So what do you want?

I'd like to expand this forum more with some more categories. For example right now I offer forums for groups but no one has taken me up on the offer yet. For example if you had a civic organization like the rotary Club I could set up a forum for your members. There's no charge and it could be completely public like many of the forums here or completely hidden invite only. If you have group hosted elsewhere like on Yahoo message boards you could move it here.

I'm open to any suggestions but keep in mind there's a fine line between needing new categories or forums and having a bunch of empty ones that aren't used.
If there was interest I could create regional forums for your neck of the woods etc.

How about a Cooking/Recipe forum? I know there's tons of other internet forums, but some of the recipes are too hard or expensive to cook. Since we're all smart with our money (heating with coal), it would be neat to see how other people handle the biggest expense of them all...feeding the family.

Yes a food forum is a good idea, I was actually considering it. I've added that and a few other general topic forums.

A Gun Forum

Already added a forum for hobbies, hunting etc. Guns would would be too specific at the moment.

Hobbies, Hunting, Fishing and Camping

There is lot of old gun threads, I'll be moving them there.

Perfect! Thanks

Motorcycles! Do we need to say more?

I want to get the google ads out of the middle of the forum replies. Sorry Richard, but how much of a donation to you need to get rid of them?

BD

Cap wrote:Motorcycles! Do we need to say more?

There is a section for motorcycles.

Cars, Trucks, Motorcylces and Aviation


As far as the ads at the moment I'm experimenting with them to see where they generate the the most revenue and if they are successful there they will stay. At some point I'll be adding a switch so the ads don't display probably based on post count as that would be the most logical thing to use IMO. I was never very fond of the idea of asking for donations to get rid of ads or giving special privilege based on what someone can pay. I'd rather base it on merit.

Richard S. wrote:I was never very fond of the idea of asking for donations to get rid of ads or giving special privilege based on what someone can pay. I'd rather base it on merit.

Commie! Commie!

heheh...

Always a touchy subject "RELIGION"

I would imagine any religious topics would fall under: Thoughtful and Intelligent Debates

Richard, a web site costs money to run. I host a few myself so I know well the cost side of the ledger. I guess the hard part is figuring out the profit side without killing the traffic. So I guess depending on your motives for running the site there are three options:
1: charge for membership - not very popular I'm sure
2: run ads from vendors/google - you already do that
3: ask for donations - you already do that
4: do it because you love it and loose money (not that you like loosing money but you probably love doing the site)

Let's not consider the last option and think about the first three. If you charge for membership you would have to offer more value to the paying members otherwise there are no incentives for sending you PayPal dollars and still seeing Google/vendor ads. So how about considering a fee based membership that you can make some money and we/I do not have to view ads. Call it a "Premium Membership" if you will. The "Donation" could be as little a ten bucks a year and would "buy" the sender ad free viewing.
BD

Richard, this forum is bad to the bone, I'll give ya $10 a year for a "premium Membership", I'm new here and have received some great answers/thoughts from others on questions asked by me. Lets face it, for a guy to join a forum based on coal fired equipment and follow posts and threads for fun or educational purpose means that some people are passionate about these things and the value of the information available here far outweighs a small price for a full feature membership. Or you could just do it all for free and consider everyone on here your friend and tell the world you're the most popular guy around the breaker!!!! I also like the cooking/grilling idea, we all know a little somethin' about fire to make heat, with that said I'm sure lots of us also know how to fire some killer foods and many different variations of the same thing. I also suggest a link to local escort services cuz what could be better, coal stoves, food, and women all in one place, sounds like one stop shopping to me!!!

Adam in S.E. Pa.

BobDavis wrote:I want to get the google ads out of the middle of the forum replies. Sorry Richard, but how much of a donation to you need to get rid of them?

BD

Anyone with more than 50 posts won't see these ads at the top within topics anymore but instead they will appear at the very bottom of the page. The ads on the home page and forum lists will still appear in same place.