A User would Pay To post a topic.
 

Hi,

I think a great addition to VB would be for a user to have to pay to post a topic/thread - within a forum call "Classifieds" or similar...

Please see my post on vbulletin.com for further information.

What do you think?

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=174392

Features of this could be the following:
User & Admin Gets an email receipt/confirmation
Admin Can set how long a post should last for
Admin Can give give usergroups the ability to post without charge in forum.
Also perhaps - Admin can allow certain members to post for free.
Users can buy a bundle of posts i.e say 5, 10, 20 posts

Webs007

Thats what the paid subscriptions is for

Your totally wrong,

The user would pay to post 1 thread! - so it acts like a classifieds forum.

The administartor could set how much to charge and how long the thread to run for.

It is basically a classifieds section (pay per post). So you pay a one off fee - for a one off post - and if you want extra posts - you have to pay again etc etc.

For a certain forum only - a user clicks new thread - they are then taken to a page - with details on how much they will be charged etc - they click accept - they would be then taken to the paypal site - once paid - they would be returned to the forum and into the create post section where they can input what they wanted to sell. It would work really well.

For myself and others - this could work well - and provide a really nice way to sell classified adertising on your vbulletin forum. This definately has potential.

Think of all the community forums run off the back of websites such as cars, crafts..anything - who have always wanted classifieds but didn't want the hassle of scripts etc - Having this implemented will give them the ability to do this with ease with no extra coding required, Also - I think highlighting this as a key feature would draw more people to purchase VBulletin as this option is highly desirable to webmasters looking for extra revenue and want to look beyond PPC schemes such as Adsense etc.

I'm sure the VB team could easily do it - it's just taking the subscriptions element and tweaking it to give a pay-per-post option.

Webs007

They run that at Sitepoint. You have to pay $9.99 to create a contest in the Martketing forums

I just checked it out - so they do - must be a custom hack they made.

Any chance someone could make a plugin that does the same?

Webs007

I second this, needs to be done somehow. Thanks webs for posting this.

I remember seeing a hack where you users can pay to make there thread a sticky.

You could try that out.
Use the searc function :)

iff you were gonna do something like this.. i would also add the ability to charge for banners or buttons. and it should be a main area of the forum.. like forumhome.. a little sub table that shows the banners or the latest classifieds or whatever you choose to use this for.. because if your gonna charge for somethng the user who is paying deserves somethinhg of worth. Who would wqant to pay for a post ? when you could easily just add what your trying to sell in your signature. and then blam get the sales by pm or at your ebay site your linking to in your signature...

so ya got to make it of interest. and a forum home block that would show the top 5 to ten classifieds or a random classified/banner.
so then everyone on the site will see there item instead of it being in a classified forum and getting maybe 5% of the forum views

I have searched the forums - but there is only the ability to make a sticky (without paying) - people have asked for the payment function so a user would have to pay to make it sticky - but no one i'm sure has made it- if you could show me where you found this - I think it would be very beneficial.

Webs

I will 3rd the motion for this hack. I actually need this badly for my forum!

any takers?

matt

As a coder, I generally don't give away code that people want to use to make money with. I'm not saying I would take this project on at all - because I'm not going to - but if you all want this so badly, you should consider posting it as a paid service request.

You generally have to spend money to make money ;)

So in order to make money - we need money (which I don't have as yet) - It's a vicious circle....

I'm sure you would enjoy the challenge, as it's something no one as yet to deliver on these forums and you could be the first!

Maybe someone will answer our call to help?

Thanks for the advice Amykhar.

Webs

lets get this post viewed! Any coder willing to do this?

I like the idea too...

I just got the command to make this happen on a new board I'm converting, so I may be able to come up with something....

But I'd like it to somehow be an extension of the current subscriptions built into VB...

Let me do some pondering, and I'll see what I can come up with

That feature would be an incredible addition to this one!

Extra Threadfields
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=108888

You can do this easily via Paid Subscriptions. Create a new usergroup that CAN post a thread in the forum you want, make it so that others cannot. Then add a Paid Subscription where they can just by the ability to have their usergroup changed or have an additional usergroup that's the one you just created.

That should work flawlessly.

They're requesting this be $x amount per one thread (one time charge for one time thread; paying again to post a new thread).

So make the subscription only last a day or a couple of minutes :p

<a href="https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=108051" target="_blank">https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=108051</a>

I looked over that hack, and it was funny, because of the examples and screenshots for it, it looked like it was already set up for payments... since all the fields were related to that...

I may take a look at it, but it's going to take some major modifications to make something actually integrated either with an external payment script, or to integrate with the vbulletin subscriptions somehow...

It's still on my project board, so if I get a version I like working, I'll post it over here.

That isn't Pay per Post is it? - I appreciate the fact your trying to facilitate the subscriptions method that is already in existence but it's not what most of us here are looking for.

We don't want the post to be available for a few minutes...what if they time out? - and People can post for a day - well that person could post a heck of alot of posts within a day... I have already been approached with these methods many times on the forum - which is why everyone here needs the ability to have a user "Pay per Thread" Plugin.

Also regarding this post from Hotboard
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=108051

This link is so the owner of the board can pay users when they make a post - like an incentive program. Quite the opposite. I have posted messages on this forum to the author - and he says aslong as the request is high enough - he will hopefully build what we are looking for into the plugin! GREAT!

Webs

I would be very interested in this hack as well. It would be exceptionally handy at a forum I run.

Also, I am a moderator at SitePoint, and that is a custom hack that they use... I very much doubt they'd ever release it, too. So best bet is if someone here can make a clone. :)

That would work if you could limit the number of posts or threads that usergroup could start. Really that's all it would boil down to.

