This website is now at the same phase that Dell Computer was once at: It's Growing Pains--the phase when the organizatiom starts to grow so fast that it literally can't keep up with the technology and money it needs to operate efficiently. If my calculations are correct at the rate this site growing right now it will grow from tens of thousands of users today to millions of users over the next few years. And because of this rapid growth, soon and very soon something quite drastic will have to be done to make sure that this website doesn't come crashing down on us in the near future.
So, how should this organization make sure that 'doomsday' never comes? How does it keep from making the same mistakes that Dell Computer made and not end up struggling to survive? Simple.
Look to the future. Far into the future! Squeeze every last dime that this organization can out of it's bank account and buy a server that is so powerful it may be an enterprise server by today's standards, but it will serve the enterprise traffic that this website will get over the course of the next few years.
And be prepared to prevent more growing pains. Endorse a financial plan that will allow this organization to add on more departmental level servers over time and replace obsolete servers that will soon no longer be able to handle those growing traffic levels. And as far as banner ads are concerned--
. Let's get real! Over 99% of all people who surf the web never click on banner ads. And if that's the plan for the future of this web site, well, you better give it up cause sad to say it won't work forever ya'll. This site needs future plans that are more realistic. Charge a service fee for use of these forums and possibly other areas of the site. Make an exclusive content area--say a club for paying members. But no need to set the price tag too high--that will make people run away. A few dollars a month should do the trick. I wouldn't mind paying 3, 4, or 5 dollars for access to the forums and the exclusive content it offers(if it's good content that is) and I'm sure thousands and millions of others wouldn't mind either, especially if ensures that Apolyton will never ever see 'doomsday.'
But please never ever ever ever EVER go too far with anything. Never try and buy a server that is so expensive and so costly to maintain that inevitibaly weighs down this organization so that it never sees it's 'glory days.' I'm sorry to say, but in the words of Michael Dell, "you just can't build a $2 billion dollar infrastructure with $500 million in revenue." Doing such a thing spells DEATH for any organization that tries to be too aggressive.
Amen to that!
