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What do you think of pay-per-join forums?
- Thread starter FatalT
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HarryHengst
Member
The 10 dollars i spend for Something Awful have probably been some of the best dollars (well euro's) i've ever spend. It's true that it keeps the biggest idiots out, but you still have a lot of stupid/intelligent people who have mastered the art of trolling to such a ridiculous degree that you can't help but laugh at it. The "pressure release" forums, as someone aptly called them, like Your Console Sucks or Laissez-Faire, are both completely stupid and immature and really funny, and sometimes even home to some great discussions.
Also, one of the most amazing things are the moderator challenges, where someone who started a really stupid thread has to complete some ridiculous challenge or get banned. An example, from a topic in which some poor guy asked for help turning the Pyramus and Thisbe play from A Midsummer Night's Dream into Twilight. As the mods really do not like it when the forum is expected to do someone's homework, a challenge was posted:
Also, one of the most amazing things are the moderator challenges, where someone who started a really stupid thread has to complete some ridiculous challenge or get banned. An example, from a topic in which some poor guy asked for help turning the Pyramus and Thisbe play from A Midsummer Night's Dream into Twilight. As the mods really do not like it when the forum is expected to do someone's homework, a challenge was posted:
spandexmonkey
Banned
$10 for a lifetime membership is more than reasonable to me.
The Faceless Master said:
It doesn't get much stricter than GAF, where the rules can change in the flick of an eye. Just say something negative about the forum and you're gone. This has been proven in this very thread even! Think again when you say Something Awful's moderation is "more strict" than GAF's. You don't see Lowtax banning people for talking about SA's search function having problems here and there or the site loading slowly occasionally.
For example:
diddlyD said:
diddlyDEviLore said:
Banned
(Today, 01:55 PM)
ZombieSupaStar
Member
Something Awful has a much better PC, Wrestling, and MMO community than gaf, glad I spent 10 on it, PC gaf is pretty barren.
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
i love that about GAF. Every single post makes it feel like you are playing Dragons Lair or a Sierra Adventure game. GAF Quest IV!FatalT said:
FatalT said:
I've never had a problem discussing things or even arguing with mods. As long as you are respectful and not be an idiot you are perfect in GAF. Hell the only times I've been banned was because I called Frodo "gay" and that was like 2 years ago. They don't permaban, they just ban so you learn a lesson. It's what keeps the forum cohesive. PoliGAF is also a great example of how things are discussed in GAF.
Now, if you called a mod incompetent for no reason or not understand why it breaks (using the guy that was banned earlier for Evilore) then I say you deserve that ban. It was uncalled for.
I agree that LF has solved problems but the history of D&D in relation to trolling has more than a few chapters. And the overall concept of enforced rigor extends beyond D&D; most of the Arts forums are equally controlled to some extent and the benefits should be obvious. But the underlying financial punishment can't be discounted, since it's what provides teeth to bans, probations, and the incentive to take idiocy into the forums meant for that.Stumpokapow said:
Agree again, I'm just using it as an example of how GAF could transition and maintain the current user base.
vicissitudes
Banned
Hitokage said:
That's a shame. But if enough people paid for a premium account then maybe GAF can buy more bandwidth for search? It's much better than google search just for the ability to search for all threads with a certain word in the title. Google will often give you 10 results of the same thread. Oh well.
Atramental
Banned
Another thing I forgot to mention was the mod challenges over at SA. Oh man, are those fun. :lolThe Faceless Master said:
If someone posts a stupid thread, a mod can create one or multiple challenges (which are usually related to the thread topic) for the OP to do and if the OP doesn't comply he/she could face a hefty ban.
I remember one challenge involving some poor guy having to jerk off into a chemistry flask while wearing high heels. :lol :lol :lol
edit: beaten by HarryHengst.
Ad Infinitum
Member
I would probably pay to use Gaf. Had an SA account for a while now.
Aruarian Reflection
Chauffeur de la gdlk
I'd say SA is worth $10 just for the Marketplace alone. Great deals there, especially since most users have an understood agreement to give very fair prices to fellow SA members. Then of course, you have all the sub-forums, some of which are among the best on the internet.
I've thought about paying for an SA account a few times now since I get a lot of enjoyment out of just lurking the forums (Particularly the Let's Play one) but I've heard of people getting banned from there just because they were in a bad mood which is something I wouldn't want if I was paying for an account.
I'm also not a fan of the fact that someone can pay to change your avatar.
I'm also not a fan of the fact that someone can pay to change your avatar.
I've had an account for over a decade. I've had my avatar changed on me twice; once by some dimwit who couldn't even do it right, and then by some other mystery person (possibly a mod) who changed it to what they thought my job was (aka friendly change). Never been banned. It's easy to not get banned, just don't post the first thing that comes to your mind.OMG Aero said:
koam said:
A discussion board is not a webpage though, now is it?
A discussion board, a wikipedia-type site, a search engine...etc. These could all be "products" and services able to be sold on the internet. Hopefully this will never be the case but you never know what the future holds for us.
