Premium Membership Discussion. - Page 2

*DCtitan* · 02-01-2005, 06:31 PM

ekool i was going to some of you affilitates and didnt find this but i might not have looked hard enough but how has worked if it is done there and do you offer these same abilities ther and what do they say??

just a though and/or question

rjspitz · 02-01-2005, 07:12 PM

I've been a member of www.gixxer.com for about 5 years now. I've been a paying member for 2 years. I stopped paying this year because I didn't see the advantages of being a paying member. They offered the same type things as you suggest for $10; special premium badge, gain ability to post ads in the classifieds section, personal photo gallery, special forums access, and chances to win a monthly prize. For $60 you get the same plus a webmail account, custom title, plus more storage in the gallery.

I have the same questions as DCtitan, have you tried this at your other sites? How has business been there?

And like almost everyone else, I think picture uploading should be free for anyone, right now the sponsors are paying for bandwidth and storage. As a suggestion, the Audi forum I go to only allows picture uploads with Audi related content in it. This can help keep bandwidth somewhat down with some of the unnecessary uploads.

nursecrickett · 02-01-2005, 09:39 PM

I know I used to enjoy Classmates.com and then all of a sudden they started charging.
I go there every so often to see who is listed, but never joined. I am not really interested in paying for a website, so I'd probably just start surfing elsewhere.
Who knows....its hard to pay for something that is free. You can get email free alot of places. I don't play games online. I really enjoy reading these and contributing, but I don't want to pay.
Who knows....if it was a pay site, I'd stop reading posts and stop looking for things wrong with my truck! lol
Just my opinion!
Crickett

HVACman · 02-01-2005, 11:34 PM

Obviously there are expenses that ekool has carry. Does anyone do anything for free for ever? Nobody can argue that he hasn't provided all of us a service. If he wants to make a few bucks he's earned it. It may well help his cause if he could give us an idea of what and how much his expenses are. It might help some people decide to pay.

terryu1 · 02-02-2005, 06:08 AM

I'm only asking to be better informed, but everyone is talking about expenses for riunning the forum. What expenses? I know you have to pay for the name registration etc. but even if half the members joined at $ 20 yearly thats about $40,000. I run a smaller site for our softball league which is not even close the the scale of this site but I "eat" the expenses as a donation to the league. I do agree with others that except for uploading attachments time to time the proposed benefits are nothing I would be interested in. I'm not trying to flame anyone, just trying to make an informed decision. With proposal made I would more than likely not join as premium. If there are truely expenses to match the fee, with a little extra to compensate for time, I would continue but if someone were to do this for "profit" I would need more benefits that I would actually use. Good luck with your decision as this is a critical decision which could result in the death of TitanTalk as we know it.

MOTO-MAX-TITAN · 02-02-2005, 06:37 AM

I agree, with alot of what everyone has to say on both sides of the coin..
Maybe a donation box should be set up, a new guy like me would be more tham happy to throw out a few buck's.
But as far as a yearly or monthly fee, I probably would not of joined if this was a pay-site(who wants another bill to pay?)
But donation's would feel more like educational or a entertainment value's..(in my fickle mind)
titantalk.com telethon?? lol

troutspinner · 02-02-2005, 06:53 AM

Pay? You've got to be kidding me. As soon as you make this a pay board everyone will flock to a board that is not a pay board and this site will perish.

MANY sites have tried this avenue and MANY have perished because of it. If you need money or resources to keep the site running, I am more than willing to help but with the dollar amount you're talking, it looks like you want to make cash.

trout

logicjunky · 02-02-2005, 07:08 AM

Maybe ekool can hit up one of his other sites for the loot? Turn one of his other forums into a pay site, not this one. (I'm guessing this one has the largest membership of his forums, or perhaps the second largest...)

I don't mind chipping in a few dollars, but from what others have posted I would venture forth at best, that donations are going to be the choice of the populace here.

TriKKy · 02-02-2005, 07:28 AM

I agree with donation box. Those who would pay for premium membership would donate anyway.

I don't really see how the proposed "bonuses" of the pay would affect the normal user anyway (short of the uploads, which I agree should be standard, not premium).

Ekool, I think you would actually do better if you asked for donations instead of asking for premium memberships. It is a perception issue really. If a long-standing member, like myself, doesnt really care about the extra features, I wouldn't pay. However, if you are telling me that you need money to help keep the site running, I would pay.

Draco_1962 · 02-02-2005, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ekool

I'm ready to get something going for the Premium Membership on the site here. I'd like to get the users feedback over what they thing we should offer, and what a reasonable price is for premium membership.

Here's what I think we can make available and we are open to suggestions.

1. Photopost/Picture Gallery
2. Email address @TitanTalk.com (incoming mail only)
3. Access to the Arcade
4. Access to upload attachments (currently, anyone can do it, we would make it a premium member only feature)
5. Special User Rank signifying your Premium Status

The privs would be done on a 1 year basis...

Lets hear some feedback so we can make this system work for everyone.

