Site Management When your beloved forum starts charging for membership

[Cedric]

I've got a "what if" for ya'll. Imagine this: You've been a passionate member of an online forum for years. It's a place where you've made friends, shared experiences, and learned so much. You genuinely love the community. Now, out of the blue, the forum announces that they're going to start charging for membership.
It's not an exorbitant fee, let's say it's a reasonable annual subscription of $10. But here's the catch - those who pay get special privileges, like a flashy badge or exclusive access to certain sections. Those who don't pay, well, they'll miss out access to the community.

So, what would you do in this situation? How would you react if a forum you've come to cherish suddenly starts charging for membership? Here are a few questions to get the discussion going:

1. Would you pay? Are you so attached to the forum that you'd gladly pay the membership fee to continue enjoying it with all the perks?
2. Is it fair though? Do you think it's fair for the forum to charge for membership? After all, hosting and maintaining a forum can come with costs.
3. Exploring alternatives: Would you consider looking for alternative forums that offer similar content or discussions for free? Or would you be willing to support your beloved forum financially?
4. Impact on community: How do you think this change would affect the overall community dynamics? Would it strengthen or weaken the bonds among members?
5. Balancing costs: From the forum's perspective, do you think it's necessary to charge for membership to cover costs, or should they explore other revenue options, like donations or ads?

I'm genuinely curious to hear your thoughts and personal experiences. This scenario raises interesting questions about the intersection of passion, community, and the cost of maintaining online spaces. So, what would you do if your beloved forum started charging for membership? Let's discuss!

 

[Arantor]

If I get an hour’s entertainment/value out of it in that year, bargain, sign me up.

 

[cdub]

My site went completely advertisement free and switched to being funded by user upgrades in 2019. It's been very successful and has brought in more money than advertising.

BUT

• The forums are free and anyone can post.
• Supporting membership gets you exclusive application data and access to exclusive articles

Would I pay to access a forum myself? Depends on the forum and the cost.

I think it would have to be a bustling community and it would have to be a small amount for the year if it was pay to be able to post. But there's a real risk of killing the forum activity. Pay to post would kill my site IMO.

 

[Spartan]

I’m not sure I would pay, depends on how much I use the forum and if it helps me generate income or learn anything useful.
I think of a forum switched to that model, they should grandfather in a active accounts maybe over x amount of post for at least a year or two.

 

[Arantor]

I’m slightly concerned that people don’t want to just give a few bucks towards the running of the thing for a thing they like/enjoy participating in, that it has to be strictly transactional.

 

[Spartan]

I’m slightly concerned that people don’t want to just give a few bucks towards the running of the thing for a thing they like/enjoy participating in, that it has to be strictly transactional.

I like Twitter and Facebook I wouldn’t use them if I had to pay fee though. Times are hard you can’t expect a community to produce you content and charge them for it if their is no benefit for them. With discord, Reddit, and social media they may just opt to make their own group on there.

I pay for premium memberships on some forums, so to say people don’t wanna pitch in a couple bucks for stuff they like isn’t true, I don’t wanna be forced too.

 

[Arantor]

The OP said nothing about the payment being required. It was the rest of the conversation that made it transactional in nature.

 

[cdub]

The OP said nothing about the payment being required. It was the rest of the conversation that made it transactional in nature.

To me the title of this thread implies that to become a member of this fictional forum you need to pay 🤷‍♂️

 

[joelr]

The OP said nothing about the payment being required. It was the rest of the conversation that made it transactional in nature.

I think you hit upon something interesting, which is that there are two ways to solicit subscriptions:
- Voluntarily: You can access and participate in the community, and this would almost be like an extra donation entirely out of goodwill. And in return, maybe you get some nice badge, but your basic interaction is not impaired.
- Involuntarily: You cannot access in the community (or certain sections of the community) unless you pay.

I've run both voluntary and involuntary subscriptions on my primary community. While donations are nice in theory (Arantor's much vaunted belief that not everything needs to be transactional!), the reality is that most members won't pay unless they're forced to pay.

 

[Arantor]

Seemed to me as though those who paid got extra perks, special access, but not lose out on *general* access.

Sorta like how the paid perks work here.

 

[Arantor]

Arantor's much vaunted belief that not everything needs to be transactional!

My much vaunted belief is that forcing everything to be transactional kills off an important sector, those who do it for the love of doing it and don’t feel a need to monetise it. Bringing money into things changes the dynamic. I remember a time when people did things and worked together to build things without it having to rely on something as common and vulgar as money.

