This is for Point Buzz

Apps are stupid. Yeah, I'll say it. They're expensive and time consuming to build, you have to build them for two (or three) platforms in addition to the web site, and they're even more difficult to monetize. Even if we did build one, we'd have to charge $50 for it just to make back the cost of our time. And the reality is, there isn't a single reason you need an app to browse a forum. It's text, and browsers do a fast job at displaying text.

I agree you don't need an app. I would like the ability to adjust the font size in the forum. If the font size was a setting that could be adjusted in the user profile and if your text links were a little bigger the site would work just fine on mobile browsers.

Count me in as someone willing to subscribe with a monthly or annual contribution via PayPal or other online payment method.

Maybe premium subscribers could get a private board, larger avatar and other features that may be simple to add.

^^Apps benefit one thing I've noticed. When on a congested network, loading say KIC's forum takes awhile to load all of the template & whatnot. But with Tapatalk, it's basically just inserting the text into the app, so it saves on our connection. I see where you're going though and understand.

But seriously, I think all of us would chip 5 to 10 every now and then, I don't need features, I would just rather see this place keep up and moving. Hell do what Wiki does and do the donate deal.

I'm perfectly content with Pointbuzz the way it is now. I also don't own a smart phone and I drive a 1985 Buick so I may not be the best consumer to base future website plans on.

thedevariouseffect said:
^^Apps benefit one thing I've noticed. When on a congested network, loading say KIC's forum takes awhile to load all of the template & whatnot.

No, it doesn't, because all of that material is cached in the browser. It isn't loaded every time. Your perception is incorrect.

You can do everything Tapatalk does, and run it just as quickly, right in the browser. And that will be a natural part of the redesign. But there's no benefit to doing our own app or to use Tapatalk.

But if you need PointBuzz to be an app, just add to the home screen of your phone. There's a special icon and and everything. :)

I, for one, will not visit a mobile site with intrusive ads that take over the page and won't go away till you click a tiny, ever-moving "X".

The model is changing. It's not just Pointbuzz that's affected. Someone will figure out a solution that is scalable to other, smaller sites. When? Who knows!

Maybe it's subjective then, but I notice tapatalk load quicker than chrome when it comes to loading KIC when in the park on busy days.

The reason that Facebook will never have a "Dislike" button IMO is that it will bring a sense of negativity to the page since you should have Facebook "friends". There are a few arrogant douchebags on here that just bring these boards down with constant barrage of rebuttals, insults, and a stupid and strange sense of entitlement. If anything with the next update, a much needed feature to block certain users that you can view would be wonderful actually.

Monetizing mobile is really a tough challenge, but it's the way that people are viewing pages. I've noticed a huge shift to mobile platforms from desktop ones over the past few years in everything I do (youtube, webpages, etc).

Apps suck, and to be honest I wouldn't want to install your app just to read your site on my phone or tablet. Mobile sites are good, but finding a way to place ads has to be tough.

It's also been unfortunate to see the decline in message board usage with the rising popularity of social media. I'm not privy to any of your stats, but I'm guessing there's been a huge drop off in visitor numbers over the past 4 years or so due to social media.

I'm sure it also doesn't help that Cedar Point hasn't been a record breaking coaster in 10 years.

Definitely not an easy niche market to keep up with and pay for expenses.

I understand mobile site revenue isn't easy, but what ever happened to this? Heck, I would pay the cost of the Coasterbuzz membership just to get rid of ads here, and have a mobile responsive website.

^^ If I'm not mistaken, Gatekeeper broke not one but multiple records...

^ Yes... as a wing coaster. Well, it might have broken one record regardless of class. I do believe the wingover drop was at the time the tallest inversion in the world.

Longtime lurker here. I'm curious, do I have to actually click on the ads to bring you the ad revenue or is just having it on the side/top of the page I'm viewing enough? If it's the former I can definitely do more random ad clicking and closing. I greatly appreciate all the work and time you guys put into running this site.

I will say I'm sorry I don't contribute as much for ad revenue..On a .mil network, they block most ads already through the network. But I can't really change that whatsoever.

I'm pretty sure the ads just need to load for them to get paid. That's why I disable Adblock Plus on this site.

bholcomb said:
It's also been unfortunate to see the decline in message board usage with the rising popularity of social media. I'm not privy to any of your stats, but I'm guessing there's been a huge drop off in visitor numbers over the past 4 years or so due to social media.

Fortunately, that hasn't been the case. 2007 was a big year for us (Maverick), while the next three years were kind of "meh." The last two to three years were bigger than the previous three, so we've seen higher traffic, not lower. Generally we follow the ups and downs of what the park is building, though y'all seemed to get really bored with the site once GateKeeper actually opened.

So if social media is bad for communities, it hasn't been bad for us. Similarly, CoasterBuzz hit a high in 2007 but has been mostly flat since until last year, when traffic went up.

To answer another question, no, you don't have to click most ads for us to see revenue. The way we have things set up is that Google is the first line of ads, and then they fall back to another provider when they don't have an ad, and then they have a remnant provider after that. Because Google has their ads on practically everything, they get a sense for what you like, and tend to match the ads to those interests and your location. So for example, I see a lot of Florida resident ads for theme parks (Blue Man Group, Universal Orlando hotels, Disney hotels), as well as a lot of software services and vendors. These tend to pay pretty well. However, if all you do is visit sites about cartoons and zit creams, the ads serving those interests will not pay well.

Mobile ads are not particularly effective, that's the first problem. The second problem is that there isn't much room on the screen to place them.

One of the things I'm entertaining is to limit a mobile site view (which CoasterBuzz currently has) to paid members. We might do something similar here when we finally get our butts in gear to migrate to a better place. That's no trivial task... the forum version here is v8, and I'm currently working on v13 (it's open source, in case you were wondering). The new stuff works on an entirely new framework, and the client side stuff in particular is light years ahead of where it was. Stuff has changed a ton.

Jeff said:
Because Google has their ads on practically everything, they get a sense for what you like, and tend to match the ads to those interests and your location.

I've noticed that. I see alot of video game ads on here since I do go to alot of gaming websites and play alot of video games. I also get alot of Goodyear ads because I am a Goodyear blimp fan. I've also got Cedar Point ads, but since this is a CP fansite, that would make sense.

Explains why all that I've seen lately is Delta and Hilton ads.

Glad to hear that this still gets the traffic. I kind of figured things had dropped off since FB and Twitter took off, but then again the core audience (as it ever so changes from year to year) seems to be well engaged and everything stays on topic here for the most part.

New buzz about a new ride is good for pageviews I guess!

Yes, I just wish eyeballs == profit! You know, like in 1999. Or if you're one of these link bait crappy sites.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT WILL SHOCK YOU!!!