WebSlave said:
Just for the record, I never said (at least I don't think I did) that the membership fee was going to be a toll both for everyone for everything on this site. It is geared up mostly (the $10 level) to be at least a minimal hurtle for people to meet in order to post on the BOI and some other selected forums. The discussion forums in the general areas would continue to be free for everyone.
I think that the scenario predicted by Chris Raden is the most likely one - the BOI will effectively become useless because the majority of people simply will not pay to use it. Your userbase will drop off dramatically if everyone currently using the BOI is expected to ante up or leave. The only way I think you may be able to get around that and keep a large enough user base to prevent this outcome is to "grandfather" in all existing accounts at the most basic level and begin charging the setup fee only for new accounts.
One of the biggest complaints I have heard since day 1 with the BOI is that there is too much crap going on in there and too much abuse from people that are not who they say they are. I think it is just time to try to stop, or at least slow down dramatically, that sort of activity. I have thought on this long and hard, and there is really no other method that will begin to work in this direction.
I agree, but by solving this problem by some methods you may create even worse problems.
So if even 1,000 people are willing to sign up for the privilege of posting on the BOI and those other selected forums, even that little bit of money coming in will help out around here.
If only 1,000 people sign up to use the BOI, it will no longer be nearly as useful to anyone because it's just going to be those same 1,000 people talking to each other. A lot will get missed, and the BOI will simply no longer function as an effective weathervane for the herp business community.
I am not expecting to get rich from this site. Not at all. But I am getting rather tired of doing this for free. I am sorry that some people feel that this is too much of me to ask from them.....
Well, I'd give money to support this site, but the cold hard fact is that the typical casual user will never give money to use a web site because it is much too quick and easy to click over to one with similar content for free. I agree that this is horrendously unfair to you and that you should not be expected to permanently subsidize the community's Better Business Bureau. I do think that there are other ways to get revenue from the site that don't effectively hamstring and cripple the BOI, which is the site's main draw.
One vague, unformed idea I'm tossing out here is to modify the Reputation Points software to actually subsidize memberships. If sponsor level accounts paid, say, $10 extra into a voting power pot, they could chose to vote small increments of that money into the accounts of members whom they felt contributed useful or entertaining posts. So at the end of the year, members who had contributed enough in the way of positive helpful information to the board would get a free ride. To help balance the system, people could also use their money increments (say, ten cents or a quarter at a time) to vote against someone, taking away from their free ride total. The end result of a negative vote on a post would effectively be to pay Fauna twice, as it would take money away from the paid voting pot and also take money away from the offending member's free ride pot.
It's just a rough idea. Make of it what you want, or not. I think it could prove to be remarkably effective and addictive however. You can look at the Slashdot model for a good example of how community feedback rating works, but I suspect you probably have done so already.
