TSR yearly subscription?

pugh-the-special-one

pugh-the-special-one

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This as probably been posted before, but knowing me I've probably not seen it, now personally I wouldn't mind paying a yearly subscription fee for using the forum even if it just allowed you access to the BST section and special offers open to TSR members, I don't know what you think but fire away.

Jamie
 
I made a donation the other day. I must admit to feeling guilty about not doing it before as I realise these things cost, and it's not just the monetary value. It was only £10 and I have no idea of the actual costs involved but if we all made donations it would go some way.
 
Northam Saint said:
johant1968 said:
Maybe a silly question, but how can one make a donation? (hopefully using Paypal)
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http://www.theshavingroom.co.uk/forum/portal.php

Left had side there is a donation button and yes to Paypal.
Click to expand...

Thanks! And donated.

I think paid access to a limited part of the forum (BST sounds logical) would be a good idea. Nobody would be forced to pay anything for the basic forum, and you'd only pay a small fee when you want to sell on the BST board.
 
Sorry I'm against making it a paid members site so you can access BST threads and Vendors Offers or whatever.

We have to remember that this is a Shaving forum to help people who are new and experienced alike.

Potential new members could be put off if there were a joining fee and we also have to remember that not all members are awash with huge amounts of spare cash.
A 10% saving on a razor from a vendor might be negligible to some of us but for some, it can be quite a substantial amount.

One thing we could do is to have a donations type barometer for the month. If it costs Boab say £200 for the bandwidth per month have a little barometer at the side of the page which can tell us how much has been contributed for the month.

I also remember a forum member losing his job not so long ago and he had to sell off some his equipment, so as well as having to worry about finding another job and no income for a while, you would be penalising him again by making him pay to sell his stuff in the BST.
 
This place is run on a strictly non-commercial basis - the aim is to break even with donations, ad revenue & affiliate revenue. As far as I'm aware we have done that every year from the start. (The fact that Boab rides around in a new Maybach every year lighting his cigars with £20 is purely coincidental)

Donations are of course welcome - if anyone wants to make donations on a rolling basis they're welcome to do so... (Link on the portal page http://www.theshavingroom.co.uk/forum/portal.php)

No plans to introduce any additional pay-to-play features...

Anyone wanting to contribute without parting with their own cash can simply use the TSR Affiliate Link for Amazon UK when shopping at Amazon.

Most important thing here is for all of you to share knowledge in a respectful and self-controlled way (that doesn't mean everyone has to behave like we're in some sort of Jane Eyre novel... use your common sense) which attracts users (increases the bandwidth costs perhaps, but revenue should increase too to cover it).
 
How many times have you gone to a forum, wanted to view some posts, look at ads and then get the message 'only paid members have access to this section'?
I have left a couple of forums where there was a (admitedly) low 'membership' fee.
Yes the value is probably low, yes its probably good value for money.
But how many people will be turned away because of it?

I came to this forum from recomendations from others. If I was greeted with the same page many forums use then I would not even think about paying.

IMHO, a bad idea.
Donations are a totally different matter.
I have donated to other forums, but if those same forums were via subs, then I would not have paid and not used them.
 
Dobbo25 said:
One thing we could do is to have a donations type barometer for the month. If it costs Boab say £200 for the bandwidth per month have a little barometer at the side of the page which can tell us how much has been contributed for the month.
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I like that idea.

The barometer should reflect all costs to keep the site running for, let's say, a calendar year. Split that by 12, and you know how much should come in per month.
 
If there ever was a shortfall I'm sure it would be made up with little more effort than starting a thread.
One of the reasons I enjoy this forum is it's egalitarian nature and I would regret it if even the minor elitism of being a paying member crept in.
 
pugh-the-special-one said:
So what most of you are in agreement with is no subscription, but you don't mind coughing up £10 a year donation, what's the difference.

Jamie
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As I posted above.
If a new member wants to look at something on the forum they are instantly greeted with a 'pay up' screen.
But a new member could have a browse, join the forum, get some use out of the BST, then think, hey, I could give something back.
In my eyes thats a huge difference.
 
Just having me here is worth £10 of anyone's money.

:D

Anyway, if I can look at xhamster all day without paying for it then it's fairly obvious I'm not going to pay to read about men shaving.
 
I think forcing people to pay is a bad idea, but it would be nice to know the forum is happily supporting itself. I would hate to think that anyone is out of pocket just for my benefit.
 
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