Remember The Slightly Frustrated Admin?

[Admin]

As some of you might remember, I posted a thread about 1 month back about the current "situation" here at RWG. I was getting a lot of "shitty" e-mails and PM's with ungrateful members, etc. You can take a trip down memory lane if you want by clicking here;

http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showtopic=10988

Well, let's start with the "good" things first. I'm down from about 60 e-mails/PM's per day to about 40, so that's good. The general "tone" has also changed and like I said before, I don't mind answering these kind of e-mails and PM's. So far I've put the support-system I talked about in my other post on hold. As long as it stays on this level I should have no problems answering all your requests in the hours I usually spend on taking care of the board.

Now, as you all remember, I "complained"about the finances in that last post. MANY members stepped up and upgraded their memberships and I am very thankful for this. RWG needs your financial support to stay online. If we have no supporting members, I'll start downgrading the server setup we have and hope that whatever I can afford to buy with the supporter-fees will be able to keep the site up as good as the current setup does. Not to mention keep it safe and secure!

Anyway, when I posted this 25 days ago, the numbers looked like this;

2711 members

207 RWG Supporters

7,6% of the members are supporters

Today

2957 members

214 RWG Supporters

7,2% of the members are supporters

So it looks like we have gained 7 new RWG supporters in the last 25 days....despite the fact that 34 members have upgraded their membership, 27 seem to have decided not to keep their supporter status.

169 members answered the survey that I posted at the end of the other thread. 85 of these members were regular members, 76 RWG supporters and 6 other members (mods/dealers). Out of these members, 80,5% 136 members) answered that they would be willing to support the forum financially. Out of these members, I think that all the RWG supporters most likely answered yes. So if we remove them we have 60 members who would be willing to support the forum. I'm not going to comment any more on this. The numbers above speak for themselves, but it seems that it's a long way from saying that you will support the forum to reaching for the wallet.....

Before I go on, here are some more numbers from the survey;

38.4% of the members who said they were willing to support the forum was willing to pay $5 pr. month. 20,5% was willing to pay $2 pr. month

All participants agreed on keeping the current payment periods (Monthly, semi-anually, anually)

83,2% of the participants thought that you should get a 10%-20% discount when you signed up for a whole year as a RWG supporter. FYI: the current discount is 50%

Out of the participants who does not want to support the forum, 30,3% said that a forum such as this should be funded by ads (let me get back to that....)

27,3% had other reasons and 12,1% said a forum like this should be free.

56,2% of the partticipants said that parts of the forum should be for RWG supporters only and 43,8% said the entire forum should be open to all

Ads: Well, like I wrote about the ads in my last post, I was going to put them in a more visible place so that more people could see the interesting offers that sometimes get displayd and click the ads more often. Well, the first week, this worked just fine. Now, I do of course not know if it was because I moved the ads or because I told poeple that if you don't pay a RWG supporter fee the least cou can do is click the ads now and then and at least when you see something that interests you. So the first week a lot of people clicked the ads and it actually seemed to be able to generate some income from the ads. To bad it only lasted 1 week.

Lottery: Well, either a lottery is not a good idea or we have the wrong prizes. But I must admit that I was sure that more than 14 members would get a ticket. So for now it looks like we'll just have to close the lottery when we have the funds to cover the cost of the prizes and maybe not arrange any more lotteries:(

Anyway, I'm not going to bitch about the economy any more (at least not in this post), You have the facts and that's what I wanted to give you. Like I said before, I'm starting to wonder if it is really worth spending several hours a day on this if I know it will come to one point that I once again have to reach for my own wallet to pay the bills. Now I want to restart the discussion we had the last time I posted this. Should we close up parts of RWG to RWG supporters only? Should we maybe offer different levels of memberships;

Regular member (Free); Can only read and post in forums where regular members have access. No access to PM, avatars, no access to the trading zone, etc... Get's 1 month free Silver membership trial when they sign up. After 1 month they are downgraded

Silver members (cheap membership..something like $1 pr month): Regular status. Gives you access to use PM's, avatars. Like the regular membership today

Diamond member/VIP/RWG Supporter: Full access with access to own areas

Or should we just keep everything the way it is? And just remind new and old members again and again to support the forum....????

So go ahead...your thoughts and ideas are appreciated......

Thomas

[gran]

Liverpool vant jo 3-2 og det er jo bra

Håper det lokale laget ditt får kvalifiseringsplss også

vær glad...jeg reiser til Roma i morgen tidlig

Aller vennligst fra

Gunnar

[Admin]

Burde vært 3-0

God tur...

[jonthebhoy]

Liverpool vant jo 3-2 og det er jo bra

Håper det lokale laget ditt får kvalifiseringsplss også

vær glad...jeg reiser til Roma i morgen tidlig

Aller vennligst fra

Gunnar

Wrong thread Gunnar?

JTB

[jonthebhoy]

Admin,

First of all many thanks for all the work you have put into this - it had to be done.

