6 ms·

I've gotten far more value out of my Metafilter subscription than the $5 I originally paid for my account. It really is an excellent (and very well-moderated) c

by sinak 12y ago

I've gotten far more value out of my Metafilter subscription than the $5 I originally paid for my account. It really is an excellent (and very well-moderated) community. If you're interested, you can donate to help cover Metafilter's ongoing costs using this link: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=PPKPHJFYASBTU https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_b...

devindotcom 12y ago
I don't mean to question what it almost certainly a well-meaning comment, but could someone from metafilter (I already saw cortex in the thread) endorse this or suggest an alternative? I'd love to send a few bucks that way to keep the wolves from the door but just want to make sure they're going to the correct bucket.
- JackC 12y ago
  That donation link appears on this page: https://www.metafilter.com/about.mefi https://www.metafilter.com/about.mefi "Supporting MetaFilter The site and server can always use upgrades of hardware, software, and bandwidth. If you'd like to chip in, you can donate via this PayPal link." Which does in fact link to https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=PPKPHJFYASBTU https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_b... The site's getting hammered right now, but if you can't get through directly you can also check through the Google cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:NMFYgwZH8EwJ:www.metafilter.com/about.mefi http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:NMFYgwZ...
  - devindotcom 12y ago
    Thanks, I was looking in the wrong place for potential donation links.
- joshmillard 12y ago
  That is our existing paypal account, yes. We aren't formally doing any fundraising at this point -- that's an account we've had set up for ever mostly for the once-a-month "hey, here's five bucks, buy yourself a beer" tip from a random happy/guilty user -- but if you toss money in that, it ends up with us, and I won't tell you no. If you want to be extra sure about the paypal link, visit the one at the bottom of Metafilter's about page, here: http://www.metafilter.com/about.mefi http://www.metafilter.com/about.mefi
  - devindotcom 12y ago
    Thanks. Sorry to hear about the trouble at Mefi. I'm blackleotardfront there. It might be superfluous to say but we are all 100% behind the staff and site and whatever you guys decide is the best course of action we will support to the best of our ability.
  - dave5104 12y ago
    Doesn't sound like you may necessarily want to expand this funding source, but if you do, I also run a content-heavy site that currently runs on donations. I've been doing it without paying a dime myself over the past 8 years or so. Some things I've learned: - Ask for specific dollar amounts. It'll give users an idea of what they should type in. - Make that donation link more prominent on the page. The "this PayPal link" <a> tag is pretty hidden at the bottom. - Offer incentives. I give my donors a trophy for their site account when they give something, and there are certain tiers (e.g. gold trophy for $50, silver for $25, etc.) Requires a bit of management on your side of things, but it could pay off.
    - rmc 12y ago
      Ask for specific dollar amounts. It'll give users an idea of what they should type in. Yep. I was at a museum and they had "please donate €5" donation box, which was full of fivers. Otherwise it'd be full of coins.
  - splitrocket 12y ago
    Cortex: as a single datapoint, I'd pay a totally voluntary subscription for metafilter. Make it an option, and I'll do it.
revorad 12y ago
Are MetaFilter's traffic stats publicly available? I feel like there might be ways to make more money from it to keep it self-sustaining. Edit: Matt Haughey just told me on Twitter that the quantcast numbers are accurate enough - https://www.quantcast.com/metafilter.com https://www.quantcast.com/metafilter.com So that's 6M uniques and 16.5M pageviews per month. Some napkin math: Let's say 8 staff + servers cost $100,000/month. So, they need 10,000 people paying $10/month. That's 0.2% of their monthly uniques. Assuming 10% of the uniques are registered users and 2% of registered users pay, that seems achievable. Plus, they can keep the ads for non-paying users and also have higher paid plans for those willing to pay. For example - https://twitter.com/mathowie/status/468474737790693376 https://twitter.com/mathowie/status/468474737790693376
- revorad 12y ago
  To add to that, for comparison, they'd need $6 CPM worth of ads on all their pageviews to make the same amount just from ads.
- matthaughey 12y ago
  This is rough back of the envelope calculations, but we only have 62k paid users, only about 12k come back every day, so subscriptions would need something like 25%-50% of the daily userbase paying, not just 2%.
  - revorad 12y ago
    Thanks Matt. As someone not very familiar with your site, I have some observations about the user experience of the site: I just tried signing up for the site. My first hurdle was finding the sign up button. It's nearly impossible. After finding the "New user" link and clicking on it, I'm presented with your community guidelines, which I understand make MeFi what it is. But, that page could still do with a sign up button, instead of the link buried at the bottom. Anyway, I clicked on the "Go ahead and sign up for an account here" link, filled in my details and then I was presented with the "pay $5 to complete your signup" message. I didn't know it was going to cost me $5! I went back to the guidelines page, and I noticed you did mention the $5 there, but I didn't read it. I expect this is the most common user experience of new visitors to your site interested in joining. I don't know if improving these things will move the needle at all for you, but there seem to be a few simple things you could try to increase signups.
Tomte 12y ago
People also say this about the SA forums. I paid for it (and some extras), enjoyed what I read in the archive -- there are some real pearls! -- but I have no idea how I could fit in there. So I'm just a lurker, but I'm still happy I found the site.
- biotech 12y ago
  What are the "SA" forums?
  - eli 12y ago
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_Awful http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_Awful It's a peer of 4chan.
    - vehementi 12y ago
      > It's a peer of 4chan. That is highly inaccurate
      - balladeer 12y ago
        Not really. I am a member too and I must add that even the moderators do (almost all the time) that what is frowned upon when he 4chan do it. But hey, to each his own.
- jcurbo 12y ago
  SA is a place with a lot of interesting contradictions; it's been around since the early days of the Web ('99) and somehow survived through several waves of dot com implosions (eFront, etc) to the present day. It is highly moderated and hosts some of the best topic-specific communities this side of Reddit, but also spawns edgy and dark humor and internet memes. The $10 fee was started in 2001 before such things like that done on the Web and that allowed the site to finally be self-sustaining and free from having to join ad-sharing groups or another content network. I've been reading since 2000 and while I don't participate as much as I used to, I still enjoy keeping up with some of the communities there.
beedogs 12y ago
> It really is an excellent (and very well-moderated) community. Except for that part where they won't ever ban dios.
- wiml 12y ago
  Why should they ban dios? Honestly, what makes Metafilter a great site— I've been a member there for a decade— is that, unlike a lot of fora, it still allows dissenting and unpopular views. I may frequently disagree with what dios says, but it's usually worth reading anyway. I think a lot of people equate "moderation" with "deleting and banning". If that's a moderator's main tool, though, that moderator has already failed, IMO. (Admittedly, Mefi culture has become more eager in recent years to simply quash posters or viewpoints that make them uncomfortable, which is a pity. I go there because I want find people intelligently and courteously expressing ideas I might not already be thinking. Lately Mefi has seemed less fruitful.)

