Just Wondering - Page 3

Chris Caton · 01 September 2013, 15:36

I see know reason why admin members should feel any need to defend what is a free to join, and presumably free to leave, forum. I have no complaint that when I paid the fee to become a supporter nothing changed on my posts, I just assumed that at some point it would be picked up and sorted. I'm happy to pay the 20 quid, the forum gives a lot more pleasure than 20 quids worth of beer!

willk · 01 September 2013, 15:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Caton

I have no complaint that when I paid the fee to become a supporter nothing changed on my posts, I just assumed that at some point it would be picked up and sorted.

How do Mr. Cool! There appear to be a few Supporter upgrades that haven't processed fully, is your's one of them? Mod level Admin don't see the transactions so we need a nudge to have it checked out. There will be a bit of an enquiry after this...

Chris Caton · 01 September 2013, 15:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by willk

How do Mr. Cool! There appear to be a few Supporter upgrades that haven't processed fully, is your's one of them? Mod level Admin don't see the transactions so we need a nudge to have it checked out. There will be a bit of an enquiry after this...

Hi Wilk, I'm doin ok ta, good days n bad un's. I guess mine may be one that ain't been fully processed yet, but heh it aint stopped me looking, well not yet anyway

Cheers,
Chris.

tony t · 01 September 2013, 16:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by willk

How do Mr. Cool! There appear to be a few Supporter upgrades that haven't processed fully, is your's one of them? Mod level Admin don't see the transactions so we need a nudge to have it checked out. There will be a bit of an enquiry after this...

I used to pay 20 quid to till a few years back, then I got a email saying I was no longer a supporter and repaid me my money , I thought I'd upset someone, either that or they don't except the BS members

tony t · 01 September 2013, 16:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Caton

Hi Wilk, I'm doin ok ta, good days n bad un's. I guess mine may be one that ain't been fully processed yet, but heh it aint stopped me looking, well not yet anyway

Cheers,
Chris.

Nice to see your back mr Smooth,

Chris Caton · 01 September 2013, 16:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by tony t

I used to pay 20 quid to till a few years back, then I got a email saying I was no longer a supporter and repaid me my money , I thought I'd upset someone, either that or they don't except the BS members

n there's me thinking that the 20 squid was there so as not to support the BS's

Quote:

Originally Posted by tony t

Nice to see your back mr Smooth,

n wot about me front mr T

GJ0KYZ · 01 September 2013, 16:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poly

I have no way of knowing - I don't get access to much that you don't!

PPS. If you think you could run the site better (whether that is to make more money, or to make less money but 'give the rib community what it needs' then I'm sure Social Knowledge would consider the offer you wish to make).

Ok, that's fair enough; I was just curious as to the amount of money we're talking about - clearly not a great deal. And no, I wasn't for a second implying I could run the site better than it is as the moment. Short of cutting back on rat chomping videos, jet ski criticism and allowing use of the G word I wouldn't change a thing.

Actually one thing I would like to see would be a Ribnet hall of fame. This could be for things like 'services to shallow-water ribbing', 'services to the piloting of boats to and from Mont St. Michel' and 'Hero of Avranches'. I'd be happy to pay quite a bit if I knew there were medals and attention to be won...

paddlers · 01 September 2013, 17:07

£20 = 20 Classic cigars which last me a couple of days (if I'm not outside a pub !) but wouldn't have got me my outboard when a dealer on here got in touch

.
Or the ability to ask some very experienced people who are happy to share their knowledge when it all goes belly up !!

Plus there's some great threads & not always about Ribs including the occasional handbag session to keep it interesting

What's not to like.... If I don't want to chip in I don't have to unless I have a small avatar phobia....

Poly · 01 September 2013, 17:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by GJ0KYZ

Short of cutting back on rat chomping videos, jet ski criticism and allowing use of the G word I wouldn't change a thing.

you should have watched - it wasn't a rat (a dog IIRC) and it wasn't eaten.

Quote:

Actually one thing I would like to see would be a Ribnet hall of fame. This could be for things like 'services to shallow-water ribbing', 'services to the piloting of boats to and from Mont St. Michel' and 'Hero of Avranches'. I'd be happy to pay quite a bit if I knew there were medals and attention to be won...

