Premium Memberships (2 Viewers)

[xeuyrawp]

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.

Good to see you're applying 3rd week commerce theory onto a business of which you really know nothing about.

stas > wannabe goth.

e: I think a lot of people miss the point and act like bos wants to do this. Unless anyone else has any better ideas for cash that would actually work, why not suggest them, rather than point out the obvious evil of the current scheme?

 

[Not-That-Bright]

I think it's funny, it's like complaining about girl scouts selling cookies. "MY GOD YOU FUCKING BITCHES! MAKING A PROFIT?! WTF?!" , or the salvo's setting up their clothing stores selling cheap clothing, honestly... BOS is still a free community service, it is just now trying to make a profit with a new venture in order to survive / create incentive for the admins to continue on their work.

 

[xeuyrawp]

I think it's funny, it's like complaining about girl scouts selling cookies. "MY GOD YOU FUCKING BITCHES! MAKING A PROFIT?! WTF?!" , or the salvo's setting up their clothing stores selling cheap clothing, honestly... BOS is still a free community service, it is just now trying to make a profit with a new venture in order to survive / create incentive for the admins to continue on their work.

Exactly. A lot of people underestimate how much time and money this place sucks up.

 

[katie_tully]

I think a lot of people miss the point and act like bos wants to do this. Unless anyone else has any better ideas for cash that would actually work, why not suggest them, rather than point out the obvious evil of the current scheme?

More advertising and pop up ads was one solution. Which is hilarious, especially when promoting the evils of "commercialism".

 

[Nietzsche]

Why the fuck does everyone keep talking about Stas? Does he own the site? Does he run it?

What the fuck is going on?

 

[Nietzsche]

And what is Stas' vision for BoS?

Why is he so important?

 

[Lavenderpup]

It's well and good that BOS will get some form of funding and I'm contemplating a subscription and yes, I read the little fit over cutting down again and again, but really, but what WOULD the point be of a 1 year membership if its only going to be used for 6 months for the current HSC group? Afterwards, it becomes rather pointless to us. There is nothing said about after-HSC features other than 'premium careers content'[and even that is rather .... bleh. What about a tertiary introduction of sorts?] and the forum junk [bigger avatars? greaat...and I bet there'll be bigarse signatures too; how about including minimalism and a nice theme as an option rather than the default vbulletin?]. If this was in place when year 12 actually started then that would be great except half the year would have already past.
No, I'm not saying keep on cutting down 'till it reaches 1 minute after', but perhaps a 6 month membership could be offered and to stop at that? [Aka, per a month seems rather unreasonable, for this type of service which doesn't alter that much.] Afterall, you can't even save the files so it not like it'll even be permanent notes like a study guide would be.

That said it's all great for year 11s and so forth, but 1 year membership? As if there's going to be one year of use for the current year 12s; and if you buy it on a particular day, is it even going to LAST for a complete year cycle or, as it seems from that cutting down day by day retort, going to last till the end of the HSC only? Because from the sounds of it, it gets dodgier and dodgier.
More or less, I'm wondering if the payment system will be like a paid livejournal or like a some webhost that disappears off the face of the earth 5 months after having paid a year's worth. >_>

Yeah, I'm stingy. Your point is? =P

 

[santaslayer]

Why do people want study notes in the first place? Are most of you incapable of creating your own which you can actually comprehend?

If you're willing to pay then good on you, otherwise, stop complaining. A lot of people are haggling over a very good service.

A lot of people are in need of very good notes. Bos has created a potential market.

I think the marketing campaign was a bit weak though. What they should of conveyed was that a years worth of notes would be $20. Not a years subscription. Many have used this point to weaken the venture.

 

[melsc]

Personally I'd pay it regardless of the features, I'd do it to know that the money will go back into the site and help make it better for the future kiddies. The site was here/is here for you, why not give something back? Everyone says "oh how can we donate" but it seems like for a lot of people it was all talk. If you really want to donate, premium membership provides a method for you to do that as well as getting something in return, honestly its $20 most of us would spend that on lunch or mobile credit,.

Exactly. A lot of people underestimate how much time and money this place sucks up.

