Bring Out The GIMP Forum

The Countdown Begins.

We recently released Simonne’s Journey of Pain, an intimate and occasionally humorous look at how Simonne becomes the characters she plays in our films.

The release served as a test: we wanted to see how our audience would respond and whether that response would lead to a meaningful increase in income.

The first few days were encouraging. Daily sales increased, and we hoped that momentum would continue.

After that early lift, however, sales leveled off and began to decline. They now appear to be returning to what has been this year’s low average.

Over the past couple of months, we also added films to our streaming channel. Even so, interest there remains low.

Although our average sales increased in August, the improvement was not enough to make what we do sustainable.



What the Trend Means

That is not a good sign.

As a result, we are beginning the countdown.

Forum Changes During the Countdown

During the countdown, we will gradually adjust the site to reflect the situation.

We have reached our disk-space limit and need to manage that carefully.

At this time, we cannot upgrade to a larger hosting service, so we have to work within the resources we have.

Previously, posts could include up to three images, we could keep that going for a while, it included upgrading our hosting service twice.

Recently, we reduced that limit to one image per post.

For the time being, we can no longer allow image attachments.

Images may still be included in posts as links from an outside source.

We are sorry to make this change, but it is necessary to avoid an interruption to the normal activity of our websites.

Countdown Timeline

The countdown is now underway. We have 143 days.

If things improve during that time, we will be able to continue with the forum.

There are almost 2000 registered members in this Forum. Only 59 are interested in knowing what we have to say.

I have one question to those 59, if they care to read this message.

Do you want the Forum to turn 28 years old next year and continue to 29 years? 30? 40?

Should we make the effort to continue?


Gif from Seditiosa

cc: Open Discussions"

Red Feline Team wrote: ↑Thu Sep 10, 2026 3:32 pm There are almost 2000 registered members in this Forum. Only 59 are interested in knowing what we have to say.

I have one question to those 59, if they care to read this message.

Do you want the Forum to turn 28 years old next year and continue to 29 years? 30? 40?

Should we make the effort to continue?


Gif from Seditiosa

Why do you hide important stuff here ? I doubt most users are even aware this sub forum exists.
This Topic/Thread " Countdown to the end " no-longer even appears in the Forum Menu.It used to sit on the top row of the Forum Menu in a space now occupied by "GREEN INFERNO "

Not that that placement made it visible to most users whom I presume like me enter the site via bookmarks directly to either "Open Discussions" or " Art Contributions " directly. In fact the only way I could access this Topic today was because I have bookmarked it in my browser, and then you turn around and say " most of you won't read it "
La Reine Margot would have stuffed it in our faces by putting it in "Open Discussions"
I assume I'm one of the fifty nine. If so. My answer...
YES

BobDarkroom wrote: ↑Fri Sep 11, 2026 5:53 am I have read the messages from the team and the comments from some members.
As I understand it there are 2 major issues.
The first one and probably the main one is that the revenues from streaming and selling are far below target causing issues to keep this site alive.
I'm not a marketeer but my personal opinion is that the way the team uses this forum for promoting their productions might not be the most effective. Promotion posts are way too long with a large portion of text. I'm pretty sure very few members take time to read those posts entirely.

The first issue is new to us.
Long-Term Sales Patterns

For three decades, our production company maintained a consistent monthly average. Some months were especially strong, while others were less successful, but the overall pattern remained reliable enough that we could usually predict how a new release would perform and how long that performance would last.

Recent Disruption

That pattern has changed suddenly. The only comparable downturn we remember occurred a year or two after 9/11, when the wider effects of that attack in the United States began to affect us. The current situation feels similar in some respects.

Several broader economic pressures may be contributing to the shift:
• Global economic uncertainty
• War-related instability
• Tariffs and related market pressures

Are these factors affecting us? Probably. It would not be surprising if they were.

Promotion and Communication

Our promotional approach is varied. We use short posts, long posts, images, and other formats. There is always room to improve, but promotion does not appear to be the central issue.

We also recognize that reading has become less common, but we continue to value written communication. For readers willing to engage with the written word, we publish longer posts that aim to be thoughtful, interesting, and sometimes eloquent. At times, those posts may also express frustration directly. La Reine Margot would say Sometimes my posts might be bitching.


Streaming now!
https://stream.redfeline.com

BobDarkroom wrote: ↑Fri Sep 11, 2026 5:53 am As already mentioned by Floor, the trailers are short and not showing much and therefore not very enticing to see more.

Trailers and Sales Impact

Trailers do not appear to be a major issue. While not every film has a trailer, that does not seem to have affected sales in any significant way.

For example, Seditiosa was released without a trailer and remains the best-selling title from last year and this year.

Trailer Production Plans

Even so, trailers can matter to some viewers, so more are currently in development. These will not be unusually long; they will follow the standard length typically used in the industry.


A nice trailer of Dead But Dreaming

BobDarkroom wrote: ↑Fri Sep 11, 2026 5:53 am The second one is the storage issue that has been going on for quite some time now.
I still don't understand why suggestions made in the past by some members, me included, to clean the massive archive and delete a great portion of old material that nobody ever uses anymore has never been considered by the team. That would solve the storage issue I presume.
And if this site will be forced to shut down in a not so far future everything will be gone anyway.

