So they've decided to sell out and turn WHT into a community of "haves" and "have-nots".

Will it tear us apart?

Will the "good information" be under paid-subscription lock and key?

Will the unwashed masses be forbidden from knowing the goings-on in the elite forums?

Can Timmah afford a subscription?

Should I start a WHT-refugees board? :D

Discuss...

?

Yea, I'm a little lost on this as well, would you care to further explain yourself?

are you talking about the WHT memberships? if you are, they are not exclusive forums.

Hes talking about http://www.webhostingtalk.com/announcement.php?s=&forumid=8 and yes I am alittle worried. I use to run gaming networks and a guy by the name of David Suit decided to charge for the content on his network. Well in less than a year we went bankrupt. I do not like the idea of a paid subscription fee.

You only have to pay if you want to recieve "Leads" of customers looking for hosting in your email. I don't see it really changing anything, since the requests forum has already been gone for quite some time now..

I doubt this will change anything at all on WHT. I for one spend a lot of time on WHT, not exactly hardcore time, but enough time to give me square eyes.

I would have no problem paying for a subscription for that sexy "Member" bar under my name and enrollment into the "Leads program"

Im pretty sure everything will stay the same and it wont seperate us too much :P

Im sure we all must have seen something like this coming :D

Sightz,

If accomodating the suggestions and requests of many members of WHT is considered "selling out" then I guess we did sell out.

As you can clearly see, not one forum was removed from WHT... not one member had the ability to participate in open, free discussions taken away.

I suppose that only time will tell if we have made a mistake by listening to the suggestions of the community. I predict, however, that we have not.


--Ryan Elledge, President
iNET Interactive, LLC

I personally think it is a bad idea though it will help seperate real hosts with kiddy hosts (I think). I have seen this idea in a few places and it didnt work to well at all.


Originally posted by Kerry Jones
Hes talking about http://www.webhostingtalk.com/announcement.php?s=&forumid=8 and yes I am alittle worried. I use to run gaming networks and a guy by the name of David Suit decided to charge for the content on his network. Well in less than a year we went bankrupt. I do not like the idea of a paid subscription fee.

Originally posted by relledge

I suppose that only time will tell if we have made a mistake by listening to the suggestions of the community. I predict, however, that we have not.


Who suggested the big iNET Toolbar?

Originally posted by Op3rator
Who suggested the big iNET Toolbar?

LOL

I think it is a great idea. iNet found a way to capitalize on an almost invisible area and kudos to them.

Those who do not agree I suggest to re-read the announcement about the introductory offer - you pay only if you want to use extra services. Your status and services remain absolutely the same if you don't want anything extra. But there IS a huge market for hosts looking for requests and yes, this will more or less separate serious hosts from cheap-kiddie hosts who has no cash to invest in their own promotion (just because they won't be able to gain more money from selling through subscription system).

So yeah, between all and all, this was a smart solution that will benefit many users and I support it.

Best,

Looks like a good plan to me, nothing much changes for the end user and I quit using the advertising long ago, even at our cheap prices I couldn't compete with the all for nothing offers you saw in the offers section.

A couple examples:

Amazing New Plans 7000 Mb Disk Space + 60,000 Mb Bandwidth Starting At $0.70 A Month

5 GB STORAGE 70 GB TRANSFER - CPANEL / WHM - Reseller Account - $1.50 per Month promo

300GB Bandwidth for $19.95

I could see myself signing up for a premium account if it stops some of the insanity.

I don't think it will change anything really. I'm planning on purchasing a premium account. But as Artashes pointed out, it's only if you want to.

Maybe it's just me... but i just dont see a whole bunch of people begging to pay money for bottom of the barrel leads. I dont see the community getting together and suggesting this either.

The request forum was closed because people were selling garbage hosting with unlimited everything for 25 cents a year.

Hopefully with paying members this will change. I dont know about you guys, i could careless about a membership, it's the tshirt and mouse pad looking pretty sweet... lol =]

WHT is awesome!!!!

Lets hope it doesnt end!!

The Dude :)

While I'm not a host I think this is an excellent idea. :agree:

The LEADS MEMBERSHIP is an excellent idea but I'm not sure about the PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP especially the clause



Access to 10 additional discussion forums for advanced discussions



so will any of the popular discussion forums which are available free now be moved to premium ?

and what exactly will "advanced discussions" mean ?

hmm, ok will be interesting to see how this develops. :)

Going to grab a membership anyway, just to feed my curiosity more than anything else, but a couple of things ...

