Premium Memberships. Let the fighting begin!

[Cruizin]

Ok, so premium Memberships are now live. For 2015, the price is whatever you wanna donate. I ask for at least $5, because Paypal will charge me their fee. Or, you can make it a gift.
 
Perks? Well, for now you can upload pics directly to a post from your computer by clicking "ADD ATTACHMENT" when you are creating a post or doing a full reply, not visible on a quick reply.
You also get the title "Premium Member", and a full five stars.
Other perks will come available over the course of the next year. In 2016, I will have a structured pricing model with monthly options.
 
 
How to become a supporting Vendor/Donate? Easy, just go to the bottom of any page and click "DONATE". Then, after donating, send me a PM so that I know who you are!
 
 
This will allow me to host pics on the forum and hopefully add some cool new features throughout the year. And new features for everyone, not just those who donate.
 
But then again, people who do donate should get something back in return for contributing to this forum for all to enjoy.
 

[so1102]

I think it's a fine idea, although I'm not particularly concerned with banner ads myself as long as they don't get out of hand. I have no idea what the charges might be -- I look to you and the group to come up with something fair.

[Kwaipuak]

If you went banner ads, I have always found side banners to be better. check out www.fark.com and when you click on a thread -> http://www.fark.com/comments/8611030/Italian-soldiers-used-to-drink-this-before-every-successful-battle-which-explains-why-they-havent-made-it-in-1500-years
 

[schalicke]

I like the idea. I was just contemplating how much this site is worth to me. I am going to donate to the forum and was just deciding how much I wanted to contribute. I came up with $5 a month - $60 a year - $100 2 years - $150 lifetime.
 
I love the pic hosting but I have also gotten very fast at using imgur both with my phone and computer.
I don’t mind adds personally. Marketing leads to $ and we all want to earn $ either personally or via a business.
Maybe premium members can get a t-shirt or sticker with signup.
Premium members get an additional discount to use at supporting vendors.
 
I am also content with leaving things the way they are. We just all need to throw $5 your way every once in a while. If I am ever in Boise I will pay you with a Beer and a shot of your Finest Bottom Shelf Bourbon... (puke)
 
FYI… Donation Made...

[Cruizin]

Wow, thanks!

[gtmn]

I think there is maybe a miss understanding as to what it would take to run a forum
I myself have no idea how much this would cost someone to keep up and running
if people know what it takes they would be more apt to contribute to the upkeep
also if people know this is out of your pocket they would have a lot less problem with ads
if you spell out what it takes I am sure we can help out
most of us or just me is clueless as to how to run a forum
give us a chance to help

[Kwaipuak]

I would also say that I am likely to click on an ad from here if it's FZ-07 or general gear related. I don't see every thread about every part. So whether it's suspension, lighting mods, or helmet deals, I think it's fine.
It becomes a pain in the ass when it's "I suggest you try Brand X teeth whiting strips" while on a motorcycle site.

[Guest whitegas]

You should set yourself up an AMAZON click-through program.
 
You usually start out slow, like around 10 dollars revenue in a month. If you got some committed members, you can usually pull in 100 dollars a month.

[Allan]

I personally think that a VIP only section isn't a good idea. That would make some of us not able to see posts that may be helpful. I understand that it would be a "perk" to have a place with only certain members can go, but it may be damaging for the community if you now have "clicks" where there are certain members who only post in these VIP only areas. I think we have a winning formula of equality here, where everyone can see everything and comment at ease. I'm not saying a VIP membership is bad. All those other things sound cool, just not the exclusion part. Just my $0.02

[schalicke]

I agree with panzer716. There should NOT be a Premium Members only club. If I want to post private things or target a specific person or people I just use the Private Message function. If the site starts getting exclusive to certain members it will loose the valuable input of the people that use it for free. The more members the better. The thing that makes the internet great is how it can connect people and bring together knowledge. You don’t want to risk loosing that.
 
As I stated before a few cool perks for donating or being a member would be nice but lets avoid the segregation aspect. We all know that did not work on busses just ask Rosa Parks…   I know bad joke , but I liked it. (lighten up) 
 
I will be buying a membership if they are offered. If not I will just continue to donate.
 
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[Cruizin]

I am a member of 15 other forums out there. 12 of them have premium memberships and the program seems to work pretty well. I also used to a own a very large college sports forum and we had premium memberships but we had to charge 9.99 per month because I had to hire writers for weekly articles and we even eventually came out with a quarterly magazine. It grew quite nice but I sold it because it grew way larger than I could handle. We did have a premium members board, but we moderated it so that forum related topics got moved back into general population of the forums. It actually was a pretty boring board.
 
I certainly want to have enough features that attract people to go premium, but also do not want people to feel like they are missing out if they cannot afford to go premium.
 
And this is why I created this thread, to make sure that input is heard and used to create a better board for everyone.
 
But seriously, Rosa phucking Parks? Cmon

[Cruizin]

But then again, when this board is five years old, and you guys are all oldtimers, it may be kinda cool to have a board to ourselves. I'm sure that we will have annoying trolls by then and sometimes it's nice to have a board to just get away from some. Think it over.

[rotaryryan24]

Rosa Parks, really! :-S it's not that big of a deal to have a segregated section, the back of the bus is where the cool kids sit anyway. But seriously if the price is the big deal, have one less Starbucks, or one less pack of smokes this month. As long as the fee is low enough for anyone wanting to participate can. And if you try it and don't like it than don't pay the fee the following month.

[hobbs]

I don't imagine people would be discussing tech tips in the "premium" section. Probably witty banter and useless but entertaining bullshit. At least, that's what I've observed in other non related forums with a segregated section.

