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  1. #51
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
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    557
    Well, I don't appreciate iNet closing off renewals of the Premium Membership. Yes, I'd like to see more for premium members (and many of the ideas discussed thus far sound great), but I don't want to lose the features I do have because my subscription ran out.

    Here is what I want to see:

    1. Premium Members keep ALL features to which they are currently entitled. (The new Premium Advertising forum really gives your ad a lot of exposure to other premium members.)

    2. Allow normal users to post threads in advertising forums once every two weeks, while premium members post once every week.

    3. Throw in a few thousand ad impressions with semiannual and yearly memberships. Give people a taste at WHT advertising.

    4. Give perks on other iNet sites such as HostCatalog and Deleted Domains -- anything that has "FREE" beside it will appeal to new members.

    Don't take away the premium member bar -- if that were to leave I'd probably never sign up for the premium membership again. Most importantly, I'd like to see renewals for the Premium membership re-opened ... I want to be able to continue using the features for which I have subscribed as long as I am willing to pay.
    John Morris
    Warp-Factor Technologies - Shared, Reseller, VPS & Dedicated Hosting
    E-Mail: john[AT]warp-factor.net AIM: iiwebwizardii
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  2. #52
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Boston, MA
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    949
    I like the idea of avatars. Just put some size (bytes and x,y) limits on it and it shouldn't be a problem. Also, please keep the advertising discount, thats the reason I signed up for it in the first place.
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  3. #53
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
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    chica go go
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    I think they should continue selling merchandise. I got my t-shirt and mousepad after they were sent out during the first set of premium memberships.

    Inet should consider selling the following wht merch:

    1) Coffee Mugs
    2) Mousepads
    3) t-shirts
    4) optionally hats
    5) stickers


    I myself would buy a mousepad, as my current wht mousepad is extremely dirty.
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  4. #54
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    Kalamazoo
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    33,412
    Quote Originally Posted by AH-Tina
    But, how will anyone know how special I am unless I get to keep the Premium Member bar by my name?!?!?

    --Tina
    awww . . . you'll always be special.
    There is no best host. There is only the host that's best for you.
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  5. #55
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Posts
    30
    Hi WHT-Staff,

    What I would like to happen is:

    1) Get rid of T-Shirt / MousePad

    2) Get your own subdomain on WHT (ex: siaro.webhostingtalk.com). This subdomain can contain PHP/(X)HTML/CSS...etc. That will advertise your business.

    3) Get rid of 7 Day Thread wait limit in the "Offers/Req" forum. People who run a company need things done daily, not every 7 days.

    4) No signature restrictions.

    5) 5 Points less in all warnings.

    6) The ability to make a post highlighted (if wanted) like in eBay (purple-like color)


    That's all I can think of at the moment.

    Tell me what you think!

    :: Siaro Hosting
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  6. #56
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
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    And again, let's just give wht away to premium members. Those are all very unrealistic ideas, and would completely destroy things here.
    People who run a company need things done daily, not every 7 days.
    Yeah, what WHT needs is insertkiddiecorphere advertising daily that they have the best deals. Like the ad forums, as they are now aren't full of trash. Get real. If you want that, go buy a stickie, keep your ad up there at the top.

    After thinking about this, here's a very realistic possibility:
    Remove the ability to post a new thread in advertising forums from any non premium member, and keep the limit at 7 days. Even as (currently) a non premium member, I'd go for that, and here's why:


    WHT is here for the community, not as an advertisement source, or a revenue. Any time you place an advertisement, you are, in fact, charged. By paying to become a premium member, you show that you are , in fact, supporting WHT, and you are paying that charge, or fee.

    Personally, if we're going to give premium members any sort of "special" advertisement thread posts, I'd say ditch everything but premium posting, and keep the limit at the same. Not only will that clean out the crap from ads (hopefully), but it'll keep WHT on it's own two feet in doing so.
    But, how will anyone know how special I am unless I get to keep the Premium Member bar by my name?!?!?
    Hey, so you're saying because I don't have one that I'm not special ? hrrrrrrrrrrrrrm, I duno about that
    Last edited by whmcsguru; 03-15-2006 at 06:11 PM.
    Tom Whiting, WHMCS Guru extraordinaire
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  7. #57
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Connecticut
    Posts
    5,460
    I pretty much agree with you Tom, except on two points:

    - WHT already stated that Premium stuff will not affect current members.

