Hello Phans,
As mentioned on X-Band ep #56 bringing back a Phantom message board has been talked about a little with people wishing to see its return so as to have a more dedicated place to discuss our purple hero.
The CC Team have sat down and discussed how we could make this work. After much deliberation we've decided it could be done, however we will need your help.
As many of you know we started the Patreon a while back to help cover the costs of running the site. The addition of a message board would add to these costs due to the software needed and the extra hosting required.
As such we've decided that if a message board was to happen it would be tied closely to the Patreon. Basically, we would open up the message board only to those who donate via Patreon. A lot of thought has gone into this and there are a few reasons we’ve decided to go this route;
1. The aforementioned cost. Running a website isn’t cheap and adding a message board adds to those costs. We need to be able to cover them, simple as that.
2. As well as monetary costs, it also takes time to run a message board. Not only does it take time to set it up, it also takes time to moderate and upkeep. As such, we only want people who are serious about using it joining in. Social media has killed off message boards in a big way, but we completely understand why some still want them. Indeed, we agree with those people. But there is no use putting all the work in if everyone simply returns to Facebook et al after a few weeks/months. We feel that if people are prepared to pay - albeit a minimal amount - to use the boards they are more likely to stick around.
To gain access to the message board we would ask you to donate at least $1 per month to the Patreon. If we go forward this will be added to the $1 and higher reward tiers. You will also gain access to all other bonus material exclusive to Patrons and exclusive news that will be posted to the message board before anywhere else, including the main website and Facebook!
However, we also need enough people to actually use the message board to make it worthwhile. No point having it if only three people are on there. As such, we would like you, the phans, to let us know if you are interested. If you think this is something you’d like to get behind please visit THIS post of Facebook and give it a like. If you are not on Facebook, simply e-mail us your interest. However, please only like if you are prepared to pay the $1 tier and will actively use the message board. If we get 50 likes/ emails we’ll go forward with the plan.
I hope all of this sounds fair to everyone. The intention here is not to make money but to find the best way to provide the services Phantom phans want while still covering the monetary costs that are involved with running the site.
Cheers, - Joe
