Mandatory paid membership. Has the time arrived?

[boltfluter]

My personal opinion is that the classifieds provides a service and there should be a small fee to buy or sell. I think this would be the least offensive to everyone. And would generate a good income. Maybe also have a platinum level for people that have the means. Just my .02.

Paul

 

[carlsbad]

Yes it is working as it is because of the determination of one man whose only mission in life is to devote all his time and energy to the rest of us.

Some of you just don't get it. More money is needed to keep the site operating. It's a one man operation. Mandatory fees are not going to happen but the is nothing wrong about asking members who buy and sell here to pay a fee for the privilege. I too belong to a lot of forums. Most do not charge a fee for posting but buying and selling is a different story. Go look at some of the sites that charge a percentage of the sales price.

Mike,
Give me an example of mandatory paid boards that works? People don't join because they don't know what's inside and with people not joining, there becomes nothing inside. Kill the forum would indeed make less work for forum boss. --Jerry

 

[OmegaRed]

I think wikipedia does their drives correctly.

For one, make donating easy. Don't set price limits below standard contributor levels. What I mean by this, wiki says something to this effect: "For just the cost your cup of coffee today...".
So let people paypal you indefinitely $1 or $2. It's the same idea as Midway, or any other online marketer that allows you to "round up" your cart total. Or Salvation Army, or take a penny leave a penny.

People are quibbling on the marketplace for $5, or who is covering shipping. Have you not noticed, benchrest people are some of the tightest anus'd people in existence. They'll pay $5k for a rifle, but cry about tipping more than 15%. That being said, unequivocally, mandatory anything will kill participation. Forum Boss, if you don't like how much time you dedicate, you need to monitize sponsors, advertisements, etc. and hire in help. Or like on so many other sites, have volunteers help police the site. You police the mods. Simple delegation - you can't do it all.

 

[Uthink Uknow]

People buy books on gunsmithing and machining all the time. They can’t post in the book and they don’t complain about that, do they? Same thing here. Come on in and read to your heart’s content and don’t complain. Want to post, sell, buy? Pony up. Too many want something for nothing. Oh, there are “gated communities” everywhere. This should be a gated community for those who wish to post. I don’t put much value on one who doesn’t want to join to belong. Build the wall.

 

[Leo Smith]

I have a Gold Membership and don't sell anything. I payed for it because of the Information and knowledge at my fingertips. Keep up the great work.

 

[pirate ammo]

BTW you snotty Gold members... Go after the freeloaders instead of suggesting that my privileges be reduced.

snotty, you called me snotty,,I would rather be called obnoxious. go buy a Creedmoor,,

 

[Dgd6mm]

I have not bought or sold anything at all in '18. I am a silver member, my renewal is due the 26th of this month. I will be renewing asap to silver. If it becomes mandatory to become a gold member to buy or sell on here I will consider it.

Don Dunlap

 

[Shrek]

You’ll kill the traffic with a mandatory fee but a small fee for a couple of classified ads , say 5 for $5 , and limited posting privileges like photos would possibly generate funds without killing traffic and participation. Volunteer moderators should help with the workload. I participate over on Rokslide.com and Ryan and Robbie have quite a few volunteers moderating the site. It seems to work well. The number of people willing to pay $25-$50 is few as you know.

 

[nmkid]

Thinking about it...I don't really feel higher levels of paid membership would help because, still, only a few members would pay. And we would be in the same place we are now at. I can get by on the computer and if was decided to get volunteers to help moderate I would be willing to help. I've got more time than money, so why not!

 

[Mulligan]

I, like many of you have gleaned more usefull information from this forum/website than I have from many of the books I own. Books can be expensive..... the cheapest are the ones that end up used or referenced all the time and or provided a wealth of information regardless of the financial cost. The most expensive, the ones that provide nothing. I read a lot and have to admit, I have a plethora of both. In comparison, this site has been the best bargain I have discovered in my shooting career.
This forum has “introduced” me to a host of very knowledge shooters. Several of which have gone well out of their way to help me.
In the last 12-18 months, I along with many of you have observed a reduction in the input from some really great folks who were and still are trying to help to some degree. The reduction in the posts is caused by bashing and nonsense from some rascals and aggressive keyboard hacks.

My suggestion,
I have no problem paying $10-$50 dollars for a book. Sometimes in the end, these are of little value. I suggest we have a way to contribute to this site in the name of those persons who have gone out of there way to help us. Several times I have thought that the information shared must have cost the contributor many hours and untold expenditure of resources. Yet they have willingly shared it with all who can read including the very folks competing against them. I think it would be good to give back in a way that helps this site and encourage those with the knowledge, to “keep it up” we appreciate there contribution.