    - It doesn't make sense for the RO&R forums. For webhosting offers it would, since most ads are posted every week, but RO&R are mostly one-offs. Same for the domain forums.

    SitePointForums introduced a charge for new threads in some forums, but I like how WHT is setup now.
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  8. #58
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
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    London, UK
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    make the advertising forums pay per post... and not tiny little fee's but fee's that will remove the really ****** offers.

    We dont post to the advertising area as we dont want to be associated with the crap in there.... if there was a reasonable fee to post then I think the quality would increase dramatically and we'd probably see less "ive been stung" threads.
    Matt Wallis
    United Communications Limited
    High Performance Shared & Reseller | Managed VPS Cloud | Managed Dedicated
    UK www.unitedhosting.co.uk | US www.unitedhosting.com | Since 1998.
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  9. #59
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    Quote Originally Posted by DanX
    I pretty much agree with you Tom, except on two points:
    - WHT already stated that Premium stuff will not affect current members.
    We've already done away with the "Premium member" stuff, forget it, it doesn't exist any more. Anything stated for that run of premium membership can be removed and pretty much forgotten about. They're not taking any new memberships, etc, sooooo, that's a good thing. Personally, I actually like the idea of changing it to "advertising sponsor".

    Quote Originally Posted by DanX
    - It doesn't make sense for the RO&R forums. For webhosting offers it would, since most ads are posted every week, but RO&R are mostly one-offs. Same for the domain forums.
    Actually, you'd be very surprised here.
    A few examples of possible recurring ads

    Oy vey, that was fun . All of those came from the related offers forums and there's many many more out there for this.

    Personally, I see this as a realistic opportunity, really

    if there was a reasonable fee to post
    Define "reasonable" . Better yet, who gets to define "reasonable"? That's just something that's a gray area altogether. The best option is to move into a "advertising" membership, as in, replacing premium with it, for a bit higher cost.
    Last edited by whmcsguru; 03-15-2006 at 07:59 PM.
    Tom Whiting, WHMCS Guru extraordinaire
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  10. #60
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
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    I would change the name to something else like Supporting Member or something.

    As for the T-shirts, etc, like Troy said let Cafepress handle it and put the link up for all members to purchase said items. So if you want a WHT logo coffee cup, cap, mousepad, thong, pen or anything else, the members can get those.
    73's, Kim
    Everything happens for a reason I make up.
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  11. #61
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    Ah, good points Tom.. you have my vote
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  12. #62
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
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    Quote Originally Posted by UH-Matt
    make the advertising forums pay per post... and not tiny little fee's but fee's that will remove the really ****** offers.
    Another vote for this move here. Or keeping it for premium members only. Either way I think imo would wean out the bad and keep the competition real.
    Dave
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  13. #63
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    130
    I have to agree with UH-Matt's statement. If you made fees then you won't see a lot of crappy offers that are just fly by night operations. Another idea perhaps.... change Premium Member to "Advertising Sponsor" or whatever like posted earlier and require you have that status to post to the Advertising forums.
    Justin Cassidy, Accentra Inc.
    www.faxmicro.com :: Your Internet Fax Solution
    www.tollfreeexpress.com :: Hosted PBX Solutions
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  14. #64
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    If you made fees then you won't see a lot of crappy offers that are just fly by night operations.
    The only reason i don't see "fees" as a viable thing:
    The fees would have to be, well, rather high, to keep the junk out. We're talking $30+ here. Picture paying that on a weekly/bi-weekly/monthly basis. That's a bit much. Sure, to some, it's not, but to others (those of us small timers ) it's not exactly a small bill.

    The other way of doing this, as mentioned is more reasonable and realistic to this kind of a market. Figure 50-100/yr, maybe 200 tops for this kind of "sponsorship", it pays off in the long run, whereas pay per post won't always work.


    In addition, what I can see "pay per post" migrating to is "pay per forum", as in, like the stickies are set now where the cost for these posts is dependent on the forum, and can , and will, probably, inflate something fierce.
    Tom Whiting, WHMCS Guru extraordinaire
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  15. #65
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
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    Quote Originally Posted by linux-tech
    The only reason i don't see "fees" as a viable thing:
    The fees would have to be, well, rather high, to keep the junk out. We're talking $30+ here. Picture paying that on a weekly/bi-weekly/monthly basis. That's a bit much. Sure, to some, it's not, but to others (those of us small timers ) it's not exactly a small bill.

