I would like to keep tab on the % of wins
bobbyroch
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bobbyroch
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bobbyroch
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I would like that also. I have suggested that as a new feature a few different times in the past and have noticed other users have also (and I am even willing to pay/subscribe to help offset the time required for the site owners to program and test). But each time in the past I have seen suggestions like this mentioned the general consensus from the regular commenters in this forum is a bunch of "smart ass" remarks about how they felt it would be a waste of time for the site owners to attempt and/or personal character attacks for even recommending that the site could be improved. I don't know the site developers (or how often they actually read the comments posted here), but I imagine that they created this specific section of the forum to try to actually get feedback and new ideas to help improve their website.
You can see an overview here:
https://forum.greenfelt.net/discussion/11248/premium-subscription-service-that-has-additional-features#latest
Here we go again.
@lcc123 Don't hold me to this since my mind isn't what it used to be..but
I think that I remember that Jim or David once posted that is exactly what this section is for...ideas and suggestions for this site. I think that I remember it being said that all ideas are welcome and that it gave them ideas for future changes. They gave no promises that any of the suggestions would be implemented however.
IDK...maybe I don't know what I am talking about...maybe they didn't say all of that...maybe my mind is gone!
@Nan01 You are likely correct. I don't know the history of this website/forum, but the term "feature requests" seems fairly self explanatory to me. I really don't understand the negativity of the replies here. I personally don't expect suggestions made here to be instantly/automatically/or necessarily implemented. Nevertheless, I have noticed two things:
A lot of people asking/requesting for various statistical information regarding the games they personally play. In my estimation, this is just a natural progression of the "leader board" section which seems to be quite a popular feature of this site (with many people competing regularly to post the best times/least amount of moves). If the website developers are able to implement a feature with an individual's personal play history/stats then I think that it will require some amount (possibly a fair amount) of storage space be allocated to each user. I don't know what language(s) the games or main controlling software is written in, but I would imagine any statistical type of information would have to be stored/retrieved in multiple databases. These tend grow overtime and have to be maintained. As such, I think that to offer a feature of that type the only viable long term model would be some form of subscription based website. That is not to suggest that every player would have to pay to play games here, but those that find the "extra" features like their personal statistics of value would pay to access/maintain. For example, here is a chess gaming website with a similar model that seems fairly well run. It is free to play for anybody, but more advanced analysis, statistics and training features require a membership. https://www.chess.com/
Most of the replies after the initial poster's suggestion are off topic and have little to do with the actual merits/cons of the suggestions offered. I know it is the internet and a public forum--and you probably can't expect much better from society at large, but it is disappointing.
lcc123 i would like to apologize for my off-topic remarks, i understand how disappointing it is to want answers straight from the horse's mouth but instead, get them from the other end .. .. .. good luck in finding an answer to ur request
Featured Requests: https://forum.greenfelt.net/categories/feature-requests
Greenfelt News:https://blog.greenfelt.net/
Here is 2 pieces of info that guided me to the History of site and Archives that I heard so many talk about when I joined the site as a Guide to Greenfelt , lot of useful information and history to with this great site.
David’s blog post from 2017 touching on a possible subscription base:
_Donations
There’s been a lot of people offering to donate money for the hardware and upkeep. That sort of generous spirit of our users warms my heart, but I’m not sure taking donations is the right thing to do. I haven’t spoken with Jim about this yet, so this is all just my own opinion. Donations are nice, but I’d rather offer something more tangible in exchange for money, even if it’s just some sort of “premium membership” thing (I have no idea what that would entail). I know some people use Patreon for this kind of thing, but most of the people I’ve heard of that get good money from it are YouTube people with very large followings. I’m not sure we’re big enough for that.
I know I whined about the cost of the SSD in my forum post, but that was mostly just because at $800, I think it’s the single most expensive single disk I’ve ever bought. But the fact is, neither Jim nor I are strapped for cash right now, and the amount we’ve sunk into Green Felt is surprisingly little when you consider it’s been running for over 10 years.
_
^I think what it could possibly entail is filing tax returns, being open to litigation, maybe having to hire customer liaison staff. There’s a lot to weigh up when shifting from a volunteer free site to an income generating proposition.
@fingsaint It would seem that from the blog excerpt you posted above that the idea of a "premium membership" has been considered, as (I expected) there are real expenses associated with running this type of website--not just the time and effort expended to initially program and debug the games. And the way I interpret the statement "...Donations are nice, but I’d rather offer something more tangible in exchange for money..." is that if you are going to run a profitable website you need to have a product/service/information that people are willing to consistently purchase from you so you have steady/reliable income stream. I agree wholeheartedly with those concepts.
As far as litigation and tax filings you mentioned--if those are valid concerns, (at least in the USA) you incorporate as an S corp (or LLC) and hire an accountant/bookkeeper to either do (or help) with quarterly/yearly filings. I can guarantee from personal experience that both of those tasks involve considerably less effort than what it would take to program and test a game like freecell from scratch. I realize that if you have never dealt with those types of tasks they can seem daunting when initially considering, but there are plenty of smart people that are more than willing help with those services.
I think maybe a better way to approach is to ask people how much they would be willing to pay to a particular feature. That way you can do quick "back of the envelope" calculations to determine if it is even feasible. If say 100 people will pay $25/year = $2500 for feature X and you can program in a day or two and post to your site and and only do minimal occasional maintenance then it is probably "do-able". If 1000 people will pay $25/year = $25000 for feature X then you can afford to hire a part time person to maintain and actively manage along with paying for professional services like a bookkeeper when needed. If people will pay nothing then $0 indicates that people don't find value and it isn't a viable concept. Might as well spend your time and effort on something else.
Hi @lcc123 yes, I understand how businesses operate. As you infer, it’s horses for courses. If I had a vote in the outcome I would prefer the way it is currently run with the engaged volunteer intimacy of the current developers. There’s something sterile about corporations. Others, of course, prefer streamlined products. But, at the end of the day it’s @jim and @david to call the future shots.