Donation? why not a pay subscription????

[The Burpster]

Just an idea folks, but rather than have to rely on dontaions to get us up and running why not have a "pay membership" ?

A couple of other "clubs" that run forum sites, offer differing level of subscription, so that members that pay a (small) fee become FULL members and have full acces to all forum threads (a notable one is that unless you are paid up, you can't buy or sell---- cuts out a lot of crap!).

I would have no objection to a small subs. fee to ensure longevity of a stable and friendly community that I can rely on being there (if I chosse not to log on for a week)

Please dont beat me up, its only an idea that I know works elsewhere!

[Tinman]

No arguments from me on that one

[slaphappygarry]

Nah,

We just from time to time need some help with little changes, this is a non profit site and its best we keep it that way.

Donations are totally optional (and appreciated) and do go a long way.

Garry

[nedsbeds]

I would much rather have relevant advertising. I don't visit forums where there are different classes of members, and I'm not going to start doing so.
We invest our money in companies, so they should be the ones investing in the community that is buying stuff from them.
And fees do not "ensure longevity of a stable and friendly community" They pay for the things such as hosting and bandwidth that any site, regardless of whether they charge subscriptions, has to pay.

[The Burpster]

[font="Arial Black"]""We just from time to time need some help with little changes, this is a non profit site and its best we keep it that way.""[/font]


Reading you loud and clear on that one, but it doesnt have to run at a profit- besides if we all have a share in our community, we won't end up that uncomfortable "lets have a slagging match about one or two persons" that happened abotu a week ago on BT.....!

It works excellently on www.ukgser.co.uk (althogh I realise that we are all old lardy BMW bikers, with way too much money!)


Just a tought!

[Kiwi]

Hey guys we really appreciate your enthusiasm and support but from what we can see, the membership is a little divided over this and we see no value in forcing the issue onto people if its not wholly welcome - particularly after the recent turmoil.

We're also concerned that subscriptions might encourage a divisive us-and-them type culture which we've seen on Talkbass a bit. Now I understand Talkbass costs "several thousands of dollars" to run per year, and they've regularly got a thousand members online at once. I imagine its hard for Paul to otherwise cover those costs out of a gigging musicians wages so I'm not criticising him for the subscription thing at all.

However, if some of you are enjoying and appreciating the forums so much, thats really cool! Why not make an annual voluntary donation and think of it as a subscription? If you'd like that formally recognised, I'm sure we can put together a list of supporters accessed from a link on the home page. This way you get to show your appreciation and we don't feel like others have their enjoyment of the forums reduced in any way.

How does that sound?

Maybe at some point when we've got the logo sorted out, we can get some T-shirts and caps organised as well!

[Mrs Tinman]

Brill. How much will it cost for in-house bunnies?

[john_the_bass]

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='4858' date='May 23 2007, 01:22 AM']Hey guys we really appreciate your enthusiasm and support but from what we can see, the membership is a little divided over this and we see no value in forcing the issue onto people if its not wholly welcome - particularly after the recent turmoil.

We're also concerned that subscriptions might encourage a divisive us-and-them type culture which we've seen on Talkbass a bit. Now I understand Talkbass costs "several thousands of dollars" to run per year, and they've regularly got a thousand members online at once. I imagine its hard for Paul to otherwise cover those costs out of a gigging musicians wages so I'm not criticising him for the subscription thing at all.

However, if some of you are enjoying and appreciating the forums so much, thats really cool! Why not make an annual voluntary donation and think of it as a subscription? If you'd like that formally recognised, I'm sure we can put together a list of supporters accessed from a link on the home page. This way you get to show your appreciation and we don't feel like others have their enjoyment of the forums reduced in any way.

How does that sound?

Maybe at some point when we've got the logo sorted out, we can get some T-shirts and caps organised as well![/quote]

a hat and a t shirt? I might as well hang a sign around my neck that says, "i am a complete bass geek". that's what my mrs thinks anyway!!!!

[Kiwi]

[quote name='john_the_bass' post='4877' date='May 23 2007, 01:51 AM']a hat and a t shirt? I might as well hang a sign around my neck that says, "i am a complete bass geek". that's what my mrs thinks anyway!!!![/quote]

Vearing of ze rrrrrrritualised uniform vill be rrrrrrequired at all future bassbashes! Ve vill create un overly elaborate initiation ceremony inwolwing ze vigorous application of a [url="http://www.dima.unipa.it/~petrucci/varie_file/image014.jpg"]Steinberger XL2[/url] in a humiliating manner und zen "Mr Funkypants" vill descend from ze skies und distribute free novelty earplugs to all ze happy kiddies.

Finally ve vill all join together und ensuziastically sing ze bassbash song to ze tune of "Tiptoe Through Ze Tulips"

[lukeward2004]

Personally, I think that VOLUNTARY donations are a good idea, however I agree with Kiwi on this.

The great thing about this forum is that it is a free resource dedicated to all things bass - lets keep it that way!

[The Funk]

[quote name='john_the_bass' post='4877' date='May 23 2007, 01:51 AM']a hat and a t shirt? I might as well hang a sign around my neck that says, "i am a complete bass geek". that's what my mrs thinks anyway!!!![/quote]

Man, where do I get one of those signs?

EDIT: Donations please. The only internet subscriptions I want are for porn.

Edited May 23, 2007 by The Funk

[Linz]

I know nothing about subscription terms on the internet so please dont beat me up over this one - but would subs payments mean the site would have to pay a tax of any kind? If so donations are by far the better way.

(I said I didnt have a clue! I dont know who the tax would go to but in my cynical world they tax you for everything they can!)

[Paul Cooke]

please no subscriptions... I have no credit or debit cards and therefore no means of making online payments.

A subscription would effectively discriminate against those with no means of making online payments or those who are temporarily financially embarrassed

[wmsheep]

Hmmm, I thought that`s what the sponsor forums were for; they help pay towards the running of the site (domain registration, software upgrades etc) and in return they get their own little corner in which to advertise & brag/converse about their own product.

I think it should be left like that.


Mark

[simon73]

I would not mind either way about sponsorship but I do prefer donations to subsriptions. That give all the choice to donate what they want and if they want to donate.