    The other way of doing this, as mentioned is more reasonable and realistic to this kind of a market. Figure 50-100/yr, maybe 200 tops for this kind of "sponsorship", it pays off in the long run, whereas pay per post won't always work.


    In addition, what I can see "pay per post" migrating to is "pay per forum", as in, like the stickies are set now where the cost for these posts is dependent on the forum, and can , and will, probably, inflate something fierce.
    But $30 per post isnt a lot of the product is worth it... If a host cant afford $30 to post an advert to the potential of WHT then they shouldnt be posting the offer in the first place.

    What value do you put on gaining just one client?

    I think $30 to post an advert is completely realistic. They could even do a yearly membership for $1000 to post every week (saving money by buying yearly).

    Thats still small change for the type of exposure the advertising forums give... and it would be worth even more as less trash would be in there and probably less posts, making your own paid adverts that much more valuable.
    Matt Wallis
    United Communications Limited
    High Performance Shared & Reseller | Managed VPS Cloud | Managed Dedicated
    UK www.unitedhosting.co.uk | US www.unitedhosting.com | Since 1998.
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  16. #66
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
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    Another opinion from me, Maybe having the pay per post in certain forums like per say $30 or higher for virtual/reseller/dedicated/vps so on and a cheap fee for the others like domain, scripts, templates. Sometimes somebody might sell a domain they dont want and ends up making a couple bucks but they wouldnt be able to sell if it cost more to post. You still want to be able to give that opportunity to the members of wht and the members that come here looking for little good deals.
    Just another thought on the pay per post idea.
    Dave
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  17. #67
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    But $30 per post isnt a lot of the product is worth it... If a host cant afford $30 to post an advert to the potential of WHT then they shouldnt be posting the offer in the first place.
    I hate to say it, but you're wrong there.

    Take, for example, my typical advertising post. Not a "crap" service, not a "fraudulent" service, nothing but genuine experienced administration.

    Now, I don't advertise much here, or anywhere, really, but those posts net me next to nothing. Why? The industry is so saturated with competition at unrealistic (yeah, I said it, unrealistic ) pricing that, well, real experience is overlooked.

    Now, paying $30 per post, as an advertiser, seeing the gain (next to nothing) it brings, historically, isn't going to be something I'd do. However, paying the $1-200/yr for posting in any of the advertisement forums is something I'd do, as I can almost guarantee a return on that.

    Unfortunately, this industry is way too saturated with "cheap", "inexperienced" individuals trying to make a quick buck. It's all about return on investment. If an ad won't pull $30-$50, then it's a complete loss to spend that on that ad.
    Tom Whiting, WHMCS Guru extraordinaire
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  18. #68
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
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    Don't do away with the advertising discounts. That was my key point of interest.
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  19. #69
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by Richard H
    Don't do away with the advertising discounts. That was my key point of interest.
    Yea, keep that. That was what I was going to signup for!
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  20. #70
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Toronto
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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?
    The feature to give premium members the ability to sneak up on non-premiums and pop up ads all over theri screen so they can't see what they're typing. When the ads dissapear, the premium clan will be long gone, but will have edited all of the users' posts with silly Winnie The Pooh pictures

    Maybe a Super Premium Member option? Sneak up on unsuspecting admins




    -Sorry, I couldn't resist
    Rene K.
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  21. #71
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by linux-tech
    I hate to say it, but you're wrong there.

    Take, for example, my typical advertising post. Not a "crap" service, not a "fraudulent" service, nothing but genuine experienced administration.

    Now, I don't advertise much here, or anywhere, really, but those posts net me next to nothing. Why? The industry is so saturated with competition at unrealistic (yeah, I said it, unrealistic ) pricing that, well, real experience is overlooked.

    Now, paying $30 per post, as an advertiser, seeing the gain (next to nothing) it brings, historically, isn't going to be something I'd do. However, paying the $1-200/yr for posting in any of the advertisement forums is something I'd do, as I can almost guarantee a return on that.

    Unfortunately, this industry is way too saturated with "cheap", "inexperienced" individuals trying to make a quick buck. It's all about return on investment. If an ad won't pull $30-$50, then it's a complete loss to spend that on that ad.

