Well I offered it as an idea. This is about finding outside ways to bring in more money to the site cause I don't want mene to die off. I really love this site already and I've only been here for a few weeks now.

I haven't been on Gaia for years, mind you, so I don't know what avenue their sponsorship items have gone down. :P

I've never been on Gaia. I found this place through advertising (on FB) so I think ads would be ok.

@Facade: Sponsorship might not be a bad idea, so long as Mene didn't get carried away, and I trust them to not get that way. Gaia is still afloat, but they rub their sponsorshipgenitalia all over our face. It gets a bit...trying. XD

@Kid Disaster: Did you make sure where you bought from was safe? That's why I don't tend to use Ebay much, and Paypal actually is supposed to ensure you from such things. So I don't feel so...ah, exposed that way. But I can understand your concern...

@Yue: I can understand that, srsly. Personally I like gambling on another site, and I used to moderate a lot of the casinos that existed in the past~ But it's just not something for everyone, really. More an adult userbase, if even that.

i like the mene card idea, i would definitely buy mene merchandise (customizeable stuffs that ppl could upload their avi onto would be great hint hint). also, advertising is ok, just not annoying pop-ups blech!

1 - No to gambling. I hate it, personally, but the bottom line is that it's illegal online (for real money payouts anyway) for a reason.

2 - Sidebar ads are a problem because not everyone can see them. Case in point: me. My screen res is 1024x600 and cannot get any bigger. So I see none of the sidebars on this computer.

Yeah, I don't think tons of advertising would be healthy for the livelihood of this community, but if it is just getting sponsorships with a few places, it might help.

Yue~ Sorry! Not trying to attack you. :hug: Mene is luff. :heart:

Silver~ Yes, the prospective mountain of work just keeps piling up. I know!! Every time I log on a woody is sprawled somewhere on the page!! D<

Facade~ Yeah, that's what I was thinking of with new movies, etc. Couldn't really word it that well, though. >o>

@Facade: I think that the sponsor idea is an awesome idea. I would like brand name avatar clothes xD

I tried reading through most stuff that are said already, consider the situation I would say that advertisement banners is a-okay, even a membership to not have to see them. If it is possible to encode the site so that works well. On imvu chat for example, as a member you get something each month and points to buy stuff. Since making a new thing seems unnecessary maybe just a little gold and no advertisement could be worth it. I normally pay on sites so I dont have to see the advertisements, cause they annoy me. But then again, people might feel discouraged, but its not like banners are unusual at forums.

I might be totally out on a loop here though..
But I also seem cutting back in the expenses seems necessary. Its sad for those hired and all, but maybe just have some extras of most of the full-timers you have would be enough? There is already plenty of items in the shops and you do have a rather good collections on games already. If you feel sad about that, maybe when things sort of, you could go back to fulltimers again? I am quite sure most here would be happy even without frequent updates, since when I read through here many are more upset over missing the company here.

Advertisement on other places are of course always vital for a place to grow, so getting rid of that part is not really something to cut down completely.

As to draw in more people but not loose some of the current themes, someones suggestion of a breed-ables area store does not sound too bad, plus it gives more rp choices for people. Maybe do more for the art and literary section, like small contests with maybe gold for winners and simple badges or icons they will appear in their profile for winning? I know it will probably cost a bit to fix in the beginning but might draw in more people, maybe. And also gives users more of the create style rather than the workers here. If its successful you could always have a club thingie on deviantart with all the entries and that way advertise the site.

But yeah, I guess I tried drawing in my favorite parts from different sites when thinking about what could be done. Heh ^^; I hope I did not say anything dumb or that have already been turned down harshly. And I am quite new here so I aint that sure what it is other users really come here for, just sounded like its the company and the friendly nature of the site that draws more. :)

I like the idea of having items made to sponsore products. BUT, I would want the items to be nice. XD I guess they wouldn't have to be...but Gaia likes to make a lot of crap items that have to do with their sponsors. If the items you got, thanks to sponsors, were nice looking, I don't think people would get as tired of sponsor spamingness. owo
Cuz then they'd have cool items to look forward to.

