Our Goal: AD-FREE

[stephen]

While we have been excited about joining together in this cyber-fellowship here at GPAWF!!, one thing that has been problematic, and out of our control, is the banner ad's, and the link post ad's that we all see on the pages here within the GPAWF!!

Some of these ad's are rather objectionable, and really do not belong here.

Now, there is a remedy for this: ForumsPlace (our webhost) offers an ad-free service. We can buy blocks of ad-free pages, which will remove all of the ad's from GAPWF!! The only ad's that would be left are link ad's directly tied to ForumsPlace services, and those would be few, and most likely at the bottom of the page.

So the decission is made, to set a goal for the GPAWF!! In September we need to start a fund drive to get all of our pages ad-free! Right now I will be looking for those willing to donate to the cause, but, if I can work it out, I am going to try and raffle off something cool. I wont say what I have in mind, but if it works out, I'll let you all know.

So right now, I would like it if you would pray, and think about donating for the ad-free cause here at the GPAWF!!

[Kitty]

Make it easy for us, Stephen... set up a PayPal "donate button" somewhere on the page.

Kitty

[stephen]

Make it easy for us, Stephen... set up a PayPal "donate button" somewhere on the page.

Kitty

I wish I could, but I do not have that type of control here. That is strictly the webhosts control.

Hmmmm, maybe I can set up a PayPal account, and put a link to it in a global announcement here in all the forums? Hmmmmmm ..........

But I still like the idea of tryin to do araffle, and see someone win something cool!

[Crunchyriff]

Make it easy for us, Stephen... set up a PayPal "donate button" somewhere on the page.


Excellent idea, Kitty!!

BTW, have you hugged your humidifier today??? :mrgreen:

[TheBigKevDogg]

Yeah ad-free is great... but is it really worth our money when we could just ignore them? I get the most explicit spam every once in a while, and i just ignore it. I don't know I barely even noticed them before it started getting hyped up here

[Crunchyriff]

and speaking about it is "hyping???

I suppose I could ignore a turd in my refrigerator, too. :dunno

[kewlpack]

I will donate... just tell me when and where... :mrgreen:

[Barry]

I will donate... just tell me when and where... :mrgreen:

Bump... Ditto ;)

[reverbbb]

Yeah ad-free is great... but is it really worth our money when we could just ignore them? I get the most explicit spam every once in a while, and i just ignore it. I don't know I barely even noticed them before it started getting hyped up here

I think that we have all been exposed to objectionable materials in our lives and are no longer shocked. It is very easy for all of us to ignore the bad banner ads, just as we can avoid looking at the porn magazines at the conveineince stores.

However, I side with Stephen on this issue. Having those types of banners and links is confusing to new browsers to the forum. How can we be a considered Christian based fellowship, yet allow sinful ads to be displayed? Many of those links lead you into trojon horse spywares and virus' too.

I'm sure nearly everyone can figure out that the banners are not part of the mission of this forum. But at the same time, I have no doubt that some folks are just simply turned off by the display of these ads and question this site's integrity for allowing them. We will never know about these folks, because they won't even bother to join the forum out of concern or confusion.

Let's all do what ever it takes to dismiss this sin from our eyes. I'm sure that it is what Jesus would do.

[MrMike]

My concern is for those who have struggled with these issues and may be vulnerable to temptation. We don't want to be a stumbling block.

[stephen]

OK, I'm thinkin a donation/raffle. I might be lining up an amp, and we'll see if somethin else shakes out of the tree as a prize or two.

It will be a raffle open only to members here at the GPAWF!! I still have to determine what the raffle ticket price is, and a few other logistics, but it looks like we are going to do this.

All of the monies generated will go to running this site, and any shipping costs of the raffle prize(s).

So it looks like this is a go! So start saving your nickels and dimes, and if you feel lead to donate a prize, or know of someone who wants to donate a prize, send me a PM. One member here has already said they want to see if they can donate something (and I hadnt even asked yet!). How cool is that!

So, let the games begin!

[stephen]

ITS A RAFFLE! Yep, you all heard it right: were going to hold a raffle. I'm shootin for the end of September, but it may be in October. I will get back to you on the date, and the raffle amount in a few days.

We already have our first donation confirmed:
A 5-pack of NOS RCA 7025s http://guitaristsprais.forumsplace.com/urljump.php?url=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/pearlygator/Misc/nos.jpg
Tube world had this to say about em:
(very dynamic, rich, silky and sparkly sounding with a tight bottom
end and clear-warm top-end, these are the BEST 7025)
(low noise, low microphonics, also see 5751 RCA for substitute)
(these are superb as input tubes in guitar amps)

These are being donated by "Music Services, Palmdale CA", which is our one and only Pearly Gator! That is such a wonderful donation! Thanks a lot Gary! I'm going to be posting all of Music Services, Palmdale CA info including an email address, and a weblink.

So if anyone else would like to donate an item for this raffle, have them send me an email at gpawf@yahoo.com and I will get in contact with them ASAP.

[SAguitar]

While I don't have a problem ignoring the banner ads, I agree and side with Paul the apostle on not doing what's OK with me for the sake of one who is weaker. I will help out. :cool:

[TheBigKevDogg]

well guys I recently switched over to Mozilla Firefox from IE and just found the best adblocking program, and now I don't even see the ads here anymore! I just installed this: https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=10&application=firefox which is an extension for firefox that makes it so ads don't even show up! I don't even see them!

[Pearly Gator]

BigKev, thank you for that link! I installed it and surfed over to SoundClick. Poof! No more ads and pages load faster!

Gator

[kewlpack]

Ya, FireFox's AdBlocker extension is even better than the Maxthon one. Forgot to mention that. I love being able to AdBlock IFrames with wildcards. :)

[Teleguy]

Whatever ya wanna do Stephen. I'm wit cha.

But whatever you decide to do, do it quick, my money dissapeers FAST!
Then, all bets and commitments are off :dunno

[ProTonePedals]

Count me in! I'll contribute a pedal and some swag to the raffle.

Stephen- send me an Email and we'll work out the details.

With gratitude,

Dennis

[stephen]

OK, after a lovely vacation in beautiful Yosemite, I've decided that we are going to have the fundraiser in February, and we are going to shoot for a little more than ad-free: Lets get this forum set up where we control the ads, and it set up to where we can have some garage sale pages, plus some others (say an audio page .....). We would then get the domain name thing going, and we would then be runnin with the big dog's!

So those that have told me they are going to donate gear/swag to the cause, I'll be contacting you, and we are going to do this right, seeing that we now have some time to get it done right!

So everyone pray about this, and get ready for the February Fundraiser!

[SAguitar]

Just lemme know. I love this place, and I'd love to donate some stuffs to take us to the next level.

Bless yas, Stan