Membership Fee?

[TheOwl]

There are pros and cons to both paid and free sites. Sure, you are going to weed an absolute heap of people out of the forum if we start going paid, but in the same breath, I reckon that we would lose some valuable members.

I'll have to agree with nmfaxman that ignorance can be bliss. Like just today I got a notification that someone had replied to a thread I was subsribed to. What they did was copy and paste my answer and posted it. While it is annoying, there is no point in getting worked up about.

This also comes back to the age old debate of possible forum tests to find out if a user is a real tech or not, but a the end of the day, end users coming on here and trying to fix their own equipment only ends up generating us an income. Further to that, we don't have to reply to threads which comes back to ignorance is bliss.

[blackcat4866]

Other ideas? =^..^=

[MadCityCopy]

Maybe set a minium of posts before you can post in the general forum. All my car forums MAKE you post a intro and 5 posts before the rest of the site is open. Then based off the intro and comments following the rest will open up. I dont mean completely lock out the forum but just make it so you cant post new topics or replys. Just a thought from a noob.

[mrwho]

Although I agree with the general idea, the fact that I'm here freelancing means that if I had to pay I'd have to do it from my own pocket - and $100 is way too high for me.

[mrwho]

Maybe set a minium of posts before you can post in the general forum. All my car forums MAKE you post a intro and 5 posts before the rest of the site is open. Then based off the intro and comments following the rest will open up. I dont mean completely lock out the forum but just make it so you cant post new topics or replys. Just a thought from a noob.

I've seen this on other forums and it seems to work - at least those coming to ask for stuff on their first post either participate in order to reach the requirements (rules would have to be set so posts like "me too" and "lol" and other meaningless posts wouldn't count - maybe a voting system?) or go away at once.

[kingpd@businessprints.net]

Generally I don't think charging is a good idea. Maybe a competency test to prove you know something about being a technician?

I like the idea of forums and discussion being free and open, perhaps the administrators could have a user block feature to get rid of the junk. But you'd have to be careful that we're not having people blocked just because we don't like them, their questions, their posts, or ideas. After all, where would we draw the line? What then would be the point of free flowing information and ideas?

I would be in favor of fees if the site was redone. The fee would cover things other than the forums. Maybe a resource library or university center online. Manuals, tech. bulletins, tips, etc. could be posted there for paying members. But then again, many techs are multi-brand or independent and just because they can't buy or get a free manual from the manufacturer shouldn't mean that they can't get one or trade one with someone else for free. I can buy intravia guides for instance but they're expensive, there's too many different machines out there.

It would be cool to be able to make videos or training videos for others to see like a youtube but instead of copiers. That could be in a paid section. But then again, it wouldn't be equitable for a member to pay a fee if they are making a video for free for someone else to be paying for now would it.

The site owners could ask for donations too. I've done that for freelance developers of free software programs I like.

I think just take it on a case by case basis and block really bad troublemakers or do the competency test.

I wouldn't want to block or deny someone just because they are an end user. Imagine them owning a machine and the servicing dealer doesn't have anyone that was trained on that machine or knows anything about it...I've seen that many times before. This forum could be the only way they are going to get help.

[mrwho]

perhaps the administrators could have a user block feature to get rid of the junk.

This calls for more moderators - If I understand correctly, there's only one moderator, but the site has grown too much for just one person to take care of it - even more if we consider that person probably has a job and a family to go home to.

[blackcat4866]

Thanks everybody. All good comment/ideas.

[kingpd@businessprints.net]

yeah true, we may need more moderators then.

[Jules Winfield]

Seriously guys, what's with the elitist attitude a lot of you guys are expressing? We're not exactly finding a cure for cancer here. We work on copiers. Some of us might work on computers/networks as well. None of us are in the running to win the Nobel Peace Prize this year, you know? What is this contempt you guys seem to have for end users trying to fix their own copiers? I belong to this computer forum where newbies post all the time asking questions about how to fix their PCs. A lot of them even say "Hey, I know nothing about computers, but I'm having such and such problem. Can somebody help?". It's funny, because on the computer forum, all the knowledgable PC/network techs are more than happy to help someone with no prior knowledge. Not once have I ever seen anyone ask if the poster was an end user. It's all about people helping out other people with technical problems. It's just weird because when I first joined this forum it seemed like my computer forum - just a bunch of techs helping out people with technical problems. Somewhere along the line heads swelled and attitudes started getting out of control. Jesus, what happened to this forum? It's really kind of sad. As far as charging for membership, go ahead if you really want to kill the entire forum overnight. People aren't going to pay good money, just to hear the opinions of some random techs. If people are going to pay money, they are going to want resolutions to their problems, not just advise. They might as well just pay a tech to come out and fix their machine for them. Ok, I guess I've said my piece. Here comes the flaming... The way this forum has been going lately, I kinda half expect I'll get banned. LOL

Oh yeah, Blackcat, don't get me wrong. I'm still your biggest fan. I just think you're way off on this one, bro...