Category: the Rant Board
Hi, I'm sure this has been said before, but the audio profiles polacy of the zone is fucking stupid! I'm sure that premium membership has many wonderful features if you're the kind of person who likes sitting around all day playing Anagram Mania Extreme etc, but I don't like games of that sort much, I'm not at all interested in logging in invisibly or even having an audio profile 2 minutes in length! But 20 seconds is fucking pathettic! Admin is making absolutely no effort to cater for users who just want something in between full membership and standard! I'd be happy with a minute long profile in fucking mono for god sake! But I don't see why I should pay for a bunch of crap I'll never use! Why can't the zone admins change their membership catigories to Bronze, free membership, Silver, a minute long audio profile and a couple of other bits and pieces, and gold, the full package? I'm sure I'm not the only standard member who refuses to pay full wack for a premium membership around here, but might consider a much lower price for something that gives you just that little bit more than standard membership, but not as much as premium.
Sorry if this pisses some people off, but quite frankly, I'm really angry about this, and something should be done because admin is trying to force people to buy full memberships just so that they can have a longer AP, and that really isn't on. People who bought full membership did so not just because of the audio profile thing folks I can asure you. They wanted the other benifits as well! People who haven't don't want the benifits that premium members get, but I know a shit load of people who bitch about the AP situation, and might pay 5 or 6 dollars a year for a little longer on their AP.
Have you posted this suggestion on the ZoneBBS Suggestion board? I really don't personally think it's a bad idea to have a half way type thing. *smile*
matt, before you go on yoru little rant you ever stopped to think that a more gentle aproach might be far more successfull in geting your point across? and on the note of using the premium features, I don't use any of them apart from the audio profile, and before it was taken down the quick note histery to read messages I'd missed. I payed the whole wopping $25*insert sarcasm here* US, which at the time for me was more like AU$35, because I think that what this site has to offer, and the amount of time an efert that j chris, and others have put into maintaining it, and improving it for us. is worth a little gratatude. I mean come on guys, it's costing them to have it on line for us, and why should it?so all you lot who moan and complain about how you can't access this feature, or that feature and how expencive premium membership is, stop to think how much you'd usualy be paying to be par tof a decent on line community. I think the benefits far out way the disadvantages. and who hasn't got $25 to spare anyway? specially thoughs of you from the UK, it's hardly going to bust your bank is it? I think if people want this site to continue to be on line, and want the features to keep improving, then abuse and critasism isn't going to encourage any of the admins to keep working on it. the whole idea of adding new features to a product is to make it more enticing, so that you want to pay for it. Obviously not the case round here. people would much rather just have a bitch about what a rip off it is, and how unfair it is that they can't do this or that. well sorry guys, but you'll find that most of us disagree with you. it's not a lot to pay, and it's hardly what the thing is worth. so get over it and stop beeing a bunch of tight asses. Ps Matt this isn't directly aimed at you, but you posted it on the boards and well I'm fed up with everyone else bitching about it in the quick notes when ever I log in.
I'm not saying that I won't pay, just that I don't see why people who litterally only want a slightly longer audio profile should have to pay as much as people who spend their time playing games, care enough about their qn histories to want to read them, feel the need to log in invisibly etc. I'm just not interested in any of that! All I want is a minute of audio profile, and I would pay an amount for that, but no way would I pay 25 dollars just for that privolage alone. Yes this site has taken a lot of time to put together, and I'm not saying that premium membership is too expensive, I can, as you pointed out, easily afford 25 dollars! It's the principle of the thing though which stops me. So, the current situation is that right now, the Zone isn't going to get any money from me, because I'm not going to buy a premium membership just so I can have a longer profile! A longer profile on it's own, is not worth 25 dollars. But if they came up with something that cost maybe, 10 dollars per year for a minute long profile or something, and maybe allowed, I donno, longer board posts and private messages or something, but didn't allow access to stuff like invisible login, anagram extreme etc, I'd gladly pay that.
Yes maybe my first post was a bit bitchy, but I'd been sitting there trying to upload a new AP, and I tried 5 bloody times, and each time I got an error message, even though it was only 0.4 seconds over the limit which just frustrated me more and more!
I would like to support this site of course, because it provides a lot of pleasure to a lot of people, but I simply will not pay for facilities I will never use! Wouldn't admin like to get some money out of me and people like me at least? OK so maybe not the full 25 bucks, but something? Surely every dollar helps? The solution is simple. Just offer a cut down paid membership that has enough features, including a longer AP than 20 seconds, at a sensible price when comparing it to full premium membership, and I'm there right away. That way, I get the features I'm looking for, and the Zone gets some cash which it wouldn't get otherwise!
