Important: Please Read! Changes Are Coming!

[Vyvyan Basterd]

Likewise, I would imagine a 5-year subscription ($360 money order) would be as good as monthly, but what do I know? I am sure that Morrus has reasons for the model he is choosing.

RC

Normally a subscription-based business loves getting up front business. But if I understand Morrus correctly (and I mean no offense if I paint him wrong here), he would do what many of us would do if $360 was dumped in his lap - he'd blow it. And then when he needs money two years from now he wouldn't be able to count on your $3 (and since he let you do it, all the others that took the same option) to pull his fat from the fire. It works better for alot of people (since I see Morrus more as a guy who runs a great site than ENWorld being a business) to have the money doled out over time so they can rely on it when it's needed. Think what would happen to most people if their employer paid them three years of salary in advance....scary!

 

[occam]

...we're looking at an additional higher tier subscription for about $6, and moving forum signatures into the subscription framework. That means that signatures will be only be available to people who have a subscription.

But won't at least some non-subscribers who want sigs just paste them into every post? If that's the case, we could end up seeing more signatures, not fewer.

 

[weem]

We're completely open to suggestions. We do want to make sure that subscriptions remain good value, and if you guys let us know what you want we can always consider its viability.

Just a quick idea... but what about an "Advertiser Subscription"... something that allowed you to post in the Press Release section etc (as opposed to allowing anyone to, like now). Maybe even those headlines (or excerpts) of those posts could be pulled to the news section at the index. You could limit the posts there (per account) to 1 every few days, or even a week etc (to prevent abuse).

An account like this could, perhaps, also allow you display images in the sig (whereas the $3 could prevent them etc). It could even get access to more tools/space/functionality for the account's profile page (to better promote the product/company), etc.

Anyway, like I said, just a quick idea for another option.

Otherwise, it's good to hear things have gone so well with the subscription functionality!

 

[crazy_cat]

Second, $6 per month crosses that $50 per year threshold and says "expensive" (even if it really isn't). You'll have to offer some good stuff. And be careful about taking away from $3 subscribers...this is potentially dangerous (even if it shouldn't be or changes are seemingly small).

This. I pay the current subscription to simply allow me to get rid of all the adverts (which IMHO made the site unusable) and to be honest don't really think about the charge. And I like having a signature .

At $6/£4 I might actually notice the Paypal charge and have to start thinking about whether it was worthwhile or whether I should just spend more time at Paizo and other sites instead.

 

[Obryn]

I welcome the day when there are fewer signatures.

Seriously, though, I'm pretty happy with my $3 subscription. (Except for when Paypal decided to stop it because I didn't have a backup source, despite my primary source having plently of cash.) I doubt I'll upgrade - as others have mentioned, I'll actually notice a draw of $6/month - but I wish you luck with it!

-O

 

[catsclaw227]

My biggest issue with a $3/mon option and not an annual fee is that I have to track individual $3 dings to my bank account every month and not forget to put them in Quicken.

All subscription products I have were monthly, but I bought at annual rates. I wish I could do a year of Netflix all at once so I don't have to remember that one too, but hey....

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I do fear the future announcements of the board becoming members only...

I don't see that happening and, even though I am currently a subscriber, going members only would turn me off to the site because 1) I would not have the option to stop my subscription if I felt the need to and still maintain access to this community and 2) The community would lose too many valuable members and as a result would lose a lot of its vitality.

I am happy to support the site with my $3 per month. The extra features are a bonus that help me justify the money on those days when the bank account is looking a bit thin.

Not sure what it would take to make me consider upgrading to the Paragon tier of $6 per month.

 

[JoeGKushner]

How about the forum jump bar? I'm much more interested in that than the sigs.

 

[Oryan77]

I write this post with all due respect. I am not trying to ruffle any feathers whatsoever.

I'm all for people trying to make some money (legally), so I hope to see the website profitable for those that run it. But...(yes...a but, )

Getting a new panel dedicated for a banner ad, I can deal with.

Getting another new panel dedicated for a banner ad and cramming the forums into a smaller area, I learned to deal with it.

Being told I need to pay to not view those banner ads, I can also deal with (nothing wrong with that).

Being told I need to pay to use the search feature when that's a pretty standard feature (and encouraged to be used on other sites), I can also deal with if it really is a drain on the resources.

Now I'm being told that I basically need to pay for everything else besides writing a post?

Yes, I do have a signature that links to my own website where I "might" make a sale or two a week from it. But I have found lots of great D&D resources that I was able to use to better my own D&D game from other peoples signatures. And I provide resources in my sig that I created and put online in hopes that I could return the favor and help other people improve their D&D games.

I'm going to raise my hand and be the first person to say, "This sucks man".

I've been an active member of the site for several years, but other than the fact my wife won't let me use "our" money to pay for a subscription to a D&D website, I also have never pressed the matter with her because I don't really want to pay for a place to speak my mind when I'm told how to do it, how to interact with someone else doing it, and told when I'm done doing it. I'm all for censorship, and I can respect rules asking us not to troll/flame, or talk about politics & religion. But I can't pay for a forum where I can't talk about D&D the way I want to talk about it without the thread being locked & resulting in a warning or a ban. As Big Worm best put it, "There's principalities in this."

Yes, I know I will be told, "you are paying for other services, not the ability to post messages." I get it. But I just can't give people money when they defiantly and proudly have told me via email that "Yes, we do regulate your posts & your free speech like a dictatorship." Censorship is one thing, but to warn me about what I said because you don't like the "way" I said it is another thing...and I won't support that by indirectly paying for it.

I'm not even complaining about how the site is run. I wouldn't continue posting if I couldn't deal with it. I'm just trying to explain why I don't have a community supporter account. And now it just feels like I'm being bullied into getting one or else I can't get a lot of great stuff from the website (or even offer great stuff) unless I pay for it. A lot of the great stuff that you are taking away from non-subscribers are what brought people to ENworld in the first place. I would not have even become a member of this site if it wasn't for the fact that I found the "Gamers Seeking Gamers" section.

I really don't even know what my point is. This news just comes as a disappointment to me. It's not even just that I would be losing or gaining anything (we're up to what, six banner ads per page now?), it's also knowing that once again, someone is going to try to do whatever it takes to get more money out of me.

So ENworld will basically be a place where I can only talk about things as long as I word it in a way that the mods like, and I stop talking about it once the mods are done hearing about it? I'll get nothing else out of visiting the site unless I pay for it? This does indeed suck...

 

[Morrus]

How about the forum jump bar? I'm much more interested in that than the sigs.

The forum jump menu is free to everyone.