I remember communities that would only take donations towards hosting, and not about making a profit. I miss that a lot, because it’s crept into so much else in society. Everyone’s got a side hustle.

Well, I will concede on that score you convinced me. I’m quietly working on something, and all your advice around “but what if you didn’t open source it and just built it for the cloud”, well, I’m doing exactly that. Fortunately, I’m not trying to make a business out of it, just to cover its costs, which means I can offer the kind of solution I want to offer for maybe $7/month all in (though at that price point it’s still only questionably competitive with my nearest rival, but what they offer in volume, I offer in premium features.)

You’re also not my target demographic, which I think is probably the best for the both of us.

 

[Dismal_Bliss]

You've been a passionate member of an online forum for years. It's a place where you've made friends, shared experiences, and learned so much. You genuinely love the community. Now, out of the blue, the forum announces that they're going to start charging for membership.
It's not an exorbitant fee, let's say it's a reasonable annual subscription of $10. But here's the catch - those who pay get special privileges, like a flashy badge or exclusive access to certain sections. Those who don't pay, well, they'll miss out access to the community.

So, what would you do in this situation?

Well, if I am in love with the community enough, then I open my wallet and pay.

I have no problem with this concept. I am in a community right now that requires a minimum of $5/mo to access. I actually am a member at the $20/mo tier so I can enjoy extra privileges/perks.

 

[Spartan]

My much vaunted belief is that forcing everything to be transactional kills off an important sector, those who do it for the love of doing it and don’t feel a need to monetise it. Bringing money into things changes the dynamic. I remember a time when people did things and worked together to build things without it having to rely on something as common and vulgar as money.

I remember communities that would only take donations towards hosting, and not about making a profit. I miss that a lot, because it’s crept into so much else in society. Everyone’s got a side hustle.

Well, I will concede on that score you convinced me. I’m quietly working on something, and all your advice around “but what if you didn’t open source it and just built it for the cloud”, well, I’m doing exactly that. Fortunately, I’m not trying to make a business out of it, just to cover its costs, which means I can offer the kind of solution I want to offer for maybe $7/month all in (though at that price point it’s still only questionably competitive with my nearest rival, but what they offer in volume, I offer in premium features.)

You’re also not my target demographic, which I think is probably the best for the both of us.

Isn’t charging your members forcing it to be a transaction? Your point seems hypocritical.

 

[Arantor]

I suppose it wasn’t *entirely* clear that I was only planning on charging the admin for hosting the site, as opposed to members for access. This runs back to a conversation months ago about building a new forum software, where I was going to go open source and give it away until, well, I was convinced not to.

Though I also would have thought that “trying not to make a business out of it” and “just cover the costs” for what is essentially a hobby project makes it less transactional by nature and returns it to the spirit of old where its not about making a profit, and any money changing hands is necessity.

 

[Jason]

I'm wondering if a site which allowed lifetime access for 0.50 USD or even 0.10 USD could get xx,xxx members or more. 0.50 or a dollar wouldn't be bad if you could get those numbers and you'd be set with money for a long time.

 

[cdub]

I'm wondering if a site which allowed lifetime access for 0.50 USD or even 0.10 USD could get xx,xxx members or more. 0.50 or a dollar wouldn't be bad if you could get those numbers and you'd be set with money for a long time.

Wouldn't be worth it with credit card fees that low IMO

 

[Dismal_Bliss]

I'm wondering if a site which allowed lifetime access for 0.50 USD or even 0.10 USD could get xx,xxx members or more. 0.50 or a dollar wouldn't be bad if you could get those numbers and you'd be set with money for a long time.

My largest community has 6000 members. At 0.50 USD that would be $3000 and at 0.10 USD that would be $600. Both those amounts last me a few weeks at best.

 

[cdub]

Both those amounts last me a few weeks at best.

What are your biggest expenses? My hosting costs are extremely low but I invest heavily in quality articles (paying my writer) and a bunch of custom development.

 

[Dismal_Bliss]

What are your biggest expenses? My hosting costs are extremely low but I invest heavily in quality articles (paying my writer) and a bunch of custom development.

My house payment, followed by my vehicle payments. When he said he would be set for a long time, I just thought how little money that actually is.

WIth regard to my internet activities, it would be my managed VPS hosting which is costing me $70/mo. But I write it off as a business expense.

 

[Ravenfreak]

If it’s a community that I absolutely love I wouldn’t mind paying a fee to gain additional access to extra content or to even help out with the cost of running the site.