Save the Tavern!

[hallsofmontezuma]

As a long-time listener of the WP Weekly podcast, and participant on WP Tavern and its forum, I have a personal interest in seeing it succeed and continue to exist.
I fully support Jeff charging for advertising on all three services, and having a VIP membership program.
Recently, I was disappointed to learn that the VIP membership program and section is no more. I understand that Jeff doesn't feel as though he's providing anything worth paying for, but I (and plenty of others) disagree.
As much as Jeff may not have asked to be the "Voice of WordPress," he is. He also manages a superb community where people having the same or different views and members of different sub-communities can come together as one community. Jeff has contributed a lot to the WordPress community over the years, and is definitely one of the three most important people. ;)
I don't want to see any of his services go away, and I will happily pay for advertising, VIP membership, and anything else to keep them around. If you feel the same way, please show your support and send him a donation, buy advertising, or request that the VIP membership program be reinstated.

[Kim]

+100. Couldn't have said it better myself. I've signed the petition. :)

[Alphawolf]

Completely agree. That's why I recently paid for advertising. Not because I wanted to get traffic, but just to support Jeff and the Tavern. :)

[dgwyer]

I posted a comment on Jeff's blog post 'WPTavern Is My Home And You’re Just A Guest' a few days ago proposing something similar but in a way that could really take off hopefully.

I have pasted my blog comment below. If you agree with this then shout it from the roof tops, show your support, propose how much you would pay-per-month to proudly display your WP Tavern support badge on your forum posts etc.

-- START of pasted comment --

"At the end of the day you have to do what is right for you. I for one think this is a great site, and would definitely miss the WordPress Weekly pod casts if they ever stopped – there has been some fantastic shows in the past.

Personally I would be happy to subscribe to the forum (I am not just talking about the now defunct VIP section). How about offering different tiers of subscription (bronze, silver, and gold), which is purely optional.

If a forum user decided to take out a subscription then, above each forum post entry next to the avatar, they get displayed a nice shiny badge icon proudly stating ‘WP Tavern Contributor’, or something similar! I have seen this method used on on other sites to great effect, usually on an open source type projects.

Perhaps you should consider this Jeff, you may be surprised how many supporters you have out there! :) Worth a shot in any case IMO. Nothing to lose?"

-- END of pasted comment --

To get one thing straight, this is not charity, or feeling sorry for his situation etc. but as a way to support Jeff for providing a consistent highly valuable WordPress resource. When I log on in the morning, one of the first things I do is head on over to the Tavern to get a round-up of all the latest news, gossip, and happenings in the WordPress world! It would be a crying shame if Jeff felt so disheartened that he wanted to leave the Tavern, so let's show him our support in any way we can.

I propose a scheme similar to that above. Perhaps a separate support badge/icon for the Tavern forum, and for the WordPress Weekly pod casts? Anyone blessed with a decent graphics talent want to come up with some draft badges/icons? Unfortunately I am not a designer (I am a coder) and am useless at graphics design or I would have a go myself (but I would never inflict that on Jeff)!!

Anyway, what do you guys think? If enough people supported Jeff in this way for all the hard work he does on the WordPress Weekly pod casts and this site then this would help him out a lot.

[MiroslavGlavic]

I have talked to Jeff via twitter and I think here in WPT about my views on VIP sections.
Most sites that have them (and free sections in their forums as well) eventually just go and take care of the VIP/premium sections and ˝forget˝ the free sections and they turn to a big pile of caca.

I will at no time ever pay for the VIP of any section.

I have listened to every podcast episode for the past year or so (until August 30 when I went on vacation).
In fact I am in Dubrovnik Croatia on vacation (visiting family) and while checking my e-mail, I am reading articles/forums. I will download the podcast episodes that take place between aug 30 and sep 24.

I have asked Jeff many times to create a 125 x 125 banner so I can put it on my site and link to this one.

I even brought up WPT while volunteering at WordCamp Toronto 2010 with Jellybean (I have his card back in Toronto thus I cant remember his actual name).
I gave away two tickets (which I paid for) for WCT10, I was going to give to Jeff as a thank you for all his is doing in the WP community but he mention something about not leaving the country or not having a passport.

