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Thread: Private Messaging Access Priviliges

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
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    12,298
    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Carey View Post
    I've seen threads pop up about members becoming contributors and for the life of me I can't understand who, if they are doing woodworking and buy materials and have tools - even basic tools - can't afford the 6 bucks a year. It's the cost of a pack of cigarettes or a good (well - sorta good) cigar. I lost all of my retirement in 08, and am far from real comfortable, so I don't think I'm out of line challenging members to pony up if they like the site, enjoy the posts, learn some stuff, and think the site has value. Sermon done.
    I decided with my poor memory it was easier to sign up for an automatic contribution each month. (Monthly Recurring Contribution https://sawmillcreek.org/payments.php) The only minor irritation is the monthly message that says my "access to the paid subscription "Monthly Recurring Contribution" is about to expire" but that is a minor thing compared to the convenience.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Annapolis, MD
    Posts
    135
    Does this mean that my two classified items are basically only for sale to contributors now, since nobody else has a way to contact me unless I want to put an email or phone number for the world to see?

  3. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Schroeder View Post
    Does this mean that my two classified items are basically only for sale to contributors now, since nobody else has a way to contact me unless I want to put an email or phone number for the world to see?
    "Yes"
    <<Ist Verboten>>
    Last edited by Roy Petersen; 01-12-2019 at 8:02 PM.

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
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    12,298
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Schroeder View Post
    Does this mean that my two classified items are basically only for sale to contributors now, since nobody else has a way to contact me unless I want to put an email or phone number for the world to see?
    I thought if you enabled email in your profile your email address is not on display but anyone can still send an email to you through the system. They will get your email address if you respond which you might want anyway if selling the item. (If the item is already sold or if there are general questions you can always respond in the thread itself instead.)

    If you respond to such an email with the reply form, the system warns you:
    Note: By using this form, your email address will become available to the user who you are emailing.


    Roy's idea is probably a good idea. I use that on occasion.

    JKJ

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Annapolis, MD
    Posts
    135
    I guess there are ways to work around the new limitations. As a contributor I was hoping to have it make my life easier, not have to come up with ways to work around things. I don't want to get in an argument, but would suggest that this new limitation may be counterproductive to its goals.

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Hayes, Virginia
    Posts
    14,759
    Email is turned off for Members, therefore we won't allow public posting of email addresses which is a very bad idea anyway.

    Matt, I understand your concerns but the only other option we have is to move to a subscription based system with no free access. Contributors then become subscribers and all services here would be open to everyone. Obviously we would lose a substantial number of people.

    Just be patient everyone we are going to resolve this one way or the other very soon.

    Please don't publicly discuss any workarounds, that's what got us in this predicament in the first place. Advertising blocking is the culprit folks. Advertising was what was paying for your free access.
    Last edited by Keith Outten; 01-12-2019 at 12:10 PM.

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Wayland, MA
    Posts
    3,651
    Might I suggest you change the "suggested contribution" to something that will better support the site? I sent you $6 a year for several years because that's what you asked for. Reading some of these threads made me aware that that wasn't anywhere near a break-even number for you, so I bumped it up to $5/month on a recurring basis, closer to what it's worth to me, on a par with subscribing to a good magazine. If not for bumping into one of these threads by chance I'd still be sending $6 a year.

    Yes, I have and use an ad blocker, and I'm not going to stop. If sites tell me that I can't use their site if I don't look at their ads, that's fine, I don't use their site and don't try to work around their blocks. I'm also happy to pay my fair share to keep useful sites up and operating since there is no "free" out there.

    In the old days we contributed network bandwidth, server space, and compute cycles to run Usenet without ads; perhaps we need the next great internet invention to take us back to a model where the users could directly support a community with distributed access and costs.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Helensburgh, Australia
    Posts
    2,697
    All this will do is delay what has already started. Since browsers included ad blockers it was obvious that someone was going to suffer, blame Opera for leading the charge. I will bet good money that a lot of people don't know they are using an ad blocker and would not know how to turn it off and the further we get into web browsers updating cycle the worse the problem will become hence my opening statement. It will be interesting to see what the advertisers reaction is in a few years when they find their views declining.
    Chris

    Everything I like is either illegal, immoral or fattening

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Hayes, Virginia
    Posts
    14,759
    If everyone would donate 6 bucks per year we would have way more money then we need. In fact we could afford the custom programming to build a shops tours module I have mentioned many times over the years. If we move to a subscription based service I already know that the annual subscription will be 2 dollars per month.

    Chris, its not a few years from now its right now. Our numbers dropped from an average of 16 million banner views per month to just over 44,000 per month since January 2018. This is not just happening to us it is all over the Internet. The hammer is dropping, I am trying to stay ahead of the problem so I can make changes before its to late.

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Denver
    Posts
    269
    Might there ever be an opportunity to pay the fee with something besides PayPal?

    I'll gladly pay the credit card fee, if it means not having to open a PayPal account just to pay this sites fee.

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,638
    Mike, you don't need a PayPal account to pay with a CC, AFAIK. Maybe that's not true for recurring, however. I don't know.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  12. #27
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    In the foothills of the Sandia Mountains
    Posts
    16,614
    Mike, you can also pay by check. Keith has a snail mail address at the bottom of the Donate page.
    Please help support the Creek.


    "It's paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn't appeal to anyone."
    Andy Rooney



  13. #28
    Well, thanks for announcing this. At least now I know to stop checking the classified ads here every day.

  14. #29
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,638
    Alternatively, you could eschew a cup of coffee or two for one day and just contribute six bucks for Contributor level and continue to shop the classifieds if that is what you find to be valuable about participating in the SMC community.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  15. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post
    Alternatively, you could eschew a cup of coffee or two for one day and just contribute six bucks for Contributor level and continue to shop the classifieds if that is what you find to be valuable about participating in the SMC community.
    Jim, it's not the $6 that is the problem.
    You guys are free to do whatever you want with the board of course.
    What you are going to see however (my prediction) is that contributors will list their stuff on other boards to appeal to a larger audience.
    This sort of already happens. 90% of the classifieds on SMC are on another board.
    This new policy will kill SWC classifieds, whether I become a contributor or not.
    Again, I hope this is not taken as complaining, just my prediction.

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