New forum software?

[lb_on_the_cb]

Hi,
     the current forum software or template makes you look kind of outdated.  I dont know what it costs to upgrade but it might be worth it.

[eveheart]

Sadly, it's hard to maintain a modern look when you're stuck in the paleolithic era. Maybe we can upgrade when the sales of our raw cookware line starts picking up.

[cherimoya_kid]

LOL eve.

[Satya]

Haha, good one.

You can change the look and layout of the forum by going to Profile > Modify Profile > Look and Layout.  You can change smileys and other such goodies too, methinks.  SMF is pretty robust and I bet Good Samaritan is up to the latest version.

[lb_on_the_cb]

Haha, good one.

You can change the look and layout of the forum by going to Profile > Modify Profile > Look and Layout.  You can change smileys and other such goodies too, methinks.  SMF is pretty robust and I bet Good Samaritan is up to the latest version.

hmm, i dont see that in my profile section.  i was hoping to change the date to my local time zone also but i dont see too many options in there.

[goodsamaritan]

You are correct.  There is no user timezone in this forum software.

[lb_on_the_cb]

You are correct.  There is no user timezone in this forum software.

thats too bad.  maybe newer software costs too much. 

[cherimoya_kid]

thats too bad.  maybe newer software costs too much. 

Edwin would know that. But remember, we have no ad revenue, or any other income for the site.

[eveheart]

You've piqued my curiousity... Of what importance are the appearance and time zone?

[lb_on_the_cb]

You've piqued my curiousity... Of what importance are the appearance and time zone?

its easier for me to make sense of the posts if the time zone is set to my local.

i see that option and others are available to me now, maybe 25 or 30 posts is the minimum.

Edwin would know that. But remember, we have no ad revenue, or any other income for the site.

advertising to draw more users would be great too.  Raw for sure is the way to go for maximum health and maybe Paleo as well.  This site should have hundreds of daily users, maybe thousands.

[cherimoya_kid]

its easier for me to make sense of the posts if the time zone is set to my local.

i see that option and others are available to me now, maybe 25 or 30 posts is the minimum.
advertising to draw more users would be great too.  Raw for sure is the way to go for maximum health and maybe Paleo as well.  This site should have hundreds of daily users, maybe thousands.

We used to be a lot busier. I'm not sure ads would draw more users. Why do you think it would?

[TylerDurden]

The sad truth is that we have integrity. If we really wanted to expand our diet's profile, we would be selling all sorts of rawpalaeo-friendly superfoods/supplements in order to attract the gullible, etc.

Hmm, there was a big increase in interest in raw food diets for dogs  and cats as a result of that mass Chinese pet-food-poisoning scandal some years ago.

[eveheart]

advertising to draw more users would be great too.  Raw for sure is the way to go for maximum health and maybe Paleo as well.  This site should have hundreds of daily users, maybe thousands.

Advertising, as in offering products and/or services for sale? I'm guessing that's not your intent, since we eat whole raw foods and use a minimum of other stuff. Or are you suggesting we simply announce our existence?

[lb_on_the_cb]

We used to be a lot busier. I'm not sure ads would draw more users. Why do you think it would?

Advertising, as in offering products and/or services for sale? I'm guessing that's not your intent, since we eat whole raw foods and use a minimum of other stuff. Or are you suggesting we simply announce our existence?

im talking about ads like if someone uses a search engine and they search on say raw meat or raw milk or whatever other relevant words, then a link to this forum shows up in the sponsored area.  that would probably be the most cost effective.  And then on the site you could serve relevant ads (or also Amazon shop-thru links) as a way to pay for the advertising.  If it worked it might be like a snowball rolling down hill and you keep increasing users and ad revenue as well.

[eveheart]

im talking about ads like if someone uses a search engine and they search on say raw meat or raw milk or whatever other relevant words, then a link to this forum shows up in the sponsored area.  that would probably be the most cost effective.  And then on the site you could serve relevant ads (or also Amazon shop-thru links) as a way to pay for the advertising.  If it worked it might be like a snowball rolling down hill and you keep increasing users and ad revenue as well.

Relevant ads?

I found this forum as a search engine result, but not as a sponsored ad. I do buy stuff on amazon, but nothing that I would consider raw paleo. Of everything I've learned here, I don't think my knowledge would have been enhanced by the forum having a revenue stream. And if sales of our raw mackerel-head smoothies does turn into a snowball rolling down hill, what about our members who don't eat frozen precipitation?

[lb_on_the_cb]

Relevant ads?

I found this forum as a search engine result, but not as a sponsored ad.

yes i did too but some people might not know they're interested in a raw paleo forum until they stumble on an ad and something clicks

I do buy stuff on amazon, but nothing that I would consider raw paleo.

it doesnt necessarily have to have anything to do with paleo, its just a link to click on and i think the website gets like 5% of whatever the total spent is.  The guy from the Free the Animal blog was apparently making a decent amount of money this way.   Also the guy from One Radio Network ive heard does this.  And the website can also pick relevant products and have a little picture of them to click thru.  over on Free the Animal blog they had stuff like resistant starch sources like BRM Potato Starch,  Green Plantain flour, EV Coconut oil, etc.

Of everything I've learned here, I don't think my knowledge would have been enhanced by the forum having a revenue stream.

  how do you know that?  there might be more members today posting new topics, having diff ideas, contributing to threads etc - all related to Raw Paleo.   

