Yes; a not-insignificant percentage does that (I can see the two-day subscriptions which include someone downloading every file). There's nothing I can do about it, unfortunately, and have to factor it into the business model.
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Subscription levels dropping
- Thread starter Morrus
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Yes; a not-insignificant percentage does that (I can see the two-day subscriptions which include someone downloading every file). There's nothing I can do about it, unfortunately, and have to factor it into the business model.
Dragonhelm
Knight of Solamnia
Content was the selling factor for me.
Seconded. Search is a basic function that almost any board offers, yet by not allowing people to generally use it, that feels like the function is being "held hostage." Certainly, I was not going to subscribe just to get that. It took content, a reward for my money beyond the basics, that got me to subscribe.
I considered unsubscribing a few months back for various reasons.
1. Moderation of edition wars. I really dislike edition wars. When a topic on the subject came up, a moderator (and I won't name names) basically threw up his hands in defeat saying that nothing could be done. The conversation upset me, particularly since I've worked on a forum myself to eliminate the problem. I know these forums are bigger, so it's a larger job, and I have a great appreciation for the job that the mods do. I brought the issue up with Piratecat, and things began to get better after that time. I was glad for the work Piratecat did, but the whole incident leaves a bad taste in my mouth to this day.
2. Value of news. There was a time when I would get news here before I got it anywhere else. It was daily and fairly comprehensive. I used to be able to find WotC news here first. Now I find it first on WotC's site, which I now visit daily. I don't think the news is as comprehensive or frequent as it used to be. Perhaps I need to get my RSS news reader going again.
3. Value of content. There isn't a lot of content right now that interests me. I liked getting War of the Burning Sky, but right now, I'm just interested in the 4e conversions. Beyond that...not so much.
4. Value of boards. Truthfully, a lot of the discussion doesn't interest me. That's why I don't participate more. At one time, I enjoyed reading perspectives from industry insiders, as well as seeing news I wasn't getting elsewhere. Now, a lot of it seems like the same-old, same-old. Part of that may be due to me gaming for 19 years now. After a while, the topics get redundant.
(As a side note, I appreciate that these boards are more family-friendly than RPG.net. Some folks over there have a mouth like a sailor.)
5. Money. Times are tough right now. Every dollar counts.
I don't know if I will cancel my subscription or not. I'll just have to wait and see how things go and give it some thought.
MichaelSomething
Legend
Is a download limit really that hard to code?
Also, you should seriously consider making an FAQ about your policy since people are asking questions that already been answered earlier. Then again, people generally don't read FAQs, so I imagine that it would be a waste.
Yeah, it's not a question of the information not being available, it's a question of people not seeing it. The more obvious you make it, the more people are bothered by its presence. It's a difficult tightrope to dance on!
InVinoVeritas
Adventurer
Not quite. I've tried that, but then it says I need a different credit card number. I will get a throwaway address for ENWorld, but not a whole extra credit card.
Vartan
First Post
You make a great point. I have no doubt that this happens, but I hope subscribers think twice about paying $3 just to raid the downloads section. The ENWorld community creates a lot of value for the hobby. Those who buy in should do so in good faith with a full understanding of what they're supporting, all PDFs aside.
Haffrung Helleyes
First Post
subscribing
I let my subscription lapse awhile back, sometime during the 4E switchover.
To be honest, since switching to Pathfinder I find that I spend the bulk of my time on the Paizo boards. 4E threads don't really interest me, and what's left on EnWorld is pretty thin these days, compared to in the past.
Also, during the 4E launch and right after it EnWorld started feeling like a WoTC publication to me. I really did get the impression that a guerilla marketing campaign was being run right on these boards. I don't see that so much these days, maybe because there's a 4E subforum now, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.
Ken
I let my subscription lapse awhile back, sometime during the 4E switchover.
To be honest, since switching to Pathfinder I find that I spend the bulk of my time on the Paizo boards. 4E threads don't really interest me, and what's left on EnWorld is pretty thin these days, compared to in the past.
Also, during the 4E launch and right after it EnWorld started feeling like a WoTC publication to me. I really did get the impression that a guerilla marketing campaign was being run right on these boards. I don't see that so much these days, maybe because there's a 4E subforum now, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.
Ken
Lanefan
Victoria Rules
Whatever...there is and often has been enough really useful edition-neutral stuff - and intelligent, well-spoken people - in here to keep me coming back, and I don't play 3e *or* 4e.
Lanefan
Haffrung Helleyes
First Post
Well
Maybe you should become a Community Supporter then, Lanefan. It sounds like EnWorld is everything you want it to be.
Ken
Maybe you should become a Community Supporter then, Lanefan. It sounds like EnWorld is everything you want it to be.
Ken
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.
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