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| It's worth it and I'll definitely get it | 7 | |
| I'm interested in it but I don't like how it's a monthly membership | 9 | |
| If it offered more features I would consider getting it | 7 | |
| I don't think it's worth it | 81 | |
| It would be worth it if they added these features (Comment) | 1 | |
| Other (Add a comment) | 7 |
No chance. Some features might be useful, but it's really not worth it for me. PMs would be useful, the rest is something I wouldn't want.
Detail.
PROS:
- Raises funds for IIN staff = more staff, less ads for non-members, faster moderation, better merchandise and more (hopefully. It could just be used to line the pockets of the ownership, which would be very disappointing)
- Gifting option rewards helpful commenters = better users stay for longer and are incentivised to play nice.
CONS (in form of difficult, chunky prose paragraphing, mostly for the benefit of the Management):
My main problem is that if too many people purchase Gold membership, it will negatively impact of the rest of our "regular" membership.
This is because the stories from people who choose not to pay will be in effect pushed to the bottom of the pile for moderation. This means stories from people who cannot afford to pay, or just don't want to (like me) will take longer to be moderated and publicised EVEN THAN THEY WERE BEFORE GOLD MEMBERSHIP BECAME AVAILABLE. This is not fair.
The rest of the Gold features I have no problem with as they only provide ADDITIONAL functionality. But this feature, as a side-effect, DIMINISHES functionality for non-paying users BEYOND the effects of relativity.
Of course... if anyone WANTED to gift me... ;)
This comment has some good questions and critiques, so I think I'll use it as a springboard to discuss a few things that I feel I should share with all of you about IIN Gold and IIN in general.
First, I'll discuss what this money can do to benefit the site and why I decided to try this premium thing out...
I'm a web-developer/programmer/designer/etc. I think I'm pretty good at what I do. There are companies (FB, Google, various startups) that are trying to recruit me and would pay me quite well to work for them. It's a good time to have these skills. Everyone's hiring.
But, for the last couple of months I've decided to work on IIN full time for the first time ever. This has a very large opportunity cost in terms of lost salary. But, I love this site, and really want to find a way to be able to devote a lot more time to improving it and growing it. I felt it was starting to die in the absence of progress and I decided to eat into my savings and see what I could do if I went all in.
I hope many of you have noticed that the last couple months have brought lots of improvements to the site, and at a much faster pace than usual (notifications, better polls, easier post submission, comment editing, better threaded comments, comment permalinks, a hugely improved mobile site, streamlined design and navigation, posts needing love, most popular posts, nicer footer, improved page load times, and more...) Previously, I was only able to work on minor improvements during my free time and the site wasn't quite able to keep up with your demands. Large features were out of the question.
I want to be able to keep working on this thing full time, or at least part time, but the amount of money I get from ads barely makes up for sever and moderation costs, if at all. Unfortunately the content on IIN isn't the type of stuff that big brand advertisers want to be associated with. Merchandise is an option, but the numbers just don't seem to add up.
So, if I want to be able to keep working on the site, there has to be a new revenue stream that can bring in some money. IIN Gold seemed like the best solution and other similar sites, like Reddit and Fark, have tried the same thing and supposedly it has worked out well for the owners and for the users.
I tried to come up with a set of features that wouldn't detract from the current experience, but would only enhance it for paying members and would give them an extra bonus for helping to support the site. Building these new features took a lot of time and effort. If I still had a regular job, they never would have happened at all. IIN Gold basically needs to pay for their development. And, if it goes well I'll be able to keep adding features and generally improving things going forward, for both regular users and paying members.
I'd love to be able to do that. Otherwise I have to go get a regular job again, ugh, and IIN will suffer as a result.
So, at the risk of sharing too much, that's some of the background behind all this...
Second point of discussion... I knew the "move to the front of the line" feature would be the most controversial one, and I gave it a lot of thought before adding it. You're right to question it.
Let me explain why I think it's not going to detract from the experience of the non-gold members, and we can discuss further once you've read my piece.
1) The number of members that get IIN Gold will be relatively small. Just a small bunch out of the tens of thousands of members that we have.
2) The number of posts by those few Gold members will also be relatively small. Just a few a day, vs. well over a hundred in total. Most Gold members will be regulars that focus on commenting, PMing and the member chat. They'll def. ask questions, but not at huge volumes.
3) The nature of my moderator's schedules is that they tend to moderate posts in a couple of large chunks, a couple of times a day, usually after work (I can't afford to hire anyone full time). When this happens, they'll moderate the Gold posts and nearly all of the regular ones at roughly the same time. A few gold posts at the front of the line will only delay the others by a min. or two.
