My first post went off the boil somewhat, thinking that maybe there was ideas for more than just paying for the ads. Sorry about that.

I have a suggestion.
If many people are happy to just donate for this site being so pleasant then how about a simple donation option (like has been mentioned) but with a little bonus that, if you donate a certain amount, which covers costs that are needed to be covered for excluding adverts, the adverts are excluded for the people who pay that set amount.
This then leaves the option for users to donate a lower amount which might not cover the cost of excluding the adverts, so they keep the adverts, but it lets the member just donate something out of the kindness of their heart, which is what many people want to do or maybe they really want to donate but just cannot because they can't afford the price that you are asking, so they want to donate a lower amount and this then allows people to do so, rather than having a set amount for a donation.

Love the idea sporting!

I wouldn't mind a place on funkypool where we could just donate just to help out nick, not just donate for premium.

Hopefully nick will consider doing this.

kindness

I would immediately pay for the upgrade if the ads were removed. Nothing outrageous, of course, but a monthly membership fee of 5 USD (about 2.50 Euros) would be within reason.

I'm guessing between 200-350 people between funkypool and snooker would pay for it monthly, (1000-1750 USD per month). I'm pretty sure this is more than nick gets from the ads.

EDIT: rereading this, 200 people seems like a little more than a realistic projection..

Edited at 17:34 Fri 29/08/08 (BST)

isnt $5 about £2.50. Or about 3 and a half euros?

What was your original projection?

Probably (realistically) 100 ish members from funkypool and funkysnooker combined would pay for no ads, or just to give nick spending money.

5 usD per month per person would still be $500, or $6000 per year.

Nick would still get money from the other thousands of players clicking on ads.

Nick needs to do this update as winter is coming and he needs to afford heating. We don't want our favorite admin to die of cold

It seems to me that enthusiastic players are interested in customisation. Not as a criticism, but the game is reasonably generic in that the only way to distinguish oneself is by name and rank.

For example: Theres a lot of enthusiasm for customised cues. How about as well as the free space, doubles etc. paying members get a golden cue. Or even better, if the premium was tiered gold members get gold, silver get silver etc.

Jerome

I was on a site recently <forgot site due to bad memory> and you could use your mobile to send a text and donate money which i though was a good one as i top up £30 a month to get my free texts and dont usually spend the rest unless on internet looking at football scores or whatever while im out and about so i for one would be happy to donate that way.

That would be a good idea i would do it that way !

Thumbs up

i always click the adds... then it slows me downif u gonna get adds shouldnt get another game site as a advert ( come on BINGO !!! ) lol.
And i dont think the donation would be better than the adverts. this is like family site. so most ppl are kids on ere?

Edited at 23:24 Thu 4/09/08 (BST)

Do this ads cause 'lag' or slow down game play? :)

these*

Cannot enter game the link is missing from home page - please help anyone.

Why has this been posted on this thread please?

Cannot enter game the link is missing from home page - please help anyone.

I posted this some time ago and resolved it with a simple restart, dont know why it's re-surfaced here.

I'd be up for donatin' to get rid of adverts

should we take this off sticky?? the last post before this was 8 days ago!!

ok going back to a previous post...the whole texting from your mobile thing to get membership as well as the option of paypal...yea nick speak to paypal...would be great. I have an old pay as you go mobile with £16 of useless credit on it and if you wanted say £3 a month...I could have 5 months and not have to do anything...by that time I would have a car and be broke so I would lose my 'golden cue'
On that note I dont think a golden cue is the best idea but I think a customisable (sp?) cue. the ability to choose colours and designs with different butts (is that the right word who knows) etc a golden cue would probably annoy me but if I had chosen my own cue...with graphite shaft...and a checkboard affect on the butt. I would be a happy man.

I am REALLY glad we all don't have to pay ;)

but what if you are on the other side of the world and have to pay huge international texting fees (a few dollars if its to a non-mobile phone like how you vote on Idol)...huge if you voted for say British Idol from Australia.