Matt
by the way, I have tried aproaching this gently some time back when AP's were dropped to 20 seconds from 1 minute Krystel, and a certain staff member posted a very condescending, holier than thou reply which annoyed me rather. The reply left absolutely no room for discussion, basically saying it was a decision that was made by the people who run the zone and would not be changed under any circumstances so the pezzants had better just live with it.
Point is, this online community is no longer a bit of fun, it's a serious business, taking money and offering services. There is a professional code of conduct which the staff must follow, and sometimes the rather abrupt and casual attitudes of CL's and admin shocks me a little bit I'm sorry to say. That also raises another issue about certain zone members who perhaps get away with a little more than they should because of who they know and who their friends are. I can't imagine a company like AOL or Amazon getting away with things like that, so I don't see why the zone should be any different now that it is a more serious venture than it was a year ago.
Probably not making any friends here today, but hey, that's life.
Fair enough if you're willing to pay for the increased audio profile length. Those take up both the most space and bandwidth on the server, hence the need to restrict them and only allow them for paid premium members. I surely wouldn't expect Chris or J or anyone to be paying for this site out of pocket, would you? But, as to our suggestion, I really do't see why you wouldn't pay $25 to support people who have set up a site like this, it's not exactly going to burst your bank and if you look at sites like e.g. Eharmony (the only online community site I know of, be it that it's a dating site) it's something like $50 a month and you have to read tons of ads on top of that, it's really rare to find a site where you can log in and chat to people and play games and not have to pay a sky high monthly subscription or read a ton of ads, but point taken, perhaps a $15/month membership for some limited benefits might be worth considering but you really have to learn to be a bit more diplomatic about getting what you want, just look at the topic of this post, is that really going to make someone in charge feel like helping you?
cheers
-B
Wow Matt!!! hehehehe I understand where you are coming from as I really thought that 20 seconds wasn't long enough. However, after long thought, I realized that this zone community means a lot to me and I'd like to try my best to support it in any way that I can. I too got my premiumship for the extended audio profile and I love being premium now! lol Matt. To me, having an extended profile means a lot because I can do what ever I want with it without it having to be too short. I personally don't agree with having a in-between zone group but that's just my oppinion.
*sexy*
mmm! I think he was referring to me as the other staff member, and I think I speak for everyone when I say, no, we won't increase the time from 20 seconds, because yes, it does take up too much bandwidth, as for the rest of it? Hmmm, well, I won't comment, because my comment would be very unprofessional sounding, rude, and very very insulting, and as I could care less about your feelings, the staff on this cite is supposed to show a bit of professionalism, but I think those who know me well would know exactly what I want to say to you, and might even be kind enough to say it for me! In the meantime, no, no, no, and oh, did I say no?
See what I mean? I rest my case!
And this is why I'll never be a community leader. What maddog wanted to say is why don't you play hide and go fuck your self, and never log back onto the site again, do us all a favor.
Well, personally, I see nothing wrong with the premium feature, I mean, so what, you have to pay 25 dollars for the whole year, that is not alot of money. And J and Chris, are really trying to make things more better for premium members, so my personal oppinion on this is pay the 25 dollars, it's not gonna hurt you and you will have membership for a year, trust me, Chris and J just can't keep paying stuff out of their own pocket, personally, I think the more stuff they add the price could even go up to about 30 dollars, but that's just my oppinion.
All through life we buy things which have features that we don't or can't use, but we can't go customising everything. if you buy sky/cable tv, do you demand it for less because you don't watch all the channels? If you buy a newspaper do you take out the celebrity gossip bit and say you'd like the paper for less because you aren't going to read that bit?
You may want an audio profile but someone else may want to play anagram extreme. If we started customising premium memberships according to everyone's individual preferences, it would be total chaos, and would involve more coding than j and chris have time to do.
If you want a longer audio profile, pay the premium membership cost.
Ather, get off your power-trip and grow up. Sorry but it has to be said. thank you.
you're not in charge of the site and you know it. so maybe you should talk to the admins about it before you go trying to use, or abuse (or whatever the pathetic case may be) your power. thanks. (I'm not going to be popular either, but so bad! someone needed to say it, regardless of how many silently back me up or not. This drives me up the wall!
Well, actually Rachel. I have asked Chris N multiple times about increasing the length of audio profiles when I wasn't premium and his answer was always a big strong "no!" heheheheh So in truth, Ather is really speaking for the admins on this! It does slow down the site more and you shouldn't go bashing him for replying to this board. lol Sometimes we all get answers that we don't like and we just have to learn to deal with them.
