You can start charging people for advertising something on the for sale/buy forum.



I dont know any forum/chat room that charges people a membership fee.

Porn sites do.

 

I really like the idea of read access to everyone and read write to owners!! (chmod 764 ?)

It gives people who are interested in the car (like munckee above) to soak up the threads and perhaps become an owner one day (and THEN subscribe later).

Of course all the subscribers would get function just like the site works today.

Plus, I bet the sponsors like the model of getting more traffic that way too.

I'm "all in" if you go to this model

This is one great site

 

I voted yes. I got a huge amount of information from this site while I was deciding on which car to buy and I still enjoy the site for many other reasons. I feel $20/yr is well worth what I get back from the site.

Great work C3, keep it up.

 

I voted yes. Contribution or subscription, I would give something back for all the benefits this site has provided for me. I've viewed this thread a few times and only voted once so I think the ratio of yes votes to views is negatively skewed.

The only additional thing I would like in return is to be able to differentiate the contributors from the non-contributors somewhere around the area of the PPD and owner/enthusiast/moderator/etc designations.

 

Cool idea. . .

I've not taken the time to review everyone's comments here, but I will. Right now, I think a good idea would be to consider a "status" ranking.

For example, Bronze, Silver and Gold or somewhere around those lines. My cut off point for anything would be $50 for the year. Well worth it in all honesty and certainly can't be beat for the content this site holds.

We have one HELL of a community here online and it's a wonderful thing. I think a minimal charge of $5 or 10 is in order (and necessary) for folks who want to register online. We end up having so many deadbeats here that end up wasting time and having the moderators running wild.

Then you can set up different levels for folks who feel the need to contribute more. Perhaps having the status links and extra perks like more photo gallery storage and or "special" profiles set up.

 

I'd contribute $20... This is the first sports car forum I've ever been on that has users who all know how to write, spell, form complete sentences, and aren't driven by their hypothalmus'. It's worth keeping around just for that.

But seriously though, a donation should be worth something. Doesn't have to be much, but something, so I have some "non restrictive" suggestions for what it could be:

Something near your avatar. "Sponsor" maybe? For higher donations, "Patron", "Patron Saint", "Lord Hi Buu Fuu Meal Ticket", etc. Maybe change the "gears" into a rating for how much you've contributed...?

A forum area available JUST for people who've ponied up some dinero...?

An easing of the post-whoring/searching time limits...?

 

I'd pay $20 for both the informational value and the entertainment value. I like the thermometer idea and "Hall of Fame" or whatever for people who donate.

 

No minimum fee guys for "write" priveleges. The "deadbeats" are no fun, but you will cut the number of useful new users in half (or more) if you require a fee to post. It just won't work. I don't see cthree going that way, but just throwing in my two cents on that particular issue.

UL

 

I'd be willing to help b/c this has been a great resource and source of entertainment. My suggestion is to only allow subscribers to post...this will rid the board of the trolls and others who aren't really interested in the S2000.

A sportbike club I belong to has done this, and this board is much more civil and intelligent than other comparable forums since the riff raff will go elsewhere when faced w/ an entry fee.

I also think you could save some expense by restricting storage and bandwidth utilization. Avatars, pics in sigs, etc., all must add up w/ minimal value-add. (just don't get rid of the ability to post pics!)

 

I also believe it should be by donation only. I would gladly contribute, but wouldn't want to factor it in as something that I have to show an accounting for (kind of like using my entertainment money as opposed to adding to my BILLS). The difference is subtle but important to me.

I also like the idea of raffles. For every X amount of dollars contributed, you're entered into a drawing for a free Mugen radiator cap or something like that. Set a minimum of $20 for a raffle to encourage contributions in those monetary increments.