4) I periodically (and my moderators too sometimes) moderate a few posts here and there throughout the day when I have the time. This is where the Gold members will have an advantage and their posts have a good shot of going out faster. But, if not for this new policy, only a few regular posts would have gotten moderated instead. The vast majority would still have to wait for the large 'end of day' chunk by the moderators and their wait time will be essentially unchanged from what it used to be.
5) Before IIN Gold, a person got zero input on their post until it was moderated. No votes, no comments, nada. But, with the new system they will be able to get the benefit of comments and votes from all the IIN Gold members *immediately*. That's pretty cool, and definitely benefits regular members. Many of the gold members are already proving to be some of our most active, and most helpful members and I think that trend will continue.
6) IIN Gold members have already been asking if they can assist with the moderation duties now that they have access to the un-moderated posts. I definitely want to pursue this, and if we get enough people involved I think there will definitely be a way to solicit their feedback about new posts in a way that can help us to moderate them faster and more effectively.
So, I have a feeling that the average wait time will not change much at all, and hopefully the data will back that up in the days and weeks to come. If it turns out that it's way off, I'll def. consider changing this feature. But, I think the benefits will outweigh the drawbacks in the long run.
That's all I have to say for now... Thanks for reading.
yeah. but why would you want to pay your members for or are they gold members
that your paying.
That cleared a lot up. I was only really playing Devil's Advocate when I questioned the fast-track moderation and what you say makes total sense and was what I expected to be the case; I'm sure you're right. I actually think IIN Gold is a fairly good idea, even though I don't plan on purchasing it for myself any time soon.
Can I also say: well done with the site as well. Thanks for existing, you do a wonderful job!
EDIT: Little problem; I'm now unable to change my profile image. Just a minor fix needed there :)
I'm actually really interested in it. The best thing about the IIN Gold is that members can finally exchange private messages with each others. I've been longing for this function from the very beginning and wondering why there wasn't. Another great thing about IIN Gold is that we can use it as a gift for the other users. This is great.
I really like this website a lot. It's a great place for people to seek and give advice. I would be seriously depressed if this website closes down.
My suggestion for the additional features:
-the ability to personalize profile or choose how many/which comments they want to show in public profile.
-the ability to attach pictures to comments too
-longer time available for editing comments
Thank you so much :)
It's tempting to be the first so I can change my username color and everyone will be jealous. It's cheap enough and worth it if you come here all of the time. I can just buy one less grande coffee a month.
Its a good idea, I like how they took inspiration from reddit in making that. But its kind of a double edged sword, isnt it?
Really this website, to be worth being paid would need to be more expansive and preferrably offer more extras to the gold members. Plus membership on here is nothing compared to the other websites implementing the program.
At the same time they probably need some of that capital to help them with making said expansions. XD
Hi there, thanks for the feedback. You're right that the other websites with similar programs have much more people on staff and resources than I do, but if IIN Gold works at all, I'll be able to continue to improve things. This is just round 1.
Any suggestions for what might make this site more expansive?
Uh oh, asked for suggestions by The Management, pressure is on. :P
I remember a while back I saw a post about how you lost your dude for mobile support, it would be awesome to see the app maintained again in the future.
I know reddit does flair and badges and stuff like that, could possibly be a fun addition?
Im struggling to think of anything else right now though. D:
http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3oces2/
Finally there is a way to reach others here. Other boards allow free pm's, however.
What a bunch of morons (buyers). Hey I have some air for sale. Just send $5 a month and u can have all you want.
Waste of money! Udi is limiting the people that don't want to waste money on so called ''features''. Yeah, yeah udi has to make money, but he is coning us out of our hard earned cash. The features should be for everyone or the IINer's that been using the IIN since the day it came out.
i payed a couple months ago and still dont have gold im thinking im going to sue IIN.com for money thieft
Woah, it's TheManagement!
In all seriousness, I don't think it's worth it. I'd much rather be a free user with limited features.
Hiya,
PM's would be useful, & I'd luv my username to match my hair, but it still wouldn't be worth it for me.
I don't tend to stay on websites. I go on them, say what I need to say, then leave. IIN's a good place to get advice if I need it (even so I'd rather talk to family/friends) and it's good because a lot of people seem to be so similar to me it's scary -- but I can't say my world would end if it ever went.
“I used to think you were crazy, but now I can see you're nuts!” Great film.
It should be possible to reach a thread starter too, and to see the date of a posted question!
It'd be sad if IIN died because it ran out of funds, but I still wouldn't pay for Gold Membership either way.
I wouldn't mind if someone bought it for me, but I'm not in a financial position to subscribe to anything online. Sadly this even includes my favorite Q&A website.
The features are neat and all, I don't really need them, but if I ever got it it would more be to support the site because I like it! Of course, a more pumpkin-y color for my name would be neat.
the only thing i like about it is the private messages. thats not worth paying $5 a month. i will stick to "silver".