Im going to say something controversal

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Beedub

Lifer
 Sutton Coldfield
i think its time this forum started charging a small fee......Their i said it..... If that can be pumped back into what is a great forum it can only be better for us, we can then start blocked certain parts of the site until members are paid up ( like being able to post Adverts) In a age where everything cost I'm guessing this place MUST cost someone something a decent amount, let alone their time and effort to keep it running, I'm not talking crazy but just something like 6 quid a year which is NOTHING would go a long way to going towards the ongoing and future development.


o a side note, Ive just purchased a 14 plate Fiesta ST with literally all the bits to replace my driveway shed, totally spec'd to the hilt and the tom tom based sat nav is a joy, the spec level is insane. I'm loosing my direction but in purchasing sed car i made a member on the fiesta ST forum and immediately had to pay 6 quid to access content, i did so without hesitation, in order to safe guard the future of this club, should it be doing the same ???? This is my 7th year here ( September) and i hope to have many more, but this place is no bimmerpost which is making a fair amount on just ads due to the sheer amount of members.


What everyones opinion? Fully aware i my get fire blasted for this, luckily IDGAF.
 
Sorry but I disagree, the USEFUL content is all member generated with a lot of people putting a lot of time and effort in to providing all sorts of know-how and support for mutual benefit of others - for free. The adverts mostly turn in to talking-shops and I for one have pitched in with a donation after selling some wheels for example.

I wouldn't pay a fee to use any forum and wouldn't put time and effort in to it if someone was making money of the back of members contributions, sorry.
 
Ewazix said:
Sorry but I disagree, the USEFUL content is all member generated with a lot of people putting a lot of time and effort in to providing all sorts of know-how and support for mutual benefit of others - for free. The adverts mostly turn in to talking-shops and I for one have pitched in with a donation after selling some wheels for example.

I wouldn't pay a fee to use any forum and wouldn't put time and effort in to it if someone was making money of the back of members contributions, sorry.
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Don't say sorry my friend its all discussion. Id GUESS but i could be wrong this forum isn't costless to keep online.
 
Interesting and very valid post. It's £20 a year over on the Mazda MPS forum, which gives access to all the technical data held on the sight. Great for those that mod their cars, which is many, on that particular Forum. But no use to those who don't, like me. So I don't pay up, I just enjoy the banter and organised the occasional run out. Very similar to this sight except the volume of none tech/none car related chat on here is 20 times more than most car forums I use and it's what makes the sight so good, not the data,simply the people that use the sight.

The Fiat coupe forum used to take it much further, if you were not a paid up member then you were not expected to attend meets, always thought that was OTT and in nine years never met another member, other than through PH runs, shame. So from personal experience I think this forum works better and probably has more members because it's free.

Having said all that, because I know how good this forum is, I would happily pay a small annual fee. But if I was just joining I would be put off by it, however small. My two penneth. Look forward to reading this thread as it grows.
 
There are affiliate links on the site..site owner must make money from them.

If they just posted an amazon affiliate link and forum users bookmarked it or used a link on the forum to go amazon then the forum owners would do very well for themselves
 
I'd happily pay. But then I think if we could all remember to contribute a donation every so often (granted I need to remind myself this as I've only done it once :-( ) then the site would do well.

My brother is on a Nissan forum for his 370z and I think he paid a fair chunk to join, although it does get them quite a few decent discounts and days out as Nissan UK really look after them. Like really look after them ... Putting track days on for them etc!
 
Ewazix said:
Sorry but I disagree, the USEFUL content is all member generated with a lot of people putting a lot of time and effort in to providing all sorts of know-how and support for mutual benefit of others - for free. The adverts mostly turn in to talking-shops and I for one have pitched in with a donation after selling some wheels for example.

I wouldn't pay a fee to use any forum and wouldn't put time and effort in to it if someone was making money of the back of members contributions, sorry.
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I agree, I think the diversity in the content of the forum would suffer as a result of a fee. For example; I put a lot of effort into the Android integration how to thread to share it with all other members, not a select few who "pay up"; I wouldn't have bothered doing it for a restricted audience.

Perhaps a mandatory donation after selling something through the forum would be a better idea?
 
danmiddle2 said:
Perhaps a mandatory donation after selling something through the forum would be a better idea?
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Now this I would be up for. :thumbsup:
When purchasing my E89 from Stark from the forum last year I made a donation on behalf of him and myself.
I also wouldn't object to a nominal amount for an yearly subscription.
 
