Tom Banjo

Your density insults me.
Well, obviously it wouldn't be worth $30 by itself. I wouldn't pay $5 for just that feature. I just meant it as a bonus to possibly be included as part of the entire package.
As for "what is the value," I realize that a lot of people couldn't care less what others are listening to or if others know what they're listening to. But I'd be willing to bet there would also be a lot of people who would use the feature. It seems to have been received well at the previously-mentioned board. I know there's been a couple of times when I've "sampled" a song and liked it, just because I like the poster who's listening to it and I'd never heard that song before.
I also realize that this probably won't happen at all because of the possible bandwidth issues involved in allowing images in sigs.

Josh H

I'd think that feature would only be of interest primarily to the regulars of the music fourm, (especially the ones posting in the daily "Today's Cd's" threads) and they're really aren't that many of them.

So it would probably just be a waste of bandwith, and as Geoff isn't going for avatars for that reason, it's unlikely he'd go for this.

twikoff

now.. if you can figure out a way to it to hook to our dvd player and display what we are currently watching

ToddJamesPierce

but the premium membership looks like a way to squeeze good deals for all their worth for the premium members. And that aside, most of the "deal" information here is accessable on other sites.

Geoff, Have you thought of putting up some sort of donations box on the site. You might try that for a month or so and see how it goes before clicking into premium mode. You might catch a lot of people for $5 or $10--people who you would not catch for $30. Also it seems like so much of the actual text for the site is ad based as well.

GeoffK

I know this is on the shop page and has been posted before:

<!-- Begin PayPal Logo -->
<FORM ACTION="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" METHOD="POST">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="cmd" VALUE="_xclick">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="business" VALUE="geoff@kleinman.com"><INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="item_name" VALUE="DVD Talk Donation"><INPUT TYPE="image" SRC="http://images.paypal.com/images/x-click-but04.gif" BORDER="0" NAME="submit" ALT="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!">
</FORM>
<!-- End PayPal Logo -->

Cheddarmuff

That was exactly my point...ahemThanks...

Venusian

doh!

MonkeyG

Food for thought: With Christmas fast approaching many of us are already planning are Christmas budgets or have even started purchasing gifts. You might want to figure out a dollar amount so that we can set the cash aside. Otherwise you'll be competing with holiday shopping.

Jim in Cincy

I don't have the time/care to take the time to read all of this to see what the current status/time-line is for putting the membership in place, so would someone (Geoff) be kind and tell me when it might take place?

I CAN'T TAKE THE DAMN ****ING POP-UNDERS ANYMORE!!!!!!!!
AARRGGGHHHH~!!!!!

Cheddarmuff

Quote:

Originally posted by Jim in Cincy
I don't have the time/care to take the time to read all of this to see what the current status/time-line is for putting the membership in place, so would someone (Geoff) be kind and tell me when it might take place?

I CAN'T TAKE THE DAMN ****ING POP-UNDERS ANYMORE!!!!!!!!
AARRGGGHHHH~!!!!!

Whoa nelly...someone is blowing a gasket...

ChiTownAbs, Inc

<font size=1>psst...Google toolbar</b>

twikoff

GeoffK

Here's the current status. We're working on getting in some upgraded servers to move to the new version of the forum software which has the new features built in. This should happen in the next couple of weeks.

I've also toyed with the idea of rolling it out BEFORE the new servers get in, but there are a number of things I need to deal with before I can make it happen.

edytwinky

Any new updates Geoff?

Kinyo

Are you saying we are going to have to pay to be member at DVDTalk?

TomOpus

It might be a pain to go through both threads but to answer your question... in a nutshell..... No

edytwinky

It's free. But a premium service will just give extra benefits here and there. Just read the first page of this thread for info

rvd1083

Dont mean to be spoil sport but honestly unless the "free" site is downgraded, not much will persuade people to sign up for the "premium" site. Other then your most loyal visitors who would sign up just to help the site, the "benefits" aren't enough.

1) An ad free version of the forum, which loads much faster and has no banners, pop-unders, or other advertising.

With all the Web blocking programs out there today, this is getting accomplished already. I'd bet that most have already taken care of it.

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.

Eeh, exclusive to members, but, the point ?

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.

While the ideal is good, response would be limited and the forums wouldn't accomplish much. Yes, exclusive access is ok for a while but with only a limited number of subscribers the forums would be very slow and lack posts while the "free" ones would still be live.

4) Member's Only giveaways/promotions.

+1, something you can't get for free

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.

Name Changes - Other then those who live and breath on post count, why couldnt they just re-register?

Email change & forgotten password - Can be accomplished for all users FREE

General Issues - this "free" forum already exists

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

Wouldn't accomplish much if turnout is low because the number of people to pm wouldn't be high

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).

I dont think the few features mentioned here are anywhere near the level they should be for a "premium" site.

RandyC

It violates the terms that users sign up to. Please... don't use this method.

RandyC

What can and does happen is that certain things can be abused.

Example 1-
User JoeBlow "Hey, anyone think this is a good deal?"

User BlowJoe "I think it's awesome. You rock dude for letting us know!"

Example 2-
Joeblow "I think you are wrong. Bush is evil and represents all that is wrong in America"

Blowjoe "I agree with the very eloquent Joeblow and further think you are a total moran"

(in this example, the second persona can be sacrificial to a banning as an added bonus).

It gets messy when we run through some admin checks for duplicate users. They will show up.

rvd1083

Understood, but it's always going to happen and unless it is done maliciously then it really isnt even worth the time or energy to worry about it.

Blade

No, we're talking about maintaining civility in the forum and keeping people from taking advantage of the members.

As Randy's example showed, duplicate members are often started by people who are just trolling (or want to troll while preserving their "real" membership.)

A more common problem is people registering multiple accounts and using those accounts to spam the forum or to sucker members into thinking that a posted deal or recommendation is legitimate.

Finally, it's hard enough for the mods to keep track of all the members we have now. Allowing multiple accounts per member would make that job impossible. This place doesn't stay sane all by itself. Hundreds of people post here everyday, and it takes quite a bit of work by a bunch of unpaid people to make sure the majority of it isn't breaking any of the forum rules or making anyone's forum experience unduly unpleasant.

Ranger

Will the paid members' new features allow us to put mods on our IGNORE list? I've already got 29 members on my IGNORE list.

Geofferson

So, when will this be happening after all?

jfoobar

Frankly, I agree with Bushdog's earlier comment that 5% tops of regular users will pay for premium service, even if the perks are good. I think 5% is probably way too high, actually.

That being said, every outward perk that you add will increase the likelihood of someone wanting to sign up.

Like it or not, many people love avatars. I think many will actually pay for the ability to use them, whether they realize they are doing it or not. So long as people have the ability to not see them via a control panel switch, they shouldn't annoy anyone who doesn't like them.

I really think you need to have them.