Premium Memberships (2 Viewers)

[iamsickofyear12]

Don't forget that the $20 isn't just for premium notes. That is only one small part of being a premium member. You will get countless other things such as forum improvements, highly discounted study guides (physical copies from larger publishers), social events, careers information, etc.

In other words... a whole bunch of worthless crap.

 

[tempco]

In other words... a whole bunch of worthless crap.

You do realise that BoS is geared more towards those who haven't completed their HSC? Many of the things included in the premium service package would most probably be worth the $20-30 if I were in year 11/12.

Anyway, one man's trash is another's treasure.

 

[iamsickofyear12]

You do realise that BoS is geared more towards those who haven't completed their HSC? Many of the things included in the premium service package would most probably be worth the $20-30 if I were in year 11/12.

Anyway, one man's trash is another's treasure.

It's not about whether it is worth $20-30, it is whether is is worth paying $20-30. They are very different things.

 

[iambored]

And the problem with giving people a choice is...?

 

[iamsickofyear12]

I don't have any problem with giving people a choice. I just think it's a stupid choice.

 

[jhakka]

Wait....you're saying the education department has actually implemented standards for their teachers? Since when?

A tad off topic, but:
http://www.nswteachers.nsw.edu.au/

Not only do you need a degree, but you also need to be accredited by these guys too. This (as well as constantly updated university courses) will provide a better standard of teachers and hopefully give us ("us" including teachers in training) a better name.


EDIT: Replied before reading the full thread. See Karen's post.

The NSW Institute of Teachers has put out Professional Teaching Standards, amongst other policies etc for teachers.

EDIT 2:

Those standards are new - and are only just being introduced, therefore your teachers would not have had them.

Implemented late last year or early this year, I think.

 

[Xayma]

I'm guessing that these premium notes will have a form of DRM on them. If a user is unwilling to install this DRM product onto their computer (which given the history of DRM applications one could not blame them for it) would they be able to get a refund for their premium service? Or is one paying for a product without knowledge of the terms and conditions applicable to that product? Would the DRM license be available to view before one subscribes to the premium service?

Just something I forgot to ask when I was discussing it earlier

 

[jhakka]

Resigned. ..

 

[Xayma]

Holy Fuck.

Resigned or fired?

Resigned. Not over premium member services either. But because I'm on alot less then I was, and this will probably shrink. I do like terms and conditions ahead of time rather then shrinkwrap licensing.

 

[seremify007]

I don't think there's much point in me getting premium since the only thing beyond forums I do here, is contribute notes... and there's not really much use to me in having one click download links now is there? Good luck to BoS in generating some more revenue though

 

[lala2]

Look guys, this is just my opinion that Premium Memberships would be good for this site (so don't flame me for it). They get extra for paying extra, but we as free members don't miss out on posting on forums or anything, which I personally found to be so helpful to my self-morale last year. I dunno about the rest of the forum, but BOS was more of a self-esteem raiser and made me feel that I wasn't alone when I did my HSC, rather than actually helping me in concrete form in terms of notes, or anything.

Premium Membership's good for people who actually need the help and the info to get through the HSC content-wise, but for people like me who needed that extra self-morale boost, it wouldn't have mattered. I say each to his/her own, if you wanna pay, then you pay. If you don't want to, I personally don't say you're missing out on much.

 

[Minai]

It's not about whether it is worth $20-30, it is whether is is worth paying $20-30. They are very different things.

Because you aren't in year 11/12, you don't perceive the payment of $20 as good value, however, it is good value and it is worth paying for if you are in Year 11/12. I think it will really pay for itself when you factor in the discounts you'll get if you buy a lot of the Excel etc study guides

 

[Lazarus]

Also, please please please consider societies.

Also, a premium-member only foram.

Yes, I think we will implement both of these ideas.

I thought this site was more of a cumminity thing with people from lot's of different Schools trying to help each other out with studying etc etc, when it comes commercial and they profit from it, it's different, it will loose the value it has now.

We have been very careful to retain the communal and collaborative aspects of the site and to ensure that they are preserved through the introduction of the premium membership scheme.

Students will still be free to share notes and to participate in discussions ad infinitem, without being inhibited in any way. The availability of different services and extra features to those who wish to contribute a bit more shouldn't affect this.

The fundamental 'core' of Bored of Studies will remain the same - it will always be first and foremost a collaborative student community.

Paying $20 and already half way through the HSC and wont need the notes in 6 months is to me, a rip off, as I really only need to pay $10 (As we (Year 12) only have 6 months left.

I am not entirely certain as to why you have this expectation, or as to how you would propose we implement such a scheme.

If we allowed you to pay $10 now on the basis that you only have six months left, should we charge you only $5 in three months time? And then $1.66 in five months time? Should we give them away for free on or after the day of the exam (which would be a different day for every course)? Do we go and reconfigure our merchant interface periodically in order to update the price? Wouldn't everyone wait until the last minute to buy membership? Doesn't that completely deprive the scheme of any value for us? What about Year 11 students who have more than six months to go - do they get the discount? What about Year 10 students? How would we even know what year they're in?

I don't know of any other products the price of which decreases as a particular date approaches.

Study guides, Excel books, etc, have always been and always will be a fixed price. Why would you expect online content to be any different?

It all seems to be quite unreasonable.

I'm guessing that these premium notes will have a form of DRM on them.

Yes and no.

Whilst the resources will be protected, that protection will be provided through a custom-designed interface on the main Bored of Studies website. The resources will be accessible so long as the user has Macromedia Flash Player installed and is logged into their premium account. The user will be able to view and print resources through the site, but not otherwise save or copy them.

