I want a CS account BUT...

[clockworkjoe]

I would like to have a community supporter account on enworld.org but I won't get one with the current pricing scheme. I think the current setup is costing ENworld many potential dollars from people who would like to help this site out but aren't willing to get the one size fits all expensive and time limited account.

The only other site I am aware of that charges for a forum account is somethingawful.com. They use a tiered structure, where a person can buy a basic account for $10, a platinum account for an additional $10 (adds search, private messages and a few other things) and buy custom titles and custom emoticons for additional fees. The accounts do NOT expire, although emoticons usually do after 6 months. This structure has worked very well with SA and I think ENworld would vastly benefit from a similar arrangement.

I am not going to spend $35 for an account that only last a year and has a lot of extras I don't need. I would pay $5 (1 year) $10 (permanent) for a search and private message function. I would really really really appreciate being able to search the forums. I could also see many people paying separately for functions they desire such as the personal gallery and free RPG. Offering only a single extremely pricey service that expires in a year, I think a lot of people are scared off from buying the account. Why should they help ENworld out when they have to keep paying year after year, when they could buy a nice hardcover book with that money?

While it may seem counter-intutitive to some that ENworld may bring in more money by offering better services for lower prices, I think that allowing people to buy only the services they want and at a lower price this site could generate a substantial additonal amount of income. It will generate more interest in the site, drawing in more audience, which it turn feeds the site and so on. Any online community has a certain amount of population cycling, where older members drop out and newer members join in, thus providing a steady source of income. Furthermore, I think people will be likely to stay with ENworld a longer time if they feel they can enjoy this site for years to come.

Basically, I want to give ENworld money, but something more reasonable for a poor graduate student.

 

[Umbran]

I think the current setup is costing ENworld many potential dollars from people who would like to help this site out but aren't willing to get the one size fits all expensive and time limited account.

My first guess would be that time-unlimited accounts would be a bad move, economically speaking. A one-time, $10 donation from would help cover short-term needs, but this place uses a goodly chunk of computer resources, new servers need to be purchased or leased, and bandwidth must be acquired. And those costs show up every year.

This especially goes for things like seach capability - the bigger the place gets, the more seach costs in processing power. Effectively, as time goes on, the cost of searching rises. A flat, one-time fee for something that costs more and more as time goes on? That doesn't sound good.

As for people sticking around for years to come - it doesn't seem to me that EN World has any problem at all keeping membership high.

 

[Psionicist]

but this place uses a goodly chunk of computer resources, new servers need to be purchased or leased, and bandwidth must be acquired. And those costs show up every year.

Search is reasource heavy, but not _that_ resource heavy. Search is just another lookup in a table in the database, albeit a pretty large table. I can only speak for myself, but the forum i moderate ( http://forum.sweclockers.com/ ) has 42 000 members and the search function is public (with a max 1 search per 20 seconds rule), works like a charm without a single hiccup. And our server is not at all that powerful.

I don't really know what my point is, but once ENW gets the new server everyone should technically be able to search. The questions is if it will happen (the current community supporters might feel ripped-off).

 

[LightPhoenix]

Search is reasource heavy, but not _that_ resource heavy. Search is just another lookup in a table in the database, albeit a pretty large table. I can only speak for myself, but the forum i moderate ( http://forum.sweclockers.com/ ) has 42 000 members and the search function is public (with a max 1 search per 20 seconds rule), works like a charm without a single hiccup. And our server is not at all that powerful.

It was intensive enough that with it globally available it pretty much brought ENWorld to it's knees. It needed to be turned off for ENWorld to function.

I don't really know what my point is, but once ENW gets the new server everyone should technically be able to search. The questions is if it will happen (the current community supporters might feel ripped-off).

That's the thing, it's when the server comes. I certainly plan on renewing my account, but I also expect ENWorld to have a server by December. After all, it's been some time since the big fundraiser.

