PPRuNe - Entrance Fee ?

[twistedenginestarter]

I'm getting a bit worried about the dotbomb problem out there (nobody making any money) and whether this risks our Forums.

I've never had a problem paying for Internet services. It's just I don't want to pay much and I don't trust anyone with my credit card. They can keep sucking money out of your account and the onus is on you to prove they shouldn't be doing it.

However I trust Danny. So I wouldn't mind paying eg one pound every six months to keep my right to bore people to death.

It's nothing - half a pint. But it could be £50000 to PPRuNe - which may be enough to pay for the service we all enjoy.

What do you think?

[G-BPEC]

Although a good idea in principle, think of all the wannabees who perhaps don't have a credit card and wouldn't be able to pay the fee unless another mode of payment was available (eg cheque/postal order).

BPEC

[Big Red ' L ']

Thats a good idea about charging people to use this site. Its always good to generate some kind of income and also to weed out the idiots who come in to here just to annoy and upset others,BUT as Danny has already stated in a previous post, he will not have people paying to use this site. The site will, if some kind of payment comes in sometime, become elitist, and that would be the end of pprune as we know it because of the extreme and varied views that we all have, thats what makes it so unique. Good idea yes, but at the end of the day, far too much trouble to actualy put into practise.

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Its not the fall that kills you...Its the sudden stop.....

[Hersham Boy]

Hi Twisted

You are correct regarding the state of the dot.com market out there, but I would hesitate before putting a site like PPruNe which (and the proprietor may well come back and tell me I'm wrong!) is not intended to be a vast profit-making body. It's existence is justified by it's usage by the large quantities of Professional and Private Pilots and aviation industry folk as well as enthusiasts and the occasional entertaining loony.

Across the board of subscribers, I feel that more would be lost than gained by introducing any charges - although, personally, I too would not mind paying a limited annual fee.

I must also challenge your statement regarding credit card payments made over the Internet. Your details are no less at risk by handing your card over to a retailer in person or giving them over the phone. More importantly, the onus is not on the card holder to prove they did not make a payment - I believe the usual procedure followed if a payment is challenged by a cardholder is that the retailer concerned is asked to show evidence that the cardholder made a purchase. If they cannot, the payment is refused and credited back to the cardholder account. In addition to this, credit card transactions are in themselves protected by a piece of legislation (The Credit Card Act of [I forget the year]) which provides statutory protection to card users.

Please let's not be furthering the myths surrounding Internet shopping, fraud etc. This is one of the factors that is holding the entire market back, as you state!

[pied piper]

There was a thread about this recently.

Danny himself had the final word, saying that a similar thing was tried on another forum (a spin off from CompuServe)and it bombed (lot of support except for the cash)

As for credit card fraud, the Internet is just another theatre for criminals as is the high street. It’s the scale that is the difference.

Internet e-commerce sites do offer guarantees above that expected in the high street.

I think in the long term the Internet will follow the same model as the physical world to fight cyber crime, i.e. they will outsource specialised security staff (cyber cops?) and buy insurance and we (Joe Bloggs) will pay for it with every e-purchase

[twistedenginestarter]

OK. Actually what I think should happen is this. The site is still free if you don't want to pay. However you are monikered jumpseater ;) ;)

After that you can pay but you get add-ons. For example if I had to pay 5 quid per annum to use the grass skirt smiley ;). No contest. My cheque's in the post.

If I could use more than 8 ;) ;) ;), you could separate me from £10.

You don't lose any potential contributors but you let the Black Amex card holders etc have their rightful portion of status/luxury.

This is a new model that might save the whole Internet!!!!!!!!!

By the way guys - please don't give me that boll*x about Wanabes having no plastic. http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/frown.gif http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/frown.gif How come they're wearing Nike Airs???

[Joyce Tick]

To quote a well known aircrew formula:-
The interest in, and number of postings to, would be inversely proportional to the square root of the fee..

[The Guvnor]

I personally think it's a great idea - I'd suggest that it should be open to anyone to read, but only actual members could post.

Payment by credit card would ensure that the anonymous troublemakers would disappear - and multiple IDs would be no problem - you'd just have to pay the fee for each of them. A tenner a year would, I am sure, not be hard for us all to find and it lifts a serious financial (and legal) burden from Danny's shoulders.

[Luftwaffle]

twistedenginestarter that's a silly idea. A good silly idea. It gives incentive for people to contribute to the site, while not limiting anyone's access. One question is whether it's possible and worth the effort to grant silly privileges to certain people. It should be, seeing as different people can be given access to differnt forums. Then when newcomers ask, "how do I get one of those dancing things?" the answer is "contribute to the site!"

[Speed-Nigel]

The problem with your idea Guvnor, is that if you have to pay to post, many current posters may not bother - they'd rather just read. So the forum content would decline, and soon become very boring indeed.

