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Author Topic: Sheepdog still out there  (Read 49385 times)

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Offline Alex.

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Re: Sheepdog still out there
« Reply #45 on: March 14, 2015, 05:03:25 PM »
Well, you didn't even try by the sound of things. There are a fair few dedicated mods on this board and countless extra users who could of helped. But instead you just removed (deleted?) some of the communities favourite threads and a large section of its history.

It's apparent Sheep doesn't really give a damn about this forum anymore and is just doing whatever he can to make the most money from it while he can before everyone get's so fed up with the bogus rules and unanswered suggestions that they jump ship, like 3/4 of the members did when he switched to the Simple Machines engine.
(ง'̀-'́)ง

Offline PabstBlueRibbon

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Re: Sheepdog still out there
« Reply #46 on: March 14, 2015, 05:24:32 PM »
Seriously guys whos dick is bigger? what a pissing match we're having?

Offline sheepdog

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Re: Sheepdog still out there
« Reply #47 on: March 14, 2015, 10:10:05 PM »
Get some products donated from co's and run lottos for users to generate site funds
Yeah, we tried that years ago, the products were worth far more than the money raised and then half went towards shipping everything. That was included in the $400 I stated earlier.



Well, you didn't even try by the sound of things. There are a fair few dedicated mods on this board and countless extra users who could of helped. But instead you just removed (deleted?) some of the communities favourite threads and a large section of its history.

And how much is the ad revenue? Googles input must be considerable for you to take the action you did. Maybe some transparency, rather than treating us like children. This isn't some huge mega forum, it's a fairly close knit group of people
Do you really honestly think I just went in and deleted everything? Really?
I spent 5 hours the first day, only to be denied my appeal. Then another 5 hours the second day cleaning house making absolutely that there was no way to lose the second appeal.

I think you have 24 hours to respond to Google before it's done. Once a site is blocked from Google, it will NEVER have Google ads again. Google has a limited appeals system, and once gone, you are gone. Screw up too many times, goodbye. Didn't get it right the first time, you run the chance of them denying your appeal and deciding not to consider another. Google is judge, jury and executioner and they really don't give a damn what you think. They don't listen to reason, and they don't care about evidence, comply or die.

Google is not the only ad company around, they aren't even the highest paying. They are the safest (they keep adware to a minimum), least intrusive (like pop-unders?) and most reliable in terms of actually getting paid.  Other ones will allow you to do anything you want, but you guys would have 30 popups behind your browser and a computer infested with spyware after a few days.

As for the money, I'll explain in a bit.


Start a new one, but without the tits or other sinful content that was presumably in there polluting the internets.

Interesting stuff with the printer sheep, any videos of it in action?

Exactly!
They can rebuilt over time. Nothing was really lost, you guys constantly add to it, so it's always growing. Do you honestly start from the start every time? Tastes change, styles change. Besides, dumping those HUGE threads sped up the site.

On Youtube just search delta printer, you will find tons of them. I'm not sure how much footage we actually have, we have been hard pressed to hire pro photographers and such, and our camera rigs don't do it justice.



doesn't 4chan have google ads?
Doesn't matter what anyone else does, when Google sends a notice, you are the one in their crosshairs.

Offline sheepdog

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Re: Sheepdog still out there
« Reply #48 on: March 14, 2015, 10:28:48 PM »
So that works out to about $1800 a year, or 150 a month to keep the site running...  That's actually a pretty big chunk of change.

How many active users do we have?  and I wonder what percentage of those would actually be willing to pay like 10 dollars a year?  Probably less than 15%.

What was the cost for premium membership when that existed?  and how many people opted in for that? 

Sorry for all the questions.  I just "feel" like there's got to be a way to make this site self sustaining that doesn't rely on google advertising.  I know from work experience, though, that what I feel and what reality is don't always line up.  Still doesn't hurt for me to take a look at it, and run some numbers.
I have 4 forums, and I don't want to have 4 different chat forum software on them, therefore if I'm going to run Vbulletin on one, I'm going to run it on all 4.
Vbulletin plus mobile (which is BS) is $369 for a license, so there's $1480.