A paid subscription that allows a usergroup to post (where you specify) x amount of posts, x amount of threads, or for x amount of time.

*edit*
Found a hack that limits posts and threads :)
Combine that with usergroups, promotions, and paid subscriptions and yer done ;)

But unless you can remove them from the usergroup after they create the thread, doesn't that get messy if they want to buy another thread later?

Im looking for this hack too. Has anyone done anything like that?

im willing to add some money for somone to develop this modification.:)

I think if we've round up some donations we should be able to get this modification in a developing stage ;)

If you do that, people won't be able to buy 2 or more threads ;)

I'd be willing to pay a mod maker to make this if I get full rights over the code and i'll give everyone thats requested it so far in this thread a free copy. PM me a quote.

Just to note, you'd probably have to pay a HUGE amount to the coder for them to even consider giving you full rights to the code in order to sell it on to others.. ;)

who said anything about making this modification a paid option?

I'm aware of this. :P

i placed an ad on scriptlance just out of curiosity.

and one guy is willing to do it for $200.

thoughts anyone?

Go for it, it tough working with overseas coders, I find that 75% don't deliever on time and the other 25% don't deliver what you expected.
I have used, CMScoder.com, Rentacoder.com, Getafreelancer.com, phpfreelancer.com etc..

The one thing I would make sure of is that they have Positive Feedback, DO NOT USE someone without feedback. I have wasted litterally over a year trying to get coding done when people come on and promise cheap rates, but not feedback, they start off great, but then they seem to just dissappear.

SO now I pay more if they have good feedback, because I know they want to keep it. They are normally more expensive but its worth it in the long run.

I agree with you Amy, good point, but this then raises another important question.

I would be more than happy to pay a coder good money for this (yourself very much included as I have seen your work - so if you're interested please do get in touch) to be developed for me - the resulting code of which I would then consider mine - as I paid for it to be developed. I would then be happy to recoup some of my investment by selling this for a small proce as a product/plug-in. I'd be interested to know what your thoughts are on this?

I'd love to see this, too.. I have employment recruiters that are wanting to post their job search listings on my site for $. This would be the perfect tool for this kind of situation.

Hehe,

If you are willing to share...Please do :)

the guy i found on scriptlance has a resonable feedback.

Total Reviews: 4
Average Rating: 7.7 out of 10

https://www.scriptlance.com/cgi-bin/...ck.cgi?p=mrfox

But im not sure if its worth taking the risk.

There are lots of talented coders here at vbulletin.org, if someone could get in touch with one and tell them we are willing to pay im sure they would consider it.

Also i think if we can get at least 20 people to donate at least $10 i think we should be able to get this project on the way pretty quickly.

To be totally honest here guys and girls... I would certainly be willing to put up the investment to get this coded - on the basis that I would regain my investment by selling the plugin at a low price - at say $10/15 which would be low enough to suit most peoples budgets. I supopse the risk here is that we then see vB implementing this functionality in the product by default. I don't mind funding development for the masses, but there's no way I am funding vB for their own product development... :) hehe.

If there are any coders here who are interested in this, please do drop me a PM.

to be honest musicman i totally disagree with what you are trying to do.

Loads of vBulletin Mod Coders have put loads of time and effort to make a sucessfull mod and majority of the time don't ask for nothing in return.

You say that by developing a mod like what we are asking for, then we are helping the vBulletin team implent it into thier software? Does that apply to the thousands of mods, extensions, plugins that are out already?

I think we can all benifit if put all put in a bit of money to get this developed.

"TheMusicMan" I completely agree with you.

If you are going to put up the money, I don't see how anyone can complain when you "sell" it back to recoup your investment, I think it is assanine to think otherwise.

Also I am considering the same thing but I don't want to front the cash if someone else is going to do it first.

The only way I would release it free if I hardcoded the paypal addresses to me. ;)

Let us know if you decided to make this happen.

Also:
mastersite, Did you hire that coder? What is the progress? I don't see the job up there anymore.

Let us know how if you did hire him and how it goes!

OK, I see my comments have prompted a reaction... that's good as it shows there are good people reading this thread and who are interested in the topic.

@Mastersite: you make some good points, but I feel you are also missing some too. I am not a coder or developer and so the only time I would be putting into this would be the promotion and marketing of any eventual software. I could and would however, be putting possibly a lot of money into this. If the functionality I funded ended up as a vBulletin product I would most certainloy see that as funding vBulletin/Jellsoft. I don't for one minute think Jellsoft would give me anything back in return for this and so why should I do it for nothing. However, in the main this isn't the point, what is the point is the fact that I would be making a small investment and funding the development of this project, and that alone is enough to justify making a small charge for any subsequent product.

I also agree with you when you suggest that if you all put a little money into this project everyone would help. OK, so how would that work then...? where would you send this 'little amount of money'...? who would sent it...? who would you send it to...? the developer??? nonsense... You are somewhat contradicting yourself here by saying this as it is exactly the same as I would be asking for if I were to fund it. ;)

Besides, I could go to another 'Coder / Developer Recruitement' sites, or even find several through my profession and daily work. I have the user requirements already, and could then write a functional / design specification, get a quote from one of the design teams and contract with them to implement the solution. I would then have a product that I had funded, ready for promotion and marketing without having used anything or anyone from here. That's business my friend, simple as. My money... my funding... my risk... :)

@3z3k3l: I am still more than happy to fund such a project if there is a coder out there able and willing to develop it - if there is all they need do is just get in touch.

This also adds to another thread I have posted in either on here or vB.com that discusses Jellsoft releasing a product development schedule for vB. It would most certainly help the development community if they were to do this, and would also allow investors and backers to assess the business risk in significantly more detail - before investing in and funding such development projects.