Preminum memberships versus standard memberships.

Category: Zone BBS Suggestions and Feedback

Post 1 by CathyAnne (Account disabled) on Tuesday, 16-Aug-2011 18:40:22

Hello, this is CathyAnne.
I do not think that it is fair that the standard members would have to upgrade to premium to get more games, and the invisibility features as well as many others. i am speaking for those who for some reason or another cannot aford to pay for premium. Is there a way to create at least, a standard B so that those who didn't have money, could experience what it is like to have premium? i would like to do that. Let me know what you think on here or through email.

Post 2 by robbiec12345 (Good night and Farewell ) on Tuesday, 16-Aug-2011 20:12:24

This has come up again and again. The server and bandwidth costs are such that advertising alone cannot support them. Premium memberships are needed in order to help fund the costs involved in running a site like this. If everything was free, then they'd be no Zone BBS since it'd be dead. If you want to try out premium access, try earning some points and entering one of the raffles to win a month's premium membership.

Robert

Post 3 by Blue Velvet (I've got the platinum golden silver bronze poster award.) on Tuesday, 16-Aug-2011 20:19:33

Standard members whining about not being given premium features for free is quite common here on the boards. But as the poster above me stated, charging for extra features is necessary to keep this site running. Try the raffle or try asking a friend to buy you a premium membership.

Post 4 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Tuesday, 16-Aug-2011 23:44:17

It's the free market, the free Internet: they can charge what they choose and for what. It's neither fair nor unfair: the site provides, people partake, and either buy from advertisers or buy premiums, or neither, or both.

Post 5 by Jage (Zone BBS, a decade of madness) on Tuesday, 16-Aug-2011 23:57:17

Yup. Some people expect everything for free. Especially some blind people. Well, everything in life isn't free nor can the average person afford to buy it all. That's life.

Post 6 by laced-unlaced (Account disabled) on Wednesday, 17-Aug-2011 1:57:19

hello cathyanne,

the reason that those features are premium are because they are more advanced features, and there has to be more things for members to want to upgrade.if there were no features, and upgrading meant the same features as standard, then people wouldn't be interested, and the zone wouldn't get any money

Post 7 by OceanDream (An Ocean of Thoughts) on Wednesday, 17-Aug-2011 9:03:35

Agreed. However, at least now there are raffles where you have a chance to win a month of free premium membership. we haven't had that feature for long, and before it was implimented, if you didn't have generous friends who had the money to buy one for you, you were just S.O.L. so it's still better now than it was.

Post 8 by Siriusly Severus (The ESTJ 1w9 3w4 6w7 The Taskmaste) on Saturday, 20-Aug-2011 15:46:20

actually, a compromise would work and it would serve well as an attempt to advertise and tempt customers. I know a few other sites that uses it. Each member would get a two week or a month of free premium membership or a standard b type account, one without say name changes and longer profiles kind of like the two week trial we got back in 2009 when we were all suddenly premium. for a bit. then after that time two weeks or a month you'd be returned to the regular one unless you bought that premium account. It works wonders sometimes give some people a trial and they might just buy it all up! It works welll, and no one would have to whine they didn't ever experience what a premium would get. I think that's pretty fair.

Post 9 by forereel (Just posting.) on Saturday, 20-Aug-2011 19:07:35

The Zone does allow a few weeks of free premium from time to time. Maybe she'll get lucky and get one.

Post 10 by Jage (Zone BBS, a decade of madness) on Sunday, 21-Aug-2011 3:37:47

The reason we don't do a free trial for new members is because people would just create new accounts or try to to get more premium. We may do more free premium days or weeks in the future however.

Post 11 by Razeem (Account disabled) on Sunday, 01-Jan-2012 10:43:45

Hello Jage!
Yes, I understand your reasoning, but how about giving out around 5 days of premium trials for users that were registered before a certain date; say, excluding the people who are "considered new"?