As for hosting, before I changed hosts, BG was on a dedicated server, because when BG was younger, servers were less powerful, and it required a full server to handle the load, this was about $105 per month. Even today some hosts will not put BG on a cheap hosting plan. Part of this is because of the size of all attachments, the other half is the database, it uses a lot of resources.  When i changed hosts, I dropped to a virtually private server, which is about $45 a month.

As for sustaining, the site earns a bit more than it costs to host. Am I getting rich, hell no, I make enough to pay for everything and buy lunch once or twice a month, that's about it.  Kurt can back that up.



could always take a page out of radbmx's book and have to buy an annual membership to post for sale and wanted adds and maybe a private locked sort of category where you can  post anything aslong as you have paid a bit like bmx-forum.com  have/had befor that turned to shit, like almost every other decent bmx related forum has.

maybe a monthly/bi-monthly raffle  £5 a ticket to win some part or frame from some company or some shit?

failing that could always find a way to create a spam bit and spam every other forum with this ones web address and perhaps get some new members and a bit of life/income into this place?
No, I have always said BG will be free. You want to see people leave, that's a great way to do it.
We tried a premium membership, it didn't do well at all.
We tried raffles, it was a joke.


It's good to see you are still around... I thought you handed over the site to Kurt @ BMX Union a while back though?
He handles some of the ads, and has a greater say in the day to day operations.


It's apparent Sheep doesn't really give a damn about this forum anymore and is just doing whatever he can to make the most money from it while he can before everyone get's so fed up with the bogus rules and unanswered suggestions that they jump ship, like 3/4 of the members did when he switched to the Simple Machines engine.
Yes, I totally make a fortune off this place...
3/4ths of the members didn't jump ship at the time, I purged a ton of spam members.

As for the rest, if they leave at the first change, they were just looking for a reason to leave and weren't going to be here much longer regardless.

Any time you change something on a forum a ton of users bitch and moan and a few leave, a whole bunch say they will but don't or find their way back. I could change the background to black and 20 people would shout they were leaving because of it. If I offered to go back to Vbulletin, exactly as it was before, a quarter would cheer, another quarter would scream saying don't mess with it, the other half would just shrug. Even sites that HAVE to update because things are outdated (as BG was), users will complain. Some despise change, no matter how beneficial it is.  Was all of the change for the better, maybe not on your end, but from mine...  Absolutely.

We have far less spam, I mean truckloads less. I don't have to deal with Vbulletin's fees or service, I have cheaper hosting, and in many ways, this software is actually better. Don't get me wrong, I liked Vbulletin, I still think it;s one of the best chat forum software you can get, it's very fast and low resource. It's also lagging behind on features since they sold, and their price more than doubled since I started using it.


Offline Prodigal Son

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Re: Sheepdog still out there
« Reply #49 on: March 14, 2015, 11:04:36 PM »
Blue, oh blue site. You're easy on the eyes late at night. For that, an ad do I click.

Offline master

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Re: Sheepdog still out there
« Reply #50 on: March 14, 2015, 11:18:14 PM »
I honestly mean this sheep, thank you for those explanations. A lot of us had been wondering what was going on and felt left behind.

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Re: Sheepdog still out there
« Reply #51 on: March 15, 2015, 03:02:44 AM »
Sheepdogs achievements:
1. Moves forum over to 'better' host, many old members lose log in details.

2. Removes rep

3. Deletes popular threads

Thanks m8

You're quite welcome!
Next time I need to verify 3,500,000 posts in 24 hours I'll be sure to call you and then you can do it. I have a lawyer on retainer, he'd be happy to draw up the contract for this, penalties and all.

A few passwords were corrupted, but many simply didn't know their passwords or were disabled because they were too f'ing easy to guess. As for the host and software change, just let me know where to send the bill and I'll switch it right back to how it was. That will be $1600 for software every 3 years, and $105 every month for hosting. No seriously, let me know and I'll send you the bill.  No? Then shut the hell up.