Well the Solent guys already have some 'trophies' they give out at Christmas. Its not strictly essential to be solent based to win - Boggi has won from Iceland - but they may expect you or your representative to appear to collect it, like the Oscars. I'm sure proposal for sensible award categories will be considered - although possibly a little less GJ0KYZ centric ones!

John Kennett · 04 September 2013, 19:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boats&Outboards

I think the emphasis on funding the site should be spread across more trade members and advertising. Id consider paying more, based on how the site worked for me. I've said it before but if you actually charged all trade members you'd not need to charge anybody else to "support". One look through the classifieds will show who's who. There's a few missing out on the extra mailboxes at the moment

There are some new options for advertisers in the pipeline, but I'm not sure how long it will be until it's all up and running. The price of Trade membership hasn't gone up in nearly ten years and the site has grown massively in that time, so you can expect to be offered the opportunity to pay more before too long!

Quote:

If you continue with the supporter charge I'd suggest making it mandatory after say 3 mths membership or a certain number posts. Charge everybody £5, rather than a few £20. Guests can then enjoy the site before deciding if they wish to join or leave. You'll have the facility to remove guests who simply re-join each time.

There is no intention to make any mandatory charge for non-trade members, and I would strongly resist it if it was to be proposed.

Quote:

I can see why people don't bother supporting as for most its pointless. Having a bigger mailbox means little. Maybe you could change it to only supporters can access the classifieds listings, or post into it, or even non supporters cannot gain access to search, member ID info or private messages, at least until after they posted 20 times etc ?

There's no need for anyone to pay to be a supporter, but some people choose to show their support for RIBnet with a small financial contribution and that's why the supporter membership exists. It's optional, but much appreciated.

The fringe benefits are deliberately inconsequential as they are meant as a token of thanks to supporters, and not as a leverage to make people feel that they need to pay to get full use of the site.

Dry Run · 05 September 2013, 08:10

From a trade member point of view I would say the following: -

1. Keep membership free with no pressure to make a financial contribution (i think that is the status quo). As a trade member I want as many "rib/sib orientated" people to join the site as possible as it means I'm advertising to a greater audience.

2. There are only 42 trade members!!!!!!! That seems pretty poor. Do RIBnet actually market to any potential trade members? I can think of 2 companies I deal with that should be trade members of RIBnet, but don't really know much about it. I know the existing trade members might not welcome an influx of new "competitors" - but if it was for the good of the sight? Why not think of a plan to give an incentive to existing members to recruit new trade members.

3. RIBnet is our cheapest form of advertising (not that we do a lot any more) and has given us new dry stack customers and numerous rib sales inquiries. We would have no problem paying more (can't speak for others).

Cheers

Steve

willk · 05 September 2013, 08:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dry Run

There are only 42 trade members!!!!!!! That seems pretty poor. Do RIBnet actually market to any potential trade members?

Thanks for your post - I agree with all of it. AFAIK, RIBnet does not actually market itself. At £100 a year for membership, it wouldn't pay for itself. Having said that, if the fees were higher, it would make a lot of sense.

My experience: I have had "dealings" with a surprisingly large number of Trade and potential Trade users on RIBnet over the last 15 months. All of them have obviously managed to blunder into RIBnet under their own steam. My experiences with them have been varied. Some simply take out Trade membership unasked. Other are unaware of the fee, but happily pay when asked. Others resist/refuse to pay and can be extremely unpleasant and dishonest. I have wasted hours if not days listening/replying to their bullsh1t because of their reluctance to pay £100. Generally their thesis is that it's not worth the money. They go to extreme lengths to avoid paying it. Some simply continue to post ads until they are banned. Others open new shill accounts and continue to post ads until they are banned. One very large RIB maker or dealership recently paid (?) a marketer to open several accounts on RIBnet and promote the product until they were banned. This after having refused to pay for Trade membership several times.

This experience may explain Moderator actions to some existing Trade or potential Trade members. When we have "nice guys", some of them very small businesses, paying up and using the site properly, then you'll understand why we are very sharp with the big guys who feel they can do whatever they want and simply treat the site as free advertising or attempt to con our members. If the Admin Team were to relax, the amount of dodgy stuff posted would be quite startling.