Higher (or no) private message limit?

[Matus]

I did exchange PMs while selling stuff here or just as a next level to replies in a thread. 100 limit is really low - I would be willing to pay a little more - but I would expect a $5 - $10 to give me limit of 1000. I mean - the plain text messages are really tiny. Should the fee be higher than the gallery should get different limits too.

I am one of those that 'subscribe' to APUG as I consider it the largest 'database' for analog photography knowledge. I actually post much more here and would be ready to shell a few bucks too.

Of course there could be several options of payed membership.

I do realize that including payed subscriptions and new features to RFF would require a lot of work - so I do not really expect solution overnight, but I think that this option should be give a though.

 

[ChrisN]

I don't want more message space.

I think mandatory access fees would kill this site.

 

[coelacanth]

Many sites have "premium" or "gold" or whatever paid member level with benefits, and as long as the core experience with free account is not limited more than right now, I don't think making the paid "subscriber" level would kill the site.

I love RFF and would be happy to contribute say $25-$50 a year for something like

• Larger or unlimited mail box depending on annual contribution level.
• Lower or free classifieds fee depending on annual contribution level.
• Über member level (basically a generous donation) can get RFF softy or something like that.

Typically on forum, you'll get subscriber badge so that might give buyer/seller some peace of mind that you are a "serious" member, and help your sale/purchase in Classifieds.

I keep PM notification with my gmail so I can look back, but sent messages are gone forever if I delete from PM box so I'd love some more mail box capacity.

 

[ChrisN]

Two people have mentioned that they would like free ads. I suspect that would require some restructuring of the way the site is supported and run. I've noted that when I buy an advertisement, the payment goes to Jorge, the original owner and operator of the site, rather than to Mr Gandy, the current owner and operator. I might speculate that this reflects an arrangement under which Jorge maintains the technical side in return for the revenue from the classifieds. If the classifieds became free (with a large increase in volume likely) then the owner would need to find another way to fund site maintenance. How many will really want to pay for a bigger PM storage and free adverts? Personally I prefer email, and to pay for the occasional advert.

BTW I do not think it wrong for the site owner to seek a decent return from the site. At the moment that appears to come from the advertising, generating sales. This is working - why mess with it? I recall the owner did try the subscriber model several years ago with a discriminatory membership level, but it caused considerable dissent and was soon dropped.

 

[David Murphy]

For those newer members, RFF used to have a paid premium membership. The current owner eliminated it when he purchased RFF. I thought that was a great move.

 

[jtm6]

You can download any or all of your messages very easily using xml, csv, or text. I do this to archive PMs. Any PM conversation that would push my total over that limit would probably have already moved to email before that happened.

As for accessing them, I use Excel, Numbers, or Open Office, put it in a table, and it is easier and faster than any online forum's PM system. If I'm in a pinch, I can always open the archive in a text editor.

 

[.... _]

Another simple solution is to use the private emailing instead of PM. The only downside is that you don't appear to get a copy of it. Now if they could switch on sending a copy to the senders email then you'd get to keep a copy of what you sent and also any replies from whoever you sent it to. And RFF would save some server space and its no extra work for anyone except a one off setting up sending copy to sender.

 

[andersju]

Let's not get carried away here. I wasn't proposing membership levels or a change to the way the site is financed or anything (although some of the ideas presented are interesting). All I want is to send Stephen a few bucks to get rid of an annoyance. 🙂

I know I can download my messages in various formats, but I'd much rather just pay a small one-time sum so that I don't have to think about it. $5-10 might sound like a lot of money for this (considering how little space text uses) but it would certainly be worth it for me.