:uhhuh: Thankyou

That's no fault of ours. If they didn't want the extra time that a student resouce requires, then they should have left the site as a forum and a UAI calculator.

You fail to understand the time taken to maintain just the site, forget the time the resources take to approve, correct, format and upload. All the mods are uni students who have their own work to do as well, yet they give their time. Do you really think that the ads cover the hosting etc? The site is expanding more and more, new members all the time and to ensure the site can cope requires money

 

[jhakka]

I would like the "Premium membership is useless for me [uni student] now" party to remember that this is primarily a HSC site that is slowly expanding into other areas. Surely, in this sense, it is fair to suggest that maybe HSC students should receive the main benefits in the premium system.

Also, as Mel said, if anyone else wants to contribute to the forums, this is a great way to do it. What would you prefer: supporting the site and get no benefits (ie: old Paypal system) or support the site and get something (although not all perks may be relevant to you) out of it?

You need to keep the main purpose of the site in mind before complaining.

 

[santaslayer]

Everyone says "oh how can we donate" but it seems like for a lot of people it was all talk. If you really want to donate, premium membership provides a method for you to do that as well as getting something in return

thats so true.


good thing i neva said anything about donating...

 

[lala2]

I'd say let the people pay if they want it. If they don't want to, then they don't have to. Half this forum is composed of members who have left (since they can't be deleted) and uni/TAFE/ex-HSC students anyway.

I think it's a reasonable thing to use premium memberships as a fundraiser to keep the site going. I dunno if I would pay if I was doing my HSC this year or next year, instead of last year, but if we don't give this thing a chance, we won't know how successful it will be.

 

[melsc]

You reiterated my point yourself. The site is expanding, and needs help. But it didn't have to be this way. I do think that advertising revenue would be enough to pay for hosting and the domain name. Does a forum need anything else? Not really. Everything else was built over the top. My point was, dont blame us if it fails.

Well we can't please everyone, then there would be complaints about the amount of advertising. As people said if you want it pay, if you don't then don't but why complain about it if you arent considering doing it?

 

[MedNez]

I think we all need to step back and look at the bigger picture here-

No one is at threat of being forced to pay, or being denied services. Everything that exists now, is staying the same. Newer, updated features will be available for premium members, and this is the direction that BoS has decided to go in.

The free element will remain as it is- the community is here to help students, and will remain as such.

But, since they are expanding, they do need the money. However $20 just for a bigger avatar and a nickname style is useless for me. It needs to be cheaper for people who just want the forum upgrade.

Please remember the MAIN demographic of BoS- Higher School Certificate students. It is intended to give them some more features to help with study and results estimation et cetera. It is NOT primarily intended for some users looking for style updates on the forums.

 

[Nietzsche]

There really should be no argument.

 

[katie_tully]

I hope the people whinging about commercialism wear hemp, and eat their own organic vegetables grown out of their backyard.

Because if any of them actually have the audacity to PAY FOR A SERVICE, I'm going to hit them with a shovel.

 

[katie_tully]

That's no fault of ours. If they didn't want the extra time that a student resouce requires, then they should have left the site as a forum and a UAI calculator. They could even have continued to run the forum with their expired licence (at the tradeoff of no updates) if they needed to. It was all readily paid by the ads either way.

Then for the love of god, do me and everybody else you annoy a favour and STOP COMING HERE. It is a fault of ours, because we all choose to sign up and use the resources the site provides.

God, is it that hard to comprehend you twat? You're not an HSC student, you don't need the notes THEREFORE DON'T PAY.

 

[airie]

*cough* A really dumb connection here, but all this discussion reminds me of all the fuss on the Neoboards when Neopets offered Premium Membership

 

[lala2]

Hehe, it seems this thread was made redundant today with fatmuscle announcing the launch of Premium Memberships (7/4). Any existing members gonna sign up? Though I doubt it from the representation made in this thread. I'm fine to keep going as a free member, but all the best to the mods and admins in this new business venture.

edit: later tonight, breaking became the first premium member! Hehe, what an achievement!

 

[Bobness]

how long does it take to receive premium member status after paying?