- WHT Insider Newsletter Subscription

What exactly will this be about? who contributes to it? CL's, iNET, both? I'm not sure i can see what it can possibily offer, what "inside" information is there apart from what is and should remain mod/community leader only information?

Is it weekly, monthly, annually? by postal/email?

- Customizable WHT Skin
How about the option to remove the toolbar/ads too? :)


- Ability to hide any forum
The ability to hide any threads with the words managed.com in would be more popular i think

- Premium Member Bar Under Name
Oh now you're spoiling us :) is this a "bar" graphic thing like dnforums or just pretty coloured text?

I'm a little worried about the leads subscription/host quote thing

I would think that the majority of people requesting a quote will be looking for the best price possible (just like they used to in the request forums) as i guess replies to peoples quotes are direct and not moderated in anyway, what's to stop the unlimited/scam hosts signing up and using this service? i know they have to pay for the privilege so they will probally be few and far between, but i guarantee there will be some.

And what's with the picture of the chicken and the obvious play on the domain hosthideout.com with the t-shirts/mousepads?

Hope this goes well, just curious about the above that's all :)

Relax... it's a friggin t-shirt ad with discounts on your own ads and some 'other' things that most folks don't use and doesn't look like anyone is going to make this a 'pay for service' site but if it is so darn popular, you gotta bet someone is going to want to print a t-shirt and offer them... great. what's the price for a wht t-shirt, what does it look like and where do you get one? be kinda funny to see you folks struttin into starbucks and stumbling into each other anyway.

Originally posted by Op3rator
There are already several popular WHT-alternative forums.

can you plm the links or post it if thats ok here ?

Somebody needs to code for Form checking. In testing the form I just submitted a blank one and was told "Your hosting request has been posted." Probably in one of the secret Forums?

By making people fill out a Form, not using auto-insert based on WHT ID, it should help to cut down on some 1.50 month Hosting requests -- hopefully anyway.

As a Hoster though, I cannot see a decent ROI for the cost of a LEADS MEMBERSHIP. Would be too worried about getting requests for 1.50 month Hosting and/or having to compete with other Hosters that might offer it -- even if not requested originally.

Yes looks like it went through, I wonder how many tests ones are there :bawling: It certainly needs looking at.

Lets see we got just under 60,000 registered members, and at the rate new members are signing up probably a little over 60,00 by the time I finish this post.

If one third of them sign up thats around 20,000. Now the way I read it anybody signing up for one would take the other as well, so thats $200 per year. If this is such a good idea then presumably the powers to be would be hoping for a far higher participation say 66% but for the moment lets stick with 33% that 20,000 members paying $200 per year. Undoubtably some will pay by the quarter etc. but working on the cheapest senario that's 12 Million Dollars per year. Quite a nice little earner wouldn't you say, and I haven't even factured in extra's .. T-shirts etc.

Seeing that Inet are going to introduce this to there other forums as well then I assume they have the webhosting Industry cornered ( a monopoly) so to speak and web hosts will have no alternative but to shut up and pay up, and after all what's another couple hundred bucks a year, loose change.

I can see at least two or three very distressing things about this.

1. It will divide the members, there will be a very big class
distintion.
2. Will potential clients/leads see the forum as an opportunity to get unbias help when looking for a reliable web host, or will they view it in a similar mistrusting way, that we view SPAM.
3. Will the unpayed moderators.. guides etc ... who by the way do an excelent job .. be just as willing to donate there time and effort, seing that the forum is being converted into a nothing more than a money generating machine.

Doc

Originally posted by TheDoctor
Lets see we got just under 60,000 registered members, and at the rate new members are signing up probably a little over 60,00 by the time I finish this post.

If one third of them sign up thats around 20,000.

I think this may be a little optimistic ;)

I wouldn't think anymore than a third of those are running an active hosting business and probally only 20-30% of those could even pay the $200

I think it would be an extreme success if you find more than 100 hosts sign up for the leads.


I wonder how many tests ones are there

I would suspect quite a few at least for the first few months, as people like to be nosey.

Originally posted by Loon
I think this may be a little optimistic ;)

I wouldn't think anymore than a third of those are running an active hosting business and probally only 20-30% of those could even pay the $200

I think it would be an extreme success if you find more than 100 hosts sign up for the leads.




I would suspect quite a few at least for the first few months, as people like to be nosey.

If I put together a business plan to submit to the bank, or shareholders or partners etc and was only aiming at around 4 to 5 thousand members out of 60,000 I doubt I would be given the go ahead.

