Ad-Free Apolyton: THE POLL

[Harry Tuttle]

I think this a is a great discussion and I would definately drop a few bucks to get some new and interesting features.

MarkG, not to be off topic from the paying subscriber idea, but have you ever been approached from a company wanting to do a promotion on the site? Like an active give away contest, or a themed promotional period for a movie, game, etc..? I know some promotions involve the annoying popup or entrance screen before you can proceed to the forum, but has anything else been discussed?

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by MarkG
as already discussed, going with paypal only at this time is not a matter of will.

Maybe we can just send you banknotes in unmarked brown evelopes?

[DanQ]

Originally posted by Rasbelin

Ohh, grreat. This means that people like me, who don't live in USA or have a credit card that could be used without Verified by Visa, can't be subscribing to your service. Please, Dan, concider also accepting money orders, cheques and bank transfers. You're going to make people from outside USA abit crippled.

For the record (and to be explicit):

(a) You need not have to live in the United States in order to be able to use PayPal. I cannot speak to all countries, of course, but I use the service and I live in Canada (as I'm sure many of you already know).
(b) You do not necessarily have to have a credit card in order to be able to use PayPal. They have a process in place now that allows you to withdraw monies from back accounts as well as deposit into them. I am certain that there are limits on this, as with most any feature, but all of those details can be obtained from PayPal's site directly.

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Dan; Apolyton CS

[Rasbelin]

Originally posted by DanQ

(a) You need not have to live in the United States in order to be able to use PayPal. I cannot speak to all countries, of course, but I use the service and I live in Canada (as I'm sure many of you already know).

Never claimed that either.

(b) You do not necessarily have to have a credit card in order to be able to use PayPal. They have a process in place now that allows you to withdraw monies from back accounts as well as deposit into them. I am certain that there are limits on this, as with most any feature, but all of those details can be obtained from PayPal's site directly.

Indeed, but the support to use bank accounts for adding funds is limited and works with very few countries or just American bank accounts ATM. eChecks are something American and I can't use a credit card that works with PayPal, so the problem is that I can't add funds to PayPal by any means as it is. Neither can many others.

[DrSpike]

It's a fair point Dan. Even if it is possible more people will contribute if you can find a way to make it as easy as possible for the contributor. And if it is hard to use this method for many a backup might be advisable. Mark says there may be one in the future - hopefully you can work something out.

[Bloody Monk]

Originally posted by BigFree

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't want to pay for a service that blocks pop-ups. Since the very first time I saw one, I hated them. I don't think anyone will ever be able to change my mind about them.

This is the heart of our disagreement. This is a point of view problem. What you fail to comprehend is that we all could use popup blockers if that were the issue. It's not. For folk who wish to support the site, this voluntary plan is an alternative to having popups.

But you probably have to want to support the site to understand this very subtle point.

FWIW, "silence" is not a feature of my order.

Monk

[My Wife Hates CIV]

didnt read every post. what is the price???

you might as well have started a thread - would you buy my car for a price?

what's the price (even a ball park estimate)??? what are the goodies??? what kinda of sorry sales job is this. I'm offended by the lack of info - you people just want money. as a member of apolyton for years now (and the holder of the best name), one would think posters like myself would get a price break or first years membership free. remember - it's the loyal posters that have made apolyton what it is - it's almost more my site than markg's.

[alva]

Shhhhhhhs, don't tell them you've been a member for years, next thing you know, they will charge you for all of them.

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[yaroslav]

Originally posted by DanQ

yaroslav: In response to your response on my...

#2: I may stand to be corrected with regards to the technological limitation I cited... can you provide me with IEEE website references on this perhaps or documentation from another reputable source? Regardless, let me say that this is not a point that has been considered nor will it be entertained at this time.

#4: In taking a different track from Markos' valid note on this... you refer to "internal shipment"s. I'm not quite sure I'm following you. Are you saying internally within a country? Even if Markos and I were to disseminate the CDs personally, that only covers Greece and Canada respectively.
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Dan; Apolyton CS

#2

Obtain a free @computer.org e-mail address forwarding your e-mail to your current e-mail address as long as you are a member.

http://www.computer.org/join/benefits.htm

I don't know the techinals details, sorry

#4

It was a typo, I wanted to wrote international, sorry.

[Promethus]

I pay $5 a year to Weather Underground for add free service w/unlimited use of radar tracking. I would do the same for this site. Yoy have +30,000 members? If only 1/3 payed $5 that would generate $50,000 a year.

[Skanky Burns]

There have only been around 5600+ users who have posted in the last year. The number of active posters (defined by me as posting within the past month), who are most likely to be paying, is around 1200+.

[DanQ]

Originally posted by Rasbelin

Never claimed that either.

Hence my "explicit" note.

Originally posted by Rasbelin

Indeed, but the support to use bank accounts for adding funds is limited and works with very few countries or just American bank accounts ATM. eChecks are something American and I can't use a credit card that works with PayPal, so the problem is that I can't add funds to PayPal by any means as it is. Neither can many others.

Your points are taken; however, they will not change our position in the now and at least into the immediate future.

First, we do not want to be in a situation where we are using multiple providers to handle the accounting portion of this process for reasons ranging from security to efficiency. Next, we want to work with a provider for which we have both positive personal experience and third-party recommendations; PayPal fits this bill. Lastly, no less within the context of the second point, we sought a provider that can offer as wide a range of accessible, cost efficient and diverse services as possible. PayPal nicely meets this criterion as well.

On a closing note, perhaps if enough people wrote into PayPal indicating their interest in using an expansion of their current offerings -- and a sufficient number of people were more or less making the same point(s) -- that they would respond affirmatively through action as well as or even instead of words.

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Dan; Apolyton CS

[Gilgamensch]

OK, I voted Yes, if the price is right.

Main reason for me, I do this side and would like to see it staying alive.

FYI, I am not using any popup-blocker as they don't really bother me, the stupid advert's in my mail-box, THAT is a different story.

Price I wouldn't mind paying: ~25€ per year or a lifetime membership (at least you can then forget about the hassle to pay every year).

For the people not having CC, we are a fairly big commmunity and somebody else you might know from here might have a CC, so you would just need to transfer the money to him/her and he/she could pay for you, no big deal really...........only problem could be for paypal/Apolyton to determine for which user the payment is......

one thing I would like to see (why I am also willing to 'pay extra'):

Better bandwidth and less downtime

I also wouldn't mind seeing an indication, like the civgroups, that you are a proud member of Apolyton

[Tamerlin]

I voted no but I would like to add a few things.

Paying to get rid off ads is not really the problem as far as I am concerned, I am actually afraid that this would be the beginning of a new process leading to a fully paying site.

I agree that managing such a site is time and money consuming and that funds must be find in order to keep things going on. But the free nature of this site is also what makes it so entertaining because people all around the world can come here freely and share ideas about their favorite hobby. Until now I thought that the Apolyton spirit could be summed up like this.

I am horrified when I read serious posts about making some goodies available according to the amount of money you want, or can, pay. Another tribute to the power of money... I can't imagine it. Why not a pay per view fee, 1€ or 0.75$ the 10 web pages?

[Gilgamensch]

Originally posted by MarkG

If it ever gets to the point where one has to pay for every site s/he access, the Internet can kiss itself good-bye.

noone is discussing paying to access. end of story.

Tamerlin, just in case you missed it