OVF News: Advert-free option

[robf]

Hi all,

 

I've had a couple of people ask about the return of the advert-free option.

 

For those who don't remember - this was a paid subscription which removed the adverts. It was cancelled when OVF crashed and I lost a couple of important scripts.

 

However, I think I can revive it in a slightly different way so I will be testing this over the next few days and releasing more details when it is ready.

 

The idea is you can have two options:

 

1. Free access albeit with the adverts

2. Or advert-free for a small monthly fee (TBC)

 

Either way, it helps meet the hosting costs.

 

I hope this is useful. Please bear with me as it will take a bit of time to test it all out and ensure it works.

 

Thanks,

 

Rob

[Heatwave]

Do you call £6 a month a small fee Rob? Because I don't. I used to pay £30 a year until that stopped for some reason - now the cost has doubled.

 

£6 a month is what I pay for Netflix and TBH I get more value from it. So no thanks - if I feel the need I'll let you know.

[Aussie Rules]

For very personal reasons I am happy to pay the fee to get my wide screen back

[Tomo]

Just wondering Rob - Does having the free version mean you cannot minimize the side bars anymore? Not sure what part of the update is causing this (or if it is the side bars), but on my work computer the website is borderline unusable now. Stalls every 2 seconds so it just skips about & I can't click on the right links when scrolling, & text stops/starts when writing so I can't see what I'm typing real-time, have to wait for the page to load almost whole sentences.

 

On the subscription, I'm completely unaware of how much the site costs to run, but it does seem a touch expensive, if the only feature is no ads. £72 a year is the same as Netflix (I don't have it but partner does), & over double what I pay for Xbox Live Gold per year. Would an annual sub be possible, which saves money? Again though, I don't know anything about your server costs etc.

[robf]

Hi folks,

 

Points are taken.

 

I tried to come up with a price that would cover the costs of a user not seeing adverts for a month but it could well be too high / my calcualtions may simply be wrong. There is an element of guesswork with this but I have erred on the high mark as I don't have the cashflow to cover costs if I make it too cheap and I end up having to make up the difference.

 

Ultimately, if no-one takes up the offer then my choices are:

 

1. To keep it as it is but no-one has to take it up if they think it is too much.

2. To try a cheaper price and stand the risk of making up a shortfall

3. To ditch the advert-free option all together and allow free access albeit with adverts

 

Incidentally, Netflix's coverage of Port Vale is far worse than this site in my opinion And they don't offer a free option.

 

I do take that point though - and just see this as an experiment. I'm certainly not infallible, I make plenty of mistakes and this may be one. It could be I have got my sums wrong and the amount asked is too much.

 

Tomo - I think that is a settings error, let me check and I should be able to fix tonight.

 

Barry - I will also get back to you tonight as I need to do something with the code.

 

Thanks,

 

Rob