Maybe, it is as easy as adding a $ button beside the like button and if you think the contribution made by the poster was of real value you simply hit the $ button and a dollar or two is charged to you paypal or cc account.
CW

 

[rjtfroggy]

Three pages and 1508 views and only THREE NON CONTRIBUTERS said anything does that tell you anything.
I will be the first to admit I just ponied up on the 31st and I also joined the IBS (same day), no excuses just really never gave it serious consideration.

 

[Nick Caprinolo]

I like the idea of a small fee for buying and selling. I recently purchased a rifle here with scope. Spent over $3,600.00. That's a pretty good sum of money for me. Paying a service fee for the opportunity to be sure that I was dealing with a reputable seller is well worth it to me.

 

[Nature Boy]

Making contributions mandatory will reduce site traffic and result in less revenue from ads

(I just became a gold contributor so I could make that comment without getting shamed as a "freeloader")

 

[powderbrake]

I believe mandatory fees to participate will kill the forum.
I would not be opposed to a fee for a sale.

If the forum grows and advertising revenue increases, it could be full time, well paying venture for the owner, and you need participants for that to happen. So do not impose mandatory fees to post or to become part of this fine group.

 

[Evan]

Three pages and 1508 views and only THREE NON CONTRIBUTERS said anything does that tell you anything.
I will be the first to admit I just ponied up on the 31st and I also joined the IBS (same day), no excuses just really never gave it serious consideration.

It's feeling pretty hostile around here, hardly a surprise most are just staying away.

My 2 cents: I don't buy or sell here, but feel that it would be perfectly acceptable to pay for that privilege. If you are looking to make money on a platform, you should contribute to its upkeep. Paying to post on the forum will kill it. This place is already a bit of an echo chamber and many of the (IMO) really valuable members who used to post a lot of really hard-won and tested knowledge have left or drawn back from the forum due to the hostile culture that has been growing here that the Boss is fighting. You can build your wall, but I think you may be surprised just how many people will leave.

Small comment: I have a beef with both Paypal and the USPS. Paypal is a shady bank with none of the regulation of oversight required of real banks. I seriously doubt a check would make it to the boss in the mail (the USPS has had an uncanny knack for losing everything I've mailed with money in it and I will no longer use them by choice for anything). I'd love to see a fully above board way for me to use my credit card to pay the boss.

 

[rjtfroggy]

Evan,
I hope my post wasn't hostile to you, I was just making a statement after reading all the way through.
As you can see from my join date I spent 5.5 years just hanging around and reading and learning, occasionally posting, but I got a couple of good deals in the classifieds and decided to pony up for a paid membership.
Read for free, pay to sell or buy like other forums do.

 

[jimmymac]

snotty, you called me snotty,,I would rather be called obnoxious. go buy a Creedmoor,,

...at least I didn't use pompous.

 

[savagedasher]

I suggested more then a year ago
We should have a place wher we can sell a product that we don’t have a use for
And it money wood go into a membership to both
I have a Redding die set for a ppc that I will get rid of And all the money will go to this site
And I will include the shipping
And that is just a start

 

[swd]

My opinion, worth zero, lol. Mandatory membership will kill the forum. It's the internet, people expect free for basic use and will leave even if you make mandatory membership only $1.00. And as one non contributor mentioned, he supports advertisers. And I'm sure many other non members do as well.

Now for the upgrades. Keep Silver and Gold memberships. Change all sellers to at least silver, no limited sales for non members.

No purchases for non members from the classifieds. Add a buyers only upgrade. Make it stupid cheap so they can't afford not to join to buy. $3.00-$5.00. Want a great deal here? You have to join but it's cheap, really cheap.

Maybe even a one time only buy is $2-$3.00 and unlimited for the year is $5.00-$10.00?? I don't know, just tossing out ideas.

 

[ED3]

I suggested more then a year ago
We should have a place wher we can sell a product that we don’t have a use for
And it money wood go into a membership to both
I have a Redding die set for a ppc that I will get rid of And all the money will go to this site
And I will include the shipping
And that is just a start

That could prove to be an interesting fund raising vehicle;

Perhaps using the auction format, bidding open 5 - 10 days....maybe even mimic ebay/ GB with a 'Buy-It-Now' price for the rich and impatient.... Post a end time in the ad. Highest bid before end time wins, Buyer and seller do the deal, seller ships when presented with a copy of the ?PayPal? receipt.
Zero time spent by Forum Boss.

This could be in addition to the existing classified ads.

While it would be great if everyone ponied up funds, some of the most valuable information has come from non(monetary)contributing members...Adam MacDonald comes to mind.