Subscription Rates - Value for Money

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VintagePunk

Blue Crack Distributor
Joined
Jan 23, 2005
Messages
55,743
Location
In a dry and waterless place
I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.

It's the time of the year that my subscription runs out, and I have to decide whether or not to resubscribe. To be honest, I only spend a tiny fraction of the time here that I used to, and $25 for a site that only allows an upgraded private message allowance, and the ability to play some shitty online games that one can play for free elsewhere seems a little much. This site doesn't even offer fan benefits that U2.com does. $25 to...post to a message board. Even Elvis's pricing was more palatable....$12 or $16. But $25 just to post to a message board with a couple of tiny benefits that most others offer for free?

I know subscriptions in the past few years have to have suffered now that U2 aren't all that. Has there been any thought to lowering subscription prices here to attract more subscribers or to encourage resubscription?
 
Also, now that I'm paying for two premium memberships, the price REALLY sucks.

My attachment to this site has decreased. It's still there a little, but much less. $25 makes me debate, $12 or $16 would make me think "pocket change...click!" without even thinking. This site isn't worth $25 for the casual user
 
I really do wish that for all that, some stuff would be improved. Especially the main page.

There needs to be more than one staff writer if the front page is to be relevant.

I've offered in the past to help with social networking, and the ball never quite got rolling.
 
I think that the buyer after Elvis thought that this site would turn into part of his social media empire, thus the $25 price tag. Then U2 took a decline in popularity, and only lame, old people (like myself) like them now. I can't see $25 subscription prices to be a profitable maneuver, but maybe that's just me.
 
He did seem to swoop in like a mogul and then disappear.

Ha, or non-mogul, given the traffic on this site.

Change is DUE

Let's burn this motherfucker to the ground!

Puts on Che Guevara shirt!

Hey you two, I saw The Who last week. They rocked. Don't let the indie kids fool you, they're still a must see.
 
I am so upset I didn't go when they were here :-(

I am currently developing a plan to get Zak Starkey fall madly in love with me (he's age appropriate) so I can hang out with Roger and Pete every night and listen to their stories and hear their music.

Seriously. See them. Not even kidding.

Topic? The Who's unofficial message board does not cost $25.
 
It would be nice to have someone "official" respond to this thread and justify the $25 price tag, and explain why, from a marketing perspective, lowering prices wouldn't help to increase subscriptions/profits, at this point. We're supposed to be a "community" after all. Share the marketing plans for this site.
 
Since you asked, I'll be open and honest why things are the way they are.

I approached Joel a long time ago with the vision of making Interference a community about change, doing good in the world, similar to what Bono evangelizes. I loved the name and it was great to think we could try to evolve into something more meaningful.

If you all have not noticed, there are some very strong and opinionated personalities here. After we upgraded the software I got all kind of flack about how "blue crack" had to remain the same and how important it was to not disrupt or change the special place that so many people called home. Cool, no problem, I understand how personal forums are and decided that my time was better spent working with the other communities who would embrace me rather then be so critical and make me feel less welcome.

We made a significant investment in this community from software upgrades, new content management system on the home page, FREE iPhone, iPad and Android apps, etc. Applause for Sicy and the rest of the team for keeping the peace and holding down the fort.

As for having more writers on the front page, that would be great, please message anyone on this page with your information and what you'd like to write about. I am sure they will be receptive:
About Us - U2 Interference - U2 Fans, Pop Culture Webzine, & More

As for the cost, you can see they were $18 to $36 per year when Joel was here (link). We switched to a two level system with Silver ($15) and Gold ($25) and tried to find an offering that would provide some value to our members. As of today we have 56 Gold and 17 Silver members which will generate $138 per month. When you take into account the cost of hosting, software licenses, app licencing, etc we loose money keeping this site alive.

Rather then think of me as some mogul who swooped in with a corporate take over of this community, I'd rather you all think of me as nice guy who didn't come in and tell everyone how things were going to change and ruin your home on the internet.

