• Help Support The Rugby Forum :

Raising money for TRF

Saints1

Straight Edge
Joined
Nov 9, 2005
Messages
2,579
Country Flag
England
Club or Nation
St Helens
I pride myself on my honesty running TRF. Always have and always will.

The fact of the matter is we're skint. Broke. The coffers are empty. I had a whip round last year to pay for the forum upgrade and whilst we had the issue with the database I am more than satisfied with the way the forum is performing on a technical aspect.

On a financial side of things, it's not as good. We were autonomous until 18 months ago when at the height of the credit crunch our former sponsors, when we had some very innocuous adverts that you could hardly notice but did pay their way, had to abscond due to their own costs. However, I've not effectively been able to replace them. So, it comes to this:

My idea, and it's not formalised but is well on the way to being, is as follows:

The TRF season ticket

For the cost of £12, the equivalent of £1 a month, I will be incorporating this new scheme available to all TRF members.

What we'll do is:

- £12 a year - equates to £1 month.
- Install an arcade for ST holders only.
- Give ST holders their own user group and colour.
- Give ST holders their own TRF e-mail address.
- Own ST holder forum.
- ST holders given a monthly meeting with TRF owners to discuss issues.
- ST holders to be consulted on big forum issues and decisions.
- Monthly newsletter.

I can promise you I will NOT:

- Charge anyone who doesn't wish to pay.
- Charge for access to anything regarding Rugby 2012 or mods for previous games.


I can't rule out:

- Personal avatars and or signatures becoming ST only.


Personally, I think £12 is a tiny figure of money and for every season ticket bought, that would pay for one month's hosting. I'm not promising huge value for money because there's not that much I can provide. But for £1 a month you can help me, and Charlie, and Chris, to build our way into a better future for TRF. The software change was the absolute right thing to do. But I've not been able to get money rolling in on a regular basis and 2010 was the year where we had to renew the domain as well. That was secured for another 4 years.

Let me again emphasise - this will run alongside existing membership, I am not going to charge people to use TRF and I am not going to force a season ticket on anyone. I just need to make the forum some money, it's coming out of our pockets at the moment and that's something I simply cannot afford and in fact none of us can.

If you've got any ideas and suggestions please make them here, as I want to get this rolling by the end of the week ideally.
 
i think this is a very good idea personally, as long as there is no pressure on anyone to become a ST member and basic features are still available to all members regardless. Few questions, would there be a cap on the number of ST holders, as a monthly meeting consisting of 50 people could be an issue with people trying to voice their opinion. but overall, this looks like a possible way forward for TRF.
 
Thanks for the honesty. I will strongly consider contributing. In fairness i spend more time on here dicking around than I do playing video games or watching DVD's so it really is a pittance.
 
Hey man... I am all for this. A forum costs money (I know myself, I run a forum too) and it is a small amount.

My advice to you is to install a VB donation mod on the forum which makes it that much easier for people to do this.

When you have it, I will definitely be one of the guys getting a membership
 
well i'd be more than happy to pay 12 quid a year :D :D thats like 4/5 beers in the "weatherspoons" that i can do without :D :D would definitely help you guys out by becoming a Season Ticket holder, its the least we could all do to help keep this amazing community strong :D Got my vote :D :D
 
If my parents give me the credit card I am in....you could also sell TRF T-shirts or something :/
 
For the people without a credit card, there is an easy solution:

https://www.3vcash.com/

Here you can put money on a digital debit card. Works exactly the same as a creditcard
 
I will, budget permitting, most likley sign up for this.
 
i'd probably be up for this too.

another suggestion:

i've played quite a bit of tiger woods golf and got bored with the limited selection of courses there are. there's a wonderful site on the internet where people post courses they've designed themselves up (be they real or fantasy) and people like me can go on and download them. And while the courses themselves are uploaded for free by the architects, the website requires members to pay a certain fee to be able to download stuff from the site.

given that TRF is accessed frequently by people looking for Rugby08 mods etc., and this is the official site of Rugby 12, could charging members a small fee to access (a more coherently organised ) mods section work?
 
I would pay that and I think its a great idea as it doesn't stop people from using the forum if they can't pay. I also like the extras because it allows people who are really into the forum more privileges and responsibility.
 
It's times like these and when I see real good stuff on trade me that I really wish I had a credit card.....

I'm all for this by the way and to be honest I think all frequent members should contribute to this somehow...
 
I'm not opposed to the idea, but I don't see anything that interests me. Sorry.
 
ill pay 12 quid
but lack of credit card and debit cards

i could post it to you??? :D
 
If I have the money, I'll be more than happy to give this a go.Just make sure people can pay via Pay-Pal, should be the easiest.
 
I'd certainly be up for this.

This is a website and forum still on the rise imo. The links with HB studios and the exclusive interviews recently show good promise that the place could kick off in the near future. There seems to have been a slight lull after upgrading the forum, but it was the right thing to do at the time, and something which has secured the future of the forum from the technical side. I'm sure it won't be too long untill some new sponsors are found.

I think the format you've outlayed above is perfectly acceptable. I'd personally wouldn't stop non ST holders from having their own avatar, as it helps identify different posters at just a glance, but having signatures as ST only would make perfect sense.

Go for it, I as most others are always willing to help, and £12 isn't alot to pay to keep this place alive / help you guys out.

Out of interest. How the hell do some people here not have a debit/credit card in this day and age? Would be almost impossible to survive without one!
 
I'd certainly be up for this.

This is a website and forum still on the rise imo. The links with HB studios and the exclusive interviews recently show good promise that the place could kick off in the near future. There seems to have been a slight lull after upgrading the forum, but it was the right thing to do at the time, and something which has secured the future of the forum from the technical side. I'm sure it won't be too long untill some new sponsors are found.
I think the format you've outlayed above is perfectly acceptable. I'd personally wouldn't stop non ST holders from having their own avatar, as it helps identify different posters at just a glance, but having signatures as ST only would make perfect sense.

Go for it, I as most others are always willing to help, and £12 isn't alot to pay to keep this place alive / help you guys out.

Out of interest. How the hell do some people here not have a debit/credit card in this day and age? Would be almost impossible to survive without one!

not left school yet and avnt got round to sorting one out and my work is cash in hand so no paycheck to sort out
 
Cash in hand eeyyyy ... tax man know about this :lol:
 
pretty sure i dont get taxed on it anyways have to earn over a certain amount or not be a full time student
god bless massive goverment loopholes!
 
The issue for me, is just the credit card, which I'm sure I'll find a way around.
 

Latest posts

Top