*sexy*
sg, I don't think it was the fact that md replied to this board, it was the manner in which he did so that rd was objecting to
well, to RD, I think I'm rather intitled to say this, but blah, blah, and oh, did I forget to mention blah? Oh, and blah! I wouldn't have said anything about this, if I hadn't asked one of the admins about it first, so, I leave you in parting, with a nice, big, harty, blah!
Sky and cable offer a range of packages by the way, to suit different people. Some people buy packages biused towards sports programming, and others buy packages biused towards movies. Some people buy everything!
How many times have I got to say this? I! Am! Not! Against! Paying! For! A! Membership! I would even pay 25 dollars a year, as long as people who use all the facilities have their memberships bumped up to 50 dollars per year! The point is! Why should people who will only ever use like, 10 percent of the features of a premium membership and only spend an hour or so per week logged in on average, pay the same amount as someone who uses all the features and stays logged in practically all the time thus using up more bandwidth I might add?
It is very simple! I would gladly pay to support the guys who put all this together, but I will not pay the same amount that someone like say, Blackbird pays per year for a membership, because he's online for thousands of hours per year, and I'm only around once in a blue moon as many of you know! So fine! Make full premium membership 50 dollars per year, make a standard plus membership 25 dollars a year, and I'll pay it! But until there is some kind of a teered pricing scheme in place, then I just can't see how it's fare that people who are logged in 23 hours out of 24 only pay the same as someone who uses the site for an hour a month on average. I'm sorry if you don't agree with this, and I will say again! To Chris and J, wow! It's an excelent site, loads of features, brilliant! Well done! But I can't justify paying for something I will hardly use. All I wanted was 40 more seconds on the audio profile. That isn't worth 25 dollars.
Anyway, I'm not going to post to this board again as I feel that I had a valid point to make, and I've now made it. I did try doing this the polite way before, but like I said, the staff who did respond to the post in question were condescending and holier than thou, and it did annoy me, so I thought I'd try it this way instead, and hey! I got the same result, so I guess it doesn't matter what you suggest or request even, there's gonna be some that gets, and some that don't.
Matt
yes puggle you are right. some people are so mature I swear! ah well! bla haha!
ok. let's see what I can do here. I will start by putting this in a very mature fashion unlike some other coWorkers here. I am among those who believe 20 seconds is way too short. Honestly I wouldn't mind seeing 30 seconds at least. I understand that 25 dollars a year seems kind of crazy, but let's break it down. it is about 2.88 dollars a month give or take some cents. The point of premium membership is to support the site. By supporting the site we give you features that take up extra bandwith and space. I do not agree with everything that is said on the boards, but I will do my best to post in an unrude and professional manner. in defense of maddog, he is tired of seeing the same 3 posts over and over and over again. However, I will agree that does not give him any license to be rude. Please remember one thing about the zone. It is a labor of love, and we can't fill every request. If bw doesn't want to purchase a membership, then that's tough. I have no hard feelings against you. You may not get minute long audio profiles, but... try and compromise for something short, and we will all be much happier. Let's please keep the bad mouthing of staff members off the boards however. This does not help the site in any way. If you have a problem, take it up with that member privately.
Ok, lots to say here.
Firstly liam, please don't take this the wrong way, first i'd like to say that this has not happened to me!!! but i think that if you took a matter up privately with some cl's you find yourself band?
aLSO, I HAVE A SOLUTION, BUT ADMIN AND CL'S WON'T LIKE IT, COZ LESS PEOPLE WOULD PAY.
cAN WE HOST ARE OWN AUDIO PROFILES? COZ I MEAN COMON... HOW EASY IS IT TO GET FREE WEBSPACE THESE DAYS?
aLSO, LETS SAY THAT YOU PUT IT UP TO 1 MINUTE:
lETS SAY RUFFLY THAT THERE ARE 2500 MEMBERS, AND WHAT LETS SAY THAT 500 OF THEM HAVE AUDIO PROFILES:
1 MINUTE IN MP3 IS ABOUT 1 MEG?
sO, THATS 500 MEG SPACE USED AND LETS SAY THAT 30 PEOPLE LISTEN TO EACH PROFILE A MONTH, WHICH GIVES US 500 MEG LESS SPACE AND 15 GIG LESS BANDWITH.
nOW, I COULD WELL BE WRONG, BUT DOESN'T J OR ONE OF THE ADMINS OWN A SERVER FOR STREAM MADNESS?
