Joyrex

What's a "mini LP sleeve"?

LOL, Dank Memes is over there -->

We've been blessed with not one but TWO great AE releases in a short span of time, with 20 great tracks to consume, analyze, and absorb - but overall, which one is the better of the two?

So we got a BOC release this year after all...

LOL, nice - the title is gold (or brown?)

Renewals are handled via PayPal (this goes for anyone else with a current subscription) - it will auto-renew each year unless in PayPal, not the forum you cancel the reoccurring subscription. The hosting is via a VPS (virtual private server) and the reason we are on that versus regular website hosting you may be familiar with that is a few bucks a month is the forum software consumes more resources (CPU and database) than what is typically allowed in a shared hosting environment. It also provides us other features that shared hosting does not. The hosting itself is 50 USD per month, and the forum software licenses spread out over 12 months comes out to around 20 bucks, hence the 70 USD we say it takes to "keep the lights on" each month. So it's not that expensive overall, and there really isn't anything that would reduce costs (the host does not charge for bandwidth in the sense (I think we have 4TB of ingress/egress bandwidth) of consumption. Again, we're not in any financial straits; we're looking to increase revenue to do more cool stuff (e.g., WATMM Radio) and grow the user base so more activity happens, which will grow the site.

Yes, I do use Google Analytics for tracking site activity, but no PII (personally identifiable information) is passed to GA. I would, at a minimum pass an identifying memberID to GA so I can more accurately track visitors vs members, but that would be the extent of how much I would provide Google (or any other third-party) without prior consent.

As proposed, subscribing members would not see anything related to Google AdSense.

Well, I am glad you appreciate that - the main driver of this is this constant reminder on the forum index: 256 Guests vs 61 Members - and I do believe I have crawlers/bots identified as such, so that means there are easily 200+ people right now that could sign up, but for whatever reason are not. Google Analytics bears out the same kind of stats, but I do need to make some adjustments so actual memberIDs are recorded so the analytics is more accurate.

True - but this is why I am asking everyone, as I believe this is something that the community should weigh in on since ultimately (good or bad) it will affect them. That's a valid point, but did you read the other reasons why implementing this might be possible? The requirement for paid memberships was implemented in August 2013. One thing that happened (that I have not corrected to this date) is after a person's subscription lapses, they go back to being a Member. They lose any abilities that was given with the subscription, but they don't need to pay to continue posting. I've left it that way on a honour system, same as how I have not forced any pre-2013 Members to subscribe, again working on honour more than imposing something some may not agree with who didn't have to make that choice when they first joined. I would like any advertising to be as unobtrusive as possible - thankfully the forum software does give me tools for where ads are placed, how and when they appear, etc. This will mean more overhead for me to maintain and monitor ads if they are implemented. Adsense seems to be the easiest to try (and back out of if it turns out to be a shitshow). I may consider more persistent reminders to support the site by subscribing to non-subscribers/guests if I can manage a way to do this using the features the forum provides.

Well, the one that had the inappropriate ads I don't remember (it was easily 10+ years ago), and for a long time I used VigLink (not advertising, but if a link posted say to Amazon or Ebay gets posted, it would append an affiliate link and pay a percentage of the sale if the item was purchased via that link) - I liked them because it was transparent and didn't plaster ads all over the site. However, for the past 8+ months, no revenue has come in and they don't answer support emails so I think it is dead (they were bought by another company).

One of my favorite albums and artwork of all time.

I totally agree - I remember long ago I tried some advertising thing and it was putting ads that not only were not targeted, but in some cases entirely inappropriate (some adult content) so we quickly abandoned that. I think AdSense would be more targeted and focused based on what we post.

