Creation of a fee based forum.

Giblet

I don't think this is suited to the forums suggestion really, as it goes beyond requesting a simple forum, and I know something similar has been suggested before.

What about creating a seperate forum, or group of forums that costs money to enter. Pay via paypal with the right comment and you get access. For that you could have a private section of boards were the debate is more, lets say relaxed for now. Payment would probably go some way to stem younger audiences from viewing the content and thus allow members to post more adult content (not porn,

maybe

) without fear of the chidlins seeing it.

I have no idea how it would work, but thats why I have you guys right?!

Rabies

Sounds like a good idea, i think. But what about the legal implication of certain things getting posted that isn't allowed on the main site. Why should there be two different rules. It isn't hard for a teenager to get his parents or friends CC and pay through paypal and gain access

Giblet

And then be found out and banned from using it again? It's not unreasonable to think that payment will be a deterrent, especially if banned once already. It's not about legality as such, just insurance against viewing anything that would be legal but not suitable for younger people.

Goodshape

There's the Subscribers forum. But I think your talking about something else, since there's no age restriction on subscribers. But how could there be?

Evil Phil

There's also a number of private forums where the rules are more relaxed. These are available upon invite only (afaik).

CuLT

I don't think a pay system alone would suffice in fairness, after all, even muppets have money.

Something like a "VIP" section though, I reckon, could take off, based on a fee and a screening process of some sort.
I would say base it on the length of time someone's been around only for that there's users who only signed up last year who are great additions to the community, (ie Nukem, Ruggiebear, etc).

Vexorg

A good idea guys, what sort of support would there be in principle for a separate, lets say Adults/Mature, section of boards?


V.

RuggieBear

CuLT wrote:

I don't think a pay system alone would suffice in fairness, after all, even muppets have money.

Something like a "VIP" section though, I reckon, could take off, based on a fee and a screening process of some sort.
I would say base it on the length of time someone's been around only for that there's users who only signed up last year who are great additions to the community, (ie Nukem, Ruggiebear, etc).

my ears are burning....

But isn't one of the principle of Boards to be a kind of general community with a mix of different ages and experiences...It's fragmenting as it is with alot of the private forums...I know i like the idea of not having to read immature spam but if the more mature members isolate themselves away in their own "adult" boards will not all of Boards suffer for the (lack of) experience. Apologies if that sounds hypocritical

Crash

Vexorg wrote:

A good idea guys, what sort of support would there be in principle for a separate, lets say Adults/Mature, section of boards?


V.

...i like em mature....

...i'm so not getting access now am i :P

Lafortezza

The idea of a fee based forum sounds like an advanced spam/noobie filter to me.
Not a bad thing either.

Goodshape

I'm not a big fan of charging people money for this sort of thing - particularly seen as boards has always revelled in being free and open. But maybe a boards2.ie with the same essential set-up as here, only more enforcement of anti-muppet rules. There's always private forums for the 'more-adult' content, I think we simply need somewhere for 'more-mature' discussion - without all the 'OMG!!' 'WTF?! Lol!'.

Still not entirely convinced it would work though. Splitting a user-base like that. Plus the muppets will either grow up or get banned eventually.

WizZard

I agree with Ruggie in this instance. The mixed community of boards is part of it's appeal, and while the idea of an Adult/Mature forum is a good one, I would be afriad it would perhaps "dumb down" some other forums.

RuggieBear

Goodshape wrote:

....

Still not entirely convinced it would work though. Splitting a user-base like that. Plus the muppets will either grow up or get banned eventually.

i agree. i just think there has been a bunch of newbie muppetness over the last few months that is trying the patience of the more established members.

IMO, the boardsie upperclasses should not migrate to the sanctuary of suburban private forums...

mycroft

RuggieBear wrote:

i agree. i just think there has been a bunch of newbie muppetness over the last few months that is trying the patience of the more established members.

IMO, the boardsie upperclasses should not migrate to the sanctuary of suburban private forums...

Suburban private forum, nice one.

Subscriber forums why not, it'll help keep out the riff raff, and gated communties are a much healthier environment to bring up the children, we could let the newbies in to be the nannies and mow the lawn.

WhiteWashMan

Giblet wrote:

I don't think this is suited to the forums suggestion really, as it goes beyond requesting a simple forum, and I know something similar has been suggested before.

What about creating a seperate forum, or group of forums that costs money to enter. Pay via paypal with the right comment and you get access. For that you could have a private section of boards were the debate is more, lets say relaxed for now. Payment would probably go some way to stem younger audiences from viewing the content and thus allow members to post more adult content (not porn,

maybe

) without fear of the chidlins seeing it.

I have no idea how it would work, but thats why I have you guys right?!

how about just having a private forum?

uberwolf

I cann't see what is being offered here that the private forums don't already provide TBH.

I know what you're getting at, but to be fare should the subscriber fee not cover this. pay-per-post just doesn't jiggle it for me.

nesf

uberwolf wrote:

I cann't see what is being offered here that the private forums don't already provide TBH.

I know what you're getting at, but to be fare should the subscriber fee not cover this. pay-per-post just doesn't jiggle it for me.