[dingducky]

could they make money by selling stuff, like t-shirts etc?

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Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is a better defence.

[PPRuNe Towers]

Thanks for all the opinions and ideas.

As we made clear a couple of weeks ago the site is for aviation professionals and future ones - it will remain free to the user.

It is a bit of a struggle financially but as I mentioned to the Ozmates on their forum recently we will only take money if you get something tangible in the form of badges, stickers or Bashes. Don't worry about it, being broke will concentrate our minds beautifully.

Serves us right anyway, we smiled smugly throughout the dot com to dot bomb debacle thinking we'd be untouched and with a hugely loyal, dedicated and growing audience.

However, the collapse of confidence in the overall high tech sector has killed investment in routers and all the needed infrastructure to support the rate of growth in web traffic. Basic supply and demand means that bandwidth costs are going to reverse history and go up considerably soon. We're really not looking forward to that.

We're now using more than an entire T1 line for 14 + hours a day and paying for more than 140 gigs of bandwidth a month. Therefore the next upgrade will have to factor in 200+ gigabytes of bandwidth per month. We're cringing at the thought of the quote.

Anyone want a PPRuNe badge???? We make you very good price.........

Regards from the Towers
Rob Lloyd
[email protected]

[LatviaCalling]

Dingyduck,

Yeah, I love cool T-shirts. My wife rarely allows me to wear them, but I collect them, anyway. Captain's caps would be great too and so would the upscale item of a bomber jacket with a PPrune logo on the shoulder. How about that coffee cup?

Redo your logo resembling something aviation-like. I'd bet you'd find buyers for this stuff, from the lowly Wannabe to the Senior Captain, himself.

Where to I register my credit card.

Seriously, every podunk site has its merchandise "shop." It's been a long time coming for PPrune.

I know for a fact that in the silk screen and embroidery business, a profit of 500% is consisdered normal.

[pietenpohl]

OK. I'll buy a T-shirt, go to a bash. Don't know about the badge though. How about a bumper sticker?
It is important that PPRuNe keeps going in its present form.

[L J R]

Thank you Captain.

PPRuNe is a 'free' service.

If the advertising pays enough [just like newspapers, where your quid doesn't even pay for the paper and ink] the system will remain serviceable. SOme-one must read and respond to the Ads, else they would not be there.

If you charge for it, I will likely become a viewer & not a contributer.

[no sig]

I'm sure you've thought about this suggestion before, but just in case you haven't.

Airlines pay through the nose for magazine adverts for recruitment and the likes, why not consider a part of PPRUNE as a pay for service section. Companies post their recruitment needs for a fee, PPRUNE makes what it needs to provide the free service section. Ok, I know there are a lot of free services out there, but do they have the audience that PPRUNE does?

[DouglasDigby]

Looking forward to the PPRuNe badge - you watch the server load when the details get posted!!

[OzExpat]

PPRuNe Towers... A badge! A badge! My kingdom for a badge!! Well, errm, maybe not quite THAT much! But, as I said on the old "out of the closet" thread, I will happily, indeed, eagerly, buy not ONE, not TWO, but THREE badges!!

So just tell me where and how mate and the money will be on it's way!

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Dispela olgeta samting i pekpek bilong bulmakau!

[PPRuNe Towers]

As you know OzExpat we weren't happy with the first design or its execution.

Prototypes of the new version have been signed off and are in production now. As and when they arrive and if they pass muster we can begin distributing them. Believe me, we'll let you know loud and clear when they're available.

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Regards from the Towers
[email protected]

[twistedenginestarter]

Let me put this proposition a different way.

But first I am not saying you have to pay to participate. You travel on a train, I think you undertsand you have to pay for your Stella at the buffet bar. But then again you don't have to. It's your choice.

I am willing, and I suspect many other also are, to pay money to oil the wheels of PPRuNE. But I ain't doing it for nothing.

Money for nothing is charity and there are more deserving causes.

I want my Stella. ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)

ps Click through rates on banners are now held to be 0.5 percent.

[Flyswift]

Why not try this idea......

PPRune holds a competition for someone amoungst us to design a new PPRune logo. Charge all the entrants a minimal fee. The winner gets say £50$ and their logo can be used on the PPRune caps, T-shirts etc.

If not a logo, any other ideas?

What do you think?

FS

[ExSimGuy]

This one keeps coming back!

I've said it before - I'd pay a small annual fee for membership - But Danny's said it before that it's gonna stay free! I wouldn't envy him the task of administering several thousand fivers (or tenners) as they come in!

I got my badge(s - 3 of them 'cos I lose things!) at the last GatBash, so watch for me on your flights! (upgrades, flight deck visits and free drinks all apreciated ;) )

Do click through! It encourages the people who do pay for the site (the advertisers!)

It's been said before and it's worth saying again - "Thanks to Capt. Pprune and all the other workers" :)

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What goes around . . .
. . often lands better!