PLEASE READ Please Consider Upgrading Your Membership

[Forum Boss]

Folks, we absolutely need more members to upgrade to Silver or Gold membership status.

If you have not upgraded yet, please consider doing so -- we really need more member support.

As we approach 77,000 members, less than four percent (4%) of our members have upgraded.

As the Forum grows, there are new and significant security and management challenges. We really can benefit from another professional team member with advanced security and software skills.

A Silver Membership is just $30 per year, effectively $2.50 per month -- less than the price of a cup of coffee.

Another popular gun Forum now charges $20 per MONTH for Classifieds privileges. That's $240 per year -- 8 times the cost of our Silver membership. Let that sink in.

And Gunbroker charges $32.00 commission for a single $600 sale!

Bottom line, I will be 70 this fall and am still laboring over 2800+ hours per year on the site working pretty much every day. All Forum users will benefit if more members upgrade to Silver or Gold so we can bring in key help.

That will give the site resources to allow more vigilant security controls and thread monitoring.

We believe $30/year (Silver) or $60/year (Gold) remains a great deal compared to $20 per month that some other Forums charge.

 

[Bill Norris]

Appreciate all you do Boss. Hoping to see more members upgrading memberships. You are correct. The price per Silver & Gold memberships is a deal and many benefit almost daily just riding the bus for free.

 

[CJ6]

Considering the knowledge base on here (Top Notch) , this forum is a steal for a minimal cost.
I really don't think it would be out of line to ask for a minimal fee for non paying members posting for sale items in the classifieds as it seems that's all some use this site for.

 

[Rubberduckie]

Love this site. Maybe change it so members only can access classifieds. Id keep paying for the forums alone. So much knowledge here i don't wanna live without.

 

[Medic505]

Renewed mine a couple days ago, amazing how fast a year flies by. It's worth it to me for the classifieds.

 

[dellet]

I was thinking about this the other day and realized that a gold level membership is literally pocket change.

My daily habit of a cup of coffee and a doughnut on the way to work returns 22 cents a day, 240 days a year. $52.80 a year.

Not as many people using cash these days, but pocket change can still add up. There’s a reason all the “round up to the next dollar on your purchase” schemes net substantial funds.

Throw a bucket on the bench in your loading area, and drop in your pocket change. If you’re using a card for everything, round up your statement to the next $5 increment every month and send it in. It adds up quick.

Probably won’t miss the money as much as you might miss the forum.

 

[Chiquita]

Why aren't you making it mandatory?

 

[DeltaBravo]

Have you considered adding a "Bronze" level for say $15 or $20 a year? Kinda like the olympics. Just a thought.

 

[jxb]

Why aren't you making it mandatory?

Exactly, I've got far more than $60/year in value since joining.

If just 4% are paying that's 3080 users supporting the other approximately 74000 users, seems a bit lop sided. If everyone was paying he'd be able to lower the cost per person and still add staff.

Maybe a trial period for new users after which they must be at least Silver members.

I don't get people that don't want to write a check, heck they likely do online bill pay or send checks to some places. It's dead simple to set up a new bill pay account and when the yearly time comes up a person simply adds the amount and hits submit. Couldn't be any easier and there's no credit card fee on top of the membership fee.

 

[Emmett Dibble]

Fiddy dolla donation done. Thank you Forum Boss.

 

[Emmett Dibble]

Exactly, I've got far more than $60/year in value since joining.

If just 4% are paying that's 3080 users supporting the other approximately 74000 users,

Break down the tax payers portions or voting averages...

And yes, I get FAR more then $60 of usefull information off this forum every year.

