Subscribing to features?

Category: Zone BBS Suggestions and Feedback

Post 1 by sugar (Entertain me. I dare you.) on Sunday, 02-Jul-2006 13:30:20

Was just thinking. Some people don't even have $25 to buy a premium membership, so I was wondering if it would be an idea to have the ability to subscribe to certain features of premium for the year and charge maybe five to ten dollars for it. For example, invisibility status. I didn't have a problem with paying for premium membership myself, but in truth, I only have it so that I can log in invisibly when I feel like it. Thoughts anyone?

Post 2 by nikos (English words from a Greek thinking brain) on Sunday, 02-Jul-2006 16:44:00

Very good idea. I remember once somebody suggested something simmilar like paying just for longer audio profiles and not anything else but nothing happened. I hope this post is more successful.

Post 3 by maddog (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Sunday, 02-Jul-2006 16:49:21

na, in truth, I personally, am in disagreement over this idea. I figure you get one thing, you get the whole package...it just makes things easier, and $25 isn't really gona burn a hole in anyone's wallet if they want some of the features bad enough.

Post 4 by SingerOfSongs (Heresy and apostasy is how progress is made.) on Monday, 03-Jul-2006 7:07:21

Hmm, I'd actually agree with Danielle here; I have heard many people mention that they only want one of the features in particular, and would have been willing to pay, but $25 was more than they were willing to pay for just that. I think the zone might be able to get more money for it's upkeep if it allowed for the subscription method.

Post 5 by sugar (Entertain me. I dare you.) on Monday, 03-Jul-2006 9:05:25

Exactly. Surely it'd make more money if people had the option?

Post 6 by sugarbaby (The voice of reason) on Monday, 03-Jul-2006 12:08:10

in theory I think it's a good idea, but in practice I'm not sure how easy it would be to code.

Post 7 by Manwe (The Dark Lord) on Monday, 03-Jul-2006 12:13:16

i think the thing is, that people are wary of putting money over the table as it were to subscribe to something for a great length of time like a year, no matter how much it costs. because if for example the zone turns out to be some passing fad, then they will look at it like a waste of money. what i think would be a better idea is lets say, a monthly subscription of $3 per month, but if you buy it for the year it's $25. alot of sites do this sort of thing.

Post 8 by Harp (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Monday, 03-Jul-2006 15:07:39

Well, really I have to agree with Maddog on this issue. People keep talking as though $25 15 pounds is a vast some of money which it really isn't. Hell if you just saved up your change for a couple of months you'd have that much in no time.




That said if there is enough demand to have this issue looked at then obviously we'd take it to the admins so lets keep hearing those thoughts people?

Post 9 by Manwe (The Dark Lord) on Monday, 03-Jul-2006 16:53:52

oh yeah dan i agree with you £25 is peanuts compared to other sites i've seen. it doesn't bother me at all that sort of money not in the slightest.

Post 10 by laced-unlaced (Account disabled) on Tuesday, 04-Jul-2006 9:22:23

on one hand, yes, it's not much money and you do get quite a bit of extra stuff.

but on the other hand, i think that if someone just wanted 1 extra feature they should pay a smaller amount so that they don't waste there money on features that they wouldn't even use

Post 11 by wildebrew (We promised the world we'd tame it, what were we hoping for?) on Tuesday, 04-Jul-2006 10:25:59

Well, I really don't undestand how $2 a month is such a high price that people keep complaining about it. $25, in most cases, has given people an 18 month subscription so far (the premiums got a few extra months due to site difficulties) and if you can't skip one trip to the movies or one candy bar per month for a year's worth of features, I really don't see you wanting those features that much.
I think the monthly subscription is, howver, a pretty good idea i.e. $3 per month or $25 a year. It's easy, from a coding perspective, however if you start subscribing to individual features it requires a confirugation change and keeping track of the individual users' status. It's not overly hard, from a programming perspective, but it does require some thought, some coding and adds a level of complexity to operating the site. That's obviously up to admin but I can well see why he wouldn't think it worth the effort.
I really don't have a problem with the all ornothing approach at all myself.
cheers
-B

Post 12 by Q (Take my advice, I'm not using it anyhow.) on Tuesday, 04-Jul-2006 10:27:58

If I go out to eh music store to buy a cd, I almost always get a few tracks on there I don't like, and yet, I have to pay for them.
If you want premium bad enough, you will save up the 25$ or R175, or whatever, and buy it.
Although I'm premium, there are a few premium features I don't use, and there are those I use.
So, I doubt if it would make logistic and coding sense to have such a feature implemented.
But that's only my thoughts, so ...
Whatever the outcome of this is going to be, it ain't going to throw the child out of the bed, ey?

Post 13 by chocolab (move over school!) on Tuesday, 04-Jul-2006 10:32:08

The thing with this is, froma premium member's point, there's really not so much of a draw for you to get the new features. You have two minutes on the audio profile, cool. You can play the new anigram game, great. You can see how drunk you were the night before if you so choose. The problem I think is that there's just not anything so I have to have it, that someone might want the premium mebership. I'm not saying I don't appreciate the premium status, sorry if ti looks likeI'm picking on them. You really aren't getting so much for that twenty five a year that if you didn't want the audio profile, you're mising out ona whole huge following. just my thoughts, so i guess no I don't really think the subscription idea would work, but if it does, ok great.