[JA50N]

If you make a premium membership, it is going to have to come with perks. Like discounts, or say a free .pdf of the shop manual or something like that. People don't like to just pay for the ability to talk to other people. There are too many free outlets on the internet for that. I am more inclined to just put advertisements on the page and let them pay for the costs of running the sight.
 
Personally, I won't pay for a premium membership for the things you listed because:
 
1. I already have a photo bucket account and am pretty good at posting pics and/or videos. I also already have a youtube channel. I think the majority are in that situation.
 
2. Ads don't bother me as long as they aren't those stupid key word ads in the actual posts that if you hover over a window comes up. If you go to that I will log off and not come back.
 
3. Don't care about stars or avatars or anything like that.
 
4. Don't really care about the "premium sections" either. I have been a paying member on other sights and this section is really kind of worthless unless regular, premium member only discounts are posted here.
 
If you sweetened the deal more than what you have listed I may be more inclined to purchase a premium membership.
 
What I have seen work is having a certain number of posts or a premium membership keep the "for sale" section under control. A lot of people like to use forums as their personal free craig's list without any other contributions to the forum.

[Allan]

If you make a premium membership, it is going to have to come with perks. Like discounts, or say a free .pdf of the shop manual or something like that. People don't like to just pay for the ability to talk to other people. There are too many free outlets on the internet for that. I am more inclined to just put advertisements on the page and let them pay for the costs of running the sight. 
Personally, I won't pay for a premium membership for the things you listed because:
 
1. I already have a photo bucket account and am pretty good at posting pics and/or videos. I also already have a youtube channel. I think the majority are in that situation.
 
2. Ads don't bother me as long as they aren't those stupid key word ads in the actual posts that if you hover over a window comes up. If you go to that I will log off and not come back.
 
3. Don't care about stars or avatars or anything like that.
 
4. Don't really care about the "premium sections" either. I have been a paying member on other sights and this section is really kind of worthless unless regular, premium member only discounts are posted here.
 
If you sweetened the deal more than what you have listed I may be more inclined to purchase a premium membership.
 
What I have seen work is having a certain number of posts or a premium membership keep the "for sale" section under control. A lot of people like to use forums as their personal free craig's list without any other contributions to the forum.

Actually, I think he just nailed this right in the head. I agree with everything he said. If there were special deals and such that would definitely be a plus. About what @admin said about trolls and what not, if in 5 years we see a problem like that, then we should worry about it. I'm just saying as we stand now, our community is great and we should all stick together as equals. Just my opinion.

[so1102]

Hosting doesn't pay for itself, so I am down for whatever: donations, premium membership, ads -- whatever is needed to keep the site up and relevant

[n2shotokai]

I do not care one way or another. I will support the site based on the info shared.
Just to throw out a thought, on another mc forum I am on, premium members have a section where they get first dibs on vendor giveaways, perks, discounts etc. Again I am not promoting this, just pointing out what others do.

[prediddy]

To me personally a Premium Membership is not something I have a strong desire for. I do not mind the forum generating money to cover the money and time cost associated with running a site like this. That's reasonable.
 
The only strong opinion i have there are 'contextual' AD links embedded in text. This may be strange to some, but I read text on computers by highlighting a line or so of text at a time. Which leaves me clicking all over the screen so sites that use that 'feature' are essentially unreadable to me. If there is not a way to disable them - I won't use the site.

[Cruizin]

Thanks so much to all of you for giving me your input on this.
 
PDF's of shop manuals, which are copyrighted by Yamaha cannot be posted on the site, period.
 
If the premium memberships do happen, there will be absolutely no pressure to subscribe and one can simply choose not to subscribe.
 
I can only "sweeten" the deal so much. I simply want to offer something back to the people who choose to donate.
 
 

[Cruizin]

Those posts have been deleted and the member warned because that is not at all how I feel. This forum is open to all. All we ask is that people take the time to join and share with others. That's it.
 
I'm still thinking about the ads, not sure if I want to do it yet. I'm working with a company who says that they can get Motorcycle industry ads only for this site. If it's like Revzilla ads, or other industry ads like that, I would be ok with that but what I want to avoid is flashing ads or ads for crap that nobody is interested in.

[Cruizin]

Ok, so premium Memberships are now live. For 2015, the price is whatever you wanna donate. I ask for at least $5, because Paypal will charge me their fee. Or, you can make it a gift.
 
Perks? Well, for now you can upload pics directly to a post from your computer by clicking "ADD ATTACHMENT" when you are creating a post or doing a full reply, not visible on a quick reply.
You also get the title "Premium Member", and a full five stars.
Other perks will come available over the course of the next year. In 2016, I will have a structured pricing model with monthly options.
 
 
How to become a supporting Vendor/Donate? Easy, just go to the bottom of any page and click "DONATE". Then, after donating, send me a PM so that I know who you are!
 
 
This will allow me to host pics on the forum and hopefully add some cool new features throughout the year. And new features for everyone, not just those who donate.
 
But then again, people who do donate should get something back in return for contributing to this forum for all to enjoy.
 
 
 

[Guru]

Great ! Premium memberships is a great way of generating some income to support the forum. Because these things don't run on air and it would not be fair to have @admin do all the heavy lifting $ wise. I think we can all agree on that, so we can put that discussion to rest.
 
It is difficult, if not impossible to please everyone but we have to start somewhere. Hosting attachments and the stars are only the start. We are going to extend the perks and love to see more input.
 
What matter to me most is that we can make this community great by helping each other. I has been an awesome ride so far. Imagine what the future could bring !

[motomeek]

It seems I've a bit late to the party, but I'm all about supporting this forum. @Cruizin, you'll be seeing a donation from me.

[Cruizin]

Thank you!