by sinak 12y ago

devindotcom 12y ago

I don't mean to question what it almost certainly a well-meaning comment, but could someone from metafilter (I already saw cortex in the thread) endorse this or suggest an alternative? I'd love to send a few bucks that way to keep the wolves from the door but just want to make sure they're going to the correct bucket.

JackC 12y ago
That donation link appears on this page: https://www.metafilter.com/about.mefi https://www.metafilter.com/about.mefi "Supporting MetaFilter The site and server can always use upgrades of hardware, software, and bandwidth. If you'd like to chip in, you can donate via this PayPal link." Which does in fact link to https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=PPKPHJFYASBTU https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_b... The site's getting hammered right now, but if you can't get through directly you can also check through the Google cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:NMFYgwZH8EwJ:www.metafilter.com/about.mefi http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:NMFYgwZ...
- devindotcom 12y ago
  Thanks, I was looking in the wrong place for potential donation links.
joshmillard 12y ago
That is our existing paypal account, yes. We aren't formally doing any fundraising at this point -- that's an account we've had set up for ever mostly for the once-a-month "hey, here's five bucks, buy yourself a beer" tip from a random happy/guilty user -- but if you toss money in that, it ends up with us, and I won't tell you no. If you want to be extra sure about the paypal link, visit the one at the bottom of Metafilter's about page, here: http://www.metafilter.com/about.mefi http://www.metafilter.com/about.mefi
- devindotcom 12y ago
  Thanks. Sorry to hear about the trouble at Mefi. I'm blackleotardfront there. It might be superfluous to say but we are all 100% behind the staff and site and whatever you guys decide is the best course of action we will support to the best of our ability.
- dave5104 12y ago
  Doesn't sound like you may necessarily want to expand this funding source, but if you do, I also run a content-heavy site that currently runs on donations. I've been doing it without paying a dime myself over the past 8 years or so. Some things I've learned: - Ask for specific dollar amounts. It'll give users an idea of what they should type in. - Make that donation link more prominent on the page. The "this PayPal link" <a> tag is pretty hidden at the bottom. - Offer incentives. I give my donors a trophy for their site account when they give something, and there are certain tiers (e.g. gold trophy for $50, silver for $25, etc.) Requires a bit of management on your side of things, but it could pay off.
  - rmc 12y ago
    Ask for specific dollar amounts. It'll give users an idea of what they should type in. Yep. I was at a museum and they had "please donate €5" donation box, which was full of fivers. Otherwise it'd be full of coins.
- splitrocket 12y ago
  Cortex: as a single datapoint, I'd pay a totally voluntary subscription for metafilter. Make it an option, and I'll do it.

