Why can I not post to my own thread?

[Brian Spires]

I know that this is probably not the right place to post this question, but after looking for the right place and not finding it, I decided to follow the money:-)

I was trying to post to a thread that I started looking for parts for a beautiful saw that had a tragic accident right before it I took possesion. I wanted to thank members for their responses. I kept getting a screen telling me that I did not have the necessary privlidges. Can anyone suggest what happened.

Thanks and sorry to post this here.

Brian

[Matt Meiser]

I assume it was in the classifieds thread? If so, starting on December 1, only Contributors (those who have donated to SMC's operating fund) are able to post in the Classifieds forum.

Oh, and the support forum is for this type of question. I'll report the thread to the mods and one of them can move it for you. :D

[Jim Becker]

Matt is correct that effective 1 December, only contributors have posting ablity in the SMC Free Classifieds. The suggested $6 annual donation will not only get you that ability, but also access to a number of new features that will soon be available to contributors. Just click on the "donate" button up above or in my signature below.

Jim
SMC Moderator

[Paul Johnstone]

I can understand why the admins want to give paying members extra benefits.

I question the wisdom of making the classified section exclusive though.

One of the main entertainments that I (and probably others) get is to check the classifieds every day.

If only 9% of the registered people can post on the classified forum, my guess is that it will soon die, because it will only get one or two posts a day. Less people will view it, less people will chose to post their stuff for sale there, etc.

I am not trying to argue with the admins and owners. They can certainly do what they please with this board, but I will say that many people here were attracted by the great classifieds board, which I doubt will continue to thrive if it is made exclusive..

[David Duke]

Paul not trying to sway you one way or the other but the points you make are exactly why people should donate to the Creek. The classified forum is for the benefit of the buyer/seller only the owners of the Creek make 0$s from its existence it is simply a convenience offered. Why should those who donate pay for someone else's perks?

Besides all of the extras such as being able to post in the classifieds (which is obviously more popular than expected), free stuff drawings, design forum access and the upcoming shop Photo Galleries, Personal Blogs, Geographic Groups functions are way more valuable than the 6.00 asked for.

[Randal Stevenson]

I can understand why the admins want to give paying members extra benefits.

I question the wisdom of making the classified section exclusive though.

One of the main entertainments that I (and probably others) get is to check the classifieds every day.

If only 9% of the registered people can post on the classified forum, my guess is that it will soon die, because it will only get one or two posts a day. Less people will view it, less people will chose to post their stuff for sale there, etc.

I am not trying to argue with the admins and owners. They can certainly do what they please with this board, but I will say that many people here were attracted by the great classifieds board, which I doubt will continue to thrive if it is made exclusive..

While I agree with you that it is a draw, if you read up on the membership here, and its growth rate (250% last year), it isn't a sustainable model. Have you ever done something for free, and more and more and more and more, people expect you to do it for free, for them? This while you have some members who infrequently, if ever sell something, while you have other members known for what they sell, and then you have members who buy things to sell them. If 85% of the members "donated", then the amount per person wouldn't even be $6 (of which many contributers give more). I and I am sure Keith and others would like to see a mass donation of $1 a person.

As is, he could have just refunded the contributers donations, said, not enough people were doing it to make it worth his time, and unplugged the server.

[Tom Veatch]

...One of the main entertainments that I (and probably others) get is to check the classifieds every day....

It is my understanding that members can still read the classifieds, they just can't post there. If that's the case, and a member is interested in one of the ads, there's nothing (that I know of) that would keep the interested parties from making contact via private message or email. That's what I'd do even if posting privilege is available. I'd hope that anyone posting an offer to buy or to sell would enable receipt of private messages, at least, in their profile.

And if, as a member, you want to post an offer, how much does a classified ad in the local newspaper cost? Might be a significant percentage of the suggested contribution. I'm still somewhat flabbergasted at the low rate of response. $6 per year = $0.50 per month < $0.02 per day. That's something on the order of one can of pop per month? Cheap at many times the price.

[M Toupin]

The simple solution is to pony up the $6 donation per year...

let's see, that's $.50 a month, or 11.54 cents per week, or 1.64 cents per day.

For less than .$02 per day it's hard to rationally explain why one thinks they ought to have all the privileges and perks of those of us who pay the bills.

And that's my $.02

Mike

[Bruce Page]

The simple solution is to pony up the $6 donation per year...

let's see, that's $.50 a month, or 11.54 cents per week, or 1.64 cents per day.

