I wanted to drop a quick note and suggestion to all TWers.
The past 36 to 48 hours have seen a whirlwind of activity with Everton Football Club and it got me thinking how fortunate we are to have ToffeeWeb.
About a month ago, I signed up to be a TW Patron. The process was very, very simple. I think I signed up for a fairly nominal amount - around $5 per month. It's not much, but with the hundreds or thousands of readers and contributors on this site, I did some quick math(s) and realized if everyone contributed just a small bit, the resulting number would be fairly healthy.
We've been exceedingly fortunate, always but especially the last few days, to have TW. The quality of articles with the recent storm of news, and the speed at which they are posted for our benefit are mind-boggling.
Many on here laud Lyndon's and Michael's efforts, professionalism, and diligence. It's high time we support them in a small way personally, but collectively ensuring the content and quality of TW is, as it has been, top notch.
Sign up to be a TW Patron and support the site.
And no, I've not been compensated by anyone, not asked to post this, this is simply my opinion and conviction. If anything, I drive Lyndon batshit crazy with fragments, awful punctuation, and horrible sentence structure.
Surely a small monthly amount for the efforts is warranted.
And frankly TW deserves our support. Where else can you have Blue-based articles on breaking news in such a perfectly organized and well-written fashion?
Pony up if you haven't. It's the right thing to do!
Cheers.
Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer
Editorial Team
Posted
18/05/2018 at
00:18:03
Thanks, Jamie, not only for signing up as a ToffeeWeb Patron/sponsor but for taking the time to write this. I can confirm that you were not paid for this commercial endorsement!
I apologise for not posting it yesterday when you originally submitted it but I wanted it to coincide with this post about virus scam popups/browser takeovers because the two go very much hand-in-hand.
Web ads have become annoying and intrusive even at their most benign but also increasingly mischievous or malicious and with the big ad servers like Google Adsense (on which TW relies) pumping out millions of ads, they're not always able to catch the ones where bad code is being sneaked in under the radar.
I have always been resolute on keeping the experience of using ToffeeWeb as unimpeded by ads as possible. I get emails literally every day from companies pitching popups, layers, video ads and unrelated sponsored articles and I turn them down but as pop-up blockers become more prevalent and revenue declines over time it becomes harder and harder to do so.
The ads have been a necessary evil, I'm afraid. If I could run this site to the level I currently do for nothing, believe me I would, but the reality is I can't. As you've noticed, Jamie, it takes long hours, curtailed sleep and time away from my family!
Which is where the TW Patron subscription comes in. Now, as someone who just gritted my teeth and signed up to get past another newspaper paywall only today, I realise that life can be expensive and there is a limit to the number of publications or subscriptions you feel you can pony up for. That's why I wanted it to be entirely voluntary.
But... if you want to read this website free of the clutter of unwanted ads and can help keep ToffeeWeb going in its current form, it really would be tremendous. If there's enough uptake, it might even allow for some subscriber benefits like a newsletter digest and other perks but I don't want to get ahead of myself!
If you're an existing Member (for commenting, etc), you can sign up quickly here and your subscription (monthly or yearly – there's a discount for the latter!) will roll over until you decide to cancel; if you don't already have a Membership account you'll need to open one up first (that one is free). In both instances, you have a rock-solid guarantee that none of your personal information will be shared, sold or distributed to a third party without your express consent.
Cheers and COYB!
Posted
19/05/2018 at
14:47:41
No problem at all Lyndon.
The safest businesses have revenues spread out over multiple small streams. When you have a business that derives much of it's income from a handful of sources, you're dancing with the devil. If you lose even one of your top accounts, you're financially strapped.
I know this as I run a small business who's top 10 accounts out of 400 or so collectively contribute under 15% of revenues. I sleep well, not worrying about my mortgage payment should I lose a top account.
We can help that cause with TW, Lyndon, and Michael by becoming a Patron. 300 people contributing just $5 per month would result in $1500 per month revenues, defraying hosting, computer costs, time, etc.
And as I said when you take just a second to consider the quality of content, it really isn't much to ask.
The long-term reality as costs rise is a subscription based service. And I'm sure no one, including TW brass, wants that.
Show your support for the ability to continually be up to date on all things Blue. Hell, the hourly rate for the joy of the banter and reading the comments / your entertainment value is cheap as hell.
I've said my peace. I'm out, cue mic drop.
Editorial Team
1 Posted 18/05/2018 at 00:18:03
I apologise for not posting it yesterday when you originally submitted it but I wanted it to coincide with this post about virus scam popups/browser takeovers because the two go very much hand-in-hand.
Web ads have become annoying and intrusive even at their most benign but also increasingly mischievous or malicious and with the big ad servers like Google Adsense (on which TW relies) pumping out millions of ads, they're not always able to catch the ones where bad code is being sneaked in under the radar.
I have always been resolute on keeping the experience of using ToffeeWeb as unimpeded by ads as possible. I get emails literally every day from companies pitching popups, layers, video ads and unrelated sponsored articles and I turn them down but as pop-up blockers become more prevalent and revenue declines over time it becomes harder and harder to do so.
The ads have been a necessary evil, I'm afraid. If I could run this site to the level I currently do for nothing, believe me I would, but the reality is I can't. As you've noticed, Jamie, it takes long hours, curtailed sleep and time away from my family!
Which is where the TW Patron subscription comes in. Now, as someone who just gritted my teeth and signed up to get past another newspaper paywall only today, I realise that life can be expensive and there is a limit to the number of publications or subscriptions you feel you can pony up for. That's why I wanted it to be entirely voluntary.
But... if you want to read this website free of the clutter of unwanted ads and can help keep ToffeeWeb going in its current form, it really would be tremendous. If there's enough uptake, it might even allow for some subscriber benefits like a newsletter digest and other perks but I don't want to get ahead of myself!
If you're an existing Member (for commenting, etc), you can sign up quickly here and your subscription (monthly or yearly – there's a discount for the latter!) will roll over until you decide to cancel; if you don't already have a Membership account you'll need to open one up first (that one is free). In both instances, you have a rock-solid guarantee that none of your personal information will be shared, sold or distributed to a third party without your express consent.
Cheers and COYB!