The Macromedia Flash Player is installed on 98% of Internet-enabled desktops worldwide.

Good luck with the model but as a Teacher who comes on to answer questions and help out people, I wonder if I will keep giving my time for free, when this is becoming a commercial model.

... for the last 3 years I have been coming on to help people, especially in the lead up to the HSC. Without asking for a cent.

What have I received from it?
Nothing, except fo the satisfaction of passing on help to people who need it.

Yes the Admins deserve the recognition and I have no problem with that. At the same time, people who have helped out in the background with the forums are also what helped make this site so useful.

...

The use of commercialism to pay for ongoing costs I have no problem with. I have been involved in too many voluntary organisations that then set up a parallel profit making branch and bled the volunteers dry. I have been on both sides of this and that is why I made my original post.

I would appreciate it if you could outline how you feel the introduction of this scheme would devalue your contributions - as I said to DeltaOne1, Bored of Studies will still and will always be first and foremost a collaborative student community.

We are endeavouring to keep a very strict separation between premium services and services that are free or that rely on voluntary contributions. It is our hope that premium services will be supported by premium memberships and that the free services will be supported by the volunteers - each of the two branches should be perpetuated by its own ilk, with no messy crossing over.

In fact, we hope to be able to use the revenue from this scheme to pay high-achieving premium members to produce additional content of very high quality for future premium members. Students can meanwhile continue to support and provide free 'good will' assistance to each other through the forums.

I can soon see people posting links to the "Premium content" in reply to answers, with the response to obtain a better answer then pay for it.

I am not sure why this would occur.

We would obviously encourage members to continue assisting each other in exactly the same manner as is done now. Posts consisting of unhelpful "buy the study guide" or "look it up" remarks seem to be relatively infrequent - and those that I have seen have only been in response to very straightforward 'Googleable' queries.

I suppose premium members may be unwilling to share their premium content with non-premium members, but I don't think that necessarily precludes the provision of helpful answers - if the person is the type that would have helped someone before obtaining access to premium content, it seems likely that they would still opt to help someone afterwards - and I suspect that the best contributors are not currently undertaking the HSC anyway.

Also can I make a suggestion that it might be worth while giving priority access (bandwith or database access) to premium members.

Yes, we considered this and are investigating whether it is feasible or not. An additional mirror server accessible only to premium members may be made available during the peak HSC period (but we make no guarantees).

It's worth pointing out that premium members will continue to receive additional and unannounced perks in that fashion for the entire duration of their membership. It's just our way of rewarding those who decide to make the extra contribution.

 

[Nietzsche]

You have no idea, do you?

 

[katie_tully]

Free sausage sizzle at Lazarus's house!

 

[katie_tully]

Maybe Laz can make another appearance on A Current Affair, pledging to Australia to donate $$$ to the BOS cause.

Once you get Ray Martin on your side you just know you're in for 6 digits.

 

[iamsickofyear12]

Because you aren't in year 11/12, you don't perceive the payment of $20 as good value, however, it is good value and it is worth paying for if you are in Year 11/12. I think it will really pay for itself when you factor in the discounts you'll get if you buy a lot of the Excel etc study guides

Looking at it as if I was still in year 11/12 I see it as good value but don't see it as worth paying for.

 

[Casmira]

Maybe Laz can make another appearance on A Current Affair, pledging to Australia to donate $$$ to the BOS cause.

Once you get Ray Martin on your side you just know you're in for 6 digits.

come on australia, give laz a fair go

 

[Not-That-Bright]

In that photo he has the same expression as that guy in the 'run rabbit, run, rabbit, run run run' ad for melbourne... you know when he's in the field?

 

[Wolfowitz]

Fantastic.
I leave BoS for a month and its becomming a commercial entity.

With its turnover BoS and its transposition from a not-for-profit entity to a commercial one a lot of things will change. Although taxation for internet-based intangible service providers is sketchy some tax will have to be paid. Which means fucks to the marketing - most people have a basic idea of marketing - what about the tax? Moolah flying here and there.

What happens if one of the partners - I'm assuming the super-mods are retaining their partnership and using the board mods as drones to organise this change - decides to withdraw money for any of the manifold associated costs of running this community?

Who's going to hold the accounts information for all the transactions? James? Will he need a new computer? Will it be paid for by the subscribers?

My concern is not that you're forming a business but that there's not a sufficient-enough subscriber-base to support the costs of your operation.

Fair enough you might get the odd internet-addict subscribing but for all your talk of the expanding internet market and the willingness of customers to spend big on the net you're omitting one thing; the benefits of premium membership must be substantial enough to warrant its introduction.

Some more free space? Bigger icons? Some other sundry competition-esque shit? What does it mean to the average BoS user who just wants to understand a concept a bit better? Jack all.

Premium content is appealing when your experience is hindered by not having it. You can't play WoW without an account. Some internet games allow you greater access to skills and weapons. Some sundry surrenderings aren't going to make it all that appealing.

Who the hell are you going to sell to? Cash-strapped students who don't have personal credit cards or an understanding of other means by which internet-trade is conducted? Struggling students who in looking for help could get the same service at one of the manifold other student sites? You can't think just because BoS has 'EVER-SO-MANY' subscribers that there are all that many engaging users. I venture that of the thousands of users; only 200 would engage readily with the community. Can 200 by .05 by 360 really support a server?

Lastly. The reason for the success of BoS has been its value. For less than the price of a cup of coffee students could chat and retrieve study reasources. Now that you've created an ecomonic heirachy students will be more reluctant to join the site.

It's a long road you've got ahead...I'm undecided as to whether I approve or not.
Either way I'm thinking of starting my own student-based community...even if I have to advertise it along City road.