I'm not a fan of ads either, which is why I've resisted this up until now. Between donations and subscriptions as I said, we cover our hosting and software costs, and thankfully it's been rare since I last had to pay out of pocket myself. I paid entirely out of pocket for the first 10 years of joyrex.com/watmm.com's life until @Fred McGriff suggested I start taking donations when our hosting at the time was 100 USD per month because we had to move quickly to a dedicated server due to our growth back then. I was thinking incorporating ads would have two beneficial effects: We can open registrations up to not requiring a subscription, which should bring in more users, which means more discussions, etc. It would encourage people to subscribe (yes most people use AdBlock these days), but we could have a dynamic message to whitelist WATMM as their way to support the site in lieu of a subscription Bonus benefit - more money (if AdSense/subscriptions increase revenue) would mean we could expand resources (I really want to get WATMM Radio going again) and add a lot of fun stuff to the site.

Through your subscriptions and donations, WATMM's monthly hosting and software costs are covered each month for those who have chosen to subscribe/renew. However, a large portion of WATMM members are just that - Members. Beyond the value they bring by participating, the burden of the costs of running the site are shouldered by the subscribers and myself. I'm considering implementing Google AdSense for non-subscribing members/visitors as a way to balance out everyone's contributions and ensure the forum continues being funded in the future. One benefit of doing so would be to open registrations without requiring a subscription to join - this would bring in more users, keep the community growing, and ensure the community remains active and lively. What are your thoughts? Any suggestions?

First person to post screenshot beating Leve 60 gets a free WATMM Subscription/Renewal

Yes, PBS/NPR tend (I find) to be about as fair and balanced as the media can be these days

Yeah, history is going to repeat itself again (possibly) for the third time: 1992-2000 - Clinton administration leaves the US with a budget surplus for I think the first time in history 2000-2008 - Bush administration single-handedly wipes out said surplus and plunges us into worst economic recession since the great depression, and incites two wars, both of which the US is still intertwined with to this day and no end in sight. 2008-2016 - Obama administration slowly and painfully rebuilds economy from the brink of collapse into a depression back into positive territory, albeit at the expense of the taxpayer and increasing the federal deficit to historic levels. 2016-2020 - Trump administration rides the incoming wave set in motion by Obama, and further juices the economy by handing out massive tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations, all the while increasing the deficit to even higher levels. The Coronavirus pandemic plunges the economy back into near great recession territory, coupled with job losses and unemployment not seen since the great depression. 2021 - Whichever administration takes or continues control, it will be saddled with an almost uncontrollable deficit, historic unemployment levels, and a pandemic with no signs of ending anytime soon despite the promise of a vaccine, which most experts agree likely won't be widely available until late 2021 or possibly into 2022. Millions may lose health care coverage, and millions more will be plunged into poverty, possibly triggering a second great depression rivaling the one from the 1930's that may spread worldwide due to globalization.

It helps if you have X4 on in the background

https://blocks.ovh/ You're welcome

Now Grimes has made a song with Endel:

One way to think about this (and maybe if Trump were smart they'd focus more on this than Biden himself) is really we may be electing Kamala Harris for president, since Biden will be 80 at the end of his first term (if he lives that long; seems to be in good health), so at best he'll be a one-term president, or Kamala will finish out whatever is left of Biden's term and then run for President in 2024 herself. It may be likely the Republicans will take back control of the White House and the Houses since the economy will likely tank in 2021 onward as a result of Trump's tax cuts and other expenditures coming due finally right around the time Biden/Harris finish their first term. We can only hope there will never be someone like Trump again to run for office (sit down, Kanye), ever.

RE: Lamenting lack of BoC - you guys forget that most of these artists, and I think it would be fair to include Autechre in this assessment, make music for themselves first and foremost - this is why a lot of these artists have huge catalogs of unreleased material that will likely never see the light of day simply because the artists didn't make it for us or for release to the public. I'm sad too we have no new BoC and have had none for some time - but until BoC come out and say "we're done, thanks for all the fish", we can't assume they aren't planning something for the future. In the meantime, if you'll excuse me I am heading for the upper stratosphere listening to X4