If only I could green box that. sadly I can't :-D

Offline reebzor

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Re: Sheepdog still out there
« Reply #52 on: March 15, 2015, 11:02:55 AM »
Hey sheep, I know how much time and effort you put into this place and I appreciate what you've done to keep it running.


my offer still stands if you ever need a hand with administration, management, hosting, operations

Offline bluebmx

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Re: Sheepdog still out there
« Reply #53 on: March 15, 2015, 11:55:35 AM »
He handles some of the ads, and has a greater say in the day to day operations.

right on. Still get not he bmx from time to time, or has that come to an end (whether it be for age or work related reasons)? I wish you had resurfaced sooner, I took a big trip last year and past by St,Louis, where I think you lived (at least at some point). Would have been cool to meet you since BG certainly had a huge effect on my whole life ultimately... from that awful race report I did that you posted, which got me on a race team, out to inter bike and many other opportunities.
« Last Edit: March 16, 2015, 07:48:32 AM by bluebmx »

Offline Hank Chinaski

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Re: Sheepdog still out there
« Reply #54 on: March 15, 2015, 03:04:07 PM »
So why was the penthouse closed?
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Offline ginger

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Re: Sheepdog still out there
« Reply #55 on: March 15, 2015, 04:07:50 PM »
Since sheep deleted the boobies we've had a spike in activity.
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Offline wartree

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Re: Sheepdog still out there
« Reply #56 on: March 15, 2015, 05:40:31 PM »
just postin to check my post count
Wink to you my good man

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Offline ediotism

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Re: Sheepdog still out there
« Reply #57 on: March 16, 2015, 08:59:44 AM »
losing user names/password isn't a big deal to be honest, i just adjusted mine and it's all good. I find it a little strange that forums allow a single letter username (G), it was difficult to follow (i.e. stalk) some previous posts using teh search bar. but no big deal.


good to know Sheep's still kicking ass, wouldn't it have been in your interest to post on BG and your other forums when you had the kickstarter campaign going tho?

Offline G

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Re: Sheepdog still out there
« Reply #58 on: March 16, 2015, 09:11:04 AM »
Please dont feel the need to waste your time on justifying how you run this place. If people think that they have a great money raising idea then they can get on with it themselves and just send you the money when they are done surely?

You guys are welcome.

By the way, for those wondering what I've been up to... 
3d printers... lots and lots of 3d printers.

A friend and I started a new company a while back building 3d printers (Griffin 3d) based on one I designed. Since then, we've raised $50k on Kickstarter last September, been to investor conventions where we had some offers, went to Makerfaire, invited to TedX, interviewed on PBS, and done local web based TV shows. It's been nuts.

We are building our own laser cutter (4ftx3ft, 110watts, cuts almost anything but metal) and invested in some software that will change 3d printing, it could result in 75% faster prints. Up next is a bigger shop so we can get a cnc, which we will more than likely buy or trade a printer for, and at some point I'll probably build a waterjet if we have the space.



This looks great. Really wish you would have given it a plug on here when it was a kickstarter.

What is the likely leadtime on an XL kit at the moment? I have been planning on building a bigger machine for a while but this looks like a quick solution rather than the issues I was looking at scaling a cartesian machine. Do you use a heated bed? How does the Gorrilla glass handle heating? I generally print with PLA so need a heated bed, but am looking at printing with HIPS soon so a heated enclosure might make more sense.

I have always wondered if a Delta bot could be made to flip half way through the print to be able to use the entire height for the print? ie. Raise the print head; then drive the print head outside the normal print envelope right off to one side; and then flip the opposite carriage to below the print head. Then repeat for the other two carriages. Then carry on printing with the carriages below the head right out the top of a shorter fatter printer... I hope this crappy description makes sense.

I would also love a small waterjet. Been wondering if it would be practical to make a sort of two foot square one for the home. Waterjet has so many advantages and if a typical pressure washer could be adapted to provide the pump it might be pretty affordable. The hardened and scruffy edge on plasma and laser cuts is a big issue sometimes.

All the best with it.

:)
George
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Offline Sasha

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Re: Sheepdog still out there
« Reply #59 on: March 16, 2015, 12:26:30 PM »
I miss the big bike thread. I would have never looked through it I guess. Life goes on.

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Re: Sheepdog still out there
« Reply #59 on: March 16, 2015, 12:26:30 PM »

 

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