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Author Topic: Would You Pay???  (Read 3650 times)

scotts33

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Would You Pay???
« on: October 03, 2004, 04:01:31 AM »
All--Would you pay to use this site?

In the past, if memory serves this has come up.  Site problems now seem the worst I can remember.  If the site owner was receiving renumeration from the site users would this stop these problems from excisting?  I would think for the most  part.....yes as the site owner would have a vested interest, which he does not seem to have as it sits now.  I have no idea how much the sponsors listed to the left are paying the site owner but if I was a sponsor and saw what was happening lately on this site I'd pull my sponsorship.  

I remeber 'Bones purchasing a Lane #1 ball because they did sponsor this site awhile back.  I don't hear many users of this site say in many posts that one should say use MGBowling.com because they sponsor the site or any other sponsors for that matter.  

Scott Scriver when he ran the site tried to get many of us to use Virtual Tournaments and many did as it was a  way of paying Scott back for the use of the site.

Would you pay the site owner say $10, $15, $20/year to use the site?  

I do believe the site owner and not some moderator needs to police and run the site.  I for one would have no problem paying for annual use if it was a well run site.  

How do others feel?

Scott
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Scott

 

a_ak57

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Re: Would You Pay???
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2004, 12:05:31 PM »
I wouldn't pay 20 a year to use this site....

Maybe 5.  But, I know for a fact that many people wouldn't bother, and the site would go down anyways.

Also, what about people who want to ask 1 question, then don't ever post again?  Is that fair to make them pay $20 to ask one question?  Or were you hinting about the elusive Gold memberships
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ANDY
There is doing in not doing what you weren't doing but doing in what you weren't doing to do what you were doing but not doing and doing as well

So don't do it!

Edited on 10/3/2004 11:58 AM
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TheBowlingKid25

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Re: Would You Pay???
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2004, 12:09:31 PM »
Well theres 2 ways you can look at it, and 2 possibilites and outcomes. The first, being that yes, many of the spammers and annoying trolls would go away, but many serious helpful posters would also, leaving the site bare of any knowledge. The second way being that the trolls go away, and the helpful people really do stay, and they site becomes as good as it once was, maybe a year or two ago, before many of the spammers/trolls arrived. (Me, being one of the spammers in most of your opinions Im sure) So if number 2 happened, I'd be glad to pay for the site. If number one happened, it would be a waste of money.
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16 years and still going strong! 16 years old that is! The names Warrior Princess, Xena..Warrior Princess
And why would I "saw" pins in half, THATS A WASTE OF PINS!
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scotts33

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Re: Would You Pay???
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2004, 12:11:27 PM »
quote:
Also, what about people who want to ask 1 question, then don't ever post again? Is that fair to make them pay $20 to ask one question? Or were you hinting about the elusive Gold memberships


I guess that's a possibility.  The site as it excists is poor to say the least.  I am throwing out another way.  Sitiing on our hinders solves nothing.  

Scott
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Scott

TheBowlingKid25

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Re: Would You Pay???
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2004, 12:13:17 PM »
Maybe a "Trial Period" for people who have very few questions? Like, let them post 3 topics, then they either sign up for find something better to do. I think the gold membership wouldnt be too bad of an idea.
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16 years and still going strong! 16 years old that is! The names Warrior Princess, Xena..Warrior Princess
And why would I "saw" pins in half, THATS A WASTE OF PINS!
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scotts33

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Re: Would You Pay???
« Reply #5 on: October 03, 2004, 12:44:30 PM »
Yes, I remember that 'Bones.  Look at FGI and how Justin runs the site.  There are those that want to pay him back for running a well run site and others that don't.  It's a choice.

Right now this site is as bad as I can remember.  Doing something now is the best choice IMO.  Sitting here whining is going nowhere.  I also believe that many of the great posters of the past left not just because all the topics were old hat but because the site was not run well.  

Scott
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Scott

TheBowlingKid25

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Re: Would You Pay???
« Reply #6 on: October 03, 2004, 12:50:07 PM »
Whats FGI?
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16 years and still going strong! 16 years old that is! The names Warrior Princess, Xena..Warrior Princess
And why would I "saw" pins in half, THATS A WASTE OF PINS!
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scotts33

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Re: Would You Pay???
« Reply #7 on: October 03, 2004, 12:57:11 PM »
www.freegolfinfo.com  It's basically the same type of golf site that this is to bowling.  The site owner moderates and runs the site very well.  Has a gold type memebership where on can pay an annual fee as a site user or you choose not to.  Either way it's well run.

Scott
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Scott

livespive

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Re: Would You Pay???
« Reply #8 on: October 03, 2004, 01:01:18 PM »
Yeah Bones,

I was a Gold Member.
When I first came on the site maybe 3 yrs ago,
I learned a lot off of the site, so I got the membership
to say thanks.

The way site is being ran today although the information is still
good, there is to much rift raff to see paying for a gold membership.