I suggest this is a long term plan, that was thought out long ago, or am I just a very mistrusting person by nature. I am always very scepticle when companies tell me they are responding to members suggestions, especially when the company stands to make more money.
I personally see no justification for these changes we don't need to segregate members and it seems very suspect when a forum is dropped because we are told it wasn't working and being abused then we are told the way to stop the abuse and tyo make it work is for the members to pour money into it.

Doc

All that's gonna happen is that all of the really interesting conversation will move to the 'exclusive' forums and you'll then have a WHT divided in two.

The day I pay for access for a forum and pay to compete for $1.50/month hosting leads is the same day I put down a deposit on some swampland.

/me watches WHT teeter at the top of a slippery slope


:rolleyes: :eek: :mad: :(

There it goes !

Originally posted by TheDoctor
If I put together a business plan to submit to the bank, or shareholders or partners etc and was only aiming at around 4 to 5 thousand members out of 60,000 I doubt I would be given the go ahead.

I suggest this is a long term plan, that was thought out long ago

I agree that it was probally well thought out and obviously it doesn't require any large outlay from iNet so it can't really fail to make a profit even it it's a very small one, but if you think your overall target audience that you're pitching to is 60,000 or anything close to even half that amount, you're fooling yourself. ( not meaning you doc, just a general statement :) )

You can quickly take huge chunks off that number by removing the various groups of people that it would be of no use to.

Banned members
Duplicate accounts
Hosts no longer operating
People that just signed up to make requests

etc, etc, etc (many more i'm sure)

Originally posted by chrisranjana
The LEADS MEMBERSHIP is an excellent idea but I'm not sure about the PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP especially the clause



so will any of the popular discussion forums which are available free now be moved to premium ?

and what exactly will "advanced discussions" mean ?

No, nothing will be removed. There are just *additional* forums you will have access to if you have a premium membership. :)

Bought it! Where's my customized bar? :)

Gee, I never even saw this coming. The Community Leaders and INET have kept this one pretty much under wraps. :D

It's not too much of a problem at the minute as far as i'm concerned but then they haven't gone near the Lounge.

If they charged to post or read in The Lounge then that is a whole different kettle of fish. Depending on the price and if it happened of course, it might be more worht while and cost effective for a cooperative of members to contribute a small amount of money each and setup WHTBACKIN THEDAY.NET or something bu have free admission bar operating costs for server and board. Wouldn't be too difficult to do.

But it hasn't gone that far down the raod yet for us to enact "Operation Exodus" sof file that under J for just in case maybe. If we didn't fancy that, there's always the good ol chestunut "regime change" to consider ;)

Critic,

OK, it looks like a lot of people didn't read the whole announcement, found at http://www.webhostingtalk.com/announcement.php?s=&forumid=31

My initial post that started all this was speaking specifically about the PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP option, not the HOSTING LEADS (which seems like a great idea to me).

I fear that the premium membership, with it's exclusive closed forums, will only serve to segregate the community here.

I can imagine many future posts like this: "Sure I can help you, that was just discussed a few days ago... Ohhh, I see you are a no-good freeloading member. Sorry. What is discussed in the elite forums must stay in the elite forums. Too Bad."

As much as I would love to own a WHT tshirt and a fully stocked bar :D I don't think I will see myself signing up anytime soon.

(UNLESS premium membership has a way to get rid of the blinky-flashy-seizure-inducing ads. If it does, I'm there!)

Originally posted by sightz
OK, it looks like a lot of people didn't read the whole announcement, found at http://www.webhostingtalk.com/announcement.php?s=&forumid=31

My initial post that started all this was speaking specifically about the PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP option, not the HOSTING LEADS (which seems like a great idea to me).

I fear that the premium membership, with it's exclusive closed forums, will only serve to segregate the community here.
You may be right. Posted in the "WebHostingTalk Subscribers Club" forum...
That didn't take long...

thedavid
People complaining already... :(
Sillyness, I tell ya.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

inogenius
It's just the kiddies who don't have enough room in their allowance to join us.
Next couple of posts reference this thread and the other WHT memberships thread. Yes, having paid "Access to 10 additional discussion forums for advanced discussions" creates two classes of members. It's a given, accept it.

I don't think people are paying specifically to access the extra forums..

Me? I'll donate $50 to support something I enjoy..others should too, we should take a poll of how many of you would never have got off the ground if it wasn't for WHT.

The Tshirt...Mouse pad are nice too...the forums? who cares.

