Hey all,

It's not typical that I inject personal updates into Side 7's newsletter, however, in this case, it's very relevant. The promised updates have, obviously, not been delivered. There's a very good reason for that. My daughter was born 10 weeks early (born 02 February 2009, but was due 13 April 2009). She spent the next 81 days in NICU, and finally was allowed to come home yesterday evening. We've been spending a lot of time at the hospital (which is about 1 hour away from where we live), while trying to take care of our 6 year old son and our home. Add to that, that I was laid off from work a few weeks ago, and you've got quite the barrel of stress.

Now that my daughter is home (finally), and we can settle into a realistic home life schedule, I'm able to return to projects that need attention (Side 7 being a major one). v4.0.1 is back on the front burner, to be released very soon. v4.1 is to come after that.

Here, though, is the problem at hand: Side 7 is not bringing in any money. With the economy the way it is, it is understandable that folks don't have the available funds to upgrade to a 5 Star account and help the site out financially. Unfortunately, with the loss of my job, I am quickly running out of funds myself, as all of Side 7's costs come out of my pocket. As a result, I've been reviewing my options for supplementing site income. I'm considering adding banner ads to the site (through Project Wonderful). We've always stated that we took pride in never having annoying banner ads on the site, but we also never anticipated being in this position. The current thought is that users who aren't logged in, or who do not have a 3 or 5 Star account upgrade, will have banner ads on every page. Those who are logged in and have a 3 or 5 Star account will never receive banner ads.

As always, your input is welcome. Please voice your opinions, comments, suggestions, and questions.

-- BK
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My Side 7 Gallery | Personal Site

Gotta admit, I'm not looking forward to ads, but I understand maintaining this site is much more important than just a wee annoyance.

I hope you get things worked out! Whatever you choose to do, I know you'll have support. Definitely from me at least.

I think you should definitely do it, if it looks like the best way to bring in some funds.

If you have to put ads I understand. I'm not a fan of ads myself but in a situations like this, I totally am all for the ads. Project Wonderful ads are really not too annoying.
I wish I enough money to support you guys. I love this community so much.

I'm sorry that you lost your job. That's sad. ;_:

Congratulations about your daughter being born and I'm happy that's she able to come home now! That's great news!
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My Side7 Gallery! =^_^=

My sketch blog --> Aurora Atmosphere

Well we do what we must to keep our dreams alive. Little banner ads aren't bad. It can't be as bad as the big splash pages of ads other sites.

I'm in favor of it. This is a good service and is worth supporting, and those of us who can't do it with our wallets can at least do it with our eyeballs.

Ads are annoying, I would hate to see them on the site. But again, I have to remember that you started this site on your own will, and you are paying for it outof your own money. So, whatever you decide Ill support it, since it mmakes sense

It's easy for me to support the decision, having a 5-star account. But even if I were subjected to ads, I wouldn't mind. They're pretty much on every other website in existence and though I respect and admire your pride in not using them this far, I've gotten to the point of just tuning them out most of the time. It certainly isn't an unreasonable request.
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"Finally, I can save the world with deadly lasers, instead of deadly slide shows." ~Al Gore, Futurama

Side 7 - Website - Updates log - LiveJournal

I support the ad decision, since I can't afford to donate any money (and already have a 5 star account). Even if there were ads on the 5 star account I wouldn't mind, as long as they're not pop-up.

I wouldn't mind ads in the least. You have my support as well.

Congratulations on the new baby!