The older members might, because they are loyal to the site, and know who
to ignore and who to listen to.
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Eric T. Spivey, P.E.
 Visionary Test Staff Member
http://www.visionarybowling.com
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TheBowlingKid25

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Re: Would You Pay???
« Reply #9 on: October 03, 2004, 01:02:36 PM »
Eric, I disagree. Im a newer member, and I am quite loyal to this site, I do post occasionally else where, but dont plan on leaving anytime soon.
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16 years and still going strong! 16 years old that is! The names Warrior Princess, Xena..Warrior Princess
And why would I "saw" pins in half, THATS A WASTE OF PINS!
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Brickguy221

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Re: Would You Pay???
« Reply #10 on: October 03, 2004, 01:26:00 PM »
I currently wouldn't pay one single cent because of all of the problems with this site lately that have gone on uncorrected for 3 weeks now. For example, in the Forum, from Miscellaneous on down it takes forever to get into each catergory and sometimes like today right now, it takes several tries. The Ball Company Topics that are above Miscellaneous aren't too bad, although not as good as they used to be, but from miscellaneous down, it is bad enough to make a person want to quit this board.

We have two computers with one on AOL and the other on Cox Cable and I get the same results on both computers on both lines, so it can't be a computer problem on my part.

Is anyone else continuing to have this problem????????
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Retired and bowling on Fixed Income
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"Whenever I feel the urge to exercise I lie down until the feeling passes away"

stormerjip

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Re: Would You Pay???
« Reply #11 on: October 03, 2004, 01:42:00 PM »
hey brickguy i haven't had and still dont have the problem getting in any of the forums once i click it takes maybe 2-3 seconds to fully load the only thing i have noticed being slow is when i delete topic
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show no mercy, kill the wounded, eat the dead

Brickguy221

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Re: Would You Pay???
« Reply #12 on: October 03, 2004, 01:56:50 PM »
Stormer, on both of our computers, I can click on Ebonite, Lane 1, Brunswick, Storm, etc. and get right on like you (2-3seconds), but when I drop down to Miscellaneous and on down, it takes forever to get on and some times, it times out and I have to try again like 2-3-etc. more times. Once I get into the topics, the posts work. When I leave the Topic, then the next one such as Miscellaneous Non-Bowling related takes forever to get in. Once in, then it works pretty good on the posts in that column, but when I leave that Topic and go to the next, it is a repeat of getting in. It does this regardless of whether there are 15 people on line or 115 people on line.
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Retired and bowling on Fixed Income
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"Whenever I feel the urge to exercise I lie down until the feeling passes away"

TheBowlingKid25

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Re: Would You Pay???
« Reply #13 on: October 03, 2004, 02:25:11 PM »
quote:
Mandatory fees kill even the best-advertised and well-ran sites.  I was a moderator at pbcity.com, which was the biggest paintball message board in the world.  They decided to add "new and improved" features (such as a price comparo search engine, and some other cool stuff) and make everyone pay a menial fee (something like 12-15/year), and the site promptly died.  Went from 10s of thousands of users, to several hundred, then the board died.  

The great thing about message boards like these, is that it doesn't take anything to run them.  The software to make them is free - http://www.phpbb.com/ - and you can make them text only, like this one, and they use VERY menial bandwith.  So, it isn't like you have to have a huge server, or a mega-bandwith ISP (both of which are costly). It could be, and should be, free.

Also, something else you'd want to avoid, is the forced sponsorship support.  www.angelowners.com is the official site of owners of Angel paintball markers, and they're sponsored by a few different shops.  As such, they won't allow advertisement or endorsement of other shops, and in their classified section, they won't allow things to be sold used, that can be bought new from one of the sponsors.  They also remove any negative feedback about the sponsors.  Now, it's one thing to cater to your sugar daddy, but quite another to do what they're doing.  I just cite this example, as something we DON'T want to do here.

There is a pretty simple formula for keeping a message board alive and successful, but the tendency is for a group of veteran posters to forget what it was like when they were newbs, and be adamant about the willingness to pay.  Then, when it comes nutcutting time, so to speak, only a few of them pay up, and you get basically 0 new users, and your board dies.  It's been tried a whole bunch of times, and it's killed boards a whole bunch of times.  Now, if you want to talk about optional "premium" memberships, that's a different story.  However, if I'm paying $19.99/year to peruse these boards, I damn well better not see any advertisements, and I'd better get a discount from your sponsors.
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Help stop rape-consent.
He has a point, when a person comes here and has to pay to join a site they know nothing about, it kinda turns them away, not to mention the fact that there is now 2-3, maybe more other sites that are free to use. The premium membership, IMO, would be the best choice overall so new posters can come, and anyone who knows the site, and wants more out of it can become a premium member. Though Im not really sure what could be provided for premium members that would be worth the money. Truthfully I think it would just be helpful if there was a way to stop the fake ID's and spammers, but since so many people have dynamic IP addresses and submasks and such, thats not gonna happen.
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16 years and still going strong! 16 years old that is! The names Warrior Princess, Xena..Warrior Princess
And why would I "saw" pins in half, THATS A WASTE OF PINS!
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JOE FALCO

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Re: Would You Pay???
« Reply #14 on: October 03, 2004, 02:39:02 PM »
I was also a GOLD member .. I joined mostly to support SCOTT at the time. He was making a plea to join or the site might be lost. (that's the way I read it).I also entered the weekly bowling tournaments .. collecting rarely!

When Scott sold the package I was happy for him. Within the last year I messaged Scott an wanted to know if I was able to take advantage of my GOLD MEMBERSHIP and get into his new tournament set-up. I was advised by him that it was a yearly fee and I had to pay again. I think that was a POOR BUSINESS decision .. he would have gained another happy customer that would have spent more money with a BLUE CARD for introductory 3 month membership.

NO I WOULD NOT PAY A DIME FOR ACCESS!
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Hit them light and watch them fight
      J O E - F A L C O
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RIP Thongprincess/Sawbones!
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