revorad 12y ago

Are MetaFilter's traffic stats publicly available? I feel like there might be ways to make more money from it to keep it self-sustaining. Edit: Matt Haughey just told me on Twitter that the quantcast numbers are accurate enough - https://www.quantcast.com/metafilter.com https://www.quantcast.com/metafilter.com So that's 6M uniques and 16.5M pageviews per month. Some napkin math: Let's say 8 staff + servers cost $100,000/month. So, they need 10,000 people paying $10/month. That's 0.2% of their monthly uniques. Assuming 10% of the uniques are registered users and 2% of registered users pay, that seems achievable. Plus, they can keep the ads for non-paying users and also have higher paid plans for those willing to pay. For example - https://twitter.com/mathowie/status/468474737790693376 https://twitter.com/mathowie/status/468474737790693376

revorad 12y ago
To add to that, for comparison, they'd need $6 CPM worth of ads on all their pageviews to make the same amount just from ads.
matthaughey 12y ago
This is rough back of the envelope calculations, but we only have 62k paid users, only about 12k come back every day, so subscriptions would need something like 25%-50% of the daily userbase paying, not just 2%.
- revorad 12y ago
  Thanks Matt. As someone not very familiar with your site, I have some observations about the user experience of the site: I just tried signing up for the site. My first hurdle was finding the sign up button. It's nearly impossible. After finding the "New user" link and clicking on it, I'm presented with your community guidelines, which I understand make MeFi what it is. But, that page could still do with a sign up button, instead of the link buried at the bottom. Anyway, I clicked on the "Go ahead and sign up for an account here" link, filled in my details and then I was presented with the "pay $5 to complete your signup" message. I didn't know it was going to cost me $5! I went back to the guidelines page, and I noticed you did mention the $5 there, but I didn't read it. I expect this is the most common user experience of new visitors to your site interested in joining. I don't know if improving these things will move the needle at all for you, but there seem to be a few simple things you could try to increase signups.

Tomte 12y ago

People also say this about the SA forums. I paid for it (and some extras), enjoyed what I read in the archive -- there are some real pearls! -- but I have no idea how I could fit in there. So I'm just a lurker, but I'm still happy I found the site.

biotech 12y ago
What are the "SA" forums?
- eli 12y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_Awful http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_Awful It's a peer of 4chan.
  - vehementi 12y ago
    > It's a peer of 4chan. That is highly inaccurate
    - balladeer 12y ago
      Not really. I am a member too and I must add that even the moderators do (almost all the time) that what is frowned upon when he 4chan do it. But hey, to each his own.
jcurbo 12y ago
SA is a place with a lot of interesting contradictions; it's been around since the early days of the Web ('99) and somehow survived through several waves of dot com implosions (eFront, etc) to the present day. It is highly moderated and hosts some of the best topic-specific communities this side of Reddit, but also spawns edgy and dark humor and internet memes. The $10 fee was started in 2001 before such things like that done on the Web and that allowed the site to finally be self-sustaining and free from having to join ad-sharing groups or another content network. I've been reading since 2000 and while I don't participate as much as I used to, I still enjoy keeping up with some of the communities there.

beedogs 12y ago

> It really is an excellent (and very well-moderated) community. Except for that part where they won't ever ban dios.

wiml 12y ago
Why should they ban dios? Honestly, what makes Metafilter a great site— I've been a member there for a decade— is that, unlike a lot of fora, it still allows dissenting and unpopular views. I may frequently disagree with what dios says, but it's usually worth reading anyway. I think a lot of people equate "moderation" with "deleting and banning". If that's a moderator's main tool, though, that moderator has already failed, IMO. (Admittedly, Mefi culture has become more eager in recent years to simply quash posters or viewpoints that make them uncomfortable, which is a pity. I go there because I want find people intelligently and courteously expressing ideas I might not already be thinking. Lately Mefi has seemed less fruitful.)