Would you pay to join here?

[Daplumma]

I like the Paypal idea.Set it up,I think that if the adds offend people then the adds will end when the donations make up for the revenue.I trust the guys running the ship here enough to do this.

Joe

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

i may take flack for this, but these annoying ads cheapen the experience here and in my humble opinion make the site look less professional. i can get used to feature changes but the ads should go. if that means regular users gotta donate 5 bucks so be it.

[Gerritt]

Ughh... just thought of the flip side... lets say there was a paypal link.. and lets say they had to ban a person that contributed...

 

that person "paid" for a service that OFC accepted a donation from to keep him viewing the site....

 

there has to be a way around this.....

 

 

Ugggghhhh.... what could the ramifications be?

 

G.

[lookinforwalleye]

What ads.

 

Pay sites are tough in this economy people are being nickle and dimed to death, just the other day the wife asked me if I realized that the cable bill was over 140 a month. Needless to say I chopped back the service to 90 bucks.

You add up the cable,internet and cell phone bills and it adds up too almost my mortgage payment on my first house.

[crappieperchhunter]

To each there own. If this becomes a pay site it's been fun, but I'll be gone.

[bigfish1965]

Ughh... just thought of the flip side... lets say there was a paypal link.. and lets say they had to ban a person that contributed...

 

that person "paid" for a service that OFC accepted a donation from to keep him viewing the site....

 

there has to be a way around this.....

 

 

Ugggghhhh.... what could the ramifications be?

 

G.

 

How about this...

 

We will not ask members to donate just to be here. We turn the Ad Bot on JUST FOR LURKERS, and we set up a donation button that, if you sell something in the classifieds, we ask for a VOLUNTARY donation. The amount would be up to you.

If you look at the bigger sites, their classifieds are pay-to-play. Walleye Central charges about $100 bucks and they have pretty much the same traffic as us.

The classifieds are actually the number one landing spot for lurkers and I see lots gets sold through it. Throwing a few bucks in after selling some stuff isn't bad.

I did look at Kijiji style systems, where all ads are free but you pay to be pinned, etc , but I think this would be better.

 

We could also use the Donate button for our fundraisers that we do for those in need...

[irishfield]

I've been saying for years there should be a 5 or 10% skim on classifieds Rick.. and everything you typed above makes sense to me!

[Gerritt]

How about this...

 

We will not ask members to donate just to be here. We turn the Ad Bot on JUST FOR LURKERS, and we set up a donation button that, if you sell something in the classifieds, we ask for a VOLUNTARY donation. The amount would be up to you.

If you look at the bigger sites, their classifieds are pay-to-play. Walleye Central charges about $100 bucks and they have pretty much the same traffic as us.

The classifieds are actually the number one landing spot for lurkers and I see lots gets sold through it. Throwing a few bucks in after selling some stuff isn't bad.

I did look at Kijiji style systems, where all ads are free but you pay to be pinned, etc , but I think this would be better.

 

We could also use the Donate button for our fundraisers that we do for those in need...

 

 

I agree, and I suggested it to TJ, how is it that larger sites (ie. WC) can do it...

 

there needs to be a disclaimer of sorts for donating...rules are rules. and should be applied equally.

 

also those that sell in the classifieds should be willing to give a bit back given the services that have been provided to them from up until now now free of charge... put a dollar limit on items that can be sold with out the need for "donation" perhaps.... say 300.00 anything above and beyond that requires 5% or whatever percentage you determine.

 

Solid advertisers also need to be sourced.. I realize after talking to TJ that many of the large companies may balk at spending their advertising dollars here... given the possibility for bad press... Berkly etc come to mind.

 

But I think those of use that have been here through thick and thin, multiple board changes and have solid relationships with one another, will chip in as needed.

 

So figure out a way to add a paypal donate button, without sacrificing the forums integrity... imagine if clampit donated 5k.... or if "Dilli" mortgaged his rented apartment/van down by the river... it could be a sticky situation...

 

I would be more then happy to do my part as would a few others it seems.

 

 

hell I will even click a few ads if they peak my interest!

 

G

[PERCHER]

I also agree with Rich there should be some fee paid for the use of the classifieds.Even if it was a small fee you had to pay to even place your ad.You could even leave the other ads in the threads but place them at the start or at the end.They dont bother me at all.You never know they might even come in handy for someone one day.

Dan

Edited March 24, 2010 by Percher

[spincast]

Speaking as a newbie - you guys got a great thing going here. The friendship, fun and knowledge are amazing. I read the posts for a week or so before I decided to join. If there had been a fee, would I have joined so quickly - no. Would I have joined eventually - probably, because of what I said before. This is a great forum. The question is - how much? Once you go with charging for membership, you incur costs to track and receive payments - driving the cost of the site up eve more. And those type of costs go up over time, hello inflated costs over time.

 

Charging for classifieds is an OK idea - and I would pay if I wanted to sell soemthing fishing related - the perfect target audience. Another option might be, can you get a links page that includes point and click style revenue generaton for fishing related topics such as fishing lodges, BPS etc., without incurring a (material) cost? If you had a disclaimer on the links page this might raise the necessary funds and keep the main forum ad free? Or am I still dreaming?

[OhioFisherman]

LOL I wouldn`t pay for a dating site, and none of you guys look that good to me.

[solopaddler]

Amazingly I had no idea that walleye central made you pay for classifieds.

 

The idea that a percentage would be skimmed off what's sold doesn't sit well with me for one reason.

