Profitability

[Scylla]

As any good Capitalist knows the key to profitability lies in the friction between the Social classes. This is why those damn Commies have crappy economies.

Moderators excepted, the SDMB is a classless and Communist society (read “no profits.”)

Make it entirely subscriber based and the bulk of your posters will just leave rather than paying a fee. Those that remain will be pissed that everybody else left, and they’ll leave too.

What you need is a good class struggle.

Add a paid subscriber option.

For a modest fee a “member” no longer has that title below his screenmane. He now has something cooler, that differentiates him from the lower order of non-paying scum.

Not only that, but the new guys will be allowed to edit their posts!

Of course, while anybody can post, only paying subscribers can start threads (or maybe they will just have their own forum, and Cecil will promise to hang out there once in a while.)

Part of the money will also go into a pool. Paying subscribers will be eligible to win Coffee mugs, t-shirts, and maybe even monetary prizes (if things catch on,) based on post quality, best thread, or what-have-you.

All these rewards and privileges of membership will of course coerce the lower class members into digging deep and paying for them, so they can be cool too.

Don’t drive them away. Tempt them.

I usually charge $250.00 bucks an hour to tell people this kind of thing. Sometimes it even works and they get their money’s worth.

[Lizard]

I think “friction between Social classes” puts it too simply. I think calling it “the envy all social classes have for those above them” is better. If you are in a lower class but have a chance to better your condition (i.e., upward mobility, usually signified by wealth) you will strive to do so. In theory, Communism created a classless society and in practice removed any incentive for the individual members of the populace to get out of bed in the morning.

Sheesh. Am I getting pompous or what?

[Una_Persson]

*Originally posted by Scylla *
For a modest fee a “member” no longer has that title below his screenmane.

Not only that, but the new guys will be allowed to edit their posts!

Of course, while anybody can post, only paying subscribers can start threads (or maybe they will just have their own forum, and Cecil will promise to hang out there once in a while.)

Tech-wise, all of these things are doable in vBulletin. If you would like to know what other granularity is available as options in vBulletin for Users:

Can View Board - Yes No

Can Search - Yes No

Can Use ‘email to friend’ feature - Yes No

Can Post New Threads - Yes No

Can Reply - Yes No

Can Do Admin Edits (this includes editing any post, editing thread title and notes, opening and closing any thread) - Yes No

Can Can Edit Own Posts - Yes No

Can Delete Own Posts and Threads - Yes No

Can Open / Close own threads - Yes No

Can Move threads to other forums - Yes No

Can Access Control Panel (Administrator functions) - Yes No

Another advantage of allowing the paid users to edit their own posts is that it reduces the number of occurances of this shit:

POST1: "Heh…you said “lfetch”.

POST2: “Oh damn…I meant “fLetch”. Oopsie!”

POST3: "Oh hell…I can’t type today. I meant “feltch”. "

POST4: “Moderators? Can you bold “feltch” for me please?”

Which, I imagine, would reduce both the number of posts on the Board and the work of Moderators. The edit function also has a time-limit that can be set. On my Board, I set it for 60 minutes, since most mistakes are caught right away. This also prevents people from coming back in the heat of a flame war and editing their posts (although if they do, it says “Edited by X” anyhow).

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

Er, I personally wouldn’t pay good money for the dubious honor of being able to call myself “Far Superior Being” or “Executively Privileged” or “Most Respected and Feared Poster in the History of the Straight Dope Message Board”. “Member” is good enough for lil ole me.

[handy]

Oh, they would just change it so instead of under your name where it says ‘member’ it would say ‘paid member’.

[yabob]

Or, they could make it “member” if you paid, and change everybody else to “freeloader”. Whereupon, I would lobby to get my user name changed to “Freddie”.

[mblackwell]

Sounds like a great solution to me.

[Amedeus]

I would pay, as long as it wasn’t more than 10 dollars a month.

[Ice_Wolf]

Sounds like a great option. It would tide me over until I got a real job again, and could afford to send money.

Nice one, Scylla!

[MandaJo]

Re: Names

I think the thing to do here is to capitilize on an exitsiting class struggle right here on the SDMB! Non-paying subscribers will be “Newbies” and paying subsbibers will be “Regs”. Now, obviously, payment has nothing to do with newbieness or not, but this is marketing!

[Freedom]

If I pay, I want my status to say:

Freedom
Has a Large Member

[Northern_Piper]

the managment could also offer a trial period, when you get to go everywhere, do everything a member can do, but it only lasts for oh, a month. Then, once the newbie’s hooked, they have to choose between a subscription or being not having full privileges.

[Albert_Rose]

I’d pay. My suggestion on the class struggle/snob appeal: paying members could receive ranks varying from Junior Member all the way up to Near-Cecil, depending on their post quality (not post count) and the whims of the almighty and forever perfect administrators.

Non-paying members would be called Slugs. And they would have to pick up the tab at any Dopefest.

[yabob]

*Originally posted by Freedom *
**If I pay, I want my status to say:

Freedom
Has a Large Member **

It has idly crossed my mind in the past to register a name that went together with “member”, like, say, “Huge, dangling” - trouble is, they don’t format the display in such a way as to make the gag apparent enough. I would not be at all surprised if there is a name registered as a result of somebody perpetrating it anyway.