Idea for "premium" membership.

I've seen this on others forums. I personally would like a larger PM box. We could also do maybe larger avatars or special emblems for premium members. I'm sure a lot of people would pay a $20 bill a year for added features and it would raise money for expenses. I'm in no way a programmer so not sure how hard it would be to execute.

Count me in, even if nothing changes.  When should I send the check?

I'll pay extra to block animated GIFs. Though this isn't really a problem on this forum.

I can't think of any other improvements I'd like to see to this forum. I like it as it is, but I am a bit of a Luddite.

Forum costs are well covered by ads and donations. This forum is not run for profit and staffed by volunteers, so there is no reason for anything premium to generate money.

The only thing premium around here is the content and friendly service.

Also, you can save messages in your Savebox too, not just your Inbox. There you go, private message storage space doubled.

Savebox???????   I didn't know I had one...   Great!

Have you been around shooters before? They go to a shoot with $20 and pocket lint, and they don't change either.

Rob passes the hat whenever he needs money for the forum, and many of us oblige. That system works for me if it works for him.

I'd pay a monthly or annual subscription fee also; whatever's easiest for the folks that do the work.

I'm guessing that the former is less work than delivering "premium" features under the latter model, but that's just a guess.

john bickar wrote:I'm guessing that the former is less work than delivering "premium" features under the latter model, but that's just a guess.

And a good one.  Adding wacky badges and keeping track of everything financial all year for every member and providing support for that system would be a burden, not a help.

Currently, Rob spends about a couple of days collecting money every few years from anyone that wants to donate.  Last time, we collected several years of income and added several advertisers.  Our cup runneth over, so no need to make it more complicated than that.

This site is very low maintenance, relatively speaking.  I spend 95% of my support effort helping new folks get properly registered and/or logged on the site when they have trouble.  The rest is tweaking things here and there as needed.

We use a hosting service that handles all the deep technical server management, so most of our admin team job involves being user tech support, custodial engineers, and hall monitors.  

The members here are great about wanting to help out any way they can.  The best way to help is by making this forum more valuable to other users. Making informative posts and asking good questions is the way to do it.  The site should be filled with info that makes your score higher, your equipment better, and gets your mind right.  You guys are the ones that provide that content, so keep up the good work!