Can we not have ads please

brad

@CO3 how would you feel about a single tasteful ad for BLOO scalp powder?

CO3

@brad I vote for regular 'ugly women in your area want to FUCK' type ads

pilky

@brad considering you said that bloo will sponsor the costs of running the forum, I think it's fine

brad

@CO3 lol

CO3

@brad Since you're making the forum obviously it's up to you, I made this thread mainly to express I think a lot of these ads could scare people off, making them think this profit is the goal of this sphere.

brad

@CO3 I understand what you're saying and broadly agree. Nibbler and I are running Bloo similarly to a benefit corporation to fund the creation and distribution of bioenergetic products. For example, the recipe is completely open and many people happily replicate it. Hopefully through our actions we can show it's not a purely profit-focused endeavor.

CO3

@brad I think that's fairly obvious, and the relatively light-hearted nature of the product also lends itself to that purpose IMO. I think it's cool that it allows places like these to exist. like you said it's not marketed as something exclusive.

Charlie

Running a website can be expensive. There is nothing wrong with an ad or two.

hootchy

@CO3 I second this

CO3

@Charlie ah yeah thanks for the advice squints mod from the Ray Peat Forum

ah

@brad any plans for a "premium" subscription?
doesnt necessarily need to add much functionality but as more of a way for people to support the forum if they want to

eric

how about just allowing donations and doing the occasional fundraising drive? I'll donate

pilky

@eric Not saying there shouldn't be an option to donate, but extremely few projects are able to run on donations alone.

skylark

Merch store

Sugar

@CO3 Too bad you're not the one in charge.

brad

The forum is currently running about $300/month in hosting costs. It may become more expensive over time. I don’t really wish to rely upon donations but if we end up selling ~20 more bags of BLOO a month it should cover our costs. I have no need or desire to profit from the forum, but it would be nice if it was a financially self-sustaining endeavor.

Amazoniac

@brad, being open about current costs and the will to seek agreement with members are good signs on your part.

In my opinion, it's more straightforward to cover expenses through voluntary donations without conditioning to product sales. Nothing prevents you from promoting your products indirectly at the same time. If the cooperation isn't enough, it's fair to resort to pushier means.

But do what it takes to make it sustainable. I don't think that the community is against profit, but oppose abusive practices. The more you can keep members informed, the more likely it's for everyone to understand the difficulties that you may face. And in case you build a cohesive group, people are expected to support and help each other thrive.

If at some point you would like to devote to the project, but a given amount would be needed to justify doing this, what would be wrong in requesting it?

I suggest you to not cling to the non-profit idea too much because we're all greedy capitalists and life without a Rolex is shallow. Profit can be an incentive factor somewhere along the way and it can be challenging to reconcile narratives.

Sugar

@brad I'd love to try bloo, but I'm curious why so many people are getting banned. Looking through my threads and other people's threads, there's lot of users who have been banned in the replies. I'd like to understand why before becoming a full on bioenergetic forum supporter.

brad

@Sugar Who are you referring to in particular? Have largely only banned people for engaging in violent speech / violent threats, as it’s against the TOS for the forum hosting provider and could shut the forum down. I’ve also banned people who appear to be trolling. Based on the feedback of people here I may tighten the content policy further but for the time being I’m trying to keep it as tolerant as possible.

I also want to reinforce that I don’t plan on soliciting donations for the forum. I do plan on having a single non-intrusive advertisement. If you would like to buy some BLOO that will help me out but it’s not a requirement to post here.

Sugar

@brad I wouldn't ban people based on the belief that they're trolling and or anonymous. There's a whole sector of peating with a comedic edge to it on X/Twitter. I've just seen far too many accounts with the red BANNED next to their name, even on people I was having a conversation with. It's fine if you want to ban lots of people, but I'll just take myself back to peat twitter if that's the case.