Lifetime Gold membership changes

Discussion in 'Photo-Video Club News' started by george, 7 Nov 2021.

  1. Nikon4life

    Nikon4life Legendary

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    This probably stings most for you because your time frame of attaining and living in that status is relatively short - and with that I can sympathize. But the points earned to attain that status were truly just "phantom" points used to "buy" Lifetime Contributor status. Which brings up a valid point @george -

    Given the choice to hold those points or purchase LC Status; most (logically, at least at the surface level) would opt for the LC.

    - But - what if that person opted to hold those points (1000 - which equates to 8.3 years) - - would the points have been taken back? Or - would that person who maintained them to use be unaffected by this - I can honestly say I had contemplated just holding the points when I attained them. The only reason I didn't was because I didn't wish to deal with the minor inconvenience of monthly Gold re-purchasing. If the points would not be taken back; each person voicing disdain has a valid gripe. If the points would be taken back; well . . .

    _________________

    Also - and I can only speak for my personal conviction(s) here - because of attaining LC, I'm more compelled to purchase and share on the forum (I know it seems counter-intuitive, but that's the truth).
     
    Last edited: 8 Nov 2021
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  2. moonwalker

    moonwalker Grand Master

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    @george @h1ghm1nd

    One thing that motivates me to always share the "exclusive" contents, put some money aside from my photo jobs to buy the course, and share here is because of: a Lifetime membership.

    I am almost there. i only start my engine in 2020.
    Always feels a lifetime membership is more an achievement rather than a status (Legend, Elite, VIP, etc).
    I don't really care about status, lifetime membership is what I am aiming for.

    With a lifetime membership, i believe the members here are more invested emotionally and taking care of this forum while 2 of you were in long hiatus or holiday like the past months.

    But with this new policy, I kinda lost my motivation to fight for it.

    We have 14,000++ members now, how many lifetime membership holders among those 14,000++?
    I believe only less than 2% of them.

    What's your motivation?
    1. If too many dead links after they reach "lifetime status", remind them to post the mirror. or someone else can post the mirror. In case you don't know, to maintain the mega accounts, I paid EUR 9.99/month for the membership. I can create a few emails to get free Mega storage but it is too much hassle for me. And it is not sustainable for future.

    So I have fixed expenses as a contributor in this forum:
    1. Mega account EUR 9.99/month
    2. Buy the TP points to maintain the gold
    3. Buy/ find the course and share.

    2. If your motivation is about money, I am okay and understand you need to monetize this forum.
    *You are earning from the new members, they will purchase GOLD membership if we keep the contents top notch.
    If only 5% of 14,000 members buying gold membership each month = 700 members x $10 GOLD membership = $7000/month.

    *You also earn from the GB. For the last 2 Fstoppers GB, the total contribution is much more than the original course price.
    I didn't make any comment on that, you just replace the extra with TP, no refund was made.
    I understand your situation, and I keep my mouth shut.

    So what is your main motivation? Please enlighten us.
    I worry, the main content contributors here will stop sharing the great content.
     
    Last edited: 8 Nov 2021
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  3. stevestone

    stevestone Grand Master

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    @george removing lifetime is OK here is my humble opinion:

    - You need to set a limit. Anyone who already earned lifetime should remain so. They are the ones who shared most contents and kept them up so made this forum worth being a part and member of it.
    - People who are above some trophy points for example 500 since they are on the half way should be eligable as an exception.

    Kind regards.
     
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  4. Nikon4life

    Nikon4life Legendary

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    I would also voice an opinion that the TP provided for purchased / shared items be re-structured in light of this newly introduced system. I think the ratio should be greater than the 10TP : $100 current and perhaps be retroactive to a defined period (at least the beginning of 2021)
     
  5. Nikon4life

    Nikon4life Legendary

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    I'll bet the leakers are poopin' their pants right about now . . . :eek:
     
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  6. m0rpheus

    m0rpheus Master

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    Makes me sad, I visit this forum than Facebook or Instagram
     
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  7. ht22

    ht22 Professional

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    There should be some exception for those who have already earned the status
     
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  8. bbrooks

    bbrooks Grand Master

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    Let me start by saying what I think the majority of us would agree upon...this is an amazing forum full of resources and wisdom. I concur with @m0rpheus in stating that I come here more than Facebook and Instagram. Every one of the members above have posted some amazing content that I am thankful to have had the opportunity to download. As a whole, the majority of that content would have remained out of my reach financially. I am in no position to provide solutions on this as I don't have all of the data, nor do I have the knowledge about whatever goes on behind the scenes to keep all this running. Thanks to the staff and mods for all you do. My opinion though is to allow those that have already achieved lifetime status to keep it and then move forward with any changes. Content is king and without the incentives I'm afraid that big (aka expensive) content shares will suffer unless it's via a GB. For small timers like me, just getting enough TP each month to trade for Gold is the incentive. Not sure what the incentive would be for the big time content providers without lifetime or equivalent to strive for?
     
