Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

[paulcalloway]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

Phil -
We would want to continue to provide a valuable resource to non-paying members. And those in that category, in some cases, would definately be able to see what they were missing.

The idea would be AC Lite versus AC Amber Bock. AC Lite still goes down smooth but it aint a liquid-meal.

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

I think I’m in bounds here saying we may want hold off on “membership” donations for the moment. Unless you hear differently, give Paul, the technicians and administrators time to get a program in place to accept, track and verify subscriptions and renewals.

Many of us have made donations this year and the subscription may be in addition to those.

But thank you to those that have already stepped up and anteed in in response to the poll. I know Paul, Matt, Tripp and Justin greatly appreciate it.

Paul, kill this post if need be. I was responding as you posted above. BGB

***
Edit: Thanks Garrison, you're exactly right. I just made a new thread stating that. Lets hold off on the membership-donations for now. At this point everything is theoretical. -PC

[BrettKIllinois]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

I'd prefer not to have a subscription but to donate as I can when I can, I think you will get more money out of me anyways....

But this thread has inspired me to donate for my first time today.

Kudos Paul for your years of great work, and i have loads of extra bandwidth and space if you want you can use it. Maybe I could host graphics for you or something... let me know.

Also have you looked into yahoo for webhosting? its uber-cheap.

[paulcalloway]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

Bandwidth isn't our problem, it's CPU time and RAM usage. Meaning we need a dedicated server ... not just web hosting.

[pbhatfield]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

Paul, that works. And fyi it makes me thirsty, in a Guiness stout sort of way...
Phil Hatfield

[dedogtent]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

Sure I will be willing to subscribe. A very small price to pay for such a 'Top Notch' web site.

[Charles Heath]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

The idea would be AC Lite versus AC Amber Bock. AC Lite still goes down smooth but it aint a liquid-meal.

Paul, most CW forums feature content akin to diluted goat urine. Folks who support the AC Forum want a hand crafted stout.

[Fatback and Beans]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

Paul, most CW forums feature content akin to diluted goat urine. Folks who support the AC Forum want a hand crafted stout.

With a slightly nutty finish, no doubt?

[MercyAngel62]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

Sure I will be willing to subscribe. A very small price to pay for such a 'Top Notch' web site.

Ditto. Count me in! :D

[Kace]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

I think $5-10 per year is reasonable. I must admit that I am one who those who should hit the donate button to help out. Hmmm now that I am thinking about it, I should try and track down/remember my paypal account and password.

Kace

[Corn_Cob]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

This site is well worth paying a small fee for. As a resource it is preiceless.

[33rd VA Co. H]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

Five bucks..... MAYBE and I mean MAYBE...but not a red cent more. With 5000 plus members that would equal a minimum $25,000 dollars. Ten bucks.... well you do the math. There is no way a dedicated server's expense is in that realm and on most sites the SPONSORS foot the bill. Two or three dollars sounds more reasonable and would be much easier to get from folks. You guys have bumped your heads if you think Ten bucks per person is reasonable. For Five bucks, I might stay a member... for Ten bucks I'll be gone like the wind. Call me a skinflint or what ever...I don't really care, but I'm not into padding pockets and Five bucks or more per person is definitely not needed to keep this site up and running.

[paulcalloway]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

Clearly you didn't read the thread.

[33rd VA Co. H]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

Paul, sometimes you make too many assumptions. I most certainly did read the entire thread and in spite of your's and other's reasoning, I still don't think Five bucks or more is necessary. You think times are hard now.... start charging a $10 membership fee and see how many new members join and how quick some old timers hit the road. BTW... when I want to read a book....I don't go to Barnes and Noble... I go to the public library where information is FREE.

[Justin Runyon]

Re: Would you be willing to pay a nominal fee for membership?

First off, with only 2200 or so active members, not 5000, that skews the math form the outset. Secondly, costs are rising, and have been rising for 4 years or more through which time we have continued to offer the site as a free resource for you. Thirdly, it would be impossible to ascertain what sort of vision we have for improving the site and continually adding features of added value for you, the membership. All of this will cost some money. Hell, its 9 bucks a month to be a member of Rush Limbaugh's forum (so I've been told) and I cant see him as being a better resource on anything than the members of this site.

We are fully aware that if we impliment this, we will loose some of our userbase permanantly, and some for a short time. This is regrettable, yet preferable to closing the site entirely which is what will happen if Paul and I have to sink thousands into it without a new revenue source. If an annual subscription fee that is 1/3 less than any given magazine subscription or the equivalent to 2 beers at your local pub, 2 fast food value meals, &c. is more than someone can bear, then we really are sorry and we hope that you enjoy the content that will remain free and accsessable to all here at the AC.