For less than .$02 per day it's hard to rationally explain why one thinks they ought to have all the privileges and perks of those of us who pay the bills.

And that's my $.02

Mike

Seems like simple math to me.
I'm also wondering why so many previous supporters that donated in 2005, 2006, 2007, didn’t donate this year. :confused:

Addendum;
Of the top 20 posters not counting moderators & admin, 14 did not contribute this year. What's up with that? :confused::confused:

[Paul Johnstone]

Paul not trying to sway you one way or the other but the points you make are exactly why people should donate to the Creek. The classified forum is for the benefit of the buyer/seller only the owners of the Creek make 0$s from its existence it is simply a convenience offered. Why should those who donate pay for someone else's perks?.

On the other hand, it depends on what the goal is of this board.
If they are going to ads for non-members (which is fine), I'd
think they'd want to generate a lot more hits on the classified forum.

Also, I think the members would like a larger pool of people posting on the classifieds if they want to buy something.

It's not a huge deal to me. But unless the board wants to shrink membership (maybe they do.. maybe they want to get rid of the deadbeats that don't donate, which is fine), I think it's a mistake.

I hope this doesn't hurt anyone's feelings, but I donate to several message boards. The reason I didn't donate to this one is that it just seemed very heavy handed the way they were soliciting donations. Again, this is not a criticism, just my own opinion, not intended to be an inflamatory remark.. It's just I was challenged "Why don't you donate?" Apparently they didn't get enough donations, so now they want to "punish" the nonsubscribers, which is fine. I'm just saying that in the long run it may not be in their best interest to do that, especially if they are
going to start using ads, because more hits= more ad revenue.

[Paul Johnstone]

The simple solution is to pony up the $6 donation per year...



No, that doesn't fix it, because the classifieds board will still only have 2 posts/day, instead of the larger amount it used to have.
If my $6 would open up the classifeds board to everyone, then I would pay. But it would only maintain the status quo.

[Matt Meiser]

These threads should answer most of your questions about what Keith is thinking:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/announcement.php?f=10&a=14
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=70674

Cutting off posting access to the classifieds is much less severe than some of the ideas that were tossed around. The short answer is that Keith is tired of donating his time running a 10,000 member forum. He's not interested in running a forum that is hosted in a data center. He really didn't want to run an ad-supported form but he's been talked into that. He could shut the Creek down or he could reduce his workload. He's chosen to take steps to do that latter. Unfortunatley, that may mean the Creek gets a little smaller. One thing he's made very clear is that he's lost patience with people who complain about everything he does but won't support him (and I'm not targeting you--he's made those statements long before this thread started.) Quite fankly, at the end of November I pretty much expected to see SMC shut down.


If my $6 would open up the classifeds board to everyone, then I would pay. But it would only maintain the status quo.

For some reason this reminds me of The Starfish Poem (http://www.ncsr-md.org/Starfish1.htm).

[Jim Becker]

Paul, there really hasn't been a noticeable difference in the number of new threads in the Free Classifieds to my eyes since the change outside of the elimination of the "one time hitters" who were registering solely to post there. If posting in the classifieds is important to you, I hope you'll consider becoming a contributor, even for just the cost of a latté and muffin or a magazine off the rack...and you'll also enjoy a number of other new features coming shortly. And if this issue is a show-stopper for you, then I hope you'll still enjoy the community and derive value as well as contribute knowledge.

Jim
SMC Moderator

[Dan Barr]

i question the members questioning the wisdom of making the classifieds "contributors only". LOL

this forum doesnt run by itself. 6 bucks is about the price of one copy of a magazine.

Lets compare the two.

Magazine:
-$30-60/year
-sent in the mail
-once a month or bi-monthly
-a few tricks in each magazine (i.e. miter sled, spline joint jig, etc.)
-maybe one review each month. (tablesaw shootout, sliding copmpund miter saw comparison)
-Tons of advertising (first 15-20 pages in some magazines)

SawMillCreek: "Contributor"
-$6/year
-available 24/7/365 or darn near it
-numerous topics are organized: turning, general woodworking, design, finishing, etc.
-you choose the trick you want, search and VOILA! miter sled directions at your disposal at any time
-COUNTLESS reviews, search again and VOILA! whatever youre about to buy is probably already reviewed here by people who actually use it on a frequent/daily basis.
-information on lumber suppliers in your local area.
-NO ADVERTISING
-Classifieds section that you can sell or buy from FOR FREE.


