Okay. I'm heading out on business travel to Houston in the morning, so I'll have to be brief...
If nearly all of the blogs were moved elsewhere (WordPress.com, other hosts, etc.), leaving only the forums, would the costs be more manageable?
Yes, but the administrative overhead increases, and the other hosts for the other sites would cost me money.
IT's an interesting issue. I'd probably pay 25/yr, but it might be hard to get anyone else to join, with the 100 post rule, you know?
100 posts is a clear demarcation point when you look at the data. As noted up-thread, only 298 or so of the nearly 1200 accounts here have crossed 100 posts. It's a power law. Someone who has hit 100 posts in under a few months certainly has a value proposition to make, but my experience in managing this is that nearly everyone who hits 100 posts in under a year or so subscribes. The people who are over 100 posts but are not subscribers generally fall into two categories:
1. People who have only ever posted on the music-focused portions of the site anyway.
2. Folks who haven't posted in quite some time and either have let their subscriptions lapse or last posted before the subscriptions were even in force.
If I thought the post limit was a problem, I'd change it. I am wholly unconvinced that it is.
i think $25 is reasonable too, and for the issue of new people being skittish, how about institute the $25 after 6 months or a year? they can still pay the $5 after 100 posts, but if they're here a while, and they think they can/do fit in, then they can bump it up higher?
and i'm assuming if it goes to something like $25, then charter membership jumps too, which i'm also okay with.
I addressed the post total thing above, but I'll add that the way the system works now is like this:
1. There are two post count-based user groups: New Members and Registered. New Members have <=100 posts, Registered have >100.
2. There are some subscriber-only fora [or there were last I looked] that neither of these groups is privy to. [I think AYOR is one of those, or at least that was a proposal, but I avoid AYOR like Barry Bonds avoids the media.] I'm fine with that.
3. There is no system to have a time-since-registered barrier.
4. Once someone pays, they hit one of two membergroups: Subscribers and Charter Members at $5 and $25.
4a. Subscribers are set and forget.
4b. Manual payees are set and add reminder. I used to dread that, but I now have an awesome system to handle it. It's the same system I use whenever someone's PP subscription cancels on them [which happens to about 15% of our users, for whatever reason]. I get a reminder when their date comes due, and I downgrade the account.
I think I had a point there, but crap, it's 2300.
i think $25 is reasonable too, and for the issue of new people being skittish, how about institute the $25 after 6 months or a year? they can still pay the $5 after 100 posts, but if they're here a while, and they think they can/do fit in, then they can bump it up higher?
and i'm assuming if it goes to something like $25, then charter membership jumps too, which i'm also okay with.
I think CM is more than "membership",...I (in my mind) liken it to pledging for PBS. Sure, you can donate $5 here and there and get the same benefit....but on the other hand, some give more because they can afford to, and they want to see the service continue for everyone (which includes those who can't afford to give more).
That being said, I'm okay with a reasonable increase in CM and normal subscription.
if it's like PBS, then i'm still waiting for my tote bag.
PBS can give you a tote bag because they have a corporate sponsor that gives them that as a gift-in-kind. The only thing I could give you as a gift-in-kind is out-of-print Guild 1 CDs. [And if I had that, I'd just auction one every couple of weeks on eBay, and we would not be having this conversation.]
[[And if you think that I mentioned the Guild out of the blue, think again. But I don't feel like I can petition the band for some Guild cash.]]
shouldn't this be on the prayer board or something?! "Dear God, please send Geof money. Kthxbye."
I just don't want to get a paypal account. Other than that, just tell me how much and where to.
Oh, I'll take checks and such made out to me. I'll even set up Amazon payments if folks want that. When I first set this up, Amazon didn't have their payment system. And well, you can also mail a check to me.
i think $25 is reasonable too, and for the issue of new people being skittish, how about institute the $25 after 6 months or a year? they can still pay the $5 after 100 posts, but if they're here a while, and they think they can/do fit in, then they can bump it up higher?
and i'm assuming if it goes to something like $25, then charter membership jumps too, which i'm also okay with.
I think CM is more than "membership",...I (in my mind) liken it to pledging for PBS. Sure, you can donate $5 here and there and get the same benefit....but on the other hand, some give more because they can afford to, and they want to see the service continue for everyone (which includes those who can't afford to give more).
That being said, I'm okay with a reasonable increase in CM and normal subscription.
if it's like PBS, then i'm still waiting for my tote bag.
I know!
"I Paypal'd Geof Morris $25, and all I got was this stupid tote bag. With a space shuttle on it. It says NASA. I bet he stole it."
edit: (you know I keeeed Goef.)
Mmhmmm. [I'll bring you yours tomorrow on the plane.
]
GFM