    I bet that if you put a $30 per ad price ticket on those, it WOULD net a good ROI. You'll completely eliminate all of the ads from the "A $20 a month vonage line is expensive...but I want to provide phone support?" crowd - which, in my opinion, totally waters down the effectiveness of any ad from legitimate hosts. I would say its safe to assume at least 1/3 of the kiddie hosts posting weekly ads would stop...and even more would post only occassionaly. It still leaves it quite affordable for even smaller serious hosts.

    I don't know exactly what my opinion is regarding changing the ad forums to pay per. I just think that if you do change it, there would be a significant increase in benefit to those who do post.

    --Tina
    ||| 99.999% Uptime SLA!!!
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  22. #72
    Advertising Forums

    I fully and 100% redundantly agree that all the advertising forums should be "pay per post".

    (Visit the sitepointforums.com hosting advertising forums to see how this can be done. Note their rules forbid replies except by email or PM. Very nice.)

    This would stop nearly all the kiddie hosts and budget crap from being listed, and would turn the ad forums into a valuable resource for both advertisers and "seekers".

    Premium Memberships

    1) Continue to give a discount for advertising, including whatever prices would be charged in the "pay per ad" forums. I am very much interested in a discount for hotscripts.com, so that would be nice...

    2) If you insist on offering t-shirts and misc stuff like that, then outsource it to cafepress. That's a no-brainer.

    3) Keep the "premium member" bar.

    4) Change post frequency limit from 90 second wait to 30 seconds. Sometimes when I'm whipping through threads, I hate seeing that "you must wait [xyz] seconds before you can make this post" message.

    5) I have no idea what premium forums are hidden away somewhere, so I can't comment on that. Why not do a private survey of your premium members to see what THEY think?
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  23. #73
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    I bet that if you put a $30 per ad price ticket on those, it WOULD net a good ROI.
    Oh, no it wouldn't. I've been there, done that, tested those waters. It don't matter. The industry is saturated with crap, and everyone seems to think that "hey, cheap is good". Well thought out, well experienced companies just don't matter any more as far as "service" goes, it's how cheap you offer your product, and, unfortunately, there will never be a decent ROI on a $30 post here. Like I said, tried it a few times .

    It still leaves it quite affordable for even smaller serious hosts.
    For a host, perhaps, but you'll never see me out there hosting (except for friends who I generally host for free), because I don't believe in competing with my clients. The difference is quite a bit, really. More work is required on the service provider, more must be charged for said work, and experience needs to be paid for. Unfortunately, like I said, the industry is so saturated with individuals that offer services at unrealistic prices that that type of post will never see a decent return. Perhaps for hosts, but not for someone offering a more substantial service (not that hosting isn't substantial, please don't get me wrong ).


    However, this isn't really the thread for that discussion. WHile advertisement forums need to be cleaned up, this isn't the thread for it. The only reason I specifically brought it up was that it does, in fact, stay on topic (as in, remove premium altogether, add a one charge post fee, per month / 6 months / etc). Ideas were asked for as to how to improve premium membership, and, honestly, that's the best way I can see to do it. It'd easily clean up things quite a bit in the ad forums as well, though that's a side bonus .
    Tom Whiting, WHMCS Guru extraordinaire
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  24. #74
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by linux-tech
    Oh, no it wouldn't. I've been there, done that, tested those waters. It don't matter. The industry is saturated with crap, and everyone seems to think that "hey, cheap is good". Well thought out, well experienced companies just don't matter any more as far as "service" goes, it's how cheap you offer your product, and, unfortunately, there will never be a decent ROI on a $30 post here. Like I said, tried it a few times .

    I think this is a little different than any ol' $30 ad. What we're talking about is filtering out much of the noise so that serious/legitimate ads get more notice. Personally, I've had semi-decent results with ads posted in the free sections. Our prices aren't relatively cheap. However, there is a limit to what the WHT market will tolerate.

    Just because your target audience does not peruse these forums doesn't mean that going to a $30 ad scheme is a bad idea. From the sounds of it, the ads could be $500 per run here and it still wouldn't make a difference in what you offer...because your target just isn't the type that would look for you here. Fair enough.

    I do agree with you on the basic idea though. Not bad at all.

    --Tina
    ||| 99.999% Uptime SLA!!!
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  25. #75
    Cheap service providers that rely exclusively on WHT for clients will likely dry up if they can't post free ads any more.

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