Important: Please Read! Changes Are Coming!

[Roger]

A higher-tier paid option to never see anyone's signature ever again -- now that would be the sort of thing I might pay an additional $3 a month for.

Under your current proposal, my concern on a technical level would be that people will just move traditional sig info into the body of their messages. If that's not a concern for you at all, then no problem.

Oh yeah -- I'd also be tempted to pay more for a 'print page' option that would give me more than 20 posts at a time. I really like rpg.net's 200 posts per page.

(I know you're not actually soliciting suggestions in this thread per se, so sorry if that's a bit of a derailment.)



Cheers,
Roger

 

[Morrus]

(I know you're not actually soliciting suggestions in this thread per se, so sorry if that's a bit of a derailment

Sure I am! I can't promise to adopt any particular suggestion, but I'm open to them!

 

[Fifth Element]

SThanks for listening, guys! I hope that most of you can get on board with the coming changes, and that I've managed to explain the reasoning behind them.

Here's the thing: you haven't explained the reasoning for them. Not to continue harping on the sigs, but it's the only thing being taken away from users so it does stand out. You haven't explained the reasoning behind that move at all. Oryan77 took a guess, and you said he's wrong...but you didn't give the right answer.

A cynic might guess "Because lots of people like to use sigs and maybe we can get some of them to pay for the privilege which is normally granted for free?" If that's not the right answer, what is?

The site has come a long way from the not-too-distant past of literally begging for money from users to stay afloat. It's quite a turn-around. Don't get dizzy.

 

[Obryn]

How much would it cost to filter out overinflated senses of entitlement?

-O

 

[Morrus]

The site has come a long way from the not-too-distant past of literally begging for money from users to stay afloat.

I'm not sure I see the relevance. Are you suggesting that potential revenue streams be ignored and that the site return to a barely-afloat begging status? I'm somewhat unclear as to why you brought that up?

 

[TheYeti1775]

How much would it cost to filter out overinflated senses of entitlement?

-O

Vbull does have an ignore feature, where you can specifically ignore a person's posts. You never see them, unless someone quotes them. Depends on if Morrus has it turned on here. I've never had a need to see if it worked here or not.

I'm not sure I see the relevance. Are you suggesting that potential revenue streams be ignored and that the site return to a barely-afloat begging status? I'm somewhat unclear as to why you brought that up?

Morrus I think what he is refering to, is don't get dizzy from the rise from beggar to king. Remember what and who got you there, else you might be tempted by the $$ flow to the point it might alienate those who support you at your base.

 

[Morrus]

Morrus I think what he is refering to, is don't get dizzy from the rise from beggar to king. Remember what and who got you there, else you might be tempted by the $$ flow to the point it might alienate those who support you at your base.

"King"? I think people might be overestimating things somewhat. I'm hardly buying ferraris and mansions here! I'm merely exploring ways of funding long-overdue features.

 

[samursus]

As I can see this thread degrading to a certain degree, I'll add my opinions quickly.

I agree with most others that suggested "taking away something" isn't good. I will say, that a graduated sig model seems fair: 3lines/free, 6lines/$3...etc. (sigs seems to be the hot topic)

Same with the subscriber content: I would cancel my $3/month subscription if I lost access to that content (especially the WotBS modules) even though most of it isn't useful to me. That which is is why I subscribe, and to a lesser extent, community support.

Basically, if you kept most things the same, only adding functions/content for a "paragon" subscription in addition to what we have, I see no problems... ethically or otherwise.

I am a bit surprised at those who feel that Morrus' explanations and revelations are anything but his right to run his site any way he wants, projecting nefarious and unethical judgements upon his plans. Keep it in perspective folks.

 

[Mistwell]

New Idea for the Signatures aspect of the subscriptions:

Tier 0 (free): Non-commercial simple signature line. A few lines of text and links allowed (no graphics, as that costs EW more in bandwidth), as long as they are not an ad or a link to a commercial product or commercial site. Enforced mostly based on the honors system (you're all honorable, right?). This tier includes things like links to favorite threads, story hours, non-commercial gaming blogs, favorite characters, PBP recruitment, etc... are all non-commercial in nature and would be free (provided they had no graphics in the signature, which take up extra bandwidth that EW has to pay for).

Tier 1 (Heroic): Commercial simple signature line. Text and links allowed. No graphics. Things like my signature, which has a link to my company, a commercial business, Academic Caps and Gowns (see what I did there?). However, it has no graphics. So it would qualify for the Tier 1 rate (Heroic).

Tier 2 (Paragon): Non-commercial or Commercial signature line with graphics. Text, Links, and Graphics allowed. Things like this in your signature would be Tier 2, because it both costs EW more in bandwidth, and ads more value to the commercial venture to attract attention with a graphic:

A lot of people have links to their gaming company, donation or ad-supported blog, and other sites with a commercial aspect to them, and those would all be under Tier 1 or 2 (depending on whether they had graphics in the signature).

Make sense? That way most people lose nothing from the new subscription model, and most of the utility of signatures is kept intact for links to useful non-commercial gaming information. Some people will have to choose if they want to pay to offer a link to their potentially money making website in a signature line or else leave that link out, but it seems reasonable to ask for money back for something that makes a person money.

 

[Alaxk Knight of Galt]

I'd like a function to find gamers. A friend and I have been discussing this over e-mail just today. So count this as one of those e-mails you get discussing the matter

As for the Sigs, I'd listen to the users. I think if you read through this thread, a couple of common themes come through

1. People like their sigs - some are willing to see limits based upon what they can have in their sig based upon subscriber level.
2. I don't know what I'm getting for $6.

For myself, I use this site's message boards and enjoy them. When those functions go behind the pay wall, I'll stop using this site and move on to somewhere else. I hope that day never comes.