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  1. #26
    It could also tell people that you are a supporting a website in which you learn from everyday and spend time on that usually is no cost to anyone?
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  2. #27
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    it didn't give me any extra features which I used
    Oh, it gave you extra features. Whether or not you used them is a completely different thing.

    Is it WHT's fault that you didn't utilize the features to the best of your ability? nope, that's your own.

    Should the idea be scrapped? As it is, yes. They're so far behind that they need to do something to somewhat reinvent the process. However, the previous setup worked just fine, and paid off just fine (providing of course that users got the shirts sent, which was the biggest complaint).

    Personally, I say wait and see what they bring out. As long as they honor all their existing members' dates, there's nothing to worry about.
    Tom Whiting, WHMCS Guru extraordinaire
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  3. #28
    Join Date
    Feb 2001
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    Here's my thought, as a premium member...

    I didn't really care about the tshirt - not my kinda thing anyway. So, I didn't sign up for the shirt. I doubt most people signed up for the shirt. If anyone is that interested in a shirt, I say iNet should offer them via CafePress (which has been mentioned).

    As for the premium forums, they are all but dead and the few posts that do come every so often are from premium newbies (I tried too!).

    The advertising discount, probably ends up being about the cost of the membership? Probably not a good reason to sign up as a premium member.

    Now, I do believe that I'm more than happy to contribute a few $$$ to iNet, who provides WHT at no cost (not talking about paid ads here). Why not make a donation option, where members could make a donation via Paypal or something? Perhaps even some sort of 'thank you' perk would be in order...a coffee mug, allowed to post once every 5 days in the ad forums or some other such thing?

    --Tina
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  4. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by linux-tech
    Oh, it gave you extra features. Whether or not you used them is a completely different thing.

    Is it WHT's fault that you didn't utilize the features to the best of your ability? nope, that's your own.
    I don't think you understood my post. I know it gave me extra features, but non of them were useful to me.

    Quote Originally Posted by jsaniuk
    It could also tell people that you are a supporting a website in which you learn from everyday and spend time on that usually is no cost to anyone?
    That's true. But I don't think WHT got here because of money. I tend to think its the dedication of the moderators that has brought it where it is now. Money isn't really going to make WHT any better.
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  5. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by stealthdevil
    ... I know it gave me extra features, but non of them were useful to me...
    What would be useful to you?

    Quote Originally Posted by Troy Augustine
    In the meatime, we'd like your suggestions on where to take premium memberships and the features currently included in premium memberships. We're listening!
    Can we try and give iNET some suggestions instead of beating up on what they admit was broke?

    What would members like?
    There is no best host. There is only the host that's best for you.
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  6. #31
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    1. Get rid of the tshirts and forums - nobody cares about those, really.
    2. Let premium members have more PM inbox space, post once every 5 days in the ad forums and keep the cheezy "Premium Member" bar.
    3. I don't know about the ad discounts - might be useful to some.


    --Tina
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  7. #32
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    Bar under the name is definatley a nice touch, and the advertising discount was great. If you need it the PM increase is also another nifty feature. I really liked being able to hide different parts of the site that I never visited.

    The t-shirts have been discussed above. The forums are truly a waste of time.

    It was mentioned a while back (memory is fuzzy) about changing the color of premium member's in the "who's online" section of the site, that would be kind of nifty. One of my favorite things would be avatars, but that's a whole different thread (or maybe 50 of them).

    It really seems as if there's not much to give premium member's without taking away things from non-premium members (for example, if the advertising section was run on a "point" basis, premium members would get double points for every post).

    Being able to advertise a bit more in the forums would be a very nice incentive (as Tina mentioned above)

    Member-list access might be kind of a nifty thing.

    Without hacking up the board there really isn't much to give I'm afraid =/ On another forum I frequent with the VB Store mod in place, you can change the name of the Off-topic chat (must be approved by a mod) for X points, which everybody seems to have a blast with there.

    I have also always had the thought that making it more of an "INet Supporter" type of membership would work very well for all parties involved. Example:

    Buy an Inet Supporter account, your WHT account gets the bar and some features, a skimped down DeletedDomains.com account (little higher than the free, little lower than the small paid one. Maybe unlimited searches per hour, first 50 results returned, then the rest along the lines of the free account).

    Get the special bar under your name on all the other forums that Inet owns, as well as a larger inbox.

    Throw in a small hotscripts advertising discount.

    You start to get the picture I'm sure...

    This would not cost INet very much at all, and at the same time it would allow the person purchasing the account to look at a list of 50 things that they get. I know if I was a premium member over at _insert property here_ I would probably drop by more. Having an advertising discount at HotScripts.com might make me want to try and add, and maybe find a new hot place to advertise. I would start using deleted domains instead of justdropped.com most likely, and might think of upgrading my membership there. Etc....

