Hello,
I have been registered for some time on PA and I notice that there is a lot of commotion lately and I realize that all this commotion is about the membership fee.
I was about to pay this 15 € which as it is written on the site by Slade is only 1.25 € per month, or a few coffees as others have rightly said.
In the meantime, I realize the great defection of many members, some of whom ensured the success of this site.
As a result, I have a completely different view of this membership fee.
We are justified these 15 € by the costs of hosting and maintenance of the site.
A pro hosting at Ovh with 100 GB of disk space and unlimited traffic costs only 6 € per month. This represents an annual cost of 72 € TTC.
I wonder about the additional costs that would justify an annual fee of 15 € per member.
Because if half of the members pay the 15 € it will make 60000 € of budget what allows to make gold-plated posts.
If only 10% of the members pay their membership fee, this will still cover the costs.
But, only 10% of the members contribute, certainly the cost of the site will be absorbed but it is not a few dozen members that will give the interest of a site with 8000 members.
I'm sorry to throw the pavement in the pond, and I know that I will attract the wrath of some people, but don't you think that this site is self-sabotaging?
I know that I didn't put any scores on the site and that people will call me a profiteer, but I was mainly taking advantage of the forum part because I was finding there interesting readings and very appropriate discussions in a spirit of conviviality that you are losing.
Of course, I didn't deposit any scores, but you should know that on other forums, when I can, I am not the last one to help the people who ask for help, credibility is not only measured by the number of messages or scores.
Don't forget that an amateur site lives above all from the active participation of its members and not from financing
So, I wanted to share with you my feelings of these last few days.
Pasque
I have been registered for some time on PA and I notice that there is a lot of commotion lately and I realize that all this commotion is about the membership fee.
I was about to pay this 15 € which as it is written on the site by Slade is only 1.25 € per month, or a few coffees as others have rightly said.
In the meantime, I realize the great defection of many members, some of whom ensured the success of this site.
As a result, I have a completely different view of this membership fee.
We are justified these 15 € by the costs of hosting and maintenance of the site.
A pro hosting at Ovh with 100 GB of disk space and unlimited traffic costs only 6 € per month. This represents an annual cost of 72 € TTC.
I wonder about the additional costs that would justify an annual fee of 15 € per member.
Because if half of the members pay the 15 € it will make 60000 € of budget what allows to make gold-plated posts.
If only 10% of the members pay their membership fee, this will still cover the costs.
But, only 10% of the members contribute, certainly the cost of the site will be absorbed but it is not a few dozen members that will give the interest of a site with 8000 members.
I'm sorry to throw the pavement in the pond, and I know that I will attract the wrath of some people, but don't you think that this site is self-sabotaging?
I know that I didn't put any scores on the site and that people will call me a profiteer, but I was mainly taking advantage of the forum part because I was finding there interesting readings and very appropriate discussions in a spirit of conviviality that you are losing.
Of course, I didn't deposit any scores, but you should know that on other forums, when I can, I am not the last one to help the people who ask for help, credibility is not only measured by the number of messages or scores.
Don't forget that an amateur site lives above all from the active participation of its members and not from financing
So, I wanted to share with you my feelings of these last few days.
Pasque
4
Replies
Hello
Thank you Pasque for your post which is very clear ...
the participation of each one, I think, is done individually, at its level!
We can also add some expenses in proportion to the time spent by the 'webmaster-creator' of the site ...
The fact is that he is the only one to manage the whole site at the functional level... it's a huge job with 8 000 subscribers ! and he will have to work a lot to take care of everything correctly !
I know a lot of websites and most of them work with a staff that grows with the number of members: a team composed of graphic designers, ''programmers'' often young students in computer science, moderators who check the different subjects and reframe them in the right places (I even had a 13 year old who did that very well), a member or 2 creators who oversee the whole thing, animators ... etc.
It is the work of a team, each one at his level, which makes that all occurs well (there are nevertheless times or that it messes up...) but the team recovers quickly on feet... in addition to that it supports itself!
This also relieves everyone of other tedious tasks: you have to know how to manage yourself by defining the roles of each person in charge! It's like at work after all!
to be continued!
jmimi
Thank you Pasque for your post which is very clear ...
the participation of each one, I think, is done individually, at its level!
We can also add some expenses in proportion to the time spent by the 'webmaster-creator' of the site ...
The fact is that he is the only one to manage the whole site at the functional level... it's a huge job with 8 000 subscribers ! and he will have to work a lot to take care of everything correctly !
I know a lot of websites and most of them work with a staff that grows with the number of members: a team composed of graphic designers, ''programmers'' often young students in computer science, moderators who check the different subjects and reframe them in the right places (I even had a 13 year old who did that very well), a member or 2 creators who oversee the whole thing, animators ... etc.
