how much would be willing to pya for an apolyton without ads?

[MarkG]

and i'm not suggesting that the free version would be full of pop-ups

so, since someone suggested in another thread, how much would you pay for a year of access to apolyton without ads?


<u>dislaimer: i have no clue if and how this could be achievable with our current structure</u>
<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>[This message has been edited by MarkG (edited March 12, 2001).]</font>

[rah]

I'd be willing to pay up to about 50 US dollars a year. Maybe more if CIV III is good or it was critical to the survival of the site.

But, my fear would be that charges would make quite a few of the younger posters quit due to economic reasons. And more importantly, fewer new members, since they wouldn't get a chance to browse and get sucked into the community so they wouldn't realize the value. And variety is what makes this site so popular. (and content of course)

I would suggest not making it mandatory and asking for sponsers. I believe that the people that could afford it would, and those that can't wouldn't lose access to such a wonderful site. This way, you wouldn't have to worry about the technical aspects.

If times get even tighter, please ask for donations first. You might be surprised at how many people would come through. But Please, don't make it mandatory.

RAH
I could see it now, Civ II multiplayer, sponsered by the Ferrets.

[MarkG]

<center><table width=80%><tr><td><font color=000080 face="Verdana" size=2><font size="1">quote:
<img src="/images/blue1.gif" width=100% height=1>
</font><font size=1>Originally posted by rah on 03-12-2001 09:22 AM</font>
But, my fear would be that charges would make quite a few of the younger posters quit due to economic reasons
<img src="/images/blue1.gif" width=100% height=1></font></td></tr></table></center>oh, i'm not suggesting that the access would be limited only to paying members.

i'm just asking, "how much would you pay to not see the ads"(that would be the basic stuff, perhaps the "package" could include more than that). i'm not suggesting to excluse those who will say "0"...

as for the donations thing, if you give me two visions of the future, in which one is that lots of people are paying small amount and get something back(beyond the existance of the site) and the other is that few people are paying many more money to keep something alive, i prefer the first...

[yin26]

Well, I donated a few hundred hours over the past two years. Times that by my tutoring salary of $100 / hour (yes, my real fee...but is it worth it? ). So I'd say moderators already donate enough.

My non-moderator answer would be to keep this simple: Ask EVERYBODY to send you $1-5 (or more) for 2001. You'll make a big, obvious list of "contributors" with the donated amount next to it. Everybody on that list would automatically qualify for entries in prizes, etc. The top 5 donators would be given some other form of prize/recognition (maybe even a feature "vanity" page complete with photos or whatever?).

Of course, donating money wouldn't release people from following Apolyton rules or getting any other special treatment...

[rah]

The regular ads don't bother me much, and I even click on them once in a "blue moon".

It's the pop-ups that are iritating me. (what a surprise)

I'd be will to pay a nominal amount per year to avoid pop-ups. And if that included the regular ads, it would be an added bonus. But since they don't bother me, I'd rather you get max hits on those to not further reduce your revenue.

Whatever, I'd pay to help the site. And have no problem with the more well off members supporting for the sake of the others. (I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere about the Bush tax cut, but I'll leave it for NC.)

RAH

[-- but not Snapcase]

The problem with a fee is that it changes the position of everyone from "viewers" to "customers". Once you've paid your fee, you will be placing a demand on the service in return. If you were banned of the forums, for example, would you get your fee back?

I still favour the donations/shareware model.

[Lefty Scaevola]

Even without reducing the ads, which neither bother me nor materially affect my page loading, I will pay several hundred dollars. Nor would I need any altered membership status for a subscription or recognition; y ego is fully developed and needs no nourishment. And of course Yin, Ming could whack me just as hard with his banning rod, indeed, since I am an old man, I expect to be held to higher standards of behavior than children (this does not necessarily mean that I would ALWAYS refrain fron cruelly savaging some poster for the pure pleasure of it, only that I would accept the the penalty therefore with out whining). I spend more time here than I do on cable TV, movies, and some other entertainments combined.
Should E-mail communication on this subject be addressed to Dan Q or Mark G?

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Gaius Mucius Scaevola Sinistra
Pontificator Pendanticus
older richer & wiser than you
Did I mention that I like spellcheckers?

[DanS]

$0.00

That's why I like looking at other alternatives.

[Chris 62]

I'm afraid I wouldn't wish to pay at all. Pay web sites turn me off. There are other forums besides Apolyton, and I would just go there. I like this one because it is very active, but with a fee I think the number of subscribers would drop quite dramatically. Who wants to pay for something that they always got for free? We all b*tch and whine about those damn e-bay adds, but they will eventually pass. A little research in to the sucess of pay sites is in order. As far as I know, only porn sites make any money from subscribers. I could be wrong, but I don't think so.

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All knowledge begins with the phrase: I don't know.

[Eli]

I play some online game now(utopia). And they have a very interesting way to cause people to press on the advertisments which are NOT pictures, and NOT pop ups but only a few words.

There are two advertisments, if you press on one you will get acres bonus(Kingdom Building game ) and if you press on the other one you will get food bonus. But there is a limit of one bonus per day.


The bonus are pretty significant and the vast majority of the players are clicking on those ads!


So maybe a similar concept can work in Apolyton.


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Builder.

"Antisemites? They are just the descendants of monkeys and are jealous of the descendants of Adam and Eve"

"The length of a minute depends on which side of the toilet door you're on"

[-- but not Snapcase]

An increase in the post count of one for every unique click-through! You never need tell the advertisers...

[Henrik]

What is to become of those (like me) who arent old enough to have credit cards?

[MarkG]

henrik, see the bolded text two posts above...

[Starchild]

It's not the ads I mind, it's the pop up/java stuff that bugs me.

Ever thought about freelancing your some of your ad space and selling to the highest bidder? I rarely, if ever, click on an apolyton ad that's supplied by UGO, but when I'm browsing Planetout, I click on ads all the time. They're not porn ads either! Just shopping stuff like kleptomaniac.com.

[Gibsie]

Given my lifelong contribution I expect you to pay me
<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>[This message has been edited by Gibsie (edited March 12, 2001).]</font>