The goal of this disclosure is to make sure visitors understand our goals for the website and how we fund our efforts. Newsgroup Reviews launched in 2007 as a hobby with one person pouring their personal efforts into the project. Over the years Newsgroup Reviews has required additional crew to grow into the resource it is today. What started as a hobby for one has grown into a team of old school Usenet users that are dedicated to keeping the community active and thriving for years to come. We earn commissions on sales made through the site to help support these efforts.
How do we fund the website?
When Newsgroup Reviews started the idea of funding the project wasn’t top of mind. If the founder was able to grab a couple pints now and then for his efforts it was a win. The popularity of the site quickly brought out the reality of the costs behind running a website. In the years to follow the team has grown along with the costs to host and maintain the site.
Their were a few options available to fund Newsgroup Reviews. The main options included advertising, paid sponsorships, or affiliate partnerships. Since the entire team appreciates privacy, the thought of accepting paid advertising was the first to go by the wayside. Paid sponsorship would have worked but would have meant accepting funds from an individual source. While we still could have separated editorial decisions it would not have been uncomfortable knowing that the site was funded by a single source.
In the end we decided to fund Newsgroup Reviews through affiliate partnerships. Fortunately the industry was well set up to do this as all the major providers offered affiliate programs. We have been fortunate enough to get to know the teams behind many of the largest Usenet providers over the years. This has given us a level of insight that we could not have achieved from behind a keyboard and has allowed us to share the insights.
How do we track sales?
We’ll keep this section as simple as possible. When you click on a link to a Usenet provider from our site it passes the information along to allow us credit for the sale if you sign up. To be clear, this will never cost you any extra money. In fact most of our partners have been kind in offering us discounts that we gladly pass on to our guests. This has been a major source of growth for our site and something we focus a lot of effort on to make sure our visitors get the best deals possible.
You do not have to help us fund the site
While we rely on sales to support our efforts, we also want to make sure everyone knows that they do not have to participate. You can read our posts to learn more about Usenet and then go to the Usenet provider website on your own. If you do not pass through a link on our website then we will not get credit for the sale. In some cases the price will be higher on the providers’ website than it would have been through Newsgroup Reviews. That is based on the popularity of our site and kindness of the providers in offering our guests a discount. If you decide to circumvent our links and still want a discount, we would suggest reaching out to the provider directly and asking them for it. It never hurts to ask.