I run some other sites with upgrades where I wasn't the founder either. Members still upgrade because it's their way of showing support and saying thanks, not because the value of the virtual perks. I don't think they really care if I was the founder or how active I am, it's the community they care about and want to support.
 
Thanks Sicy.

Andy, I appreciate your response, thank you.

To be honest, I've always found the $25 rate high, but I paid it because I used the site a lot and was grateful for the community. Now, the economy is crap, I, and a lot of other people are pinching pennies, and that $25 just seems excessive for the amount of posting I do, these days. For all the complaints about U2.com, at least if you pay, you get something tangible (for the record, I'm not currently a member there either, although I have been in the past). Here, you get to post on a message board.

I could be wrong (maybe a poll might help? I don't know), but I wonder if dropping rates any would encourage more new and resubscriptions. Or if that's not something you're willing to consider, that's cool too, it's your site. Maybe things will pick up on their own when the new album comes out.

Anyway, thanks for listening.


Martha, http://safariadblock.com/
 
I'm curious to know how many premium members there were before. And how much that number is dropped over the last 4 or 5 years. The thing is this board did not pick up when nloth came out it did a little but it dropped off super fast and really with the buzz of there being a new album this year there's really no pick up on the board still I think it might even be slower in the last few months
 
I think message boards/forums in general were a lot more popular before facebook and all the various other social media networks that have come out in the last few years.
 
I think message boards/forums in general were a lot more popular before facebook and all the various other social media networks that have come out in the last few years.

That's a good point, I suppose. I just feel like the people who were on message boards then aren't likely to go to Facebook for news and conversation, you know?

Certainly not what I use it for anyways, so my opinion may be skewed.
 
Since you asked, I'll be open and honest why things are the way they are.

I approached Joel a long time ago with the vision of making Interference a community about change, doing good in the world, similar to what Bono evangelizes. I loved the name and it was great to think we could try to evolve into something more meaningful.

If you all have not noticed, there are some very strong and opinionated personalities here. After we upgraded the software I got all kind of flack about how "blue crack" had to remain the same and how important it was to not disrupt or change the special place that so many people called home. Cool, no problem, I understand how personal forums are and decided that my time was better spent working with the other communities who would embrace me rather then be so critical and make me feel less welcome.

We made a significant investment in this community from software upgrades, new content management system on the home page, FREE iPhone, iPad and Android apps, etc. Applause for Sicy and the rest of the team for keeping the peace and holding down the fort.

As for having more writers on the front page, that would be great, please message anyone on this page with your information and what you'd like to write about. I am sure they will be receptive:
About Us - U2 Interference - U2 Fans, Pop Culture Webzine, & More

As for the cost, you can see they were $18 to $36 per year when Joel was here (link). We switched to a two level system with Silver ($15) and Gold ($25) and tried to find an offering that would provide some value to our members. As of today we have 56 Gold and 17 Silver members which will generate $138 per month. When you take into account the cost of hosting, software licenses, app licencing, etc we loose money keeping this site alive.

Rather then think of me as some mogul who swooped in with a corporate take over of this community, I'd rather you all think of me as nice guy who didn't come in and tell everyone how things were going to change and ruin your home on the internet.

I run some other sites with upgrades where I wasn't the founder either. Members still upgrade because it's their way of showing support and saying thanks, not because the value of the virtual perks. I don't think they really care if I was the founder or how active I am, it's the community they care about and want to support.


Can I just say, now that I'm at home and not trying to use voice-to-text while driving:

This post is ever so slightly off-putting. Part of the reason your purchase of Interference has almost always left a sour taste in my mouth is because you always point out how much money you lose on it. That's what makes you look like some mogul who swept in to make a buck. It's a message board for a band, I don't see how you ever expected to make a killing here. Why shove it in our face so frequently?