My initial thoughts are that the majority of our members don't give a frig, judging by the amount of them who participated in the survey. We have built an excellent forum here with tons of resources and information, not to mention direct access to the best replicas at the very best prices and I think all that is taken for granted quite frankly.

Therefore I think the time has come to install a fee-paying membership scheme with restrictions on access for those who don't want to shell out a little money to give something back.

We may lose many members as a result but this to my mind this is no loss. If they don't think it's worth contributing then goodbye I say.

I think it's appropriate at this juncture to give thanks to the small percentage who have supported the forum thus far. Much kudos to you all.

JTB

[Watchmeister]

More than 50% of the folks here voted in favor of paying for access to all the features of the forum but only 7% contribute. Talk is cheap. People should put up their money voluntarily or I suspect Thomas will have no choice but to restrict acccess to certain portions of the forum to paying members.

[jkerouac]

I currently contribute (financially) to two rep boards. I can't imagine donating to more than that. If anything, I may not renew the other board, because I spend quite a bit more of my board time here.

Overall, I think there are too many rep watch boards. People argue that each has its place and the more the merrier, but there are significant costs involved in maintaining any board with a reasonable level of participation. Perhaps there is room/opportunity for merger.

This is probably the most active of the boards. For that, I presume it has the highest percentage of newcomers, dropins, short-timers, or however you want to categorize the new registrants. Then there are those who are still relatively new (say members for 2-4 months) but who haven't seen the need to contribute financially. Each of these needs to appreciate teh costs associated with the board and the potential benefits.

I like the idea of a tiered membership as Admin described. This makes a lot of sense in terms of 1) making it easy for newcomers to pay a very nominal amount to see the value of the board, but 2) requiring a somewhat larger commitment for continued and enhanced participation. Perhaps only the General, Off Topic, and Dealer Sales sections (no reviews, no repairs or expert areas). I incuded the Dealer Sales section because I think that ought to be up to the dealers -- do they want to be visible to newbies, or would they rather restrict viewing of their new offers to established members who might be less prone to unreasonable chargebacks or other behaviors.

I like the idea of a trial membership. The drawback would be people reregistering with new accounts every 30-60 days to get the enhanced participation for free. Could this be tracked via IP address?

[ryyannon]

In my wildest of dreams, I'd like to imagine TTK in charge of RWG correspondance - and as a public forum it would probably be one of the most popular here.

More realistically, I'm not sure what to suggest to motivate 93 percent of the members to spend the equivalent of the cost of a Starbucks' coffee per month to keep the forum up and running comfortably.

Aside from that, what johnthebhoy and kruzer00 said....

Best regards and thanks for all that you've done and are doing..

[jfreeman420]

I have been a long time supporter of TRC, but i now spend just as much time here (if not more) as I do there. So i have finally gone ahead and "pulled the trigger" (don't you hate when people say that?) LOL and upgraded my membership. It looks like this is the place to be. The replica watch comunity has been very good to me and I have made some friends over the years. These two boards get me through the day when I should be working. Heres to many more years of daydreaming and goofing around...............Thanks everybody

BTW, when will my icon change?

Edited September 27, 2006 by jfreeman420

[ahchard]

I am also financially supporting 2 boards and will also just stick to this one as I don't even visit any of the other boards any more.

I fully agree with having restricted areas for supporting members... newbies who want to find out about those special dealers or mods or special projects (cyclops,datewheels,crowns,dials) will need to be members to be a part of it.

[cwai02]

Is downgrading the server an option?

[NRG]

I felt guilty so I have just upgraded to a 6 month membership. Why have I waited? Because of aperthy, I needed prompting, this sort of thing needs to be in your face all the time to get a better uptake IMHO. It is just to easy to sit back and take without giving.

I would (and now have!) pay to access restricted areas. My slight concern is this: I do so now because I know the information contained on this board (technical and dealer related) is first rate, it has enabled me to purchase two first class reps from the dealers here with security where as I could quite easily have been scammed somewhere else.

However, If this information where not accessible to me IE I'm a new member and I have restricted access, I doubt that I would stump up the cash to find out if the info is good or not.

Although having said that, a temporary 1 month membership giving enough access to the important bits so as the new member can decide if full membership is worth it would address that concern.

[SubFrog]

I'm only subscribing to 2 forums on the net and one of them is my own. This is my main and only source for this type of discussion...I will continue to subscribe as it has proven quite important to my habit.

I agree with the levels of support. If others need this information and service, they'll subscribe.

[KB]

Is downgrading the server an option?

No not if you want to stay safe.

I think a good start for everyone would be to buy a raffle ticket.

Ken

[KB]

Strange when I say cough up 5 bucks it kills the thread

Ken

[jkerouac]

I think a good start for everyone would be to buy a raffle ticket.

Ken

OK, I hadn't signed up for the lottery, but now I have.

One other option is to add a few more membership categories:

First Month: Newbie

Second Month: Freeloader

Third Month: Deadbeat

Fourth Month: Leach

Fifth Month: [censored] Cheney fan (Just kidding )

etc.

