Paid forum membership

[Salome]

This is Posted in the "Brass Tacks" forum but am re-posting it here, for this discussion. The forum has remain unchanged, in many ways for a long, long time. These last two years especially. It can't continue on unchanged, it is in a process of growth and that growth needs more financial support. I have increased the ad's to generate some of that support. A paid type of membership is not something that has ever really been on my agenda/radar. It is coming up as an alternative for people who are bothered by ad's. We can set up a usergroup with certain permissions that is advertisement free, with additional perks, if you feel like (and are able to) support an ad free forum. I gave careful consideration to what was included in each. Trying to be fair to all, and worthwhile. The underlined text in Sponsor is permission only for the sponsor usergroup.

Guest
Forum Viewing Permissions - Can View some of the Forums, Can View Thread Content, Can View Others' Threads
Post / Thread Permissions - Can Rate Threads
Calendar Permissions - Can View Calendar
General Permissions - Can View Member Info

Member
Forum Viewing Permissions - Can View Forum, Can View Thread Content, Can View Others' Threads, Can Use Email to Friend, Can Download Attachments,
Can See Thumbnails
Forum Searching Permissions - Can Search Forums
Post / Thread Permissions - Can Post Threads, Can Reply to Own Threads, Can Reply to Others' Threads, Can Edit Own Posts, Can Rate Threads, Can Tag Own Threads, Can Tag Others' Threads, Can Create Tags
Attachment Permissions - Can Upload Attachments
Poll Permissions - Can Post Polls, Can Vote on Polls
Private Message Permissions - Maximum Stored Messages 20, Maximum Recipients to Send PMs at a time 2
Calendar Permissions - Can View Calendar, Can View Others' Events
General Permissions - Can View Member Info, Can Edit Own Profile, Can View Others' Profile Pictures, Can Email Members, Can Use Friends List
Picture Uploading Permissions - Can Upload Profile Pictures, Can Upload Animated Profile Picture, Profile Picture pixel width and height 350, Can Upload Custom Avatars, Custom Avatar picture size 80 x 80 pixels
User Reputation Permissions - Can Use Reputation, Can Leave Negative Reputation
User Album Permissions - Can Have Album and Upload Pictures, Can View Albums, Can Comment on Pictures, Can Edit Own Picture Comments, Can Manage Comments on Own Pictures
Visitor Message Permissions - Can Post Visitor Messages to Own Profile, Can Post Visitor Messages to Others' Profile, Can Edit Own Visitor Messages

Sponsor $3.95 a month
No advertisements on any part of the forum
Forum Viewing Permissions - Can View Forum, Can View Thread Content, Can View Others' Threads, Can Use Email to Friend, Can Download Attachments,
Can See Thumbnails, Can View Who Read a Thread
Forum Searching Permissions - Can Search Forums, Can Use Boolean Search
Post / Thread Permissions - Can Post Threads, Can Reply to Own Threads, Can Reply to Others' Threads, Can Edit Own Posts, Can Rate Threads, Can Tag Own Threads, Can Tag Others' Threads, Can Create Tags, Can Edit Own Thread Title
Attachment Permissions - Can Upload Attachments
Poll Permissions - Can Post Polls, Can Vote on Polls
Private Message Permissions - Private Message Permissions - Maximum Stored Messages 100, Can Use Message Tracking, Can Deny Private Message Read Receipt Request, Maximum Recipients to Send PMs at a time 20, Can Send Attachments
Calendar Permissions - Can View Calendar, Can Post Events, Can Edit Own Events, Can Delete Own Events, Can View Others' Events
Who's Online Permissions - Can View Who's Online
General Permissions - Can View Member Info, Can Edit Own Profile, Can View Others' Profile Pictures, Can Email Members, Can Use Friends List Can Set Self to Invisible Mode, Can Use Custom Title, Can View the Visiting Members Display on Forum Home
Picture Uploading Permissions - Can Upload Profile Pictures, Can Upload Animated Profile Picture, Can Upload Custom Avatars, Profile Picture pixel width and height 500, Can Upload Animated Avatar, Custom Avatar pixels 150 x 150, Can Upload Images for Signature, Signature Image 500 x 100 pixels
Signature Permissions - Can Use Signatures
User Reputation Permissions - Can Use Reputation, Can Leave Negative Reputation, Can See Who Left User Ratings, Can Hide Reputation from Others
User Album Permissions - Can Have Album and Upload Pictures, Can View Albums, Can Comment on Pictures, Can Edit Own Picture Comments, Can Manage Comments on Own Pictures, Can Delete Own Picture Comments, Picture Size 500 x 500, Can Have 25 Pictures in Album
Profile Customization Permissions - Can Edit Font Family, Can Edit Font Size, Can Edit Text and Link Colors, Can Edit Backgrounds, Can Edit Borders, Can Edit Profile Privacy (the user can hide blocks on their profile page from other users), Can Customize Profile
Visitor Message Permissions - Can Post Visitor Messages to Own Profile, Can Post Visitor Messages to Others' Profile, Can Edit Own Visitor Messages, Can Delete Own Visitor Messages, Can Manage Messages within Own Profile

[Ariadne]

Member
...
Private Message Permissions - Maximum Stored Messages 20, Maximum Recipients to Send PMs at a time 2

Seriously? What happens to my other 32 messages currently stored? ( I already downloaded and cleaned out the other 48+ a few months ago.) This makes it nearly useless for "Members". I'm trying to be nice but it is really upsetting me since this is the only way I have to chat privately with my friends here since I don't do facebook. I can rack up 20 messages in one conversation between the inbox and the outbox.

