Make AO a Pay Site

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Originally posted here by er0k
bad idea, this is just a way to keep out thousands of people who could have been decent members. say someone decent finds this site through google, realizes you have to pay or do something other than veryify account through email, and goes "Wow, **** this"

I say thats what would happen.

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Heh, you read my mind, as that is just about exactly what I would say... I'd say corporate *******s right after saying that as well... There are plenty of FREE communities out there, and while I like this one more than others I frequent, I could still easily survive on one of them... Also, with all the new sites created by AO members who were pissed, I would still have at least half of AO to talk to...

Hey Hey,

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for example, your equivalent to VAT appears to be 7%, whereas ours is 17.5%

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15% not 7%

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Most people I know don't earn £200+/month, and that's without taking into account the fact that stuff often costs a lot more over here (for example, your equivalent to VAT appears to be 7%, whereas ours is 17.5%).

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Do you not have a government imposed minimum wage? or are they all lazy? I only keep mentioning lazy because I have recently determined that the majority of society is lazy... has a million excuses but in the end it all comes down to laziness.

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I will say it is a bad, idea. There are plenty of other ways to get trolls to disappear or limit the amount atleast. The AP system does a good job of that.

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The AP system does an ok job of that.. I'd by no means call it good... SexyBadGirl is a prime example.. How quicly Memory/Nemory became a senior is another example. If you don't want to charge to weed out the rotten apples... make more mods... 2 Mods isn't enough for a user base of this size... they can't properly do their jobs... give power to those of us that actually want to see the site bettered... Let us ban people who are a waste of breathe... Hell make it a site benefit that the Top 10 AP users can ban.... that'll clean up the site in a hurry.

Peace,
HT

Given the fact that (whether anyone liked it or not) I spent over a year on the Top 10 list, I don't think that's such a great idea. Pretty sure some people would have been very displeased with the people I chose to ban.

If they are going to make more mods, then let the present mods make the desision of who and how many to be made. I'm sure they have a better feel for the membership and how many would be needed.
They would also be more informed on who would be impartial and hopefully fair in what needs to be done.

In fact, the present mods could become super mods or something, and any new ones just plain old mods.

Just my take on it -- to carry on the suggestion anyway.

I think I'll expound on my previous post a little bit.

Basically, by the time all the overhauls that would be required to implement this idea were implemented, none of us would recognize the site.

You can't charge people for an account, then ban them by anti-points, so that would be the first thing out the window.

You can't start charging for a site when there are umpteen hundred sites that offer similar content and expect the site to do anything but stagnate.

You can't have a group of people responsible for banning members, because number one, there would never be agreement upon whom should be banned, and secondly, as soon as you start charging for a site, then leave your banning process up to members, you're going to open yourself up for lawsuits.

As there is never any agreement on who should have AP's and who shouldn't, I can't imagine anyone being thrilled about this group of 'moderators'. Negative and MsMittens are the only ones who have the ability to ban, if I'm correct, and they are employees of JupMedia. That makes them different than a list of people who have gotten popularity points.

So...if we start charging for the site, you're going to lose a lot of members...and I mean a LOT. I think we've seen from this thread how well this idea would go over. And whether or not you personally think they make contributions HT, they are a commodity. Losing large numbers of members means losing large numbers of clicks.

If we start charging for the site, the AP system is going to have to go...and love it or hate it, it's one of the only things that makes this site different from the multitudes.

If you start charging for the site, and remove AP's, you're going to have to have many more moderators. However, because you're now charging for the site, you're also going to have to pay those moderators, so that they are employees, and at least considered by most to be above the petty going's on of a site that has however many thousand members this site has.

:eek: Hey Hey,,, Say What? You are joking right? On occasion i have googled up
a site that has the info i am looking for. When i go there and have to pay for the answer in the forum, that site is no longer in my bookmarks, and i go elsewhere. What really is the problem of having a few trolls around the place, and skiddies asking shyte here and there? It adds to the character of the site, no big deal until seniors get on the bandwagon and post abuse and make new threads in addicts about it. How about you just get over it regs. Seems like you gotta have it your way or you gonna cry,,,,,man take a chill pill. If it bothers you so much then take up your own suggestion and go elsewhere and pay for a " prim and proper" site that might be up to your standards,if not STFU and let the site go on as is without bringing it down with threads like this.....

HTRegz, you aren't forced to read or reply to posts that you don't feel are up to your own personal standard, so it actually sounds like you're whining when you keep on complaining about one time IT questions. Just because you don't want to answer these questions, doesn't mean that other people don't want to. Some people just enjoy helping people who need it no matter how much they already know.

AFAIK, there is no mention in any of the site faq's or the aup that it is not acceptable to sign up when you are in dire need of an answer to a tech support question but don't have the knowledge to solve it yourself. And I'll say it again: "YOU DO NOT NEED TO ANSWER NOR READ EACH AND EVERY POST ON THE SITE"

ac

Just my personal thoughts..........