Post 14 by nikos (English words from a Greek thinking brain) on Tuesday, 04-Jul-2006 11:06:19

I don't think we got an extention because of quicknote history wasn't working for a period of time. According to the homepage i will be premium until the 4th of November 2006 and i remember very well that this was exactly the date 1 year ago that i became premium. And since i was premium quicknote history wasn't available for a few months.
So i don't think we got any extentions. I can't talk about other users because i don't know but this is the kace about myself anyway. Maybe we have the extention but it doesn't say it on the homepage. So i don't know.

Post 15 by sugarbaby (The voice of reason) on Tuesday, 04-Jul-2006 11:41:35

hmmm quinten agree in part on the album, although if I only want certain songs then I just go to a site and download them, lol. B although I agree in part that $25 isn't that much in the grand scheme of things, I think it is actually quite expensive when you compare it with other online subscription sites. Most game type sites charge approx $10/$15 and for that you get a lot more tha you do with premium here. So I think it's not so much about affordability as quality of product?

Post 16 by nikos (English words from a Greek thinking brain) on Tuesday, 04-Jul-2006 11:48:47

I don't know much about other sites and how much they charge but i know all in play is much more expensive than the zone so i wouldn't say zone is expensive. And i personaly like more the zone system because on the zone there are some free basic features and you pay for more advanced features. At all in play if you don't pay you get nothing.

Post 17 by sugarbaby (The voice of reason) on Tuesday, 04-Jul-2006 11:57:51

allInPlay is expensive.

Post 18 by maddog (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Tuesday, 04-Jul-2006 11:58:54

ahafan totally has it here, people. Everyone buys CDs, and on those CDs, there will always be tracks that you won't listen to, or will simply skip over. As for the lack of features, it's not like we haven't been adding in new features for premiums, and we will keep adding in features. It's jsut as some of you know, coding new features do take time, and while we are more expensive than a few sites around, we're cheeper than most. All-in-play is a very good example of one site that we're cheeper from, that's right.

Post 19 by sugarbaby (The voice of reason) on Tuesday, 04-Jul-2006 12:06:18

er ... you buy CD's? no no no no no no no no download download download! hmmm now if the zone offered a music download portal I might be tempted back, lol.

Post 20 by fuzzy101 (The master of fuzz!!) on Saturday, 08-Jul-2006 23:18:17

I think twenty-five dollars is a lot if you only want one or two features and you don't make that much a monty. It isn't a lot if you care enough about the zone and want to help pay for it's up-keep, or if you want a lot of the features. But either the monthly thing or perhaps a lower package where you can choose two or three features wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Post 21 by Manwe (The Dark Lord) on Sunday, 09-Jul-2006 14:31:33

to be honest i don't use the majority of features accept if i want to cloke myself for what ever reason. i bought the premium membership last year only for that rason, i just bought it and forgot all about it lol i don't know if i will bother this year or not, i didn't miss the $25, not at all. but i don't know if i want to spend it this year. especially considering i don't come on here every day like some people do, i go through fazes where by i might not come on here for months at a time.

Post 22 by Grace (I've now got the ggold prolific poster award! wahoo! well done to me!) on Sunday, 09-Jul-2006 14:34:08

Personally I am not a Premium member though for another I have made said purchase and would be more than willing to renew their membership when the time comes…but on a month by month basis… hmmm, one needs to take into consideration if they are say paying by check (how I opted to pay) If by check is the method of payment then besides the actual dollar amount I am paying there would also be the cost of the envelope for mailing each month as well as the postage and too, the constant month to month hassle renewal…that could be tiresome. (The need to continuously make sure I have the payment in mail by the date required) Maybe perhaps more so on a quarterly basis like every three months for those not desiring to take the plunge for a year’s membership might be the route to go.

Post 23 by crimson x (This site is so "educational") on Saturday, 22-Jul-2006 17:05:59

what I wood like is fore like a month every one cood have premeum and then we choose if we want to keep it then we pay but if not just wait it out

Post 24 by JH_Radio (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Saturday, 22-Jul-2006 19:50:39

I hear ya about the 30-day trial. That wouldn't really be all that hard to implament now would it? Take the creditcard and/or paypal e-mail address and if you don't cancel within 30 days you start getting billed. I also agree about the monthly thing. I like the idea of $3 per month. I also like the idea of being able to subscribe to certain features. It is of my opinion that though this would be more coding etc, it would provide more choices for users instead of the all or nothing black or white thing that is in place currently. It has nothing to do with the fact that $25 is a lot for me personally. It just have to do with the fact that there may be one feature I might pay for and Other then that, there is nothing in it for me. Plus as I will reiterate, it is a more flexabel option that provides aditional choices for supporting the zone.

Post 25 by Pink Pineapple (Veteran Zoner) on Monday, 24-Jul-2006 13:29:22

I agree with Danielle this is a good idea I asked chris about it once it could be done probably but I don't know what he will do it was a while back, myself I only use invisble log in an message and that's about it and 25 dollars is alot if you don't use half the features.