Should a membership fee be implemented?

Correct me if my memory fails me.

I voted for the fee. I'm ok with contributing to help support the board.
I have contributed in years past, but have been remiss in doing so lately. :spank:
I'll fix that shortly. :dollar:

But, If I remember correctly wasn't the inception of this board the result of the GSCA starting to charge a fee to use their board?
I'm sure there was much more to it than just that, and since I was not, and am not a member of the GSCA I don't know all the details.

I just remember reading people's posts back in Feb.'02 on how upset they were that the GSCA had the audacity to charge a fee to use the board.
Especially after they had paid dues to be a member.

Of course, times do change and costs go up.
(just ask my customers. :shock: )
I would hate to see this board go away because of lack of funds. :ball:

 

Before membership fees are established, I think we need a greater marketing effort to our existing members.
One suggestion would be, that all contributors should be listed in BOLD at the very top of the home page during the month they contribute. And with their names, list the # of years they have contributed and the level (silver, gold, platinum). Their contribution status as silver, gold member, would appear next to their ID on every post they make.
That way you do two things, you recognize those who do help and do it consistently, and secondly you highlight to EVERYONE who uses the site that contributions are needed and gratefully accepted. The fact that some do/ some don't contribute, is out in the open for everyone to see.
This system has been used VERY successfully on another car site. After a while, new perks were added for the contributors such as posting pics, free ads, a separate forum, etc.
That's my .02.
Gene

 

I agree with Gene on this one. Another board I am a member of has a "Supporter" sign under thier user-name beside the avatar.

 

Sure. But it's not that easy. Who will manage the thousands of dollars? Sounds like another meltdown to me CIRCA 2005.o No:

That reminds me. I need to contribute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, it's done now. Paypal is so easy.

 

I'm with Gene. Someone please tell me the $$$$ that need to come into the coffers in a year? $100.00 contribution gets you PLATINUM.

You tell me we don't have 300 members on this board that can give $100.00/annually?

300 x $100.00= $30k>>> Does that help the annual budget?

Thanks All, Mike

That's 38 gallons of gas by the way, not even two fill ups on my 72. That's 38 gallons of 87 octane! Not even the good stuff.

I think it's time we all stepped up to the plate for this wonderful website!

 

If you don't want to kill the site... then it should be free.

This site got big because it came at the time that the GSCA was trying to be member only a there site. Something to think about. if the GSCA hadn't been a bunch of tight wads they could have had this large of base instead of v-8. they missed the boat.

 

" Who will manage the thousands of dollars?"
The same people that now manage the site's deficit.

When I contribute $$$, I do so voluntarily. As long as the site continues to perform for me, as it has in the past, I don't care what happens to the $$$, makes a profit, keeps the books, or doles it out to their favorite charity.:beer
Gene

 

Paypal was easy, took less than 2 minutes.

Look at it like a paid magazine subscription but this is so much better!!

Make a donation! Its well worth it...

 

$5 bucks at a minimum shouldn't kill anyone on this site. I know we all like free, but everything in this world costs something. Think of this as the "pay it forward" part of the site. Their is so much great info on this board, plus it helped me locate the car of my dreams.

Paypal'd a $25 donation to a great site....:dollar: keep it up p

Steve
Soon to have a 72 skylark vert with a 455 :bglasses:

 

I agree that a few bucks won't kill us. I sent $10 for the cause. :dollar: :bglasses:

 

I STILL think it'd be better to get vendors to pay the bill.

 

How 'bout doing a raffle? Though I don't know how many people would participate.

Of all the members we have, how many are "active?"

 

I say we keep it a "free" membership, with no fees involved. I don't have much of a saying due to lack of funding/and donation, but I will say this; There come many problems with having a board supported by nothing but paid memberships, because it will run off potential new members, there are other boards that are free that we can join, and some of us members don't have good paying jobs, or no jobs at all currently. Just some things to think about.:idea2:

 

I believe the word has gotten out and the donations will be comming in. The ones not bitching about the fee will be the ones donating.We need to be reminded at least once a year and i'll bet this site never has anymore operating cost problems. Tom

 

I lose $5.00 every Wednesday and Saturday on Kentucky lotto and they don't provide any information to me. They don't even say there sorry. Five bucks a year is chump change for all the info this site provides. Five dollars sounds great to me. NOTE: How come my name wasn't added to the contributors list for 2007? o No:

 

It will be with the next update.

JW

 

I don't think anyone has said you have to donate! If you can you can and if you can't you can't. Simple as that. The reason I donate is because of all the things I learn from all the smart people on here that know what they are talking about. It's a valuable tool for me. Thanks to all that helped over the couple of years I,ve been on this site, and thanks to Jim and Mike for providing it to us!:TU:
Tim

 

a small fee sounds great, I never donated before but i can

 

I'd definately pay a $5 (or more) fee to use this site every year.
However, I think the fee should just be paid if you want to access the buy/sell areas. (even viewing it should be locked out if you're not paid up)

The general Buick chat and info should remain free to keep bringing new members. I would be very leary of signing up to a new board that I had to pay something before even getting to check it out, and I assume many others feel the same way.

Anyways... I'm all for a fee if it's attached to enabling the buy/sell areas.
:TU:

A side note..... several posts mention the "thousands" of members we have here....
Have you ever looked through them?
Of the 15,000 "members", about 10,500 of them have 5 or less posts. (thousands have 0 posts)
Only about 2,000 have over 25 posts.
Only about 750 have 200+ posts
Not that post count is important... but lets be realistic about how many actual "members" we have here. There's quite a difference between "member" and "current active member".

I don't know what this site costs yearly, but realisticly, JW and MB can probably only count on fees coming from 100 or 200 people max.
At that rate, I don't think a $5 fee would cover it.... but I don't have a clue what this place costs to keep up.
$5K ? o No:

 

I have no problem paying a fee but would like it to be voluntary. If not voluntary then it should only be to access the classifieds and let the general info be free as it is now. That said, it does amaze me that a great site like this would have difficulty coming up with $5 - 6,000 a year. There ought to be 1,000 active members that are willing to pay $5.