Seeing RF from a Regular Folk's Perspective

[SpeaksForTheTrees]

As some of you know, staff members have premium membership that automatically comes with their status as staff. Given that I have been a staff member for years, I will always have premium membership even if I retire, so I don't see ads like a lot of members do.

Recently, though, it dawned on me that I really don't know what RF looks like for regular members when they try to post on the forum. So, to get a better look into that, I have decided to use a test account for the purpose of seeing if the RF experience could be improved for members who don't have premium membership.

Please note that ads probably won't go away any time soon, so I'm only going to try to see the best way, if there is any, to improve the forum experience for those who are not premium members.

Feel free to ask if you have any questions, preferably in the Site Feedback forum.

Thank you.

Scared of becoming a premium member might start thinking I have rights .lol
A donate incognito facility might be helpful ongoing
I don't mind the ads if it generates income , might actually see something I need .
Always an awkward one lol I think a anonymous option might come in useful over longer term , not searched everywhere on site but apart from premium membership I can't find it
Preferably accessible before one logs in .

 

[Draka]

I see ads on my tablet but they are small inconspicuous banners most of the time and are often related to my Amazon purchases or wish list. Most of the time I rarely ever notice them. I don't see ads at all while using my PC due to my adblock program that I always have on as there are a few sites I visit that are very bad with ads and pop ups.

RF has been around for nearly a dozen years now and for the first decade of that there were no paid memberships. Perhaps I'm stubborn, perhaps I'm cheap, but I don't feel the sudden need to pay to use a forum I've used for more than a decade. Especially over ads. Seeing ads is no big deal.

 

[Augustus]

Please note that ads probably won't go away any time soon, so I'm only going to try to see the best way, if there is any, to improve the forum experience for those who are not premium members.

The ads aren't particularly intrusive. Barely notice them tbh.

They have no effect on my 'user experience' really.

 

[allfoak]

Sure, I realise that there are overheads involved in running a forum. On the other hand, RF is the only forum I know of which gets advertising revenue and requests a membership fee, so....?

I would say with complete disclosure of finances this site would get a great deal more support.
I don't give my money to some of the biggest charities because of the fraud that exists.
But i am always willing to support the little guy if i know he is honest.

 

[Buttercup]

I would say with complete disclosure of finances this site would get a great deal more support.
I don't give my money to some of the biggest charities because of the fraud that exists.
But i am always willing to support the little guy if i know he is honest.

My educated guess is that Brent bought RF as a business venture.
He has operating expenses and I'm sure he'd like to generate some profit.
I have zero problem with that motive nor do I expect a full monetary disclosure.
Besides, we have the option to buy a membership, it's not required.

 

[allfoak]

My educated guess is that Brent bought RF as a business venture.
He has operating expenses and I'm sure he'd like to generate some profit.
I have zero problem with that motive nor do I expect a full monetary disclosure.
Besides, we have the option to buy a membership, it's not required.

agreed

 

[Rick O'Shez]

The ads aren't particularly intrusive. Barely notice them tbh.

Same here, apart from the ones trying to sell me premium membership.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

My educated guess is that Brent bought RF as a business venture.

I suspect you're right, but some clarity would be appreciated. Contributing to the overheads of a non-profit organisation is quite different to buying a service from a business.

 

[Revoltingest]

My educated guess is that Brent bought RF as a business venture.
He has operating expenses and I'm sure he'd like to generate some profit.
I have zero problem with that motive nor do I expect a full monetary disclosure.
Besides, we have the option to buy a membership, it's not required.

Look at you.....flaunting that fancy educated guessing!

 

[George-ananda]

In the end I can live with the advertisements if they help pay the bills. This can't all be free. No complaints; this is not being run in a communist country (that system I believe has been tried and failed).

 

[Father Heathen]

All it took for me was Firefox's adblock and I never saw the ads again, as a regular member. So I don't really see what the problem is.

The problem is that sites like RF depend on ad revenue to sustain. In other words you're getting content without helping RF pay the bills.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

The problem is that sites like RF depend on ad revenue to sustain. In other words you're getting content without helping RF pay the bills.

I don't think the bills are actually that large.

 

[Revoltingest]

In the end I can live with the advertisements if they help pay the bills. This can't all be free. No complaints; this is not being run in a communist country (that system I believe has been tried and failed).

If this were a communist system, the staff would be telling us what our opinions are......oh, wait.....never mind.

 

[Revoltingest]

I don't think the bills are actually that large.

Their monthly caviar bill alone must be in the thousands!
And every year they buy me a new gold plated toilet plunger.

 

[Augustus]

Same here, apart from the ones trying to sell me premium membership.

True dat. They get my a bit.

 

[Buttercup]

Look at you.....flaunting that fancy educated guessing!

Are you looking for trouble again, Mister?

 

[Revoltingest]

Are you looking for trouble again, Mister?

I'll just go sit quietly in a corner for now.

 

[eiskalt]

In an ideal world forums such as these would probably not exist, as we would understand each other without having to communicate. So i am not upset with having to deal with these ads.

 

[Sunstone]

I pay membership fees to a local astronomy club because I know they really need the money, and they use it for benefit of the members.

I think it's safe to assume that RF pays server fees, don't you? And if you look at the number of premium members we have, I think you can make a reasonable guess that all the premium memberships combined have probably not bought all that many months of server fees. So, even without detailed information, you can make what are probably some reasonable guesses about how memberships are spent, and what they're spent on.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

I think it's safe to assume that RF pays server fees, don't you? And if you look at the number of premium members we have, I think you can make a reasonable guess that all the premium memberships combined have probably not bought all that many months of server fees. So, even without detailed information, you can make what are probably some reasonable guesses about how memberships are spent, and what they're spent on.

I don't think that server fees are all that high, and I think that RF is being run at a profit, as a business. But let's have the figures, let's have some transparency.