Definitely the ad revenue has dropped. The dot.com money is just not out there. The clicks are getting worth less and less.


I think there is a bandwidth resource issue. The number of users online is only one indicator. A large number of page views from lurkers is a bigger issue. This site shovels data at an alarming rate. I have two servers, one that can handle 400gigs per month and this site would bring them crashing.


I can't speak for Geoff, but I think the issue all along is to cover the expenses for the site. I have seen the bandwidth numbers and they are amazingly large. I have never perceived the premium services as being presented as something other than a way to raise money, and hopefully to provide some reward for having participated, which should also be some motivation.

That exists. I doubt it covers one day's expenses now.

Ok this sounds ok and I will definitely support this site if it decides to have some sort of premium service but I have one request...

If we did this premium service would we be able to set up our account to screen forums? (or do we have that ability already?) Specifically, I need the Mature Forum to not exist when I'm in the forum. I occasionally check DVDtalk from work and visiting a site with a Mature section is probably not allowed from a company standpoint. At home I don't care either way but as I'm at work most of the day, I would LOVE to be able to turn it off.

i agree! actually that this site doesn't allow avatars is something i've always liked. they get really annoying if they're allowed. BUT if people must have their avatars then they should be small and non-animated...

You can buy dvdtalk merchandise? how come I never knew that?



One question I have is will the advertisers really allow a premium membership where those members don't have to view any ads?

No, but thats what the Social Security folks figured on....

Yes. Advertisers buy impressions, so it's not relevant to them if there are areas of the sites where people aren't seeing ads, just as long as we deliver on our commitments to them to serve the banners they've bought to the number of views purchased.

rotfl

The average life expectancy may not be 52 but it sure isn't "mid 80's" for men, unless you're looking at a small subset of the overall male population.

won't avatars and pic hosting cuase more bandwith problems?

i would definitely prefer some tier levels, maybe 30 to have an avatar, 20 to have everything but an avatar and maybe 10 to have all the other benefits (except avatars) but the ads won't be blocked. the ads don't really bother me and sometimes even alert me to some new dvds i have forgot about.

some other paid member ideas;

maybe have one paid members only forum that will host certain dvd bargins/dvd clubs/hot deals posts. the idea would be this; let's say someone finds a survey for a 15$ amazon coupon when they post it in bargins or deals they could check a box that would send the post to the paid members only forum where it would be there for 24 hours, after which it would be moved to the correct forum for all to see. this could possible give paid members first crack at paid surveys, free money, misprices etc, it would also serve to limit abuse of such deals, for the first 24 hours atleast.

another idea is to let paid members ask for or give refferal codes for points sites etc.

Couple of quick questions.

What benefits for premium members using your site
links to purchase dvd's and such?

(I personally stopped using your links once the pop-ups
became the norm) sorry...But I now support others that
did not have them.

What about a dvdtalk email address along
with the image hosting?

I appologize in advance in these have already
been addressed.

so far i pretty much like what i am hearing. i am not positive that i like $30/yr, but as much as this site has helped me out i am willing to help out and support it when the change comes. i do like the idea though of a lifetime membership. as for the avatars, if they are coming then i agree that they need to be small and non animated. one of the annoying things about non dvdtalk forums is that the page takes so long to load. remember that not all of us have super fast cable or DSL connections. however, with the faster page load time due to no ads i think that this is going to be much better.

once again, thanks for your help geoff. you run a great site.

can we can an update on this?

current plans...
what has changed based on the suggestions made so far..
any eta on this service...
etc....

be careful what you ask for...you may just get it ;)

or, you could just type in the link to get directly to the forum you're looking for, like if you wanna go to dvd bargains, use

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1

change "1" to:
2 - hot deals
3 - dvd talk
4 - feedback
9 - other
13 - dvd clubs
10 - computer forum

etc.

what i do is i just type in "dvdt" into the address bar, and it'll show all the forums i've visited lately. then i can just click on the right one.

I'll just put in my two cents at this point. I'm a bit leery of the "premium membership" because of what I've seen on other sites as they've gone from totally free to paid or partially paid. It's one thing to have premium members get things like avatars, special titles, and advance notice of special deals, but I really really really hope we'll never see any of the fundamentals of DVDTalk on a pay-only basis, like the reviews.

