I have to agree with you on many points Rodney....Over on the DSSI forum we wrangled with the same subject....and wondered what would ever happen if it went pay.....I am very interested in seeing what happens here. To the point of it being worth the first $10 installment ;)
There is still a forum on delphi that mirrors the format of this forum...In fact the goal of beehive was to have it look and act like the DELPHI forums that both DSSI and EE started on. Both sites still exist and could easily be the place that people go to when the change takes place......There are all kinds of archives on both....
I have a gut feeling as you do that when it comes time to pony up, that there will be a few very active members that do so. The rest of the "lurkers" will go "lurk" somewhere else. I hope that I am proven wrong, as I enjoy this forum and want to see it succeed. Part of that success is the "free" exchange of ideas.....so I understand both sides of the issue. If it were up to me....the forum would stay the way it is.....After all....being exactly what it is.....is what makes it great.
I would suggest creating a poll as to how many people would pay for this site....you could easily take the number of views and get a percentage of theoretical success by doing some simple math.
I am not suggesting that David not move forward with this, as the results will be interesting.... I just have many reservations.
If it were up to me, I think I would work on having a tiered system like many of the photography sites do. They have a "professional" forum, and a "general" forum. The professional portion is pay, and the general is not......
Both forums happen to be active, and the free portion introduces the forum to new people on a continual basis. The biggest concern about going all pay is where will the newbies come from without some sort of free trial period or opportunity to see what all the fuss is about.....
I will miss your input if you choose to forgo the fee......I will most likely pay the fee at least once to see how things shake out.
Thanks,
Brian Genrich
Rallye Productions Inc.
1-800-236-2036 x112
Custom cut, or sheet stock Sublimatable metal,
Screen printing, and other digital print services.
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