If I ever see him at a WC then I will buy him a beer.

I have asked him countless times for WPT t-shirts. I will actually buy one.

I dont like the fact that some people *cough*original poster*cough* think that clicking that donation button or buying premium access is the ONLY answer.

I am more into buying swag. I will buy the wpt t-shirt, hat, tattoo and matching wptavern g-string and in fact I will do whatever it takes for Matt Mullenweg buy one and makes a video that WPT g-string is the only WP g-string he would buy. (yeah like that will ever happen).

When people ask me which WP sites to go, I do have WPT as my top 10 (in fact WPT is one of the top 5 positions on my top 10 list).

I have thought of buying advertising on the podcast, just never found prices.
I plan my advertising/marketing well in advance so the next update will be around January 2011

I am going to make a challenge to everyone here: make a wpt 125 banner.

To play devils advocate: Sites cost money, bandwidth costs money, A LOT OF TRAFFIC can cost A LOT OF MONEY. Jeff seems an intelligent person, he knew that from the begining. There are thousands of WP advice sites. Many of them change their niche or just die out.

[andrea_r]

I have asked Jeff many times to create a 125 x 125 banner so I can put it on my site and link to this one.

I am going to make a challenge to everyone here: make a wpt 125 banner.

So how does this make Jeff money? It doesn't on its own.

[JLeuze]

So how does this make Jeff money? It doesn't on its own.

Oh, maybe instead of regular ads for the tavern, they could be more like the variety of WordCamp banners for attendees, volunteers, speakers, and sponsors. Free banners for members, guest writers, and moderators, and then paid banners that sponsors can buy.

That would be a win-win for Jeff, instead of selling ads on WP Tavern he could sell ads for other sites, making a little extra money and getting more exposure for the site from the free and paid ads. I'd buy a sponsor banner for my blog if it is within my budget.

+1 for Tavern merch, I'd be happy to spring for a tshirt and some stickers.

And what kind of respectable drinking establishment doesn't have a weekly meat raffle? Jeff could clean up with some WordPress branded jerky

[andreasnrb]

Jeff doesnt have an email list. Thats like the first step in blog business endeavours.
There are also other sources of income than purely WordPress stuff. There are blogging courses he could promote on the blog etc.
Stuff related to WordPress activity but is not actual WordPress stuff.
I don't know the clickthrough rate on his ads but some of them might be more beneficial for him to have as affiliate links.
Also having a post footer ad in the RSS feed is also something to sell. And in the blog posts. Either sell or promote affiliate stuff there.

And like I've said before. All his money doesn't need to come from WP Tavern stuff. Hes good at interviews and could try to get some extra work doing those.

[MiroslavGlavic]

Would you pay for advertisement on a website that gets 3 people a month or 30,000?

Also Jeff could increase the price for advertising, that is an option.

As I type this, I am reading andreasnrb (two andreas oh my).

I agree with what andreasnrb said.

I am personally not happy about paid interviews. This is sort of like review of products/services and the link is an affiliate link, how truthful is that or are you biased due to the $$$ you will/might get?

If Jeff gets paid for appearing on interviews/podcasts, shouldnt he then pay the people HE interviews in his own podcast?

Back to Tavern merch (JLeuye words). I wouldnt mind buying a tshirt or two, stickers too.

I used to give out free stuff to podcast listeners. I could buy some WPT merch then give it away on my podcast or two.

There are way more ways to support the tavern than clicking that donate button.

also Jeff needs to stop giving drinks on the house :-).

E-beer costs money too.

I just came back from a tech conference here in Dubrovnik (Croatia), WPTavern was one of the topics I talked on the conference.

[andreasnrb]

"If Jeff gets paid for appearing on interviews/podcasts, shouldnt he then pay the people HE interviews in his own podcast?"
He could get paid for doing interviews with other people. Like journalist sort of way. When hes good hes good.
And ppl appearing on his podcast do get paid. In the form of exposure or just because they want to.

" I am personally not happy about paid interviews. This is sort of like review of products/services and the link is an affiliate link, how truthful is that or are you biased due to the $$$ you will/might get?"
Affiliate links and reviews is only a problem if your not honest. Ppl find out rather quickly if your biased. If everything you review is great and all then something is off.