I think that a forum of this size would not benefit from this idea. We thrive on the new members that we attract, and a program such as this would affect those new member numbers negatively. I would be in favour of some rules related to the sales corner...
The beauty of this forum is the ease of joining and the ability to freely pitch in and contribute to all of the topics. The cheeky buggers who join just to avoid paying ebay fees are a mild nuisance but we all pull them up on it and some have stuck around to become regular contributors. They also provide the opportunity to eye up a potential bargain and we are all adult enough to be careful when purchasing from them. I would be concerned that a paid membership would put potential new members off from joining, leading to a stultification of the forum as a whole. However, the flip-side to this is if Hans suggested the forum needed a contribution from existing members and joining members to prevent it from ceasing to exist. Then I would struggle to see a reason for not contributing since I take great pleasure from being a member.
I'm not sure that I have fully understood the objective that would be achieved by signing up to a patron programme nor do I fully understand how it will better serve the members of this excellent forum. In terms of sales corner (I have to be careful what I say here as I intend putting a watch up for sale later) surely the solution to the first time post being a sales pitch is either (a) impose a minimum number of posts, or to circumvent speed posting (b) a minimum period of forum membership or a combination of the two before a sales post is permitted. So a sales post would be inadmissible to a person with say less than 50 posts and less than 30 days membership or something along these lines.
Leo David wrote:I'm not sure that I have fully understood the objective that would be achieved by signing up to a patron programme nor do I fully understand how it will better serve the members of this excellent forum. In terms of sales corner (I have to be careful what I say here as I intend putting a watch up for sale later) surely the solution to the first time post being a sales pitch is either (a) impose a minimum number of posts, or to circumvent speed posting (b) a minimum period of forum membership or a combination of the two before a sales post is permitted. So a sales post would be inadmissible to a person with say less than 50 posts and less than 30 days membership or something along these lines.
I recall this was debated last month and as someone said, posting 50 over one month can be readily achieved but i still agree with you insofar as it would put off potential scammers like the seller of the omega this month on sc who had immitated a bonafide bulgarian seller name with great credentials from another forum and tried it on here...
Regards a 'patron programme'.......i would become an ex-forum member the day it came in.
Regards stopping the ebay fee dodgers and dutch auction posters on sc.....i know it's not the perfect solution but it works well on most forums it is applied to..that is apply a minimum post count to be able to post in SC. Unfortunately those using tapatalk will be able to circumvent this and there will be speedposters. The answer is (inevitably) a slight increase in moderation....not a lot but anybody who does post in sc using tapatalk and therefore circumvents the post limit gets there thread removed immediately along with an explanatory pm...if they do it again they get banned.
Speedposters are easy to spot and 'software glitches' are very useful in removing their posts,again with a warning shot across the bows. It can be self policing to a large degree as any 'law breakers' can be reported to Kip.
If you can read this you are too close to your computer screen....
I actually don't regard the occasional abuse of SC as that big a deal (the imposter discovered lately is a bit more serious). It is at worse a mild annoyance & the mass rebukes can occasionally be quite entertaining.
I feel the price paid to rid ourselves of such a small inconvenience is too high.
I don't think a 'Patron' program is necessary, as I said above. However, if Hans ever decided that the CW forums needed contributors to continue, there would be no shortage of people contributing, I am sure. One of the other sites I frequent has a patron program, but the benefits are 'bonuses' and do not affect the functionality for non-contributors. Things such as a 'contributor' badge next to your name, a custom title, larger sig line, and increased gallery and PM space (basic members still get space for 100PM's, 10MB gallery space and a Sig line). Still, I think this is beyond the scope of a forum this size. If Hans ever did ask for contributions, maybe a 'contributor' image, and leave it at that.
I subscribe to a forum. http://www.apug.org Subscriber benefits include things like viewing images at full resolution and sales corner access and such. I'm not even sure what all the benefits are. The reason I subscribe is because I want full access and I want to support them. It's something I care about. It's also the best site for what it offers which has value. I think I pay ~$25 a year to be a subscriber and that includes me helping to cover the tax. If there is value then I don't have a problem subscribing just like a publication.
Reading through the patron member benefits of the other site i don't see a lot of value in the upper tiers of membership. Mainly because the things offered are things I care so little about. The lower tier isn't offering me anything I can't get at another site. I can't speak for the content of the site. Maybe it's the best there is at what it does and the cost is warranted.