After seeing the quickly closed thread about where the search function went, I wondered what the users of GAF thought of the Something Awful and Off-Topic model of forum-use. At Something Awful, you pay $10 for an account and a further $10 for extra things like having an avatar or changing someone else's avatar. At Off-Topic you have to pay $10 a month for access to the forums.
This supports the forum's bandwidth costs instead of forcing the forum to rely only on advertising costs. I think the SA model of $10 for an account would work fairly well here. The initial fee cuts back on internet incompetence by making the users feel less inclined to spout out trolling statements and general ass hattery since if they were to be banned, they would have to cough up another $10 if they wanted to be able to participate in further discussion.
What do you guys think of this? I'm sure the trolls and people who just waste space on the boards would dislike the idea of having to pay for an account but it sounds like a fairly good system to me. I can't figure out how to create a poll so I guess a discussion on the topic will have to do.
This supports the forum's bandwidth costs instead of forcing the forum to rely only on advertising costs. I think the SA model of $10 for an account would work fairly well here. The initial fee cuts back on internet incompetence by making the users feel less inclined to spout out trolling statements and general ass hattery since if they were to be banned, they would have to cough up another $10 if they wanted to be able to participate in further discussion.
What do you guys think of this? I'm sure the trolls and people who just waste space on the boards would dislike the idea of having to pay for an account but it sounds like a fairly good system to me. I can't figure out how to create a poll so I guess a discussion on the topic will have to do.