View Poll Results: Would you subscribe to S2KI?
Yes but I'd like to choose the amount and only if it provided restricted access to some information
6.61%
Voters: 454. You may not vote on this poll
Would you subscribe to S2KI?
Thread Starter
Administrator
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 20,274
Likes: 4
From: Toronto, Canada
Man I wish my job was easier! 
It is so hard to come up with a way to do this that makes everyone happy. As the master of fence sitting I think I have the start of a program that would satisfy most of the ideas presented. Obviously the more complex the program the longer it will take to get put together and the more expensive it will be to implement and administer, defeating the whole purpose.
Let me offer a rough outline of what I'm thinking so you can offer so more feedback. Basically I'm going to break this down to two levels: Regular and Gold. I've also decided to call this a "membership" program rather than a subscription/donation/contribution so that we have a Regular Member level and a Gold Member level. As time goes on we may be able to add more but that increases the complexity exponentially. By fixing the membership "fee" to predetermined amounts I think we can prevent any resentment problems from people who would contribute a larger amount and not be recognized for it. I'd rather have more members contribute a lesser amount each than fewer larger contributors. I don't want to lose the sense of community we have so I think that we should try and encourage as many people to become members as possible.
When I made an appeal for funding help last year I received donations as small as $5 and many contributed hundreds. The median was about $20-$25 so I think that's a good starting point since most people seem to be comfortable with that.
The membership format will, IMHO, offer a sense of ownership and balance the complexity of the system since it's a fairly well known model. People can understand membership because it's so common. Developing a donor model will be hard to explain, understand and implement.
The two membership levels offer two choices depending on what you would like to contribute financially and the features and benefits you'd like to receive. It will offer additional recognition to those that make a larger contribution while not devaluing those that make smaller ones.
Regular membership will offer the following benefits for a minimum contribution of $20/year:
- S2000 International Membership Card
- Qualification for entry in periodic draws and raffles
- Basic photo hosting for images viewed within S2KI.com
- Discounts with sponsors and vendors
- A membership badge in your forum posts and member profile
Gold membership will offer the following additional benefits for a minimum contribution of $50/year:
- An exclusive S2000 International pin
- Deluxe photo hosting allowing external links to your images and albums
- Personalized profile page and web site *
- S2KI.com email address including web-based interface and high limits on mailbox and attachment sizes *
- Exclusive Gold Member badge in your forums posts and member profile
In addition to the membership benefits listed we are going to make some changes to the "Guest Member" benefits. Guest Members are owners and enthusiasts who are not Regular or Gold members. These restrictions don't apply to Regular or Gold members so you can consider them to be additional benefits.
- Private messaging will be restricted to sending and receiving message to/from Regular or Gold members only. Guests may not send or receive PMs from other Guests nor may they use the message tracking feature (knowing if and when a PM was read).
- We may insert additional advertising and popup windows at various times during your session.
- Forum and thread subscriptions through MyS2000 will not be available to Guest Members.
- Email notification of replies to threads you post will not be available.
- Custom avatars will not be available nor will images in signatures.
- No buddy or ignore lists for Guest Members.
These restrictions will not prevent the free flow of information. There are no restrictions on what or where a Guest can post but they may get a nag window now and then outlining the benefits of becoming a Regular or Gold member
Things marked * are currently under development and will be available soon. There are other features also being developed that may or may not have restricted access, I'll make that determination when they are closer to done. I don't want to make promises about features I haven't even started to work on yet.
The more money we can raise, the more options we have open to us. For example one thing I've always wanted to do was create a bridge funding pool which would allow local and regional clubs access to bridge financing. Such a pool would cover costs such as track rental, t-shirt production and so forth that would be repaid through event fees. Coming up with $5000 in up front costs to put on an event can be a real challenge. Now I'm just talking silly but it sure would be nice I'll stop before I get carried away.
Please offer your feedback on my proposal; it really does matter. It's not set in stone but it's getting there.
It is so hard to come up with a way to do this that makes everyone happy. As the master of fence sitting I think I have the start of a program that would satisfy most of the ideas presented. Obviously the more complex the program the longer it will take to get put together and the more expensive it will be to implement and administer, defeating the whole purpose.
Let me offer a rough outline of what I'm thinking so you can offer so more feedback. Basically I'm going to break this down to two levels: Regular and Gold. I've also decided to call this a "membership" program rather than a subscription/donation/contribution so that we have a Regular Member level and a Gold Member level. As time goes on we may be able to add more but that increases the complexity exponentially. By fixing the membership "fee" to predetermined amounts I think we can prevent any resentment problems from people who would contribute a larger amount and not be recognized for it. I'd rather have more members contribute a lesser amount each than fewer larger contributors. I don't want to lose the sense of community we have so I think that we should try and encourage as many people to become members as possible.
When I made an appeal for funding help last year I received donations as small as $5 and many contributed hundreds. The median was about $20-$25 so I think that's a good starting point since most people seem to be comfortable with that.
