premier membership, why?

[livenletfly 0]

i read up on this premier membership stuff and cant figure out why you would pay money for those extra features. they dont seem that much better. actually they seem kind of useless and fabricated to make money. it also pretty darn expensive for the services.
my q' is this, what feature do you feel is worth close to 10 bucks a month, and how many times have you used these special services?

>

[eeneR 1]

Quote

i read up on this premier membership stuff and cant figure out why you would pay money for those extra features. they dont seem that much better. actually they seem kind of useless and fabricated to make money. it also pretty darn expensive for the services.
my q' is this, what feature do you feel is worth close to 10 bucks a month, and how many times have you used these special services?

Heh, first off, HH gives us a kick ass place to play and learn, I dont mind donating a few extra bucks for the time I spend here playing on his site. Otherwise most of the $$ comes from his wallet...

Second, for what ever reason, the webmail here isnt blocked at my work, so I have access to personal email at work thru dropzone.com. The expanded email acct size is nice since I use it.

Third, I also use the hell out of PM's too. so being able to sort them into folders is very very nice.

and finally forth, I also do use the expanded search function.

Sorry that you think they are useless and fabricated to make money for a site that lots of people use the heck out of, and dont give a dime to help with the over head.

She is not a "Dumb Blonde" - She is a "Light-Haired Detour Off The Information Superhighway."
eeneR
TF#72, FB#4130, Incauto

[jumpergirl 0]

[replyHeh, first off, HH gives us a kick ass place to play and learn, I dont mind donating a few extra bucks for the time I spend here playing on his site. Otherwise most of the $$ comes from his wallet...

Second, for what ever reason, the webmail here isnt blocked at my work, so I have access to personal email at work thru dropzone.com. The expanded email acct size is nice since I use it.

Third, I also use the hell out of PM's too. so being able to sort them into folders is very very nice.

and finally forth, I also do use the expanded search function.

Sorry that you think they are useless and fabricated to make money for a site that lots of people use the heck out of, and dont give a dime to help with the over head.

[livenletfly 0]

thats why i am asking. to see the usefullnes of them. this was my opinion not a dig at dz.com. just because i learn alot doesnt make me want to pay money. thats what the advertising is for. just like a radio station. i dont pay to listen to the radio, the advertisers do.

>

[AggieDave 6]

Then I hope you don't enjoy DZ.com too much, since the advertising doesn't even put a dent in the cost to run this site. The sheer amount of bandwidth and the kind of hardware involved is very very expensive. Real world expensive, not just "skydiver" expensive.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[livenletfly 0]

so this site doesnt pay for itself?

>

[AggieDave 6]

Quote

so this site doesnt pay for itself?
>

Not yet to my knowledge, HH is trying very hard to make it pay for its self. I imagine that its growing towards that end, but I know in years past HH was spending 10's of thousands of his own dollars a year for bandwidth, nevermind hardware.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[livenletfly 0]

no shit! wow see this is why i asked. i am very appreciative of his sacrifice. im a better skydiver cuz of the knowledge made available here. but im also broke as a joke cuz i made a commiment to this sport. why not expand the ammount of advertising available on dz.com.

>

[AggieDave 6]

Quote

why not expand the ammount of advertising available on dz.com.

He has, but HH also doesn't want to kill the site with advertising all over everything. Other sites I've been on like that drives me away, I can't stand it.

That's another reason why HH created the premier membership. I honestly don't use the advantages, except on occasion, but I don't mind putting a little bit of money towards HH. I've used this site quite extensively for over 5 years. I've met many interesting people, made good friends and have learned a considerable amount about skydiving from people on this site. To me that alone is worth helping it out.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Guest]

dude, through a couple bucks at HH. You get that cool orange star next to your name. Its not like you're getting married or something, so I just put in for 6 months a couple months ago. The info here might save my ass or just a leg some day, not to mention some future jumpin buds and free boobies once in a while.

So, in general terms I truly wish for this site to remain available to me as a resource, so I'll support it some directly. I use very little of the premium functionality.

You can have it good, fast, or cheap: pick two.

[livenletfly 0]

you know what would be great. have a post about this topic. include not wanting to overun dz. with a bunch of ads. talk about how much this site has helped us all as well as saved lives and provides the best used gear listing. then maybe have a pledge option. like i would pledge 5 dollars a month on my cc to keep this site "free". kind of like public broadcating system, (pbs). i think he would make alot more money this way. people more willing to give if they know the situation. keep in mind some may pledge alot more. i feel if everyone knew what youve informed me alot of members would help out. i know i would. it would add up to alot more than a small handfull of premier members. at just 5 bucks a month, thats 60 $ a year times how many registered users?= alot of money!

i will stand by my original post though. i dont feel the extra goodies are worth 10 bucks a month nor do i feel they would be usfull to me. however if hh was to ask me for a small donation to keep things the way they are.... no problem.

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[bbarnhouse 0]

If you want to make a donation you can do that too!
see here

So you can give as little or as much as you want, whenever you feel compelled to do so.

[Zenister 0]

as the pixie pointed out, you can make donations whenever you wish, for as much as you wish...

and while you reaching for your wallet, think about how long, how many coaches, how many dropzones, and how many coach jumps you would have had to pay for to acquire all the information available here...

then remember that all of that is available for free, to everyone from the total skydiving pro to the first time wuffo that wonders why we jump...

the membership is a VERY small way to help support the site and pay back HH for the time and energy he spends maintaining it (and in managing the nut house social forums as well

sure you can 'freeload' as long as you like.. but the extra options you get for becoming a member are 'icing' on the cake HH gives away for free....

me? i REALLLY like icing....particularly if its on some tasty cakes...

____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[skydiverek 55]

To me, just this info is priceless: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=search_results&search_forum=all&search_string=&search_type=AND&search_fields=sb&search_time=&search_user_username=billbooth&sb=post_time&mh=999

• Quote

[bob.dino 0]

Now why didn't I think of doing that search myself?

Thanks mate, that's a wonderful resource of information!

[BIGUN 1,053]

Although, you do have to admit that it would be interesting to determine the total number of those who've paid the $100.00/annum of the 41,000 users vs. a 30/60 day free trial with a subsequent mandatory membership to do anything other than view. At the current 41,000+ registered users @ a price point of $33.00/annum would equate to annual proceeds of $1,353,000.00. Assuming 50% of registered users dropped off, that would still realize $676,500/annum with the potential for growth and biennial price increases.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[bob.dino 0]

I asked HH a long while ago (late 2004?), and at that time he thought that less than 30% of the very regular posters had signed up.

Picking a thread pretty much at random:

13 of 38 posts were made by premier members, which is 35%, though 4 of those 13 were by greenies. It'd be nice to get an undergrad doing a statistics course to have a look at the database to see what info could be extracted.

The bandwidth costs of running the forums should not be underesimated either.

[PhreeZone 15]

41000 users have signed up, but last count was only a few thousand had ever logged into the fourms and even smaller had posted. The vast majority just sell things or read. I know lots of people that think the fourms are a complete waste of time and only go there when something happens they are alerted to but need to sign in to read.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[BIGUN 1,053]

Well, that would explain a higher price point. No doubt - as long as HH has been in IT, I'm fairly certain he scrubbed the numbers pretty good.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.