    Just a bunch of rambling thoughts
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  8. #33
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
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    Quote Originally Posted by SoftWareRevue
    What would be useful to you?

    Can we try and give iNET some suggestions instead of beating up on what they admit was broke?

    What would members like?
    justadollarhostin was on the right lines with somethings...

    A feature I would find beneficial would be in order to advertise on the offers forum, you need to be a premium members.

    The premium member bar doesn't do anything..i don't mind that going away, but no an issue..

    Maybe giving premium members the option to have an offer automatically posted in the offers section instead of manually doing it? Used in conjunction with only allowing premium members to post offers would work nicely I think...
    Or maybe making the offers posted by premium members stand out more...

    I don't know, to be honest i was happy with the way WHT was before the introduction of the premium thing.

    I'll keep thinking of more ideas
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  9. #34
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
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    Again, just tossing out any idea here, a premium member advertising section would be kind of interesting as well (maybe just for shared,reseller,vps,dedicated) as it would not roll-over as fast (your ad would stay up at the top for longer).
    Mike from Zoodia.com
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  10. #35
    Join Date
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    I think that iNet should keep the premium member available to all users of the forum. In addition, I also think I speak for other members when saying that the most of the features in Premium membership were useful, (some people you just can't please) and if taken away will be sorely missed. On another note, I really don't see why iNet would take away the premium membership, considering that the company was making money off of it. What was wrong with it? Are they wanting to improve the membership benefits, or subtract from the benefits? As we all know, that some of the benefits such as discounts on advertising would only be useful to individuals who plan to advertise on WHT or another iNet site. However, the other benefits like extended forum, PM box changes.....and the t-shirt would benefit pretty much everyone. If anything eliminate the t-shirt, this way (if it is a cost issue) your not losing any money at all. From a business man stand point, I just don't really see a reason for taking away the premium membership unless it had to do with overhead costs in producing the t-shits??
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  11. #36
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
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    Some nice features that I could think should be available to premiums:

    - Increased PM Box
    - Subtitle Username Change (without needing 500 posts)
    - T-Shirt/Mousepad
    - Avatar (another story)
    - Discounts
    - Thread Unique Abilities (being able to close your own thread, lock, maybe ban users from your threads, or delet cetain posts? I don't really know what's possible)
    Thoughts Weigh Heavy...Don't Get Drowned in the Weight of It All.
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  12. #37
    Join Date
    May 2004
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    Troy, don't bother sending me a t-shirt. Save yourself the $3. To be honest, it will either become a doggy chew toy or a beer rag

    The advertising discounts are probably the best, most tangible benefit of premium membership, though this alone will not be enough to see volume sign-ups, since only a select portion of the forum membership makes use of advertising at all.

    The private forums really are a nice benefit for those who actually use them. I don't much, but I do lurk in them and I find some of the discussion valuable, as well as the private marketplace - there's some great sales happening there!

    The increased PM box size is a nice plus. Again, this won't be a benefit to everyone, but I'm sure anyone who's taken advantage of this is grateful for it.

    Maybe you could work out an arrangement with other Web hosting venues to drive advertising/participation at a discount. For instance, maybe you could arrange it so Premium members received a 10% discount for all costs related to HostingCon (including passes, advertising and booth costs). Maybe you could arrange for discounts in The WHIR and/or PingZine. Regardless of who runs what, if you can show that a small discount will allow you to drive more dollars to them, you're likely to get cooperation, and more Premium members here.

    What about expanded profiles for member? Maybe allow Premium members to post profile pictures (which would enable them to put an advertisement in their profiles). This would be minimal interference with site advertising, but would give Premium members a small edge worthy of the price they pay. Maybe create some new profile fields as well, like additional URLs (which would only show up in profiles, not in the forums themselves), a short bio area, that sort of thing.

    If anything else comes to mind, I'll post later. These might be horrible ideas, but perhaps it will get the wheels turning for someone else
    Studio1337___̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.__Web Design
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  13. #38
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    I like Tina's idea about having a shorter wait time on posting on the advertising section.

    I use the larger PM inbox size, so that is a great addition.

    Maybe taking the premium members forums and changing it into only a couple sub forums, instead of like 8?

    I somehow ended up with 2 tshirts and 2 mousepads the first time I signed up???
    Greg Lubbelinkhof
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  14. #39
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lubby

    I somehow ended up with 2 tshirts and 2 mousepads the first time I signed up???
    You got mine!!!!

    --Tina
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  15. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by AH-Tina
    Not yet it hasn't.

    /me still waiting

    --Tina

    You signed up for a Quarterly Membership which does not come with a Tshirt and Mousepad.
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  16. #41
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Prohacker
    You signed up for a Quarterly Membership which does not come with a Tshirt and Mousepad.
    I thought it came with a tshirt??

    --Tina
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  17. #42
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    I thought
    Thinking can be a dangerous thing.




