About the BOI and it's future here...

I'll be renewing soon. After talking to you in chat the other night, Rich, and see that the site as a WHOLE probably won't be going away, I can find cause to donate again. I didn't renew immediately because I was under the impression everything would most likely be going away as of January. Even without the BOI here, this site is still a great place and I'll still be a regular here.

Originally Posted by TattooLost

I'll be renewing soon. After talking to you in chat the other night, Rich, and see that the site as a WHOLE probably won't be going away, I can find cause to donate again. I didn't renew immediately because I was under the impression everything would most likely be going away as of January. Even without the BOI here, this site is still a great place and I'll still be a regular here.

Heck yeah. Just look at the number of classified ads posted every day and the number of people viewing those ads. I truly think that at this point, if it comes to it, this site can survive just fine without the BOI. Personally, I would hate to throw away something like this that I spent so much time, effort, and money getting established. But if it appears that realistically only the smallest fraction of members here really give a crap either way, then why should I be concerned?

Well Rich, as previously stated, I would like to see the BOI stay, I believe it's a great resource...and by the number of reads on the various threads, it's being used. That being said, I went to your Serpenco and paid for an membership. If you need contributors, you can count me in.

Lydia Cost

Originally Posted by Lstinala

Well Rich, as previously stated, I would like to see the BOI stay, I believe it's a great resource...and by the number of reads on the various threads, it's being used. That being said, I went to your Serpenco and paid for an membership. If you need contributors, you can count me in.

Lydia Cost

Thank you. I really do appreciate the gesture.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

I just took a look at the paid membership statistics. According to those stats there are nearly three times the number of members who have decided to NOT renew then the number of current paid memberships.

I dunno, how should I interpret that sort of information?

Sounds like people have either given up or still don't understand that the BOI will be around (in some form or another) up to a year after Rich decides to shut it down, making it completely worth their while to renew. The latter would not surprise me at all since, even with all this information clearly stated all over, people still don't get it. The former would be highly discouraging...as well as making it doubly apparent that people just don't care....

[quote=R. Eventide;818206]Sounds like people have either given up or still don't understand that the BOI will be around (in some form or another) up to a year after Rich decides to shut it down, making it completely worth their while to renew. [quote]
The other options are that a large portion of the membership is simply unaware (which, surprising as it may seem, is probably true), and/or an unfortunate number of people really don't care (which, sadly, is also probably true).

One option I may consider is to only have the BOI available to paid members. I know this failed the first time I tried it, but the goals were different. It was done to try to do two things: (1) enforce a method of verification on all people posting on the BOI for credibility reasons, and (2) to keep this day now on the horizon from showing up because of financial reasons. I wanted the BOI to be both credible and self supporting.

Now, my philosophy would be different in that basically the BOI would be available ONLY for those people willing to contribute in order to put me at risk for keeping the BOI alive for their use. Meaning, non-contributing members would be able to read the thread title ONLY in the BOI (as is the case now with non-registered and non-logged in members), and not be able to read the content of the threads, nor post within the BOI at all.

Two likely scenarios would then take place: (1) More people would be inclined to become paid members in order to utilize the tool that the BOI has become, or (2) the BOI would fall into a death spiral, being unused and neglected until it would finally have the plug pulled on it completely. While I would prefer scenario #1, I am willing to live with scenario #2, as it would have the same result as my simply pulling the plug on January 1 when the dust all settles.

I am not saying that this positively will happen, but it is an option that I will be considering. It may very well be that the BOI is not as useful and valuable to as many people as some would think. That's OK. I can accept that. Personally it never resolved ANY issues for me that I brought up within it, so I can understand that perspective.

Heck, if I ran this decision past my favorite attorney, he would tell me to drop it in a heartbeat. It's really not a viable business asset if the liabilities far outweigh the potential income or other aspects of benefit to ME personally. And like it or not, I really need to look at it in this light now.

Personally I would love for the BOI to stay. It keeps me aware of the scabs and the great people of the business. But if it goes I will still live. This my favorite site and I will always be a member as long as i'm in this hobby. Don't plan on leaving any time soon. Great site and Thank you.

I'm all for the BOI going pay to play!

I encourage you to try the "paid-only" route, if for no other reason than to keep the BOI around as long as possible. Even if most people stop posting there, at least it will be available for people to view for a longer period of time, which will help potential buyers/sellers. In the end, as you said, if it doesn't work, then the end result is still the same, and you're off the hook. But it would give people a chance to change their ways and realize what a huge asset the BOI is to the community. (I don't think they will--I think they'll just whine. But even my little inner cynic says to give them a chance.)

Then again, the big downside to trying this is the massive flood of e-mails from people whining about having to pay, asking why they can't access BOI threads, asking why the BOI might suddenly be going away, whining that Rich is just a money-grubber, whining about how unfair it is, etc.