|
|
Post by donr on Feb 2, 2015 19:39:24 GMT -6
Which reminds me of a thought I had. John, if you compute what it costs you to keep the lights on here, (maybe some profit, I have no beef with profiting from something people want,) and divide it by the active members, (even though I see from the registered people there must be lots of people who lurk here but don’t post,) maybe you should consider a subscription model for membership.
Subscriptions generally fail on the internet because it’s the world of free content, but me personally, would I pay the equivalent of a year of Car And Driver magazine print edition to stay here with the people I read and interact with daily and feel comfortable contributing? Yes I would. It’s that precious to me. I would never post this or most of the things I have here on GS or most general boards on the internet. This is unique.
John, I'd hate to think you're watching your stats 'cause it's grow or death to RGO.
|
|
|
|
Post by matt on Feb 2, 2015 20:25:39 GMT -6
but me personally, would I pay the equivalent of a year of Car And Driver magazine print edition to stay here with the people I read and interact with daily and feel comfortable contributing? Yes I would. It’s that precious to me. I second this idea. I value RGO beyond anything else on the Internet, and will pay to play. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2015 20:41:21 GMT -6
I'm new here obviously, but forced subscription generally causes sites to never expand and eventually shrink.. What's the overhead? Webhosting? Servers?
I've got more than an abundant size of cloud based hosting facilities, it might not earn John money but it wouldn't cost him anything either.
|
|
kcatthedog
Temp
Super Helpful Dude
Posts: 16,076 
Member is Online
|
Post by kcatthedog on Feb 2, 2015 20:45:23 GMT -6
But what are the new features in rgo 12? Its seems just like rgo 11 to me, well except for talk freeze but I'm not certain how useful that would be ?
|
|
|
|
Post by donr on Feb 2, 2015 20:50:12 GMT -6
But what are the new features in rgo 12? Its seems just like rgo 11 to me, well except for talk freeze but I'm not certain how useful that would be ? Best laugh I've had today. Bravo. |
|
|
|
Post by tonycamphd on Feb 2, 2015 20:58:02 GMT -6
maybe just a monthly contribution notice? I have a hard time remembering my name let alone hitting the donate button, a post reminder sticky'd for a week a month would probably work pretty well? pay or not, and no one would have to say anything one way or the other? Just an idea, i'm down with whatever makes the most sense to all of you. I too value this place very much, you guys make it a great hang and a tremendous learning experience!
|
|
|
|
Post by Johnkenn on Feb 2, 2015 21:17:56 GMT -6
I'm just not convinced it would work...There might be 25 of us hardcore users that would join...we have over 1000+ members now and sometimes the conversation is slow even with those numbers.
|
|
|
|
Post by Johnkenn on Feb 2, 2015 21:19:29 GMT -6
|
|
|
|
Post by Ward on Feb 2, 2015 21:26:14 GMT -6
How about contributing members don't need to pay but lurkers have to pay to read?  |
|
ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 16,103
Member is Online
|
Post by ericn on Feb 2, 2015 21:30:00 GMT -6
Subscription, would make it a very private club, the best thing we can do really is donate and shop at the advertisers and make sure they know we are shopping there because of RGO Views are good but if you know your advertising dollar generates sales.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2015 21:30:05 GMT -6
Am I tied to specific hardware with this version of RGO?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2015 21:30:28 GMT -6
Am I tied to specific hardware with this version of RGO?
See that "rat that"? That duplication is evidence of latency well beyond 1000ms on this pc
|
|
|
|
Post by tonycamphd on Feb 2, 2015 21:32:17 GMT -6
Am I tied to specific hardware with this version of RGO? no but if you let your subscription lapse, you have to pay $899 to get back in 8) |
|
|
|
Post by Johnkenn on Feb 2, 2015 21:39:30 GMT -6
I think I've officially lined up against the subscription model  |
|
kcatthedog
Temp
Super Helpful Dude
Posts: 16,076
Member is Online
|
Post by kcatthedog on Feb 2, 2015 21:44:41 GMT -6
Sorry jk you can't be so decisive, please turn in the wind a while longer: vacilation is your friend ! |
|
kcatthedog
Temp
Super Helpful Dude
Posts: 16,076
Member is Online
|
Post by kcatthedog on Feb 2, 2015 21:49:36 GMT -6
But what are the new features in rgo 12? Its seems just like rgo 11 to me, well except for talk freeze but I'm not certain how useful that would be ? Best laugh I've had today. Bravo. JK said i could stay if I became a rgo groupie or made you laugh: whew, glad that's settled ! |
|
|
|
Post by donr on Feb 3, 2015 6:31:29 GMT -6
My thought was requiring some 'skin in the game' to post, and laying down and peer enforcing the ground rules of civility. What derails internet forums in my experience is the trolling and the clash of egos that happen 'way easily when people are home sitting in front of a screen and keyboard instead of interacting face to face.
I hope RGO doesn't get too much bigger. I like the general good will here. I just want it to pay for itself and reward John for the effort of sustaining it.
|
|
|
|
Post by M57 on Feb 3, 2015 7:05:53 GMT -6
The site should probably be free for all of the reasons that folks have posted above, but there are alternatives. Here's one that is inspired by the model used by a gaming site I play on.. Two types of members: Standard and Premium. The key to getting people to join is to give them an Introductory Free Premium Membership - 3 months, 6 months, however long it takes to hook 'em.. They'll get used to having Premium features, and boom - you're in the money. It is important that the site works just fine and is Always Free for Standard members: They can lurk, make the occasional post, etc. Remember, they will have already been a Premium member so they will know exactly what they're going to be getting for their money. Premium Members get premium features, which could be anything you want.. messaging, bookmarks, embedding images, # of posts allowed per/week, selling on the classifieds thread (which btw, is a good way to semi-legitimize the seller). Only Premium members can modify the 'title' below their picture. Premium members would still get advertising; they are the target audience of your advertisers, so I doubt you'd be able to take that off the list. Premium members could get discounts on site related paraphernalia (I dunno, tees and coffee cups). Advertisers might even be willing to offer special promotional discounts to 'paying' Premium members (after all, they know that those members are their front-line 'net-visible' customers, and are likely to post thier experiences with the product or service.) Hell, you could become the BJs of the DIY sector. To promote participation, you could have contests that give away Premium membership for x months, etc.. Some of them could be stupid/entertaining, but they could all be related to content. Just throwing it out there. My creative fee: Premium Membership??  |
|
ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 16,103
Member is Online
|
Post by ericn on Feb 3, 2015 8:27:35 GMT -6
My thought was requiring some 'skin in the game' to post, and laying down and peer enforcing the ground rules of civility. What derails internet forums in my experience is the trolling and the clash of egos that happen 'way easily when people are home sitting in front of a screen and keyboard instead of interacting face to face. I hope RGO doesn't get too much bigger. I like the general good will here. I just want it to pay for itself and reward John for the effort of sustaining it. Don Pretty much nailed the problem, current size where we can self police, call each other out talk like would over a couple of beers without worry of the PC crowd and Don can put us on the list. As opposed to big enough tp pay the bills. It would be nice to see some new faces but it would be even cooler to see a bunch of the Guys GS scared off the boards. |
|
