Move to Subscription or NOT?

[svero]

We're seriously considering moving the bulk of the forum over to a paid subscription model.

Why? It's been seen that the quality of posts are steadily declining as the forum grows and we're losing quality posters who don't want to bother reading through many uninteresting or repeated posts. It's felt that moving to a subscription model will help weed out people who are not terribly serious about creating games. The goal here is not to make money.

How? Most of the forums will be open to anyone to read, but in order to post to them you'll have to subscribe first. There may be a few exceptions like news & announcements which would likely remain open to everyone.

We'll set the cost at the minimum possible amount. The money that is collected will be used in some way to either further the forum, or benefit the developer community in one way or another. A number of ideas have been discussed like setting up a download site on the indiegamer home page, or holding a game contest, or providing a prize to the highest rated poster etc... So the assumption is it will be 1$ or whatever minimum we can charge. (probably in practice it would be 3-5$)

So please vote in the poll and let us know how you feel about this idea.

[ggambett]

I think it's a good idea in general. However, how do you plan to deal with the "Snood Guy" kind of case? It was great to have the Snood Guy come and post a little, too bad some people made him run away. Would he had posted if in addition to registering he had to pay? What about Paul from Big Fish, who came to clarify a couple of issues? I think these admittedly few contributions are still valuable but are kind of "impulse post" - how do you plan to keep them?

[Mark Currie]

However, how do you plan to deal with the "Snood Guy" kind of case?....

One idea is to require payment for people who create new posts--but let anyone post responses.

[dima]

I voted againts. Not because I'm cheap, but because I think it's the wrong way to go, and that in the long run the forums will suffer worse. If you think that the quality of posts isn't high enough, wait until there are no posts, and same people are arguing about the same issue over and over. As I've mentioned before, if you want quality info, then summarise it, publish articles, some game reviews, put some content on the site. Or just moderate the place slightly better.

Either way this goes, I wish best for the forums, it's a good place to share pasion and ask questions. I'll stick around either way, but the poll is sneaky, so I had to get the 1 negative vote in there.

[puggy]

i think a pay for posting system would drive away the irrelevant poster's, but you also risk driving away the decent posters as well.

One solution would be to have some categories which only trusted user's can post, this may cause some admin headaches but would mean that those sections of the forum should have relevant posts.

[James C. Smith]

I don’t like the options available in the poll. They don't seem to match the question. My answer to the question “Should the Indiegamer forums move to a subscription model?� is very different than the answer I would give to the question “Would you be willing to pay a fee to be a member of this forum?�

I wouldn’t think twice about paying $20 for membership and posting privileges. I would pay in a heartbeat. But I do not think Indiegamer forums should move to a subscription model because I am afraid it would drive away many potential members who would be valuable to have here. I am also afraid it would create other problems with managing accounts and refunds and angry customers.

[Black Hydra]

I'd be happy to pay.

However, I have to agree with James. I don't think that this is the proper direction.

Alot of talk has been spewed about how 'post quality is declining' and we only should be hearing from experts.

If I wanted to hear from experts I would read ARTICLES. I wouldn't visit a forum. Articles and books are sources where I can look at expert testimony.

I came here knowing nothing about shareware and was excited about the prospect of it. I made a post asking for advice on how to start.

This is the same opportunity WE should provide to everyone. So that beginners can ask questions and the experts here, like you svero, James (both of you ), Retro64, Itsme, and the rest.

I don't think the answer is subscription.

I think it is moderation. I think its time to start cracking down on people who aren't either asking legitimate questions or providing some help. If that means that some of my posts will get deleted, then maybe I need to SHUT UP!

If you don't like the state of the forums, just police it a bit better. Soon, those who aren't serious will leave when they see that this isn't a place to chit-chat but to talk seriously.

If you get people to subscribe, you will still have posts that many feel are not worthwhile.

For example, I'm sure both myself and princec would subscribe (sorry Cas, I hate to pick on you but I'm going to pick on myself aswell).

I made a thread going over negativity, probably regretting it now as I can see it only caused a heated arguement, not really providing much value (as I initially thought). If you had simply deleted the thread, those kind of opinionated threads wouldn't exist.

Same goes for some of Cas's threads. He said himself he intended to tell a 'cautionary' tale to beginners. However the thread (no thanks to myself) turned into a war between the optimists and pessimests. Clearly moderation here would have stopped this from getting out of hand.

I think that you and the other moderators should just not worry about offending anyone. If a thread seems inappropriate or irrelevant, just delete it.

But PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, don't start forcing people who were once like myself to push them away for what could be an opportunity that will change their lives. Because I can tell you, had I not found this forum and Steve's articles at dexterity, I wouldn't be doing this right now. Isn't that what these forums were about?

Hopefully you won't deny those who truly want to ask questions and learn because some people have been abusing the forums as a place for chit-chat or irrelevant posts (which much to my despair, can sometimes include myself)

C'mon you know which posts are crap. Just lock and censor, and those who simply want to treat these forums as a place to either bitch or shout irrelevant opinions will leave.

[Rainer Deyke]

At this point, there is almost no useful new information for me on this message board. If I post at all, it is usually to be helpful to other people. I don't think I should have to pay for the privilege of helping people.

[ggambett]

I second what Black Hydra says. He said it much more clearly than myself. Maybe it's not 4:15 am in his time zone

[Savant]

I'm against the idea simply from the point of view of stagnation. I don't see new people paying to subscribe simply for the honor of posting. A subscription model will lead to the place becoming a boys club, with the same set of posters talking to each other over and over.

I also think that you're not going to cut down on noise that way. If a guy wanted to troll the forums, how would paying a dollar stop him? In fact, it might even drive him on harder since he finds the notion of paying $1 so annoying.

A better idea to cut down on noise would be to move to an invitation model. You can't get onto the board unless a member backs you (I'm part of another board which is all AAA game developers and is invitation only - it works beautifully). Start with the 30 best people that you know are currently on the board and go from there.

[baegsi]

I'd pay, but I think its the wrong way to go. What should I vote in this case?

[BantamCityGames]

I think the paid subscription model would work but how about a "try before you buy" subscription... 6 months free or something.