I agree completely. In fact I think having a subcribed forum would get some people's backs up even further. For instance there are people out there that take issue with the the idea of private forums for the purpose of exclusion and people advertising them on their sigs. I can only see those people getting even more angsty about it if they see it as being a purpose made barrier to prevent people who can't afford to pay.

Yes it would cut down on the immature idiots present, but it would also cut out anyone who couldn't afford to pay for such a thing (unemployed/whatever) and there would be people who would oppose any kind of pay to play boards on a website that is for the most part a free service.

Personally, I think that yes it could work very well, but private forums that are already invite based fit the purpose very well already in my opinion. You might have trolls or other undesireables purposely paying the fee in order to "troll" the "elites".

Invite only private forums are already doing a better job I feel. I can only see a fee based system getting more people's backs up and the people who already seem to have issue private forums will only get more annoyed about things. Best not to change things I feel.

If it ain't broke, why fix it?

po0k

Personal Issues Private forum?

PIP.

Moriarty

boards is still too small to have something like this work. It'd just turn into Yet Another Forum Of The Week with the usual 50 or so suspects... ie. useless.

Shelve the idea for two or three years and see if there's enough active users to sustain something like this then.

WhiteWashMan

no on eis going tp pay money to a private forum to talk rubbish.
there has to be some reason for it, a common theme.

calling each other ghey and having a zeazezil shout 'im a homosexual and i like the cóck' is not a common theme on boards that i would subscribe to...

Mercury_Tilt

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Boston

You're suggesting a warez forum. You forget one thing, the fact that the admins probably don't agree with warez.

WhiteWashMan

on the other hand, if its a private forum, it doesnt matter what is said on it.

after all, im a member of saeveral, and your name has popped up recently.
but you dont know what was said about you.
do you?

Boston

Mine? why would mine pop up.

Mercury_Tilt

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Mercury_Tilt

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Giblet

The Conclave, I like it.

Where any regular emacipated zoid can indeed can talk about things that would normally be, well not in the best interests of the site to be public.

Private forums tend to be invite only, for example, could I just ask to be in Pear Tree, The Illuminati etc.

No, everyone hates me so I have to buy friends.

flogen

Conclave? pah! The Elders is still the only way for boards.ie to go...

Mercury_Tilt

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mycroft

Mercury_Tilt wrote:

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A Skull cap and balls are a plus..... As is carnal knowledge of mother thersea.

"That line back there a few miles back, was it the good taste line?"

WhiteWashMan

i know what merc is talking about.

what the hell are you on?

The Corinthian

Personally I would see two issues with this. First is what type of forum would people actually pay for that they can’t get as either a private or public forum already for free. Many of the issues that surround libel or pornography would not change, regardless of whether the forum is subscription based or not so, as people have pointed out, you would be hard pressed to convince them to buy the cow when you get the milk for free...

I think the only subscription-based forum that has been suggested of boards over the years has been a dating board. Of course, other than the legal implications, I’m not certain it would work in a bulletin board format.

Secondly, as an entity, Boards lacks the manpower and administration to do so. A free community site is one thing (you get what you pay for), but once you start charging people money, you’ve service level obligations and a handful of part time Admins can’t afford the time to develop or support subscription based services. This is probably the reason that the present subscribers system has never really been promoted strongly beyond a core group of usual suspects who are likely to be more understanding if they don’t receive a response to their support PM within five minutes.

Of course you could call on the community to help out in a commercial endeavour, but communities tend to lose interest quickly when they’re asked to help other people make money for free. My own opinion is that the Admins are probably better off franchising things such as the site’s advertising or subscription based boards to third parties.

Boards is probably approaching the point when it must commercialize or stagnate. Continued growth and demand increases the pressure on both the Admins and servers, so if the matter is not addressed, we will probably see a situation where server outages increase and Admin support per member decreases until membership begins to shrink again.

RuggieBear

That makes alot of sense....

I'm still waiting for the 2xl Boards.ie: Now ye're talkin' t-shirts to be pimped

Xcom2

Would boards not get in a bit of bother if it became general knowledge that there was a subscription service where you could get porn and warez links?

X

Giblet

No because there is no porn and warez forum. Geddit!?

Sangre

Vexorg wrote:

A good idea guys, what sort of support would there be in principle for a separate, lets say Adults/Mature, section of boards?


V.

Does no one else think one of the appeals of boards.ie is that you could be having a debate on say...abortion and being shredded by the other side, never knowing their only 15 or something?

Its really great when people can't dismiss an arguement by going, ah sure you're only 16, you wouldn't understand.

DeVore

Good post Corinthian, I mostly agree!

I dont like Pay Per Post and I dont like Warez or Porn. I do like the idea of mature topics (such as the Legal Highs forum, or BDSM or whatever) and then charging makes sense as you confirm the person is over 18 (to have a credit card).

We are revamping the subscribers system a bit better (now that VB has incorporated it into its system).

DeV.

CuLT

I recokmd bot being 4tirely driuubk befroe replying.


it isa A GOOD STANCE TO have and asolo eintellifewet.

sorry about yhis DeV, i menat to be a better edxxample/

Sangre

You're cool.

Mercury_Tilt

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