The Ark

Whatever floats your boat...

For those of you who don't know, Ning will cease to be a free hosting service on July 20th.

In order to maintain a Ninglet, if you have one, you'll have to pay about $3 a month to do so and even then, you won't be able to upload videos.

Here's a summary of the three plans they're offering >>> Ning Pricing

I've been so busy, I haven't had much time to explore our options as a teeny weeny video-sharing site, but here are the facts:

1. I've been paying $20 a month to keep the Ark ad-free. That's always been my choice based on my desire to have a home-base that is free of clutter, which is why I never accepted anyone's help to pay for it, even though many have offered (thank you so much for that).

2. To maintain the site as it is, it'll no longer be a choice to pay $20 a month and we'd have lots more flexibility with regard to the features (not much, though- just with regard to the design and functionality).
The bad news, HOWEVER, is that we'll no longer be able to upload videos directly to the site. We'll only be able to EMBED. This, to me, is a big deal. We won't lose existing content, it'll all still be here, but we just won't be able to add new content unless it's a video embed from another site.

3. Lastly, In order to still be able to upload to the site, the monthly fee would jump to $50 or there's an option to save %17 by paying the yearly fee of $500. That's a lot. I definitely won't be able to afford that.

I'm giving you guys a few days to respond here and give your thoughts before I let you know what my plan of action is. I may not be able to afford $50 a month, but I could pay one month just to buy us some time to decide on what to do.

Please let me know what you think, even if you've not been active for some time. The more ideas we have, the better.

Thanks Arkians!
-Syd

Views: 37

Comment by spacemonkey1310 on July 10, 2010 at 11:24pm
I suppose the option to take back Livevideo by force is out of the question so option 1 and 3 look the best (in that order). I'm sorry I haven't contributed much recently, I always have my camera with me but don't always use it.
Comment by AnnelidaFilms on July 11, 2010 at 12:16am
We just canceled our cable TV service, but I can't imagine canceling The Ark! I vote for Option 1, for sure.
Comment by LtAdams2247 on July 11, 2010 at 3:25am
The Ark is a place of good intentions and little follow through. For the _idea_ of the ark an embeddable site is enough. I say we head to vimeo and embed here. You can upload files up to 500 MB there and the video quality is encoded with awesome. The free account lets you upload 500 MB a week (be it in one file or 20). This will only be a problem for crazy active video makers of which we have, errr, none ;-)
Comment by SydTheSkeptic on July 11, 2010 at 3:31am
LtAdams- hehe
Comment by CoZzMiX on July 11, 2010 at 3:46am
option 5. Hoist The Jolly Roger and turn to Piracy? LOL

To be honest I don't have a problem with uploading else where and embedding... but I don't think Syd should have to shoulder the whole cost of The Ark alone, even if it is only $20, so get that donate button up there!

Summer is always a slow time on video sites and I am as guilty as anyone of not participating in the community recently partly due to the heat and partly due to some mental health issues Iv been going through over the last few months! that said I have found the Ark to be a welcome break from all the drama out there in the interwebs, and full of creative and entertaining people all of whom I would like to get to know better!
Comment by SydTheSkeptic on July 11, 2010 at 3:57am
Hey, don't feel bad about the summer slow-down. You need to take care of yourself and I'm right there with ya, CoZ. :o)

$20 a month, I can definitely swing. $50 a month- not so much. That's why I'll be leaving up to you guys to decide next weekend via the poll. Let's see what happens.

Hope you're doing better :ol
Comment by Chig on July 11, 2010 at 9:59am
Pete if you upload on Vimeo, you might as well create an Ark Group on Vimeo as well. I mean you can reply to the comments and replies there.
Comment by photo2010 on July 11, 2010 at 11:23am
I vote for number 1, (maybe 'cos I just woke up?--bad attempt at a joke there:)
Comment by BlancheNoE on July 11, 2010 at 11:32am
I would miss our front page here and I don't have a problem with embedding from elsewhere,...
but my first choice would be number 1 and see where it goes. We should probably have something stating no embeds except in blogs with auto-play though,...the front page would be a nightmare if people were embedding from LV.
Comment by JustAnotherUserName on July 11, 2010 at 4:25pm
I went to Vimeo and signed up and uploaded one of my older videos. The default viewscreen is much clearer and larger and it's much more LV-like (you can subscribe to others, the comment set-up is like LV, and it seems fairly easy to maneuver around). There seems to be something for everyone there. I think it would be easy to upload there and embed here, so that's probably what I will do in any event.

I don't know about the future of Ning, but Vimeo seems extremely stable and they have some awesome content (some of which has been embedded here by others).

And it's free :-)

Comment

You need to be a member of The Ark to add comments!

Join The Ark

© 2024   Created by Chig.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service