While viewing the forum over the past few days, I've noticed more and more members with custom titles. This can only mean one thing, the forum is making a lot more money from donations. I remember one member (who's name I know but don't see it as necessary to mention) saying they had donated over £50 to the forum over the time they have been on here. These are from donations, therefore it is down to the individual to decide whether they wish to do this or not. But I can imagine a fair amount of cash comes from advertising(£40 per month for a banner at the top IIRC from various threads where Paul has made suggestions for banners). I was wondering where all this money goes?

Obviously, there are hosting charges for the domain name and the space on the server. However, I'm unsure as to what this actually works out as. Don't these type of forums come at a very low cost, if any?

Would anyone else be interested to see a statement of accounts for the Fiat Forum to see what our money is actually used for?

Im with sei!!!

Im not interested in seeing the actual accounts but i would be interested to see where our money goes.

Im off to donate now!!

Agreed would very much be nice to know.

I think there was a thread about this before. I don't remember the outcome...

from what i know the money is used for upgrades etc....

Upgrades of what?

BOO spend just over £100 a year for the server hosting which is inclusive of everything. Upgrades are not our problem. We dont charge as much as FF for advertising yet still make a profit for the club.

So my guess is that the advertising covers the server etc quite easily as there are at least 3 banners on here. Where do the donations go?

Ben uses the money to go to Japan, thought everyone knew that one!!

Liam

into a pot i'm guessing, to pay for server upgrades when they're needed. I remeber when the forum was moved onto a new uber beefy server, they aint cheap.

Bloody hell wimmy calm down m8!!

arc said:

into a pot i'm guessing, to pay for server upgrades when they're needed. I remeber when the forum was moved onto a new uber beefy server, they aint cheap.

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:yeahthat:

mods should know exact cost of new server, it was posted in the moderators section, its a blooming lot.

Not only that, I am sure even to Ben and his bulk buying, the bandwith is a fair amount, especially the amount I am on here!

I am happy to give what i can when I can since I use it so much, I don't expect everything in life for free.

FF is on a dedicated server - that costs a bomb per month. Upgrades for the software do have to be paid for (another one for the mods - email server)

i reckon i have saved hours of time, finding out how to do jobs on here, an saved lots of money buy other members posting bargains, an other people who have to pay garage rates who find answers on here instead must save hundreds as well.

I am trusting enough not to doubt that the money is spent wisely but I'd still be interested in the accounts - after all the forum can't need an infinate amount of money, there must be a limit on how much you can spend.

Plus of course all very well "mods can do this and this and this" but that doesn't help us plebs.

This thread is gonna be big

luke1985 said:

(another one for the mods - email server)

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shh or they will all wont one

poor ben he got no time, and now hes got to put all the accounts up as well.

according to liam hes in japan all the time

Hang on, so you're telling me I can have an FF e-mail account? How much do i need to donate for that?!

To be honest if Ben was making money I wouldn't care....maybe others are different. If he set out with the sole intention of making money my feelings would be different but he didn't did he. I very much doubt it. It's not all about money on this site, if it was, their would be compulsary fees etc.

Do we really need a cento and BOO vs. FF thread? Not really.

surfin_fella said:

Hang on, so you're telling me I can have an FF e-mail account? How much do i need to donate for that?!

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no you cant

Lol... no problem

No way do donations and the ad banners cover the server cost

Total money from advertising this year = £440
Total money from donations (in a year) = £300 (roughly)

Total yearly income £740 (ish)

Server costs = £1440 a year
Server Software = About £70 a year (every year)

Total yearly outgoing = £1510 a year

Total profit for FIAT Forum = £-770 a year

Then of course there was the initial upgrade outlay:

Initial Software outlay = $199 (server) + $160 (vbulletin) + $130 (photopost) + $130 (classifieds) + $39 (links) = $658 / £365

So that's actually everything used up... but just in case there was anything left...

What's it used for? Anything that's needed for the forum really... I can't really be more specific, but say an advert is placed in a magazine () that will be covered by donations, advertising cards, banners for car shows....

Rest assured people, even if this place did make a profit, it would be completely put back in the forum ...