Not to mention, you also kinda sound a little petulant, "You guys didn't immediately accept me, so I just abandoned the site". Maybe that's not what you meant, but that's what I'm reading.

As for contributing to the main page: As I mentioned, I had been in conversation with the single, solitary person who seems to have any control over that aspect of the board, and suggested that I (nearing completion of my Digital Media Masters) might have a go at running the Twitter/Facebook aspects of the site, because they are woefully lacking. It was basically agreed that I could start working with the Twitter account and then...nothing.

The main site of this page should be abuzz with news, constantly, not infrequent editorials about Dylan struggling on. I guess what I'm saying is, the front page is very bogged down in politics and philosophy, not really at all what it seems like the forum for a rock band (this isn't a Bono forum, so I'm not sure why you're pushing so heavily for us to follow in his footsteps), should have more music news. There's not even anything on the main page that I see mentioning the TED talk (though I think the Interference Facebook page mentioned it, so I could be wrong).

Do you get what I'm saying? I'm not feeling super great today, and I'm in literal physical pain, so I may be a bit grumpier than I intend.
 
I can give you the twitter login. I tried to do it for a while but I don't use twitter so I haven't done much there with the interference account so you can have a go. Ill pm you.
 
I could be wrong (maybe a poll might help? I don't know), but I wonder if dropping rates any would encourage more new and resubscriptions.
It might help, I don't know. The reality is we have less members checking in on a daily basis. It might not be that they want to be here but things in life change, babies, work, etc. Now social media sites are filling a gap that forums once provided a an outlet for. I don't know the demographics here that well but I know for a fact that many forums with a female audience have experienced a slow down in the last 5 years for the reason mentioned above. The kids (who think U2 is old classic rock) love twitter and news sure does flow quickly through tweets. Photos from show can be posted live via instagram. Information is being disseminated in different ways. That does not underscore that forums are still places where friends hang out, I personally love forum, I work with them every day and my forum buddies know more about what's going on in my life then my real world friends.
I think message boards/forums in general were a lot more popular before facebook and all the various other social media networks that have come out in the last few years.
I agree but I don't think the issue is with all forums.
That's a good point, I suppose. I just feel like the people who were on message boards then aren't likely to go to Facebook for news and conversation, you know?

Certainly not what I use it for anyways, so my opinion may be skewed.
I still hang on forums and don't use facebook that much. With 3.5 year old and 1.5 year old I am lucky to get some sleep and don't get much time to just hang. The days of surfing the web at work and then going to happy hour are just beautiful memories now :(

Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that ad blockers are so common now so there are probably quite a few people who use them and don't upgrade. I am grateful to the people who do upgrade, they ensure this community stays online. Maybe one day it will just fizzle into nothing and we'll have to determine if it's time to turn the light off. I sure hope we don't get to that point, it's still a pretty busy site compared to many forums but if some of the sentiments expressed in this discussion is an indicator, I'm not sure what the future holds?

I think this old blue crack sucks (sorry, it's my honest opinion). It feels even more antiquated then craigslist. I think a new modern skin and implementing some of the other stuff we have done on the other forums I work with could help stimulate things around here but I don't even bring that stuff up because I'd rather not deal with the negative vibes that I think people will send my way alluding to me only being a capitalist and that I am a bad person or not caring.
 
I think this old blue crack sucks (sorry, it's my honest opinion). It feels even more antiquated then craigslist. I think a new modern skin and implementing some of the other stuff we have done on the other forums I work with could help stimulate things around here but I don't even bring that stuff up because I'd rather not deal with the negative vibes that I think people will send my way alluding to me only being a capitalist and that I am a bad person or not caring.

What exactly do you mean by other stuff you have done on other forums? I'm curious. Is it possible to make a bulletpoint list of the features you are referring to and post it here, so that all members can have a look and comment? Screen-captures of other forums would also help to give us an idea of what you mean.

Side note: I'm not a huge fan of that feature where every member gets a star rating. I don't know if that is one of the things you are referring to.
 
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