Quote from: Joanna Dark on July 30, 2013, 04:32:37 PM
I really think the site should consider ads. Well placed ads don't effect a site at all. Heck, you could prolly sell a banner ad at the bottom of the page for wigs that I bet would bring in at least $1,000/month. But two there one for wigs, the other for makeup that covers beard shadow and now you have $2,000/month and you haven't effected the site at all. Or put three, and another for binders. Now you are bringing in $3,000. Put two at the top and then two at the bottom. You could put ads for binders and packers on the FTM forum and makeup and wigs on the MTF forum. Those are money makers right there.

BTW, I like the look of the forums. They are simple and allot users to communicate with ease. You don't have to be a stock holder in Facebook to realize implementing too many changes at once will turn some people off and in the end effect the overall profitability of the site. Right now you could sell X amount of ads for a definite price, but if the amount of traffic drops, those ads will decrease in value.

I just think ads are the answer. I worry the site will lose users over the long term by stratifying the site with badges though that is obviously not the intent. I think most, if not all, current users know there is zero ill intent but what about new users?  They will never know about this debate and only see a user with a gold badge or a silver badge or whatever. They might just think they have to pay to be a member and thus never really get involved. It is quite the conundrum since I do think Susan has to do something to recognize donators.

LTL makes really good points to I'll just say. i can't say it better then she did.

I am really flippin' poor - I will pay the $10 a month to avoid ads , have you seen the ads they put on trans sites, do you know what being trans draws? when google ads sees that you are trans they push stuff towards you that is awful - I had a blog with ads on it, the stuff was pretty much porn in my opinion. and when you have yourself out there you just draw the wrong stuff. on my computer I have ad blocking stuff and malware blocking software because I consider all that stuff bad. I would rather pay even though I have pretty much not enough money to eat by the end of the month and my food budget for the month is $100

I wasn't talking about using Google pay per click ads I was talking about selling actual ad space at a premium. The site would control what business was able to advertise on it. At the end of the day will donations cut it for a site this size as the trans community is pretty small and, well, trans-ient lol

Are you happy, do you feel better? Got that all out of your system?  I know that donations and subscriptions are a big change, but they are a necessary one.

You gave me your New York blunt, well here's mine, and after this, we will be closing this as topic of discussion on the public areas of this site.

Do contributing members of the site get a few more benefits than the free members? Yes. Lets count them. They get access to a set of forums, the majority of which they only get if they are a member of a specified peer group. They get a tiny bit of access to me which I really haven't been using yet, so its not that much of a benefit as of this time; then you have the fact that anyone can pm or email me at any time and they will be heard no matter what.  Do you feel this is enough to reward people who have dug into their pockets to help support the site?  The answer is not on your life.  I will sing their names from the heavens if required to ensure that they feel that their support of Susan's Place was really worth it.

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Lets look at these "different classes" of members.

All Subscribers  and Donators

1. Get access to a subscriber news forum.

Donators

They get the least, and what they are doing is done out of the kindness of their hearts.

1. They receive their name on the the donor wall of fame, provided they didn't chose to be totally anonymous.
2. They receive a forum badge on their profile.
3. They also receive access to a special forum only available to other donators.

That's it. Cindy has paid to help support this site single-handedly for years. During this time she was and knew she was the only donor.  She asked for nothing and it was a challenge to get her to allow me to give her any credit at all. Other donators are now being allowed to help support the site as well, and they have donated anywhere from two to several hundred dollars. All of them are on the the donor wall of fame, and not one is excluded because they didn't donate "enough". A $1.00 donation is enough to identify someone as a donor, and I don't plan to clear them out but maybe once a year.

Then we have subscribers

Subscribers

They give a monthly amount to help support the site, but they also receive back some concrete benefits for doing so.

1. They get access to the private peer support forum.
2. They get access to a special forum where I am going to try to be more active once I get caught up a little at work.
3. They get  a forum profile badge

They are not listed on the the donor wall of fame, unless they donate as well.

Silver Subscribers

Chose to give $10.00 per month

Gold Subscribers

Chose to give $20.00 a month

That's the only difference between them, how much they give. A silver and Gold subscriber receives exactly the same benefits.  They just get a different badge.

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Now looking back at all these wonderful benefits that subscribers and donators get, ask your self is it enough? The answer is not on your life. People work hard for their money and deserve to be rewarded when they support their community.

Every single person bitching should be ashamed of their self not because you have not or cannot donate or subscribe; but because you are whining that people who have stepped forward to help support this site, who help to ensure that we have the funds needed to move the site forward to the next level, and lastly who help me; are being recognized publicly for doing so.

No it's not enough, and I plan to do more.

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Lets say you are unable to contribute financially but you really want to help, you can volunteer your time be it 1 hour a day, 4 hours a week, or more.  That helps this site as much as a cash donation would.

You can contact Emelye (Chat), Fitter Admin (Forums), Shana A (News), Renate (Wiki), Flan (Links) to get more information on what volunteering for their section of the site entails.

If you are unable to contribute cash or time, get with Cindy she has generously volunteered to fund accounts for people who are unable to contribute. You can also get with me.

You can donate any amount from $1.00 and up and your donor status will last for at least 1 year. There is no maximum donation, however know that all donors are recognized the same if they donate $1.00 or $18,000 like Cindy has.  Every single dollar donated helps the site.

Last but certainly not least: Not one person who accesses this site has been denied the support that they need, nor will they ever be.