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Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

How does $10/year sound to participate in this Forum?


Hi-Power Jack

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Sounds like a way to kill the site. Forums are only good if discussion stays lively. Paygated forums don't stay lively for long.

Ads or donations work well, but if you're forced to pay even the people who are willing to eventually won't as participation drops off (and the effect will tend to snowball over time).

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1 hour ago, MGMorden said:

1.  Sounds like a way to kill the site.

 2.  Paygated forums don't stay lively for long.

1.  Sounds like the site might die without some source of funds

2.  Not being argumentative, just wondering from what experience you draw that conclusion?

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Another forum I use implemented a subscription system.  For $20/year you got less ads, more powerful searching, easier pic attachments, and a little red star by your username.  I think most people paid the $20 so they could get the red star like the cool kids. I don't know how financially effective it was, but it was well received by the users. 

Ben

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I still think this won't work. I say come up with a forum donor icon and let shame drive the money train.

Hold on while I get my calculator out:

58,875 X 10 = 588,750

If it costs $588,750 to maintain a forum for a year I am in the wrong line of work.

 

Besides, I still have problems logging on occasionally and a few times a week the forums are locking up, etc. Kind of hard to force folks to pay for something that doesn't always work.

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I don't think a "badge" that shows that you contributed money to the forum, on a forum that pretty much makes members "earn" their stripes (so to speak) is such a good idea. It would promote elitism and give newer members the wrong impression as to what the forums are all about. 

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3 minutes ago, GrumpyOne said:

I don't think a "badge" that shows that you contributed money to the forum, on a forum that pretty much makes members "earn" their stripes (so to speak) is such a good idea. It would promote elitism and give newer members the wrong impression as to what the forums are all about. 

MOM badge shows contributions to the forum. I guess if there is no answer to be had just let it roll. But don't ask for donations again? And for goodness sakes tell Jack to stop badgering everybody for money!!

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Brian already said this.

 

About 70 members have donated since I started this "drive." Let's leave it like this... I think if everyone just donates whenever and whatever they feel like the forums are worth to them, we'll be fine. I really, really want to keep the forums they way they have always been - ad free, and the members who have donated so far have made that look like it that will happen. 

THANK YOU!

 
 
Why are you taking it upon yourself to pressure more people to donate jack? I think the opinion of the man in charge matters most and from the sound of it he just wants people to donate However much and whenever they want and so far it's been adequate to keep the forums going as is.
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18 minutes ago, Garmil said:

 

Why are you taking it upon yourself to pressure  more people to donate,  Jack?

No pressure :)

I'm merely asking new members to consider the alternative

of  voluntarily contributing  a small amount to  keep this going.

I agree that this should be voluntary - but won't be considered

if no one knows about the situation - I'm just reminding everyone

about the "facts of life" here.    ^_^

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34 minutes ago, Sarge said:

MOM badge shows contributions to the forum. I guess if there is no answer to be had just let it roll. But don't ask for donations again? And for goodness sakes tell Jack to stop badgering everybody for money!!

The MOM badge is earned, you can't buy it...

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2 minutes ago, Hi-Power Jack said:

No pressure :)

I'm merely asking new members to consider the alternative

of  voluntarily contributing  a small amount to  keep this going.

I agree that this should be voluntary - but won't be considered

if no one knows about the situation - I'm just reminding everyone

about the "facts of life" here.    ^_^

Pressure is subjective i suppose.  You are encouraging members to quit the forum if they dont donate

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Again, it's just a suggestion, with NO weight behind it.  Truly a personal decision.

Heck, I'm not even a Moderator :) 

If the Forum isn't worth $10 to you, after 50 postings,  it must be useless?    :rolleyes:

OH, There's a Big Question for the Moderators:   How many of the 18,000

members have 50+ postings (Or, how many do NOT have 50+ postings)?

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5 minutes ago, Hi-Power Jack said:

Again, it's just a suggestion, with NO weight behind it.  Truly a personal decision.