IMHO as a newby, but also someone who has had some experience "back in the day" of BBSs and charging for premium access to special message boards, chat features, premium downloads, etc.; A donation system is best and maintain access to all features for all users regardless of how much or how often they donate.

Otherwise, there are many other sites/forums to go to that would love to have them frequent their sponsors (who, by the way, don't really care because many of the same sponsors seen here are on the other Titan forums as well.. so long as they get their money they really could care less).

The only thing I could suggest regarding downloads is (if the program will support the feature) is an upload/download ratio which would be higher say 2-to-1 for non-donating members vs. unlimited for members donating a minimum of $5 a year. When I implemented this on my BBS, the members came back the same as before, and those that contributed anyway got a decent bonus and I got the financial benefit that kept the BBS maintained for quite a few years.

My two cents,

-Đядсо-

troutspinner · 02-02-2005, 08:58 AM

One other thing I would like to add.

This site has the exposure and traffic due to the content provided by the users of the message board and in turn, continues to bring new people. In essence, you could almost say that this site is built by the people you are trying to charge.

I'm not taking anything away from the cost, development & efforts of the admin but without the content freely provided to this site by it's everyday users, this site would not be successful.

I have run websites with message boards, online chat, etc. and understand the costs and maintenance involved, this is a bad idea!

If I provide content, can I be compensated? Sounds rediculous doesn't it, it works both ways.

trout

IMADOGMAN · 02-02-2005, 11:04 AM

Find more advertisers...sell advertising...I would even put up with pop-ups once in a while...but I won't fund your retirement plan directly...sorry...I have one of my own to consider. Good luck with whatever you decide.
I like this site, but I can find the information that I need without it too, and I have also read the owner's manual.

ekool · 02-02-2005, 11:17 AM

I see alot of good suggestions here. Thats the whole reason I started this thread, was to get everyones feedback. No decisions have been made at this point.

I can see the majority does NOT want to pay for attachments, so thats okay, we'll scratch that off the option list.

We may have to put a limit on the size of your photos that you have with us at any given time to something reasonable, as it stands now there is no limitation. Someone could have gigs and gigs of even NON related content.

As far as turning the site into a PAY site, thats not my intention. It is also not my intention to accept donations. I dont like people giving me money without receiving benefits. So the premium membership is pretty much just that... you ELECT to join the premium membership. If you ELECT NOT to join, then your browsing and posting experience here will not change in the slightest.

Draco, I like the BBS comments. Most people dont even know what that is, but I was running a BBS out of my home when I was 14... I'm very familiar with that worked then vs now

I have a few more ideas of premium content that we can offer, but the most important thing to remember is that all of it will be voluntary. You will not be required to pay a single cent to utilize this site. And, you wont see popups here either

Draco_1962 · 02-02-2005, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ekool

I see alot of good suggestions here. Thats the whole reason I started this thread, was to get everyones feedback. No decisions have been made at this point.

I can see the majority does NOT want to pay for attachments, so thats okay, we'll scratch that off the option list.

We may have to put a limit on the size of your photos that you have with us at any given time to something reasonable, as it stands now there is no limitation. Someone could have gigs and gigs of even NON related content.

As far as turning the site into a PAY site, thats not my intention. It is also not my intention to accept donations. I dont like people giving me money without receiving benefits. So the premium membership is pretty much just that... you ELECT to join the premium membership. If you ELECT NOT to join, then your browsing and posting experience here will not change in the slightest.

Draco, I like the BBS comments. Most people dont even know what that is, but I was running a BBS out of my home when I was 14... I'm very familiar with that worked then vs now

I have a few more ideas of premium content that we can offer, but the most important thing to remember is that all of it will be voluntary. You will not be required to pay a single cent to utilize this site. And, you wont see popups here either

That's pretty cool, eKool! The heart of my BBS was a program called BBS Express Pro on an Atari 800XL with 256K (not MB but K!) memory upgrade, 2400 bps modem, 1 20MB external HD, 3 Quad Density - Double Sided 5 1/2" floppy drives and a singel DS/DD Atari 5 1/4" HD - all available via a Supra 2400 bps external modem - of course, this was "da bomb" when talking 8-bit computing during the mid-80's... LOL!

The only controls for more access to downloads (as we had lots of lurkers and leeches that called just to download) were posting messages (10 bytes of download capacity for every 1 byte of text - very reasonable!) or a 4-to-1 ratio for those who did not post and accessed the BBS (and tied up access to it as I only had 1 phone line most of the time).

I would think that those who made frequent and quality posts to the forums should be considered to have donated, as quality users are going to drive membership and purchases via the sponsors.

-Đядсо-

ekool · 02-02-2005, 11:37 AM

Here's a revised list of features/perks that Premium membership would bring... again, this isnt set in stone, but something I would like feedback on.

1. Access to Photopost/Gallery (50MB Storage)
2. Access to "vbGarage" -- a page where you can upload pictures of your truck and describe your modifications. As a user mentioned, you could link to it in your signature to tell people about your truck. (5 Images)
3. Email address @TitanTalk.com (50MB Quota)

Any other features anyone can think of?