Subscription levels dropping

[Lanefan]

Maybe you should become a Community Supporter then, Lanefan. It sounds like EnWorld is everything you want it to be.

As I noted (far) above, the minute I find there's a payment method not involving PayPal or anything similar, I'm in.

Lanefan

 

[Shazman]

I was like this as well. The news section used to be the main page for me. Unfortunately there just isn't that much news anymore, period, given the (relative) death of the 3PP OGL industry.

As much as I enjoy content from WotC, I think it's perhaps one of the biggest downsides of 4e that there is no longer a vibrant and active 3PP OGL community producing a dearth of products.

That factor alone I think has had a massive impact not only on the amount of news that is out there to be reported but on the content and quality of conversations here.


I will never understand this position. I'm the type of person that if I see a 'wrong', I'll jump on it, then jump up an down like a madman proclaiming the evils of it. And I just simply did not see anything even remotely like what you're saying you saw.

In fact, I find it bizarre that there are no longer WotC ads on this site. I go to many hobby forums for movies, Macs, writing and MMA, and they all have ads from industry big-guns supporting them. Hell, in several cases, it's their primary revenue. And yet here I've got random Google ads that can be anything from Evony to how to increase my sexual pleasure.

Copping criticism for having ads from WotC is just... bizarro world.

It wasn't the ads. Who cares about the ads? It was one sided moderation (If you're not for 4E be quiet or you get your thread locked or a temporary ban!) plus too many over zealous WotC/4E defenders dogpiling on threads with even the slightest hint of criticism of 4E.

 

[Noumenon]

We haven't had serious financial problems for years, and we don't now

It's really hard for me to read the first post in this thread as anything other than a declaration of emergency, even now that I know what you really feel. Although I never really thought the place would go under.

 

[Kzach]

It wasn't the ads. Who cares about the ads? It was one sided moderation (If you're not for 4E be quiet or you get your thread locked or a temporary ban!) plus too many over zealous WotC/4E defenders dogpiling on threads with even the slightest hint of criticism of 4E.

I may have focused my argument on the ads but that was simply because it was a stand-out element of the bizarro-world effect all the criticism of the site's relationship with WotC has had.

I noticed no bias one way or another. In fact, I feel the mods were way too lenient to BOTH sides. I was guilty of a few of those arguments myself but I quickly realised the futility and stupidity of getting worked up over what amounts to a personal choice.

If you saw a bias in moderation, I counter and put to you that it was your own personal bias that coloured your perception of the boards at the time, because I'm sure that anyone looking at the period through rational, objective eyes, would see that the only real bias was against people causing arguments left, right and centre, regardless of whose side those arguments represented.

 

[JediSoth]

My subscription lapsed because my bank was acquired by a different bank and all my account numbers changed. Getting that change through PayPal was kind of a pain-in-the-butt, but I renewed my subscription as soon as everything got worked out.

 

[Umbran]

Folks,

Morrus asked a specific question: about why folks have canceled subscriptions recently. Old issues with moderation or advertising policy or other things over a year old are unlikely to be relevant. If you want to discuss that, please take it to the Meta Forum, and keep this thread on topic. Thank you.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I never subscribed, so I can't give you any useful feed back on why levels are dropping. I can, however, give feedback on why I never signed up to begin with. It isn't because there was anything wrong with EN World. I like the site and enjoy using its forums when I have time. Really EN World is one of the better forums out there in my opinion. But I don't think a forum, is something I would ever want to spend money on, since so many (including the wizards of the coast forum) are free. Obviously 3 dollars a month isn't that much money, but spending any money at all on the net is always something I am hesitant to do (since I am concerned about things like ID theft). So for me, it just didn't seem worth the trouble, especially since the forums are the main reason I come here, and I still have access to those.

Another thing is the only real reason I can think of for signing up appears to be war of the burning sky (the other things like more PM space, Custom Avatars, disabling ads, these aren't things I ever had a concern for before). But I am not really sure I know what War of the Burning Sky is. I've definitely seen the banners for it, and probably seen a few thread titles on it. Beyond that I don't know if it is a setting, a play by mail campaign, a fully loaded graphics based game etc.

I know this is a little off the original question, but I hope it is helpful.

 

[BryonD]

I dropped within the past three months.

I signed up during the change over to the monthly system.
I was on the fence because of the overall split and the reduced value of the site. But, I figured I could go ahead based on all the past value.

Then changes were implemented that I found (and still do) counter-productive to the usefulness of the site. I was told the changes "brightened up the day". Fair enough.

I didn't let the door hit me on the way out. But, the question is now asked and answered.

 

[Markn]

You do? We haven't had serious financial problems for years, and we don't now (unless the same rate of cancellations over the last month or two continues for an entire year - but we'll have plenty of warning for that, and this thread serves to help catch something before it becomes a trend).



But that would be dishonest, surely?

Two points here. First, right before the change to the monthly subscription, IIRC, it was stated that there was concern about the long term viability of the site (or maybe it was just that you wanted to turn it more into a business). In addition, I remember multipe campaign drives for donations to keep the site running and out of the red.

Second, in response to the dishonesty comment, I'm surely not claiming that. What I am saying though, is that if I were to commit to the site, I would like the feature I sign up for to be the same. There has been talk about changes to signatures limiting length, trying out this feature and that feature, hell I have heard that there has been work on engine that provides the site. Without stability, I am careful to invest for any length of time.

Hope that helps you.

 

[catsclaw227]

I think I am in the same boat as Ari. I have been enduring an 8% pay cut at work, and we had just bought our house a year before... so almost everything that was luxury went out of the budget. Thankfully I get most of my D&D books for free, but that involves a lot of extra work on my part at the FLGS to drum up business for them.

Pay wise, I would prefer a lump sum subscription like you can get with DDI, with discounts for longer term subscriptions. e.g. $3 a month, or $30 for a year, or $45 for two years, etc... whatever it is but monthly is almost never an option I go for. I bought DDI when it was cheap for as many years as they would let me, and I usually do the same with paper magazines that I really like.

This is me.

I have my account because I bought 2 yrs in advance, and I really don't like the $3/month model. I want to buy for a year and not worry about small transactions hitting my paypal account. I use my Paypal for a LOT of things and I don't like the small minitransactions.

Also, I received a 15% pay cut almost a year and a half ago, also just buying a house the year before the cut. There is very little room for luxury right now, but it's much easier to do $30 at once than deal with something smaller.