Heck, I'm not even a Moderator :) 

If the Forum isn't worth $10 to you, after 50 postings,  it must be useless?    :rolleyes:

OH, There's a Big Question for the Moderators:   How many of the 18,000

members have 50+ postings (Or, how many do NOT have 50+ postings)?

worth paying for and useless are not mutually exclusive last i checked. and either way thats up to each individual to decide not you.

i enjoy the site and have donated but i understand if others with over 50 posts choose not to.

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I think it sounds like a horrible idea and would ultimately be the death of this forum. If you're really that interested you can take a look at my comment in the donation drive forums that's going.


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Jack, 

you deserve praise for taking initiative on this. 

Although well intentioned, not a good idea. 

These forums are only interesting when there is fresh discussion and that is primarily driven by new membership. 

If you charge $ for participation few new people will sign up. Even if the first 50 posts are "free" nobody cares, it's a paid site, and people never get interested. The only guys who will pony up the $ are the salty dogs with 1000's of posts. 

And yeah if this site had ads on it a lot of guys will quit visiting. 

So Brians approach is pretty smart. 

If you wanna help out, carry his message, not your own. 

or not, have a good one. 

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17 hours ago, Hi-Power Jack said:

Again, it's just a suggestion, with NO weight behind it.  Truly a personal decision.

Heck, I'm not even a Moderator :) 

I

 

Did the site owner, admins, or moderators ask you to do this? 

If not, why are you?  Especially when the guy whose name is on the door says "About 70 members have donated since I started this "drive." Let's leave it like this... I think if everyone just donates whenever and whatever they feel like the forums are worth to them, we'll be fine. I really, really want to keep the forums they way they have always been - ad free, and the members who have donated so far have made that look like it that will happen."

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You think GM's and M's (maybe even A's) are going to pay to stick around? I kinda doubt it. You'll be left with a forum full of D and C class shooters looking for help.

I think the best way to raise money would be off the classifieds. Like a 1% listing fee. (1% of the price of the item with a $1 minimum and maybe $10 max per ad)

I dunno. I like free forums with ad based revenue.

But then again I have no idea of the "situation" these forums are in. This thread was at the top of my news feed on tapatalk.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk


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16 minutes ago, 3djedi said:



You think GM's and M's (maybe even A's) are going to pay to stick around? I kinda doubt it. You'll be left with a forum full of D and C class shooters looking for help.

I think the best way to raise money would be off the classifieds. Like a 1% listing fee. (1% of the price of the item with a $1 minimum and maybe $10 max per ad)

I dunno. I like free forums with ad based revenue.

But then again I have no idea of the "situation" these forums are in. This thread was at the top of my news feed on tapatalk.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk
 

 

generating revenue from classified listings makes more sense than from general forum use. 

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One of the other forums I frequent (actually the only one) has a different way of funding, it's free to join but they sell advertising space that appears in the margins as you scroll through the posts, they also have a number of "sponsorship" levels that add a number of things to the membership, the basic one gets rid of the ads and gives the member a certain amount of storage, the higher level sponsorships add more benefits. It's still voluntary (and free if you don't mind all the ads slowing down the site). It's relatively inexpensive.

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I wouldn't participate at this point if it cost me. I wouldn't mind to pay a small selling fee for my stuff in the classifieds though. I don't want to but if I had to pay anything that's where it should be.

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On 1/1/2017 at 10:17 PM, Nimitz said:

 

 

On 1/1/2017 at 10:17 PM, Nimitz said:

why don't the 50+ forum dealer annual advertising fees cover the cost of operating the forum?

The forum dealers are paying our gracious host for the privilege of having a vendor tent, which is separate from the upkeep/cost to run the forum....so, members should drop asking about that. Brian asked for donations, vendors pay for a privilege.  Whether it (the vendor fees)  covers the cost of upkeep for the forum is immaterial,  that is Brian's profit for his hard work.

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Hmmmm .... Not looking to get in an argument over this but I look at the expense of running the forum as business overhead expensive.  Forum dealers paying for a vendors tent to me is just an additional revenue stream in addition to what he makes on his store front.  Let's face it, the forum is a great marketing tool to support his business website ....

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