I am with nickn. I could care less about getting anything in return. I just felt it was right to show my support to iNet and WHT, for all the resources they have provided. I rarely advertise my services here to be honest but the information here and on other sites, such as Hotscripts, DB-Forums, OC-Forums, etc have been invaluable to my company, friends and associates, and myself, not just in the business sector, but on a personal level as well.

Paid leads are one thing. Classifying your members is another. Maketing tactics intentionally trying to degrade another resource (http://www.hosthideout.com) is yet another. You're smart people, figure it out.

I was about to buy the subscription but have a few questions.

1. Can you run down the titles of the forums names. Seems like iNet is not trying to sell this product very good since the payable page has hardly any information that might entice a person to buy.

2. Approximately how many leads per day are being submitted?

3. Out of those leads how many members can reply to say, 1 lead? (example, person submits a lead can 200+ paid members reply to that potential client?)

1.

Marketing, Promotion, Reseller & Affiliate Discussions
Customer Service
Managed Hosting
Starting a Web Hosting Company
Infrastructure & Datacenter Discussions
Policies ... Policies... Policies
Industry News and Trends
Fraud and Abuse
Hosting Software
WebHostingTalk Subscribers Club


2. Probally hard to say after less than 24 hours ;)

3. They are posted in a forum, so i guess that anybody who has access can reply to as many or as little as they like. Remember the membership subscription and lead subscription are seperate, not all premium members can access the leads.

I don't care about "leads" - my clients that have come from WHT have been the newbies, the folks who respect good writing and clear communication. These folks wouldn't have any interest in paying to read the "additional forums". I don't care about the tshirt and mousepad. I came here for the discussions. So now that's behind a wall where, if I want to read the discussions, let alone participate, I have to pay money for something that isn't advertising revenue? For something that - let's face it - helps my competitors and soon-to-be competitors more than reaches a potential advertising base?

I was interested in signing up, but since the access to the extra forums doesn't seem to be activated until they receive some money from me, never mind.

Doc, a conservative business subscription estimate is usually made 2-10% max. For online business - well, say 20%. 1/3 is just unreal, even long-term (say 3 years), because really - there is no way to predict what's going to happen after 3 years.

Investors? What investors? I don't think iNet is seeking anyone's approval (investment-wise) from anyone. Its an extra service that is all profit. All they need probably is 1 additional full-time employee to overlook customer support, payments.

A couple of valid points:

- While iNet is making (it looks like its going to make) a lot of money, even with 5, 10, 20% subscription rate, I think they should seriously consider paying moderators who hold this place together. If tomorrow they go on strike - this place is going to be a mess. The motivation of those individuals who invest their time and best efforts to keep everyone happy might decrease when they see iNet making millions off their kindness and free will.

- Apparantly, TheProhacker got his hands full. I assume he is responsible for all this custom development. And I thought he'd get away easier... :D

Best,

Why pay an enormous fee for leads here on WHT when more than 100 other companies can reply to one lead when you can get 100 leads for $40 at other places and only 10 companies can reply to each lead.


I think iNET needs to do some more thinking on this issue.

And for those who are going to reply with "You think it's an enormous fee for leads", it is if you think of the ratio per hosting company to 1 lead.


edit:I think they should seriously consider paying moderators who hold this place together.

100% agree!

I remember a while back when www.dnforum.com started down this same path. It started out with paid members just getting access to a few extra forums, then they gradually started taking away more and more access from unpaid members until the site just wasn't of much use at all unless you paid up. The bright side of that mess was that many members went to www.domainstate.com , a similar site that's free. Domainstate grew very quickly and is now every bit as good and useful as dnforum ever was.

I'm giving iNet the benefit of the doubt for now, but I'm not paying a fee to share information with other webhosts. I believe that iNet can make a profit by providing a quality site and selling unobtrusive advertising. If they are not content to stick to this business model there are plenty of others out there who will.

This could be the beginning of great things for Chicken and www.hosthideout.com !

Apparently the list of elite forums is:
Originally posted by Loon
Marketing, Promotion, Reseller & Affiliate Discussions
Customer Service
Managed Hosting
Starting a Web Hosting Company
Infrastructure & Datacenter Discussions
Policies ... Policies... Policies
Industry News and Trends
Fraud and Abuse
Hosting Software

...and they think locking up those conversations won't kill the discussions here?!?

Originally posted by living_media
I have to pay money for something that isn't advertising revenue? For something that - let's face it - helps my competitors and soon-to-be competitors more than reaches a potential advertising base?

How does your membership help your competitors exactly?

