. There would be a link at the top showcasing the Forum-only show.

Bill and Kerry would either go through the message board beforehand and pick out board topics that they would like to address, or as Karen once suggested, take a list of questions from we board members and have them answer them. Again, this stuff would only be for/accessible to forum members and not necessarily posted on the main Camelot site (unless there is something of major significance that should be known to the masses).

So this would be Kerry and Bill with no guests answering questions that are pre-arranged.

That would give them time to think about the answers, which is good.

Originally Posted by DoctorWho

An actual conference-call/call-in show might be reserved for either the regular new radio show or maybe allot once a month for some sort of Skype conference call or something through a service like Blog Talk Radio.

The big advantage of this is interaction. A chance to clarify on the spot and to ask follow-up questions.

The thing that was confusing me about the idea is how in the world do you have call-in for forum members only? Is this simple to do?

[DoctorWho]

Originally Posted by Seashore

The thing that was confusing me about the idea is how in the world do you have call-in for forum members only? Is this simple to do?

Well, all they'd have to do is offer a time, place, and call-in number, post the info here on the forum (again at the top so everyone can see it), and members go there and either text or call in. That's kind of the way you would do it in Blog Talk Radio. They have live chat and call-in.
Bill "the Doctor"

[Seashore]

Originally Posted by DoctorWho

Well, all they'd have to do is offer a time, place, and call-in number, post the info here on the forum (again at the top so everyone can see it), and members go there and either text or call in. That's kind of the way you would do it in Blog Talk Radio. They have live chat and call-in.
Bill "the Doctor"

That's true. That would be simple.

And I like the fact that you can talk or write.

[Karen]

Yes, Kerry did mention using Blog Talk Radio.

[DoctorWho]

I thought I remembered that being mentioned as a place to do the new radio show. My father-in-law has a show on Blog Talk Radio about the paranormal. Maybe they could be guests on his.
Bill "the Doctor"

[Karen]

I am getting emails from people all excited to come and post here again ... but they can't because Gareth has not completed the process yet.

In post 33 Gareth wrote: The conversion back to a FREE forum is official and I will be working on that today. I will post another response when it is done.

Apologies - the timing was a bit of a surprise to us ... It is now noon-thirty on Monday in New Zealand where Gareth is working on the switch over.

[Seashore]

Originally Posted by DoctorWho

I thought I remembered that being mentioned as a place to do the new radio show. My father-in-law has a show on Blog Talk Radio about the paranormal. Maybe they could be guests on his.
Bill "the Doctor"

But we wouldn't want to limit subject matter to the paranormal.

[SWIFT]

Hi Karen & Seashore,

Karen :I totally agree with the forum being free and this would encourage more whistlblowers who do not like leaving traces of memberships.

Seashore: Sorry to say but the forum needs a new jumpstart of life and Bill & Kerry have taken the right move and nothing last forever.

Peace
SWIFTY

[Gareth]

The Forum is now Free again to Registered members - the usual posting rules apply. Don't abuse the privilege people as the usual Moderation rules also apply as on most other forums.

We look forward to seeing some great posts from our other members as well.

G

[Seashore]

Originally Posted by SWIFT

Seashore: Sorry to say but the forum needs a new jumpstart of life and Bill & Kerry have taken the right move and nothing last forever.

Peace
SWIFTY

What are you talking about?

[SWIFT]

Originally Posted by Seashore

But we wouldn't want to limit subject matter to the paranormal.

Hi Seashore,
Correct lets not limit the forum to just paranormal great idea. However, lets not turn it into a free for all thats what I mean.

Peace
SWIFTY