The membership format will, IMHO, offer a sense of ownership and balance the complexity of the system since it's a fairly well known model. People can understand membership because it's so common. Developing a donor model will be hard to explain, understand and implement.
The two membership levels offer two choices depending on what you would like to contribute financially and the features and benefits you'd like to receive. It will offer additional recognition to those that make a larger contribution while not devaluing those that make smaller ones.
Regular membership will offer the following benefits for a minimum contribution of $20/year:
- S2000 International Membership Card
- Qualification for entry in periodic draws and raffles
- Basic photo hosting for images viewed within S2KI.com
- Discounts with sponsors and vendors
- A membership badge in your forum posts and member profile
Gold membership will offer the following additional benefits for a minimum contribution of $50/year:
- An exclusive S2000 International pin
- Deluxe photo hosting allowing external links to your images and albums
- Personalized profile page and web site *
- S2KI.com email address including web-based interface and high limits on mailbox and attachment sizes *
- Exclusive Gold Member badge in your forums posts and member profile
In addition to the membership benefits listed we are going to make some changes to the "Guest Member" benefits. Guest Members are owners and enthusiasts who are not Regular or Gold members. These restrictions don't apply to Regular or Gold members so you can consider them to be additional benefits.
- Private messaging will be restricted to sending and receiving message to/from Regular or Gold members only. Guests may not send or receive PMs from other Guests nor may they use the message tracking feature (knowing if and when a PM was read).
- We may insert additional advertising and popup windows at various times during your session.
- Forum and thread subscriptions through MyS2000 will not be available to Guest Members.
- Email notification of replies to threads you post will not be available.
- Custom avatars will not be available nor will images in signatures.
- No buddy or ignore lists for Guest Members.
These restrictions will not prevent the free flow of information. There are no restrictions on what or where a Guest can post but they may get a nag window now and then outlining the benefits of becoming a Regular or Gold member
Things marked * are currently under development and will be available soon. There are other features also being developed that may or may not have restricted access, I'll make that determination when they are closer to done. I don't want to make promises about features I haven't even started to work on yet.
The more money we can raise, the more options we have open to us. For example one thing I've always wanted to do was create a bridge funding pool which would allow local and regional clubs access to bridge financing. Such a pool would cover costs such as track rental, t-shirt production and so forth that would be repaid through event fees. Coming up with $5000 in up front costs to put on an event can be a real challenge. Now I'm just talking silly but it sure would be nice
I'll stop before I get carried away.Please offer your feedback on my proposal; it really does matter. It's not set in stone but it's getting there.
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 4,144
Likes: 0
From: Seattle
Erik,
sounds like a pretty good set of membership levels and features. I think it will work well. Personally, I don't care about a membership card (I carry as little stuff as I can in my wallet); how about stickers, flashlight, etc. as an incentive for the paying?
I especially like your plan to allow people to read and post without paying, but adding functionality for those who do.
Ted
sounds like a pretty good set of membership levels and features. I think it will work well. Personally, I don't care about a membership card (I carry as little stuff as I can in my wallet); how about stickers, flashlight, etc. as an incentive for the paying?
I especially like your plan to allow people to read and post without paying, but adding functionality for those who do.
Ted
Thread Starter
Administrator
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 20,274
Likes: 4
From: Toronto, Canada
Originally posted by Tedster
sounds like a pretty good set of membership levels and features. I think it will work well. Personally, I don't care about a membership card (I carry as little stuff as I can in my wallet); how about stickers, flashlight, etc. as an incentive for the paying?
sounds like a pretty good set of membership levels and features. I think it will work well. Personally, I don't care about a membership card (I carry as little stuff as I can in my wallet); how about stickers, flashlight, etc. as an incentive for the paying?
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 37,305
Likes: 18
I'd go for the GOLD! However, I don't really care if I get anything tangible like a card, pin, or some such. Just extra forum and site privileges works good enough for me.
How about a "platinum" level? (Like for a million bucks or more?
)
How about a "platinum" level? (Like for a million bucks or more?
)
Former Sponsor
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 9,081
Likes: 0
All sounds good except for the bit about discounts with sponsors and vendors and restricting avenues of communication between such.
I give all board members discount on my products. The last thing sponsors need is for them to have to pay to obtain that priviledge. All members also need to be able to PM and email sponsors.
If you alienate 35% of the members from the sponsors then you are going to loose sponsors.
I give all board members discount on my products. The last thing sponsors need is for them to have to pay to obtain that priviledge. All members also need to be able to PM and email sponsors.
If you alienate 35% of the members from the sponsors then you are going to loose sponsors.
Registered User
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 655
Likes: 0
From: Small Town
cthree,
I will always favor limited or no posting for non-members. But I think that your other ideas are good and you can keep adding perks to the various membership levels as time goes on thus making membership more and more attractive. Are you going to use PayPal?
I will always favor limited or no posting for non-members. But I think that your other ideas are good and you can keep adding perks to the various membership levels as time goes on thus making membership more and more attractive. Are you going to use PayPal?