New Membership Scheme.....Coming Soon!

[Justin]

I'm currently working on a new membership scheme for the forum.

All members will still be welcome to use the forum completely free of charge but will also now be given the opportunity to pay £10 per year for a membership.

This membership will entitle you to discounts, special offers and many other exciting features with different Suppliers. I have agreements in place with some and others are just finalising their involvement at which point I will start to accept membership applications.

Other companies will be coming on-board with this scheme but even from day 1 as a paid member you will quickly recoup this small investment and benefit form ongoing discounts, offers, samples and so on.

Whilst the forum is growing steadily the number of guests far outweighs registered members so I'm hoping this scheme will attract many of these visitors to become registered members. The future of the scheme is dependant upon the level of uptake but it already promises to be a very worthwhile exercise.

I will post more details soon.

[AdamB]

Looks interesting Justin - and like I always say, without this forum and the members on it I wouldn't have been able to gain as much knowledge as I have now regarding many subjects and although I never state I am an expert (all should be willing to learn from others at some stage), I can feel 100% confident in introducing new items to stock and explaining to customers of how products are made.

I for one will be taking membership when it becomes available

[John G]

Echo above comments - just a quick suggestion, could be closed sections for quotes, artwork help and also all contacts, email/web addresses etc only viewable to paid members.

[purpledragon]

At the risk of starting contraversy (im not honest ) im waiting with interest before i decide if i want to pay membership. Way back when there was much discussion over how the forum should be funded and the 3 main desicions seemed to be
1. Paid membership
2. donations
3. paid advertising
and now it seems theres going to be all 3. Fair enough theres certan benifits to being a member ie discounts from suppliers . but i dont buy from most the suppliers i see advertised on here so ill be interested to see what other benifits a member gets.
Yes theres a lot of information and help n here i like a lot of the other old stalwarts on here give a lot of that help and information and now we will be asked to pay for that privalage, yes you do get a lot of guests that wont change with paid membership why would it unless you make it so that only paid members can post or read posts this is then counter productive as a lot of guests remain guests no matter what and if they cant get info well then they will probably move on so what are you left with ? a vast knowladge base shared between the usual suspects.
I appreciate this forum takes a lot of time and also has a cost implication i thought thats why the advertising was taken on .
It all seems a little like the members will be providing a service that we will all be paying for

quote "just a quick suggestion, could be closed sections for quotes, artwork help and also all contacts, email/web addresses etc only viewable to paid members"

so does that mean john you are happy to pay a membership to be able to help others by providing art work answers after all i dont see you ask many questions but you certainly answer a lot.
What happens if i dont want to pay membership is my advise and experiance not then allowed ? if it is allowed do i want to give it if im being blocked from other sections of the forum .
Please dont misunderstand this as a rant Justin cause it isnt honest im just playing devils advocate but if im honest 10% discount off coralgraph or who ever else i dont use really doesnt interest me as for samples suppliers are not going to refuse me samples if im not a member of the forum its not in their interest,
At the end of the day you will do what you think best, the benifits that we dont yet know about might make it an unmissable offer to be a paid member but in this day and age of the world and his wife wanting a piece of your wallet it would definatly have to be a worthwhile investment .
There thats my twopennuth for what its worth

[smitch6]

i'm happy to pay membership but as already mentioned it'd be good to have closed sections where only the elite may go lol
and it helps fund the forum as well so bonus
and it's only £10

[John G]

I'm not going to rehash the same old arguments - I'm happy to pay a membership and have said that from day one. Its been so obvious over the last year/s that the forum needs money to survive - not happy about adverts but if it brings in valuable income for the forum, and for Justin, then adverts it is. If the adverts aren't enough then paid memberships would be a boost.

[jennywren]

I don't have problem with membership, adverts ect, as long as I get my daily fix of reading on this forum but I wonder what about those have already made donations and then have to pay a membership fee. Do you have a time factor

[derek]

You have my full backing on this Justin, £10 a year is a very fair price and I for one will definitely be signing up.

[purpledragon]

If the adverts aren't enough then paid memberships would be a boost.

thats the point though john isnt it theres no mention of if the adverts are enough or not if there is still a short fall in funds to cover the running costs then obviously justin needs to seek further funds and a membership may be the way to go lets not forgt justin (quite rightly) declared he was running this as part of his buisness now or is my memory failing me, if it is a case of justin now running this forum as a buisness to make profit on ( i did say if ) well then what you need to ask yourself is are you happy to share your valuble experiance to earn a thrid party money and if thats the case then give me your phone number i'll set up a chargeble advice line and redirect the calls to you and you can earn me money too ok that may be a little flippent but you see my point.i would still be very interested to hear the down side to not being a paid member as it seems at the moment you risk not getting 10% discount from sublimation r us or missing out on samples from sublimation world.com well i can live with that. Do we need paid membership to ensure the survival of the forum? if the answers yes well thats a differnt matter is the membership idea simply part of justins buisness plan well thats another matter. Pesonally i think the forums taking a direction away from the family atmosphere it had before, that might be unavoidable again we have to remember that the forum has got to be self supporting.
i dunno its an odd road we're on i think ill grab my coat i get the feeling instead of provoaking debate all im doing is making my self unpoplar so ill say no more

[Scotty@BMS]

thats the point though john isnt it theres no mention of if the adverts are enough or not if there is still a short fall in funds to cover the running costs then obviously justin needs to seek further funds and a membership may be the way to go lets not forgt justin (quite rightly) declared he was running this as part of his buisness now or is my memory failing me, if it is a case of justin now running this forum as a buisness to make profit on ( i did say if ) well then what you need to ask yourself is are you happy to share your valuble experiance to earn a thrid party money and if thats the case then give me your phone number i'll set up a chargeble advice line and redirect the calls to you and you can earn me money too ok that may be a little flippent but you see my point.i would still be very interested to hear the down side to not being a paid member as it seems at the moment you risk not getting 10% discount from sublimation r us or missing out on samples from sublimation world.com well i can live with that. Do we need paid membership to ensure the survival of the forum? if the answers yes well thats a differnt matter is the membership idea simply part of justins buisness plan well thats another matter. Pesonally i think the forums taking a direction away from the family atmosphere it had before, that might be unavoidable again we have to remember that the forum has got to be self supporting.
i dunno its an odd road we're on i think ill grab my coat i get the feeling instead of provoaking debate all im doing is making my self unpoplar so ill say no more

I don't think you've expressed any opinion that would make you unpopular, Brett. In an open forum debate must always be encouraged and embraced. You have argued your point eloquently, albeit with scant regard for grammar and the Queen's English!