paid membership - would you?

[gratedenini]

I would probably pay it, but I would imagine it might severely limit how many new users you could get onto the site. If the forums became rubbish as a result of it - which lets face it, is a big possibility considering how much quieter they have become recently, when its available for free, then I might think twice about paying up. I'll vote yes to the question but I'm not sure its the way you should go.

I've often wondered about paywalls and about how much they can make websites that use them. I read somewhere that the Times' web traffic has fallen to a tenth of what it was before the paywall went up - users are paying £2 a week IIRC. And TBH, I would be wary about making decisions based on a poll on here, though I'm not sure what you could do instead???

[sadwitch]

If you paid and were then banned would you get a refund?

[Cardboard Box City]

I voted no. Although I'm open to persuasion.

The extras listed look a bit shit, along the lines of stuff you wouldn't pay for if you weren't being forced to for the original service.

I mean, is there a user demand for faster servers (outside of any given ticket day)?

Who really feels the need to tell ampersand he sucks faster than is currently possible?

Also, if we were just paying for use of the forums or whatever, wouldn't some of the original use die away in the initial realisation of its elasticity of demand thus making it a less appealing product to pay for for those who have paid?

Edited November 24, 2010 by Cardboard Box City

[omskus]

Have you considered a share option? I'd think a lot of us would like a bit of the action for a larger amount say £125 a share. I know that opens up a whole new can of worms but those that paid would get something really tangible.

[treacle]

I wouldn't mind paying for using the forums but like most folk have posted none of the "extras" you've listed appeal to me Neil. If I want to sell a ticket I'll go to Scarlet Mist and do it for free. I dont need another email address. We've got lots of places where we can chat to other forum users (mainly facebook with the added benefit of only having people you want to talk to on your friends list!)

[rabid]

Would this be in addition to or along side the Gold Members subscription to have an Ad-Free forum?

[eFestivals]

Do you own your own servers or do you rent server space?

I assume if it's the former that you have fully investigated the latter?

I rent dedicated servers. It's perhaps not the cheapest way of doing things, but it is a way of doing things which best-fits the all-round resources we have, as it gives the backup of security, support and repair free-of-charge as needed.

I would be concerned about the exclusivity/cliqueiness of a paid-members-only forum.

as am I - it's the reason I've not done this before now. However, the way the groups forums have worked out has lessened those concerns of mine, and any cliqueiness seems to be well-contained within those and not on the public forums.

If you have a buy/sell forum then i'd recommend using a subset of the rules and regulations in use at avforums (see http://www.avforums.com/forums/view_trading_rules.htm)

Re discounts on efests merch - consider the model where you offer an increasing percentage discount based on the number of paying members - eg 1% if 100 people pay, 2% if 200, etc etc (obviously i've made the numbers up).

cheers for those - I'll consider both.

[eFestivals]

and when i mentioned the £3, i'd be happy to pay for the year, but i woulnd't want to pay £30 in one whack. a direct debit of £3 a month for 12 months would suit me better. paying more but less of a hit.

I'm looking at doing this in the least-hassle way that I can, and dealing with setting up direct debits is a hassle I don't have time to do, particularly from lots of people - so that's not going to be something I'll be doing, sorry.

You'd be able to make the monthly payments yourself.

[eFestivals]

Also, the trouble with charging is people may just go to a different website that offers a simular thing but for free..

The plan isn't to charge people for using the forums - the forums would remain free as they are now.

The paid option would be an extra, where people get extra things over and above what any place is likely to offer for free.

[mikeb]

I voted YES but not because of any 'extras' there may or may not be, there's nothing mentioned in the goodies list that would definitely encourage me to sign up so to speak. I voted yes simply because as an olde farte I'm a firm believer in the "no such thing as a free lunch" principle. If someone or something is providing me a good service of some kind then I expect to pay for that or at the very least try to make a realistic contribution in one way or another towards the real costs of providing said service.

Even though a subs thing is something I've suggested myself way back in the mists of time, my only reservation then (as it is now) is that it creates a two tier eFests which could be detrimental in the longer term. I definitely don't think a paying-members only forum is a particularly good thing mainly because I can't see the need for it but also because it suggests cliques, reinforces an us/them stylee scenario and may well take traffic away from the public forums which could discourage future (and potentially paying) members from signing up in the first place.