FatalT said:
There is some forums that actually sell "experts" advice in a forum way. You post a question, pay the quota and the "experts" gives you answers and such. You choose the correct answer and they get paid for it.
So in a way, there is already that. For something free, there will always be a pay version of it.
Druz
Member
I supported $10 lifetime donating earlier in this thread but I forgot to mention one thing...
searching would have to make a return. Or at least, "Find Users Posts" My reply rate is down to like 10% because I can't find where I made posts. Sorting through 50 pages just to see if someone answered my question/comment is insane and don't tell me to use google search because it's bullshit.
searching would have to make a return. Or at least, "Find Users Posts" My reply rate is down to like 10% because I can't find where I made posts. Sorting through 50 pages just to see if someone answered my question/comment is insane and don't tell me to use google search because it's bullshit.
Druz said:
In your options you can set it to automatically Subscribe to topics that you reply in. Set the responses to 'none' otherwise you will get an email for every response.
Then when you come back to gaf later you can click Subscriptions at the top and just read the threads that have responses since your last post.
It sucks not being able to access a user's post history, but between subs and google I can accomplish pretty much everything else that I used to do with search.
edit: of course this won't retroactively make your old threads/posts available. It will only work once you turn it on going forward.
VGChampion
Member
Extremely stupid idea. People would just move onto another site. You can't tell me the popular pay to post sites don't have profits that the owners aren't pocketing.
Al-ibn Kermit
Junior Member
Don't you own/run the site? How do you feel about requiring a one-time payment?EviLore said:
If people are directly paying for hosting it, then they would all expect to have a search function, fairly reliable performance during E3, and some might expect less ads.
The benefit to all of us is that this may euthanize the shitty posters.
evil solrac v3.0
Member
Hitokage said:
I'll give you fifty a year for GAF.
evil solrac v3.0
Member
Bluth said:
take it up with the boss. oh, wait the boss took care of it.
Tornado Condor
Member
I'd gladly donate to support GAF
jamesinclair
Banned
Ive been here for 5 years, and I would certainly donate to improve the servers (and bring back search your post history).
The humble games bundle showed that not everyone is a cheapass. I think GAF could get an average of 7$ per person.
If wikipedia can do annual fundraisers, why not GAF?
The humble games bundle showed that not everyone is a cheapass. I think GAF could get an average of 7$ per person.
If wikipedia can do annual fundraisers, why not GAF?
VGChampion said:
Since when are subscription-based websites by definition not for profit?
*shrug*
I only let new people into GAF like one batch every six months as it is. A lot of frustrated people waiting on the outside would probably welcome it. If it ever happened it'd be to address the overflow of new members, not particularly as a revenue generator.
I love gaf, I intend to be here for a LONG time, but if it went "pay to post" as it were? I dunno, I'd have to think about it. That was a HUGE part of why I lost interest in IGN, when their forums went premium originally. I think Evilore has done an amazing job keeping gaf free and I'll click on the ads frequently to support gaf because I love it, it's become my primary online home. Ultimately I see no need for GAF to go to a pay system, but if one day Evilore decided it was no longer economical to be totally wonderfully free I could see paying a bit for it.
evil solrac v3.0
Member
EviLore said:
I'll give you $100 a year, no questions asked.
edit: in all seriousness, I think an annual fund-raiser style drive wouldn't be such a bad idea.
BamYouHaveAids
Member
A fund raiser for WHAT? You act as if GAF doesn't have ads and make significant money from the revenue. Do you think Evilore is homeless or something? What the hell is wrong with you?evil solrac v3.0 said:
evil solrac v3.0
Member
BamYouHaveAids said:
I want search function and be able to find my previous posts. and yes, I know how well off evilore is you numb nuts, I don't think the off-topic forum should be shut off for E3.
Tornado Condor
Member
What about letting us (members) donate? I also miss the search functionEviLore said:
A donation drive wouldn't be appropriate. I have no interest in taking advantage of your loyalty, nor do I have any desire to be held accountable with any measure of transparency for what's received from each person donating. No donations. Send it to UNICEF.org instead and save some lives.
As for identifying other revenue streams to help bring back search, yeah, I guess it's a possibility if people are receptive. I've always been wary of GAF being anything but strictly free, but as the site grows circumstances change, and I might be willing to implement some way for members to support the site in exchange for extra features, e.g. bringing vb search back for NeoGAF Platinum members and paying for the required infrastructure that way. We'll see.
As for identifying other revenue streams to help bring back search, yeah, I guess it's a possibility if people are receptive. I've always been wary of GAF being anything but strictly free, but as the site grows circumstances change, and I might be willing to implement some way for members to support the site in exchange for extra features, e.g. bringing vb search back for NeoGAF Platinum members and paying for the required infrastructure that way. We'll see.
OgTheClever
Member
Just delete the autocomplete entry and then manually retype the url, it'll show up normally then (that's of course if you even want to get rid of the 500 error, in some ways it's GAFs own tag)Javaman said:
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