[cherimoya_kid]

If we have Google ads, then we have uncontrolled ads. And that makes us look like we're in it for the money, damaging our credibility. We could end up in a fermented CLO situation like Sally Fallon is in.

[lb_on_the_cb]

If we have Google ads, then we have uncontrolled ads. And that makes us look like we're in it for the money, damaging our credibility.

this is true, i dont like Google ads either (or google ftm).  The Amazon shop thru links and product photo ads look classier and also you could just put them on one page out of the way if necessary.  Then people who want to support the forum before they shop at Amazon just remember to click thru the link and others dont have to be bothered.

as far as advertising for new members i think google is prob the most cost effective though (or other search engines also)

[cherimoya_kid]

We've talked about it before. I'd be more open to a situation where we sell a banner ad to specific companies, like Maine Coast Sea Veggies or Slanker's, etc.. Even $20 or $30 a month from 5 or 6 different advertisers would add up. Not to a paid position or anything, but Edwin does have to do regular forum maintenance. We would need to be scrupulous about who we sold ad space to, though. Our integrity and credibility are infinitely more valuable than a few dollars.

[cherimoya_kid]

Let's make a list of producers who we would feel comfortable selling ad space to.
I nominate Maine Coast Sea Veggies. I eat their dulse regularly. Also I use Fleur de Sel sea salt and Terramin clay.

[lb_on_the_cb]

We've talked about it before. I'd be more open to a situation where we sell a banner ad to specific companies, like Maine Coast Sea Veggies or Slanker's, etc.. Even $20 or $30 a month from 5 or 6 different advertisers would add up. Not to a paid position or anything, but Edwin does have to do regular forum maintenance. We would need to be scrupulous about who we sold ad space to, though. Our integrity and credibility are infinitely more valuable than a few dollars.

makes sense

Let's make a list of producers who we would feel comfortable selling ad space to.
I nominate Maine Coast Sea Veggies. I eat their dulse regularly. Also I use Fleur de Sel sea salt and Terramin clay.

i like Terramin and i've heard Slanker's on the Robb Wolf podcast iirc.  Smaller regional grass-fed beef producers like this
seem like a great fit for the site and there are probably quite a few of them around the country that might be interested. They get name recognition for reasonable price.  I was thinking about coconut products but all the companies there are prob too large. Maybe some raw milk dairies like Organic Pastures?  Also Paleo podcasters like Wolf might trade banners or links on their sites for links on yours. 

[cherimoya_kid]

I imagine at least some of the coconut oil producers would be small enough to want to do something like that. I don't know about milk, though. It isn't paleo, and a lot of people do react to it.

Would anyone else like to offer ideas?

[eveheart]

All this in order to be able to set our local time in our profiles? I know that Edwin asks for domain registration donations from time to time, and from his username I infer that he's doing some good samaritan work here and elsewhere, but what would we do or gain with one or two hundred dollars per month income?

[Satya]

Upgrading SMF software is free, but time consuming.  Hosting the forum is not free.  FYI, I changed my time zone in account settings, or some such place in my profile.  I see things on this forum in Central US time now.

Browsers and now phones have ad blocking options, so I think that trend to plaster ads everywhere is passe anyway.  Your ads may never be seen by people who take the time to turn settings to off.  Ads on websites are a huge turn off for me personally, because, as was mentioned, they often are unrelated to the content of the site and degrade the look and feel of the place.

We got enough donations at dirty carnivore forum to host it for years.  When it became too much cost and not enough interest, we dumped it.  We do have the entire forum saved, however.  I think a donate button on the site might be the best option for this forum, which does not want to come across as too commercial, yet may need funds to operate.

[TylerDurden]

I agree with most of this.I have already chosen a "donate" option for my previously free advice on allexperts.com. I do not really expect any donations at all, and unlike some experts on the site, I will not openly ask for donations after answering a question, and I doubt most people will donate a cent, anyway. However, it would be nice, I suppose, if I got, say, 10-20  euros a year out of this.

As regards rawpaleoforum, we should select only those high-quality producers/farms which people know well and buy from frequently. If one of us or more have actually visited the relevant farm to check on their word/guarantee re what animals are fed on etc., even better. One big problem we all have faced as beginners to RPD diets is finding the right source. At first, we always believe that there is nothing available, then we start thinking that only very expensive sources exist for RPD foods, and finally, after months of searching, we usually find enough cheap RPD food sources, but it all takes time. Showing ads for people like Salatin etc., is a great idea.

Any money donated or paid via ads should go first into paying for the domain name for the next few years. Any  extra money ought to go to pay for   any PR attempts by RPDers to promote the RPD diet in the media.Sabertooth's  attempts were pretty brave, imo and impressed me a lot. Imagine what media coverage we could get if a few thousand dollars were used! I mean we regularly see media promotions of raw vegan gurus so we obviously are not trying hard enough or  we are not using the right methods.

The other possibility would be to pay for some RPDer in serious ill-health  who was destitute and simply unable to  afford anything but hospital food. However, this is easily prone to fraud and would have to be checked and double-checked . I always remember my master at school forcing us to pay for some worthless kid's education in some deprived African country, merely because another schoolmaster was getting his kids to do a similiar project, and my master wanted to show similiar mindless, irrational emotion. As it later inevitably turned out, the kid went awol from school soon after with some of the money(at least that was what was claimed, we will never know the real truth). It's as someone once said:- " foreign aid is money donated from (gullible) poor people in rich countries which goes to (corrupt) rich people in poor countries".