I realise that the admin cost of any potential subs scheme needs to be such that the revenue brought in is actually beneficial rather than just paying for the extra admin involved but I definitely think that more peeps paying less is preferable to less peeps paying more and all that. I'm not in any way suggesting that £3/month is too much, far from it, I'd just much prefer to see virtually everyone feeling willing and able to make a contribution. Mind you, I guess the fundamental problem is that so many peeps seem to just expect everything (on the 'net in particular) to be provided to them for free and they simply don't want to understand or accept that it actually does cost a significant amount of do$h to provide 'free stuff' and someone always has to pay for it. Even if it were 1p/month I'm almost certain there would some peeps against it 'on principle' because it's on the 'net and therefore should be free

Hey, howsabout peeps being 'charged' according to usage - a 1p/post stylee scheme I mean spam works simply because it costs the senders b*gger all to post shedloads of cr@p all over the place so charging a nominal amount per email ought to make it somewhat less of an attractive proposition and worthwhile exercise. Therefore, maybe the same kinda thing applies to forums as well potentially leading to less quantity but more quality and all that I guess some peeps would certainly be getting a seriously hefty bill winging it's way to the inbox and landing with a dull thud each month mind you looking at some of the post counts displayed [ Not a serious suggestion BTW, defo way more than the merest hint of ]

Edited November 24, 2010 by mikeb

[eFestivals]

Fully agree with all that Chuffle...and that Times comparison is valid.

it's not valid at all - the plan here is to do something very very different to what The Times have done.

The plan is NOT to make all of the forums paid-for. The paid-for option would be an extra option, which gives extra things - the forums would remain free-for-all.

[ampersand]

I'm looking at doing this in the least-hassle way that I can, and dealing with setting up direct debits is a hassle I don't have time to do, particularly from lots of people - so that's not going to be something I'll be doing, sorry.

You'd be able to make the monthly payments yourself.

[eFestivals]

I wouldn't mind paying for using the forums but like most folk have posted none of the "extras" you've listed appeal to me Neil.

I realise they're not of fantastic appeal to most people, but they're the best I've been able to come up with. I'm very happy to hear any other suggestions people might have of any things that could be added to the package.

However, please bear in mind that they'd need to be things that had a minimal cost to efests, as well as being of minimal hassle to set-up and manage - the point is to bring in extra income, which isn't achieved if the extra income is swallowed by extra costs.

[eFestivals]

Is that still available? I've just had a quick look and couldn't find it.

/index.php?app=subscriptions">http://www.efestivals.co.uk/forums/index.php?app=subscriptions

You get there via the big "Subscriptions" link at the top of the page.

The Donate button isn't too easy to find either unless you specifically go looking for it, maybe these could be made more prominent to help bring in funds.

I'll consider making this more prominent on the forums.

[eFestivals]

Have you considered a share option? I'd think a lot of us would like a bit of the action for a larger amount say £125 a share. I know that opens up a whole new can of worms but those that paid would get something really tangible.

could you please explain a little more what you're meaning by "share option"?

[eFestivals]

ah right, i didn't realise direct debits would be a hassle to set up. but even an automated email reminder a couple of days before would do if that's no trouble? and i'm sure everyone would be happy to do it themselves every month

I'd have to double-check, but I think it's the case that the 'subscriptions' feature of these boards (which would be used to manage the paid-members side of things, as it does currently for the ad-free option) sends out a reminder before expiry.

Edited November 24, 2010 by eFestivals

[rabid]

/index.php?app=subscriptions">http://www.efestival...p=subscriptions

You get there via the big "Subscriptions" link at the top of the page.

[rabid]

ah right, i didn't realise direct debits would be a hassle to set up. but even an automated email reminder a couple of days before would do if that's no trouble? and i'm sure everyone would be happy to do it themselves every month

[eFestivals]

I wondered what that was all about - all I get is a blank page when I click on that link.

ahhh - so it does, thanks. I'll look into that in a moment.

[rabid]

ahhh - so it does, thanks. I'll look into that in a moment.

[eFestivals]

Possibly change the name too, Subscriptions is maybe a little vague?

That's the default fror that option, but I'll get it changed to something a bit more meaningful when I've got the problem sorted out - I can't see anything that I can do to make it re-appear, and can't find anything on the forum software support forums so have raised a support ticket with the software makers. I'm guessing that it disappeared when I recently upgraded the forums software to the latest version.

[jump]

Again, I've not fully settled on how exactly this would work, but I'm definitely thinking face-value tickets*, and very probably anything else that anyone was selling too.

(* with regard to selling tickets I'm also thinking of charging a small fee (say £1) for anyone [those who aren't paid members] to list a ticket for sale - this has the advantage of making fraudulent selling of tickets far less likely as they'd be an extra trail back to the seller than there is currently).

[jump]

if i was to pay for the year, would i be immune from being called nasty names?

[ampersand]

The problem with that is not a lot of people actually use the current buy/sell tixs forums as it is, I have listed 5/6 times before and only have 1 person try to buy tixs and he didn't follow through with it (I said let's wait for the tixs to be dispacthed and when they were he didn't want them anymore) and I really doubt I'd pay for it when I can use Scarletmist/SwapMyTickets instead.

[RABun]

Yes i would pay, just because i think its right that i contribute to something i use everyday. £30 a year would be ok.

I'm not particularly interested in the benefits currently being looked at. Except the freebie prize draw thing a festival ticket for somewhere that i've not been before would be cool.

I agree with the clique concerns about the members only forum.

I like Jumps idea of being able to say f**k