Aa
Membership
What about having an annual membership fee? Nothing huge, maybe even just a couple dollars annually. I cannot help but think that if people had to pay a nominal fee to create a user name, that may cut down on the trolls who are so willing to create a dozen user names after being banned. No charges for services like tickers or the like, just a small annual membership charge to pay via paypal or the like. Back in the day I used to donate via Paypal when it was an option and sort of saw it as a way to contribute to operating costs back when it was non-profit.
From just asking around, many of the members I have mentioned this to over the years were on board with it as long as it wasn't overly expensive. All of the requests on the suggestions forum have to be costing a fair amount of money to implement and I think that sometimes folks are forgetting this comes at a cost to the organization. And adding some of these other features not only costs money in development and implementation, but bandwidth and running speeds are commonly compromised which then spawns a new series of complaints as well.
At the very least, I think we owe our thanks to the folks that make it all possible. Sorry, it is just frustrating to see this wish list on here like a greedy child's Christmas list at times.
Perhaps the biggest change we would see is the decrease in troll behavior. If it costs a person a few bucks to join, they are less likely to keep coming back and creating new user names and this could also help to fund the cost to employ the moderators who work so hard to keep up on this crazy place. It must be a daunting task to try and monitor 300+ forums for problem posts, fights, and trolls. I think we all take for granted what MH has offer us all in terms of a place to call home, a place to take our shoes off, cozy up, and share our lives with others.
Just throwing it out there.
From just asking around, many of the members I have mentioned this to over the years were on board with it as long as it wasn't overly expensive. All of the requests on the suggestions forum have to be costing a fair amount of money to implement and I think that sometimes folks are forgetting this comes at a cost to the organization. And adding some of these other features not only costs money in development and implementation, but bandwidth and running speeds are commonly compromised which then spawns a new series of complaints as well.
At the very least, I think we owe our thanks to the folks that make it all possible. Sorry, it is just frustrating to see this wish list on here like a greedy child's Christmas list at times.
Perhaps the biggest change we would see is the decrease in troll behavior. If it costs a person a few bucks to join, they are less likely to keep coming back and creating new user names and this could also help to fund the cost to employ the moderators who work so hard to keep up on this crazy place. It must be a daunting task to try and monitor 300+ forums for problem posts, fights, and trolls. I think we all take for granted what MH has offer us all in terms of a place to call home, a place to take our shoes off, cozy up, and share our lives with others.
Just throwing it out there.
I vote No on membership fees.
1/ I would have passed on MH if there was a charge, as I did with American Heart Assoc.
2/ If you look at the best online communities, they are ALL free i.e. myspace, facebook,
3/ Cost of running the site can/and is underwritten by advertisers - it's a simple effective model.
4/ MH does not need to add more functionality. Keeping a site clean and simple to meet the primary mission of a creating a community of peers is key. Everytime successful online communities have gone down the road of monetizing through membership they have failed. There is tremendous power in "free-dom" :)
What is/are the problem/s we are trying to address by charging fees?
The CL (Community Leader model is a simple straightforward idea) works very well in the Heart Disease Comm.
Just my "free" 2 cents.
Cheers,
Toby
1/ I would have passed on MH if there was a charge, as I did with American Heart Assoc.
2/ If you look at the best online communities, they are ALL free i.e. myspace, facebook,
3/ Cost of running the site can/and is underwritten by advertisers - it's a simple effective model.
4/ MH does not need to add more functionality. Keeping a site clean and simple to meet the primary mission of a creating a community of peers is key. Everytime successful online communities have gone down the road of monetizing through membership they have failed. There is tremendous power in "free-dom" :)
What is/are the problem/s we are trying to address by charging fees?
The CL (Community Leader model is a simple straightforward idea) works very well in the Heart Disease Comm.
Just my "free" 2 cents.
Cheers,
Toby
Have you tried asking the pain managment forum?
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/show/53
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/show/53
Pay? To ask questions which are ignored? I don't think that would be very good. When people come here, its most likely because they are searching for some information...some help or hope. So they ask a question and get ignored. What is there to justify paying for it? I came here trying to find out SOMETHING to do for my shoulder pain. Posted twice and received 0(thats a zero) response...and I am supposed to pay for that?
No membership fee. Look around at the multitudinous pages of advertisements; no different than basic t.v. service, which is free.
It would keep many people under 18 off the site, because they would need a parent's credit card to pay. This would make the parents feel entitled to look at the info, since it's a service they're paying for, thus making it useless to many teens. Also, I for one couldn't afford -any- kind of membership fee, and would be forced to stop using the site.
It would be ridiculous for me to pay a couple of dollars as it would cost the person up to $10 to do the currency transfer. AND $US2 is a lot more in this country, as it is in many others and in some countries they would never be able to send money overseas let alone to America at any cost.
And no is my vote. I would leave too as the reason I have joined here was another site I am on is likely to start charging and I wanted to have a home where I could make friends and talk to other people who were experiencing similar things to what I am. And not have to be charged for it.
And no is my vote. I would leave too as the reason I have joined here was another site I am on is likely to start charging and I wanted to have a home where I could make friends and talk to other people who were experiencing similar things to what I am. And not have to be charged for it.
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