    So far there have been some great suggestions people. Let's keep 'em comin!'
    There is no best host. There is only the host that's best for you.
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  18. #43
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by AH-Tina
    I thought it came with a tshirt??

    --Tina

    http://www.webhostingtalk.com/images...2444707028.png
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  19. #44
    Join Date
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    Definitely keep the ability to hide forums.

    Maybe you could add another link to the dropdowns at the top and let premium members add one link to it. It wouldn't cost iNet much and would be a nice perk.

    Maybe more links in the sig, too, as long as they stay within the four-line limit.
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  20. #45
    We used the Premium Membership for two reasons:

    1. Advertising Discount: Since we've had ads up for years now, and the discount was good.
    2. Premium Member Button: Looks better than "newbie" since we don't post that often (even though we visit frequently).

    Note: Gave the t-shirt and mousepad to employees.
    Last edited by westhost; 03-15-2006 at 03:39 PM.
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  21. #46
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    - Subtitle Username Change (without needing 500 posts)
    - Thread Unique Abilities (being able to close your own thread, lock, maybe ban users from your threads, or delet cetain posts? I don't really know what's possible)
    - 2. Let premium members have more PM inbox space, post once every 5 days in the ad forums and keep the cheezy "Premium Member" bar.
    Hey, let's just let the "premium membership" turn into a "buy yourself into a moderator" shall we? Come on people, get realistic. That is completely and totally wrong.

    Personally, I loved the thing the way it was. If Inet kept up to date with the t-shirts, things would be fine. Usefulness? Yeah, the forums were never posted in, and the "larger pm box" wasn't even a factor to me, but still, it was ballanced

    Now, what you're after is just outrageous and will only cause more problems. More posts in advertising section? Get real, 5 posts a week (one per appropriate section) isn't enough? Yeaaaaaaah, ok. There's a reason that wasn't allowed in the first run, and it wasn't because of vb updates.

    Locking/deleting your own threads? Oh yeah, there's a winner. Someone says something you don't like about your own thread, or in your own thread, it's locked. OOOOOPS, so much for that reply. I won't even touch the "deleting" problems that will come across with that, common sense gives that a big NO, the same with banning users from them.

    When this thing was first released, there was a mass exodus out of this place. Why? Because people were afraid that this very thing would happen. Of course, as time went by, they saw that those were pretty much unfounded. Imagine what would happen if those actually WERE given to the users. This place would turn into total chaos (not that it's not now), and it would be a living nightmare for ALL users.

    The t-shirt / mousepad thing, to me, was great. It's why I subscribed twice, and was waiting to do it a 3rd time. The problem is, again, that iNet wasn't responsible enough to hand those out in a timely fashion to all users.

    The discount was beyond great. It was , indeed, a good thing. That was one specific way to get your money back FROm the membership. If you didn't use that, then that's not WHT's (or iNet's) fault, that's your own.

    The rest of the stuff is just fluff, nothing more, and it shouldn't be anything more. The first two options got more than your money's worth.

    The nice thing about the first run of this? It didn't completely unballance things. The ideas thrown around here would do just that, completely unballance everything, and make this place turn into 10x more of a nightmare than it already is, and attract more of the cesspool environment. Great idea, let's turn WHT into more of a place for fraud!!! Genius, let's give premium memberships full control and let them run wild. Let's encourage users to only post in advertisement forums, and not anywhere else, like we need more worthless ad posts.

    Realistically, leaving it as it was is fine. Sure, the signups weren't coming in droves, but what do you expect when you don't release new product in almost 2 years, hrrm?
    Tom Whiting, WHMCS Guru extraordinaire
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  22. #47
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    "Thread Unique Abilities (being able to close your own thread, lock, maybe ban users from your threads, or delet cetain posts? I don't really know what's possible)"

    That would be completely inappropriate.

    "More posts in advertising section? Get real, 5 posts a week (one per appropriate section) isn't enough? "

    Most people don't offer things that are postable in all 5 sections. Heck, most people only offer things that are postable in maybe 1 of the 5 sections.

    --Tina
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  23. #48
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    I didn't in the beginning and still don't see a real purpose at all for premium memberships unless it is for getting the discount advertising.

    All of the ideas such as edit posts, delete posts, add avatars/images etc would all have a negative impact on things to say the least.

    How about an annual 'advertisers fee' for discount advertising and just get rid of anything else that had to do with the premium memberships. Then setup a nice cafepress shop and let us buy shirts, mousepads or anything else we want and that way we know we are going to actually get it without having to cross my fingers and hope it is going to come in the next quarterly mailing..
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  24. #49
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    But, how will anyone know how special I am unless I get to keep the Premium Member bar by my name?!?!?

    --Tina
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  25. #50
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    They were ideas only off the top of my head, didn't know you were going to waste 10 minutes describing how outrageous it could be. Your loss.
    Thoughts Weigh Heavy...Don't Get Drowned in the Weight of It All.
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