user survey

[abby]

As many of you know, the website - and message boards in particular - have grown and become higher maintenance for me to run all by my lonesome :) In order to provide better service for you.....how much would you be willing to pay, if anything at all? (see poll for options)

[maxwell78]

Quite frankly, Abby, I'm so addicted at this point that you can pretty much name your price. :D

[tina1979]

Well, to be honest with you, I usually don't go anywhere I need to pay. However I have been on here a while so I would probably be willing to pay a reasonable cost. I am pretty much a single mom though so I can't afford much

[MetFanL]

I sporadically donate to another board that I belong to, but to be honest, it would take a lot of extras for me to want to pay for membership.

[pisces2473]

I'd be interested in getting some kickbacks from monies collected ;)

I wish I could help you more, Abby, this is very interesting stuff (working ON the site).

[Skyblade]

I'd be willing to pay, but I guess part of me fears that newbies would not be interesting in joining anymore. I know the people who have been established for awhile would be willing to pay because they've already gotten so much out of the boards.

[tina1979]

I'd be willing to pay, but I guess part of me fears that newbies would not be interesting in joining anymore. I know the people who have been established for awhile would be willing to pay because they've already gotten so much out of the boards.
thats true about the newbies....maybe you could offer a free trial membership just to check out the boards then they could pay to joing if they wanted to.

[coll214]

a small, nominal fee i could handle...i've been coming here too long to not be able to anymore.

[kimmer23]

i am wondering the same things as skyblade. i wouldnt mind paying like $20 a yr. maybe 6 mos free for new members? or 30days? some kind of trail membership or something...

anyways maybe i should email you abby. my husband has the chance to take over for the owner of tantalk.com (a message board dedicated to the tanning industry). i'll tell him to help run qlc too! hehe!

[wordsmith]

Honestly, it's doubtful that I'd be able to justify paying, as well. I'm one of the longest-term members who actively posts, and it would definitely be a downer to not get to talk to people anymore, though. I don't know. A lot of us just have too many expenses already. I'm not trying to be crappy, just realistic.

I guess that I'm not that bothered by the glitches (and trolls) that come with a free site...I can put up with downtime for a free site that I enjoy. I also agree with skyblade. I think that a membership fee might deter new members, especially in the demographic the board most serves. I also think it might shut out those members who really add to the community but who stop by only occasionally, and that would suck. But somebody who pretty much only surfs on their lunch breaks and occasionally of an evening isn't as likely to be willing to pay as some of us who post super regularly and are accustomed to spending a lot of time here. I think paid membership would change the flavor around here at least a little, and not necessarily for the better. Just an opinion.

[maxwell78]

What about a donation kind of thing? I think Amazon.com runs a "donation jar" type thing called the Amazon Honor System. Another board that I peruse occassionally is set up for that.

[tina1979]

What about a donation kind of thing? I think Amazon.com runs a "donation jar" type thing called the Amazon Honor System. Another board that I peruse occassionally is set up for that.
how does that work?

I play around on wheresgeorge.com sometimes and they have a voluntary program too I think. Its called friends of george, but I never checked into it to see how it worked. I never went on theboards often enough, but I practically live on this one.

[pisces2473]

There's always PayPal.

[maxwell78]

how does that work?
It works just like how you'd buy anything from Amazon. You just enter the amount of money you want to donate ($1.00 minimum) and pay by credit card or whatever. And the money goes to whomever it's set up for.

[kitalyn414]

i say now that i would pay up to $30, but if i get a new job with less free time, i probably wouldn't.

[maxwell78]

Here's some info about the Amazon Honor System. They take 2.9% though. :(

http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/subst/fx/home.html/058-2636357-1282825

[megrocks]

So far I'm the only one who voted for the $5 a month fee, and I think that is reasonable. I don't have a whole lot of money, but I spend way more than $5 each month on stupid crap that I get almost no use out of. I'm willing to forgo a People magazine and a candy bar so I can have these forums.

[kimmer23]

oh i didnt see the $5/month option. i saw $60 and thought it was all upfront. but yeah i dont think $5 a month isnt bad. i mean that is one lunch at mcdonalds that i certainly dont need!

[tina1979]

i would be willing to do $5.00 a month, I just can't do it all at once.

[Sus122079]

I also vote for no fee. Sure, $5 a month doesn't seem like much, but it does add up (speaking as a member of TotalFark, which is yet another highly addictive website I sometimes frequent, lol.) I think it would change the dynamic of these boards a good deal, especially considering this is a support group.

What makes this place so great is that people are able to come here for free support which, if it cost money, they might not be able to afford.

[cheshrcarol]

I would probably pay $5/month or less. But I definitely don't need a newsletter. And I don't know if I would pay if it was just a one-time payment for a full year, especially if it was like $20 or $30. I'd probably figure I had other things I should be spending my money on instead. I'd much prefer to pay on a month-to-month basis, it just seems easier to justify 5 bucks at a time :).

[wordsmith]

Wait...I guess I'm confused.

If it's a matter of us needing to pay for the site to exist at all, I'd rather pay than lose it entirely. I read it as upgrades to the site and additional benefits would mean that we'd need to contribute to cover the costs of doing that. And, honestly, I'm fine with a non-upgraded free site with no extras. I'd prefer that to being charged for a more elaborate site.

[kimmer23]

i just know it can be quite costly to maintain a website and find a server to host it.

[tartytwenty]

I also read it as upgrades. I voted for 15/year. Guess I'm cheap, but it's realistic.

