Paying to play.

[slyman]

I viewed this thread yesterday:

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?t=135298

It's a locked thread that can't be responded to, so I thought I'd start this thread so that users of Ausfish could respond. After all, by definition, a forum is a public meeting place or medium for open discussion and the voicing of opinions.

So as I understand it, the membership in Ausfish is still free, it doesn't cost a cent to join up, however, should I wish to participate in the website, by starting my own threads and by responding to others threads, then that will now cost $10.00 per year. By not paying $10.00 I can only observe the goings on.

Does this apply to all members who have not taken out premium membership, or does this only apply to those who are just joining the site?

If it applies to all members who are not premium members, then when does this take effect? By what date do I have to have paid my $10.00 by to continue using the site in the same fashion that I already am?

What are the reasons for the introduction of this fee?

Some obvious benefits that I can see would be that the dedicated users of Ausfish would have no problems in paying the $10.00, and it would reduce the number of lurkers who contribute nothing to the site. Secondly it would eliminate the "trolls" on the site and prevent threads like the recent one by gummybusta/smallunit, which can only be a good thing in my opinion.

Recently the introduction of the Premium Membership option was made available to Ausfish users and quite a few people took that option. I chose not to because of my current financial situation. After nearly 15 years work I have become a full time student again, I'm living on a budget where the difference between my monthly incomings and outgoings is $50. While I would have no problems in paying the $10.00 per year, I am now trying to make up my mind about taking out premium membership.

[mod5]

The $10.00 membership subscription only applies to new members joining after the post you refer to was placed on the forum.

Current members will retain all of the benefits that they previously enjoyed.

[FNQCairns]

I knew I would be worth some money one day because of this internet caper:)

Username fnq, going once, going twice....ha!:)

cheers fnq

[imnotoriginal]

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?t=135298

Have only just been made aware of this change, must have slipped past me. How do members feel about new members having to pay to be able to reply or post new threads??

I can understand the logic behind it, there's been more than a few trolls and stirrers on the site, not to mention former members who've come back to taunt and troll... But what are we losing here? How many valuable contributions might we lose by not having as many new members coming through???

I can't speak for anyone else, but I will be honest and say I would never have joined ausfish if I'd had to pay to start new threads or reply to posts.
Thoughts/Opinions?????
Joel

[Hamish73]

so the most over advertised forum on the net now want to charge new members $10. Good luck ::)

[bigtez]

That was kept quite. I wouldn't have a problem with paying a subscription/donation if I wasn't bombarded with advertising everytime I log on.

[fish-n-dive]

There are in fact little programs that will stop the ads from popping up but they can interfere with things like increasing the size of posted pictures to have a better look at them.