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  9. stevestone

    stevestone Grand Master

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    is there a chat room? :)
     
  10. m0rpheus

    m0rpheus Master

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    Wish we had one, maybe a discord server.
     
  11. george

    george Administrator

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    First of all I want to give my thanks to all of the members. This forum is only here because of you.
    Second, the motivation is not financial.
    It is meant to solve two problems:
    - incentive to keep on sharing(even if you are a lifetime member)
    - incentive to keep your links alive(even if you are a lifetime member)

    We do not have a chat(yet).
     
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  12. Andrew989

    Andrew989 Grand Master

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    please give 1k trophy points back to me.
     
  13. mrlulhahhah

    mrlulhahhah Apprentice IV

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    To echo what many others here are saying, I think that keeping your biggest content gatherers happy makes the most sense. I haven't shared as much as others but I do try to contribute and help to rally users for a few high-dollar GBs whenever it's financially feasible.

    From my perspective, these people with the lifetime contributor membership earned it or who are about to earn it, deserve it. Especially someone like @moonwalker who's almost earned that status within a year.

    If it weren't for them, there'd be A LOT less content.

    Their content brings you and the site revenue. There are no two ways around that. If the biggest users here left en masse, what would happen to the content of the site? Who's going to re-up all of those links? Who's going to continue pushing the envelope. And honestly, who has the bandwidth? This is P2P without the protocol, ACTUAL peers to ACTUAL other peers.

    If you want to enforce this arbitrary process going forward, sure. But if the motivation in this process ISN'T due to money, then there should be no reason why these users should have to not have that status. Frankly, it seems like your priorities aren't for the people that help make this site what it is.

    A lot of times, dead links are for old and outdated content. But many of us try to reup the links if we have them with mirrors.

    Then on top of that offering 10TP for $100 of exclusive content that they have to purchase, NOT retroacting their contributions at all, and THEN taking away their ability to hold this, what I imagine is, the most prestigious title that can be earned on the site.

    Now they're no longer special. Now they have worked hard for nothing. With all due respect, I think you need to read the room and realize that this isn't a good move.
     
  14. stevestone

    stevestone Grand Master

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    This decision of change doesn't effect me and as a note I never have the worry to go out of points, i gifted many times.
    For the people who earned and deserve it, it was working good and its working good. Don't take back earned and deserved rights. There are only few of them, please don't break hearts.
     
  15. HappyMacmX

    HappyMacmX Professional

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    I have seen a few strange things in my very short life around here, at the beginning I was very excited that I found this forum and after several months of waiting could get my account but seen those things happening I lost all the excitement, now I feel like the motto around here is kinda like how to screw people more than how to grow (and maintain) a real community, the happy and special user is who spends his own money to share something valuable, who goes all the way to find a really good asset, who keeps watching his own threads and links and many more things. You should be caring that kind of user instead of punishing him because once you lose the people you lose everything. Just my personal opinion.
     
  16. lkngood

    lkngood Supreme Elite

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    yeah. give me my lifetime back....my incentive just went waaaaaaaaaaaay by the wayside. I was here at the beginning, sharing content--alot---and work to keep links alive. I earned it. and like it's been stated.....there aren't alot of us that have achieved that standing.
     
  17. george

    george Administrator

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    I have made a mistake in taking the lifetime option away.
    The mistake was to try to make the lifetime members to share more and keep their links alive by taking away something.
    The right thing to do is to add more incentives for members to keep sharing and to keep all of their links alive.
    So, not only that the members that have reached 10k likes will be automatically promoted to Gold members without an expiration date(lifetime), but you will also get Trophy Points after 10k likes.
    So by continuing to share and also taking care to keep your links alive you get to earn more Trophy Points.
    And I will add new ways to use your Trophy Points.
     
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  18. Andrew989

    Andrew989 Grand Master

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    So I lost 1k trophy points! Could you please check this error?
    and more please check my messages.
    thanks @george
     
  19. tribal

    tribal Grand Master

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    And based on this, I will restore all my download links I've removed yesterday in a fit of rage. It might just take a bit longer than deleting them.
    And thank you for restoring our statuses.
     
    Last edited: 8 Nov 2021
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  20. lkngood

    lkngood Supreme Elite

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    Where is the info on our profile that indicates we are lifetime members? I purchased GOLD for one month already due to your decision yesterday. whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
     
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