[GetMeOuttaDC]

I voted for $15/year as well... although maybe I'd be willing to pay more, if cheapass, unethical, cold heartless, unfeeling Aetna cuts down on their mental health services!!!

However, I am seeing a lot of people who I do NOT want to leave the boards, saying that they can't afford the $60/year plan... Would you maybe willing to accept help from those of us who are tech-savvy in maintaining the boards, as cheaply as possible? I am pretty good with html myself... :)

I understand the server isn't cheap, but I really don't care what they look like as long as I can talk to you all. :)

[The Fly]

I'm down with the Paypal or Amazon options. Those of us who can't afford therapy need an alternative that we aren't forced to pay for.

[shimmer728]

I'm for paying as little as absolutely possible, if we have to pay at all. I like this site, but having to pay for it would seriously affect my decison whether or not to come here anymore.

[winneythepooh7]

I would be willing to pay something to keep the boards running. However, I am just as happy with a no-frills board and our wonderful moderators keeping the losery-people off.

[and1grad]

I went with the $30 option. Its really not much of a hit, plus I can understand how difficult it must be to maintain this site. I wonder if its possible to offer the extra features only to paying customers, but the addition of a chat room might put a scary hit on my work productivity.

[Phoenix]

I work in web, so I understand that there are costs for servers and hosting. Are there costs also for maintaining the site code/hiring someone to do it? I definitely think you could find volunteers to help lessen costs, if that is the case.

Speaking from an end user's perspective, though, if I have to pay to hit a site, I generally just skip over it and move on. Since I don't frequent this site much anymore, it wouldn't be worth it to me to pay a fee (maybe in the past, though, it would have been).

Some other good points were made in the previous posts. I think that there is the good possibility that new users may feel alienated and membership would drop (between new and current users). The point of the QLC site from the beginning was to give people a place where they felt they belonged and could talk about issues. Charging for membership may make the site feel more exclusive rather than inclusive and other people may just not bother to check it out at all.

[Heroic1]

Sorry, I don't want to offend anyone but the day I pay to post on a message board will never come. This is a great site, but...
I know a lot of sites manage to get by on the donations of some members without requiring it of all.

[wordsmith]

I've been on boards that welcomed donations, but didn't require them, and I know people did contribute as they could, via paypal. That's doable, and an entirely different thing than having to pay to use a site. On the boards I'm thinking of, the administrators had it set up that you got some sort of visual icon by your name on your posts if you were a "sustaining" member, i.e. one who donated (even if it was like 5 bucks)...a star or something, or it was a different color. It kind of gently encouraged people to contribute something, because you could see who donated, but it didn't make anyone feel like they were required to, either.

I would pay something toward site upkeep. I'm here a lot. I just wouldn't want to, from the perspective of somebody who drops by sporadically, feel as if I had to pay to play.

[Starfish81]

Some other good points were made in the previous posts. I think that there is the good possibility that new users may feel alienated and membership would drop (between new and current users). The point of the QLC site from the beginning was to give people a place where they felt they belonged and could talk about issues. Charging for membership may make the site feel more exclusive rather than inclusive and other people may just not bother to check it out at all.

I agree with Phoenix. After being on the boards for a while, I personally would pay a small fee. However, as a new person coming here, I wouldn't have stuck around and posted initially if I had to pay for it. All the added bonuses that come from a fee wouldn't matter to me. I would rather have a really low key site that didn't have any special fonts or colors or smilies, as long as people got to come here and participate and share their feelings and advice without the pressure of money.

Considering many of us don't have high paying jobs, or are in the process of looking for a job, an added expense would discourage the people who need this site the most from coming here. So please don't make us pay :cry:. I like the diversity that a these free message boards bring.

[Winter Storm]

OK, going by the results, I can see that I'mnot alone is wanting to participate in a free site. Yeah I love this site and would hate for it to be shutdown, but I'm on a dozen sites and I don't pay for any of them. If the site was really struggling I could see making a donation, but I really have to limit my bills right now.

[tartytwenty]

So please don't make us pay :cry:. I like the diversity that a these free message boards bring.


Hopefully, it will be a voluntary donation type deal. Plus, she's just throwing it out there, it's not set in stone. So wipe those tears away! :huge:

[midtwenty]

In all honesty, having to pay would probably be an effective way to run me off. Oh, I'd likely pay in the beginning, especially if it were only a small fee. But I'm something of a tightwad penny-pincher and I'd eventually resent the payment and stop doing it completely. I do respect your need to have resources to run the site however, Abby. Do what you need to do. But I do agree with those who have concerns over newbies joining. If this were a pay site when I first found it, I can honestly say I never would have joined.

[mishl982]

I like the idea of accepting donations. That way, no one is required to pay, but if you really cared for helping out with the upkeep for the boards you could donate.

[tina1979]

Well, i would do the $5.00 a month if I had to, but I would prefer to do donations. Which since I am on this site all the time, I would definately want to help pitch in on the upkeep. Its just some months its easier than others to come up with the extra.

[Aurelem]

I've visited this site at various times since I first heard of it. I haven't had much of a chance to visit recently. This is my first visit in a while. The problem I have with making it a pay site is that I don't frequent the site on a consistent basis. I've met some good and interesting people on my visits, but then the real world calls again and I find my computer time diminished by those demands on the rest of my life. I understand you must do what you feel is necessary, but it probably would mean the difference between me popping in for a visit when I get a chance or not at all.

[GetMeOuttaDC]

Just let us know what the verdict is...