One site I used to visit started having new reviews visible only to the paying members for the first couple weeks, before they were visible to the rest of the members... I don't even remember the name of the site, because (needless to say) I don't visit that site any more. It's a slippery slope and it can really put people off if it heads in the wrong direction. For instance, if the premium membership offered "no ads" as a benefit, fine, but I would view it as an overall negative if then the rest of the members got more and/or more obtrusive ads than they did before.

As a reviewer, I clearly have a vested interest in DVDTalk staying alive and well! So I hope no one takes my hesitation about the premium membership in the wrong way... my general feeling is that Geoff will handle it just fine, but it's worth bringing up any thoughts on the issue.

Thanks everyone for all the feedback and suggestions.

First off, to respond to Holly and a few others who have voiced some concerns about premium services 'creeping' their way into other areas of the site.

We have ABSOLUTELY no intent to covert things which are currently ad supported to a membership service. This especially includes the DVD Talk Reviews as well as the key areas of the forum.

There have been a number of really fantastic ideas in this thread, but to be clear the #1 benefit of forum membership (aside from supporting the site) will be the ability to access the forum without ads.

Before I get down to what I'm thinking will be included in the premium service, let me list what won't be included:

1) @DVDTalk email address. There are too many issues with Spam and spammers for us to offer email addresses to people. Also services like Yahoo Mail do such a fantastic job of offering Free Email with Spam Filters we don't think it makes and sense to offer this kind of service.

2) Image hosting. After a lot of research, there are a ton of issues around Image Hosting which make it very problematic to offer right out of the gate. So don't expect this as part of the membership

3) Tiered levels. We looked at what it would take to track a number of different membership levels (ie letting people buy a custom title, etc) and to manage it would take more resources than we have. So expect to see 2 options. An annual membership and a lifetime membership.

4) Avatars. Again a ton of issues to deal with in moderating avatars, so they'll not be there at launch.

What we are planning on offering is this:
1) An ad free version of the forum, which loads much faster and has no banners, pop-unders, or other advertising.

2) An indication under your name when you post that you are a paid supporting member. This probably won't replace our standard member titles. But would most likely be an additional field or graphic that would appear under the names of paid members.

3) A Set of NEW forum areas which are only postable by paid members. These will include a General For Sale/Trade Area, which you must be a member to post in (but will be readable by all). As well as a Members Only forum area which is ONLY readable and Postable by members.

4) Member's Only giveaways/promotions. We're planning on posting special and limited offers early in the Member's Only forum as well as host special giveaways and promotions which reward the paid members. This could also be an area for people to share things that they find on the net (ie paid surveys, freebies) which are limited opportunity that they wouldn't necessarily post on the open forum.

5) Priority Member Service. Paid members will be able to fill out a customer support forum for things like Member Name Changes, email address changes, forgotten passwords. or general issues they may be having with their account. These support issues will get priority response.

6)Private Messaging* This is still up in the air. But we'd LIKE to offer this to paid members.

At this point Annual Membership is probably going to be $30 but in true DVD Talk fashion expect there to be some great deals on membership (especially during the first week/month). We haven't set the Lifetime Membership price, but we hope to soon.

We're still looking to September to launch this :)

- G

I like the idea of no avatars, I never cared for them.

As far as giveaways, ideally, I'd like to see a DVD and an occasional hat or keychain given out every week (or twice a month) to a premium member, from a random drawing from premium members. An automatic drawing, something you don't have to sign up for, and of course you have to be a premium member to win.

There are just too many other forums that offer the same deals elsewhere. Yes, they don't have all of the fancy pictures, but for obtaining DVD specials, free is still free.

And if you are a reviewer, then you are probably showing up at http://www.mrqe.com/ where I have seen other DVDTalk reviewers. To charge for through a link from http://www.mrqe.com/ would be like charging for a drink of water at a school drinking fountrain. :(

As for the pop up ads here, I agree: That is the main reason I seldom visit here anymore. There are too many other free forums where I don't have to wait for a pop up ad to unlock my entire computer while trying attempting to load. In fact, I don't know of anyone who likes pop up ads. By the time the pop ad allows you to resume your normal computer functions, you're already steamed and mad. Who would want to buy anything at that point??

If the costs for this website are too much, then kill all the pictures that are costing bandwidth. Go back to the simple days when texted forums were cheaper.

Geoff,

Sounds like it is coming along nicely, September can't come soon enough.

I'm expecting nothing less. :)

Closing thread and opening a part II:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=309362