.... until the person becomes an exalted Supporter.

[ubiquitous]

Pay to play... That's all I have to say.

[fotoman]

can you give us an idea of what the daily user number totals are?

i mean, of the 3000, clearly many sign up, don't come back, come and go after 6 months.

any stats on users would be great - i.e. the average person signs up and stays 3 months.

I like the structure posted above - i think the 1 dollar a month folks should get access to the trading forum

i think there should also be a supporter trading forum - for those of us who want to only trade with very active members.

The lack of a PM i think is HUGE on this board and definatly worth the buck

[KB]

Well I can't give you those figures PHO but I can tell you this......Most users ever online was 283 on Yesterday, 07:05 PM.

Ken

[jkerouac]

I just had another idea and this one [if I do say so myself] is much better than my last:

Let's take a lesson from the magazine business. What do a lot of magazines do when you buy a new subscription or renew? They send you a "bonus" gift such as "25 Top Training Techniques" (for a sports magazine) or "50 Hottest Models" (for a mens magazine).

We have some incredible content ...PHENOMENAL CONTENT!!!.....that has been pinned at the top of many of our forums because they contain a distillation of the best pearls of wisdom that we have to offer. No self-respecting collector should be without this information. And we're giving it away free!!!

Too often newbies don't even look at the pinned posts. (Remember The Zigmeister's complaint about this a week or two ago?). Instead they ask the same basic questions over and over again. One reason they don't is because we don't put adequate value on our pearls.

No offense to Richard Brown's Replica Watch Report (because I think it has great advice, which I paid him for and I feel I got value for my dollar), but a lot of our content is at least as valuable as his, and in many cases it's more timely and to the point as well. But the board in all good intentions gives it away for free.

So let's put a value on it. Subscribe for a year and get access to a package of "the best of RWG." Choose not to pay and perhaps we tell non-Supporters who ask dumb questions that the answer to all of their newbie questions.... and more.... is contained in our best of collection. Choose not to pay, and perhaps you can still find this content, but you'll have to hunt for it because only Supporters have access to the "Best of" Forum.

[Everythingape]

Thanks a lot for your work, Admin.

I can only speak for myself, but based on myself I can tell you what I think happens when new people come to this board..

When I came here 7 weeks ago I didn't have a paypal account, I had never paid for anything online, except for with my credit card in large webshops. I opened up a PP-account to buy a watch from Overboosted, and having this easy access account, it made it easier for me to support..

Before I came here it was unthinkable for me to pay for a service like this, though I have been an active member at different types of boards for years.

The internet promotes free information, hit and run, and I am not surprised that only a hard core of 7-8% is willing to pay. I suppose most people see this great forum as a "fake watch google" of sorts..

I paid because you asked me to.

It's as simple as that.

Not having a personal relationship with any of you, I did it because it felt the decent thing to do. NRG is right when he says it's gotta be in your face and up front.

If you are anything like me, Admin, it sucks to ask people for money, and you only do it when it is very necessary. When it IS necessary, it should be in people's face. Ads are too easy to ignore..

I like paying a whole lot better than asking people to pay.

When very active, long time members of the board don't support, I'd think it's either because they feel it's not worth it, they are cheap, or they have spent all their money on watches.

There are the select few that contribute in other ways, and they are, of course, exempt..

I don't really have a solution to the problem, and I don't think closing the board is the right way to go.. I know I would turn around at the door if I saw you required a fee to be here. And whenever I see "free" online, I tend to get sceptical. I'll probably support this forum for as long as I actively use it.

How about downscaling if not downgrading where it can be done? I have no clue on how to rent and run a server or website, but does the security of an expensive one match up to the cost? Is all the security needed?

I've done enough illegal stuff online other places.. Sometimes with full name and address.

This is not critique of the way you run things, and I am sure you have thought this through, I just want the questions out there.

Thanks again to the management for keeping this street clean.

-Ape-

[HighDef]

Step up the plate guys. 10 bucks each member wont hurt at all.

[KB]

So here's my 2 cents..

Anyone play any of the real arcade games?

How about Gamehouse?

I for one think they have the perfect marketing ploy, you get to play any of their games for 1hr and then right when it's got you hooked ZAP no more unless you buy.

So why not let all newbies have full access for 1 or 2 weeks and then right when we have them hooked....

Just a thought

Ken

[HighDef]

So here's my 2 cents..

Anyone play any of the real arcade games?

How about Gamehouse?

I for one think they have the perfect marketing ploy, you get to play any of their games for 1hr and then right when it's got you hooked ZAP no more unless you buy.

So why not let all newbies have full access for 1 or 2 weeks and then right when we have them hooked....

Just a thought

Ken

You got evil mind my Aussie friend Reminds me of the dark alleys were I use to live.

(ppssssst, try this for free. It sooooo good aaaaahh )

[sailadams]

Oi... just when I thought the Yobos were all on walkabout...

Give us a kiss, ken