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[Caddyman]

thought games and lounge didnt count toward total posts

i think that was turned off thankfully, intro's i think still count, this is where the copy and paste to bump the post count seems most often abused.

but you knew that

 

[BiGMERF]

yes i do.....gotta make the noobs feel welcomed. i think its a great plus to have members help welcome the new ones. sense of community

 

[3devious]

+1

How about just linking posting worth to the relative merit of the posts; can the admins/moderators just keep track of the Caddyman, OTD types who are always helping and then somehow reward them for it?

I mean, sometimes I can see that an issue will come up and the help arrives from a user here who does not have the issue with their Eris but who has taken the trouble to find a solution or a link to the solution. The two I mention are the ones who stand out, but there are others.

That is what I was trying to say. Since people only listen to about 20% of what someone else says, perhaps the message might get through if I were to say it again later. I don't mind if you don't like the suggestion. I provided it freely and it is certainly worth what you paid for it (OK maybe not you, Rob.) Just don't jump on it as if I was link site participation solely to post count. I do think it is a nice gesture to reward people for bringing the kind of content that attracts users. OK, I said it again but I don't think it would have as much of an effect as saying it again later.

 

[Shadowtech]

While I do enjoy this site, I have to agree with comments I have seen regarding the "subscription". I have no problem with sites asking for donations, but they generally always over-exaggerate their need. It seems once sites get large, they generally attempt to cash in with "donations". IMO $40/yr just for less ads and a fancy button is a bit steep, when ya can just get it free anyway with ad blockers.

I can see your host is made2own.com according to the forum emails, and their largest package (for resellers) is only $49.95/mo for unlimited everything .. and their ecommerce addon is just $199 anually. Based on the 21,000-ish active members on here, I don't really see the justification in $40/yr.

Figure even if only 200 out of that 21k "donate" for premium.. that's $666/mo. I haven't seen any numbers of paid subscribers, but it's not difficult to figure out how much potential for income there is in this strategy. If even 5% of the active userbase contributes.. we're talking $3500/mo in "donations".

I'm not trying to cause problems, it just irks me seeing every forum I'm on pulling this donation stuff. Site hosting gets cheaper and cheaper, yet costs to site owners are always going up. Not even about 5 years ago you rarely seen anyone asking for money for their vBulletin sites, and hosting was significantly higher priced.

 

[Phases]

While I do enjoy this site, I have to agree with comments I have seen regarding the "subscription". I have no problem with sites asking for donations, but they generally always over-exaggerate their need. It seems once sites get large, they generally attempt to cash in with "donations". IMO $40/yr just for less ads and a fancy button is a bit steep, when ya can just get it free anyway with ad blockers.

I can see your host is made2own.com according to the forum emails, and their largest package (for resellers) is only $49.95/mo for unlimited everything .. and their ecommerce addon is just $199 anually. Based on the 21,000-ish active members on here, I don't really see the justification in $40/yr.

Figure even if only 200 out of that 21k "donate" for premium.. that's $666/mo. I haven't seen any numbers of paid subscribers, but it's not difficult to figure out how much potential for income there is in this strategy. If even 5% of the active userbase contributes.. we're talking $3500/mo in "donations".

I'm not trying to cause problems, it just irks me seeing every forum I'm on pulling this donation stuff. Site hosting gets cheaper and cheaper, yet costs to site owners are always going up. Not even about 5 years ago you rarely seen anyone asking for money for their vBulletin sites, and hosting was significantly higher priced.

I'm not going to get much into this anymore because we've said what we need to but, I will say this.

You're looking at the wrong section. Look here:

Made2Own - cPanel Web Hosting, Reseller Hosting, and Dedicated Servers

I know what you were looking at looks great but, those don't fit the needs of a site this size.

We pay them four digits a month. Yes, that's $x,xxx. It's also the truth.

I'm sorry some people are having such a hard time with this. Seriously it's not that big of a deal. You don't have to donate, don't worry about it! The site will still function the same for those that don't.

Edit: I'm going to just close this thread. It was meant as an announcement.. not an ongoing effort to defend it. You are all more than welcome to PM me questions/concerns or make a new thread in the feedback section if you'd like, I'm fine with that. But this thread has run its course.