In about 2-3 weeks I plan to begin the long move over the VB4. The switch itself should be fast but it will be marked by a road of templet updates as I try to make the site look similar to how it does now. In addition the new site will enable some new features and will even mark the time for me to bring back some old ones:

  • Website and forums integrated
  • Stats and website and forums will be more integrated
  • Steam friends integration
  • Ads
  • Admin forums
  • Eventual admin and server integration
  • Content on main site
  • Blog support for users

You may notice that on that list is Ads and yes it is what you think. There will be ads on all parts of the site including the forums. Now I really hate ad spam sites and that is why I will be working hard with you to ensure that the ads are correctly placed and do not take away from the site. The ads are going to be a very important part of the site for the future as I try to make the main site more content driven. Currently the site itself does not generate any revenue for IBIS Gaming and equates to about 25% of our budget. We actually use almost 1,000GB of tier 1 bandwidth on it and will be needing to buy more in the future. As a result ads will be needed to help drive the future of IBIS and make it easier for us to expand into new industries in the future. Also for those of you that are wondering yes there might be a premium version of the site for admins with limited or no ads.

Also let me end by saying a second reason for the ads that actually helps some of you directly. So that I can help drive content creation for the new site I "might" offer some sort of revenue sharing down the road for people who write articles that are placed on the main site. Over time some users may even get a position as a writer where they could have access to create and post the articles directly and automatically receive a pre determined amount of the revenue. It is my hope that such a system will improve community involvement and show the world the true spirit of IBIS.

So I open this thread to your thoughts over these next few weeks before the changes begin to take effect.