Originally posted by BizB
can you plm the links or post it if thats ok here ?
Sure.
http://hosthideout.com

Just like to show my view of few things here.

I doubt this premium/leads membership will make WHT any less of what it is right now or make it unpopular place. I think it's a great idea, especially since many hosts will be signing up and taking advantage of the Discounts off of Advertising here.

Also, the extra forums will take time to start getting active and I doubt it'll seperate the members, though it might put a class distinction. Though I love the idea of these extra forums as well as the T-shirts + Mousepads, maybe they should have more selections for t-shirts in the future, remember that WHT T-shirt Contest a while ago?

As for Inogenious talking bout no kiddie hosts signing up for the Memberships, it's only ~$5 year or even less if you pay for 1yr, don't see any reason why anyone would not be able to afford this.

And Yes there are some benefits which are pretty much useless to some WHTers but I'm also sure many will be signing up just to show their support for WHT.

TheDoctor mentioned iNet becoming a Monopoly in WebHosting, I doubt that's going to happen, but maybe they will become one of the biggest discussion forum networks out there, as in owning the biggest online-communities etc.. as well as advertising etc..

Overall I'm happy with the new idea, got it last night, and I'm sure the new LEADS membership will keep the hosts offering 100GB for $10 / year away from the requests forums as well as "Host Quote". Though the majority will probably be signing up for Premium instead of Lead, as many will probably not need it.

Cheers. :cool:

Is it the end for WHT? Hardly. Has the end begun? Not likely at all. In fact, I'd say just the opposite. We're seeing a new future for WHT here and one that's uite bright I'd say.

I personally bought a membership, NOT becuase I needed one, but because I wanted to show support for this place. I did NOT purchase a "leads" membership, because it's not worth it to me. Will I eventually? Perhaps.

Like I've said elsewhwere, iNet didn't buy WhT to lose money, they bought it to bring it to it's full potential. I think they're well on their way to doing just that, despite all the whining and complaining about all of the changes that have been made.

It's far from the end. A site I go to, IGN.com, everyone said would fail once it started making almost everything subscription based. It's still alive, 2-3 years after it was introduced.

I'll be signing up when I get my next paycheck.

Liaisons found out when you guys did (at least I did)

<edit> still can't spell the big L word... sheesh</edit>

A few final questions from me.

WHT in its history has shown that it is bigger than any single owner that has come along and that it is why it remains today.

What kind of assurances can iNet give the userbase that at no point under their management of WHT will there be an across the board charge for posting rights, or that charges will begin to infinge on currently free to pst and view forums such as the Lounge or Web hosting etc??

Critic,

I can already see where this new setup will be a pain. Having clicked on a few links (browsing View New Posts) I'm starting to see lots of "You do not have permission to access this page." -- not good.

Case in point:

Rollover Bandwidth?
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=240167

Located in the "Industry News and Trends" Forum and requires paid-for access. But wait, WHT Home page does not list any such Forum??? Why would it be showing in new threads, if it is not accessable by the Main Members?

Showing threads in the Main area that require paid-for access, is just going to upset alot of people. Having the courtesy to remove all paid-for access threads from general viewing, would seem prudent.

Better yet, setup a sub-domain related to paid-for access and move everything over. If there is to be a seperation of Members, then make a definitive demarkation and save us (main WHT Visitors) from the exasperation and frustration, of seeing "not allowed because we didn't pay" pages

You can see the mod threads too, should we make them move to a subdomain?

Originally posted by Critic
A few final questions from me.

WHT in its history has shown that it is bigger than any single owner that has come along and that it is why it remains today.

What kind of assurances can iNet give the userbase that at no point under their management of WHT will there be an across the board charge for posting rights, or that charges will begin to infinge on currently free to pst and view forums such as the Lounge or Web hosting etc??

Critic,

I can assure you with 100% certainty that this will not happen.

I hope WHT well on the new programme. I'm considering a membership myself.

I have seen some other mboards I belong to institute premium memberships within the last 6 months. A couple of them the free members still have the same privilages as before. Only a few people complained on that one. Another also maintained free memberships, but made things like sigs and avoiding pop-up ads a paid function. The last one the members were given a "free preview" for 60 days then went paid for all mboards. That mboard is pretty much dead now. I don't know if WHT will gradually make currently free functions paid ones in the future or not...

As for the end of WHT, that would only happen if an asteroid hits the planet.

I am not sure if it is worth it. May be i will give a try to premium membership. But i personally dont think that the lead generation program makes sense.

Abhishek