More Bandwidth and Revenue Needed

[Shinodude]

well im not sure if i get the whole bandwith thing so im not sure if im right but if you let people delete there amvs wouldnt we get more bandwith im not sure if im right

[Ileia]

well im not sure if i get the whole bandwith thing so im not sure if im right but if you let people delete there amvs wouldnt we get more bandwith im not sure if im right

That would defeat the purpose of the website (to catalog all known AMVs).

[Shinodude]

i mean if you let ppl dlete amvs they dont whant an give them a sertin amount to delet then it might help not let them delete as much as they whant say like 2 amvs a person that would help bandwith allot an mabey send emails out to ppl that havnt come on for atleast 2 or 3 years askin them if there gona ever come on an if not deleted

[Ileia]

i mean if you let ppl dlete amvs they dont whant an give them a sertin amount to delet then it might help not let them delete as much as they whant say like 2 amvs a person that would help bandwith allot an mabey send emails out to ppl that havnt come on for atleast 2 or 3 years askin them if there gona ever come on an if not deleted

*Ahem* To reiterate what I just said:

The purpose of this website is to catalogue ALL known AMVs. Any deletion AT ALL goes against this. So it's out of the question, there's no room for discussion in the deletion area.

[Orwell]

It appears as if I still have all the member benefits, but I'm seeing ad's on the pages, is there a error,did my donation date expire, or do the ad's now show up on every page?

[SpringBoy]

It appears as if I still have all the member benefits, but I'm seeing ad's on the pages, is there a error,did my donation date expire, or do the ad's now show up on every page?

No, your status is currently "pending" which means the donation you made has not been processed yet. You'll soon be up to a full member soon enough and then the ads go away.

[Ileia]

It appears as if I still have all the member benefits, but I'm seeing ad's on the pages, is there a error,did my donation date expire, or do the ad's now show up on every page?

No, your status is currently "pending" which means the donation you made has not been processed yet. You'll soon be up to a full member soon enough and then the ads go away.

Not true, I've donated and I still see the ads.

[Phade]

Hey,

shinodude: Having fewer videos available for download would indirectly reduce the amount of bandwidth needed since there would simply be less to download. The most direct thing that affects the amount of bandwidth used is the number of people simultaniously downloading videos.

aielI_Ileia: Do you see ads on the download page or just at the top of every page on the site?

Phade.

[Animal4890]

Note: This post is long, but I gave it much thought and effort and had read through all previous posts before finishing it. It was written while reading through the posts.

After reading the first two pages I have a general idea of the situation. We need incentive for people who use a-m-v.org to download from the Local servers and are able to donate to donate. Second to that, we need the current donators to continue donating regularly if indeed they are still using the site. So far Phade has listened to the suggestions and often points out the legal or potential legal problems those suggestions might cause. Basically, a-m-v.org can not profit or even appear to be profitting off of any copyright material. This is especially true because of the questionable legality of AMVs. Drawing additional attention to the site that is the forefront of AMV distribution is unwise.

Therefore, we need to find both external and internal legal means to provide incentive to donate. I've both a suggestion and an idea that might be helpful.

original art apparel idea
First, a-m-v.org is a hub for creativity and it houses many members of various artistic talents. Hence, AMV creation isn't always the sole creative talent of every AMV creator. We would need to take some of the art that hopefully these members would donate and turn them into a more profitable product. Hence, take the best of these artworks and print them onto apparel with perhaps an AMV logo somewhere on the apparel as well. The one thing that I'd be worried about is quality. Are CafeExpress prints (on shirts and such) of good quality? Does anyone know? Do the prints crack and degrade after ten or so washes? If that is true then we'd have to find a different vendor before this idea could be profitable. Think of it, beautiful and original anime artwork printed on apparel with a lasting quality. I think there would be a demand for such a product, not just from a-m-v.org members.

a-m-v.org services
My other idea is more internal than external. There were suggestions about limiting non-donators. Some methods might appear to be forcing the members to pay for videos. Conversely, what have we not thought of to limit non-donators that would not be considered illegal by using the site as a tool to provide incentive. To better clarify, a-m-v.org provides services apart from the AMVs that could be more manipulated into a tool for incentive. Perhaps we could come up with a list of ideas and prioritize them by development time. Attend to the smaller ones first and develop the larger-scale ones later (since it appears we need quick results).


I'll start accruing ideas I think could work while I read (paraphrased and my comments are in code boxes):
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Zarxrax: make off-topic forum available for donators.

SQ (and others): additional video management functionality for donators.

SQ: use of star ratings.