I gotta go now. .n. -Will come back later- I wanna see what other ideas people have. xD

Although from what I remember it was mentioned that the sponsor decides what the item will be. I forget what it was the users asked why Gaia didn't pixel x over y and that was the response. o':

Snowflower and Crusnik: thank you, I didn't feel attacked. I just feel that it could be a good idea is all. I am a very open person so I don't mind it. As for other ideas, how about limited ed Avatars. Like ones based off of anime or other movies. Like you buy the whole thing from top to bottom. Like do stuff for new movies, games, or even characters on Mene. What do you think about that as an idea?

@strange_dreams_512: I'm tempted to "borrow" that banner in your signature. :o
...May I? :rofl:

@Snow: Crap! They choose!? Now why would that make sense? :shock: I mean, they're the freakishly corporate and uncreative people, after all... :roll:
I hate corporations. :(

Nooo, mene can't die I love you too much T_T

Pleh, seeing as like. I met my current love interest on Gaia--SHADDUP, IT'S AWFUL I KNOW. But it isn't a frivolous union, and we absolutely are patient enough for rl relationships--I can't drop the site. Shiro's an 03. XD But the site is just...not cool, Facade. You'd weep.

@Snow: OHGOD I HATE HAVING WOODY ALL UP IN MAH GRILL. D< Go awaaaaay!!

@Keyori: I agree, my res is about the same as yours, I'd want top or bottom bar ads. XD

@Yue: Hmmhm...it could layer over your avatar, but...I don't know. Having the whole thing pixeled top to bottom would be pretty simple compared to what the pixel artists do normally, but...I wonder what the interest on that would be. And how much it would cost. Or even if it woudl be permanent. o3o *intrigued* I don't think Mene NPCs would work over well. XD But that's just me.

Facade- Yes, please do. Just don't say you made it is all. (: I just altered the picture from the front page and also made a banner. The bigger picture is here btw.

@Strange: Sure thing! :P I always give credit where it's due... After all, I didn't make a single thing in my signature. :lol: I NEVER do, at that. :shock:

Thanks! :heart: I may end up using the larger banner in a thread of mine, depending on whether or not I can fit it in... :ninja:

:P

@Strange Dreams: Epic banner <3

Thanks you two haha (: Look up Photoscape if you wanna try similar things.

I wonder how that thread is doing that The Wandering Poet made. He made a suggestion about letting some menewshans do some of the art for the site. I mean, not as a job, but as their own sort of donation to help save money & time, and reduce stress.

Ohhh, did he? Where's this thread, I might want to check it out!

It's top thread in site feedback :)

I don't even like anime at all and yet I spend a lot of time on avatar sites. I know that the majority of people probably like anime, but it's not what draws me in. I think the appeal for me is just chatting and creating an avatar to look interesting. I think what keeps me on Gaia is the diversity of chatting. I like to play their rpg as a different way of communicating and making friends. That is why I love Menewsha events, because they make things fun for me. At the same time, Mene has the best, in my opinion, mods who make the site with less.........shall we say rude, obnoxious people. I will say about Gaia that they pump out all those cash items and evolving items like they are candy, yet the site has so many glitches and problems that they can't or won't even fix. I am glad Mene isn't like that....I think Gaia thrives because it's got so many younger users that don't care about how well a site runs.

I'm not sure if Mene merchandise would be purchased by that many people, but it could be something neat.

@Facade: good idea!

Wow so many posts while I was writing this...........

I agree, Cherry. Is why I said that it might be better to auction little things. :3

I'd buy mene merchandise. Though I am a bit of a hoarder and like buying merchanise of films and musicians, so why should online things be any different? :lol:

I personally don't like anime much either, I only really use anime pictures for RP characters xD