SawmillCreek is the clear winner. more than worth 6 measley dollars.

v/r

dan

[Paul Johnstone]

i question the members questioning the wisdom of making the classifieds "contributors only". LOL


No big deal.
I wasn't complaining.
If one of the goals is to slow membership down, than I can see why he's doing that.
If not paying my $6 means my opinion is considered worthless by people like you, that's ok too.

[M Toupin]

Of the top 20 posters not counting moderators & admin, 14 did not contribute this year. What's up with that? :confused::confused:

It means that of the top 20 posters, 70% didn't feel the obligation to help pay the bills... On the other hand it means that of the top 20 posters, 30% contributed which is 3 times higher than the 9% of the rest of the membership who did. Any way you slice it, them's is some pretty sorry stats...

[Jim Becker]

If not paying my $6 means my opinion is considered worthless by people like you, that's ok too.

I certainly believe that is not the case with most folks, Paul. We're just trying to show you that there might be value to YOU, as an individual, in becoming a contributor. Everyone else has to make that decision themselves. And the owners and administrators have decided that the extra value-adds going forward will go strictly to contributors as they make them financially possible. That's a reasonable and sound business decision, IMHO.

[Dan Barr]

Your opinion is not worthless and i did not infer such. I apologize if that was how you took it. not the intent. just that from the contributors side, when you see a non-contributing "member" sell his SawStop tablesaw for 2500.00 dollars and yet he still cant find it in his heart to contribute 6 dollars to the site that enabled him to sell his saw; that, is a little irritating.

Keith (administrator/owner) has run the site with no restrictions since its inception. Members could do whatever they wanted for free and the site has had no advertising until this point. Just this year he has been forced to change the site up in order to offer the same benefits to contributors. The "members" are going to have to "suffer" through ads and not have a classifieds section available to them. but, for the price of "nothing" you still get access to all the information you want 24/7/365.

You opinion is what the site needs. your experience particularly. Thats what makes the site what it is. A catalogue of woodworking information available to woodowrkers everywhere and at any time. The classifieds is just an "extra" that is convenient. keith is using the access restriction in hopes that a few more members will "convert" to contributors in order to see if we could possibly stabilize the creek. maybe then we could go back to no ads for all.

still a great deal in my opinion.

v/r

dan

[Scott Donley]

The reason I didn't donate to this one is that it just seemed very heavy handed the way they were soliciting donations. Again, this is not a criticism, just my own opinion, not intended to be an inflamatory remark.. It's just I was challenged "Why don't you donate?" Apparently they didn't get enough donations, so now they want to "punish" the nonsubscribers, which is fine. I'm just saying that in the long run it may not be in their best interest to do that, especially if they are
going to start using ads, because more hits= more ad revenue.I would have to ask then, why did you not donate some time between Feb. and Nov before the heavy handed soliciting ? Thats the problem. As far as "punishing" it seems to me that non contributers will still be getting more than they pay for.

[Rob Bodenschatz]

I would have to ask then, why did you not donate some time between Feb. and Nov before the heavy handed soliciting ? Thats the problem. As far as "punishing" it seems to me that non contributers will still be getting more than they pay for.

Wow. Is that what this place has become? :(

[Scott Donley]

Wow. Is that what this place has become? :(It is only what you want it to be.

[Jim Becker]

Remember the old adage, "It's not what you say, but how you say it"? Let's keep that in mind folks if this thread is to continue.

Jim
SMC Moderator

[Richard Wagner]

I'm confused. Have we all gotten so cheap that we can't pay for what we use. If one wants to use the classifieds, one should be willing to pay the price of the classifieds. On-the-otherhand, if one doesn't want to use the classifieds, why should one pay for what one does not use.

Am I missing something?

[M Toupin]

I'm confused. Have we all gotten so cheap that we can't pay for what we use. If one wants to use the classifieds, one should be willing to pay the price of the classifieds. On-the-other hand, if one doesn't want to use the classifieds, why should one pay for what one does not use.

Am I missing something?

The point your missing is, every visitor is using resources weather they go to the classified area or not. Servers, bandwidth, software and the time of all the people who keep this place running aren't free, someone has to pay the bills. A site the size of SMC is a big undertaking, all Keith is asking for is some help from those who use the resources. Is that really too much to ask?