BOI Ultimanium - What do you think?

I really think this needs put to vote so that Rich has an even way of viewing how the members here feel...And these are the only options that I see available that don't put unneeded strain on Rich or his moderation staff.

While our feelings are important, the bottom line is that there has to be enough money coming in to defend the site against lawsuits from those who challenge the BOI.

We can have polls and votes, but the fact is, there has to be funding or the BOI has to be closed.

Money talks.

Lucille, did you even read the poll options?

The question I have is this. What can be done to make choice 1 in this poll go away as an option?

It seemed to me that when the BOI got shut down for a couple days there was a surge of people becoming contributing members. I am afraid though that that was a short lived response, Rich, Please Tell Me I Am Wrong. If it was just a short up-tick in new paid membership then the real problem is still there. I'm sure that was the point of Lucille's post.

I think the question that needs to be answered is, "What can we do, if anything, to help keep the BOI available by increasing financial support to this site"? If that question is not addressed then the only hope there is for the BOI is that Rich will sell Fauna and we all hope it continues to funcion basicly as it has up to this point. From what I have gotten from Rich's posts that is not very likely.

For myself the idea of offering free/discounted shipping on sales through the classifieds to Contributing Members was something that I thought might encourage someone to join. Or donating material or animals to a fund raiser as was brought up in another post both seemed like good ideas, maybe not great ideas, but at least something I could do.

As to the poll options, I would have to vote twice. One time each for choice 2 & 3. Since I may only have one vote I want to save it till I put a little more thought into it.

Yeah, there was a flurry of new and renewed memberships. Haven't counted them, but I'm guessing about 30. I expect now that the BOI is opened again, I may still get one every day or three.

As for the poll, something needs to be made clear. Option three will only be temporary. If the number of paid memberships still does not support the financial liabilities of the BOI, the BOI will remain open ONLY to paid memberships for one year when I implement that change. I would be assuming that there will not be any flurry of new paid memberships at that time, of course. My guess is most people would think they were throwing good money after bad if the BOI was going to go away anyway. But in any event, that 1 year grace period will be to sort of pay back those members who are donating to keep the BOI open. At that time I will try to make it clear that the BOI is effectively dead and will be permanently closed one year after that date. The reason for this is because the liability of the BOI does not go away when it's access is restricted to paid members only. Trust me, I will not be real keen on extending my liability even that long, but I would want to be fair about this. It would be completely senseless of me to retain that liability for the sake of the 300 or so members who might be paid members. Does anyone really think that someone catching wind of a bad guy post about them in the BOI and being incensed and motivated enough to sue over it would be stymied by a $25 membership fee to read it to gather up evidence for the suit?

Seriously folks, no one would hate to see the BOI go away more than I would after all the hard work I have put into keeping it alive. It has been a hard and rocky road from the beginning. But I have to be realistic about my future, and this is just what I see in that virtual crystal ball of mine.

Rich, how many Contributors do you estimate needing for the BOI to sustain itself for the Contributors?

I would start feeling more comfortable about this with 600 to 800 paid memberships. This site can be operating in the black with much less, but that is only without taking into consideration the risks posed by the BOI.

That's less then what I estimated. I was thinking along the lines of 1,000. I think it helps to have a goal in mind when considering these things.

Originally Posted by TripleMoonsExotic

That's less then what I estimated. I was thinking along the lines of 1,000. I think it helps to have a goal in mind when considering these things.

With us only getting 1200 to maybe 1400 registered members checking in each day, if my goal had to be 1,000 then I wouldn't even bother thinking it were a feasible number and beginning shutting down the BOI right now.

But I want it to be clear, that at the level I am projecting, that will be enough for ONE lawsuit, more than likely. The defense will likely drain the reserve I already have and it would take a few years at that 600 to 800 level to replenish. So after the lawsuit, even after winning, that would likely mean the end of the BOI unless there was a HUGE increase in paid memberships to build the war chest.

Besides the money issue, having to wear a suit and a tie again to go to court after so many years without, would definitely put me in a bad frame of mind....

Maybe setting it would help to allow for a larger donation when you are paying for a membership. For example Contributor is 25.00 But I have an extra 40 bucks. So I would actually pay 15.00 extra. Can this be a feature that you could add rich. Like setting a minimum but allowing users to pay more. Seems that may add a few extra bucks.