[Phantom]

I'm usually the last to learn of things since I'm on here a lot less often than I should be... and often just check LOL and Gateway. But I thought I'd post this linke for those of you that haven't seen it.

http://www.fastcougar.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=51&threadid=129486

 

[HugNSmile1]

I guess I should say I am not surprised. Trevor has been threating this for a couple of years now. Will I pay? Nope. Will we lose members? The idea of paying for a msg board is not appealing to anyone. And we are already a dying car club because the production of cougars ended over 3 yrs ago.n Are there other msg boards where you have to pay? Most people frown upon that in the internet world. TeamNeco and the Automatic Internet will just get more active members.

 

[bensenvill]

damn I totally didnt see that!!!
and I cant post my comment there, so I'm pasting it here....


my 2 cents may be a bit late on this [I doubt many people on this board have yet to see this thread]...

but I think you can make substancial steady income just for charging for the right to have avatars and banners...
and still allowing full access and rights as non-payers.

I think it would destroy the community to put a subsciption wall up [lol, think of how many neon owners we'd lose here].

 

[Moraki]

Ummm read closer guys you will still be able to read and post for free... the avatars and sigs would come with the membership fee.

 

[jaged]

everybody seems to be missing that. I think he should have that in bold or CAPS so that people see it

 

[Phantom]

You can read and post for free... but you have to pay to do anything else... like edit a post once its entered, or delete it... or have an avator or a signature... or post inline pictures or SEE the inline pictures someone else posted.

Heather's point is THE point. How many members would stick around if there was a pay version to get anything more than the basic basic stuff. I know if 4 and a half years ago when I was just looking into NECO if there was a price, I'd have never joined. I'd probably never have come back for the free content.

Further, how much can it really cost to host a site. Especially if it is being moved to a Linux server runing mySQL and PHP. All that software is free, so most hosting providers for that setup is very cheap... further its not dedicated but shared... it shouldn't cost more than $1200 a year. Even charging $10 for 200 members and you're talking $2000 for the year already...

oh well, its not my board. I may just have to ask Crispy for a Land of Lincoln Forum over at Team Neco... cause that's where I'll be a lot more often.

 

[jaged]

but the other thing is that the $10 or whatever might also go towards CF since trevor said that he wasnt going to be doing any more raffles either. I think that before we get all gung ho over this we should wait for trevors all encompasing post that he is referring to with ALL the actual info

 

[Phantom]

Yes, I know... I'm not gung ho yet. The actual, real reason for posting is to make everyone aware. They are keeping it kinda quiet. I don't know when the switch is supposed to occur but everyone may want to back up their private messages and especially their attached images...

 

[Mtang4life]

This site is already dying, as well as the cougar community. TeamNeco is still a great, tight knit place, but as a whole the club is on its last leg as we know it now. $5 says there is no, or a VERY small CF '06. Its to bad really... going to a pay-to-have-content msg board will probably put the final nail in the coffin. kinda sad.

 

[HugNSmile1]

$5 says there is no, or a VERY small CF '06.

But I LOVE cougar fest! You can't take Cougar Fest away from me! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. It is the HIGHLIGHT of my summer.. heck my year. HECK it is always the HIGHLIGHT! I LOVE cougar fest there has to be one!

 

[jaged]

if cf06 doesnt go we'll have camp out cougarfest at my house

 

[Mtang4life]

If there isnt a clear indication of a CF, we should DEFINATLY have, like, a big Mid-West NECO meet or something. Only dontt make it the same weeekend as last year.. I wana go to the SRT nationals.

 

[Crispy]

I've paid for TeamNECO's hosting out of my pocket for over 3 years now.. never once asked for anything back and I'm sure that its obvious to the people who are TN members that we've had hardly any downtime.

Also We managed to have a pretty awesome Fest the one year we had it after we were asked to combine with CF so if worse comes to worse we can always hold another one.

There will always be the people who will pay anything to see something they love continue... but I honestly can't understand why it would come down to a pay membership when all other boards out there are free.. If Trevor doesn't want to pay the hosting to continue the board then find someone who will -not the members.

 

[jaged]

Ta Da

this is much better and more explanatory

 

[Zip]

Not like I post much anyways, but I feel these boards are becoming more and more scarce, with few newcomers, and alot of people leaving. Even with his changes, I don't think he understands there's not that many people here willing to pay for a subscribed member long, as most people don't need the options, although nice, it's out of "I love cougars here's money so we can have nice things."

It's definately not the end all fix to his new hosting costs. If the new boards somehow brought in new members, and making this community hopefully grow a little more than it's shrinking, it'd be a great idea.



I completely admire what he's doing to make the forums run and be much more stable, but it's really going to detour people either way. I know I see anything ever hinting at "u giev $" and I sometimes don't even bother, since I don't read through

 

[Frosty]

I don't mind paying. I still plan on modding my car, and this forum is my best source of information. I will stick with it.

 

[Badazzcougar]

this really kinda blows:thumbsdn:

 

[Crispy]

I honestly still don't understand why we have to pay to have a membership here... there are many more options for how to receive payment for hosting and software upgrades.

I'll probably end up paying the 12.00 but [censored] and moan about it to myself forever.