1 day pass for the BOI?
 

I guess the most common complaint I have heard about the paid membership requirement for posting on the BOI is that even $10 is too stiff for someone to post a one time query or good guy thread about someone. So I've been trying to think of a compromise solution to address this failing.

What do you all think of this? How about if I set it up so that a member can sign up for a 24 hour pass to the BOI for $1? It is about as cheap as I can make it (PayPal takes a cut of every transaction) while still maintaining some semblance of credibility for the people making posts on the BOI. I know there probably isn't any real way to see if this will work except to go ahead and try it, but I'm looking for feedback to see if there are any glaring negative aspects of this that I may have not thought about.

Thanks.

Well, I say no. I just feel that this site is worth the minimum $10 a year for any posting so posting on the BOI is included in that.

I think that option would also make it worth it for trolls to come in and make a circus of the BOI. The BOI is well worth the money it costs to join!! Lets be honest, $10 is less than I spend to go watch a movie or go out for dinner. When I found this resource, I didn't even think twice about paying the money. $10 for a year of service, where else can you find that? Especially when you're talking about saving hundreds even thousands on a bad transaction!!

If someone has been accused of something, I'd question the legalities of charging them to defend themselves in a manner consistent with the way the accusations were posted. If you still offer the 30 day pass for someone to defend themselves free of charge, I don't really see a need for a 24 hour pass that costs a dollar.

I agree with what Bill said regarding a dollar being cheap enough for a troll to wreak havoc. If implemented, I wouldn't be surprised to see bogus posts similar to those made when a non-contributing member account had access to post on the BOI.

Just my opinion.

I have to echo the sentiments already posted. You are already more than generous offering the 30 day pass for those who feel the need to defend themselves, and as I've said time and time again, the $10 minimum needed to post for a full year is well worth it. I think the option of a 1 day pass would just open a whole new can of worms....but that's JMO.

I can't fault the logic of the arguments presented. But is there some way I can do this that would be fair to those people who want to just post a one time "attaboy" for someone? Yeah, the problem is how to lower the fence low enough for those people without making it too low to defeat what I wanted it to do. I think many people will have enough incentive to post a bad guy post to pay the $10, but I think the good guy posts may suffer because of the restriction just from lack of suitable incentive to pay the membership. How many transactions will the average Joe Buyer make in a year's time? Maybe not enough to be worth paying that yearly fee for....

Hmmm...
 

I can see both sides. Is there a way that you could have a particular "one time positive report" form that non-members could report a good experience on? Maybe it would just have a few buttons to click(kind of like the trader form for negative and positive deals) with only a short space for a few words. But it would only be for positive remarks, so would not attract trolls. If they want to report a bad deal, it would have to be the usual way.

But I have no idea if that type of thing would work on your forum, or if it would be worth your while to try to set it up.

To be honest, Rich, I don't think it is worth the hassle of trying to do it. You felt changes needed to be made, and the subscription plan was one of them. The $10 membership level to post on the BOI has been helpful toward its desired end, why undo what is working. I agree with Dennis' idea for accessing Trader Ratings, though.

Yeah, I know..... But I've never been one to think I've done something the absolutely best way possible (thinking certainly I must have overlooked something obvious), so I'm always trying to think of ways to make improvements. I guess what it really boils down to is reaching the best level of compromise in any given situation. This is easy enough for me to think objectively, but subjectively things just appear less then optimal. I guess it is just the completely illogical thought that there must be some magic combination of components that will please everyone. :rolleyes: