Hey guys,

Despite my big talk back in April, the BMMB has been neglected by yours truly. Life with 2 small children, an on-again/off-again full-time job, and a side business have kept me really busy.

I'm still keeping the lights on but I haven't been around, I haven't added any members functionality to the board, and I haven't held a pledge drive in 2 years (mostly because I feel sheepish about asking for money without being able to reward contributors with additional board privileges).

Unfortunately, there are a few hundred dollars a year that come out of my pocket to keep this place going (the hosting, the chat room, and the odd bit of software or consulting time when something breaks) and I'd like to find a way to break even on that. I don't think that's unreasonable.

So a few questions:

1. Would you be willing to contribute to the BMMB without reward beyond its continued existence?

2. Do you know anyone with PHPBB skillz who could help create some membership levels with different privileges so that we could do an old membership-style pledge drive?

3. What needs to happen around here? Do we need new blood? How do we get it? Or is the BMMB gently fading into obsolescence in the age of social media?

Sorry for the random timing & nature of this message but I'd like to make sure that there's still a point to keeping the server accounts open. As MegaLemur pointed out back in May, we've been going 10 years. Do we have another decade in us?

Thanks all.

Chris

My answers: 1: Yes. I'd be happy to kick down 25 bucks a year to keep the place up and running. 2: No idea, sorry. 3: We're probably going to slide down the gentle slope into obsolesence, but I don't care. We have some occasional new posters but they tend to fade out after a bit. It may be that BBS-style discussion boards are now part of the recent past rather than the digital now.

Agreement with Tim on all points. I'd really hate to see the BMMB go--maybe I'm getting old (late 20s will do that to you), but I just can't get into these other newfangled "social media"...I'm not on Facebook or Twitter or what-have-you and really dig the discussion board format for its strength in fostering actual discussions.

I don't think forums are excluded from 'social media' - in fact, forums are hotter than ever. You can't have discussions as easily on Facebook and Twitter.

I am curious about the web hosting cost - Blue Host costs me about 7 bucks a month, unlimited subdomain mapping.

Let that be a motto for you all.

I'd help support it, though my income ain't a lot right now.

Things do seem to be fading here. I'm far from convinced that it's in favor of some new and trendy social whatsis. I mean, I'm not aware of anything they do that would have any advantage to it for this purpose.

My hypothesis as to the inability of the BMMB to attract non-spamming new members in recent years: Most of the folks who've hung out here over the years found the place by reading Stomp Tokyo. Now that Stomp Tokyo is merely a fossil website, it isn't attacting new readers, and the new readers it isn't attracting consequently aren't sticking their heads in here to see what's what.

I'm wondering what happened to the chat room, which seemed to always have at least 2-3 people a day there, but has been empty for the past several weeks, it would seem.

I'd be interested in knowing how much traffic the main site gets in a day. According to my ultra-cool backlink checking software, Stomp Tokyo has over 4500 backlinks.

I'll have to side with both Telstar and Megalemur. Hope this place doesn't slide into obscurity.

I'd be willing to pitch in some cash to keep this sucker running. I love this place, if nothing else for the pre-B-fest lead-up. While the older movie discussions have become a bit circular (due to our stagnant membership additions), the mini-review and full reviews along with the off-topic conversations are fresh and refreshingly civil enough (as compared to other forums) that I'd hate to see this place go.

Would it be possible to get a link up at the B-Masters site?

That's an excellent idea. I'll see what I can do about that.

I would kick in money. I speak with many of you on Facebook, but this is the only place where I can get my snob on and have it jovially kicked by Megalemur, et al.

I half expect that to be a T-Shirt by B-Fest. Just don't know by whom.

I too am willing to contribute, despite my more intermittent activity here.