Content Management Priorities

Deleting posts and images is time-consuming, and deciding what to remove or keep requires even more effort. Our team does not currently have the capacity to take on that work.
For now, our priorities must remain focused on the areas that directly support revenue and resource generation:
• Managing and supporting the stores
• Maintaining the streaming channels
• Generating the resources needed to sustain operations


A wonderful film worth buying at
https://movies.redfeline.com

BobDarkroom wrote: ↑Fri Sep 11, 2026 5:53 am I also would like to add a few suggestions for saving storage space:
- limit the file size for attachments to 500k instead of 2MB
- for larger size images, linking to external storage has to be used
- limit the number of posts a member can post per day.
Just my 2 cents.

Forum Storage and Posting Limits

Attachment sizes can be limited, but the preferred approach is to link images to external storage rather than hosting everything directly on the forum.
There is currently no setting that limits the number of posts each member can publish.

Member Posting Activity

Posting activity varies widely among members. Some post once every few days, while others appear to post every few minutes.
The most active posters are the ones most likely to push disk usage toward its capacity limits.

Possible Forum Upgrade

A new forum setup is under consideration. It would require significant work to implement, but it would also provide greater control over the platform.
Potential advantages include:
• More control over posting, storage, and forum management
• The option to place advertising outside the discussion threads
• The ability to transfer existing content, images, and members to the new forum
• An opportunity to remove a significant number of outdated or unnecessary posts and images after the transfer

If the new set up and the transfer goes ahead, members will need to reset their passwords after their accounts are moved to the new forum.


Stream our films and be part of the future.
https://stream.redfeline.com

stemur wrote: ↑Sat Sep 12, 2026 11:03 am .
. . . 'twas a sad day indeed was 9/11/26 . . . and . . . not to bury the lead here but, I agree that we should pay something for this great Gimpy service we got goin' here . . . so how much would it cost to set this whole thing up ( 10Mb max limitPERgif, keep all archives intact/accessible, all the good stuff, etc ) and Maintain it going forward, so that all the old pervs like me can bang on with making GIFs ? . . .
.

Why the Forum Is Free—and What It Costs to Keep Running

Good question. If we operated like a large social media platform—open to anyone who registers, with millions of members—we could rely on advertising and potentially generate significant revenue, as companies like Facebook, X, and others do. But that is not what we are.

Likewise, if we ran the site like a paid membership porn platform that allowed anyone to upload large volumes of content, even films, including material that might violate copyrights, we might make lots of more money. But that is not our model either.


How the Site Is Funded

This is a free site. Some people, including production companies, promote their work here at no cost. We promote our own work as well, but we also cover the costs of running the entire ralphus.net site, including the Forum.
We do this in the hope that some members will buy a film or join our streaming channel. In practice, however, we may sell only one or two films here in a month—or even less.

Current Costs and Revenue

So, how much does it cost? That is difficult to assess precisely. Our cash expenses are already over USD 1,000 per year and continue to rise because we must keep upgrading the site and acquiring more storage space to keep everything running and growing.

We have held fundraising campaigns when we needed to upgrade the hosting plan—at least three times—and it now looks as though another upgrade may be necessary.

Our basic expenses are around USD 200 per month. To cover that through this Forum alone, we would need approximately six film sales or twenty streaming-channel registrations every month. That figure does not include the time and labor of the team, which would bring the true cost to at least USD 1,000 per week for part-time work.

That level of support is not currently happening. In a typical month, we may sell one or two films here, and perhaps one or two members may join the streaming channel.

Fundraising So Far

At the beginning of the year, we raised some money here with a goal of USD 1,000. We received USD 800 from seven people. I will correct those figures if needed when I have the chance.
We do not plan to fundraise again, because fundraising is complicated, time-consuming, and frustrating... annoying.

So, it's up to the goddess of the world economy.

What Would Help

Ultimately, we need sales to improve. That depends partly on the broader economy: if people have more disposable income, they may buy films or join the streaming channel—not necessarily from here, but from anywhere, as they did in more normal times.
At the moment, our average sales are about 50% below normal. That needs to improve, and soon. August looked better than July, and September is showing some signs of improvement. We will see how it develops.

Engagement on Other Forums

We also promote our work on other forums, such as Crux Forum, where our posts receive more responses. Some members there initiated the production of Seditiosa, while others contributed to that film’s campaign. Many buy our films and comment on them. Some ask for production updates, and some complain—but they are paying attention.
Unfortunately, that level of engagement no longer happens here.



Our History with This Forum

We have a long history here. It began when Ralphus offered good money for a film featuring a scene involving Amy being roasted over hot coals. That gave us the push to produce Maleficarum, which became one of our best-selling films of all time. That was in 2010.



Possible Next Steps for the Forum

We are exploring ways to continue operating the Forum. As mentioned, we need upgrades and technical work to make the site run more smoothly. Two possible options involve rebuilding the Forum from scratch while preserving existing posts and attachments and avoiding the need for members to register again. At most, members might need to reset their passwords.

The Forum currently has issues that prevent password resets. This is one of many problems that make an upgrade necessary, along with the need for additional disk space so the Forum can operate smoothly.



Back to the original question.

How Much Is Needed?

So, how much do we need to keep the Forum running and growing indefinitely? A lot.
One possibility would be to make the Forum a paid site with a monthly fee—perhaps USD 10, USD 5, or USD 3. We tried something similar before: a voluntary USD 3 monthly contribution through Patreon. Only three people signed up.


The Best Way to Support the Forum Now

For now, the best support would be for more members to join our streaming channel for USD 9.99 per month. Members get access to our wonderful films, and that support helps keep this Forum running strongly.

That's in a different world, of course. In this one people want everything for free.