From my experience of subscriptions/sdministration costs etc (limited I admit) I would guess a cost of around $10 (US) to pay for making this a pay site? (based on say 5000 members who would pay)

I guess that would just about kill it?

just a thought

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Originally posted here by nihil
Just my personal thoughts..........

From my experience of subscriptions/sdministration costs etc (limited I admit) I would guess a cost of around $10 (US) to pay for making this a pay site? (based on say 5000 members who would pay)

I guess that would just about kill it?

just a thought

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No one ever said make this money making site... that's why the postcard suggestion was there... it's a show of good faith or verification.. not a money making idea....


As for those of you with a couple hundred posts... go to hell :D

HT

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Originally posted here by HTRegz
Do you not have a government imposed minimum wage? or are they all lazy? I only keep mentioning lazy because I have recently determined that the majority of society is lazy... has a million excuses but in the end it all comes down to laziness.

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Yes, there is a government imposed minimum wage of £4.20 for anyone aged 18-21 (I think it's been raised to £4.80 for those aged 21+). However, I don't think you should make such sweeping generalisations of people being lazy because they don't (or can't) want to pay for access to a site.

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Hell make it a site benefit that the Top 10 AP users can ban.... that'll clean up the site in a hurry.

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No, it wouldn't clean up the site in a hurry. All it would do would make everyone scared of pissing off anyone on the top 10 list out of fear of being banned, and all the newbies would start sucking up to those people to try and protect themselves. In fact, you have pointed out earlier in your post that the AP system doesn't work because people like Quad keep coming back - given that he appears to be friendly with some of the people on the top 10 list how do you suggest he would be sorted out?

I don't believe the intended benefit we might gain from this idea outweighs the detriment the site would see from members leaving in droves...

BUT here's the real reason why this suggestion won't be implemented: AO is a money-making site, and needs to be because JupM is a company which needs to make a profit -- we're not in the business of philanthropy. We profit from this site through what we're payed for page views for ads. If we were to implement this suggestion, page views would drop dramatically, and the few dollars which would trickle in from paying members wouldn't off-set that loss. The site would no longer be profitable.

I hate to sound like a corporate whore, but that's the truth of the way things are here. On a less corporate-whore-ish note, I believe there are better ways to contain trolls, but I believe that's better discussed in another thread.

- h

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Originally posted here by pwaring
No, it wouldn't clean up the site in a hurry. All it would do would make everyone scared of pissing off anyone on the top 10 list out of fear of being banned, and all the newbies would start sucking up to those people to try and protect themselves. In fact, you have pointed out earlier in your post that the AP system doesn't work because people like Quad keep coming back - given that he appears to be friendly with some of the people on the top 10 list how do you suggest he would be sorted out?

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Quite Easily... I'd ban him... I wouldn't think twice about sending his account packing.. which is what should have been done with it the first day it was created...

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I hate to sound like a corporate whore, but that's the truth of the way things are here. On a less corporate-whore-ish note, I believe there are better ways to contain trolls, but I believe that's better discussed in another thread.

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I've got a better way.. give me the power.. I'll scare the hell of them and they'll be afraid to post out of line... the site will be much better

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Originally posted here by HTRegz
Quite Easily... I'd ban him... I wouldn't think twice about sending his account packing.. which is what should have been done with it the first day it was created...

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And what happens if Quad's friends in the top 10 decide to use their influence to ban you for banning him? I think you'd change your mind about the idea pretty damn quickly in that situation.

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I've got a better way.. give me the power.. I'll scare the hell of them and they'll be afraid to post out of line... the site will be much better

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No it wouldn't be better, because by the sounds of it you'd ban anyone who you think is a newbie. Furthermore, people like Nemory and Quad aren't going to care that much if you threaten to ban them, because they'll just keep coming back with new accounts.

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I've got a better way.. give me the power.. I'll scare the hell of them and they'll be afraid to post out of line... the site will be much better

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Yeah just send them a photo of yourself. :shocked: :shocked:

HTRegz you need to shut up or calm down, I dont know what you are trying to do here but as members leave those newbies are the life and blood of this website. Its gone downhill a lot on the past year or so, last thing we need is a paysite, thatll just kill the place.

Ennis,

I have thought about this a bit:

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last thing we need is a paysite, thatll just kill the place.

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Yes, I would end up arguing with myself..............and still lose :D

And have to pay for it???

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last thing we need is a paysite, thatll just kill the place.

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Word. In any sense, I'm pretty sure it has been made evident that this won't be implemented so can we close this thread or something? :D

Won't happen (for reasons stated by Mnstrgrl), *closed*, feel free to start a new thread discussing the troll-issue :)