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 The star rating methods SQ suggested (both positive and negative incentives) both appear to block non-donators from downloading.  However, I think star ratings should still be looked into since everyone loves expressing their opinion.  We might find a way that isn't so linked to AMV downloads. 

Al'x (and others): enhance trust in paypal.

Al'x: make the benefits of donating more apprent.

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this is already done, but could probably be re-assessed

referenced by madbunny (unknown): "Changing the journal code to include webstuff and pictures."

DecemberChaos: fundraising at cons to focus on AMV contests.

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I'll just reiterate that Phade pointed out that it's hard to find entirely trusted people to collect these funds.  However, I still think this is a good idea because it both advertises the website and it reinforces the fact that a-m-v.org needs all the help it can get.

SpringBoy: "I'm wondering if there's any detailed stats on downloads"

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this is only a segment of what he said, but I also would like more details; both on the downloads and the donations.  More details would give members a better idea of the status of the site.

EXODO: use IPMO (International Postal Money Order).

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I dunno what the heck this is, but it sounds like a good idea, atleast until paypal gains more credibility

Adv1sor: "How about if you don't donate something, at least a buck, you don't get to rate amvs with stars or opinions?"

madbunny: "I still favor enhancing the donators functions (like larger avatars, and pictures in journals, or description pages for example) "

SOAD2k8: "Wait a minute, you can send donations through mail, too? If so, whats the adress, I'd be more than happy to contribute."

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perhaps make simple donating details more prominent on the site since the current form of a-m-v.org is dependent on such finances

Brsrk: "...My dad was checking mail one day, noticed an email from payPal saying there was going to be another bank account added to the site. Stupidly enough, he clicked the link without checking the URL first..."

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make sure everyone is informed about phishing and any other paypal security issues.  Phishing details can be found at this site: http://www.antiphishing.org/

Zarxrax: use the community aspect to generate incentive and to alert members of the reason for donations.
(More details on this are at the bottom of this page)
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I'll continue making comments about the content I read as well as appending the the list of idea above from here on.

I'm not sure I agree with the ideas of limiting AMV creators from uploading videos. The AMV contributions are the foundation of this site and I not so sure uploading videos should be inhibited.

Concerning Phade's Ad idea before downloads, I think derobert is rightfully cautious. This caution is especially valid with the recent news AMVs have made.

However for non-donators, the new setup will have them looking at paid ads along with the “your download will start...” message.

As I've said before, I just worry this will make it look like we are out to profit off of copyrighted material (in particular, I worry about the music). Trying to say:

yeah, every time someone goes to download this quite-possibly-illegally distributed copyrighted work, we make X cents, but, no, really, we're not profiting off your work! We're just a fully non-commercial fan site! Really!

is not an argument I'd like to have to make.

Dero, I think the difference here would be that Kazaa was set up as a commercial company with a profit motive. The org is structured as a non-profit organization, which would go a long ways towards making that a non-problem. As long as Phade keeps good records of where the money goes, I don't see there being a problem.

I would prefer that Phade and other primary people involved have to try as little as possible to keep this ship clean. Kazaa may have been software created to attain profit, but I don't recall Napster being so. That didn't stop the involved Napster developers and some users from getting into legal trouble. The music industry isn't happy at all and the recent shot Steve Jobs made at them probably didn't help their temper. I wouldn't want to give that wounded beast another target (sry for the dramatics =).


"Ad" idea
While reading through all these posts, I kept seeing people talking about ads and an idea popped into my mind. We could take the idea of "ads" and use it in a certain way. My idea is to give donators a privelage to prime realestate on the main members page. Slightly similar to the a-m-v.org banners, there would be a space set aside on that page for people to use. They could post a picture, a banner for their own site, or just some text. Each donator would set their item to be advertised and that section on the main page would cycle through each user's item periodically (perhaps hourly). The content would need to be monitored of course. Perhaps the system could be eventually setup so users could be notified when their item would be displayed so they could gawk...I mean admire it =). Perhaps we could even have a rating system based around this idea to enhance its prestige.


I just read godix's ad idea post. Both godix's idea and my "ad" idea are similar, but paying per ad rather than having it just be a privelage seems to step beyond the legal line. Although not as apparent, it would be similar to having any full-fledged ads on this site, which all point to profiting off of the AMVs.

...i am a web developer, and SHIT it takes a lot of work...just making this site alone and mainting it....bandwidth and other stuff isn't even included~!

i am grateful that this site even EXISTS, thats why i think we should all donate...

excellent point. It may be hard for some people to fully comprehend that though if they've little or no experience with or in the software dev industry. Is there a way it could be communicated to them to help their perception?

[Ileia]

aielI_Ileia: Do you see ads on the download page or just at the top of every page on the site?

The download page.