DISCUSSION - 2 tier membership system (paid members!).

[chrispadfield]

I think a lot of us are feeling the strain of the cost of running out own servers with pathetic advertising revenue.

I am quite keen on a subscriber/donation type system where users pay approximatly $5 per month. I am going to "market" this as somewhere between a donation and a subscription and it is the later i need to think about.

My plan would be to have all the subscribers in a seperate user group. Now, the possible things i have thought about adding are:, importantly i am trying not to reduce any current features:

POSSIBLE - very easy hack to add or a feature already
NOT POSSIBLE - more significant hack

i) a "badge" by their username saying that are a donator. POSSIBLE.

ii) a different template set with no banners. I am not 100% sure how to do this. One way i am considering is just doing an if/elseif routine inside the phpinclude template which will not load the banners if usergroup = x. The problem with this is the ugly empty spaces left in the tables if i do. Other option is a seperate template set but i force templates on some forums. This is again the nature of the problem with having the header and footer part of a whole style! It should be independant!!!!!!!

iii) Variable amount of pms based on usergroup. Currently NOT POSSIBLE

iv) Avatar based on usergroup. Personally i do not want to limit avatars to subscribers but it is an option. I am pretty sure avatars are not based on usergroup so again NOT POSSIBLE

v) variable limits on amount of pms sent to buddy POSSIBLE (not much of a feature!).

vi) An extra forum just for subscribers POSSIBLE

vii) Email account @domain.com, integrated into private message system and ability to collect through pop3 account! NOT POSSIBLE and requires a very significant hack, especially for pop3 account which would be server and email program (sendmail/qmail) dependant.

viii) Searching on/off. On my forum this would not be much of a feature but on some it would be a very useful for feature to allow searching for a "paid" usergroup and not for another.

Currently that is all i can think of. Anyone with any other suggestions? From that list the only one that is of any real value is the advertising one. What does everyone else think?

[eva2000]

yeah i NEED something like this too - there's another thread here too http://161.58.84.213/forum/showthrea...threadid=19177

[chrispadfield]

the other thread does not add much, in fact most of it can be done.

99.9% sure that the template thing can be done, assuming you only had one template set as it is. All you do, is set the template in a users profile but do not allow users to select templates. I think that works but i am not convinced. The template selection procedure does mistify me a bit still. This is why i plan to do it by taking the code out of the phpinclude which can be done so easily. A template set would be better perhaps though as things like postbit could be changed (removing eva'200 amazon stuff par example).

The "logo" can be done. Just use a modified version of freedies star's hack. if userid=blah then do $cool_user = "<img src et...

The page of subscribed members can also be done easily, use the "show mods/admins" hack someone made, i think Kier but not 100% sure, the one Me2Be requested. (man i read these forums to much!).

That is all i can really think about. The request to the developers would be to make the private message limit usergroup based

[Me2Be]

Subscription based communities are the wave of the future I'm afraid, even we've been considering it lately so I'd be very interested in hearing more discussion on this!

[Wayne Luke]

I have hacked most this already... I just haven't gotten the entire package together in a presentable package yet.

So far I have the following included....

1. Avatar by user group.
2. Custom Titles by Usergroup.
3. PM Limits (testing now).

I want to add....
1. PM Backup to email... Could use Bira's hack but won't (see below).
2. Customized Index Page via Subscribed Threads.
3. Show Forum Descriptions (on or off).
4. Receive entire message in Email notification.

Now 1 and 2 are features I won't use and will default it to on but the others I can use.

The reason I don't want to use Bira's hack is because I want to charge a small fee for this hack. Probably about $35 dollars. However I am willing to work with a small group of people on this in developing a strong hack with a good range of ideas. These people would get to test it and get a free copy.

[chrispadfield]

goodye, the custom pm numbers by usergroup i am definitely interested in, that will be very useful.

[JackG]

I think your ideas are great, but why the 'No Banners?'

Well.. maybe I should look into what type of site you have.
My site is about a music genre called 'Freestyle' (not rap).
The sponsors are usually Record lables, Party promoters, etc.
That's great info for our visitors. It provides a service.

I am for your idea's..except for the no banners part.

I think PM's and email features (thread responses) should ony be for paid members. Give's people a reason to want to support your site for only a couple bucks a month.

I don't charge on my site. But if the demand grew, I would defanatly look into it. The work we put in is hard!

[chrispadfield]

my banners are untargeted and serve as no added content. Finding sponsors for my genre is not easy, entertainment sites are one of the worst hit in the advertising slump. not surprising really, much wider and less targeted demographic.

[Robert Basil]

Wow,

You all have read my mind. We have a bunch of people who have donated to the site and I have been trying to figure out a way to reward them.

wluke if you need a beta tester I'm your man!

[Castel]

I'll just add my voice to this type of request topic again . I've already started one myself a week ago and replied in the thread eva mentioned.

I think we'll see the need for subscription/donation only increase as advertisement revenue just plain and simple sucks. And in order for members to be encouraged to do this is give them extra goodies they normally can't have, make them feel special over people who do not support the community financially.

JackG, I think pretty much anybody hates ad banners and especially pop ups (which now I am forced to use in order to survive) If somebody pays even as little as 10-15$/year it will probably generate more from that one user than any ad can. Why not reward them with an ad free browsing experience.

wluke, I hope you plan on releasing it as you are on the right track. This could be a VERY useful hack for a lot of forum admins. I believe that something like this could very welll save my site from going down a few months down the line, 35$ would be a small price to pay for your work and I'd be willing to test as well.