Let's Chat about Subscriptions....

[Cain]

I thought I had been pretty clear and upfront that the new Forums would offer extra features for subscribers, but apparently I was not as clear as I had hoped.

My goal for subscriptions is to help pay for the Forum software, annual relicensing free, Web space and e-mail for the Forums, server hardware, etc.

For he last ten years I have not asked for anything for the game servers' associated Web Page and Forums, all our contributions went to server hardware, and/or server rental where at times my cost was $750.00/month !!

Dark4SE was generous enough to pay for our Forum bandwidth and space, for the last several years, which everyone should appreciate and thank him for.

Anyhow, I plan to spend the next few days looking closely at the paid subscriptions, and likely tweaking several aspects of it, but my main goal is not to punish or exclude folks who do not wish to join our Forums as subscribers, but rather to reward those who do wish to help pay for them. If you paid for a subscription, what sort of things would you think were worth your money for, besides knowing you helped us keep going ?

All that having been said, I'd like to hear your thoughts on what sort of perks folks who pay should receive, and what things everyone should have equal access to, regardless of level.

I have tried and will try to give everyone basic Forum access roughly equivalent to what we had on the old php Boards - while the new stuff will be reserved for those folks who wish to help pay for stuff.

Take care, and thanks in advance for any feedback !!

-- Cain

[darth_nevus]

done i like it, and realize its a work in progress. alot of places use subscription type services to help offset the costs of their hosting, games, etc. i think this new change is progressive, rather than regressive.

i am all up for it, and the types of benefits we can reap from it.

[Cain]

Like I said I want to get all the registered users as close as possible to where they were before, so I'll tweak the model, but I also want to make the folks who are willing to pay something feel special ...

[linemanstud]

I voiced some of my concerns in the computer lab because I had a question that I thought should go there, but this is a more proper place for it. I just think it is really lame that avatars and siggys can't be used by non-subscribers. Like I said there, I am a broke college student between jobs, otherwise I would gladly fork out the money for you guys because it is amazing here. I just think that on the old forums our avatars and siggys became a part of who we are to the community, both as an ID and as a reflection of what kind of people we are. Some of us worked really hard on those things to make them ready for yall to see. I think we should get them back is all. Other than that minor tweak, I think the subscription system is spot on.


p.s.- The new forums look great!

[minfootball]

i think at least we should be allowed custom avatars and siggys back a lot of us have made out own and this allows expression of who we are (plus adds a little color) maybe make the siggys only up to a certain size for non subscribers

i think the inability to edit posts is going to be more of a hassle for the admins then a plus.

leave the games and other features to the subscribers

another idea to make some money could be setting up a shop with custom cain's lair merchandise many people here would be interested in that

[linemanstud]

It may make me a nerd or what have you, but I think the merchandise idea is great. Let me be the first to suggest a genuine Cain bobblehead.

[darth_nevus]

correct me if i am wrong, but we've almost never been able to edit posts in most, some or all of the forums.

[Cain]

Thx for the feedback guys, I appreciate it.....

Actually you CAN edit your own posts in these Forums where as nobody could edit their own posts in the old Forums. You have, as I recall 15 mins to edit your own post. I moved away from letting everyone edit their own posts years ago, because some would troll and flame, get everyone all upset, then edit their first post and act innocent, as if they did not understand all the fuss !!

Custom siggys may make a comeback for all registered users (proly size limited tho), custom avatars, lemme think about that one a while. Most other Forums I frequent only allow custom avatars for subscribers, and folks are really proud of them.. Remember you can use our Avatars here you just cannot upload CUSTOM ones..

Stay tuned , and thanks !!

[Cain]

correct me if i am wrong, but we've almost never been able to edit posts in most, some or all of the forums.

Correct ... nobody could edit anything in the old Forums, but here folks can edit their own posts for 15 mins after they make a post... After that it is set...

[Hammy]

I dont have anything but positive feedback- especially when I consider the cost of resources for a "club" atmosphere.

The negative side could be that we exclude a certain number of adolescent and childhood level members.

However, being that this is a mature gaming environment, forcing the issue via parental consent and $29 bucks a year could be a very positive impact to our environment.

I hear you- we are not alienating anyone, and I like that very much. We are just rewarding the people who wish to contribute- like any club or organization does.

I havent used paypal in a gajillion years, so I'll need to figure that one out myself.

[-IRC-MIKE]

Hmm... I could edit my posts in the old forums, but there were only one or two Forum sections like "Report a Jerk" I think and one or two others where I couldn't edit them after submitting. I have not seen where I can edit the post here since there is no button for it.

I also wanted to ask a question about donations. If a member donates $10 here and $15 there until they reach the total that Lifers pay... ?.... Do they get a lifer membership? Some people won't be able to drop a chunk at one time, but nickel and dime it to death until they reach that point. Just curious as to how this works. I can donate here and there, but my wife would SHYT a golden egg if I plopped down 150 dollars at once.

[-IRC-MIKE]

I just submitted that post, and looked over it again. There is no edit button for me, anyways. I can Quote, Multi Quote and Quick reply.

Yes, I could edit my posts in the old forums, just to clarify that, and have done it hundreds of times.

[-Bar]

I'm here no matter what you do.

[Hammy]

I'm here no matter what you do.

*laughs*

I just heard my Dad's voice playback in my head when I read that, it reminded me of coming home past curfew and sneaking through the garage.

"I'm here no matter what the hell you do. Now get your *** in the house before I kick it to the son. You wanna act like an ......."

[ThisElfRocksHard]

In truth? I can't say I have a problem with no custom signatures and avatars. I have been a member of several forums where this is simply not allowed unless you are a super-important person (I assure you I was not), and the pages load faster, there was no conversation about super-big signatures (how often do you REALLY look at them?), never a problem with unethical avatars...if someone really needs to have a creative outlet, then there should be no issue with ponying up some cash. The ability to edit posts however, I feel is critical, and 15 minutes may be too tiny a window to fix a critical spelling error ("shotty", anyone?).