I'd be happy to pay £6-£10 a year.... But only if Tapatalk or the mobile friendly site is up & running :thumbsup:

I've gained so much knowledge over the last few years from this site and would say paying for the privilege isn't a problem! :D

I block all the forum adverts with adblock so don't use any affiliated links
 
My thoughts:

In principle I like the idea of making a contribution when having sold something on the Forum. Just bear in mind that you may not know it was sold if the seller (or the buyer) don't announce it and even then they may not pay. Also suspect that PayPal is none too cheap when having to convert from one currency to another.

I don't like the idea of a subscription - however small it may be there's going to be a loss of members, especially new members.

Finally, someone is going to have to tell us if the Forum actually needs the cash and, if so, what the extra cash be spent on.

I am sure that any surplus would be gratefully received by a charity (not Project Marmite!).
 
Im not sure about compulsory payments and then its another job for somebody to administer it.

Last year we had 22 Cars on the English/Welsh meet and I collected a Fiver off everyone. This year we've got 50 cars attending, so that should help boost the Forum's coffers ... :thumbsup:
 
Beedub said:
Ewazix said:
Sorry but I disagree, the USEFUL content is all member generated with a lot of people putting a lot of time and effort in to providing all sorts of know-how and support for mutual benefit of others - for free. The adverts mostly turn in to talking-shops and I for one have pitched in with a donation after selling some wheels for example.

I wouldn't pay a fee to use any forum and wouldn't put time and effort in to it if someone was making money of the back of members contributions, sorry.
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Don't say sorry my friend its all discussion. Id GUESS but i could be wrong this forum isn't costless to keep online.
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I'm not saying it's free to run but all the content that people come for is generated free by the members, same with runs and meets. I'm not sure what the server or hosting set-up is but the pay-per-click advertising and hosted ad's more than covers the costs of simple sites I have run with far fewer visitors than this forum gets (stat's counters are reporting 230 unique vistors per day). Don't forget the site owner gets a fee every time someone clicks an advert banner, the fee varies usually from pence to a pound (It's against google ads rules for a webisite owner to solicit people to click adverts just to create a fee so I won't do that either but is worth remembering if you see an advert that you are interested in).

The site is actually scoring quite low for SEO (search engine optimisation) so the advertising has very limited reach outside of regular forum members, charging may have little appeal. If the site offered services like curating the technical info members submitted or took responsibility for organising events, group buys etc etc that may justify charging but would make it a different place - more like other sites that are in fact businesses rather than communities, as auto forums go this is a refreshingly decent place and think it would be a shame to spoil the vibe. 8)
 
On another BMW forum where I am a mod we have a gold and platinum membership scheme..

The gold is £10 per year and plat is £50 for lifetime membership.

For this you get a gold and plat section only and the ability to post on the sale sections..



Fwiw I think its a great idea and would happy pay £10 a year to be here..
 
I like the pay-for-perks model. If you pay a fee you get things like change your tag line, a larger PM quota, can have a custom avatar rather than site stock one, etc. Nothing which effects access to the content of the forum but gives you a few nice to have features. This can be done on a time limited basis (usually smaller a donation every year (£5 a year seems to be common) or on a one-off donation basis (usually north of £20).
 
Very interesting thread this

We need some comment to say whether more cash would help - if this is the case then many on here including myself would gladly contribute

There are many ways to do this without making it compulsory fee based use - best to promote through unique add value like an inflated price for some unique merchandise like a limited edition Zed car badge or stuff like this hat would appeal to the folks who want to be seen to promote the site via their cars - or just to know they help support it financially

I would think it would be best to stay away from turning it into a formal business venture though - it would lose it's appeal rather quickly

Agree with the comments that say it's the people on here who make the site by investing their time and effort into documenting how to threads etc for free so would be concerned if this was turned into chargeable access

Just think as a forum if there is a need to raise supporting funds this audience can come up with lots of indirect and possibly fun ways to do this - rather than give us yer money and I'll give you access kind of stuff

Just views though
 
I think you need to look at the number of registered members against those who regularly log on and actively use the site. The danger is if it's something else you have to pay to use many simply won't bother and move onto another site.

Tim.
 
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