Paid Membership ideas

[Jon]

I am considering a number of ways to add more value to the site in return for a paid membership. Please note, I am not advocating charging for what you currently get for free. I am talking about additional functionality.

Here are some of my thoughts:

1. Just adding a donate button, for those who want to support the site.

2. Paid membership option adding 12 additional forums, each of which will take a beginning Access user through a training course. The idea is that Month 1 gets released with perhaps a simple database and a video that shows how it was built. Month 2 does the same but teaching more intricate detail and so on. By Month 10 they would be using vba code and more.

3. Paid membership option for increase the abilities of the forum user, such as larger inbox, larger file upload, signature links, Paid Member badge, private forum area.

4. Downloadable cheat sheet area and maybe repository for database objects pre-built. Maybe ready made code too.

These are just some of my ideas.

What are your thoughts?

 

[KenHigg]

You want me to pay you to provide a third party help on access?

 

[Vassago]

It's okay by me. As long as we don't start charging for the information that is already available for free. I've been a member of forums that have done this bait and switch tactic before and it never works out well in the end.

I'd certainly be willing to donate as well, but can't promise how much.

 

[KenHigg]

It's okay by me. As long as we don't start charging for the information that is already available for free. I've been a member of forums that have done this bait and switch tactic before and it never works out well in the end.

I'd certainly be willing to donate as well, but can't promise how much.

You have to be kidding?

 

[Vassago]

You have to be kidding?

Do I?

If he wants to introduce new features and charge for them to help pay for bandwidth, I see nothing wrong with that. As long as how the forum exists today remains as is. Have you ever seen the bandwidth costs for a site this popular? Google Ads doesn't pay jack.

 

[KenHigg]

If you want to give Jon your time AND MONEY go ahead.

 

[Kryst51]

Hi Jon,

I like some of your ideas. I don't know that I would pay for a membership (as such luzeries are not possible), but I see no problem in offering membership for more amenities. And as Vassago said, I too would be willing to donate, also not knowing how much I would be able to.

 

[Jon]

I amended my initial post for clarity, by adding..."Please note, I am not advocating charging for what you currently get for free. I am talking about additional functionality."

KenHigg, you are not giving me your time but other users. These boards are expensive in both time and money to run. It is perfectly natural to want to monetize.

The idea is that those who don't want the additional functionality just carry on as they are.

 

[KenHigg]

Maybe I read it wrong. As long as the forum as it exists today remains intact and you pay for additional features go for it. I don't see myself paying for any of it. I'm here because I to occasionally need help but mostly because I like helping others. For free

 

[Jon]

Your help is appreciate Ken and long may you enjoy the free part of the forums! What would interest me is what would it take to encourage you to part with money for a paid section? What would you like to see that would tempt you?

I see part of the problem being that there are both beginners and experts on the forum. The experts are not going to be interested in the beginners course, and vice versa.

 

[boblarson]

I would be willing to donate financially some to the cause. I have done so in the past for another forum (on which I gave free help to and wasn't the beneficiary, but helped support it financially). I also might be interested in additional PM space, maybe an Ad free space for a paid membership. It would make it look a lot cleaner that way, so it would be a nice perk.

 

[KenHigg]

I amended my initial post for clarity, by adding..."Please note, I am not advocating charging for what you currently get for free. I am talking about additional functionality."

KenHigg, you are not giving me your time but other users. These boards are expensive in both time and money to run. It is perfectly natural to want to monetize.

The idea is that those who don't want the additional functionality just carry on as they are.

If you make a nickel in profit from this site, and I doubt you do it out of the goodness of your heart, then it's like I am giving you my time, or a small portion of it. Which is fine, I like helping others.

Is monetize like making more of a profit?

 

[Kryst51]

Your help is appreciate Ken and long may you enjoy the free part of the forums! What would interest me is what would it take to encourage you to part with money for a paid section? What would you like to see that would tempt you?

I see part of the problem being that there are both beginners and experts on the forum. The experts are not going to be interested in the beginners course, and vice versa.

Maybe you could do a pay by course or level type thing? I would certainly be willling to part with some money for that kind of thing, especially if it could be backed up by a Q&A type thing at the end. Or some kind of test to make sure you learned what the course was teaching. I realize you probably don't want this to be a "course" in the "class" since of the word, just using the same word that you were.

I am going to think about what other things that I might be willing to pay for...

 

[chergh]

Well nothing there is nothing you have mentioned that I would pay for.

The only thing I can really think that I would be potentially interested are articles relating to useful Windows API functions and perhaps automating office apps using one of the .net languages, probably C# would be of most interest, and even then I'm not convinced I couldn't find the same info for free, but if the articles were useful enough I would stump up cash for them.

 

[Vassago]

Maybe some deals that would help us get course work for certifications and the such. That would be something worth donating for.

I also like the idea of ad-free for donators. This has been successful in other forums as well. Just as long as we don't turn into Experts Exchange.

 

[Jon]

I like your Q&A idea, perhaps being tackled with a FAQ for each months module. My thoughts were having a video and showing a very simple database built from scratch. I personally believe there is nothing better than seeing something built. Many courses I see go into great detail on one area. But many people want to get up and running quickly. They can delve into the detail as and when required.

 

[KenHigg]

Your help is appreciate Ken and long may you enjoy the free part of the forums! What would interest me is what would it take to encourage you to part with money for a paid section? What would you like to see that would tempt you?...

Nothing I can think of. Given the drama I hang on by a thread most of time anyway. If you'd pop in more often and try to reel it in then that would be a start at making more appealing...

Edit: Never mind me Jon, just venting. Thanks for the forum.

 

[Steve R.]

I prefer that the site remain free.

I would like clarity concerning "greater functionality". The following "functionality" would not entice me at all ==>> "Paid membership option for increase the abilities of the forum user, such as larger inbox, larger file upload, signature links, Paid Member badge, private forum area."

Actually this leads into a site improvement suggestion that I have been contemplating. There are certain posts that provide valuable advice. But over-time these posts get buried in the ever growing pool of responses.

What I would like to see, as an added functionality, is having these types of posts somehow "linked" to (lets say) Access help as a type of addendum.

For example, Access help on SHELL writes "This means that a program started with Shell might not finish executing before the statements following the Shell function are executed." Well it doesn't tell you how to solve the problem. I posted my question and
HiTechCoach provided the solution. The added functionality that I would envision is that HiTechCoach's response be somehow "attached" to the SHELL description as an add-on for all to see.

Potentially, linking to the structure of Access Help could lead to a reduction in certain types of questions. Of course that assumes that people will research before asking.

 

[boblarson]

Potentially, linking to the structure of Access Help could lead to a reduction in certain types of questions. Of course that assumes that people will research before asking.

And you can do this HOW? I don't see a way to link to Access help unless MICROSOFT implements some sort of feature to allow that.

 

[Steve R.]

And you can do this HOW? I don't see a way to link to Access help unless MICROSOFT implements some sort of feature to allow that.

That's the rub!!! In fact I have often wondered why technological savvy companies such as Microsoft don't emulate Wikipedia for their manuals. The OpenOffice.org Documentation Project
To go a step further, I would expect Microsoft to $support$ a forum such as this since it alleviates them of having to provide technical support.

One approach would be to see if Microsoft would be willing to provide a copy of their help file in and editable format. Let the laughing begin!

Another approach, key words. Here's one website.

Also there would be the issue of who would determine what information is to be added and who would be allowed to enter information since you would want it to be accurate.