It is the work of a team, each one at his level, which makes that all occurs well (there are nevertheless times or that it messes up...) but the team recovers quickly on feet... in addition to that it supports itself!
This also relieves everyone of other tedious tasks: you have to know how to manage yourself by defining the roles of each person in charge! It's like at work after all!
to be continued!
jmimi
slade
31/07/2012
Hi Pasque,
You are totally right to ask questions and I will try to clarify them.
The reason for the fee is for several reasons,
Firstly, as you said, the hosting fees. You have to know that a shared hosting on a hosting company costs in the order of 80$ per year which does not justify the fee.
However, a server rental, among other things, the purpose of setting up the fee is $ 80 per month, this is different.
The purpose of the fee is also to allow P-A to have a hosting worthy of its traffic. that everything runs smoothly, and that it is possible to make backups etc...
The second point and not the least, is the time I invest. I went from a few hours per week to almost full time or more the last weeks, I receive at least ten mails per day, without counting the bugs, the development, the administration etc...
And it's nice and good, and I love it, but, like all of you I have to eat too...
We are indeed very far from the 8000 premium members, otherwise the discussion would not be the same.
I am currently without internet and will be back on the web on August 6th which explains my long response time.
But know that 10% of regular members in premium members would already be a nice goal ...
Then I want to remind you that my goal is NOT to get rich on your back, the sum of 15 euros was defined in the topic on the old site and this is the solution that was retained.
If it turns out that 15 euros per year is more than enough, or even too much, the contribution will of course be reduced.
If it turns out that the advertisement comes to provide for all these needs then the contribution will be removed.
I would like you to know that my goal is to find solutions to try to satisfy the greatest number of people and not at all to exploit you or anything that could resemble it.
Thank you for your time.
You are totally right to ask questions and I will try to clarify them.
The reason for the fee is for several reasons,
Firstly, as you said, the hosting fees. You have to know that a shared hosting on a hosting company costs in the order of 80$ per year which does not justify the fee.
However, a server rental, among other things, the purpose of setting up the fee is $ 80 per month, this is different.
The purpose of the fee is also to allow P-A to have a hosting worthy of its traffic. that everything runs smoothly, and that it is possible to make backups etc...
The second point and not the least, is the time I invest. I went from a few hours per week to almost full time or more the last weeks, I receive at least ten mails per day, without counting the bugs, the development, the administration etc...
And it's nice and good, and I love it, but, like all of you I have to eat too...
We are indeed very far from the 8000 premium members, otherwise the discussion would not be the same.
I am currently without internet and will be back on the web on August 6th which explains my long response time.
But know that 10% of regular members in premium members would already be a nice goal ...
Then I want to remind you that my goal is NOT to get rich on your back, the sum of 15 euros was defined in the topic on the old site and this is the solution that was retained.
If it turns out that 15 euros per year is more than enough, or even too much, the contribution will of course be reduced.
If it turns out that the advertisement comes to provide for all these needs then the contribution will be removed.
I would like you to know that my goal is to find solutions to try to satisfy the greatest number of people and not at all to exploit you or anything that could resemble it.
Thank you for your time.
pasque
02/08/2012
Hi Slade,
Thank you for taking the time to reply.
I must admit that, despite everything, your message, apart from the fact that it clarifies the reasons for this policy, does not convince me at first sight.
I remain convinced that the quality of a site is above all a question of members, participants and visitors and not a question of financial means.
I think it would have been better to surround yourself with a team of motivated and structured people to guarantee the durability of the site and to share the tasks.
You make the choice to realize everything by financing this work by the contribution. It is yours and I respect it.
I think that the site will work on its number of premium members (the figure of 8000 members does not mean anything anymore) and it is on this number that the attractiveness of the site will depend.
So I'm waiting to see in a few weeks the counter of premium members to decide if I join you or not.
Pasque
Thank you for taking the time to reply.
I must admit that, despite everything, your message, apart from the fact that it clarifies the reasons for this policy, does not convince me at first sight.
I remain convinced that the quality of a site is above all a question of members, participants and visitors and not a question of financial means.
I think it would have been better to surround yourself with a team of motivated and structured people to guarantee the durability of the site and to share the tasks.
You make the choice to realize everything by financing this work by the contribution. It is yours and I respect it.
I think that the site will work on its number of premium members (the figure of 8000 members does not mean anything anymore) and it is on this number that the attractiveness of the site will depend.
So I'm waiting to see in a few weeks the counter of premium members to decide if I join you or not.
Pasque
slade
02/08/2012
It is expected to be added soon :)
