The conundrums of a free site

Neil Gunn

Gandalf the Grey

posted: 12/28/2007 at 2:57 PM

Nena ... is your AVATAR the Mexico City 10k ... if it is then I was there as well! Welcome to RA, Neil UK

Running ... just keep running!
Fancy a holiday running in the French Alps?

PrinceJ

posted: 12/28/2007 at 9:22 PM

Eric: I think my only concern after the Cool Running Fiasco is that because it is a free site, you don't have anything to lose if I go away, and therefore you don't have any incentive to maintain the site the way it is, which I have to admit is great. I have the fear that one day I will wake up looking to log onto Running Ahead, only to find "Active Sarah" chastising me about not being open to change. -Jonathan

I'm condemned by a society that demands success when all I can offer is failure. -Max Bialystock

Run To Win

Blaine Moore (MM#2867)

posted: 12/28/2007 at 10:26 PM

Quote from PrinceJ on 12/28/2007 at 9:22 PM:

I think my only concern after the Cool Running Fiasco is that because it is a free site, you don't have anything to lose if I go away, and therefore you don't have any incentive to maintain the site the way it is, which I have to admit is great.

It's a good thing that Eric makes it so easy to export your log, then, as either XML or as an excel file. Regular backups are always a good thing. Smile

Run to Win
23 Marathons, 10 Ultras, 16 States (Full List)

eric :)

posted: 12/29/2007 at 1:59 AM

Quote from PrinceJ on 12/28/2007 at 9:22 PM:

Eric: I think my only concern after the Cool Running Fiasco is that because it is a free site, you don't have anything to lose if I go away, and therefore you don't have any incentive to maintain the site the way it is, which I have to admit is great. I have the fear that one day I will wake up looking to log onto Running Ahead, only to find "Active Sarah" chastising me about not being open to change. -Jonathan

Jonathan, Just because I run a free site doesn't mean I have nothing to lose. You have to understand why I do it in the first place but that's a different story. It's no longer about me. I strive to improve it because of you, my users. I am obligated to look out for your best interest (within reason of course). That means I will not abandon you guys like Cool Running. If someone offers me millions for it, then that's a different story. Even then, I will make sure that he will take good care of you. eric Smile

SurfNRun

Prophet!

posted: 12/29/2007 at 2:26 AM
modified: 12/29/2007 at 2:26 AM

Eric rocks. If only i am fast enough to qualify for Boston so i can go up there and meet ya and shake yer hand and give you lots of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts. Maybe in a few years Cool

Strings_n_88keys

meh

posted: 12/29/2007 at 3:41 PM

Would you have any use for a time-slice on another server? I don't know that I have the resources to give, but the whole "Pace Bunny" issue made me think that if some server work or bandwidth could be farmed out, it might help your efforts? As for Google adsense, I have two sites that have adsense: One site: 20k impressions, 78 clicks, $8.54 last month. The other site: 4k impressions, 24 clicks, $3.19 last month. On average, I'm getting $0.50 per 1000 ad impressions, but I believe some of the key things for a site are a strong site focus and the opportunity for an advertiser to want to place ads on your specific site. YMMV.

"You can't untrain for Monkey" - bdub

Randy44

posted: 12/29/2007 at 7:01 PM

Eric: I love what you have done with the site. Thank you for helping all former CR posters with a functional site.

Run_nena_Run

Sweaty

posted: 12/29/2007 at 9:07 PM

"Nena ... is your AVATAR the Mexico" Hi Neil. Thank you for your welcome. The photo is in Venezuela. From the Nike Race 10k in November.

I don´r suffer from insanity, I enjoy every single moment. L.L

Neil Gunn

Gandalf the Grey

posted: 12/30/2007 at 3:58 AM

Quote from Run_nena_Run on 12/29/2007 at 9:07 PM:

"Nena ... is your AVATAR the Mexico" Hi Neil. Thank you for your welcome. The photo is in Venezuela. From the Nike Race 10k in November.

Nena - thanks. The race in Mexico was the Nike 10k as well and everyone wore blue running shirts. It must have been a series across a number of countries! Enjoy your running, Neil UK

Running ... just keep running!
Fancy a holiday running in the French Alps?

Nick Cook

posted: 1/8/2008 at 9:43 AM

Quote from PrinceJ on 12/28/2007 at 9:22 PM:

Eric: I have the fear that one day I will wake up looking to log onto Running Ahead, only to find "Active Sarah" chastising me about not being open to change. -Jonathan

Fantastic!!!! Big grin

KK Lynn

posted: 1/8/2008 at 9:38 PM

Eric, I have been using your site now since last May and I love it. I am a Cross Country coach and I have my kids use the site as well. I just want to say thanks and keep up the good work. KKL

lasdinaub

posted: 1/9/2008 at 12:27 AM
modified: 1/9/2008 at 12:28 AM

Quote from Strings_n_88keys on 12/29/2007 at 3:41 PM:

As for Google adsense, I have two sites that have adsense: One site: 20k impressions, 78 clicks, $8.54 last month. The other site: 4k impressions, 24 clicks, $3.19 last month. On average, I'm getting $0.50 per 1000 ad impressions, but I believe some of the key things for a site are a strong site focus and the opportunity for an advertiser to want to place ads on your specific site. YMMV.

I would rather pay (which I do occasionally through PayPal) than have ads. The internet is COVERED with ads, and they are getting more obnoxius all the time(ie; automatic talking ads, video ads, "roll-over" with yoiur mouse ads that freeze the computer, etc!). I will pay before Eric adds ads!!!

Next up: A 50k in ? Done: California-Oregon-Arizona-Nevada (x2)-Wisconsin-Wyoming-Utah-Michigan-Colorado

AmoresPerros

HobbyJogger & HobbyRacer

posted: 1/9/2008 at 11:36 AM

> The internet is COVERED with ads To foolishly risk a flamewar, for those of us using firefox+NoScript with Flash etc blocked, the Internet is covered with sites that don't work very well and have little boxes with script F in them...

It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.

Grizzld

posted: 1/29/2008 at 11:54 PM

Eric, Love the site and love the Far Side reference in your profile. Thanks for being part of my running journey. I've bounced around from site to site, but I always maintain this one as my home. If I'm ever in Boston, I'll buy you a pint for your troubles.

ultrarunner2

Running on the ocean

posted: 2/12/2008 at 1:29 PM

Eric I'm in the same boat as you. I run a social networking website since 1998 and I've build it up small and kept improving it over the years. Just on November 17, 2007 I had my 500,000th member sign up. I agree with you that working on it and putting up new features takes most time. I'm not sure how much resources you are using but in my case I have a dedicated server in Germany, which I am really happy with. I serve about 3.5 million page views a month and burn more than 300GB bandwith monthly. With that in mind it's obvious that my hosting does cost several hundred dollars a month and I wouldn't be able to survive without getting some revenues from the site. Back in 2005 I've added google adsense, which runs OK. I also offered a paid VIP membership on top of the free one, which has more features. With adsense and VIP membership I can manage to run the site. I still don't get a paycheck for the hours I put in but I don't mind because I do it for the love of it. It's amazing seeing that I can help making a difference in some people. That's what it is all about.

You know when you're running a ultra marathon because the pain actually starts to hurt
-- Jakob Herrmann
my running achievements

The conundrums of a free site (Read 7689 times)