 

[lancexxx]

Please upgrade, It is cheap for what you get

 

[joshb]

I’m 68. A little younger than the Boss.
BOSS:
. I don’t know how you do it! Love of the game, I guess. If I were you, I’d make the changes to reduce the stress and work load.
Make the site a private club, with annual dues for vetted members only. That would erase 80% ??? of your work load.
Let people read and glean all the information they want for free but if someone wants to post to ask questions or join the conversation, pay the minimal dues to chip in for the costs of running the site.
I’ve been running my own businesses my whole life. My experiences are that the amount of people that would gladly let me work for free is endless.
The contributors to this site are the stand up guys who don’t expect you to.
I say make the change, relax a little and ride that bike of yours a little more!
Josh

 

[Cnsane]

{staring at my online gambling accounts and OnlyFans memberships}
Yeah, I think I can spare sixty bucks for something useful as opposed to wasting it,,

 

[Jefferson]

just asking
how about a different fee for those of us outside of the good old u of a
our canadian dollar sucks
I had a paid membership last year i think

 

[nakneker]

50 bucks a year is more than fair, cheap if I’m being asked. Consider the knowledge alone you can get from these pages, is it worth 50 bucks? Add in the classifieds and it starts becoming a bargain. Those who frequent the site and ignore the thread asking for more support must have their head in the sand, that’s a very one sided situation.

I’ve mentioned this before and I’ll do so again but I really believe a platinum membership for 75-100 a year would get its fair shares of member upgrades. I know I would. I renewed my gold membership last month, took two seconds and I made a small donation off a sale the other day as a way of saying thanks for all the time and effort you put in to this site. I try and do that a couple times a year.

Imagine waking up one day and the forum is locked up, gone, whatever. Think Saubier. Some of us would need therapy to handle the withdrawals. It’s the best forum on net for this crowd. I think Josh offered some solid advice in post #13. I’ve also been self employed since the age of 24 and what he says about the people who would let you work for free is true. It’s endless.

Thanks for all you do, it’s is appreciated and doesn’t go unnoticed.

 

[Forum Boss]

One thing we are thinking of doing is taking the three or four most popular technical areas, including Reloading and Gunsmithing, and making those a "Premium Area" with posting privileges limited to upgraded members.

This is being done with success on some other shooting and outdoor sports Forums.

 

[joshb]

One thing we are thinking of doing is taking the three or four most popular technical areas, including Reloading and Gunsmithing, and making those a "Premium Area" with posting privileges limited to upgraded members.

This is being done with success on some other shooting and outdoor sports Forums.

Add the Sale sections to that. No more free ride.

Forum Boss: Right now non-upgraded members get two (2) free sale posts. We might lower that to one (1).

 

[10XSHOOTER]

When I joined it was straight to Gold. Nothing else out there like this place! Common pay up slackers!

 

[Dave Way]

Folks, we absolutely need more members to upgrade to Silver or Gold membership status.

If you have not upgraded yet, please consider doing so -- we really need more member support.

As we approach 77,000 members, less than four percent (4%) of our members have upgraded.

As the Forum grows, there are new and significant security and management challenges. We really can benefit from another professional team member with advanced security and software skills.

A Silver Membership is just $30 per year, effectively $2.50 per month -- less than the price of a cup of coffee.

Another popular gun Forum now charges $20 per MONTH for Classifieds privileges. That's $240 per year -- 8 times the cost of our Silver membership. Let that sink in.

And Gunbroker charges $32.00 commission for a single $600 sale!

Bottom line, I will be 70 this fall and am still laboring over 2800+ hours per year on the site working pretty much every day. All Forum users will benefit if more members upgrade to Silver or Gold so we can bring in key help.

That will give the site resources to allow more vigilant security controls and thread monitoring.

We believe $30/year (Silver) or $60/year (Gold) remains a great deal compared to $20 per month that some other Forums charge.

While I thoroughly enjoy the site as well as the members I do get tired of these posts. My suggestion is to stop begging and using guilt and run the site like the business it is. The people who are members are supporting the site for everyone who isn’t. Charge everyone the same fee for membership and/or increase the prices that advertisers pay. Just my opinion, but I feel pretty strongly about it.

70,000 members at $20/year is 1.4 Million.

Dave.