 

[Kaleon Moonshae]

I love this place, don't get me wrong. The one comment I have though is about continued membership, as Morris has pointed out this is the first time he's really cleaned up membership. Most of the people who are continuing members have been getting a free ride for sometime. I would happily accept maybe a 2 tier structure. 10 dollars for a year of access to search functions and such and then 20$ a year for the whole show. The main issue I have is the 10$ servicing fee that is tacked on. Even 25$ *by itself* is acceptable to me since enworld would be getting most of it, but handing over a 10$ servicing charge means that I don't know if I can afford to get a renewel right now. Also, the issue about not having enough money due to a onetime fee plan... I think we all showed that enworld will never have trouble gettig money to stay afloat. A lot of us that donated to enworld weren't even supporters, we were people who just wanted to help and gave 10$ or more to that affect. I think it would be fair to cut back on the price of membership since we know that if enworld gets in a jam we can always give more money to help out and that makes everyone feel better in some ways.

 

[DaveMage]

I think a tiered structure is a good idea, with the most bandwidth-intesive parts costing the most. Thus, with the $35 you get it all. For $10, you could get the least-intensive items, for $20 the least and mid-range, and so on.

I do agree, though, that I'd like to see the new server before I renew in October.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

I literally just finished renewing my account, when I came back and read this. Unfortunately I found myself nodding at a few points. Now, I'm mostly doing this out of the goodness of my heart (I wouldn't dream of paying for any other site), but I find that:

1. I've used search maybe 3 or 4 times in the last year. It's nice when I have to use it, but I could conceivably live without it.

2. I dinked around a little with RPG but lost interest. If we're down to one bot battle a day with the new RPG I don't see myself coming back.

3. I think half of the 8 or so PMs I've received in the past year were related to RPG. No RPG, no PMs. I'd rather just be emailed anyway.

So really the only thing I gotta have is Custom User Titles. They're just fun. I don't know if that alone is worth $35 to me, but knowing that money is going to the upkeep of a community I love makes me smile. I've got the $35 to spend so why not. But I feel for people who don't and still want to contribute and get something for their effort.

I still think (Sorry for harping on it Morrus) that a PBS-style pledge drive method for raising funds would be better than relying on CSA money. Give everyone CSA privileges FOR FREE and just run a voluntary fundraiser every year. Throw in a free PDF or something for donors, a la the PBS handbags. I'm almost certain that will generate more money than waiting for someone to finally bite the bullet and buy a CSA. And it means EN World's chances of getting into dire straits like it did last year would be a lot lower.

Just for argument's sake, does anyone know how much money total last year's "Save EN World" pledge drive brought in vs. how much was made in CSA account purchases last year?

 

[Heretic Apostate]

Are there alternative methods for getting the $25 to Morrus? I don't mind a small handling charge being added (around two to three percent, to cover merchant bank fees), but I balk at having a 40% surcharge being added.

What is that $10 buying? I'm assuming that the credit card transactions on rpgnow are automated. So it's not like they have to have someone sit down and process each transaction, right? At most, it costs them probably $0.75 to process the transaction, so what are we spending the other $9.25 on?

Aside from that, like TW, I've used the search only a half-dozen to a dozen times this year (my google-fu sucks). I've had dozens of PMs over the last couple of months, but can't think of any non-RPGInferno related. I liked my custom title ("This space available for rent" ), but it was rarely noticed. And I don't visit as often as I used to.

Plus, I'm kind of waiting for the new server...

 

[clockworkjoe]

I don't know the specifics of the payment structure ENworld has with rpgnow.com but it sounds like a ripoff judging from some of the comments posted here. Is paypal or some other vendor a possibility?

As for revenue drying up from one time memberships, I don't think that will happen because of a steady flux of membership. People will come and sign up if they perceive a value in doing so. The community on this forum is valuable and it needs to be encouraged. By lowering the cost of membership, more people will sign and encourage others to sign up, guranteeing a steady source of income. Again, somethingawful.com has a one time membership fee and it receives quite a few new memberships every month.

Also, why not try adding additional features for minor fees? Custom smilies, changing other members' custom titles and so forth.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Is paypal or some other vendor a possibility?

Long story short: they had a lot of problems with Paypal about a year, year-and-a-half ago. So Morrus turned it off, and does everything through RPGNow.