I know myself when I post stuff for sale it's always at a waaaay lower price than I would elsewhere.

Specifically because it's OFC and if I can give someone on the board a good deal then great.

If I had to increase my price to cover whatever is skimmed off I may stop posting stuff for sale altogether.

 

Personally I wouldn't be in favour of a fee to use the site.

Sure the regulars would pony up gladly, but the vast majority of others wouldn't.

 

What I think would be better is a voluntary donation system maybe with a link to paypal on the homepage.

I think you guys might be surprised what people would anonymously and voluntarily be willing to cough up to keep the site going.

 

That way would be a lot less cheesy imo.

[Big Cliff]

Well, as far as a donation or charge for selling things in the clasifieds, anything I have ever sold in the clasifides to OFNr's has been at a very low price for the item sold because it was going to someone on this board and I wanted to give someone a break. To donate further on top of that, sorry, I don't think so!

 

Donations for worth while causes; I already donate money, time and resources whenever I can as do many of the members so I don't feel that there is any need to have anything formal in place for that either.

 

If the site was to become a "pay to play", I think it would be the demise of this board. We would loose a lot of memebers and a lot of traffic. It is the members contributions that make this board what it is.

 

I don't mean to play down the hard work that the Mods and TJ do because without them and all their hard work there wouldn't be a board at all. But "pay to play" or pay per post, sorry I would have to say goodby.

 

The ads: I realize the need to generate revenue and I can live with the ads as long as it doesn't get to be too much of a nusance. If and when they do, members will start drifting away, more ads will be needed to make up for the missing revenue..... well, you get the idea.

[singingdog]

Nope, I would not pay to belong to the site (but I still think that TV is free!). I don't see how the ads reduce the "professionalism" of the site....we aren't customers, we are freeloaders.

[Rich Clemens]

I'd be willing to chip in a bit to help keep this site running. Our mods spend a tremendous amount of time keeping all this going and up to date. Make it voluntary. Those who truely love and participate in this site, would help out financially to keep it going. It has to be paid for somehow. The ads don't really bother me as I am reading the posts.

Edited March 24, 2010 by Rich Clemens

[lew]

I don't mind the ads, specially seeing as they generate $$$$ to help run this place, but I'd still be willing to pay a small monthly fee if it was required to keep everything running. I also think paying to post in the classifieds would be a good money maker.

 

Guys don't seem to mind paying $100 to watch the Leaf's lose a hockey game, so I don't see a problem with paying a couple bucks for all the entertainment offered around here, and what the heck, we even learn the odd thing too.

 

Free is fun, but sometimes ya gots to pay to play

 

With over 6000 members though, I think it would be an absolute nightmare trying to collect the $$$$

[Chris]

Guys don't seem to mind paying $100 to watch the Leaf's lose a hockey game

 

Hahahahahah good one Lew! Thanks for the chuckle.

 

I don't think I would pay to visit any website....however I don't think it's unreasonable to pay a fee to advertize something in the classified ads.

[Daplumma]

I say just set up a voluntary donate button,you would be surprised how much would be donated.I'm sure it would be enough to offset the thread adds.

Joe

[Fisherman]

Maybe TJ or Rick could give us a rough amount what it costs to run the board monthly/annually and go from there. There would always be those that would pee and moan, but over the years I've enjoyed this site far beyond any of the others.

[danbouck]

They have said before that it will never be a pay site

[tightline]

The ads don't bother me one bit, you gotta pay the bills...would I join or continue to be a member if it was a pay site...nope

 

So say you offer it at 5 bucks a month, maybe you lose 20 percent of your followers...now is that 5 bucks gonna cover your member loss fees...So next month you have to raise it again to cover that 20% loss... guaranteed more peeps leave and so on and so on

 

Next thing you know your sitting in a one man ice hut talking to yourself, wondering where all your buddies

went

[Headhunter]

Perhaps another solution... how about a "Supporting Membership" in order to post in the classifides? Say an annual fee of $10.00 or $20.00 and you may post away in the classifieds to your hearts content.

It seems only fair to me that folks who are using the site to generate dollars, should help to pay for the right and privalige to do so.

I know this system is in place at another, non fishing site I visit and it seems to be working very well, with a memebership about ten times what we have here.

Ultimately I would probably pay to be here, but please don't tell TJ, he may be considering some renovations at home and....

HH

[Bob]

Just my 2 cents. I've never paid to access a website and very seldom register on any free ones. They have to look really interesting before I'll take the time to sign up. I love this site even if I don't contribute as often as some but would balk at a fee. Do the ads generate enough revenue to keep things going? I don't see them as intrusive enough to bother me. I even click on some of them to see what's offered. If the ads bring enough to cover, then fuggedaboudit.

[bigfish1965]

We will never make this a pay site. We do like the VOLUNTARY contribution for classifieds. It won't be mandatory...if it happens. 70% of traffic is lurkers, so I am all for making them see the Bot Ads.

Creating a new tier of users by purchase won't happen. We do not think that is in the spirit of the community.

[Raf]

We will never make this a pay site. We do like the VOLUNTARY contribution for classifieds. It won't be mandatory...if it happens. 70% of traffic is lurkers, so I am all for making them see the Bot Ads.

Creating a new tier of users by purchase won't happen. We do not think that is in the spirit of the community.

 

can you make the bot ads visible only to user group "guest"? ie. lurkers/users who are not logged in.