sO, WHAT LETS SAY A SERVER COMES WITH 1 TB BANDWITH, GIVE 800 GIG TO HOSTING (I UNDER STAND THAT THIS WILL NOT BE THAT MUCH COZ ITS MOSTLY MEDIA) WHICH LEAVES THE SITE ABOUT 185 GIG OF BANDWITH?
sO CONSIDDERING THAT THIS IS JUST PLAIN TEXT, IT CAN'T REALLY TAK THAT MUCH BW?
aLSO, I THINK THAT YOU SHOOD PUT GOOGLE ADDS ON THE SITE INSTEAD OF THAT ROTATER THINGY THAT YOU HAVE.
tHEY ARE CONTEXT SENSATIVE MEANING THAT THEY WILL CHANGE BASED ON THE KEYWORDS ON THE PAGE, AND THEY ARE PPC.
sO THINK OF HOW MANY HITS YOU GET ON HERE, AND THINK HOW MUCH YOU'D GET EVEN IF SAY A QUARTER OF THEM CLICKED ONE ADD?
iNFACT, IT'D BE PRITTY INTERESTING TO SEE WHICH MADE MORE MONEY, THE ROTATER OR SOME GOOGLE ADDS?
ANYWAY, THATS THAT, I ALSO WOULD LIKE AN AUDIO PROFILE, BUT THERE YOU GO.
ben.
Please use a complete sentence.
Ok, lots to say here. Firstly liam, please don't take this the wrong way, first i'd like to say that this has not happened to me!!! but i think that if
you took a matter up privately with some cl's you find yourself band? hold on a moment. noone has ever been banned for taking an issue up with us. It is when people make false claims and harass us do we get angry. Everyone who knows me knows that you can come to me with anything. As long as you don't make a false claim like "community leaders steal your passwords, and stuff like that. We are easy going people. We're here to help you guys, but we deserve respect. The only reason I stated above taht I wanted this taken off this board was because I felt it was not helping the situation. I'd liek to see people work out personal issues in private, and not on this board.
Here's my oppinion on the matter. I'm not premium, and never will be. I believe that why pay for something if you can get it for free. I'd rather go without the extra features than pay a high fee for it. As far as the audio profiles go, 20 seconds is just dang pethetic! Come on! I can't say much or do anything special with 20 seconds. What are these people thinking! They should give standard members a longer audio profile. I tryed recording an audio profile on the cell phone, but I couldn't get a word in. I want good feedback. So, here's the deal. I'm not paying a cent to the zone, especially if they don't change their mind about this dang audio profiles policy.That's the bottom line!
What bullshit.
If you are never going to help the site, then quit bitching about what the site gives. Count yourself lucky instead.
Maybe the site should just make audio profiles available to premium members only.
I agree 20 seconds isn't much time, but it beats zero.
Bob
Well, You're quite right. 20 seconds is better than none.
Just talk fast.
Or you can record it and increase the tempo like those disclaimers in commercials.
<lol>
Just <lol>
Uh, I can't talk fast. I've never had good feedback on my audio profiles, and nothing's special about a 20 second one. I still think they should make it one minute. 20 seconds is so stupid, and down right pathetic!
Ya know, Download87: I oft wonder if your posts aren't conceived solely for the purpose of sparking some kind of zone controversy, or some sort of reaction gauging?
If you ask me even premium members should only be allowed 30 seconds audio profiles by phone because any longer is boring most of the time. Only a few times i heard a good phone audio profile. Most of them are not good. The two minutes should only be allowed to people using a microphone to record them because they are likely to be a bit more creative.
And also users who upload or play through the phone music from their cd players should be banned from the audio profiles for a week and if they do it again they shouldn't have the ability to ever record one again. And of cource such profiles should be deleted i think.
So my point is that two minutes is not always a good thing. If somebody is creative enough they will mannage in 20 seconds as well. It might be difficult but not impossible.
I still say talk fast.
What's the big deal?
Good ideas to all of you who posted. I think two minutes is good if the profile is uploaded. Otherwise, that's too much for one over the phone. As an aside nikos, you have a great audio profile!
I'm unable to talk very fast, and what can I say in 20 seconds. One thing I don't like is the new features that have been added such as being able to download voicemails,and the new user blog ar given to premium members. It's premium members get this, premium members get that. If these people are so dang money hungry, why don't they get a job and stop relying on us!
They need that money to keep this site running. They probably do have jobs but have other expensis such as bills. So it's good that users can help out.
agree with poster 36
I'm sometimes amazed at the absolute ignorance with which some of you go through life.
Have you ever stood still and thought about how much it costs to run a site such as this?
Have you ever considered the fact that bandwidth, the server, each Zone by Phone number around the world, the Ventrilo server, all of these luxuries cost money?
