Thread: POLL: Adding for-pay membership options

*sighs* This is what I get for having a few Hienekens'. I posted this in the Suggestions thread in the Front Page Section. If there is an admin that could remove the original post that would be great. My apologies for posting in the wrong section.

Being a forum troll that I am here are some things I have noticed for payed memberships. Many of these may have already been suggested. Please disregard any suggestions if it has already been mentioned.
No pop ups; No ads, email, FTP access, Blog space, web space - similar in size to something like MySpace, a special notation for payed membership under the avatar, personal smilies, IF - IF the forum was directly linked to a store (a percentage off merchandise for a payed membership and discounts are determined by levels such as bronze, silver, gold and platinum), rare circumstances a section to moderate (but that is for very small forums unlike here), increased amount of images allowed or image size, some toss in a free piece of merchandise (IE: game, hat, shirt, mouse pad... etc), access to voice chat servers (Ventrilo or TeamSpeak (non-game related chat areas)), a magazine subscription (forums for magazines), pre-release purchases (IE: a chance to buy the brand-new product before it becomes open to the public usually weeks in advance), option to beta test new products (small samples of new products or beta test mods to current games and give input).
In no way have I seen payed membership grant special access to areas of the forums unless it was for FTP access or confidential beta testing.
These are many ideas I've seen and some are combination's. It all depends on the admins and the forums target for payed memberships.

In all, I would pay. With the information I have obtained from here and the monthly giveaways I would be happy to indulge. But the first three I mentioned should be a gimme for any payed membership. IMO.

maybe an option for newbs to pay a little more and get a pro honed razor (something cheap but consistent) so they have good reference from the start.
maybe identify a paying member with a smiley or something by their user name, or a rank depending on amount, ie: master bleeder , neck knicker , face mower , daily shaver , straight smooth , pro latherer ,etc .

I second that!!!!!!!!!!!

Should we go to a payi scheme... can we get a better profanity filter? getting the "****" in words like "hedgeco ck", "handco ck", "matash ito" and "osh ito" is rather annoying.

It's only fair to support the site that has supported me, weather or not I use the features.

Count me in.

Dave

I think the site is great but in terms of paying for features I would say "maybe." Only because it would depend on price and what the features were.

I have one suggestion though: Why not charge a minimal fee for uploading ads? Not like WTB ads or small ads, but if your ad is >$10 you could add just a $1 charge and only if the ad sells. It is a small amount that I don't think people would be averse to, certainly not when it only gets deducted if the ad sells and when you get the kind of market access / free exposure that the site provides. I think it would provide a lot of revenue with minimal inconvenience.

And you could make it value-added by allowing bigger picture upload for those ads etc. which would increase sales I am sure.

I think allowing people to have more server storage for PMs and more image storage space, as Max suggested, would definitely entice 'razor porn' posters and people who do a lot of sales from the site through PM to become contributing members.

I think I would definitely join if I started selling stuff if the PMs + images / server storage were a benefit. I'm not sure that a blog and e-mail opp would really sell me - I have like 3 e-mails and don't blog; although I could definitely see some of the restorers etc. blogging their work which would be a real asset to the community and drum up business for them (if they want), which is good for everyone.

I have seen some other sites that have a donation button only. I think this is the best way to get operation funds without being obtrusive or in your face. It also does not favor or put in a class of people who donate over the ones who don't.

bj

Slippery slope fellows, slippery slope...

While I am all in favour of supporting SRP, there are ways and means. I do not think that is really the issue. We all support the site just by coming here and participating. Others do more like mod, wiki, donate to raffles, give good advice and so on. So paying to support SRP holds no weight in my mind with regards this idea.

I think what it boils down to, putting the spurious and emotional "support" argument aside, is that there is an idea to offer additional services for a price, full stop. None of the mentioned services appeal to me, so I voted no.

And although I know that it has already been touched upon in previous posts, I will find it interesting to see how, if this goes ahead, the two "types" (let's not call them "classes") of membership develop over time in practice, rather than in theory.

Just my 2 cents.

James.

Originally Posted by Jimbo

I think what it boils down to, putting the spurious and emotional "support" argument aside, is that there is an idea to offer additional services for a price, full stop. None of the mentioned services appeal to me, so I voted no.

Yep. All people should realize that we don't NEED support for SRP as is: a forum with bells and whistles.

IF people are interested in additional bells and whistles that cost more money than we have right now, then we could add those with the additional money.

I am still considering different things, and I will have to talk with David about what it is going to cost to e.g. add email and blog functionality. And then we could even see if we keep it limited to the people or open it up completely.
The danger of this is that if this is going to cause us to beef up the server resources (money) we will rely on the support and that would be a bad idea.

So I will make a list of suggestions that were offered here, discuss it with the other guys, see what the cost is going to be, and then coming back to this place to get puclib feedback.

Some time back I received an email from a very popular knife website that I frequent. It asked for a contribution to help defray the cost.
I gladly sent $50. I received nothing special in return.

I am willing to make a contribution on an annual basis to this website and/or contribute a razor for a fund raising raffle.

I do not need or want anything in return.

I simply want this wonderful place to continue.

Just my $.02, .......again,