Originally posted by: Gillbot
Originally posted by: adlep
Originally posted by: allisolm
Wouldn't your site be in competition with our FS/FT forum?
Absolutely not. Some people will prefer to use the FS/FT anyway regardless of what else is "out there".
Think about my service as an enhancement "shell" to the FS/FT and not a competition.
Feel free to tell other mods about the service. I am ready to give a "mod only" initial presentation of the service. Then you can decide about possible boundaries of me promoting the site in here. As it is stand right now, I believe that the site WILL benefit the community more than me.
My concern is, you are trying to generate traffic to a site which will compete with the forums here on top of the fact that this site will be possibly revenue generating for you.
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The service does not compete with the forums here. Its scope is simply too narrow to have any profound effect on your traffic. And also we rely on the forums here to create shifts in the graphics card market. On the other hand, over the long period of time service like the one I am trying to start will bring additional readers to AT. Here is how:
90% of the PCs sold do not have a video card installed, so think about a potential that this fact alone creates. What I want to do is to make video cards more accessible for the mass audience and bring NEW people/traffic back over to the community.
Also, there is nothing wrong with generating an advertising revenue from the adsense (my only form of monetizing on the site). Unfortunately there is no such thing as a free lunch. I have invested some of my savings into it and I expect my investment to pay back. I can do that and still NOT charge anything for the service - which is great and there is nothing wrong with it.
Also, consider all the time that I have spend maintaining the site, answering questions, and dealing with other unforeseen problems. Not to mention the recurring web site hosting fees.
Lastly, I am creating a neutral trading place for people from all communities to come and trade. Think about the selection that you will be getting. It will be magnitude larger that what you have currently in here. Large selection may bring the prices down a bit, therefore making the GPUs more accessible to more people who may become more interested in developments in the PC market who in turn will sign up to AT forums... I think that you will actually be netting users and not loosing them.
This is a very interesting and necessary discussion. I appreciate you time thinking about my service....
Bottom line is that we need some variety in a way we trade computer components. EBay is OK, but I don't like being rpped of on the shipping and/or the listing fees and commissions. I don't really care for the Craigslist as it is simply too chaotic for my taste. Trading stuff on the forums is nice. However the variety simply its there sometimes and the thread maintenance with the system of "bumps" is annoying to me. I also don't like the fact that when I search for the stuff, it bring up old stuff, new stuff, and stuff simply not very related to what I am looking for. Full of good people, but time consuming.
Regards,
Adam