Have you ever considered that, if it weren't for the fact that many users are prepared to pay for premium membership, you probably wouldn't have had the luxury of this website, a site that, so it seems, many of you frequent a lot?
And may I add, a site for which some of you doesn't pay 1 single cent.
My advice?
Stop bitching about this and that, about petty crap, and get a life.
Thank you.
Very nicely put Q. And I totally agree.
And as for the original topic of the 20 second audio profile deal, before I became premium, I had a very short and sweet audio profile done over the phone. I received decent ratings for it. It is only 20 seconds, so just give a little bit of info. Think of the most interesting thing about you that you'd like to share, and say that. For instance, in my original I chose to use it to txplain that my name is really Pipi as in Pipi Longstockings. So a decent, short audio profile is achievable.
Think of premium like this. You can go to McDonald's and get a number 1 value meal, but if you want to super size it, you have to pay a bit extra. Well you get membership to this site for free. And if you'd like to super size your membership, you pay a little. It's a choice you get to make. But you wouldn't stand there at McDonald's bitching and complaining that you want your meal super sized for the same price as the regular meal. So don't come around here bitching and complaining wanting to super size your membership for nothing.
Very well said Q. If you are not willing to pay be greatfull of what is available for free and don't complain about things that only premiums can enjoy.
Wel, I don't want every feature included in a premium membership, but I really want a longer audio profile. At least a minute long. What can I say in 20 seconds. I want to do something creative, probably upload one of the songs I created. Also, if I was to upload an audio profile, how am I supposed to know if it's 20 seconds long?
just time it before you upload the damn thing. not that complicated if you have a stopwatch, and just take out the parts that you feel don't needot be in there to shorten it if it's too long
Or just by the premium membershi[p and all your problems would be solved.
I'll do anything to get out of buying a membership. Also, I don't even have a stopwatch. Have they considered that?
Then go and get a damn stopwatch. It's not that bloody complicated.
Why should they consider if you have a stopwatch? Do you consider at all how much this website costs to run and how much space long audio profiles need and how much this space on the server cost? If you don't want to pay just live with 20 seconds. The original poster didn't say that he didn't want to pay he just wanted to pay just for the profile not the rest of the features. But he didn't want everything for free like you.
Well said. You can't expect everything to be free.
Well, you're right. Well, It shouldn't cost much. I have a website, and it doesn't cost me anything. I'll go with 20 seconds, but they won't `get any money from me. I think donating money is a waiste.
but it's what helps keep this site going.
Your website doesn't cost anything because somebody was kind to offer you space on his-her server. But this person pays for the server. Did you consider this? I am sure you didn't.
Everything had to be payed for somehow. You were just lucky.
I see what you all mean. To the poster who said to get a stopwatch to see how long a audio profile's going to be, how's a blind person supposed to use a stopwatch. Aren't they visual?
some talking watches have got stopwatch included and they talk.
wow it is just sad and pathetic how selfish and self centered some people are in this world. i just don't understand and probably never will be able to wrap my mind around how people can want want want everything in the world handed to them on a silver platter for free and think that donating is a waste. i'm just going to stop now before i make this post entirely too long of a rant on how pathetic and wrong some people are...
get a heart...
Agreed whole-heartedly Pipi. Even more: Get a bloody life, stop spunging on anyone and everyone for all your luxuries, use your hands and your brain and for God's sake, do something worthwhile with your life.
I'm not going to even bother reading most of this, I just happened to look at a couple posts here. In answer to how long a profile is and not having a stopwatch the answer is simple if you record it via a computer, this being that any program that you use to record audio will have some way to tell the length of what you've recorded. In adition if you use the phone, a good number of us if not most have some sort of PDA (bn, pacmate, even some cell phones) have a stopwatch or countdown timer ability.
Oh Jesus Christ in heaven...
To the question of stopwatches or the lack thereof: Braille Notes, and probably other notetaking devices have seconds notated when telling or ticking away the time. Start recording your audio profile, check time on your notation device, and watch the second hand until 20 have elapsed. Very, very simple.
As for folks bitching endlessly about the annoyance that is users' payment for upkeep of the site, cut it out. Either put up, or shut up.
donating money is a waste of time? download, have you ever used the services of a charity? nfb? RNIB? etc? they rely on donations in part or wholely. so you say donations are a waste?
I think she's going to be the type of person who hides her money under her matress.
Lmfao, Jeannie819.
How in god's name is donating a waste?
Oh shoot, got to take that money out from under the matress. However did she think to look there?
shakes head.
lol