Supporting the Forum - How You Can Help

As TSF starts to grow, growing pains start to be introduced and those growing pains start to cause technical issues. As the forum gets busier and busier, more and more server space is required to keep the lights on.

Although advertising keeps some lights on (with help from me) it doesn’t cover everything this site needs now and will need in the future. The reason being is that only 19% of visitors to the website ever seen an advert. The last thing that I want to do is plaster adverts everywhere, they’re annoying and mostly get in the way. However, it is the most effective way of covering at least some bills.

I also don’t want to start a “two tier” system of members paying a fee each year for extra buttons. So, I’ve come up with the following options, which allow you to support the site (if you so want, it is all voluntary). It all helps to pay the server bills, software licences and other things it takes to keep a site like this ticking over.

Each way you can support the forum is explained below…

Supporter Members

I’ve been asked a lot about whether people can become a supporter of the site or donate money to help pay for servers etc. We did have something like this setup originally, but it was removed. However, it is now back! If you want to support the site, you can do so via donation. There is nothing given in return for this, other than grateful thanks for helping support the site and the continued work! You do get a snazzy TSF Supporter badge under your username, though! You can support us below:

Advertising

If you’re an established member with 25 or more posts, you have the option to never see adverts on TSF. We’ve introduced a novel concept that allows you to opt in or out of seeing adverts, depending on your preference. For those of you who use adblockers, this bit is irrelevant. For those of you who don’t, read on.

Why is there an ability to turn adverts off?

Well, because it gives you the choice. You can either turn them off and never see an advert again. On the flip side, if you want to support the forum to see and click on adverts that are of interest to you, then you can do that too!

Where do I switch off or on my adverts?

All you need to do is visit your Preferences Page, scroll down to where it says, “Advertising Options” and then untick the View Adverts option. You’ll never see an advert again. To show adverts, simple go back to the same section and tick the box.

Where will adverts show?

Guests - you will see adverts in the header and the footer of the site. You’ll also see an advert after the 1st post in a thread and every five posts thereafter.

Members with less than 25 posts - you will see adverts in the header and the footer only.

Members with 25+ posts - you will see adverts in the header and footer only, unless you turn them off in your preferences, at which point, you won’t see any adverts.

Why are you giving us the option when other sites don’t?

Because, it’s a nice thing to do. Not everybody wants to see adverts on a website, I totally get that, which is why the option is there to support us through advertising or not - it’s your choice.

Affiliate

This is probably one of the easiest ways to support TSF! We have affiliate schemes set up with Amazon and eBay, so if you ever buy anything through those sites (it doesn’t have to be fishing), clicking on the affiliate links below will mean we get a very tiny percentage of the sale fee of things you buy through the link. It’s pence, but all pences add up!

Click here to buy from Amazon

Click here to buy from eBay

In addition to the above schemes, we’ve also got a deal with the guys at Prime Angling. Prime Angling offers a load of lure fishing gear and specialise in JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) products. Anything you buy from Prime, we will get a very small percentage of the sale to help towards site costs.

Buy from Prime Angling here

I am talking to a few other suppliers already about setting up similar deals.

TSF Clothing

This is a work in progress. It’s not viable to mass buy these like we have done before, but, I’m looking for a Print on Demand service that can put together some “merch”. I’ll keep you all informed on that as it happens.