Hi OZgolfers
Unfortunately, the forum is currently running at a loss, where the amount of revenue gained from the Google Ads (Tapatalk ad revenue is negligible) does not cover the cost of hosting the forum on a monthly basis. There are a few other yearly costs, but the hosting fees are the main expense. The past few years saw a healthy bank balance for the forum which allowed me to donate money to charity with the extra gained. I always kept a few months of fees in reserve, but this has gone now. With significantly reduced payments from Google, and the weak Aussie dollar against the US, the forum can no longer afford the hosting fees on its own. At the moment, the gap is about $20 per month. Things may pick up again, as there have been drop offs before, but it may not, and I wouldn't count on it, asand it has never dipped to this extent.
I don't want to shut the place down, like another forum that I frequent is proposing to do, so I have been considering options to keep the place running.
The first, but not necessarily preferred, option that I have been looking at is having the forum hosted by Tapatalk; this would have no hosting fees, and be accessible via the Tapatalk app and via browser, just as it is now. I am currently in communication with Tapatalk about a preview. This has mostly finished, but I need to do a full review of it. The appearance would change, and I would assume some functionality would be lost, however all of our post history, members, and private messages would be retained.
Other options that I need to look into include tweaking Google Ad settings, and maybe finding a hosting package or different provider with lower costs.
What can you do? Well a donation would certainly be appreciated to keep things running in the meantime: https://www.ozgolf.net/misc.php?do=donate . Many years ago, we used to rely on member donations, but once I set up the Google Ads, the forum could look after itself.
Also, if you have an ad blocker for this website, perhaps you could ad us to your whitelist to allow ads through. Any little bit helps.
Anyway, I wanted to let everyone know what was going on, in fact I wanted to do it earlier, but you know, life and stuff. I'll keep you up to date on any other changes, and if the Tapatalk migration preview is fit for public consumption, I will provide a link.
Thanks everyone
Andy