[~Diana~]

Sign me up!! I'm going to assume that is in USA currency too? How do I give you my money? For $3.95 a month I can easily go without ONE coffee ONE day a month to help support this site. I was thinking it would be much more than that but hey it is less than one drink from starbucks once I do currency conversion to US dollars. Even on my old poor student budget I could afford this; it's much cheaper than another forum membership I used to pay to use.


Ariadne I don't think it makes it nearly useless for members because they be restricted to 20 emails. Pm's are not made to be used as a regular chat feature. Do you have a private email you can use? Google email you can save thousands of emails messages.

[shiradotnet]

Salome, I support what you're trying to do. It CAN be expensive to run a large, popular web site - I know this from experience! Hosting fees, domain names, software upgrades - it all adds up.

Can you give us a bit more logistical information about the $3.95/month? Is it possible to prepay an entire year for those who are really bad at remembering to pay monthly fees? Do you take payments by PayPal, or different method?

[Salome]

Seriously? What happens to my other 32 messages currently stored? ( I already downloaded and cleaned out the other 48+ a few months ago.) This makes it nearly useless for "Members". I'm trying to be nice but it is really upsetting me since this is the only way I have to chat privately with my friends here since I don't do facebook. I can rack up 20 messages in one conversation between the inbox and the outbox.

Nothing will happen to your messages as of yet because the permissions have not been altered at this point. Up until a few years ago PM message space was limited. I increased it. Now it is going back to the default setting.

If 20 PM isn't sufficient and you don't want a sponsorship then perhaps managing storage routinely will help utilize the space allotted.

[Salome]

Salome, I support what you're trying to do. It CAN be expensive to run a large, popular web site - I know this from experience! Hosting fees, domain names, software upgrades - it all adds up.

Can you give us a bit more logistical information about the $3.95/month? Is it possible to prepay an entire year for those who are really bad at remembering to pay monthly fees? Do you take payments by PayPal, or different method?

I should have elaborated a bit more, sorry! It is not set up as of yet. I need to do a little research on the forum side of things, I might be able to set it up or I may need to call on my webmaster. I will be working on that this week. The payment processing is PayPal but I do have a pro terminal so folks can do credit/debit also. I will set up a couple options, monthly maybe semester and a yearly option. TBC :0)

[Ariadne]

Sign me up!! I'm going to assume that is in USA currency too? How do I give you my money? For $3.95 a month I can easily go without ONE coffee ONE day a month to help support this site. I was thinking it would be much more than that but hey it is less than one drink from starbucks once I do currency conversion to US dollars. Even on my old poor student budget I could afford this; it's much cheaper than another forum membership I used to pay to use.

Not everyone has the same budget you do. depending on the months paycheck $3.95 may be the entire days food budget. I wasn't joking a few months ago when I said I was spending a weeks food budget on a pair of zills (though it was more like 2 weeks).

Ariadne I don't think it makes it nearly useless for members because they be restricted to 20 emails. Pm's are not made to be used as a regular chat feature. Do you have a private email you can use? Google email you can save thousands of emails messages.

That depends entirely on how you use them and with 100 storage it works great. I have gmail thank you. I keep it separate from my forum use for security reasons.

Nothing will happen to your messages as of yet because the permissions have not been altered at this point. Up until a few years ago PM message space was limited. I increased it. Now it is going back to the default setting.

Well, if 20 is the default setting then I don't blame you. I'll clean it up and deal. I wish I could sponsor the site but as I wasn't able to even save up enough money this year for dance classes I'm afraid it will have to wait until I win the lottery or something. Best of luck and thank you for running such an awesome forum.

[Amulya]

I think 20 PMs is sufficient, just a regular clean-out works. Does it make a big difference for the running costs if we all have smaller inboxes? If yes I think it's good to reduce the size.

Do you still have the part of the site where people posted belly dance pictures? Not people's own pictures on their profiles but this was a collective thing. It wasnt connected to pictures in forum posts either. Maybe that could go if that takes up too much space?

And what about limiting the album space on profiles? Would that help?

[~Diana~]

Not everyone has the same budget you do. depending on the months paycheck $3.95 may be the entire days food budget. I wasn't joking a few months ago when I said I was spending a weeks food budget on a pair of zills (though it was more like 2 weeks).

That I know and I don't need to be reminded. I grew up poor and at times lived on church food stamps. I worked a part time job as soon as I legally became allowed to. I worked two full time jobs for years, supported/cared for my mother, took care of the house, and put myself though university at the same time. I never took freebies if I could help it. However I saved, scraped by, and gave up food for days or a week to get what I wanted and to where I am now. If I really wanted something then I made it happen. I never complained about it and I never complained about my lot in life or about change. I've learned to be highly adaptable.

I still do this today even though I don't have a high paying job. Like you said you decided to give up a weeks food budget to buy zills. I'm giving up one days worth of food each month to support and make sure this forum continues to run and be there for everyone. You decided your priority and I decided mine.

[Ariadne]

That I know and I don't need to be reminded.

Maybe you do if your current idea of sacrificing is "one drink from starbucks ". It's not about priorities it's about facing reality. There is a huge difference between making a once in a long while exception and living within your means all the time. I sincerely doubt that Salome really wants people to starve themselves for a day each month so they can give her money. On the other hand you have just provided an excellent example of my earlier concerns about people who can't afford to subscribe possibly not feeling welcome. You just basically said that this forum must not be a priority or I would find a way to subscribe (and I should keep any concerns to myself or I'm just wingeing). How very noninclusive. Well you don't know that about me or anyone else who doesn't subscribe and you shouldn't be assuming you do.

I'm glad you can afford to subscribe, Salome deserves all the support she can get for what she does for us. Just don't presume that everyone can.